Hold Fire — Riker Protects Geordi
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Worf presses with phasers ready, but Riker slams the brakes—Lieutenant La Forge is aboard the Mondor—placing restraint over retaliation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Clinical neutrality with implicit concern expressed through repetition of data; procedural focus rather than panic.
Data performs technical reconnaissance, runs a frequency search, reports a negative response, and confirms sensors have been set to maximum sensitivity as ordered by Riker.
- • Provide accurate sensor and frequency information to inform command decisions.
- • Maintain situational awareness of the Mondor's electronic state.
- • Accurate sensor readings are essential to minimizing risk to crew.
- • Objective data should guide the bridge's tactical and humanitarian response.
Heightened vigilance; impatient for decisive action and protective in a combative, tactical sense.
Worf moves immediately toward a security posture: he readies phasers, activates his security station console, reports shields are up and echoes 'Phasers ready, sir,' signaling a preparedness to use force if ordered.
- • Prepare to engage a threat to the Enterprise quickly and effectively.
- • Ensure shipboard defenses are active to protect crew and systems.
- • An unresponsive vessel is a potential threat that should be countered swiftly.
- • Readiness and decisive force deter or eliminate danger to the ship.
Controlled urgency — outwardly measured command presence masking concern for a crewman's safety and the need to avoid unnecessary violence.
Riker drives the response: gives clear, escalating commands (hail, shields, sensors) and then decisively reverses the bridge's offensive momentum by ordering 'Hold fire' when informed La Forge is onboard.
- • Assess the Mondor's intentions and secure the Enterprise.
- • Protect Lieutenant La Forge and prevent harm to the hostage.
- • Retain tactical options while avoiding escalation into lethal force.
- • Crew safety is paramount and must override reflexive retaliation.
- • Protocol and measured force are the best way to resolve ambiguous distress calls.
Quiet concern and alert empathy — sensing danger to crew and primed to advise command if emotions or motives shift.
Counselor Troi is present on the bridge in her command position, absorbing the exchange and providing empathic presence; while not speaking in the excerpt, her position and earlier warnings in the larger scene context color command choices.
- • Monitor the emotional and intentional state of the Mondor's crew.
- • Advise command toward choices that minimize harm to Enterprise personnel.
- • Emotional cues can reveal deceptive intent even when technical sensors are silent.
- • Protecting crew welfare requires integrating empathic judgment with tactical data.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Enterprise defensive shields are ordered raised by Riker and confirmed active by Worf; they function as both a literal barrier preventing hostile action and a narrative lever that creates the option space for restraint and controlled escalation.
Worf readies the boarding phasers at Riker's command; they are brought to standby/ready status and visually represent the crew's capacity for immediate force, even after Riker's subsequent order to hold fire.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Enterprise main bridge serves as the nerve center where command decisions are issued, the tactical picture is constructed, and the crew's emotional and procedural reactions coalesce; here the move from escalation to restraint is decided and enacted.
The Mondor is the disabled Pakled ship under observation — its silence and failing systems drive suspicion and tactical caution. It is the physical location of the hostage, the focal point for rescue, and the source of the ethical dilemma that halts an attack.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Worf urges an attack; Riker restrains fire because Geordi is aboard, maintaining his protective command ethic."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Running frequency search... negative response.""
"RIKER: "They're ignoring us!""
"RIKER: "Hold fire. Lieutenant La Forge is on that ship.""