Richey Revelation and Severed Comms
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard demands an update from Riker as the away team remains trapped, establishing the immediate stakes of isolation and failed rescue attempts.
Riker reports their entrapment in a simulated 21st-century Las Vegas hotel and urgently requests a scan for Colonel Richey and data on The Royale, shifting the mission from survival to uncovering a cosmic mystery.
Wesley delivers recovered data on Colonel Stephen Richey and the lost Charybdis, revealing the haunting origin of the illusion — a vanished deep-space explorer whose death became the seed of an alien tragedy.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Deceased / historical presence — not emotionally active, but his status as a lost commander colors the bridge’s reaction and decision-making.
Referenced in an archival readout and by Riker’s request: Colonel Stephen Richey is identified as the commanding officer of the lost explorer ship Charybdis; he is present only as the historical subject tied to the recovered remains.
- • (inferred historical goals) command and lead exploratory mission
- • push beyond known boundaries of the Euclidian system
- • (inferred) exploration justifies risk
- • human presence beyond familiar space is necessary for progress
Focused and eager — proud to produce useful data quickly, but aware of the urgency and the stakes felt by the bridge.
At Science Two alongside Geordi, Wesley rapidly retrieves information from ship archives and calls the result over to Picard while monitoring the consoles and relaying status updates.
- • locate archival files tying the remains to a historical identity
- • support Geordi and Picard with clear, rapid data retrieval
- • maintain clear communication channels to keep command informed
- • timely data retrieval can change tactical options
- • the ship’s library and databases hold the necessary context
- • accurate reporting to command is essential under duress
Concerned and engaged — intellectually intrigued by the archival discovery but frustrated and anxious at being out of contact with the away team.
Standing behind Wesley and Geordi, Picard queries the situation, moves to a sizzling search screen, reads aloud archival material linking Richey to Charybdis, and reacts with intrigue and frustrated concern when Riker's line dies in static.
- • establish the away team's status and safety
- • obtain and interpret archival data that explains the construct and remains
- • decide an appropriate tactical and moral response to the new information
- • command must account for and rescue crew when possible
- • data and history can reveal the origin and intentions of the construct
- • loss of contact is dangerous and requires immediate technical and strategic remedies
Urgent and tense — focused on pragmatic steps to identify evidence and find escape but frustrated and vulnerable when communications fail.
Reporting from the trapped away team: Riker communicates they are locked inside a twentieth‑century structure, requests identity and library checks for Richey and the Royale, and is cut off mid‑transmission as static overwhelms his comms.
- • secure an identification of the remains to understand who they found
- • confirm the hotel's identity and location to triangulate escape options
- • maintain contact with Enterprise and coordinate an exit strategy
- • identification of remains will clarify the situation's origin
- • the ship’s sensors and databases can provide actionable leads
- • time and communication windows are limited and must be used efficiently
Troubled and contemplative — sensing anxiety and moral stakes among the crew and the away team, preparing to provide counsel if needed.
Standing behind Wesley and Geordi, Troi listens to the exchanges and watches the bridge’s mood shift; she does not speak but registers the emotional weight of the discovery and the severed comms.
- • discern the emotional state of the bridge and away team from limited cues
- • prepare to advise Picard and support crew morale if rescue fails
- • monitor reactions to ensure command decisions account for human cost
- • crew emotional state will affect decision-making and performance
- • the discovery of remains raises deeper moral questions beyond procedure
- • calm, empathic intervention will be necessary as the situation escalates
Concerned and frustrated — focused on diagnosing the scramble but annoyed by the limits it imposes on the rescue effort.
Leaning over Science Two with Wesley, Geordi interrogates sensor and telemetry feeds, flags the unpredictable frequency scramble, and reports the continuing communications interference to Picard.
- • diagnose and stabilize the frequency scramble to restore comms
- • extract archival telemetry and identity data despite interference
- • advise Picard on technical constraints and possible fixes
- • the interference is external to normal ship operations and technically solvable
- • restoring comms is essential for the away team's survival
- • precise technical analysis will reveal actionable options
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The recovered human remains function as the inciting forensic clue: Riker reports their discovery, prompting identity-scanning requests and redirecting Enterprise efforts from pure rescue to historical identification and investigation of the construct's origin.
The bridge telemetry/search/file system provides the sizzling readout Picard studies: it surfaces the Richey/Charybdis metadata and the Royale reference, then warbles under static—functioning as both the conduit of revelation and the point where information becomes fragmentary.
The Charybdis appears as an archival object: Picard reads a retrieved record linking Colonel Richey to the explorer ship Charybdis, whose lost telemetry reframes the current entrapment as potentially connected to historical exploration and vanished missions.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge is the command nexus where Riker's emergency report is received, Picard interprets archival data, and the dynamic between rescue and investigation crystallizes. It is both operationally decisive and morally burdened in the exchange.
Science Two functions as the analytic workbench where Wesley and Geordi rapidly interrogate ship databases and telemetry, producing the partial dossiers that pivot command's understanding of the incident.
The Euclidian Solar System is referenced in Picard’s reading of the Charybdis record to underscore the historical ambition and risk of Richey’s mission — a cosmic frame that increases the mystery's scale.
Las Vegas, Nevada appears as the geographic anchor in the archives linking the Royale to a terrestrial address, converting a ghostly construct into a culturally specific, real‑world referent that deepens the strangeness of the encounter.
The Royale is invoked via database entries as the terrestrial structure where the away team is trapped and where the remains were recovered; in this event it functions as the primary mystery to be located and understood rather than as a physical scene on the Enterprise.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker’s communicator crackling with Picard’s voice reconnects the away team with the outside world and prompts his urgent request for data on Richey—leading directly to Wesley’s discovery of the Charybdis and validating the novel’s connection to reality."
"Riker’s communicator crackling with Picard’s voice reconnects the away team with the outside world and prompts his urgent request for data on Richey—leading directly to Wesley’s discovery of the Charybdis and validating the novel’s connection to reality."
"Riker’s communicator crackling with Picard’s voice reconnects the away team with the outside world and prompts his urgent request for data on Richey—leading directly to Wesley’s discovery of the Charybdis and validating the novel’s connection to reality."
"Riker’s salute to Richey is followed by Picard’s unanswered question within the same scene—the emotional apex of empathy is immediately undercut by communication collapse, deepening the isolation and thematic weight."
"Riker’s salute to Richey is followed by Picard’s unanswered question within the same scene—the emotional apex of empathy is immediately undercut by communication collapse, deepening the isolation and thematic weight."
"Riker’s salute to Richey is followed by Picard’s unanswered question within the same scene—the emotional apex of empathy is immediately undercut by communication collapse, deepening the isolation and thematic weight."
"Texas’s wink to Data proves that even within the fiction, awareness exists—but it is powerless. This mirrors Picard’s powerlessness on the bridge: both observe the horror, both yearn to act, both are bound by systems they cannot control."
"Texas’s wink to Data proves that even within the fiction, awareness exists—but it is powerless. This mirrors Picard’s powerlessness on the bridge: both observe the horror, both yearn to act, both are bound by systems they cannot control."
"Picard’s unanswered question—‘Why is this of interest?’—after Riker reports becoming trapped in a 20th-century hotel—returns as Riker’s own interrogation of the hotel's purpose in Richey’s suite: it’s the same question asked from both sides of the void."
"Picard’s unanswered question—‘Why is this of interest?’—after Riker reports becoming trapped in a 20th-century hotel—returns as Riker’s own interrogation of the hotel's purpose in Richey’s suite: it’s the same question asked from both sides of the void."
"Picard’s unanswered question—‘Why is this of interest?’—after Riker reports becoming trapped in a 20th-century hotel—returns as Riker’s own interrogation of the hotel's purpose in Richey’s suite: it’s the same question asked from both sides of the void."
"Riker’s request for data on Richey and The Royale directly results in Worf’s discovery of the novel and diary—making the revelation of the hotel’s origin a narrative necessity triggered by his specific command."
"Riker’s request for data on Richey and The Royale directly results in Worf’s discovery of the novel and diary—making the revelation of the hotel’s origin a narrative necessity triggered by his specific command."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: What's your situation?"
"RIKER: We are locked in a structure made to resemble twentieth century Earth -- all efforts to exit have failed. RIKER: I assumed as much. Captain, we have located the remains of a human. Request identity scan on a Colonel Richey, American, first initial S., roughly same time period. We also need a computer library check on hotel known as the Royale; possible location, Las Vegas, Nevada, circa twenty-first century."
"WESLEY: Information retrieved, Captain --"
"PICARD: Colonel Stephen Richey was the commanding officer of the explorer ship Charybdis which had a terrestrial launch date of 7-23-2067. It was the first manned attempt to travel beyond the confines of the Euclidian solar system. Its telemetry system failed and it was never heard from again... Why is this of interest, Number One?"