Iconia (Iconian Homeworld)
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
Iconian Homeworld is introduced via Varley's report as the archaeological and strategic prize he located; its existence explains why the Yamato risked the Neutral Zone and reframes the technical incident as a contest over powerful, ancient technology.
Off‑screen but ominous—present as a cold, dead source of dangerous technology.
MacGuffin origin motivating Varley's risk and the Romulan interest.
Embodies forbidden knowledge and the threat of overwhelming technological advantage.
Remote and dangerous; discovery carries diplomatic and military consequences.
Iconian Homeworld is invoked as the critical off-screen locus whose recovered technology prompted Varley's mission; its mention reframes the Yamato emergency as both archaeological discovery and strategic threat.
Remote and dead as described by Varley—a cold repository of dangerous, advanced artifacts.
MacGuffin source motivating Varley's risk and the ensuing scramble to control its technology.
Embodies forbidden knowledge and the historical weight of advanced civilizations' remnants.
Effectively inaccessible except to those willing to breach political boundaries (Varley's choice).
Iconian Homeworld is invoked as the artifact's origin (Iconia) and the source of the probe scan; it frames the discovery as belonging to an ancient, powerful civilization with technology able to affect ship systems.
Implied as ancient, silent, and potentially lethal — a repository of dormant technology.
Source/ locus of the technological puzzle and strategic prize discussed in the playback.
Embodies lost power and the political danger of ancient technology re-entering modern conflicts.
Unexplored and remote; any approach carries political risk because of Neutral Zone proximity.
Iconia (the Iconian Homeworld) is established by Varley as the artifact's origin and the strategic destination; the playback turns Iconia from an archaeological curiosity into the mission's primary objective and a locus of potential conflict.
Evocatively ominous — implied ruins, dormant machinery, and the hushed possibility of immense power.
Narrative objective and destination; the planet that must be reached, explored, and possibly defended.
Iconia stands for lost, dangerous technology whose rediscovery threatens political balance.
Not specified in the log; implied to be remote and contested, approached at the edge of the Neutral Zone.
The Iconian Homeworld is referenced as the Enterprise's destination, providing geopolitical and narrative stakes; its mention frames the probe's possible origin and the larger risk if advanced Iconian tech is involved.
Ominous and distant — an offstage presence that raises the stakes and lends urgency to containment decisions.
Narrative target/destination that contextualizes the importance of solving the onboard crisis before arrival.
Symbolizes dangerous, ancient technology and the possibility that unseen, superior systems could wreak catastrophic damage.
Iconian Homeworld is referenced as the Enterprise's destination and the geopolitical locus that raises the stakes for the diagnostic work: the presence of Iconia ties scientific findings to strategic consequence.
Ominous in implication — the planet's mention adds cold, distant menace to the immediate technical worry.
Narrative locus and mission objective that escalates the diagnostic problem into a potential flashpoint between powers.
Embodies the larger stakes: ancient technology and geopolitical leverage that make the probe's threat existential beyond the ship.
Not physically present in the scene; access restrictions are strategic rather than local (Iconia is a contested, remote world).
Iconia is the ruined brown‑red planet under orbit: its planetwide scars, ruined cities, and residual technology are the source of the launched probe and the core mystery that transforms the mission into a tactical emergency.
Eerily lifeless from orbit—an archaeological grave that suddenly emits lethal activity, shifting from scientific curiosity to audible threat.
Origin point of the threat; narrative catalyst converting off‑world research into immediate survival stakes.
Represents ancient power and the long reach of dangerous technology; a graveyard of a civilization whose legacy still kills.
Effectively hostile: approaches or scans risk triggering defensive mechanisms; physical landing would be perilous.
Iconia is the remote, ruined planet that emits the bright flash and launches the probe; it moves from archaeological curiosity to the source of an active threat, forcing the Enterprise to treat the world as hostile and strategically dangerous.
Ominous and lifeless from orbit — alien silence punctured by a sudden, violent flare.
Origin of threat and investigative focus for the episode's central mystery.
Represents an ancient technology whose dormant legacy now threatens the present; stands in for past hubris with present consequences.
Remote world; hazardous to approach due to active systems and unknown installations.
Iconian Homeworld is invoked by Data's disoriented report ('I was on Iconia') and by Geordi's diagnosis: Iconia is the locus from which the corrupting program originated. Though not the physical setting of the scene, Iconia functions narratively as the remote origin point of the contagion that the Enterprise must now excise.
Ominous and remote in reference — a cold, ancient source whose existence creates dread and technical urgency aboard the Enterprise.
Source/origin of the infecting Iconian program; the remote catalyst for the emergency wipe decision aboard the Enterprise.
Represents unknown, ancient technology whose legacy can override modern systems; symbolizes an external, alien legacy that forces Starfleet into radical corrective measures.
Remote, off-limits and archaeologically sensitive; effectively inaccessible during the current crisis.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Picard orders a hard, time‑sensitive rendezvous when Data confirms the USS Yamato's entire mission log will be uploaded by the rendezvous — establishing a fixed retrieval window and raising the …
Captain Varley's desperate video link to the Enterprise turns from plea to catastrophe. He reveals he located the Iconian homeworld in the Neutral Zone and hid its technology from the …
Reluctantly, Picard orders Varley’s personal log played and watches his old friend’s final, increasingly desperate footage. Varley turns a corroded alien device, identifies it as Iconian after accounting for two …
Picard summons and watches Captain Donald Varley’s desperate personal log: Varley identifies a corroded artifact as Iconian, explains his decision to violate the Neutral Zone to keep the technology from …
Aboard Engineering, Picard's supplemental log reframes the Enterprise's random malfunctions as possible early symptoms of what destroyed the Yamato, turning scattered glitches into a coherent, contagious threat. Geordi, frantic and …
In Main Engineering Geordi La Forge frantically triages cascading, apparently random system failures while Picard's voiceover reframes the malfunctions as possibly the same affliction that destroyed the Yamato. Geordi isolates …
The Enterprise drops into orbit above a brown-red, apparently lifeless Iconia. Data's scans confirm a planetwide cataclysm roughly two hundred thousand years ago while Worf isolates a concentrated energy signature …
A tiny, deadly moment shifts the bridge from forensic curiosity to frontline crisis: a blinding flash on Iconia heralds a projectile, and Data confirms it’s the same probe that scanned …
Data unexpectedly reactivates after a shutdown, revealing that his positronic brain invoked a self-correcting shutdown that purged the Iconian corruption. Geordi realizes the same surgical approach can save the entire …