Engines Pushed to the Limit — Last Reserves Spent
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Enterprise hurtles at maximum warp as the Borg ship closes the gap, its relentless pursuit compressing the crew’s remaining options into a ticking countdown to annihilation.
Geordi and Sonya, battered by the ship’s shaking engine and the weight of command, report they’ve pushed the Enterprise to its absolute design limits—confirming the final spark of power has been wrung from the ship’s dying systems.
Geordi contacts the bridge with a grim, definitive report—'You've got all we can give you'—a final surrender of engineering’s last reserves, sealing the ship’s vulnerability and turning hope into a dying ember.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Externally composed, professionally focused; underneath, tension tempered by duty and the need to prove competence.
Ensign Sonya stands beside Geordi, delivering the key technical line — calm and steady under pressure — confirming that the ship has reached its design envelope and cannot push further without catastrophic risk.
- • Accurately report Engineering's status to command.
- • Support Geordi and protect crew by ensuring no unrealistic orders are followed.
- • Precise technical truthfulness is the officer's responsibility.
- • Admitting limits is necessary to avoid greater damage or loss of life.
Concerned and resigned — maintains formal composure while acknowledging tactical failure and danger.
Captain Picard appears only as a voice-over, recording a supplemental log that frames Engineering's technical reality as an operational and moral narrowing; his V.O. registers concern and formal resignation.
- • Document the ship's failing ability to maintain tactical separation.
- • Preserve chain-of-command and inform the crew/record the situation for accountability and future action.
- • Accurate record-keeping is essential even in crisis.
- • The bridge must be fully informed to make the best possible decisions under constrained options.
Stressed but resolute — masking anxiety with technical clarity and a duty-driven calm.
Geordi rises from the pool table and takes charge of the formal communication to the Bridge, delivering the blunt technical conclusion that Engineering has exhausted available power and cannot widen the gap — his tone pragmatic and final.
- • Convey an accurate, unembellished assessment of Engineering's capacity to command.
- • Protect ship and crew by ensuring command understands true technical limitations to avoid futile maneuvers.
- • Honest technical reporting is necessary for effective command decisions.
- • Engineering's duty is to provide the best possible resources and to be clear when limits are reached.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Main Engineering pool table functions as staging and orientation: Geordi rises from its edge to make the report, signaling a shift from informal repair posture to formal duty. It anchors the visual — the casual shipboard object contrasted with the gravity of the technical verdict — and underscores Engineering as both workplace and community.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge is the recipient of Engineering's transmission; its presence looms in the scene because the technical limit announced forces command-level decisions and reframes the tactical picture across ship systems. The Bridge functions as the decision node that will translate Engineering's blunt truth into strategy or desperate action.
The corridor outside Main Engineering is not the scene's literal setpiece but represents the ship's circulation and the proximity of public, transitional spaces to critical work areas. It contextualizes how routine shipboard life collides with crisis — small rituals and movements now taking place under heavy operational strain.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"PICARD (V.O.): "Captain's log supplemental. We are unable to maintain the gap between the Enterprise and the Borg ship.""
"SONYA: "We are at the design limit.""
"GEORDI: "You've got all we can give you.""