Iconian Gateway Awakens — Data Struck Down
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data identifies a set of symbols as a supposed manual override and touches the keys; a low hum builds, the globe brightens and lances rays that intersect into a spinning gateway, forcing Picard and Worf from study into stunned attention.
Data proves the phenomenon is real by thrusting his arm through the aperture, losing his elbow-down limb to the gateway; Picard lunges, seizes Data and hauls him back as the image changes, turning wonder into immediate alarm.
The gateway briefly displays the Enterprise (and the Romulan bridge), offering a possible route home, while Data discovers and lights a vast underground power source controlled by the console, declares 'I have access,' and begins inputting commands.
The console screams a high-pitched tone and fires a sickly green beam that races through Data, rendering him rigid and immobile; Worf catches and eases the lifeless-appearing android to the floor as the control room collapses into a crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Curious and contemplative about Iconian history, quickly shifting to protective urgency and mounting geopolitical concern once the gateway and Romulan image appear.
Picard watches Data's translation, moves from clinical interest to moral and strategic reflection as the gateway appears, physically restrains Data when his arm is drawn into the aperture, articulates the larger stakes (Varley's sacrifice, Romulan threat), and orders tactical measures such as timing the rotation.
- • Protect crew (especially Data) from dangerous experimentation.
- • Understand the gateway's function and prevent the technology from falling into Romulan hands.
- • Technological power has moral and political consequences that must be anticipated.
- • Varley’s death signals the technology's dangerous potential and must inform their caution.
Clinically curious and focused—initially detached and investigative; abruptly switched to forced passivity and incapacitation when struck by the energy discharge.
Data deciphers Iconian script, identifies and touches the supposed manual override, runs multiple tricorder scans, physically probes the spinning aperture by thrusting his arm through it, and is struck by an energy discharge that renders him immobile.
- • Determine whether the aperture is a true gateway by direct investigation.
- • Extract and access the console's data to understand Iconian systems and their capabilities.
- • Empirical testing will yield useful and safe knowledge.
- • A direct, physical probe is an acceptable method to validate a technological hypothesis.
Wary and on-edge—initially suspicious of the phenomenon and later concerned for the team's safety and Data's condition.
Worf maintains tactical readiness with hand on his phaser, watches the globe form the gateway, voices alert when the Enterprise appears, catches and eases the now-rigid Data to the floor after the beam attack, and remains a physical security anchor throughout.
- • Ensure the immediate security of the away team and prevent further harm.
- • Collect defensive intelligence about the gateway's operational effects and potential threat.
- • Unknown phenomena are likely dangerous and should be treated with force-readiness.
- • The Iconian technology could be weaponized, so tactical containment is necessary.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Data uses the concept and his tricorder scans (referenced and deployed) to read power signatures, detect the underground source, and monitor the upsurge of energy—providing the forensic data that links the console to a vast power source and confirming the gateway's genuine function.
While no shipboard heavy phaser is fired, Worf's posture 'hand on phaser' signals security readiness; the phaser functions narratively as a latent defensive tool and indicator of military caution while the gateway is probed.
The Iconian Gateway Globe powers up when Data touches the keys: it hums, intensifies in light, projects rays that form the spinning aperture, cycles through distant-world images and emits the high-pitched tone and sickly green beam that incapacitates Data. It operates as active defense and the episode's primary demonstration of Iconian capability.
The Iconian Dome Ring of Colored Keys is the interface Data identifies as the 'manual override.' Data manipulates its symbols and keys, initiating the room's power surge and activating the globe. The ring functions as both puzzle and trigger for the gateway's sequence.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Iconian Control Room is the physical and symbolic stage: a ruined high-tech pentagonal chamber whose dome and ring are central to the action. It transforms from archaeological curiosity into an active launch-control environment as the globe spins, images cycle, power surges and the away team confronts the technology's moral and tactical implications.
The Grassy Field is one of the gateway's projected destinations; its pastoral image provides emotional contrast to the sterile control room and functions narratively to suggest the Iconians used the system for transit rather than warfare.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "A gateway.""
"PICARD: "The Romulans could turn this technology into a weapon.""
"DATA: "Sir, there is a vast underground power source which is controlled by this console.""