Duty Over Friendship: Riker Forced to Prosecute
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
PHILLIPA designates the defendant's next-most-senior officer as prosecutor—naming RIKER—and immediately places the burden of opposing Picard's challenge on him.
RIKER refuses on principle and friendship, insisting he cannot try to prove Data a mere machine; PHILLIPA counters that duty and the adversarial system are necessary to discover truth, escalating the moral conflict into institutional obligation.
PHILLIPA threatens to rule summarily—labeling Data a 'toaster' and ordering him to Commander Maddox—silence descends, and RIKER, stricken and bitter, concedes he has no choice but to accept the prosecutorial role.
PHILLIPA sternly warns RIKER to perform fully or she will terminate proceedings; PICARD answers with a terse reminder that Phillipa must also remember her duty, and Phillipa returns a cold, unyielding look—leaving the confrontation unresolved and tense.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not emotionally present in scene; represented as an administrative resource rather than individual persons.
Invoked by Phillipa as the ad hoc pool for legal counsel and prosecution; their generic availability is used to patch the staffing gap at the new base.
- • Serve as available personnel to staff judicial procedures when required
- • Follow orders when assigned to legal duties
- • Duty requires that serving officers accept temporary assignments
- • Institutional needs justify reallocating personnel
Determined and protective; his anger is controlled, focused on securing a fair hearing rather than personal confrontation.
Picard challenges Phillipa's ruling, insists on a hearing, accepts the role of defender, and quietly measures the cost of institutional process on his crew.
- • Ensure Data receives a formal hearing and due process
- • Protect the rights and dignity of his officer against summary administrative action
- • Starfleet officers must defend subordinates and the principles of justice
- • Institutional procedure can be used to protect individuals if properly invoked
Coldly resolute — professional composure masking a willingness to use institutional power to achieve legal clarity.
Phillipa presents her researched legal finding, invokes the Acts of Gould, refuses to be swayed by personal appeals, and administratively compels a hearing with cold procedural force.
- • Establish and enforce Starfleet's legal classification of Data
- • Convene an adjudicative process that resolves the question according to regulation
- • Legal precedent and procedure are the proper tools for resolving disputes about personhood
- • Institutional duty and the rulebook supersede personal relationships in adjudication
Portrayed as imperiled and exposed to administrative control; his lack of presence underscores his vulnerability.
Though absent, Data is the immediate object of Phillipa's legal declaration and the threatened transfer; his agency and body are spoken for and placed at risk by the room's decisions.
- • (Implied) Maintain autonomy and resist involuntary transfer or disassembly
- • (Implied) Be treated in accordance with personhood and legal rights
- • (Implied) His existence and experiences merit moral and legal recognition
- • (Implied) The crew will advocate for his rights before Starfleet bureaucracy
Stricken and bitter — personal loyalty in collision with procedural obligation leaves him resentful and deeply conflicted.
Riker refuses Phillipa's appointment as prosecutor on moral and personal grounds, argues that he cannot in good conscience portray Data as a mere machine, then concedes under the pressure of her summary-threat and duty.
- • Avoid participating in a prosecution that denies Data's personhood
- • Protect his friendship and moral integrity while minimizing harm to the crew
- • Data is more than a machine and deserves moral consideration
- • Obedience to duty is important but should not demand moral compromise
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Acts of Gould are verbally invoked by Phillipa as the binding legal basis to declare Data Starfleet property. The Acts function narratively as the iron law that closes off voluntary options and legitimizes immediate administrative remedies.
The JAG office hearing space functions as the immediate administrative arena for this interaction. Though informal and understaffed, it is where Phillipa adjudicates, Picard protests, and Riker capitulates — the site where private loyalty meets public procedure.
The Experimental Refit Transfer Order is invoked as the practical consequence of Phillipa's summary ruling — a bureaucratic instrument threatening to remove Data from Enterprise custody and place him under Maddox's control for disassembly and refit.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The 'New Base' is explicitly cited by Phillipa to explain thin JAG staffing and logistical constraints, justifying the use of serving officers and summary procedures; it contextualizes the administrative urgency and scarcity of resources.
The Starfleet Judicial Courtroom is evoked as the future, formal battleground where Picard will defend Data; although not the scene's physical location, it represents the procedural destination and the institutional formality Phillipa invokes.
The defendant's ship is referenced to determine who must serve as prosecutor (the next most senior officer aboard), grounding the staffing decision in chain-of-command and jurisdictional practice.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Phillipa's initial JAG ruling that Data is Starfleet property (Acts of Gould) leads directly to her convening procedures that assign a prosecutor—Riker—escalating the dispute into formal litigation."
"Phillipa's property ruling escalates the conflict from administrative dispute to formal hearing when Picard forcefully challenges her decision and demands adjudication."
"Phillipa's initial JAG ruling that Data is Starfleet property (Acts of Gould) leads directly to her convening procedures that assign a prosecutor—Riker—escalating the dispute into formal litigation."
"Phillipa's property ruling escalates the conflict from administrative dispute to formal hearing when Picard forcefully challenges her decision and demands adjudication."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"PHILLIPA: "I have completed my research, and based on the Acts of Gould passed in the early twenty-first century, Data is the property of Starfleet. He cannot resign and he cannot refuse to cooperate with Commander Maddox.""
"RIKER: "I can't. I won't. Data's my friend, my comrade. We've served together and I not only respect him, I have affection for him.""
"PHILLIPA: "Then I'll rule summarily based upon my findings. Data's a toaster. Have him report to Commander Maddox immediately for experimental refit.""