Energy Phantom Stows Away
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker gives orders to depart orbit and head for 'aucdet Nine at maximum impulse, and Wesley acknowledges and executes the helm commands, setting the Enterprise in motion.
The Enterprise executes a graceful turn to impulse and an unseen speck begins to glow, then accelerates to chase and catch the starship, looming between the warp engines.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Detached purpose—ancient patience folding into newfound destination
A globe of distilled starlight detaches from the ruined world, accelerated thought in photonic form; it glides with deliberate silence between warp-field coils and slides through the hull as easily as breath, leaving no trace but Data’s numeric ghost.
- • Board the Enterprise undetected
- • Begin congregation with the child Troi carries
- • Human instruments can be selectively fooled
- • The ship is now a sheltered womb
A rehearsed professional calm over teenage excitement
Wesley’s hands glide across conn controls like a concert pianist, younger than everyone yet flawless in execution; he barely registers surprise when the ship accelerates under full impulse, his brow furrowed in concentration as coordinates lock in.
- • Prove absolute reliability to senior officers
- • Deliver precise navigation without error
- • Flawless execution earns respect
- • Starship procedures are unbreakable
Data's approximation of worry—curiosity laced with consternation at contradictory data
Data bends intimately over his science console, golden fingers dancing across panels faster than gossip; hesitation or denial register on his face first, then rematerialize as quiet disbelief while he doubles and triples readings that Engineering refuses to confirm.
- • Validate his instrument readings at all costs
- • Prevent latent shipboard threat
- • Sensor data is objective truth
- • Institutional denial is a risk factor
Quiet urgency tempered by resolve to keep grief and uncertainty off the bridge
Riker stands tall at the captain’s chair, voice clipped, radiating absolute certainty as he gives a succession of terse commands that launch the ship toward plague-ridden Aucdet IX; beneath the authority runs a need to restore order after Picard's temporary absence.
- • Get medical cargo to Aucdet IX as fast as safety allows
- • Maintain bridge discipline after abrupt leadership change
- • Speed is mercy for the dying colonists
- • Visible command certainty steadies the crew
Technician’s calm edged by flicker of irritation at ivory-tower Science observations
Geordi stands alone in the honeycomb glow of processors, pressing a hand to the console frame; a slight head shake when Data’s call comes in—he reruns diagnostics twice, then gives voice to a skeptic’s certainty that compresses into polite dismissal.
- • Prove engineering diagnostics are infallible
- • Maintain operational certainty
- • Engineering systems outperform isolated sensor anomalies
- • If it were real, I'd have seen it
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The plating aft of the port nacelle briefly becomes the rupture point between measurable reality and something older; Data’s sensor spike records a scar no one else can find, turning a patch of hull into contested territory.
The twin warp nacelles stand inert, drained to feed the replicator frenzy below. They become a silent canyon through which the energy sphere slips like a needle through silk, their deactivated state offering no electromagnetic bridle for the newcomer.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The bridge pulses with transition: command shifting like a relay baton, engines surging, stars start sliding past—and across the viewscreen, the unexplained sphere appears only long enough to vanish. It is the arena where certainty is first pierced.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"Data's report of an unexplained energy transference prefigures and directly precedes the glowing ball closing on and penetrating the Enterprise; the sensor anomaly is the first detectable sign of the intruding light."
"The glowing ball's penetration of the hull is the immediate physical cause for the glow slipping into corridors and entering Troi's quarters."
"The glowing ball's penetration of the hull is the immediate physical cause for the glow slipping into corridors and entering Troi's quarters."
"Data's early sensor readout of a random energy transference foreshadows later medical surprise at the newborn's anomalous properties—both beats signal an otherworldly energy linked to the child."
"Data's early sensor readout of a random energy transference foreshadows later medical surprise at the newborn's anomalous properties—both beats signal an otherworldly energy linked to the child."
"Data's early sensor readout of a random energy transference foreshadows later medical surprise at the newborn's anomalous properties—both beats signal an otherworldly energy linked to the child."
"Data's early sensor readout of a random energy transference foreshadows later medical surprise at the newborn's anomalous properties—both beats signal an otherworldly energy linked to the child."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"Riker: Take us out of orbit, Mister Crusher -- set course for 'aucdet Nine."
"Data: Engineering -- I just observed what appeared to be a random energy transference."
"Geordi: No -- I show nothing here, Data."