Object
Referenced Asteroid (Engineering Hazard)
A tumbling rocky body invoked by the engineering team as a hypothetical external mass and navigational hazard. Dark, irregular and unobserved on-screen in this scene, it exists chiefly as a sensor blip and a mental image used to frame gravitational calculations; officers mention it with clipped urgency while devising a warp-equivalent field to alter nearby mass effects.
1 appearances
Purpose
Natural celestial mass that can act as a navigational hazard and as a local source of gravity whose presence or trajectory factors into engineering plans and emergency maneuvers.
Significance
Functions as a narrative lever to heighten stakes and constrain technical options: the asteroid's implied gravity and collision risk force Geordi, Data and Beverly to translate Q's taunt into a practical low-level warp-field solution, turning a theoretical threat into the pivot for rescue strategy.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used