Tasha and Data Destroy Weapon, Lose Contact, Picard and Beverly Plunge Underground
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
On the surface, Tasha struggles to target the evasive Minos weapon that anticipates and dodges her shots; she coordinates with Data to set a kill shot, successfully destroying the threat.
Tasha calls for Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher with no response; Data reports a communicator malfunction likely caused by the weapon’s close pass, severing contact with the Enterprise and escalating isolation and danger.
Tasha resolves to continue searching for Picard and Crusher while Data resumes working on freeing Riker from the cube, maintaining focus amid rising peril.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Alert and resolute with underlying tension; balancing offensive action with urgent search and rescue priorities.
Lieutenant Tasha Yar maintains vigilant security posture, firing at the evasive weapon while quickly realizing the failure of communications. She resolves to abandon the rescue temporarily to search the jungle for Picard and Beverly.
- • Eliminate the immediate threat posed by the automated weapon
- • Locate and rescue Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher after their disappearance
- • Preserve the safety of the away team through careful vigilance
- • Hostile tech must be destroyed swiftly to protect the team
- • Communication loss demands increased personal initiative
- • Every team member’s survival is paramount
Alert and focused on battlefield monitoring, ready to support from afar.
From the Enterprise bridge, Worf monitors energy readings related to the away team’s encounter, alert and reporting changes to assist command decision-making.
- • Provide accurate sensor data to the command team
- • Assist in tactical decisions during the crisis
- • Maintain readiness for further threats
- • Situational awareness is crucial for ship and team safety
- • Technical data drives effective command responses
Urgent concern mixed with resolute determination; balancing command responsibility and immediate physical rescue with heightened anxiety for his crew’s safety.
Captain Picard materializes alongside Dr. Crusher, quickly assessing Riker’s encasement and supporting the medical officer. He immediately reacts to Beverly’s fall, attempting a desperate rescue as the ground collapses beneath them, then frantically digs to free her in the darkness of the cavern.
- • Ensure Beverly Crusher’s survival and rescue her from the cavern
- • Support the team by managing crises on the surface and below
- • Safeguard Commander Riker by facilitating removal of his encasement
- • Every crew member’s life is invaluable and must be protected
- • Technological threats must be neutralized methodically but swiftly
- • His leadership requires personal courage and presence in danger
Measured composure with heightened alertness; prioritizing tactical problem solving amid emergent threats.
Data methodically analyzes the lucinium encasement trapping Riker with his tricorder and carefully adjusts his phaser to assist Tasha in neutralizing the evasive automated weapon. Calm and precise, he perseveres despite the sudden chaos around him.
- • Free Commander Riker from the intelligence-gathering casing safely
- • Assist Tasha in eliminating the hostile automated weapon
- • Maintain situational awareness despite communication failures
- • Logical problem-solving is the best response to danger
- • Team survival depends on neutralizing technological threats
- • Communication is vital, but self-reliance is necessary when compromised
Frustrated and helpless due to physical entrapment, possibly anxious about team’s safety.
Commander Riker remains incapacitated, immobilized inside the solid intelligence-gathering encasement. He is voiceless and vulnerable, reliant on Data’s efforts for rescue and unaware of the surrounding chaos.
- • Endure captivity until freed
- • Trust in the team’s rescue efforts
- • Maintain mental composure despite incapacitation
- • Team will not abandon him despite his vulnerability
- • The encasement is dangerous but surmountable
- • Remaining calm is necessary to survive
Startled and vulnerable, likely experiencing pain and disorientation; relying heavily on Picard and the team for rescue.
Dr. Beverly Crusher appears startled and vulnerable during the weapon’s attack, ultimately falling into the sinkhole and becoming buried beneath sand and rocks. Her incapacitated state heightens the urgency of rescue efforts.
- • Survive the fall and subsequent entrapment
- • Receive medical aid as soon as possible
- • Maintain hope for rescue despite incapacitation
- • Trust in her captain and team to save her
- • Medical knowledge will be critical once freed
- • The hostile environment is unpredictable and dangerous
Concentrated and calm, committed to providing reliable data under pressure.
Lieutenant Geordi La Forge communicates sensor readings from the Enterprise to Picard’s team, maintaining focused support and enhancing situational awareness during escalating hostilities.
- • Deliver precise sensor information to assist away team
- • Support command operations amid unfolding crisis
- • Help coordinate defensive measures from the ship
- • Data accuracy underpins mission success
- • Technological support is vital during away missions
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Riker and Data’s hand phasers are actively used to engage the evasive Minos automated weapon. Data adjusts his phaser settings to 'kill' and combines fire with Tasha Yar, successfully neutralizing the threat, underscoring their tactical coordination under pressure.
The phaser blast explosion caused by combined fire from Tasha and Data disrupts communications and destabilizes the terrain, triggering the sinkhole that causes Beverly and Picard’s fall, marking a critical escalation in danger and isolation.
The Starfleet tricorders provide critical scanning and diagnostic data enabling Data to analyze Riker’s encasement and monitor the hostile terrain. They function as essential tools for situational awareness and technological investigation throughout the event.
The Ersalrope Wars Interrogation Cube imprisons Commander Riker in a solid, intelligent casing designed for containment and data extraction. Data carefully examines and works to remove this device, which immobilizes Riker and complicates rescue efforts amid external threats.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The subterranean cavern beneath Minos’ surface becomes a claustrophobic prison for Beverly Crusher and Captain Picard after the sudden sinkhole collapse. It isolates them physically and emotionally, steeped in darkness and unstable rubble, amplifying the peril and urgency of rescue.
The dense jungle foliage of Minos serves as the perilous battleground where the away team contends with the evasive weapon and environmental hazards. Its thick undergrowth conceals threats and complicates movement, contributing to the team’s separation and escalating danger.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The attack forcing Picard and Crusher into the sinkhole precipitates their fall into the cavern and subsequent injuries, significantly escalating the peril."
"The attack forcing Picard and Crusher into the sinkhole precipitates their fall into the cavern and subsequent injuries, significantly escalating the peril."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The initial encasement of Riker in the cube is immediately followed by Picard and Crusher arriving to assess and attempt rescue, continuing the rising tension on the surface."
"The attack forcing Picard and Crusher into the sinkhole precipitates their fall into the cavern and subsequent injuries, significantly escalating the peril."
"The attack forcing Picard and Crusher into the sinkhole precipitates their fall into the cavern and subsequent injuries, significantly escalating the peril."
"Picard tending to Beverly's severe injuries immediately follows their fall, emphasizing the shift to medical and survival urgency in the cavern."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: What is it?"
"DATA: The encasing material appears to be solid..."
"TASHA: This one is different."
"TASHA: It's evasive. Data -- I need you. Set your phaser on kill. I'll fire so that it will move left, and you get it."
"DATA: Captain Picard. I have a malfunction."
"TASHA: Enterprise, this is Lieutenant Yar. (no response) Mine's out too."