Maddox Declares Disassembly; Orders Transferred
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Maddox frames his obsession with Data as scientific destiny, announcing he intends to disassemble and study Data to replicate Soong's work—pointing directly at the android as prize and subject.
Picard presses for procedure; Data registers mild intrigue while Maddox lays out a step-by-step plan—full diagnostics, core-memory dump to the starbase mainframe, and hands-on analysis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, quietly determined; professional assurance masks the moral bluntness of his agenda.
Commander Maddox presents his long-standing scientific obsession, methodically explains a procedural plan to disassemble Data, answers technical questions with clinical certainty, and produces authenticated transfer orders to convert debate into enforceable action.
- • Secure legal custody of Data so he can perform diagnostics, memory-dump and component analysis.
- • Legitimize and advance his research toward duplicating Soong's work by gaining access to Data's hardware and memories.
- • Scientific knowledge and replication of Soong's work justify intrusive study of Data.
- • Institutional authorization (Starfleet orders) confers moral and operational right to proceed.
Detached curiosity with an undercurrent of concern; treats ethical threat in mechanistic terms while sensing procedural gravity through Picard's objections.
Data listens and participates as an engaged scientist: he expresses intellectual curiosity, asks precise technical questions about positronic construction and filament resistance, and critiques Maddox's lack of specifics, treating the situation as a technical problem to be solved.
- • Understand the technical methods proposed for his disassembly and the viability of replication.
- • Assess the scientific validity of Maddox's plan and whether the experiment would produce meaningful results.
- • Technical rigor and resolution of filament resistance are necessary prerequisites for a successful replication.
- • Transparent, methodical diagnostics and memory analysis will yield objective understanding of his construction.
Concerned and protective with growing frustration; moral resolve tempered by recognition of institutional limits once orders appear.
Captain Picard challenges Maddox's vagueness, presses for a risk assessment, defends Data as a crew member, and attempts to block the experiment—only to be halted when Maddox reveals transfer orders backed by Starfleet authority.
- • Prevent Data from being subjected to an experimental disassembly without clear justification and safeguards.
- • Assert command responsibility for crew safety and moral standing in the face of scientific encroachment.
- • Crew members (including Data) merit protection from unnecessary harm or invasive procedures.
- • Authority should not override ethical considerations without due cause and transparency.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Maddox names Data's core memory as the primary data subject to be dumped into the starbase mainframe for analysis. It functions narratively as the intimate repository of identity that Maddox intends to objectify and copy.
The starbase mainframe is invoked as the remote repository that will receive Data's core-memory dump and run forensic analysis—its mention converts a local medical procedure into a jurisdictional transfer requiring Starfleet cooperation.
Maddox removes a small, authenticated Starfleet message disk from his pocket and extends it to Picard, using it as physical evidence of transfer orders. The disk crystallizes debate into bureaucratic authority and immediately neutralizes Picard's objections by invoking Starfleet command.
Referenced by Data in technical questioning, the anterior cortex' braided conductive filaments are discussed as the engineering obstacle Maddox must resolve—serving as scientific constraints on the feasibility of replication.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Observation Lounge serves as the tight, formal setting where personal loyalty, scientific curiosity, and institutional procedure collide: Maddox lays out his plan and produces orders at the central table, Picard objects publicly, and Data participates as both subject and interlocutor.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Maddox produces formal Starfleet transfer orders for Data, which directly forces Picard to seek a non-coercive solution—he asks Data to submit voluntarily as an attempt to avert the transfer."
"Maddox produces formal Starfleet transfer orders for Data, which directly forces Picard to seek a non-coercive solution—he asks Data to submit voluntarily as an attempt to avert the transfer."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"MADDOX: "Ever since I first saw Data at its entrance evaluation at Starfleet Academy, I've wanted to understand it. I became a student of the works of Doctor Noonien Soong -- Data's creator. I've tried to continue his work, and I believe I am very close to the breakthrough which will enable me to duplicate Soong's work and replicate this. But as a first step I must disassemble and study it. Data is going to be my guide.""
"DATA: "Have you determined how the electron resistance across the neural filaments is to be resolved?""
"MADDOX: "I thought this might be your attitude, Captain. Here are Starfleet's transfer orders separating Commander Data from the Enterprise, and reassigning it to Starbase one-seven-three under my command. Data, I'll expect you in my office at nine hundred hours tomorrow.""