Picard's Gambit in Ten-Forward
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard recounts the humiliating Stargazer court-martial and Phillipa Louvois's ruthless prosecution, exposing a personal wound and explaining why Phillipa's presence turns this into more than a legal fight—it's a clash of history and pride.
Picard lays out a tactical plan: he'll try to negotiate with Phillipa and salvage Data's rights by arranging Data's voluntary submission to Commander Maddox's procedure to avoid a ruling that would declare Data Starfleet property.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, patient, quietly challenging; emotionally grounded and morally clear, using Socratic prompts to move Picard from private pain to public principle.
Removes two drinks from the bar and crosses to Picard; listens quietly, asks probing questions, reframes the strategic stakes in moral terms and gives him the single word that crystallizes the danger: 'slavery.' She toasts him and quietly offers encouragement.
- • To draw Picard out, forcing him to name the real stakes of the fight.
- • To reframe his tactical thinking in moral terms so he commits based on principle rather than wounded pride.
- • Decisions have long‑term consequences and should be judged by their future implications.
- • Naming the moral truth (e.g., 'slavery') can transform tactical choices into ethical commitments.
Not present; portrayed through Picard's memory as pleased and vindictive, a professional force that intensifies his shame.
Mentioned by Picard as Phillipa Louvois, assistant to the prosecution at the Stargazer court‑martial; described as having dug up evidence and taking professional satisfaction in Picard's current humiliation—an absent but agonizing presence shaping his motives.
- • To prosecute and defend Starfleet's procedures and authority (inferred).
- • To leverage institutional mechanisms to secure a win against Picard (inferred from Picard's description).
- • The adversarial legal system and institutional precedent are valid means to resolve disputes.
- • Professional vindication is achieved through rigorous application of case law and procedure.
Death‑weary and sad at first, carrying simmering humiliation; transitions into purposeful resolve and a near-excited commitment to protect precedent.
Seated alone at a Ten‑Forward table, turning an empty glass, Picard reveals the private wound of the Stargazer court‑martial and verbally formulates a tactical plan to have Data 'volunteer' for Maddox's procedure to avoid a binding ruling.
- • To explain the source of his current humiliation and contextualize his response to Louvois.
- • To devise a tactical route that protects Data's rights by avoiding a court ruling that would declare him Starfleet property.
- • Institutional precedent will shape future treatment of synthetic beings.
- • Personal sacrifice or a negotiated gambit can avert worse institutional outcomes.
- • Phillipa Louvois is motivated by the adversarial system and still seeks to wound him professionally.
Neutral/unknown within the scene (not present) — emotionally represented through others' concern and strategic calculations on his behalf.
Absent physically but central to the conversation; Data is the subject of Picard's proposed gambit to 'volunteer' for disassembly, making him the potential sacrificial pivot of the plan and the locus of the ethical debate.
- • Implicit: to preserve his operational continuity and personal integrity (as assumed by Picard).
- • Implicit: to have his status resolved fairly — either as personhood or property — though he does not act in this scene.
- • As an android, his rights and future depend on Starfleet's legal definitions (belief inferred from others' discussion).
- • His fate can be used as precedent affecting countless future synthetics (a belief projected onto him by Picard).
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Picard's empty glass anchors the scene: he nervously turns it while brooding, then accepts a drink from Guinan and uses it to punctuate the toast that seals his commitment. The glass functions as a tactile focus for his grief and a ceremonial instrument for resolve.
The table provides the intimate stage for confession and counsel: Picard drums his fingers on it during his admission, pushes back his chair when reaching resolution, and it physically contains the two drinks and empty glass that mark the scene's rhythm of loneliness turned to partnership.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Ten‑Forward is the intimate, near‑empty lounge where Picard's private grief and strategy surface. Its late hour, subdued lighting and near‑silence create a confessional space in which institutional wounds can be named and ethical commitments formed away from formal corridors of power.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker powering Data down in court produces Picard's emotional collapse and need for counsel; Picard seeks Guinan immediately afterward, shaken and defeated."
"Riker powering Data down in court produces Picard's emotional collapse and need for counsel; Picard seeks Guinan immediately afterward, shaken and defeated."
"Riker powering Data down in court produces Picard's emotional collapse and need for counsel; Picard seeks Guinan immediately afterward, shaken and defeated."
"Guinan naming the long-term consequence—'slavery'—reframes the stakes for Picard and causes him to shift strategy: he returns to court to argue the moral and precedent-driven case rather than only technicalities."
"Guinan naming the long-term consequence—'slavery'—reframes the stakes for Picard and causes him to shift strategy: he returns to court to argue the moral and precedent-driven case rather than only technicalities."
"Guinan naming the long-term consequence—'slavery'—reframes the stakes for Picard and causes him to shift strategy: he returns to court to argue the moral and precedent-driven case rather than only technicalities."
"Guinan naming the long-term consequence—'slavery'—reframes the stakes for Picard and causes him to shift strategy: he returns to court to argue the moral and precedent-driven case rather than only technicalities."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "The Stargazer court-martial. It should have been a routine hearing. Yes, I had lost my ship, but my actions were entirely justified. Phillipa was assistant to the prosecution. She dug up every obscure case and citation and the panel hammered at me for three days. It damn near ended my career.""
"PICARD: "If Data agrees to undergo Commander Maddox's procedure we can get out of this hearing before he's declared the property of Starfleet command.""
"GUINAN: "There is an ancient word for it -- slavery.""