Selective Extractions — The Plucked Crypts
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
WORF questions whether the woman was frozen for an extended journey and DATA diagnoses the container as a simple refrigeration unit lacking long‑term monitoring, eliminating the idea that she was intended for a planned temporal transfer.
DATA asserts the vehicle likely never left Earth orbit and WORF reasons it could not have traversed this distance under its own power, concluding an intelligent agent must have transported the satellite.
DATA observes that several crypts were opened and occupants taken while others were left destroyed, prompting WORF to demand why some were removed and one woman remained untouched; DATA offers the working hypothesis that the takers learned from the removed subjects.
DATA moves down the line of crypts and wipes aside a covering to reveal the perfectly preserved face of a forty‑seven‑year‑old male, escalating the mystery from selective removal to the presence of additional intact occupants.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Clinically curious with a rising sense of investigative urgency; unemotional but increasingly grave as implications accumulate.
Data methodically examines the refrigeration bank, contrasts system features with expected long‑range cryosystems, points out opened crypts, and wipes rime to reveal a second perfectly preserved face — providing forensic readings and cautious hypotheses.
- • Determine the technical provenance and function of the container.
- • Catalog breaches and identify which occupants remain preserved or were removed.
- • Preserve forensic integrity for later investigation and inform command of findings.
- • Ascertain any immediate medical rescue priorities among preserved occupants.
- • The container's design indicates short‑term refrigeration, not long‑range transit.
- • Forcible openings and missing occupants are evidence of external intervention.
- • Preserved bodies contain forensic data that can answer who moved the unit and why.
- • Accurate, measured data will best serve command decisions and any medical response.
Inert; his revealed presence deepens the investigators' sense of mystery and the emotional weight of the discovery.
The perfectly preserved forty‑seven‑year‑old male's face is revealed when Data wipes frost away; he serves as a tactile, forensic clue confirming the refrigeration hypothesis and the recent careful preservation of at least some occupants.
- • Function as a preserved data point for forensic analysis (ascribed role).
- • Provide contrast to desiccated remains to indicate differences in preservation method and timing.
- • No conscious beliefs; his condition implies the vehicle held living‑quality preservation rather than centuries‑long stasis.
- • His preserved face supports the inference that removal or destruction of other occupants was selective and purposeful.
Inert — unconscious and unaware; narratively she embodies vulnerability and the human stakes that convert theoretical risk into immediate moral obligation.
The Frozen Woman lies inert and cryosuspended within a sealed crypt; her undisturbed state serves as a focal piece of physical evidence, prompting questions about selective removal and survival.
- • Remain preserved until medical assessment can occur.
- • Serve as a living clue to the origin and nature of the container and its program.
- • Be transported safely to Sickbay for evaluation and care.
- • Her preserved state suggests initial design intent for recovery or custody by her origin program.
- • Being left untouched implies selective targeting or differing motives by the external actor.
- • Her condition requires medical priority and protective custody by the Enterprise crew.
Sharply suspicious and on edge; his protective instincts sharpen into strategic alarm as the discovery escalates the risk profile.
Worf stands beside the frozen woman, questions purpose and destination, physically wipes frost to inspect, and asserts that the vehicle could not have traveled here under its own power — drawing a tactical conclusion that a third party moved the unit.
- • Identify any immediate threats to the Enterprise or its crew.
- • Establish that the container was moved by an external intelligence to assess motive and capability.
- • Secure the scene and prioritize potential survivors for removal to sickbay.
- • Push for rapid reporting and a readiness posture given the implications.
- • No known propulsion from the container explains its presence; therefore an external actor is responsible.
- • Missing occupants signal likely hostile or purposeful removal, not random scavenging.
- • The discovery constitutes a tactical and moral obligation to protect potential survivors.
- • Swift, decisive action is necessary to prevent further harm or escalation.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The linear bank of glass-covered crypts functions as both setting and evidence: Data identifies multiple panes showing forced entry or removal, one contains a perfectly preserved female, others are empty or house dessicated corpses. The array visualizes selective tampering and frames the forensic questions.
The short‑term refrigeration unit containing the frozen woman is scrutinized and diagnosed by Data as a refrigeration device rather than a long‑range cryochamber. Its physical features (frost ring, scuffs, insulation) lead investigators to conclude the craft was not outfitted for interstellar transit, reframing origin and motive questions.
Desiccated occupant remains within several niches function as contrasting evidence — shriveled, browned corpses versus preserved individuals — and their disturbed or missing state signals selective removal or destruction by an external agent.
The perfectly preserved face of a forty‑seven‑year‑old male is revealed when Data wipes frost from a crypt; this specific object provides decisive tactile and visual proof that the crypts were used for short‑term refrigeration and that at least some occupants were maintained in near‑living condition.
The short-term refrigeration crypt (the derelict's container) is identified by Data as designed solely for refrigeration, not for long-range transit, making it a displaced Earth-orbit artifact; its condition (scorched hatch, pried seals) supports the conclusion that it was moved and partially violated.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Earth is evoked by Data as the container's intended orbital home — an origin point that anchors emotional stakes and investigative leads. Mentioning Earth reorients the discovery from abstract salvage to a terrestrial crime with human owners and legal/ethical consequences.
This section of the galaxy frames the derelict’s discovery as anomalous and dangerous — a wrong place that converts recovered Earth hardware into proof that an external mover acted. The empty, distant space heightens the stakes and the mystery surrounding provenance and motive.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The inexplicable 'scooping' of entire outposts resonates with the derelict satellite scene where some crypts were opened and occupants removed — both suggest an external actor selectively taking people/objects."
"The inexplicable 'scooping' of entire outposts resonates with the derelict satellite scene where some crypts were opened and occupants removed — both suggest an external actor selectively taking people/objects."
"Questions about selective taking and destruction prefigure the 'scooped off' outposts mystery."
"Questions about selective taking and destruction prefigure the 'scooped off' outposts mystery."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: If that were the purpose, there would be evidence of a more sophisticated monitoring system. This container is designed solely for refrigeration."
"DATA: I do not believe they were going anywhere. This vehicle should still be in Earth orbit."
"WORF: Why take some of them, destroy others, and leave her apparently untouched?"