Two-Second Gambit — Picard's Moral Pivot
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard warns Riker he’ll be defenseless; Riker detonates hope with a reveal—Hathaway can manage a two‑second warp burst—leaving Picard startled and Kolrami sputtering “Impossible.”
Picard salutes Riker’s ingenuity and pivots hard into strategy, signaling he needs Data to help work out a plan.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Hostile and impatient; applying coercive pressure to force a surrender or capture.
Referenced off‑screen by Riker, Bractor functions as the external Ferengi commander whose closing approach and threat produce the ten‑minute pressure framing the decision; his presence is conveyed through menace rather than direct lines in the scene.
- • seize the Hathaway if feasible
- • intimidate Starfleet into surrender or payment
- • exploit tactical advantage to secure profit
- • threat and force will produce compliance
- • vulnerable ships are fair targets for Ferengi acquisition
- • Starfleet will prioritize preservation of its flagship
Professional alertness; steady and duty‑bound rather than emotionally reactive.
Burke reports tactical capability (limited photon torpedoes) and flags incoming hail from Riker, functioning as the bridge's procedural sensor — concise, alert, and focused on delivering options to the captain.
- • ensure Picard has accurate tactical options
- • maintain bridge situational awareness
- • relay critical communications without delay
- • clear, timely information aids decisive command decisions
- • weapons availability is a meaningful tactical variable
- • chain‑of‑command must be preserved through precise reporting
Initially cold and superior, then briefly shaken and defensive when his model is contradicted.
Kolrami delivers a flat, strategic judgment that the Hathaway is expendable, projecting intellectual certainty; he is then visibly stunned and uncharacteristically rattled when Riker claims a hidden warp capability.
- • assert intellectual dominance over Starfleet command decisions
- • validate his strategic calculus that sacrifices are necessary for overall victory
- • efficiency and strategic analysis trump sentiment
- • his expertise should determine outcomes in tactical dilemmas
- • technical claims that contradict his analysis are likely false or irrelevant
Pressured and conflicted; outwardly controlled but internally balancing guilt for the miscalculation with urgency to save lives.
As commanding officer Picard records a supplemental log, solicits options, hears Kolrami's cold counsel and Riker's unexpected claim, then pivots to consult Data — holding authority steady while visibly recalculating strategy.
- • preserve as many lives as possible (Enterprise and Hathaway crews)
- • maintain command authority and procedural legitimacy
- • find a technically feasible solution before the Ferengi ultimatum expires
- • technical expertise (Data) can create options where protocol fails
- • Starfleet duty requires protecting crew even at risk to the ship
- • Kolrami's cold logic must be weighed but not blindly followed
Clinically neutral and prepared to compute probabilities; any emotional response is suppressed in favor of calculation.
Mentioned by Picard as the officer to be consulted, Data is invoked as the analytic instrument who will quantify risks, test the two‑second warp claim, and craft an executable gambit — his presence is procedural and technical rather than emotional.
- • analyze the feasibility and risks of the two‑second warp maneuver
- • provide Picard with precise technical recommendations
- • execute diagnostic and computational tasks to enable a tactical plan
- • technical problems are solvable through calculation and diagnostics
- • accurate data reduces uncertainty in moral decisions
- • he must fulfill Picard's request impartially and efficiently
Resolute and quietly proud; willing to accept grave risk to protect the Enterprise and his own crew.
Riker hails from the Hathaway, accepts that the Enterprise must be saved but announces with pride a risky workaround — a limited two‑second warp — offering Picard a new tactical variable and signaling resolve to attempt survival for his crew.
- • provide Picard an option that preserves the Enterprise
- • attempt to save the Hathaway's crew by exploiting a technical loophole
- • demonstrate competence and trustworthiness under fire
- • there exists a technical solution that can be risked to save lives
- • his crew can execute a desperate maneuver successfully
- • Picard must be given an honest option rather than a forced sacrifice
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Enterprise Bridge Main Viewer shifts to display Riker on the Hathaway bridge, enabling direct visual communication. It functions as the conduit through which Riker's revelation and Kolrami's reaction are dramatized for the bridge crew.
Picard's supplemental captain's log plays as an active narrative device, framing the moral stakes and recording his admission of error; it tightens attention on the bridge and legitimizes the weight of the imminent decision.
The Hathaway's warp drive functions as the story's technical MacGuffin: officially reported as crippled, yet Riker asserts a limited two‑second burst exists. Its contested condition creates the dramatic pivot that undermines Kolrami's certainty and forces technical analysis.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Ferengi craft is the aggressive antagonist committing the withering attack and issuing an ultimatum, its approach compressing time and coercing Picard into a public moral choice under fire.
The derelict USS Hathaway is the endangered locus of forty crew members and the ostensible object of tactical sacrifice. Its crippled appearance and reported warp‑inactivity create the moral fulcrum; Riker's hail from its bridge reframes its status and options.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD ((V.O.)): Captain's log, supplemental. Due to a grave miscalculation on my part, the Enterprise has been subjected to a withering attack by the Ferengi. I find myself with little time to decide the fate of forty of my crew stranded aboard the derelict Hathaway."
"KOLRAMI: I have given you my advice, Captain. The Hathaway is expendable."
"RIKER ((with pride)): We have a limited, two-second warp capability."