Probe Ultimatum — Offer of Data, Challenge to Credibility
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
DaiMon Goss accuses Picard and the Federation of manipulating negotiations and exerting unfair influence over the wormhole exploration, escalating tensions.
Picard attempts to defuse the situation by offering to share the wormhole exploration results with all delegates.
Riker challenges Goss to send his own probe into the wormhole if he distrusts the Federation, further stoking the confrontation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not emotionally present in the scene; functionally implicated via command — presumed composed and ready to follow orders.
Data is referenced by Picard as a sensor and piloting asset to be kept from interfering with Goss's threatened probe; he is not present onstage but is immediately implicated in the operational posture Picard orders.
- • Execute any orders from command regarding probe monitoring or non‑interference
- • Provide accurate sensor data if tasked
- • Maintain ship safety through disciplined procedural action
- • Commands from the captain are to be executed reliably
- • Objective sensor data is crucial for resolving disputes
- • Non‑interference can be a safer tactical posture in ambiguous situations
Righteously indignant — anger and offended pride fuel his threat-making, masking commercial calculation and willingness to escalate.
DaiMon Goss loudly accuses the Federation of scheming and announces his intent to launch a Ferengi probe, threatening unilateral action and exiting with his entourage when challenged; he deliberately frames the dispute as moral outrage layered over commercial suspicion.
- • Undermine the Federation's moral authority in the negotiations
- • Secure independent access to the wormhole for Ferengi advantage
- • Signal to his followers and the delegates that he will act decisively
- • The Federation exploits diplomatic structures for unfair technical advantage
- • Public posturing and bold threats are effective negotiation tools
- • If he shows resolve, others will yield or fear interfering
Controlled and concerned — externally composed while privately aware of the political and operational stakes, briefly distracted by an urgent medical summons.
Picard plays the calm moderator attempting to defuse Goss's accusation by offering full transparency, then gives a crisp operational order to keep Data and La Forge from interfering; his attention is split when Sickbay summons him via com, which he acknowledges by keying his insignia.
- • Contain a diplomatic escalation and preserve Federation credibility
- • Prevent unilateral escalation or dangerous action around the wormhole
- • Maintain procedural transparency by offering to share data with delegates
- • Institutional transparency reduces conflict and preserves trust
- • Operational caution is necessary where lives and politics intersect
- • Delegates (and Premier Bhavani) will accept objective data over bluster
Assertive and clipped — focused on forcing accountability and removing ambiguity from a political threat.
Riker refuses to let the dispute remain rhetorical—he punctures Goss's accusation with a tactical challenge to prove it, turning diplomatic posturing into a concrete test (send your probe). He acknowledges Picard's instruction to keep engineering and sensors out of the Ferengi's way.
- • Force Goss to make his threat tangible and therefore testable
- • Protect Enterprise systems and personnel by keeping them out of potential conflict
- • Clarify intentions quickly to reduce strategic uncertainty
- • Confrontation must be resolved through verifiable action, not rhetoric
- • Allowing an antagonistic party to act unchecked risks crew safety
- • A direct challenge will expose bluster and reveal true intent
Alert and professionally constrained — implied readiness to act but directed to stand down to avoid escalation.
La Forge is named alongside Data as an engineering/sensor resource Picard tells to avoid interfering; like Data he is offstage but his capabilities and potential actions are central to the tactical calculus being discussed.
- • Comply with command to avoid dangerous interference
- • Preserve Enterprise engineering integrity and crew safety
- • Remain prepared to reengage if ordered
- • Engineering solutions must serve command strategy and crew safety
- • Unilateral action by other parties increases mission risk
- • Following orders reduces chaotic escalation
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The idea of a Ferengi-launched probe functions as the threatened instrument that converts diplomatic accusation into an operational test; Goss declares he will 'send in your own probe' (his own probe), making the probe both a credibility measure and a potential navigational hazard around the wormhole.
Picard keys his Starfleet insignia to acknowledge Dr. Crusher's com call, using the badge as a tactile communication device that shifts his attention away from the Ready Room confrontation and outward toward an urgent medical duty.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Sickbay intrudes into the Ready Room via a com call, creating a competing duty for Picard and reframing the political dispute as something secondary to an immediate medical need; its invocation pulls authoritative attention away from the standoff.
The Barzan Wormhole is the contested objective and the implicit reason for Goss's accusation and threat; it functions offstage as the dangerous prize that motivates probe launches and political jockeying.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"GOSS: You attempt to gain every unfair advantage, Picard..."
"PICARD: We will gladly share the results of our exploration with all the delegates..."
"RIKER: Then send in your own probe, Goss."