Engineering Scramble — Data Races, Riker Falls
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker’s strained log stakes everything: the star disintegrates, lethal star material hurtles in, and only Data restoring engine control to the bridge can save the ship tethered to the Tsiolkovsky.
In Engineering, Riker snaps Data into action on the isolinear chips as Wesley throws the incoming threat onto the viewer; the team slams into crisis mode while Riker’s infection begins to surface.
The clock crushes them: Riker counts eight or nine minutes, Data admits he can’t finish in time, and Riker staggers as the infection takes hold.
Picard charges in, hypos crew as the onrushing mass swallows the viewer, and Riker concedes they’re out of time.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Determined and alert; buoyant confidence that a creative technical fix can buy crucial time despite the obvious danger.
Wesley moves between panel and viewer, cheerfully agile, flips the Engineering viewer to the Main Viewer, and proposes then initiates a reroute of power into the repulser beam—an improvisational technical maneuver that changes the tactical picture.
- • Find a way to buy enough time to allow engine solutions to take effect.
- • Implement a rapid power reroute to create a repulser force that can move the Tsiolkovsky clear.
- • Improvisation and quick thinking can overcome rigid time constraints.
- • Visual situational awareness (the viewer) will enable a precise, effective solution.
Controlled concern; he balances clinical intervention with firm leadership, prioritizing immediate stabilization and morale.
Picard bursts into Engineering, moves immediately to administer hyposprays to MacDougal, Riker, and others; his presence provides medical aid and calming authority in a scene of technical panic.
- • Stabilize infected crew enough to maintain operational effectiveness.
- • Provide authoritative presence to coordinate response across departments.
- • Prompt, direct medical intervention can prevent further collapse.
- • Command presence and clear action help the crew perform under pressure.
Focused and concerned; a clinical awareness of limits replaces panic, his admission of needing more time carries pragmatic weight.
Data methodically selects and inserts isolinear chips into the command computer board with accelerating speed; he calculates timing, responds to Riker's urgencies, and reports honestly when the task will need more time than available.
- • Reinstall the control chips correctly to reestablish engine control.
- • Communicate realistic timelines so the crew can make tactical decisions.
- • Systematic, correct repair is required for safe engine restoration.
- • Transparent reporting of capabilities best serves an emergency response.
Urgent and increasingly panicked; command masking fear as his body betrays him—frustration at limits and dread about failing the crew.
Riker enters Engineering sweating and infected; he issues rapid, escalating orders to Data and Wesley, attempts to steady himself physically, and radios the bridge. His voice transforms from command to near‑panic as his infection advances.
- • Restore engine control to move the Enterprise out of danger.
- • Keep the crew focused and moving despite his physical collapse.
- • Quick, decisive action can still avert disaster.
- • He must remain in command to motivate and direct others, even while impaired.
Frantic and strained; technical competence undermined by disarray and fear, relieved somewhat by senior officers' intervention.
MacDougal is on her knees amid scattered isolinear chips, attempting to sort and identify components; she looks helpless, responding to Picard's administered hypo while trying to be useful but clearly overwhelmed by the chaos.
- • Identify and hand the correct chips to Data as quickly as possible.
- • Keep functioning under stress to contribute to the ship's survival.
- • Correct component placement can save the ship.
- • She must do whatever small, concrete tasks she can despite feeling overwhelmed.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Isolinear optical chips are the critical modular components Data and MacDougal handle; their correct identification and seating on the command computer board directly determine whether engine control can be reestablished. They are the microscopic hinge of the escape.
Wesley's Tractor Beam Repulsor Device (jury‑rigged) functions as the improvisational channel for rerouting power into a repulser beam. Wesley manipulates its controls to reverse power leads and push force through the Tsiolkovsky, creating the mechanical nudge that saves the Enterprise.
The command computer board is the physical locus for the isolinear chips; Data integrates chips into it under time pressure. Its circuitry finally accepts the chips and signals restored control, enabling bridge engines to respond when commanded.
The hypospray is used by Picard to administer rapid transdermal doses to infected crew (MacDougal, Riker, others) to stabilize them long enough to continue functioning. It provides immediate, portable medical intervention in the crisis.
The Tsiolkovsky's warp and impulse engines are the casualty of the incoming star mass; they explode on impact when the mass collides, visual confirmation that the repulser maneuver succeeded in redirecting the destructive force away from the Enterprise.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge is referenced as the operational center receiving Riker's final command to engage engines and as the destination of restored control; its implied role completes the chain from Engineering's repair work to shipwide propulsion response.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: "Ship's log, First Officer Riker. The star has begun disintegrating. Enterprise will be destroyed unless it can be moved out of the path of the star material hurtling...""
"DATA: "No. This will take slightly more time than we have, sir.""
"RIKER: "Dammit, NO! I can't afford to get it!""