Star Trek The Next Generation
Object

Ten Forward Borg Countermeasures Terminal

Wall-mounted computer terminal in Ten Forward that serves as a critical tactical interface for reviewing and refining Borg countermeasures. The terminal displays schematic panels, technical specifications, and engineering graphics (including Borg ship subspace field patterns) to support urgent defensive strategy development. Key features include: - **Schematic panels** for threat vectors, shield modifications, and weapon upgrades (e.g., plasma phaser adaptations). - **Subspace field schematics** (e.g., layered isolinear grids and pulsing field distortions) used by Shelby to explain the Borg ship's decentralized power systems. - **Interactive display** that flickers with iterative crew proposals, drawing Riker, Troi, Guinan, and Shelby to study and refine defensive strategies. The terminal's data fuels the crew's desperate engineering efforts against the Borg, heightening tension in Ten Forward as the lounge becomes a command hub for countermeasure development. The monitor's cool blue glow and detailed graphics (e.g., Borg ship subspace field patterns) anchor the crew's discussions amid the Borg threat.
2 appearances

Purpose

Displays engineering schematics of the Borg ship's subspace field patterns to support technical analysis and strategy discussions.

Significance

Functions as a key visual clue that Shelby leverages to advance her aggressive Borg countermeasures, heightening tension in Riker's leadership deliberations and underscoring the crew's fraying unity against the existential threat.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments
S3E26 · The Best of Both Worlds, Part I
The Weight of the Chair: Riker’s Leadership Crisis and Guinan’s Unseen Offer

The second wall-mounted monitor in Ten Forward cycles through multiple schematic panels outlining Borg countermeasures, including shield modifications and weapon upgrades. Geordi taps the controls to bring up the designs, and the crew gathers around to study threat vectors, shield weaknesses, and phaser enhancements. The monitor’s flickering panels reflect the crew’s desperate scramble for solutions, their iterative proposals a mix of innovation and exhaustion. The screen’s rapid shifts in imagery—from one failed idea to the next—mirror the crew’s mental state: fragmented, urgent, and increasingly hopeless. It is a digital battleground where theory clashes with reality, and where the weight of the Borg threat is measured in pixels and schematics.

Before: Displaying idle or generic Starfleet interface screens (e.g., ship status, crew rosters). The monitor is dormant until Geordi activates it, pulling up the countermeasure designs.
After: Still displaying the last schematic reviewed—a half-formed plasma phaser modification—its incomplete design a metaphor for the crew’s unfinished work and the looming Borg threat.
View full event
S3E26 · The Best of Both Worlds, Part I
The Weight of Command: Riker’s Authority vs. Shelby’s Obsession

The Ten-Forward Borg countermeasures monitor flickers with iterative crew proposals, including schematic panels outlining threat vectors, shield modifications, and weapon upgrades. Geordi and Shelby reference these designs during their debate, tapping controls to bring up and analyze different options. The monitor’s flickering screens capture the team’s frantic innovation, their desperate search for an edge against the Borg. It symbolizes both their ingenuity and their limitations, as the proposals remain speculative and untested.

Before: Active, displaying multiple schematic panels of Borg countermeasures, with Geordi and Shelby reviewing the designs.
After: Unchanged; the monitor continues to display the schematics, though the crew’s fatigue and Riker’s order to break halt further analysis for the moment.
View full event