Star Trek The Next Generation
S3E6
· Booby Trap

Directional Radiation — Promellian Defenses Sought

On the dead Promellian bridge Data’s scans reveal a crucial, disorienting fact: the ancient cruiser itself shows only safe radiation levels. Data deduces the field is directional and is specifically targeting the Enterprise. Riker immediately reframes the crisis from a random environmental hazard to an engineered attack — ordering Data to analyze Promellian defenses and scour ship logs for their last battle. The revelation sharpens the stakes (they’re being singled out), pivots the crew into investigative mode, and sets up a tactical hunt for the trap’s mechanism.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

3

Data confirms safe radiation levels on the ancient warship, raising immediate questions about the directional nature of the threat.

neutral to curiosity ['ancient warship bridge']

Riker questions why the warship isn't being irradiated, suspecting Enterprise involvement, while Data deduces the field targets them specifically.

concern to suspicion ['ancient warship bridge']

Riker orders Data to analyze Promellian defenses and searches for records that might reveal the trap's mechanism.

urgency to determination ['ancient warship bridge']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

2
Data
Second Officer
 primary

Measured, clinically curious and focused; displays procedural urgency rather than overt emotion while recognizing the tactical implications for crew safety.

Data materializes on the ancient bridge, activates his tricorder, reports that radiation on the Promellian craft is within safe human limits, deduces the field is directional and aimed at the Enterprise, and accepts Riker's order to analyze defenses and seek logs.

Goals in this moment
  • • Determine the nature and geometry of the radiation field.
  • • Analyze Promellian defensive systems to locate the trap mechanism.
  • • Locate and recover ship logs or records of the Promellian last battle.
Active beliefs
  • • Sensor data and tricorder readings are reliable indicators of environmental conditions.
  • • The anomalous radiation pattern is not random and therefore can be understood and mitigated through analysis.
  • • Archived records (logs) will contain actionable clues about what occurred here.
Character traits
analytical methodical precise curious
Follow Data's journey
William Riker
Commander
 primary

Concerned and urgent; pragmatic command focus that channels anxiety into immediate, concrete investigative steps.

Riker materializes, questions why the derelict isn't contaminated, reframes the problem as an attack on the Enterprise, issues clear tactical orders to Data to assess Promellian defenses and find a ship's log, then moves off to physically search the bridge.

Goals in this moment
  • • Protect the Enterprise and crew from further radiation exposure.
  • • Ascertain whether Enterprise systems (engines) triggered the trap.
  • • Obtain ship logs to reconstruct the Promellian ship's final actions and avoid repeating mistakes.
Active beliefs
  • • This is a deliberate, target-specific defensive system rather than a random environmental hazard.
  • • Understanding the enemy's defenses and records will permit an actionable countermeasure.
  • • Quick, coordinated analysis will reduce the risk of exposing the away team or Enterprise to further harm.
Character traits
decisive pragmatic authoritative concerned
Follow William Riker's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

2
Data's Tricorder

Data's tricorder is the forensic instrument that turns the unknown into data: he uses it to read ambient radiation, produce a definitive 'safe' reading for the derelict ship, and underpin his deduction that the field is directional and aimed at the Enterprise. Narratively it converts atmospheric danger into a solvable engineering problem.

Before: Clipped/held by Data and fully functional, emitting diagnostic …
After: Remains in Data's possession with recorded scans and …
Before: Clipped/held by Data and fully functional, emitting diagnostic readouts.
After: Remains in Data's possession with recorded scans and readings to be used for further analysis of Promellian defenses.
Worf's Starfleet Insignia

Data 'keys insignia' as a stage direction cue — he taps a combadge-like device to open a channel or record identification; the insignia functions as a communicative control and authentication device in the away team's procedure, enabling Data to speak with command authority and log findings.

Before: Worn/assigned as a standard Starfleet combadge (canonically Worf's …
After: Has been activated/keyed by Data and remains functional, …
Before: Worn/assigned as a standard Starfleet combadge (canonically Worf's insignia) and functional as a comm/control device.
After: Has been activated/keyed by Data and remains functional, having been used to transmit or authorize the radiation reading and subsequent instructions.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

1
Main Bridge

The USS Enterprise's Main Bridge is invoked as the target of the Promellian directional field: while the scene physically takes place on the ancient warship, the Enterprise bridge is the conceptual locus under threat, representing the ship and crew that must be defended. The revelation reframes events back to the Enterprise's safety and command decisions.

Atmosphere Tense and vulnerable — the idea of the bridge as a potential target creates an …
Function Conceptual site of potential harm; the primary asset the away team must protect and the …
Symbolism Represents the hub of modern authority and human vulnerability in contrast to ancient Promellian technology …
Access Standard Starfleet bridge access/chain-of-command applies; not physically present in the scene but functionally restricted to …
Not physically present in the scene but referenced as the locus being targeted by the directional radiation. The bridge's hum of life-support and active sensors (implied) contrasts with the Promellian ship's safe readings. The cold, diagnostic tone of tricorder readouts ties the lonely ancient bridge to the operational urgency aboard the Enterprise.

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: "Radiation factor is within safe human limits, Commander.""
"RIKER: "Why isn't this ship being hit with radiation?""
"DATA: "That is curious, Commander. The radiation field must be directional in nature... aimed only at the Enterprise.""
"RIKER: "Maybe our own engines triggered it somehow... Data, see if you can determine what kind of defenses the Promellians tried to employ... I don't want to waste time trying them again...""
"DATA: "Understood.""
"RIKER: "What'd really help us is a ship's log... any kind of record of their last battle.""