Taunts, Thimbles, and the Frozen Strategema
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
WORF loads RIKER with a heavy ship’s pool bet while TROI steadies Kolrami; pressure mounts as both players commit, sliding their fingertips into METALLIC RECEPTACLES for Strategema.
DATA probes the urge to compete as PULASKI and TROI recast it as a standard to be measured by; PULASKI and GEORDI goad him to challenge Kolrami, and DATA balks with, "To what end?"
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Playful mischief shifting to sharp concern and impatience when spectacle fails to deliver closure; protective of crew morale beneath teasing posture.
Pulaski instigates competitive momentum by pointing out Strategema's lengths, goads Data to challenge Kolrami, revels in the theatricality of the contest, and reacts with incredulous concern when the game abruptly ends.
- • Stimulate authentic human competition and deflate Kolrami's smugness
- • Expose social limits of Data and test human responses
- • Competitive pressure reveals true character
- • A little humiliation of arrogance is socially corrective
Confident and mildly contemptuous; enjoys the public reinforcement of Zakdorn superiority and the social discomfort of others.
Kolrami sits opposite Riker, participates in the match with clipped mastery, displays a smug smile after the abrupt freeze, and thereby converts the unresolved ending into an affirmation of superiority.
- • Undermine Riker's (and by extension Starfleet's) perceived tactical prowess
- • Reinforce Zakdorn intellectual dominance through public spectacle
- • Ritualized contests are valid metrics of superiority
- • Public humiliation of rivals serves Zakdorn cultural aims
Intellectual curiosity tinged with puzzlement; open to being socialized but not yet fully understanding the emotional stakes of the public humiliation occurring.
Data comments philosophically on the human competitive impulse, is propositioned by Pulaski and Geordi to challenge Kolrami, watches the match with analytical curiosity, and appears puzzled by the abrupt freeze of the holographic display.
- • Understand human competitive behavior and its functions
- • Assess whether challenging Kolrami would produce valuable social data
- • Objective appraisal of ability is preferable to self-deception
- • Smugness merits correction if it distorts social calibration
Controlled pride mixed with irritation at possible loss; quietly invested and slightly vindictive about the wager's outcome.
Worf physically assists Riker with preparations, presides over the contest with ritual gravity, gives the command to the computer for actuation positions, and watches the spectacle with vested interest (having wagered on Riker).
- • Support Riker and defend the ship's honor
- • See his wager validated and Kolrami challenged
- • Honor is publicly demonstrated through contests
- • Personal stakes (wagers) are extensions of loyalty
Surface professionalism masking private disappointment and humiliation; composed but internally flattened, carrying the weight of public expectation.
Seated opposite Kolrami, Riker physically prepares for Strategema, accepts Worf's wagered faith, inserts fingertips into thimbles, endures the public spectacle, removes goggles when the game freezes, and offers Kolrami formal congratulations with visible numbness.
- • Win or meaningfully prolong the Strategema match to defend ship pride
- • Maintain dignity and composure under public scrutiny
- • Public contests reflect on command competence and honor
- • Measured conduct preserves authority even in defeat
Empathic, slightly amused but alert to the group's rising anxiety; acting as social ballast to diffuse friction.
Troi performs the social preparatory ritual for Kolrami, stands close to the table to moderate tension, offers empathic framing about outsiders setting standards, and watches the group's emotional shifts during the freeze.
- • Stabilize crew emotions and keep the ritual from escalating into real conflict
- • Observe interpersonal dynamics for later counsel
- • Public contests produce meaningful emotional data for crew morale
- • A neutral, soothing presence mitigates humiliation effects
Playful interest and mild impatience; curious about both the game's mechanics and the social consequences of the interruption.
Geordi offers light encouragement toward Data, jokes about duration of the match, watches the spectacle with technical curiosity, and reacts to the sudden freeze with engaged bewilderment.
- • Encourage Data to engage socially and competitively
- • Observe the technological manifestation of Strategema for fascination or explanation
- • Technical systems will display clear, explainable behavior
- • Social interplay can be nudged with light-hearted encouragement
From excited engagement to sudden stunned silence and murmured disbelief; group mood shifts visibly, increasing social pressure on principals.
Representative bridge/ship crew members gather in Ten-Forward, watch the game with awe at the spectacle, register the rising counter, then fall into stunned silence when the images freeze; their reactions amplify the public stakes.
- • Witness a rare cultural spectacle
- • Defend communal morale and interpret the outcome socially
- • Public spectacles define group identity and morale
- • A dramatic interruption requires social interpretation and recovery
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Addressed indirectly via Worf's command, the ship's holodeck/computer subroutine actuates the dazzling holographic Strategema cone and times the digital counter; it is also implicated when the visuals abruptly freeze, producing a public technical or adjudicative failure that drives humiliation and narrative tension.
The Observation Lounge Meeting Table physically organizes the ritual: contestants sit at opposite ends, the base containing the digital counter rests on it, data pads and props cluster at its surface, and it becomes the stage where social and tactical stakes are enacted and witnessed.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Ten-Forward serves as the public social theater for the Strategema match: its crescent bar and booths convert a private contest into communal spectacle, concentrating crew attention and making the game's sudden failure a shared emotional event.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"WORF: I have wagered heavily in the ship's pool that you will take him past the sixth plateau."
"PULASKI: Maybe you should challenge Kolrami to Strategema."
"RIKER: Congratulations."