Triage: Geordi's Bitter Verdict
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Geordi's terse assessment of the moon crisis underscores their impossible choice - defend Q or save Bre'el Four.
Geordi's visceral judgment - 'He's not worth it' - crystallizes the crew's moral reckoning over Q's value.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Seething beneath a controlled exterior—morally burdened and resentful toward Q while compelled to maintain command discipline and focus on broader lives at stake.
Present at the edge of Sickbay, confronts Q with a moral rebuke about self‑absorption and the price paid by others, then exits with Q—he balances personal anger with command responsibility.
- • Protect the crew and enforce ethical expectations toward Q
- • Make choices that minimize risk to the planet and ship even when personally difficult
- • Q's prior actions carry responsibility and consequences
- • Command must subordinate personal feelings to the safety of many
Unconscious and therefore without expressed emotion; his condition nonetheless exerts emotional pressure on others—symbolic fulcrum for the crew's anxiety.
Lies unconscious on a Sickbay biobed while clinicians assess failing subsystems: his positronic net nearly knocked out, motor pathways unstable, and fluidic systems overpressured. He is the passive, high-stakes subject whose fate drives the room's moral calculus.
- • N/A (physically unable to act)
- • Serve narratively as the object whose survival will test the crew's priorities
- • N/A (incapacitated, but implicitly: his presence embodies Starfleet principles and duty)
- • His survival would justify risk and effort invested by crew members
Frustrated but pragmatic; he suppresses sentiment in favor of operational necessity and supports command with hard choices.
Stays behind as Picard and Q exit to press Geordi on the orbital mechanics and tactical consequences of the moon; listens to Geordi's assessment and accepts the grim triage logic before leaving to carry the command decision forward.
- • Ascertain realistic tactical options regarding the moon and shields
- • Support Picard's decisions and implement orders that balance risk
- • The safety of millions outweighs saving a single damaged officer
- • Tactical realities and enemy reaction (Calamarains) constrain rescue options
Urgent and professionally frustrated; emotionally invested in patient survival but constrained by hard diagnostics and the tactical stakes being discussed around her.
Leads medical evaluation of Data, identifies overpressure and thermal shock, instructs non-medical personnel to leave, and maintains clinical command of the scene while balancing urgency with professional composure.
- • Stabilize and save Data using medical and engineering collaboration
- • Preserve a sterile, distraction‑free environment so treatment can proceed efficiently
- • Medical priorities require space and focus; non-essential presence impedes care
- • Objective diagnostics should guide decisions rather than sentiment
Exhausted, resentful, and tightly controlled; surface professionalism hides frustration at the moral burden placed on him and at being asked to perform miracles.
Works at Data's bedside, running technical diagnostics and attempting hands‑on fixes — discussing osmotic pressure, bypass options, and flow regulator tweaks while visibly exhausted and blunt about limits of recovery.
- • Stabilize Data's positronic and fluidic systems enough to preserve life
- • Communicate technical reality clearly so command can make informed tactical decisions
- • Not all systems can be repaired under time/constraint pressure
- • Resources and risk must be prioritized; some lives may not be salvageable without unacceptable broader cost
Uncertain and chastened; he feels guilt, gratitude, and a fragile hope but lacks the authority or knowledge to influence technical or tactical decisions meaningfully.
Stands in Sickbay awkwardly, increasingly aware of mortal vulnerability; expresses hope for Data's survival while struggling under Picard's reproach, then exits with the captain—physically present but emotionally out of place.
- • Seek reassurance that those he cares about (and who helped him) will survive
- • Avoid becoming a further liability to the crew and the planet
- • His newfound mortality constrains his previous omnipotent agency
- • Those he has wronged may not readily forgive or protect him at cost to others
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Enterprise defensive shields are the tactical lever mentioned by Riker: lowering them to rescue Q would invite Calamarain attack. The shields' status directly conditions command choices—protect the planet or risk shields to save an individual.
The ferrous crystalline Bre'el Moon is the external threat driving desperate engineering attempts; its trajectory and return to perigee set the time pressure that forces triage decisions in Sickbay.
Data's internal fluidic systems show overpressure and thermal shock; Beverly cites them as life‑threatening indicators that complicate electrical/positronic repair and increase the risk of irreversible damage.
Data's motor pathways are explicitly named as targets for discharge and reset — technical tasks Geordi proposes as possible repairs to restore basic function and movement after the positronic insult.
Data's positronic net is the central damaged system clinicians reference; it has been nearly knocked out by an energy charge and serves as the primary focus of diagnostic and repair attempts, shaping every medical and engineering decision in the room.
The positronic net flow regulator is referenced as a potential bypass point Geordi could use to relieve pressure or reroute flow—technically promising but likely delicate and time-consuming, framed as a conditional option rather than an immediate fix.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Sickbay functions as the surgical and ethical crucible for the scene: a clinical space where technical language, life‑saving labor, and moral reckoning intersect. It is the site where the physical fragility of Data forces command-level choices about who and what the ship can save.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Guinan's test of Q's humanity with a fork parallels Picard's later confrontation about Q's callous disregard for Data's sacrifice."
"Guinan's test of Q's humanity with a fork parallels Picard's later confrontation about Q's callous disregard for Data's sacrifice."
"Geordi's judgment that Q is 'not worth it' reflects Picard's later refusal to forgive Q, despite his breakdown."
"Geordi's judgment that Q is 'not worth it' reflects Picard's later refusal to forgive Q, despite his breakdown."
"The crew's desperation to save Data's life echoes Q's later poignant confession to Data about his own failings."
"The crew's desperation to save Data's life echoes Q's later poignant confession to Data about his own failings."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "You exceed your own standards of selfish preoccupation. Have you no concern for the officer who very probably saved your life?""
"BEVERLY: "If he was mortal, he'd be dead.""
"GEORDI: "He's not worth it, Commander.""