Holodeck Deposition: The First Meeting Recreated
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard and Krag enter the meticulously recreated Tanugan laboratory, setting the stage for Riker's deposition.
Riker delivers a formal declaration of innocence and initiates his holographic deposition with clinical precision.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm and impressed; quietly calculating how to leverage the simulated sequence for jurisdictional leverage.
Krag enters with Picard, studies the holodeck deposition with a composed, poker-faced demeanor, and registers visible approval at the fidelity of the reconstruction while withholding judgment for evidentiary use.
- • Collect reproducible evidence to support Tanugan charges
- • Assess whether the simulation corroborates witness testimony
- • Preserve legal advantage by freezing decisive reconstruction points
- • Technical reconstructions are decisive in adjudicating disputed sequence of events
- • Objective telemetry and reenactments will trump emotional testimony
- • Jurisdictional claims must be backed by demonstrable proof
Playful, bored and confident; she enjoys unsettling her husband and exercising social power over guests.
Manua's hologram enters like a theatrical disruptor: overtly seductive, bored with Apgar's defensiveness, she flirts with Riker, takes his arm and leads him to another room — creating a sexually charged beat that complicates motive and perception.
- • Charm and distract Riker
- • Belittle or embarrass Apgar in front of visitors
- • Exert social influence to shape how the meeting is remembered
- • Her sexual charm is an effective social tool
- • Appling public embarrassment can assert moral control over Apgar
- • Riker's composure indicates he is unaffected by flirtation
Irritable and guarded; feels pressure from external oversight and embarrassment from his wife's behavior.
Apgar's hologram 'comes to life' as an older, brusque scientist: impatient, defensive, and mildly hostile to the early arrival of Starfleet officers while insisting the meeting proceed on his terms.
- • Control the meeting's pace and tone
- • Deflect pressure concerning his research setbacks
- • Protect his professional autonomy from Starfleet intervention
- • External assessment threatens his ownership of the work
- • He must downplay setbacks or risk interference
- • His wife's social behavior undermines his credibility
Businesslike and slightly anxious; intent on ensuring data access and following Apgar's direction.
Tayna's hologram performs the role of helpful assistant: she leads Geordi to the condenser array, explains the Lambda Field generator's logistical constraint, and offers access to experimental records in a deferential, professional tone.
- • Provide accurate technical information to La Forge
- • Facilitate a smooth inspection of experimental hardware
- • Support Apgar while obeying visiting officers' requests
- • Transparency with data will satisfy visiting officers
- • Following Apgar's instructions preserves her position
- • Technical specifications (like the five-thousand-kilometer limit) are central to dispute resolution
Calm, approving outwardly; quietly focused and mildly protective of Riker while committed to an impartial investigation.
Picard steps to the center of the holodeck recreation, nods approval, prompts Riker to speak, and watches the deposition with judicial attention — simultaneously evaluating evidence and protecting his first officer.
- • Ensure the deposition runs cleanly and follows Starfleet procedure
- • Observe the simulation for factual inconsistencies that will defend Riker
- • Maintain command credibility while negotiating with Krag
- • Due process and objective reconstruction are the best paths to truth
- • Riker deserves the benefit of procedural protections
- • Holodeck reconstructions can reveal actionable discrepancies
Defensive and composed on the surface; inwardly uncomfortable and anxious about implications but determined to stick to duty-bound truth.
Riker initiates and narrates the deposition program in a deliberately flat, businesslike voice: he states he is not a murderer and frames his visit as official Starfleet duty, remaining restrained even as Manua's flirtation embarrasses him.
- • Assert and preserve his innocence
- • Frame his presence as official evaluation of the converter
- • Avoid appearing personally involved with Apgar or Manua
- • He acted properly and according to Starfleet protocol
- • A clear, unemotional statement will best protect him
- • Technical facts will vindicate his account
Curious and clinically engaged; focused on correlating physical evidence with the timeline Riker provides.
Geordi's hologram materializes and follows Tayna to inspect the condenser array and experimental readouts, listening to technical exposition and silently cataloging the laboratory's capabilities and constraints.
- • Verify the experimental setup and telemetry possibilities
- • Collect technical details that might explain the accident
- • Support Riker by assessing Apgar's claims
- • Instrument readouts will reveal causal mechanisms
- • Precise technical details are essential to prove or disprove culpability
- • His examination can help vindicate the Enterprise crew
Clinical and impersonal; no emotion, strictly functional.
The Shipboard Computer responds to Riker's command, loading and running the deposition program and animating holographic participants; it behaves as the unemotional conductor of the reconstruction.
- • Execute the commanded holodeck deposition faithfully
- • Present data and holographic reenactment without bias
- • Preserve logs and telemetry for later review
- • Program inputs define output fidelity
- • Objective playback assists investigative processes
- • All actions must be logged and repeatable
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The medium-sized power reactor occupies a corner of the simulated lab and functions as environmental context — suggesting the power requirements for Apgar's apparatus and framing the meeting's technical stakes.
Apgar's Lambda Field generator is referenced explicitly by Tayna to explain experimental constraints (notably the five-thousand-kilometer collimation requirement), anchoring the technical narrative and undermining simplistic motive or accidental-weapon theories.
The compact field coils are visible in the holodeck lab as part of the condenser array; they serve as tactile, visual anchors for the reconstruction and technical exposition, drawing Geordi and Tayna to inspect experiment hardware details that feed the investigation.
Holodeck laboratory consoles and readouts are instrumental: they host the deposition program, display telemetry and records, and permit participants to 'freeze' or replay segments — functioning as the literal interface between memory, evidence, and adjudication.
The refractors form part of the background energy-focusing array in the simulated lab, providing environmental credibility to the reconstruction and helping illustrate where energy was directed during Apgar's experiments.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Tanugan laboratory is recreated inside the holodeck as the setting for the deposition: clinical benches, banks of consoles, humming condensers and a medium reactor are rendered to produce a faithful forensic stage where interpersonal dynamics and technical data intersect.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Manua's dramatic entrance in Riker's deposition contrasts with her supportive role in Apgar's simulation, both exploring how perspective changes truth."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: Is there anything you'd like to say before we begin, Number One?"
"RIKER: Just this. I'm not a murderer. I went to the Tanugan lab as an official representative of Starfleet. ... Computer. Load deposition program, Riker One."
"MANUA: Don't be in such a hurry, dear..."