Away Team Confronts Enigmatic Barrier at Shuttle Crash Site
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The away team beams down near the buried shuttle on desolate Vagra 2 and begins scanning the crash site, sensing an eerie stillness as Tasha assesses the terrain and life signs.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Alert and determined to protect the team while apprehensive about the unknown nature of the obstruction.
Tasha Yar conducts sensor readings while leading the team cautiously around the viscous mass, alertly assessing danger and adjusting the team's path to avoid direct confrontation, maintaining vigilance throughout the uncertain approach.
- • Ensure the away team's safety while advancing toward the shuttle.
- • Gather sensor data to understand the threat and inform tactical decisions.
- • The viscous mass poses a potential threat and requires cautious avoidance.
- • Priority is to reach survivors without provoking unnecessary conflict.
Controlled and authoritative, balancing concern for the away team with steady leadership under pressure.
Captain Picard maintains command from the Enterprise bridge, receiving reports from Riker, issuing orders to maintain open communication, and pressing for situational awareness as the away team confronts the unknown obstruction.
- • Support the away team’s rescue mission with tactical oversight.
- • Maintain open communication to adapt quickly to emerging threats.
- • The unknown barrier is a significant threat requiring cautious but decisive action.
- • The safety of the away team and survivors depends on coordinated efforts.
Analytical and composed, maintaining objective scientific detachment amid an uncertain and potentially hostile environment.
Data performs detailed tricorder scans on the black viscous mass, providing scientific analysis that reveals the entity lacks any known biological systems, though may possess some form of life, and notes its reactive behavior as it blocks the team’s path.
- • Gather data to classify and understand the nature of the viscous mass.
- • Assist the team’s navigation by providing real-time analysis.
- • The entity represents an unknown form of life or intelligence beyond current Federation knowledge.
- • Scientific understanding may provide leverage in safely confronting this obstacle.
Malicious and taunting, exuding a cruel and calculating presence as it asserts dominance over the crew.
Armus, the malevolent black viscous mass, actively and silently blocks every approach the away team attempts, then lifts itself to taunt Data verbally, revealing its sentience, hostility, and cruel intent.
- • Prevent the away team from reaching the shuttle crash site.
- • Intimidate and psychologically torment the crew to maintain control.
- • The crew are intruders to be repelled and punished.
- • Its power and invulnerability make it dominant and unstoppable.
Cautiously concerned with a mounting sense of urgency and uncertainty about the nature of the obstruction.
Commander Riker leads the away team with cautious determination, communicates via his communicator with Captain Picard to report the unexpected obstacle, and attempts to interpret and bypass the enigmatic viscous mass blocking access to the shuttle crash site.
- • Safely reach the crashed shuttle to rescue survivors.
- • Understand and circumvent the mysterious barrier blocking their path.
- • The obstruction is likely a deliberate, sentient barrier rather than a natural phenomenon.
- • The lives of Troi and Prieto depend on the away team's ability to overcome this threat.
Concerned for the potential survivors yet composed and focused on the medical mission.
Dr. Beverly Crusher participates actively in the away mission, urging the team onward based on faint life signs detected near the crash site, maintaining focus on the medical urgency despite the growing unknown danger.
- • Reach and provide medical aid to any survivors at the crash site.
- • Support the team’s progress while monitoring environmental hazards.
- • There are survivors whose lives depend on prompt medical intervention.
- • The team must navigate the danger carefully to avoid casualties.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The away team members have their phasers ready in a defensive posture as they encounter the unknown mass, signaling their preparedness for hostile engagement despite the uncertainty of the threat’s nature, underscoring the tension and danger of the situation.
Data uses the Starfleet tricorder repeatedly to scan the black viscous mass blocking the away team’s path, attempting to identify its biological or structural nature. The tricorder provides inconclusive results, revealing no known cellular or biological signatures, deepening the mystery and emphasizing the entity’s alien and unfathomable nature.
Commander Riker’s communicator serves as the critical link to Captain Picard aboard the Enterprise, enabling real-time communication and situational reporting about the unexpected obstacle blocking their mission, thereby maintaining command coordination and support.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The crashed shuttlecraft on Vagra 2 is the focal point of the away team’s mission, partially buried and obscured by rocks. It contains faint life signs of survivors, providing the urgent motivation to push through the hostile obstacle presented by Armus.
The hill near the shuttle crash site serves as the immediate physical environment where the away team beams down and attempts their approach toward the buried shuttle. Its rocky, desolate terrain, obscured by flood-damaged rocks and rubble, presents natural obstacles compounded by the malevolent viscous mass, shaping the tactical challenge and atmospheric tension.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"TASHA: Ben must have had no control left, otherwise he would have picked a better spot."
"RIKER: What is it?"
"DATA: Inconclusive, sir. I cannot tell you what it is—only what it is not."
"RIKER: Analysis, Mister Data."
"DATA: There is no evidence of neural or circulatory systems. No internal organs. Cellular structure unknown. It does not have any proteins which are known to us."
"RIKER: Then what's causing it to move?"
"DATA: Perhaps we are. It appears to be following us, sir."
"RIKER: No readings of intelligence. No brain as we know it. But evidence of thought, Mister Data?"
"DATA: Insufficient information."
"PICARD'S COM VOICE: Number One, can you beam around it?"
"RIKER: Negative, not enough room, sir. It seems to be trying to keep us away from the shuttle."
"PICARD'S COM VOICE: Data, is it alive?"
"DATA: It is possible. It possesses two of the requisites for life."
"ARMUS (shrieking): Very good, tin man."