Phantom Interference — Beam-Out Denied
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard demands the origin of the interference, revealing his command urgency as the away team's fate hangs in the balance, while Geordi's uncertain response confirms the crew's growing helplessness against an unidentifiable artificial barrier.
Picard orders a rescue beam-out, a desperate gamble for control, but Geordi's head shake and cold declaration that they cannot distinguish the team inside the structure crushes that hope, turning rescue into a phantom possibility.
Picard presses for comms access—can they hear us?—but Geordi deflects with a technical imperative, refusing to offer comfort, forcing Picard to issue a blunt order that transforms desperation into disciplined action.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Concerned and alert — eager to help but aware of his junior role; a quietly mounting anxiety about the away team's fate.
Wesley stands at the Conn near Picard, monitoring helm and sensors; he is present and attentive, implied to be ready to supply sensor telemetry or adjust ship positioning as ordered.
- • Provide accurate sensor readouts and assist in any recalibration or positioning maneuvers.
- • Support command decisions by staying ready to execute orders from Picard or engineering.
- • Bridge sensor data and precise piloting can materially affect transporter locks and rescue attempts.
- • Following senior officers' directives while offering technical observations is the proper way to contribute.
Urgent and concerned on the surface; restrained frustration beneath as he confronts the sudden impotence of ordered procedure.
Picard stands between Conn and Ops, issues firm, immediate commands to lock on the landing party and to ready the Transporter Room; when told the lock is impossible he pivots from action to problem-solver, insisting on continued attempts.
- • Secure an immediate transporter lock to recover the landing party.
- • Establish communications and situational awareness to assess the away team's safety.
- • Starfleet protocols and transporter technology should be able to recover an away team if properly applied.
- • Immediate, decisive orders can prevent harm to crewmembers and must be enacted without delay.
Quietly troubled and empathetic — internally registering the crew's anxiety and the danger to the away team without breaking protocol.
Troi sits at the Command Section, watching the interaction; she offers no lines here but registers the room's emotional shift and provides a quiet, empathic presence.
- • Monitor the crew's emotional state and be available to advise command on morale or stress effects.
- • Provide a steady, calming presence to help maintain decision-making clarity.
- • Crew emotional state matters to operational performance and must be recognized.
- • Even in technical crises, attention to interpersonal dynamics improves outcomes.
Professionally concerned and frustrated; clearly focused on the problem but troubled by the unknown nature of the interference.
Geordi is at the Aft Station studying diagnostic displays; he conveys the technical reality plainly — interference of unknown origin prevents the transporter from distinguishing the team and recommends frequency recalibration.
- • Diagnose the source and nature of the interference preventing a transporter lock.
- • Find a technical workaround (recalibrating frequencies) to restore lock and communications.
- • The interference is a physical/technical phenomenon that can be mitigated by recalibration and diagnostics.
- • Providing clear technical status to command is essential even when it upsets planned rescue operations.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The bridge comms/frequency arrays (represented by the Enterprise Hailing Frequencies) are invoked as the immediate technical lever: Geordi diagnoses that carrier/frequency recalibration is necessary because the construct's interference blinds the transporter and likely the comm channels. The object functions as the locus of the attempted rescue and the site of the problem.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Forward Stations/Conn are the immediate tactical nerve where Wesley and an unnamed crewmember stand near Picard; the area supplies sensor data, helm adjustments, and operational support for any transporter or positioning maneuvers requested.
Transporter Room Three is invoked as the proximate rescue facility — Picard orders it readied to beam the landing party up. Though not on-screen, its readiness and ability to perform a lock are central to the event's stakes and to Geordi's assessment that the transporter currently cannot distinguish the team.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "Where's that interference originating?" / GEORDI: "From the source, sir. Cause... unknown.""
"PICARD: "Lock onto the landing party. Have the Transporter Room prepare to beam them up." / GEORDI: "We can't distinguish them as long as they're inside that structure.""
"PICARD: "Can they hear us?" / GEORDI: "We've got to recalibrate all frequencies.""