Data's Evacuation Plea Rejected; Ard'rian Offers an Alliance
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data introduces himself to Gosheven and the colonists, stating his mission to prepare for evacuation, which immediately sparks tension as Gosheven dismisses the idea.
Gosheven challenges Data's authority, asserting the colony's right to remain due to their ancestors' survival, while Data counters with the treaty's legal implications, escalating the confrontation.
Gosheven remains unmoved by Data's warning of potential eradication by the Sheliak, while Haritath and Kentor show concern, highlighting a divide in leadership and colonists' reactions to the threat.
Data is rebuffed as Gosheven refuses evacuation, forcing Data to reassess his approach amidst Gosheven's stubborn pride, creating a critical turning point in the negotiation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Intrigued and quietly defiant; attracted to novelty and morally impatient with Gosheven's stubbornness.
Ard'rian playfully tests Data's reflexes by throwing an iron bar, verbalizes fascination with his cybernetics, bristles at Gosheven's condescension, then quietly offers her name and assistance and leads Data away from Gosheven to talk privately.
- • Gain Data's trust and help him learn about the colony.
- • Undermine Gosheven's unilateral authority by creating alternate channels of influence.
- • Use technical curiosity and practical skills to protect her community.
- • Data is a reliable and valuable source of information and capability.
- • Gosheven's pride is a threat to the people's survival.
- • Practical action and personal alliances can achieve what formal arguments cannot.
Ambivalent—torn between communal pride and the creeping realization of existential risk, producing a tense, uncertain mood.
The gathered colonists and workers react to Data's proclamation with visible surprise, murmurs, and divided reactions—some visibly proud of their accomplishments, others unsettled and quietly fearful as leadership debates continue.
- • Maintain cohesion and the gains of their labor under their chosen leadership.
- • Avoid precipitous decisions that could destroy the colony's identity.
- • Seek reassurance from leaders whether local or external about survival prospects.
- • Their century of labor justifies their claim to the land.
- • Outsiders lack full appreciation of the community's sacrifices and resilience.
- • Leadership (Gosheven) should guide them through crises.
Amused and contemptuous outwardly; inwardly resolute and protective of communal legacy, treating evacuation as an unacceptable surrender.
Gosheven supervises water testing at the pumping station, listens to Data with a poker face, dismisses the Sheliak claim, asserts the colony's century-long occupation as ownership, and flatly rejects evacuation, returning to his work to signal finality.
- • Maintain the colony's claim to the land and preserve social order under his leadership.
- • Prevent panic and avoid ceding control or legitimacy to outside authorities.
- • Signal stoic continuity to the colonists so they remain unified under his command.
- • Long-standing occupation and hard-won accomplishments give the colony rightful ownership.
- • The Sheliak are either bluff or irrelevant because no one has ever seen them.
- • Evacuation is a form of surrender that would dishonor ancestors and destroy the colony's identity.
Worried and vulnerable; fear of repeating past losses underlies a readiness to accept outside help despite deference to local leadership.
Haritath escorts Data to Gosheven, raises historical trauma about radiation losses, listens to Data's warning with visible alarm, and exchanges worried looks with Kentor as Gosheven refuses evacuation.
- • Protect the colonists from repeat catastrophe.
- • Convince Gosheven or others to take the Sheliak threat seriously.
- • Facilitate communication between Starfleet and the community.
- • The colony has previously suffered from radiation and is vulnerable.
- • Outside expertise (Starfleet) is potentially trustworthy and useful.
- • Gosheven's pride could endanger lives if unchecked.
Concerned and uneasy, balancing respect for tradition with pragmatic fears for the community's future.
Kentor accompanies Haritath and Data, acknowledges the colony's survival and prosperity aloud, watches Gosheven's dismissal with concern, and shares a worried glance indicating internal conflict about obedience versus survival.
- • Preserve the community's survival even if it requires difficult choices.
- • Mediate between Gosheven's authority and outside advice.
- • Find a consensual pathway that avoids bloodshed and preserves as much as possible.
- • The colony's material achievements are meaningful but secondary to survival.
- • Authority should be responsive to credible external threats.
- • Collective well-being may necessitate changing course from past decisions.
Determined and procedural on the surface; quietly frustrated by human stubbornness, but intrigued by social cues and personally motivated to find a humane solution.
Data formally identifies himself as a Starfleet officer, delivers the evacuation order citing the Sheliak treaty, provides clinical exposition about the alien threat, catches and examines Ard'rian's thrown iron bar, and consents to follow her away from Gosheven to gather cultural detail.
- • Convince the colony to accept and prepare for evacuation before the Sheliak deadline.
- • Gather information about the colony's social dynamics and infrastructure to plan a feasible contingency.
- • Find a human interlocutor who can bypass Gosheven and persuade the populace.
- • The Sheliak–Federation treaty is legally binding and places the planet under Sheliak domain.
- • The Sheliak are implacable and will annihilate uncooperative colonists.
- • A logical presentation of facts and consequences should prompt reasonable actors to evacuate.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Ard'rian hurls the short iron bar at Data as an impromptu test of reflexes and curiosity. Data catches and inspects it, transforming a playful gesture into a bridge between machine and human. The bar functions as a prop that humanizes Data and catalyzes Ard'rian's private alliance with him.
The colony ship Artemis is invoked in dialogue as the original vessel whose navigational failure explains why humans settled here; it operates narratively as historical evidence for Data's claim that the settlers were intended for Septimis Minor.
The colony aqueduct and its purifying pool form the physical center of the scene: Gosheven supervises water testing there, the station is a concrete demonstration of the colony's engineering accomplishments and becomes the rhetorical backdrop for claims of ownership and survival.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Septimis Minor is referenced by Data as the Artemis' intended destination, serving as an absent geographic anchor that legitimizes the Federation's legal claim and contrasts the colonists' lived reality with an official manifest.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Ard'rian's initial offer of assistance to Data creates the foundation for their growing relationship that culminates in the goodbye kiss."
"Ard'rian's initial offer of assistance to Data creates the foundation for their growing relationship that culminates in the goodbye kiss."
"Data's initial diplomatic approach to Gosheven escalates to direct confrontation when he stuns Gosheven's defenders and destroys the aqueduct."
"Data's initial diplomatic approach to Gosheven escalates to direct confrontation when he stuns Gosheven's defenders and destroys the aqueduct."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "My mission is to prepare this colony for evacuation.""
"GOSHEVEN: "We're not evacuating.""
"ARD'RIAN: "I'm Ard'rian McKenzie. Perhaps I can help you.""