Pakled Distress Call — "We Look for Things
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker brakes the Enterprise and throws the alien craft onto the Main Viewer; Worf urges shields, but Riker holds position, choosing open contact over a defensive posture.
Riker opens a channel to the Mondor and meets Grebnedlog, whose halting replies and claim that their ship is broken set the table for a rescue.
Riker presses for purpose, and Grebnedlog repeats the mantra 'We look for things,' staying vague until he asks for help with 'things that make us go.'
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Detached and professional, mildly curious but primarily focused on delivering objective data to command.
Data activates sensors and the main viewer, provides clinical technical reads on the Mondor's design, guidance failure, and limited armaments, and offers a linguistic hypothesis about the Pakleds' speech patterns to contextualize their plea.
- • Supply accurate sensor information to inform command decisions
- • Clarify the Pakleds' technological status and threat potential
- • Reduce uncertainty by translating anomalous speech into plausible explanation
- • Sensor data provides reliable basis for tactical and humanitarian choices
- • The Pakleds' speech oddities are likely linguistic rather than deceptive
- • Quantifying armament and power reserves is essential to risk assessment
Concerned and wary; internal alarm about crew exposure masked by professional restraint.
Worf monitors tactical displays, presses for shields and restraint, questions the wisdom of sending the chief engineer, and leans toward defensive measures — a security-first counterpoint to Riker's humanitarian impulse.
- • Protect Enterprise personnel (especially Geordi) from potential danger
- • Gather more intelligence before committing personnel
- • Keep ship in a defensible posture (shields/weapons readiness)
- • Unknown vessels may conceal threats regardless of their outward helplessness
- • Physical security measures (shields, not sending key personnel) are the prudent default
- • Procedural caution can prevent unnecessary casualties
Measured and decisive with a trace of impatience; genuinely feels obligation but is alert to risk tradeoffs.
Riker assumes command presence: questions the Pakleds through the viewscreen, listens to Data's sensors, overrides Worf's caution by invoking Starfleet duty, and designates Geordi to beam aboard — converting compassion into operational order.
- • Fulfill Starfleet duty to render aid to a vessel in distress
- • Resolve the situation quickly while minimizing risk to the ship
- • Gather information about the Mondor and its occupants
- • Demonstrate command competence in an ambiguous situation
- • Starfleet has an ethical obligation to respond to Maydays
- • The Enterprise's superiority in manpower and firepower makes the aid reasonably safe
- • The Pakleds' odd speech likely masks simple need rather than malice
- • Operational restraint (not rushing to weapons) is prudent unless clear threat appears
Amused and lightly surprised, shifting to professional readiness; comfortable with risk as part of his duty.
Geordi enters from the turbolift, notices the Mondor on the viewer and responds with wry humor; surprised when Riker assigns him to beam aboard, he accepts the order and prepares to report to the Transporter Room with necessary gear.
- • Assist a ship in need and apply engineering skill
- • Protect himself and return safely
- • Follow command orders and represent engineering competence
- • He can repair or at least diagnose the Mondor's problems
- • Pakleds appear technically inept rather than hostile
- • Trust in Starfleet protocol for away teams and transporter operations
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The aft turbolift doors provide the physical entrance for Geordi onto the bridge — their opening cues his appearance, timing the personal recruitment of the chief engineer and converting the abstract decision into immediate action.
Enterprise defensive shields are discussed as a tactical option when Worf urges deployment — their mention frames the tension between caution and aid, serving as the latent safety net that allows Riker to authorize a close approach without immediate escalation.
The Mondor's mismatched engineering control panels are visible on the viewscreen; their scuffed, failing indicators physically demonstrate the ship's degraded power and motivate the Enterprise's decision to offer aid.
The Mondor's guidance system is diagnosed by Data as having suffered total failure; this concrete technical failure justifies immediate rescue and explains the Mondor's drifting state and Mayday transmission.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge functions as the nerve center where command debate and moral judgment occur: consoles blink, the main viewer projects the Mondor, and Riker converts sensor data and impressions into an operational order to send Geordi.
Transporter Room Three is invoked as the staging area when Riker orders Geordi to report there with gear; it is the logistical hinge between decision and action, where the physical beam‑over will be executed.
The Mondor appears on the viewscreen as a derelict, its interior and crew presented as confused and overwhelmed; it is the narrative locus of need and the probable site of the forthcoming abduction and deception.
Rhomboid Dronegar Sector 006 is the remote navigational context that justifies the Enterprise's detour; its emptiness heightens the moral imperative of a rescue and amplifies the strategic risk of an isolated transfer.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker sends Geordi aboard the Mondor; this directly leads to the Pakleds stunning and capturing him."
"Riker sends Geordi aboard the Mondor; this directly leads to the Pakleds stunning and capturing him."
"The Pakled mantra ‘We look for things’ hints at their acquisitive deception, later proven by Data’s analysis."
"The Pakled mantra ‘We look for things’ hints at their acquisitive deception, later proven by Data’s analysis."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"Grebnedlog: "We look for things.""
"Grebnedlog: "Things that make us go. We need help.""
"Riker: "Our chief engineer will beam aboard to help you-- Out.""