Object

Priority One transmission from Admiral Haftel (via USS Hathaway)

A secure, high-priority Starfleet Priority One transmission received aboard the USS Enterprise‑D: a sharp Priority One chime and bright on‑screen header announce Admiral Haftel's formal voice. The message—sent from or relayed through the starship USS Hathaway—appears as a time‑sensitive data packet (recording an ETA/delay marker) that forces immediate acknowledgement and compresses Picard's decision window, converting sensor silence into urgent operational orders.

2 appearances

Purpose

To deliver urgent, authoritative Starfleet orders and declarations directly to Captain Picard—specifically to notify him of Admiral Haftel's intention to review and potentially remove the newly emergent android, Lal.

Significance

Acts as the inciting operational device and Act break: it converts the private ethical dilemma around Lal's personhood into an institutional confrontation, forces immediate command decisions, raises stakes for Data and Picard, and embodies bureaucratic authority and threat within the episode's central conflict.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S3E10 · The Defector

Nelvana Sweep Yields Nothing — Strategic Uncertainty Deepens

The Priority One message registers as an imminent, institutional object: an authenticated transmission announced by the Computer. Narratively it functions as a ticking deadline that reframes sensor ambiguity into an operational crisis requiring response before the message arrives.

Before: Incoming and queued at Starfleet; not yet received aboard the Enterprise.

After: Acknowledged by the bridge; scheduled to arrive in two hours and twenty-two minutes, prompting Picard to request the Ready Room.

View full event

S3E10 · The Defector

Delayed Priority One — Two‑Hour Directive

The Priority One Starfleet transmission is announced by the Computer as incoming on a secured channel; though not yet received, its metadata (priority, secure, and delay) functions narratively as a ticking clock that constrains Picard's available options and reframes the sensor mystery into a political dilemma.

Before: In transit from Starfleet Command (origin Lya Three), queued in subspace routing and not yet delivered to the Enterprise.

After: Queued with a reported two-hour, twenty-two-minute delay; marked as secured and awaiting delivery to Picard in his Ready Room.

View full event