Object

Detected Ship Contact — Bearing 316 Mark 42

A faint, long‑range sensor contact detected on bearing 316 as 'mark 42' that registers as a bona fide vessel but emits no detectable warp signature. Telemetry yields only bearing and a sparse return — range is extreme, class unresolved, signature thin and steady. Data isolates the echo, consoles display waveform traces, and officers tighten around the contact as it stitches into the tactical feed, prompting widened search patterns and elevated readiness.

1 appearances

Significance

Serves as the central investigative clue that escalates the bridge’s urgency. The contact’s lack of a warp profile undermines established search assumptions, propels Riker to commit ship resources to a broader sweep, and converts methodical procedure into desperate breadth—raising narrative stakes and signaling an anomalous, potentially concealed presence.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S2E16 · Q Who?

All‑Points Sweep — Riker Escalates the Search

The unidentified vessel (noted as lacking a warp signature) is the implicit target motivating the search. Data's statement frames it as a craft that could traverse the region under impulse, and its absence from the completed spherical sweep forces command to change tactics and broaden sensor focus.

Before: Registered by sensors as a constrained, low‑signature contact that should have been detected within the prior spherical search pattern.

After: Still not located; remains an unresolved contact prompting a widened search but otherwise unchanged and unengaged.

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