Stun-Ready Away Team Prepares to Beam to Borg Ship
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker, Worf, and Data enter the transporter room armed with phasers, establishing a tense, mission-ready posture as they prepare to board the hostile Borg vessel.
Worf declares the absence of life signs, instantly shattering any assumption of conventional crewed life aboard the Borg ship and introducing a chilling, unnatural silence that signals the threat’s alien nature.
O'Brien confirms the landing coordinates, aligning the away team’s insertion into the least damaged zone—strategically grounding their fragile infiltration in technical precision and survival necessity.
Riker orders phasers set to stun with readiness to escalate force, revealing tactical caution in the face of the unknown—his voice tightens the tension, transforming equipment into weapons of fragile control.
The away team steps onto the transporter pad, bracing physically and psychologically for the unknown—each movement a silent vow to face the uncomprehending horror beyond.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Detached curiosity overlaying professional concern — intellectually eager to gather data but mindful of the mission's danger.
Data, armed and composed, accompanies Riker and Worf onto the pad; he presents the clinical posture of an analytic officer ready to observe, record, and respond while complying with Riker's tactical orders.
- • Collect sensory and environmental data aboard the Borg vessel
- • Support mission objectives through analysis and adaptive problem-solving
- • Objective observation and data collection are primary duties during unknown encounters
- • Systematic inquiry can reveal vulnerabilities even in seemingly implacable adversaries
Professional concentration: calm, steady, and quietly anxious about the technical variables of a risky beam-down.
Chief O'Brien stands at the transporter console, confirms and reports that he has 'laid in coordinates' intended to deposit the team in the least damaged sector, and readies the transporter for an immediate dematerialization and potential emergency recall.
- • Execute an accurate transport to the specified coordinates
- • Maintain contingency readiness for a rapid retrieval if the away team encounters danger
- • Proper coordinate selection and transporter setup are essential to minimizing risk
- • Technical competence and procedural rigor can mitigate the unknowns of hostile environments
Resolute professionalism masking an urgent, coiled readiness — calm on surface while prepared to escalate force if the situation demands.
Commander Riker organizes and commands the away-team deployment: he gives rules of engagement, calibrates phasers to stun with a readiness to escalate, physically boards the transporter pad, and delivers the final "Energize" that initiates beaming.
- • Deploy an effective reconnaissance/boarding party with minimal casualties
- • Maintain command control and rules of engagement to avoid unnecessary aggression
- • Ensure the team lands in the least damaged sector to maximize survivability
- • The Borg represent a severe but containable threat if approached cautiously
- • Clear rules of engagement and measured force will preserve crew lives and mission integrity
Controlled vigilance with underlying apprehension; his report is factual but carries the weight of a warrior anticipating unexpected danger.
Worf performs a tactical sensor check and reports cold, clinical data — 'no life sign readings' — stands armed on the pad, and assumes a guarded security posture as the team prepares to dematerialize.
- • Provide accurate tactical readings to inform team decisions
- • Protect the away team and be ready to engage physically if required
- • Tactical information (or its absence) is crucial to survival
- • Preparedness and readiness to use force are necessary in dangerous boarding operations
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The circular transporter pad functions as the physical nexus of the event: the three officers climb onto it, it hums to life under O'Brien's control, and it dematerializes the team — converting procedure and intent into irreversible action and initiating the away mission.
Representing the navigational data that O'Brien has prepared, the encoded beam-down coordinates are referenced verbally as the assurance of a targeted landing in the least damaged sector; they function narratively as a fragile promise of safety and procedural control before the unknown.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Transporter Room Three is the event's staging ground: officers assemble, procedures are spoken aloud, technical checks are confirmed, and the room's machines execute the beaming. Its cramped clinicality sharpens the emotional focus on duty, risk, and the interpersonal compact of command and follow-through.
The Borg ship (the team's intended destination) is invoked as the hostile endpoint of this action: though unseen in the room, it frames the entire risk assessment, gives meaning to the sensor reading of 'no life signs,' and transforms the beaming from routine operation into a deliberate insertion into enemy space.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The away team’s step onto the Borg ship triggers their harrowing discoveries — including the nursery and regeneration — which directly cause Picard to order immediate extraction, making their physical entry the causal pivot of the entire mission."
"The away team’s step onto the Borg ship triggers their harrowing discoveries — including the nursery and regeneration — which directly cause Picard to order immediate extraction, making their physical entry the causal pivot of the entire mission."
Key Dialogue
"Worf: "There are no life sign readings.""
"O'Brien: "I have laid in coordinates which should set you down in the least damaged section of the Borg ship.""
"Riker: "Set phasers on stun, but let's be ready to increase the power if we need it.""