Star Trek The Next Generation
S2E16
· Q Who?

All‑Points Sweep — Riker Escalates the Search

Tension sharpens into command resolve as Data reports their previous systematic spiral has come up empty — the search pattern should have located any vessel lacking warp drive. Riker converts frustration and mounting dread into procedure, ordering an immediate widening of the search grid. This beat functions as a surgical escalation: it moves the crew from methodical hope to desperate breadth, reveals Riker's need to act in the face of the incomprehensible, and raises ship‑wide stakes by committing resources to a riskier, more exhaustive sweep.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

1

The bridge descends into desperate urgency as Data confirms the futility of their current search parameters, prompting Riker to orders an expanded search to cover every possible location where Picard’s shuttle could be hiding.

order to desperation ['INT. ENTERPRISE - MAIN BRIDGE']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

2
Data
Second Officer
 primary

Calm, dispassionate, and methodical — reporting facts without visible agitation but implicitly conveying the gravity of the negative result.

Data delivers a concise sensor report, asserting that the prescribed spherical search pattern should have detected any sub‑warp vessel; then he enters the required parameters into the ship's systems without dramatics.

Goals in this moment
  • • Provide accurate sensor assessments to inform command decisions.
  • • Record and input necessary search parameters to ensure the ship's systems act on verified data.
Active beliefs
  • • Sensor-derived, repeatable procedures provide reliable operational truth.
  • • Completeness of a systematic search can be used to infer absence or the need to change tactics.
Character traits
analytical precise procedural unflappable
Follow Data's journey
William Riker
Commander
 primary

Frustrated and urgent on the surface; resolute and focused on regaining procedural control beneath the urgency.

Riker reacts to Data's negative confirmation by issuing an immediate and terse order to widen the search area, translating frustration and concern into a concrete tactical adjustment that mobilizes ship resources.

Goals in this moment
  • • Expand the search grid to maximize chances of locating the missing contact.
  • • Reassure the bridge crew and assert command by converting uncertainty into actionable procedure.
Active beliefs
  • • Action and increased coverage can compensate for unknown variables in sensor data.
  • • Delay or inaction risks endangering the ship and crew; decisive orders are necessary under ambiguous threat.
Character traits
decisive impatient commanding pragmatic
Follow William Riker's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

1
Detected Ship Contact — Bearing 316 Mark 42

The unidentified vessel (noted as lacking a warp signature) is the implicit target motivating the search. Data's statement frames it as a craft that could traverse the region under impulse, and its absence from the completed spherical sweep forces command to change tactics and broaden sensor focus.

Before: Registered by sensors as a constrained, low‑signature contact …
After: Still not located; remains an unresolved contact prompting …
Before: Registered by sensors as a constrained, low‑signature contact that should have been detected within the prior spherical search pattern.
After: Still not located; remains an unresolved contact prompting a widened search but otherwise unchanged and unengaged.

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

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Key Dialogue

"DATA: "We have covered the area in a spherical pattern which a vessel without warp drive could traverse in the time allotted.""
"RIKER: "Widen the area...""