Domestic Ceremony, Predatory Gaze
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Manua enters the lab, immediately establishing domestic warmth that contrasts with Riker's predatory gaze—their first charged exchange sets the tension.
Riker's flirtatious demeanor toward Manua escalates—his deliberate focus on her rather than Apgar's research sparks marital discord.
Apgar's hostility flares as Geordi and Tayna detach to examine the Lambda Field generator—isolating Riker with Manua.
Manua physically intercedes—steering Apgar away while masking tension with forced hospitality—but Riker's predatory gaze lingers.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Surface politeness mixed with discomfort and protective anxiety—she is hospitable while inwardly unsettled by Riker's gaze.
Manua enters the lab, offers refreshment, and deliberately defuses tension by steering conversation away from conflict. She physically links to her husband to shield him from Riker's attention and leads the pair out of the immediate area.
- • Defuse social and professional tension between Apgar and Riker
- • Protect and emotionally shield her husband from perceived threat or embarrassment
- • Maintain an appearance of domestic normalcy to calm the men
- • Hospitality will smooth over uncomfortable interactions
- • Her presence and behavior can moderate her husband's defensiveness
- • A warm, conventional persona disarms outsiders and preserves reputation
Irritated and tense, masking worry about his research's progress and about outside scrutiny from Starfleet.
Apgar is brusque and anxious, insisting on his work and resenting Riker's early arrival. He accepts Manua's intervening gestures reluctantly and withdraws with Geordi and Tayna to attend to records and technical matters.
- • Regain control of the situation and return to his experiment
- • Minimize distractions so he can make technical progress
- • Avoid personal complications that might undermine his credibility
- • External visitors will slow or jeopardize research
- • His work speaks for itself and only needs time, not interference
- • Protecting technical details is essential to preserve credibility and funding
Cooperative and slightly anxious to be efficient—she wants to help but is aware of the probe's seriousness.
Tayna moves across the lab to coordinate with Geordi and access the records. She functions as Apgar's assistant and provides the logistical explanation that the field generator is planet-side, prompting the men to leave the holodeck area to consult data.
- • Fetch and present the relevant experimental records
- • Support Apgar's position by clarifying technical facts
- • Expedite the review so the meeting proceeds productively
- • Accurate records and clear logistics are central to proper evaluation
- • Her role is to facilitate the lead scientist and the investigators
- • Removing personal distractions will allow the technical review to succeed
Confident and playful on the surface; there is a contained, knowing quality to his attention that can read as suggestive or persuasive.
Riker is relaxed and charming, deliberately directing amicable remarks at Manua. He uses warmth to disarm Apgar and the room while planting the suggestion of future support for the research—a move that functions both as reassurance and as a subtle attempt to influence Manua.
- • Put Apgar at ease and smooth the way for Starfleet inspection
- • Gather goodwill and soft influence from Apgar's household (including Manua)
- • Establish rapport that could facilitate later cooperation or information access
- • A relaxed, charming approach will make technical people more cooperative
- • Social leverage—friendly attention—can be as effective as formal authority
- • Expressing institutional support will encourage continued research
Calmly businesslike but quietly alert—he's focused on technical facts while aware of the social stakes.
Geordi accepts the cue to examine Apgar's records and moves away with Tayna and Apgar to technical consoles. He shifts from personal interaction to diagnostic focus, preparing to review experimental data relevant to the investigation.
- • Retrieve and examine experimental records for clarity
- • Remove Apgar from social tension so technical work can proceed
- • Shield Riker and the truth-seeking process from unnecessary personal drama
- • Objective data will resolve disputed impressions
- • Technical procedure is the right response to emotionally charged scenes
- • Keeping interactions professional reduces error and misinterpretation
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Apgar's experimental records are invoked as the reason Geordi should review technical data; Tayna offers to call them up. The records function narratively as the tether to objective truth that the technicians will consult after the social exchange disperses.
Apgar's Lambda Field Generator is the implied centerpiece of the research conversation—its operational constraints (collimation distance) and failure risks are the technical reasons Geordi and Tayna must move to examine records and the field generator's deployment.
The holodeck's drafting room computer banks serve as the immediate workstations where Apgar, Manua, and the investigators gather; Manua moves to a computer bank to physically align with her husband and to escape Riker's gaze.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The holodeck simulates a space-station laboratory and stands in narratively for the planet-side research site; within this reconstructed lab the social choreography—hospitality, withdrawal to consoles, charged eye contact—unfolds, making simulated space the crucible for subjective testimony versus data.
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
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: It's a... pleasure... to meet you, Manua."
"RIKER: I'll try to make this as painless as possible. For both of us. Do you assist your husband in his work?"
"MANUA: I'll make the two of you a drink and you can talk all about Krieger Waves..."