Star Trek The Next Generation
S2E11
· Contagion (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Choosing the Sacrifice — Picard Claims the Away Mission

In the captain's ready room Picard and Riker confront a collapsing timeline: life support is already failing on multiple decks and an Iconian program may be actively rewriting ship systems. Riker lays out the grim technical reality; Picard reframes the threat by invoking the Yamato disaster and insists on a high‑risk retrieval mission to Iconia. The scene crystallizes a turning point — Picard volunteers to lead the away team out of personal conviction and responsibility, and Riker reluctantly accepts command of a crippled Enterprise. It sets the emotional stakes, transfers formal authority, and commits the story to a dangerous rescue with compressed odds.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

2

Riker reports that life support has failed on Decks Seven and Thirteen, raising immediate physical stakes while Picard offers no visible reaction — the ship’s vulnerability sharpens into urgent danger.

measured reporting to escalating dread

Riker warns that the alien program could rewrite the ship’s entire system and kill them through sheer incomprehension; Picard counters that they may be destroyed sooner by a Yamato-style catastrophic failure, narrowing the window for action.

alarm to grim realism

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

2
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain
 primary

Stoic determination with an undercurrent of personal responsibility; calm on the surface but willing to accept personal risk to protect the crew.

Picard receives Riker's technical report without outward alarm, reframes the danger through precedent (the Yamato), declares Iconia the source and insists he will personally lead the retrieval away team, and formally transfers command of the Enterprise to Riker.

Goals in this moment
  • • Secure records at Iconia that may provide a technical solution to the probe's interference
  • • Prevent immediate ship destruction by taking decisive, expert action
  • • Preserve the lives of the crew by delegating ship command to a trusted subordinate
  • • Act on personal conviction and past knowledge of the Iconians to increase mission success
Active beliefs
  • • His specialized study of the Iconians makes him uniquely qualified to handle the mission
  • • Proactive retrieval of records offers the best chance to stop the probe's effect
  • • Transferring command to Riker keeps the Enterprise safe while he undertakes the risk
  • • The precedent of the Yamato proves passive strategy is insufficient
Character traits
measured resolute authoritative self-sacrificing intellectually confident
Follow Jean-Luc Picard's journey
William Riker
Commander
 primary

Concerned and quietly frustrated; externally professional but internally weighed by the responsibility of taking command as the ship deteriorates.

Riker reports failing life support, argues the technical and existential danger posed by a system‑rewriting probe, offers to form an away team, reacts with surprise and restrained protest when Picard volunteers, then slowly accepts formal command of the Enterprise with grim resignation.

Goals in this moment
  • • Stabilize and protect the Enterprise while the captain leads the away mission
  • • Form an effective away team that can retrieve the necessary records
  • • Minimize further loss of life aboard ship
  • • Maintain chain of command and keep mission focus under stress
Active beliefs
  • • The technical threat is immediate and could overwhelm the crew if not contained
  • • An away mission is necessary but extremely risky
  • • Picard's decision, while risky, must be respected and supported
  • • Command decisions must balance moral responsibility to crew with strategic necessity
Character traits
pragmatic protective decisive frustrated loyal
Follow William Riker's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

3
Away Team (Boarding Party) — Not an Object

The away team is proposed as the operational means to retrieve records from Iconia. Riker offers to form the team; Picard seizes the role of its leader. The 'away team' shifts from plan to committed mission element as command and leadership are decided.

Before: Unformed, hypothetical — suggested by Riker as the …
After: Committed concept with Picard as leader and Riker …
Before: Unformed, hypothetical — suggested by Riker as the necessary tactical response.
After: Committed concept with Picard as leader and Riker assuming ship command; prepared to be assembled and deployed.
Corroded Iconian Device

Iconia is invoked as the launch origin of the hostile probe and the likely repository of launch records. Picard identifies Iconia as the only plausible source of data that could neutralize or explain the probe's behavior, making the planet the target of the proposed away mission.

Before: Remote, offscreen archaeological/strategic target suspected to house Iconian …
After: Designated implicit target for a high‑risk retrieval away …
Before: Remote, offscreen archaeological/strategic target suspected to house Iconian technology and launch records.
After: Designated implicit target for a high‑risk retrieval away mission led by Picard; becomes the immediate focus of Starfleet action.
USS Yamato — Galaxy‑class Schematics

The Yamato functions narratively as precedent for catastrophic system failure and possible destruction. Although not physically present, the Yamato's fate is evoked to justify immediate action and to raise the moral and tactical stakes for the decision to send an away team.

Before: A recent catastrophic loss referenced in crew memory …
After: Remains a salient warning invoked to justify Picard's …
Before: A recent catastrophic loss referenced in crew memory and reports; serves as a cautionary example.
After: Remains a salient warning invoked to justify Picard's decision; its lesson propels action rather than new inquiry.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

4
Captain's Ready Room

The captain's ready room is the setting for this private, consequential exchange: a confined command space where technical data is translated into moral choice. It functions as the place where authority is debated and transferred, and where Picard's personal history becomes tactical decision.

Atmosphere Tense, formal, quietly urgent — words carry weight and pauses signify heavy moral choices.
Function Meeting place for command-level decision and transfer of authority.
Symbolism Embodies institutional responsibility and the isolation of command; a private chamber where personal conviction overrides …
Access Restricted to senior officers and trusted aides; a private command space.
Quiet, focused exchange with no interruptions Measured, clipped dialogue punctuating the room's stillness
Deck Seven

Deck Seven is explicitly named as one of the decks where life support has already failed, serving as concrete evidence that the probe/system failure is actively endangering shipboard life and compressing the timeline for action.

Atmosphere Implied cold and endangered; life‑support loss creates urgency and a sense of encroaching catastrophe.
Function Evidence node demonstrating immediate human cost and motivating the away mission.
Symbolism Represents the creeping collapse of the ship's systems and the human stakes behind command decisions.
Access Implicitly hazardous and potentially inaccessible until stabilized.
Failing life support reported as fact Used as motivating detail to heighten stakes
Deck Thirteen

Deck Thirteen is also cited as suffering life‑support failure, reinforcing the scope of system collapse and the urgency of finding an external solution — not just internal repairs.

Atmosphere Implied alarm and danger; a sign that shipwide systems are under threat.
Function Tangible indicator of the crisis' spread, pressuring command to act rather than wait.
Symbolism Conveys the moral pressure on command to choose whom and what to save as resources …
Access Likely compromised and dangerous to enter without protective measures.
Named explicitly in the report to show multiple failures Serves as a metric for the worsening emergency
Iconia Launch Site

The Iconia Launch Site is cited as the probable location of launch records that could explain or counteract the probe; it becomes the operational objective the away team must reach to retrieve actionable data.

Atmosphere Offscreen but ominous — a remote, information‑rich site implied to be dangerous and technologically potent.
Function Target destination for retrieval mission, the likely source of diagnostic records needed.
Symbolism Represents the unknown technological legacy that both tempts and threatens the Federation.
Access Remote and hazardous; presumably contested or unstable.
Described as source of records near the probe's launch Implicit electromagnetic/technological interference suggested by probe activity

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

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Key Dialogue

"RIKER: "Life support has failed on Decks Seven and Thirteen.""
"RIKER: "Suppose this thing manages to rewrite our entire system? It's so far beyond us that we don't have a hope of understanding it, much less controlling it. Our ignorance could kill us.""
"PICARD: "I will lead it.""