Unfinished Business — Taunt and Tactical Shutdown
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
K'Ehleyr breezes in and needles Worf with playful provocation; he refuses to engage, calls her late, and slams down a rigid professional boundary. Flirtation hits a wall of disciplined ice.
She presses their history—Samrin's Planet, "unfinished business"—trying to crack his armor; Worf turns, delivers a cold "Not as far as I'm concerned," and shuts the door on intimacy. The blow lands like a slap.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Begins playful and teasing, then quickly turns frustrated and angry when Worf refuses to be moved; her composure cracks into decisive impatience.
Enters confidently, flirts and needles Worf about Samrin, presses for immediate, forceful action against the T'Ong, alternates teasing with anger, slaps the tabletop to punctuate her decision, and storms out when she fails to sway him.
- • Force a decisive, preemptive response to the T'Ong threat
- • Use personal history to destabilize Worf and gain influence
- • Short-circuit bureaucratic delay in favor of decisive action
- • Klingons will choose violence and must be stopped quickly
- • Delay and analysis equal unnecessary risk
- • Personal influence can steer tactical choices
- • Starfleet caution is sometimes cowardice
Not present in scene; his 'state' is inferred as remote and directive — an unseen pressure shaping others' actions.
Referenced by Worf via the library computer as the named captain of the Klingon cruiser T'Ong; K'Temoc is not physically present but his identity functions as the immediate subject of inquiry and drives the tactical debate.
- • As captain (inferred): execute mission orders given decades prior
- • Maintain Klingon honor and tactical objectives (inferred)
- • Klingon commanders act to preserve honor and mission (inferred)
- • Surrender or negotiation may be unacceptable (inferred)
Controlled and cold on surface; internally irritated and wounded by K'Ehleyr's provocation, converting personal discomfort into professional detachment.
Seated at the library console, Worf refuses K'Ehleyr's flirtation, answers clinically, pulls up the library record for the T'Ong, insists on gathering information, and restrains visible anger even as he lashes out verbally and with a decisive rebuff.
- • Maintain Starfleet professionalism and procedural focus
- • Gather accurate information about the T'Ong before committing to action
- • Prevent a rash, violent response that could escalate into war
- • Keep personal history from influencing command decisions
- • Information and options reduce unnecessary violence
- • Duty and Starfleet procedure must override private feeling
- • Klingon behavior can be understood or anticipated with evidence
- • Personal entanglements are liabilities in command decisions
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Enterprise library computer is the information pivot: Worf uses it to call up the T'Ong's records, producing the name K'Temoc and highlighting the absence of mission data. Its readout transforms a flirtation into a tactical debate and anchors the dispute in factual uncertainty.
The tactical tabletop functions as a physical punctuation: K'Ehleyr slaps it to mark finality for her position, using the sound and impact to terminate the meeting and dramatize her impatience and anger.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Samrin's Planet is invoked verbally as a mnemonic touchstone that reopens Worf and K'Ehleyr's shared past; it functions narratively to convert tactical disagreement into a personal conflict by reminding both characters of prior intimacy and history.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Flirtatious needling hardens into a strategic impasse and K'Ehleyr's storming exit."
"K'Ehleyr's frustration propels her to the Holodeck, deliberately selecting Worf's program to channel her rage."
"Research establishing K'Temoc and the T'Ong sets up Worf's targeted confrontation with that very captain."
"Research establishing K'Temoc and the T'Ong sets up Worf's targeted confrontation with that very captain."
"Research establishing K'Temoc and the T'Ong sets up Worf's targeted confrontation with that very captain."
"Flirtatious needling hardens into a strategic impasse and K'Ehleyr's storming exit."
Key Dialogue
"K'EHLEYR: "You just won't open up, will you? Come on -- what happened to the Worf I met on Samrin's Planet?""
"WORF: "Not as far as I'm concerned.""
"K'EHLEYR: "There aren't any! The assignment's hopeless!" / WORF: "There are always options.""