Public Endorsement: Riker Stands Firm
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker pushes back, calling combat drills a minor concern for a captain; Kolrami answers with cutting skepticism about Riker’s strategic mettle.
Riker steadies, vows he sees commitments through, then tosses Picard a playful surrender jab that lifts morale. Picard’s warm smile doubles as a public vote of confidence that undercuts Kolrami’s contempt.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled superiority — outwardly calm and clinical while intentionally condescending to provoke and test reactions.
Kolrami keys the screen, projects the Braslota diagram, states the rules and parameters of the exercise with clipped precision, and levels a coolly contemptuous challenge at Riker, using protocol and insult as a strategic lever.
- • To stage an uncompromising, time-limited strategic trial that exposes command decisions under pressure.
- • To unsettle Riker and the senior staff, provoking clearer tactical postures and revealing weaknesses.
- • Strategic truth is revealed through adversarial pressure and competition.
- • Public humiliation or doubt is a legitimate tool to test command competence.
Measured and quietly resolute — he balances principled objection to militarism while pragmatically endorsing tactical readiness and backing his officer.
Picard calmly answers Kolrami's questions, defends Starfleet's values, but immediately and publicly appoints Riker to command the Hathaway, signalling institutional trust and defusing any insinuation about Riker's competence.
- • To uphold Starfleet's exploratory ideals while accommodating necessary tactical preparedness.
- • To protect and publicly endorse his subordinate, preserving command cohesion and morale.
- • Starfleet's primary mission is exploration, not militarism.
- • Effective leadership requires publicly backing capable officers to maintain trust and authority.
Surface confidence with a flash of irritation at the slight; comfortable enough to use humour to reassert authority and relieve tension.
Riker asks practical questions about battle conditions, absorbs Kolrami's contempt, asserts his reliability in a direct rebuttal, and then makes a light, disarming quip to Picard — reclaiming composure and signaling readiness.
- • To demonstrate competence and accept the command challenge without appearing rattled.
- • To maintain solidarity with Picard and distract from Kolrami's attempt to undermine him.
- • One proves command through action rather than words.
- • Wit and composure can neutralize personal attacks and preserve authority.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The large schematic DIAGRAM is projected as the primary visual aid: it orients participants to the Braslota System, locates the Hathaway in orbit, and renders abstract stakes into a concrete tactical objective that legitimizes Kolrami's rules.
The ship's computer is referenced as the adjudicator: it will log simulated 'hits', register damage, and automatically enact shutdowns and repair timing, making the simulation enforceable and removing human arbitration from moment-to-moment adjudication.
The modified laser-pulse beam is invoked as the technical mechanism for 'realistic' simulation: Engineering will route and link Enterprise weapons through this device so hits register electronically and trigger system shutdowns, thereby forcing genuine tactical consequences.
The Hathaway functions as the named objective of the exercise — an aged eighty-year-old starcruiser whose orbit around Braslota's second planet frames the game's tactical problem and the moral weight of ordering an older ship into simulated harm.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Observation Lounge is the formal yet intimate forum where Kolrami stages his public briefing. Its panoramic views and central table create a ceremonious stage for a diplomatic-provocation that mixes clinical strategy with personal challenge.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"KOLRAMI: "The Braslota System. In orbit around the second planet is the eighty-year old Starcruiser, Hathaway.""
"PICARD: "Commander Riker will captain the Hathaway.""
"RIKER: "Mister Kolrami, when I agree to do a thing. I do it.""