Data Refuses: Picard Confronts the Moral and Legal Gap
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard praises Data's service and proposes a pragmatic solution: if Data voluntarily undergoes the procedure, the transfer becomes unnecessary—an appeal that leverages duty and loyalty to avert loss.
Data refuses outright to submit to the procedure, asserting his agency and drawing a hard line against Picard's proposed compromise.
Picard tries to reframe the issue as Starfleet's strategic interest—suggesting the possibility of many Datas—while Data presses whether his status as an officer allows coercion; Picard answers that the oath of service can be used to compel him.
Data punctures the moral logic with a concrete analogy—if Geordi's cybernetic eyes are superior, why require them of humans?—and when Picard falters, Data concludes with solemn dignity that he is being singled out precisely because he is not human.
Picard cuts the conversation, activates his console, and orders the computer to pull all Starfleet transfer regulations—shifting from moral argument to procedural preparation as pages of regulations flood the viewscreen.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not present; functions as an implied authority whose legacy compels action.
Mentioned by Nakamura as the creator whose techniques Maddox seeks to duplicate; functions as an offstage authority invoked to justify the scientific stakes.
- • (Implied) Maintain scientific legacy through replication of his designs
- • Serve as technical standard against which Maddox measures success
- • Soong's methods are the benchmark for advanced android construction
- • Replication of his work would be transformative for Starfleet capabilities
Neutral and literal; executes orders without interpretation or moral judgment.
Responds to Picard's command by beginning to retrieve and display relevant Starfleet regulations; converts the private moment into an institutional, textual exercise by scrolling pages of rules.
- • Provide authoritative textual evidence on command
- • Enforce procedural clarity by surfacing regulations
- • Regulations are the primary arbiter of institutional disputes
- • Information retrieval is the correct response to procedural queries
Not physically present; inferred as confident and goal-oriented based on Nakamura's advocacy.
Referenced by Nakamura as the robotics officer whose research motivates the transfer and the proposed procedure; his ambitions and scientific aims pressure Picard's choices though he is not present in the room.
- • Gain access to Data for research and possible duplication of Soong's work
- • Advance his professional standing within Starfleet
- • Demonstrate the feasibility of creating more androids
- • Scientific replication of Soong's work is achievable and valuable
- • Data is an appropriate subject for research
- • Institutional endorsement will follow successful results
Dismissive and matter-of-fact; projecting institutional priorities over individual concerns.
Appears on the ready room viewscreen delivering the transfer rationale: frames the transfer as routine and justifies it by invoking Commander Maddox's critical robotics work, then terminates the call.
- • Advance Starfleet's strategic technological interests
- • Install Commander Maddox's research program with access to key assets
- • Minimize debate or resistance by framing action as routine
- • Institutional progress and advantage justify assertive measures
- • Central command prerogatives supersede individual captain preferences
- • Replication of Soong's work serves the greater good of Starfleet
Concerned and pleading in private, flummoxed and momentarily silenced by Data's logic, then determined and procedural as he switches to institutional tools.
Summons Data, makes a private, moral appeal to persuade Data to volunteer for the procedure, sits on his desk to close the distance, becomes speechless when Data's question exposes the hypocrisy, then pivots to formal procedure by ordering regulations pulled.
- • Prevent Data's forced transfer by getting Data to volunteer for the procedure
- • Protect his officer and crew cohesion
- • Nullify the immediate bureaucratic threat using any available means
- • Personal advocacy and moral appeal can influence outcomes
- • Chain-of-command and Starfleet regulations can be leveraged defensively
- • Data's value to the ship is not purely instrumental but also personal
Calm and resolute; expresses dignity rather than anger, using rational probing to reveal moral inconsistency.
Enters at Picard's summons, listens politely, refuses to submit to Maddox's procedure, and calmly poses a pointed ethical/legal question comparing his situation to La Forge's cybernetic eyes before asserting that he is not human.
- • Preserve his bodily integrity and autonomy
- • Clarify the ethical and legal basis for compelled procedures
- • Expose inconsistencies in Starfleet's treatment of artificial augmentation
- • Legal and ethical rules should be consistent and logically defensible
- • Being a Starfleet officer carries obligations but does not erase ontological distinctions
- • He has a claim to agency that should be recognized
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Picard's desk functions as staging and interface: Picard sits on its corner to be physically closer to Data, jabs the communications control on it to open the com, and uses its terminal to order the computer to pull regulations—anchoring the scene's shift from moral appeal to bureaucracy.
The ready-room viewscreen displays Admiral Nakamura's visage and delivers the transfer order; it functions as the conduit of institutional authority, turning a private office into an arena for top-down command and catalyzing Picard's summons of Data.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Captain's Ready Room serves as a private sanctum where Picard attempts a one-on-one moral intervention; its intimacy intensifies the emotional stakes, but the room is pierced by institutional channels (viewscreen, com), which transform the private space into a site of bureaucratic contestation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Maddox produces formal Starfleet transfer orders for Data, which directly forces Picard to seek a non-coercive solution—he asks Data to submit voluntarily as an attempt to avert the transfer."
"Maddox produces formal Starfleet transfer orders for Data, which directly forces Picard to seek a non-coercive solution—he asks Data to submit voluntarily as an attempt to avert the transfer."
"Maddox produces formal Starfleet transfer orders for Data, which directly forces Picard to seek a non-coercive solution—he asks Data to submit voluntarily as an attempt to avert the transfer."
"Data's explicit refusal to submit to Maddox's procedure precipitates his decision to resign from Starfleet as the only legal means to block the transfer."
"Data's explicit refusal to submit to Maddox's procedure precipitates his decision to resign from Starfleet as the only legal means to block the transfer."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"NAKAMURA: "Look, it's a transfer, like any other transfer.""
"PICARD: "Undergo the procedure, then the transfer order becomes moot.""
"DATA: "I will not submit to this procedure.""
"DATA: "Sir, Lieutenant La Forge's eyes are far superior to human biological eyes, true?...I see. It is precisely because I am not human.""