Final Taste — Salia's Transmutation
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker authorizes Salia's departure and the transporter crew locks coordinates; Salia offers formal gratitude and steps onto the pad, turning a routine diplomatic send-off into the charged threshold of transit.
Wesley storms in with a dish of Thalian chocolate mousse, halting the sequence; he presses the bowl into Salia's hands, transforming procedural momentum into a private, intimate moment as she savors the taste.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Affectionate and accepting in private moments; resolutely calm and purposeful when choosing transformation for political and personal reasons.
Salia stands on the pad, tastes Wesley's mousse as a tactile farewell, embraces him, explains she cannot arrive on Daled Four in her human guise, then mounts the pad and transfigures gracefully into a luminous, protean form before being beamed away.
- • To protect her people's interests by arriving in an appropriate form.
- • To preserve Wesley's memory of her as she is now rather than as what she must be later.
- • To complete her diplomatic obligation without compromising her identity.
- • Her duty to her world supersedes private attachments.
- • Truth about her nature must be controlled and revealed on her terms.
- • Personal sacrifice is sometimes necessary for a greater responsibility.
Desperate hope on entry; tender and enraptured during the private moment; stunned, devastated, and resigned after she leaves.
Wesley bursts through the doors holding a dish of Thalian mousse, interrupts the formal send-off, offers the mousse to Salia, embraces her, then — after her transfiguration — quietly instructs 'Energize' and watches as she is beamed away, bearing the shock of permanent loss.
- • To create a personal, lasting memory between himself and Salia.
- • To halt or delay her departure in hopes of persuading her to stay.
- • To witness the truth of who Salia is before she goes.
- • Personal connection can alter political outcomes.
- • Honesty between them is essential—he wants the unvarnished truth.
- • Some losses, once accepted, must be faced rather than fought.
Controlled and professional on the surface, quietly receptive to human interruption; balancing duty and empathy.
Riker stands at the pad overseeing a formal transport, issues the initial command to proceed, then gestures the transporter chief to wait when Wesley bursts in — maintaining order while allowing a human pause.
- • Ensure the diplomatic transport proceeds safely and according to Starfleet protocol.
- • Preserve the dignity of Salia and the integrity of the Enterprise's mission.
- • Manage the scene to prevent escalation or breach of protocol.
- • Starfleet procedure exists to protect both individuals and missions.
- • Diplomatic encounters require both firmness and compassion.
- • Maintaining command presence prevents disorder.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Wesley's dish of Thalian chocolate mousse functions as the emotional catalyst: he carries it into the transporter room, offers it to Salia as a sensory keepsake, she tastes it (an intimate, memorable gesture), then passes the bowl to her escort—the object concretizes their final human contact.
The transporter pad is the event's physical and symbolic threshold: Salia stands upon it, the beam sequence is deliberately paused when Wesley arrives, and after her transmutation the pad is energized to send her away—transforming a procedural device into a stage for identity revelation and irreversible separation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Transporter Room Three functions as both a clinical workplace and an intimate stage: its procedural routines and humming equipment frame the public diplomatic act, then collapse to allow a private farewell. The room's technology literalizes transition—both physical transport and emotional threshold.
Daled Four exists off-stage as the destination whose political realities drive Salia's choice; referenced by coordinates and diplomatic remarks, the planet's divided, signal-muffling environment and factional expectations are the pressure that forces her transformation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Discovery that the planet can send encoded coordinates causes Riker/Picard to authorize Salia's transport — the planet's signal produces the logistical decision for departure."
"Discovery that the planet can send encoded coordinates causes Riker/Picard to authorize Salia's transport — the planet's signal produces the logistical decision for departure."
"The corridor confession and mutual 'I loved you / I love you, too' immediately precede Wesley's desperate dash into the Transporter Room with the mousse — his emotional need propels his final interruption."
"Salia's luminous transmutation and beaming down leave Wesley devastated; the Ten-Forward consolation scene with Guinan is the emotional aftershock that processes the loss and seeds his maturation."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"WESLEY: "A taste to remember me by.""
"SALIA: "Because I cannot arrive on my planet in this form and I want you to remember me as I am now.""
"WESLEY: "Energize.""