The Ficus Beacon — Echo of a Lost Colony
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard’s log frames an enticing assignment from Admiral James Moore as repairs finish and the Enterprise readies to shove off from the starbase.
A raspy SOS rattles the Ready Room as Riker arrives; Picard tags it as an old Terran distress beacon with an origin in the Ficus quadrant where no Earth colony should exist.
Picard takes the investigation, and Riker needles him about the lure of a mystery while weighing the grim possibility the callers didn’t survive.
The computer peels back history: the signal matches a European Hegemony beacon; Picard narrows the window and confirms only humans ever used it, sharpening the human-origin mystery.
A crisp launch manifest appears but lists nothing bound for Ficus; Picard bristles at the dead end, then pushes forward as Riker exits and the Enterprise breaks dock and warps out to get answers firsthand.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Quietly excited and intellectually engaged; his optimism and professional duty overlay a private frustration at the unknown (brief disappointment at the missing records).
Picard sits in the Ready Room listening intently to a static‑laced SOS, queries the computer, reads the results, discusses origin with Riker, and converts his scholarly curiosity into an operational order to investigate.
- • Determine the beacon's origin and historical context
- • Authorize and initiate an away mission to investigate the Ficus quadrant
- • Human lives are worth investigating and rescuing when called for
- • Historical records and databanks are reliable starting points for answering current anomalies
Mildly amused and intrigued; professionally engaged but tempered by operational realism and concern for safety.
Riker enters conversationally, listens to the signal, asks pointed questions about origin and survival odds, flirts with banter, and quickly affirms acceptance of Picard's investigative decision with pragmatic good humor.
- • Clarify factual gaps about the beacon and the Ficus quadrant
- • Support Picard's decision-making and prepare to lead or staff investigative efforts
- • It is Starfleet's duty to investigate distress calls when feasible
- • Mysteries are worth pursuing but survival is not guaranteed
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Captain's Ready Room is where the exchange unfolds: an intimate, controlled space for command deliberation. It houses the console that renders the signal oscillations and printout, framing Picard's scholarly curiosity and the moment he converts analysis into orders.
The Ficus Quadrant is the mysterious spatial origin named in the databanks; though not physically present in the scene, it operates as the narrative destination and the central unknown that compels the Enterprise to change course and investigate.
Starbase 173 functions offstage as the detecting authority that first logged the distress beacon. Its sensors forwarded the discovery to the Enterprise, making it the informational origin and procedural staging point for the ship's decision to investigate.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Interception of the archaic SOS directly drives the Enterprise to scan the planet where human life and a monitoring satellite are detected."
"Interception of the archaic SOS directly drives the Enterprise to scan the planet where human life and a monitoring satellite are detected."
"Interception of the archaic SOS directly drives the Enterprise to scan the planet where human life and a monitoring satellite are detected."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: It's an old style Terran distress beacon. It kicked in last month, and was detected by the starbase."
"COMPUTER VOICE: Signal analysis complete. Distress beacon used by the European Hegemony."
"PICARD: Nothing for the Ficus quadrant. Damn it, who's out there?"