Star Trek The Next Generation
S2E12
· The Royale

Comms Cut — The Hotel Seals the Outside World

Riker attempts a lifeline to the Enterprise, but Picard's calm, clinical voice is abruptly swallowed by static — the hotel's unseen systems deliberately sever the link. The Assistant Manager hovers, polite and watchful, converting hospitality into surveillance. The abrupt cut transforms the problem from technical mystery into existential trap: the away team is now isolated inside a self-contained narrative. This beat functions as a turning point, escalating stakes, forcing improvisation, and exposing the hotel's bureaucratic veneer as a tool of containment.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

1

Riker attempts to reestablish contact with the Enterprise, but Picard’s voice is abruptly silenced by interference, revealing the hotel’s absolute control over external communication and deepening the team’s isolation.

hope to dread ['ROYALE LOBBY']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

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William Riker
Commander
 primary

Concerned and urgent on the surface, disciplined under pressure; a rising undercurrent of frustration as external support is cut off.

Riker is actively maintaining a communications link to the Enterprise, positioned in the Royale lobby near the elevator while an assistant manager peers over his shoulder; he is the visible point of contact attempting to keep remote command informed as Picard's voice comes through and then collapses into static.

Goals in this moment
  • • Maintain and re-establish a clear communications link with the Enterprise.
  • • Gather information and buy time for his away team while assessing the interference.
Active beliefs
  • • Starfleet command (the Enterprise/Picard) can diagnose and resolve technical problems remotely.
  • • Loss of the comm link will materially increase the danger to his away team and must be avoided or mitigated.
Character traits
decisive command-focused controlled urgency
Follow William Riker's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

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Enterprise Bridge Communication Static

The Enterprise-Bridge communications feed manifests as an aural link: Picard's calm diagnostic is relayed over it, then violently interrupted by jagged static. The transmission both conveys the hope of outside assistance and, when severed, becomes the literal instrument through which the hotel asserts isolation. The static converts a lifeline into proof of containment.

Before: Open, functional two-way communications channel connecting Riker in …
After: Severed or obscured by electromagnetic interference—transmissions are choked …
Before: Open, functional two-way communications channel connecting Riker in the Royale with the Enterprise; incoming voice of Picard audible and diagnostic.
After: Severed or obscured by electromagnetic interference—transmissions are choked by static and Picard's voice is rendered unintelligible.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

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Royale Lobby Elevator

The Royale lobby near the elevator is the physical stage for the cut: mirrored doors, brass trim, and the elevator's polished presence frame Riker's attempt to reach the Enterprise. The lobby's hospitality masks surveillance—the assistant manager's proximity turns customer service into monitoring—while the enclosed, manufactured atmosphere amplifies the claustrophobic effect when the comm link dies.

Atmosphere Polite and watchful, tense under a veneer of hospitality; suddenly claustrophobic when the comms fail.
Function Meeting/communication point and spatial anchor where the away team attempts contact and where the hotel's …
Symbolism Represents the shift from outward connection to internal entrapment; the elevator-lobby nexus symbolizes both an …
Access Publicly accessible lobby but effectively monitored; freedom of movement is visually unrestricted yet functionally constrained …
Mirrored elevator doors and brass trim reflect the lobby's manufactured calm. Soft mechanical sigh of the elevator and faint tang of recycled air underline artificial hospitality. The intrusive crackle of static which drowns Picard's voice and transforms sound into a barrier.

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

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Key Dialogue

"PICARD'S COM VOICE: "Something at your location is interfering with our exchange... Working on the problem...""