Com Break: Starfleet Interrupts the High Council

Midway through Duras's devastating public indictment of Mogh, Picard's com badge interrupts the Great Hall, forcing him to step aside from the ceremonial proceedings. The brief exchange—protocol over passion—punctures Duras's momentum and injects explicit Starfleet authority into Klingon political theater. The interruption functions as a procedural rupture and turning point: it exposes Picard's dual role as diplomat and investigator, cools the crowd's fever, and signals that the Empire's fate will now be contested not just by honor but by interstellar procedure and evidence.