Armus Envelopes Riker — A Deadly Ultimatum
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data snaps to comms, reporting that Armus has enveloped Commander Riker.
Picard commits to an immediate extraction, ordering a beam-out.
Armus slams down an ultimatum—transport and Riker dies, and the crash survivors die too—locking the team into a hostage standoff.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Shocked and fearful, torn between the impulse to assist and the need to follow orders or avoid provoking Armus further.
An unnamed female away‑team member stands among the group watching in alarm as Riker is pulled into the slime; she reacts with shock and immediate concern, constrained by the danger and the command situation unfolding over comms.
- • Ensure the safety of surviving team members and follow command instructions.
- • Be prepared to assist in extraction or medical care if ordered.
- • Believes Riker is in immediate mortal danger.
- • Believes that the ship's orders will determine whether they attempt rescue or retreat.
Focused urgency — outwardly controlled but intent on resolving the emergency and securing orders from command.
Data immediately moves toward Riker to assist, is unable to prevent the pull, then reports to the Enterprise with calm urgency that Armus has enveloped Commander Riker, translating the on‑site crisis into an actionable shipboard alert.
- • Physically assist Commander Riker and attempt to prevent further harm.
- • Inform command immediately to enable a prompt beam‑up or other rescue action.
- • Believes rapid communication to the ship is essential to saving lives.
- • Believes adherence to protocol (report, request extraction) will produce the best outcome.
Terrified and panicked in the moment, yet fighting fiercely — a mix of survival instinct, shame at being helpless, and concern for his team.
Riker is suddenly yanked by a tremendous force, calls out as he fights with all his strength, screams while being dragged toward the slime, and is ultimately seen with his face pressed against the creature's skin as he is enveloped and disappears into the slime hole.
- • Survive and avoid being killed by the creature.
- • Protect the away team and the crash survivors by resisting as long as possible.
- • Believes his crew will attempt to rescue him despite the danger.
- • Believes that physical resistance might delay or frustrate the creature and create a rescue opportunity.
Institutional urgency: decisive and commanding, implying the emotional weight of a captain ordering a life‑saving extraction.
The ship/command voice issues an immediate, authoritative order—'I'm beaming you up!'—conveying Picard's decision to initiate a transporter retrieval as soon as Data reports Riker's entrapment.
- • Execute an immediate beam‑up to recover the away team and Riker.
- • Reassert shipboard control over a rapidly escalating, life‑threatening situation.
- • Believes the transporter is the fastest and most reliable means to save personnel.
- • Believes that decisive command action can prevent further casualties.
Predatory and contemptuous — an unemotional cruelty presented as triumph over terrified victims.
Armus detaches from the shuttle, advances with deliberate malice, physically exerts a force that pulls Riker, emits a shriek as it and Riker disappear into the slime hole, and then issues a verbal hostage ultimatum to prevent transport.
- • Prevent the away team from retrieving survivors by disabling outbound transport options.
- • Use Riker and the crash survivors as leverage to force compliance or assert dominance.
- • Believes physical force and threat of immediate death will control human behavior.
- • Believes it is invulnerable or at least able to punish attempts at extraction.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The shuttlecraft functions as the stranded rescue target from which Armus moves; it provides the initial locus of the encounter, contains crash survivors whose lives Armus uses as additional leverage, and visually anchors the tableau while Armus detaches from its hull to seize Riker.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The thorn’s invasive attack rhymes with Armus physically engulfing Riker—alien threats breaching bodily boundaries."
"The thorn’s invasive attack rhymes with Armus physically engulfing Riker—alien threats breaching bodily boundaries."
"Data’s predation hypothesis echoes Armus later engulfing Riker—both hostile lifeforms exploiting a body."
"Data’s predation hypothesis echoes Armus later engulfing Riker—both hostile lifeforms exploiting a body."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"ARMUS: "Touch him and he dies.""
"DATA: "Enterprise, ARMUS has enveloped Commander Riker.""
"ARMUS: "If any of you leave now, he dies. And so do the survivors of the crash.""