Hull‑Eater: Discovery and Accusation
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
A fresh hole opens in the Pagh's hull as Riker walks the corridor; CAPTAIN KARGAN'S COM VOICE snaps him to attention and he changes course toward the bridge.
Riker steps onto the Pagh's bridge as KARGAN displays the damaged section on the monitor and asks him to assess the anomaly; Riker launches rapid hypotheses—meteor, corrosion—and orders analysis.
KLAG names the threat: a space organism is eating the hull and will breach too much of the shell in under eight hours, converting scientific curiosity into an imminent life‑threat.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Mask of fury — ramping from suspicion to righteous indignation; his anger functions as both defense and assertion of command.
Presides on the bridge, directs the display to be shown to Riker, dismisses benign explanations, seizes the tactics report as proof of hostile intent, and issues immediate, uncompromising combat orders.
- • Protect the ship and preserve Klingon honor
- • Respond decisively to what he perceives as an attack
- • Assert control by converting ambiguity into a clear enemy
- • Damage to the hull is an act of aggression until proven otherwise
- • Swift, overwhelming force is the correct response to perceived insults or threats
- • Allowing uncertainty to persist would be a show of weakness
Grave, urgent — focused on tangible loss of hull integrity and the immediate need to respond to a threat.
Reports the science assessment aloud, delivering the structural collapse timeline that turns curiosity into an urgent life‑safety problem; his practicality underwrites Kargan's escalation.
- • Make command aware of the technical urgency (timeline for collapse)
- • Ensure decisions account for survival of the ship
- • Provide evidence that supports a rapid response
- • The organism will continue to destroy the hull and must be treated as an immediate danger
- • Technical facts should determine tactical posture
- • Delay risks catastrophic structural failure
Alarmed and suspicious, treating the data as potentially hostile evidence rather than benign telemetry.
Runs the check on the tactics station, brings up logs showing a two‑minute intensive scan by the Enterprise, frames the scan as possible weaponization and raises alarms that feed Kargan's paranoia.
- • Present clear tactical data to inform command decisions
- • Highlight possible hostile intent in the sensor logs
- • Trigger defensive/offensive readiness if data implies attack
- • Sensor logs are reliable indicators of intent
- • An intense, targeted scan could be a weaponized action
- • Command must be informed if any contact could be an attack
Non-sentient — operates as a biological threat whose behavior forces human responses rather than having emotions.
Manifests as a hazy, corrosive colony at a small hole in the Pagh's hull, actively consuming plating and creating a cavity that alarms engineers and becomes the proximate cause of the crisis.
- • Consume surrounding hull material (ecological/chemical imperative)
- • Propagate the breach and create structural failure
- • Not applicable (organism acts on biological processes rather than beliefs)
- • Its presence will continue to worsen structural integrity unless physically removed or contained
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The hollowed cavity behind the breach is referenced by command as a fortunate containment area that prevented instantaneous decompression, but it also underlines the slow, unavoidable structural collapse timeline that drives urgent tactical debate.
The Pagh's cloaking device is named and ordered into action by Kargan as the immediate tactical response to the perceived attack; the command transforms suspicion into invisible offensive posture and signals escalation.
Bridge monitors and corridor displays present visual sensor returns and tactical logs (including the two‑minute Enterprise scan), serving as the evidentiary interface that converts a technical problem into proof — in Kargan's eyes — of hostile action.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The Pagh’s tactical log showing an 'intense scanning beam' from the Enterprise (ad1788...) is interpreted as hostile and causes Kargan to abandon analysis and order immediate military action (2c28c5...), escalating toward ambush."
"The Pagh’s tactical log showing an 'intense scanning beam' from the Enterprise (ad1788...) is interpreted as hostile and causes Kargan to abandon analysis and order immediate military action (2c28c5...), escalating toward ambush."
Key Dialogue
"KLAG: A space organism eating away at our hull. Our estimate is that in less than eight hours we will have lost too much of our shell to remain intact."
"TACTICS OFFICER: The Enterprise did conduct an intensive scan of this vessel."
"KARGAN: Intend? There is only one response. We intend to attack the Enterprise and destroy it!!"