Briefing: The T'Ong Awakens
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Enterprise knifes through space at warp eight as Picard convenes his senior officers; K'Ehleyr locks in, ready to drop urgent intel.
K'Ehleyr reveals an automated transmission from the long-lost Klingon cruiser T'Ong announcing its imminent 'awakening'; Picard deduces cryogenic sleep and K'Ehleyr confirms the crew will believe the war still rages.
Riker asks why the Enterprise must handle this; K'Ehleyr warns the Klingon ship P'rang runs two days behind, and with Troi's prompt, Riker and Data flag thirteen lightly defended colonies squarely in the T'Ong’s strike zone.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Businesslike and impatient; a hardened conviction that the Klingon crew will be irretrievable by words.
K'Ehleyr delivers grim intelligence about the T'Ong, argues that diplomacy will fail, urges immediate destruction, and accepts being escorted — her blunt, urgent counsel heightens the moral pressure on command.
- • Convince the Enterprise to take decisive, lethal action if necessary
- • Ensure the threat to Federation colonies is neutralized swiftly
- • Klingons from the T'Ong's era will view humans as enemies and cannot be reasoned with
- • Delaying lethal action risks civilian deaths
Calm, resolute; intellectually firm but quietly bearing the weight of moral responsibility.
Picard presides over the briefing with calm authority, rejects K'Ehleyr's immediate call to annihilation, demands actionable alternatives, and assigns Worf to assist the emissary — holding the crew to Starfleet principles while managing interpersonal tension.
- • Prevent unnecessary mass slaughter of Klingon crew and civilians
- • Secure alternative, nonlethal options before engagement
- • Preserve command cohesion under emotional pressure
- • Starfleet must prefer diplomacy and seek options before using lethal force
- • Historical context and honor obligations complicate any simple tactical solution
Clinically neutral; focused on accuracy and the informational needs of command.
Data provides precise technical information about vulnerable colonies (thirteen) and corroborates tactical timing (P'rang two days behind), anchoring the briefing in unemotional fact and enabling command decisions.
- • Present clear, unvarnished tactical data to inform decisions
- • Support tactical planning with quantifiable information
- • Clear data reduces decision errors
- • Objective facts must drive strategic choices
Reluctant and internally strained; suppressing resentment and personal history to obey command.
Worf resists the assignment initially on personal grounds, then publicly concedes after Picard probes; he withdraws his request and accepts the order, visibly subordinating private grievances to duty.
- • Avoid a personally painful assignment tied to past history with K'Ehleyr
- • Adhere to Starfleet chain of command and maintain professionalism
- • Personal feelings must not interfere with duty
- • Confronting K'Ehleyr will reopen painful private matters
Concerned and practical — testing assumptions but ultimately cooperative.
Riker questions why the Enterprise must handle the mission, listens to tactical data, stands and leaves with Troi, Data and K'Ehleyr, registering practical concern about assignment and responsibility while deferring to Picard's decision.
- • Clarify command responsibility and resource allocation
- • Ensure the Enterprise responds effectively without unnecessary risk
- • Specialized Klingon units might be better suited for Klingon threats
- • Minimizing risk to Federation colonies is paramount
Attentive and composed; quietly protective of crew cohesion and emissary wellbeing.
Troi listens, gauges emotional stakes, offers to escort K'Ehleyr to the guest quarters, and facilitates the emissary's movement off the bridge — acting as emotional moderator and diplomatic support.
- • Reduce interpersonal friction between K'Ehleyr and Worf
- • Provide emotional and diplomatic support to the emissary
- • Emotional context matters for operational effectiveness
- • A calm escort will help contain potential conflict
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The P'rang is referenced as a trailing Klingon vessel — a tactical time pressure. Its two‑day lag alters strategic options and underpins K'Ehleyr's urgency: if the P'rang arrives it may complicate or escalate any encounter with the T'Ong.
The T'Ong is the narrative catalyst referenced via an automated transmission: its impending crew awakening creates the moral dilemma and tactical urgency driving the briefing. It functions as the offstage antagonist whose historical context provokes K'Ehleyr's hardline stance and Picard's restraint.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Enterprise guest quarters are invoked as the immediate refuge for K'Ehleyr after the briefing; Troi offers escort to contain the emissary's bluntness and to separate combustible personalities from the formal command room.
Starbase Three Three Six functions as the intelligence source: it received and relayed the automated transmission from the T'Ong, initiating the Enterprise mission and framing the timeline urgency referenced in the briefing.
The Observation Lounge is the formal briefing space where command decisions are made; starlight and tactical displays frame a clash between diplomatic principle and brutal practicality. It contains senior officers, emits institutional calm, and becomes the stage where private history (Worf/K'Ehleyr) collides with professional obligation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Picard assigns Worf to assist K'Ehleyr, forcing Worf to confront and then suppress his personal objection in favor of duty."
"Picard assigns Worf to assist K'Ehleyr, forcing Worf to confront and then suppress his personal objection in favor of duty."
"K'Ehleyr's warning that the awakened crew believe the war continues is confirmed when K'Temoc clings to old-war orders."
"K'Ehleyr's warning that the awakened crew believe the war continues is confirmed when K'Temoc clings to old-war orders."
"K'Ehleyr's warning that the awakened crew believe the war continues is confirmed when K'Temoc clings to old-war orders."
"Picard's mandate to find a nonlethal alternative is fulfilled when Worf resolves the crisis without firing."
"Picard's mandate to find a nonlethal alternative is fulfilled when Worf resolves the crisis without firing."
"K'Ehleyr's fatalism about the impossibility of diplomacy clashes with Picard's restraint in withholding weapons."
"K'Ehleyr's fatalism about the impossibility of diplomacy clashes with Picard's restraint in withholding weapons."
"Picard's mandate to find a nonlethal alternative is fulfilled when Worf resolves the crisis without firing."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"K'EHLEYR: ...we'll have a ship full of Klingons who think the war is still going on."
"K'EHLEYR: If you ask me, talking will be a waste of time. Klingons of that era were raised to despise humans. We'll try diplomacy. But I promise you -- it won't work. And then you'll have to destroy them."
"PICARD: No."