Waltz in a Ruined House
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Rishon offers tea to the away team but is abruptly reminded of the destruction of Rana IV, halting her words and retreating to the kitchen.
Data examines an ornate music box; its melody begins to play, unwittingly triggering Troi's psychic distress off-screen.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Shifting from determined domestic calm to sudden, raw grief — clingy and frightened when faced with the possibility of losing her home again.
Plays host by offering to make tea, begins to move to the kitchen but halts mid-sentence when the realization of Rana IV's loss overwhelms her; later reacts with astonishment and fear when told they must pack and leave.
- • preserve domestic ritual as a way to hold on to memory
- • remain in the home that embodies her life with Kevin
- • the house and its rituals preserve her identity and memories
- • leaving will feel like abandoning everything that defines her
Emotionally neutral but pleased by the mechanical operation; unaware of the broader psychic consequences his action triggers.
Wanders to a small table, carefully lifts the ornate music box and winds it; listens to the few bars of waltz and smiles when it winds down — a quiet, investigative moment that unintentionally activates a psychic event.
- • examine and catalog a cultural artifact
- • observe human emotional reactions to the music box
- • material artifacts yield data about their owners and culture
- • interacting with objects is a valid method of investigation
Matter-of-fact with a touch of amused warmth; using humor to lighten the scene while staying vigilant.
Approaches Kevin to defuse tension with a wry remark about the nonfunctional phaser, offering a rare smile and measured humor in a tense domestic scene while maintaining security posture.
- • reduce immediate tension with Kevin
- • assess whether the phaser poses any real threat
- • showing calm and humor helps defuse civilian fear
- • even domestic scenes require security awareness
Controlled authority masking real bafflement — concerned for the couple's safety while frustrated by their emotional refusal to leave.
Leads the entry of the away team, consults quietly with Dr. Crusher near the front door, attempts to persuade the Uxbridges to evacuate, and ultimately hands Rishon his communicator while visibly puzzled and concerned.
- • secure the safety of civilian survivors
- • convince Rishon and Kevin to accept evacuation and return to the ship
- • Starfleet must protect vulnerable civilians
- • remaining on the anomalous world is dangerous and untenable
Professionally concerned: sympathetic to their trauma while believing evacuation is medically advisable.
Consults with Riker by the front door, evaluates Rishon and Kevin's physical condition and mental stress, and advises evacuation as a prudent medical and safety measure.
- • ensure the couple's physical and mental wellbeing
- • recommend safe options consistent with Starfleet medical protocols
- • trauma requires intervention and support
- • remaining on an anomalous planet could worsen mental and physical health
Startled and unsettled — an empathic intrusion causes mounting alarm and a sense of urgency to identify the source.
Aboard the Enterprise in her quarters, engaged in routine activity until she is suddenly alert as if hearing music; the music from the Uxbridge box plays in her head and repeats, producing psychic alarm and disorientation.
- • identify the origin of the intrusive music sensation
- • notify command of a nonphysical phenomenon affecting her
- • empathic impressions signal real external causes or threats
- • nonphysical phenomena can have operational consequences for the crew
Curious and professionally attentive — trying to translate observable artifacts into a working hypothesis about local conditions.
Joins the group near Kevin, questions the purpose of an out-front snare to gather practical information about environmental hazards and whether the couple set defensive measures.
- • determine the purpose and origin of the concealed snare
- • assess whether the environment is an ongoing hazard for the couple or the team
- • physical evidence explains otherwise puzzling behavior
- • practical answers reduce risk to the away team and civilians
Cautiously investigative — following procedure but aware of unusual emotional dynamics in the household.
The away team spreads through the house, conducting room-to-room examinations, maintaining a professional perimeter while interacting respectfully with the Uxbridges and documenting anomalies.
- • secure and document the intact house and its contents
- • protect civilians while collecting data about the anomaly
- • protocol-driven searches reduce risk and preserve evidence
- • civilians must be treated with dignity even under threat
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Kevin holds a compact low-yield phaser during the encounter as a defensive prop. It is inspected by Worf and referenced as nonfunctional, serving as a social signal rather than a real threat — a prop that underscores Kevin's guardedness and the couple's attempt at self-defense amid trauma.
Riker places his communicator in Rishon's hands as an assurance: the ship will remain nearby and can be contacted. The device functions as both a practical lifeline and a symbolic bridge between the couple's isolation and Starfleet support.
An ornate, family heirloom music box sits on a small table; Data lifts and winds it, producing several bars of a waltz. The melody suffuses the ruined parlor and — unbeknownst to those present — psychically transmits to Counselor Troi aboard the Enterprise, converting domestic nostalgia into an urgent psychic alarm that reframes the artifact as both clue and vector.
A concealed snare out front is referenced by Geordi and Kevin; its existence is discussed to explain local hazards and defensive measures. The snare anchors Geordi's practical inquiry and Kevin's sad realization that the local 'problem' it addressed is now gone, reinforcing the desolation beyond the intact house.
Rishon heads to the kitchen cupboard to retrieve her tea service after offering to make tea, using the tea as a ritual attempt at normalcy. The gesture is interrupted by grief, and the tea service functions as an emotional anchor and unfulfilled domestic promise that highlights what's been lost.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The kitchen and its cupboard act as the site Rishon moves toward when attempting to make tea; it houses the tea service and anchors her ritual behavior, becoming the private domestic space that reveals the depth of her attachment and the impossibility of restoring normalcy.
The wider Federation colony on Rana IV is the offstage presence that gives emotional weight to the scene: the couple's loss of community and landscape is the source of Rishon's halted offer and Kevin's guardedness. The colony is the absent site whose destruction converts ordinary objects into relics.
The Uxbridge front door and its immediate threshold function as the compressed staging area where Starfleet procedure meets private grief: Riker and Beverly consult there while the away team moves inward. It frames the emotional border between rescue protocol and domestic refusal.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data examining the music box triggers Troi's psychic distress."
"Kevin's sadness over losing their garden hints at his deep emotional attachment."
"Kevin's sadness over losing their garden hints at his deep emotional attachment."
"Kevin's sadness over losing their garden hints at his deep emotional attachment."
"Kevin's pacifism echoes his refusal to defend Rishon."
"Kevin's pacifism echoes his refusal to defend Rishon."
"Kevin's pacifism echoes his refusal to defend Rishon."
"The Uxbridges' refusal to leave mirrors Kevin's refusal to accept reality."
"The Uxbridges' refusal to leave mirrors Kevin's refusal to accept reality."
"The Uxbridges' refusal to leave mirrors Kevin's refusal to accept reality."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"RISHON: "I'll make a cup of tea for everyone. We have wonderful tea on Rana. It grows wild nearly everywhere...""
"WORF: "Sir, may I say that your attempt to hold our away team at bay with a nonfunctioning weapon was an act of unmitigated gall.""
"RIKER: "We'll remain in this system for the next several days at least. If you should reconsider, please contact us.""