Crisp Bills, Concealed Barrel
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard lays down Hill’s rates; Slade peels off crisp hundreds, jabs a finger into Picard’s chest, and stakes payment on finding Alva.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Determined and impatient; pragmatic about payment and focused on the need to recover his sister, with an undercurrent of urgency.
Slade produces several crisp hundred-dollar bills, pokes Picard to emphasize seriousness, promises more when his sister Alva is found, then exits. His departure and heavy footsteps catalyze the immediate ambush that follows.
- • ensure Picard/Hill accepts and pursues the job
- • provide immediate motivation (money) to prompt action
- • leave quickly to avoid entanglement or confrontation
- • Money is the primary lever to compel action
- • Picard (as Hill) will be motivated to find Alva for the promised reward
- • The matter of Alva's disappearance requires discrete, paid solutions rather than public complaint
Initially amused and confidently in control; shifts rapidly to alertness, then surprise and immediate, acute mortal peril; beneath the surface remains stoic resolve.
Picard accepts payment, fingers a bill with ironic amusement, exchanges terse banter with Slade, then pivots and is suddenly confronted from behind. He attempts verbal control, then executes a quick defensive punch before being struck by a close-range gunshot; the scene ends on his stunned reaction.
- • secure Slade's payment and accept the job
- • maintain the Dixon Hill persona and composure
- • defuse or survive the sudden threat
- • protect himself long enough to learn who attacked and why
- • He can handle a tough street-level threat with skill and wit
- • Slade's money and case are legitimate and worth taking
- • His Holodeck persona gives him room to act boldly without real consequence
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Cigarette smoke issues from the assailant's newly lit cigarette, thickening the noir atmosphere and visually masking details of the man's face while signaling menace. The smoke punctuates the pause before the ambush and helps the assailant blend into shadow.
A compact concealed handgun is pressed into Picard's back by the assailant to coerce information about Slade Bender. It functions as the immediate instrument of threat and, after Picard's defensive move, is used to fire the lethal shot that escalates the scene from intimidation to attempted murder.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The narrow, noir hallway acts as the closing threshold outside Dixon Hill's office where the private transaction becomes public danger. Its scuffed tiles, sputtering bulb, and confined geometry funnel movement, amplify sound, and turn the corridor into an effective ambush point where a shadowed figure can press close with minimal risk of immediate intervention.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"After being shot by the holodeck tough, Picard heads to Rex's bar for a drink, staying in character."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: Twenty dollars a day, plus expenses. Fifty when I find her."
"SLADE: You'll get more when you find Alva."
"TOUGHGUY: Because he owes me money. And because if you don't, I'll blow your head off."