Holodeck Reconstruction: The Converter's Reflection
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Geordi reveals that the Enterprise has been experiencing Krieger Waves, pointing to the Holodeck simulator as the source.
Picard explains that Apgar's converter actually works, transforming harmless energy charges into lethal Krieger Waves.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Neutral, professional — focused on executing transport protocol and relaying status to the deck.
Provides the transporter voice report over comms ('Stand by... Engaging transport'), anchoring the simulated beam timing which becomes the catalyst in the demonstration.
- • Carry out transporter protocol as ordered.
- • Provide precise timing information necessary for the reconstruction.
- • The transporter will function normally unless external interference occurs.
- • Clarity of timing is essential to resolve the technical question at hand.
Chilly skepticism — cautious to accept Starfleet-led demonstrations and protective of his jurisdictional findings.
Chief Inspector Krag watches the reconstruction skeptically, challenges Picard's rationale and resists conceding the Tanugan evidence until confronted with the simulated physical causality.
- • Secure justice according to Tanugan procedures and evidence.
- • Verify that any exoneration of Riker is supported by independent proof.
- • Initial holographic depositions and telemetry indicate Riker's culpability.
- • He should not be swayed by theatrical demonstrations unless empirically irrefutable.
Confused and hurt — protective of her husband's memory while confronted with evidence that reframes his motives.
Physically present and defensive as Picard replays her deposition; she objects to Picard's interpretations and insists on her reading of events while visibly shaken by the staged explosion's implication.
- • Defend her husband's reputation from accusation.
- • Understand what actually happened without being overwhelmed by technical explanations.
- • She believes her version of events and that Apgar sought only success and rewards.
- • She does not want to accept that her husband might have been violent or deceitful.
On-screen persona appears defensive and furtive — the projected Apgar reads as someone concealing an active, instrumental agenda.
Represented by holographic renditions that alternately plead, deflect, and finally touch a console — the frozen facsimile's panel activation is the pivot that, in the simulation, triggers the converter to accept the planetary discharge.
- • Within the reconstructed scenes, to protect his work and conceal true capabilities of the converter.
- • Attempt to prevent interference from Starfleet personnel.
- • That his converter had value and could be finished given time.
- • That he must hide successful weaponization for advantage/profit, even if it risks others.
Hesitant realization — her recollection solidifies into the key technical clue that shifts the investigation's focus.
Provides a critical identification in the frozen reconstruction — recognizes Apgar touching a panel and states that he is activating the planetary generator, prompting Picard's line of inquiry.
- • Accurately report what she observed during the original incident.
- • Cooperate with investigators to reveal technical truths she may not fully understand.
- • She believes she saw Apgar manipulate something significant at the console.
- • She believes her testimony, when placed in context, can clarify ambiguous events.
Determined and controlled — visibly resolute to let empirical proof replace speculation while privately defending a subordinate.
Orchestrates and narrates the holodeck reconstruction, freezing and unfreezing testimony clips, framing the demonstration as a forensic experiment to expose Apgar's lie and to protect Commander Riker.
- • Produce incontrovertible evidence that clears Riker's name.
- • Expose Apgar's deception and motive to Krag and the assembly.
- • Objective, demonstrable reconstruction can trump conflicting human testimony.
- • Apgar's behavior is driven by deceit and ambition and can be revealed through a physical demonstration.
Confused and tense during the build-up, shifting toward vindication as the experiment validates his innocence.
Acts as the accused subject within holographic reconstructions, delivers his lines as in his deposition, initiates the beam-out sequence and begins dematerializing as the simulated energy strikes the transporter effect.
- • Cooperate with the demonstration to clear his name.
- • Allow objective processes to resolve the accusation against him.
- • He did not murder Apgar and procedural truth will clear him.
- • Picard and the crew will pursue a fair, evidence-based resolution.
Calmly empathetic — focused on maintaining humane process and mitigating emotional fallout for witnesses.
Present as counsel and emotional stabilizer; quietly supports the process and has already validated the emotional content of Manua's testimony earlier, listening and ready to intervene if needed.
- • Ensure witnesses are treated fairly and not traumatized by the demonstration.
- • Support crew morale and provide emotional context to testimony.
- • That testimony contains emotional truth even if it misreads technical causality.
- • That crew well-being must be balanced with procedural needs.
Focused and confident — the demonstration is both an engineering proof and a protective act for his shipmates.
Designs, times, and executes the La Forge holodeck program; explains technical identification of Krieger Waves and links the converter mechanics to the transporter reflection that could cause the explosion.
- • Recreate the converter's interaction with planetary discharges to test the hypothesis.
- • Provide clear, technical explanation that turns suspicion into demonstrable causality.
- • Telemetry and reproducible simulation can reveal causation where testimony cannot.
- • The converter's mirror/coil geometry will transform reflected planetary energy into Krieger Waves.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The transporter effect/console is functionally simulated in the holodeck sequence; the program times a beam-out and the visible transporter pattern is struck by the Krieger Wave, serving as the reflective surface that returns energy to the lab reactor in the reconstruction.
A faithful holodeck facsimile of Apgar's Krieger Wave converter is used as the experiment's central mechanism: it accepts a timed planetary discharge, converts it via mirrored coils into focused Krieger Waves, and in the simulation emits the beam that strikes the transporter effect and reflects back to the reactor, causing the staged explosion and proving the converter's lethal potential.
The discosilium (dicosilium) alloy is invoked as background forensic evidence: Geordi references Apgar's extra orders for the reflective material as circumstantial proof he was building larger coils to weaponize the converter, supporting the demonstration's motive narrative.
The station reactor core is the simulated site of destruction: when the reflected Krieger Wave returns to the lab, the holodeck reconstruction portrays a reactor overload and massive explosion, dramatizing the causal chain from converter activation to catastrophic detonation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Holodeck Observation Gallery frames the event: observers including Picard's team, Krag, and witnesses watch from a protected tier, providing the formal audience whose reactions compound the demonstration's moral and procedural stakes.
The holodeck-set Space Station Living Room / Laboratory is the mutable stage for multiple reconstructed programs (Manua, Riker, Tayna, La Forge). It alternates between domestic tableau and lab bench, allowing Picard to juxtapose testimonial memory against a controlled technical reproduction that makes abstract claims physically visible.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
"Picard's explanation of Apgar's desperate ambition contrasts with Riker's return to normal duty, showing how the ordeal has affected both men differently."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: But isn't it remarkable that with all the witnesses, all the different points of view of the events aboard the space station... that we've never seen what really happened at all?"
"GEORDI: The energy from the field generator on the planet simply reflects off elements in the convertor which turns it into highly focused Krieger Waves..."
"GEORDI: The intervals are like clockwork... except the explosion occurred point-zero-zero-one-four seconds after the first discharge... the only explanation for that variance is the time it would take the energy pulse to bounce back from the transporter beam to the reactor."