Severing the Parasitic Link
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard demands technical confirmation of the apparition's energy source, shifting focus to scientific containment strategy.
Data and La Forge reveal the entity's parasitic energy link to the ship, exposing a critical vulnerability.
Riker connects the technical data to the apparition's motives, revealing its need to abduct Jeremy via transporter.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Measured and resolute—calm outwardly but carrying the moral weight of denying comfort to a grieving child in order to protect the ship.
Captain Picard synthesizes technical information and moral obligation, pauses to weigh options, then issues the decisive order to proceed with the countermeasure that severs the apparition's energy link.
- • Protect the Enterprise from a parasitic external threat
- • Prevent the apparition from abducting the boy via the Transporter
- • Convert technical diagnosis into immediate, enforceable action
- • The safety of the ship and crew takes precedence over individual comfort
- • Technical solutions can and should be enacted swiftly when lives are at stake
- • Command must act decisively to close vulnerabilities
Clinically curious and focused; emotionally neutral while aware that his information will drive a consequential decision.
Data delivers the forensic reading: sensors show the planetary beam is tapping into the ship's antimatter. He frames the problem analytically, providing the factual basis for the engineering response.
- • Provide accurate sensor analysis to inform command decisions
- • Clarify the nature of the energy link for engineering remedies
- • Reliable data is the necessary foundation for effective action
- • Objectively describing the threat is a form of service to the crew
Urgent and protective—he balances tactical clarity with immediate concern for the boy's psychological safety.
Riker connects the technical vulnerability to tactical risk, stating that the apparition needs the Transporter to remove the boy. He initiates psychological containment by ordering Troi to stand by, blending operational urgency with concern for the child's welfare.
- • Ensure the Transporter cannot be used to abduct the boy
- • Prepare counseling support to prevent the boy from being manipulated
- • Threats to personnel require both tactical and psychological responses
- • Coordinated action across departments (engineering, counseling) is essential
Alert and ready—emotionally available, bracing to intervene in a child's grief and foreseeable manipulation.
Although not speaking in this excerpt, Troi is ordered by Riker to stand by; her presence is mobilized as the psychological containment resource for the boy should the crew need to deny the apparition's illusion.
- • Be prepared to provide immediate psychological support to the boy
- • Contain the apparition's emotional influence through counseling tactics
- • Emotional harm can be as dangerous as physical harm and must be addressed
- • Her skills are needed to protect a vulnerable child during crisis
Focused and purposeful; pragmatically engaged with the problem and confident in a technical fix.
Geordi interprets Data's scan into an engineering solution: the manifestation runs on Enterprise energy and can likely be cut off by tuning shield harmonics to the antimatter containment fields; he recommends immediate alteration of settings.
- • Identify a viable engineering countermeasure to sever the beam
- • Protect ship systems and deny the entity access to antimatter resources
- • Engineering interventions can neutralize threats quickly
- • Systemic vulnerabilities must be closed proactively to avoid exploitation
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Enterprise Transporter System is identified as the intended vector for the apparition to abduct the boy; Riker explicitly links the entity's need for the Transporter to its motive, putting transporter operations on tactical notice and prompting psychological and engineering countermeasures.
The Shield Harmonics Control is proposed as the engineering tool to sever the planetary beam: Geordi recommends adjusting harmonics so they match antimatter containment fields, which would break the beam's lock and deprive the manifestation of power.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "The beam from the planet is clearly tapping into the ship's anti-matter, Captain...""
"GEORDI: "I'd say it's running the manifestation off our own energy.""
"RIKER: "That's why she needs the Transporter to get the boy off the ship.""
"PICARD: "Proceed.""
"RIKER: "Troi, stand by...""