Iconian Gateways Awaken — Data Struck Down
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard reinterprets Iconian history on the spot, arguing they may have been victims rather than conquerors while warning that the Romulans could weaponize the gateway; Data and Worf debate the probe's hostility as the moral stakes sharpen.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Curious and awed by discovery but increasingly sober and protective, masking fear with calm command.
Picard studies the console and gateway, quickly interprets the strategic implications, pulls Data back when the android is harmed, reframes Iconian history and orders tactical precautions ("Time the rotation"). He moves between wonder and command responsibility.
- • Determine whether the gateway is functional and where it leads
- • Protect crew and prevent further casualties (notably Data)
- • Assess strategic risk and anticipate Romulan threat
- • Technology can be both humanitarian and militarized depending on who controls it
- • Picard believes losing crew (especially unique assets like Data) is unacceptable risk
- • Historical accounts may be biased; Iconians might be victims, not conquerors
Analytical and resolute initially; after the energy strike, inert and incapacitated — his prior curiosity is interrupted by sudden physical failure.
Data deciphers Iconian symbols, identifies the 'manual override', activates the keys, physically probes the spinning gateway with his arm while running tricorder scans, and is struck by a green energy beam that renders him immobile and expressionless.
- • Verify whether the projection is a holograph or a true gateway
- • Collect empirical data (scans, symbol decoding) to understand Iconian systems
- • Enable the team to use knowledge to return home or secure the device
- • Empirical investigation (including direct probing) yields necessary knowledge
- • Iconian systems can be understood through comparative linguistics and instrumentation
- • Risk to himself is acceptable if it produces definitive answers
Alert and cautious; his tactical instincts sharpen into immediate protective action when Data is struck.
Worf stands guard with his hand on his phaser, reacts to the globe's activation, warns when the Enterprise appears, and physically catches and eases the incapacitated Data to the floor after the energy discharge.
- • Maintain security and immediate safety of the away team
- • Monitor and interpret the gateway's threat potential
- • Prevent further harm by controlling physical space around the console
- • A visible threat (probe/gateway) requires defensive posture
- • Technology that can instantly transport can be weaponized
- • Direct action and readiness (phaser at hand) are necessary in unknown environments
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Data uses a referenced/tricorder-like device to run multiple scans of the dome, the gateway and the room; its readings reveal an upsurge in power and identify a vast underground power source controlled by the console, anchoring the discovery in measurable systems data.
The Iconian Gateway Globe is the central projector that intensifies, emits rays that intersect to form the spinning aperture, projects distant-world images (including the Enterprise and Romulan bridge), and releases the sickly green disabling beam that strikes Data — functioning both as demonstrator of capability and as defensive hazard.
The pentagonal console ring of colored keys acts as the apparent 'manual override' Data identifies and physically manipulates. His input triggers a low hum, lights the globe and bank of lights, and causes the gateway to spin; the console thus functions as the interface that converts dormant infrastructure into an active portal and reveals control over a subterranean power source.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Iconian Control Room serves as the discovery locus where the away team deciphers symbols, activates the console, watches the globe project the gateway, and suffers the first on-site casualty when Data is disabled. The room's architecture — pentagonal console, glowing dome, and sparking conduits — makes the ancient technology feel simultaneously domestic and lethal.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"DATA: But we have established it is not a holograph. If I step through and investigate, we would determine whether it is truly a gateway."
"PICARD: Do we? The little we know was passed down by the descendants of the people who attacked this world. I'm beginning to think the Iconians may have been the victims of some very bad press."
"DATA: Sir, there is a vast underground power source which is controlled by this console."