S3E6
· Booby Trap

Holographic Leah — Breakthrough and Temptation

In the holodeck drafting room Geordi summons a holographic facsimile of Dr. Leah Brahms to model a risky engineering fix. The simulation provides the concrete technical lead — which dilithium chambers and parallel processors can accept accelerated reactants — while also exposing Geordi's loneliness: he flirts, is gently rebuked, and then argues the practical limits of Leah's laboratory designs against real shipboard conditions. The scene functions as both a turning point (a viable engineering path forward) and an emotional pivot that deepens Geordi's dependence on a synthetic collaborator and raises the stakes for the shipwide crisis.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

2

Geordi processes the surprise holographic appearance of Leah Brahms, asked for inadvertently, and shifts from confusion to admiration.

confusion to admiration ['Holodeck drafting room']

Geordi enhances Leah's holographic presence with personality traits and resumes their collaboration, sparking mutual professional respect.

curiosity to connection ['Holodeck drafting room']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

5

Professional confidence with a flash of personal warmth when the synthesized persona engages — mildly defensive when challenged but ultimately collaborative.

Provides precise technical parameters (identifies L-452 to L-575), defends her lab calculations when Geordi questions them, suggests increasing parallel subspace field processor speed, and — after personality synthesis — responds with feisty, human warmth while remaining technically authoritative.

Goals in this moment
  • Convey accurate laboratory-derived constraints and solutions to Geordi.
  • Protect the integrity of her design calculations.
  • Help implement a configuration that avoids component burnout.
  • Demonstrate that lab theory can be operationalized safely.
Active beliefs
  • Designs validated in controlled conditions are reliable if calibration is preserved.
  • Calculations must be respected and not overridden lightly.
  • A properly synthesized interactive persona can reproduce sufficient judgment for problem solving.
  • Rigorous, incremental changes are safer for complex systems than risky improvisation.
Character traits
methodical proud of her work slightly feisty analytical wryly amused
Follow Leah Brahms's journey

Proud and cautiously optimistic, tempered by concern for crew safety and the broader danger signaled by the Promellian logs.

Oversees bridge operations, receives Geordi's communications, congratulates La Forge's team on progress, and listens as Data and Riker parse the Promellian logs — exercising steady command and moral authority.

Goals in this moment
  • Support engineering efforts to preserve the ship and crew.
  • Gather intelligence from recovered logs to understand the Promellian trap.
  • Maintain command control and morale during crisis.
Active beliefs
  • Expertise from trusted officers should be supported and amplified.
  • Historical/archival records will reveal critical contextual information.
  • A captain's role includes both stewardship of lives and preservation of knowledge.
Character traits
measured encouraging strategic curious
Follow Jean-Luc Picard's journey

Objectively focused and informationally driven — no affect but driven to be useful.

Provides forensic analysis of recovered Promellian coils, reports that most logs have decayed while some brief sections may be recoverable; his update informs bridge expectations and tactical theorizing.

Goals in this moment
  • Extract and verify any usable log data from the recovered coils.
  • Provide factual assessment to command to guide tactical decisions.
  • Support efforts to identify the cause of the Promellian ship's loss.
Active beliefs
  • Archived physical artifacts can yield critical data despite degradation.
  • Accurate technical analysis informs safer operational choices.
  • Reporting precise limitations (decay, partial sections) enables realistic planning.
Character traits
analytical precise methodical forensic
Follow Data's journey

Focused and urgent, balancing skepticism about uncertain fixes with responsibility for crew safety.

Directs bridge activity, questions Geordi about the sufficiency of the energy gain for escape, manages personnel (orders Data to extract usable log sections), and communicates urgency and practicality in command.

Goals in this moment
  • Determine whether the engineering fix yields sufficient energy to escape the trap.
  • Prioritize actions that preserve shields and crew.
  • Obtain usable log data to clarify the nature of the threat.
Active beliefs
  • Time is limited and actions must be measured against immediate survival needs.
  • Partial data may still yield actionable intelligence.
  • Engineering solutions must meet operational thresholds, not just theoretical gains.
Character traits
practical decisive concerned command‑oriented
Follow William Riker's journey

Mesmerized and hopeful beneath a surface of professional urgency — lonely and anxious about crew survival, yet proud and quietly elated at the engineering breakthrough.

Summons and interacts with a holographic Leah, runs holodeck simulations, keys insignia to push changes, debates technical limits, flirts with the facsimile, accepts simulation results, instructs the computer to save the program and exits for the bridge.

Goals in this moment
  • Find a viable engine/reaction configuration to extend matter/antimatter supplies and maintain shields.
  • Translate Leah's lab calculations into a safe, shipboard implementation.
  • Gain enough power margin to enable escape from the trap.
  • Secure emotional connection (momentary) through the simulated Leah.
Active beliefs
  • Hands‑on ship knowledge is essential and can override static lab models.
  • Incremental, risky reconfiguration is preferable to inaction when crew lives are at stake.
  • A synthesized Leah can provide both technical and emotional support.
  • Starfleet design data are authoritative but must be adapted to operational realities.
Character traits
technically brilliant practical improviser romantically awkward determined socially vulnerable
Follow Geordi La …'s journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

5
Dilithium Crystal Chamber

The Dilithium Crystal Chamber is the direct target of the holodeck reconfiguration: the computer completes adjustments to chamber alignments so that selected crystal facets (L-452 through L-575) can accept accelerated reactants, producing a measurable warp energy increase.

Before: Under realignment stress; operating under severe power drain …
After: Holodeck-simulated adjustments completed; reported warp energy increase of …
Before: Under realignment stress; operating under severe power drain with usual calibration constraints.
After: Holodeck-simulated adjustments completed; reported warp energy increase of fourteen percent in the simulation; marked as candidate configuration for shipboard implementation.
Aceton Assimilators

Aceton Assimilators are referenced as the lethal devices described in Galek Sar's log; they are the antagonistic mechanism the team's engineering solution must avoid energizing further while trying to extract power.

Before: Concealed within Promellian debris around the cruiser, dormant …
After: Remain active threats in the debris field; the …
Before: Concealed within Promellian debris around the cruiser, dormant but capable of transducing incoming energy into lethal radiation.
After: Remain active threats in the debris field; the team's proposed energy rerouting must account for their presence to prevent supplying them with more power.
Enterprise-D Injector Streams

Enterprise-D Injector Streams are explicitly discussed as the routing mechanism — Geordi proposes using multiple injector streams to hit several crystal facets simultaneously, redistributing reactant flow to increase usable warp energy without overloading single facets.

Before: Configured for standard injector timing and routes suitable …
After: Simulated reconfiguration shows increased reactant throughput across multiple …
Before: Configured for standard injector timing and routes suitable for normal warp operations.
After: Simulated reconfiguration shows increased reactant throughput across multiple facets; marked for controlled implementation pending verification to avoid component burnout.
Field Coils (Experimental Magnetic Coil Array)

Magnetic coils recovered from the Promellian cruiser function as archival log media; Data verifies they contain the captain's logs but most are decayed — the bridge team processes them to extract any usable warnings about the Aceton assimilators.

Before: Stored in an open locker aboard the Promellian …
After: Many coils confirmed decayed and set aside; a …
Before: Stored in an open locker aboard the Promellian cruiser; later transferred to the Enterprise for analysis.
After: Many coils confirmed decayed and set aside; a subset contain brief sections flagged for further playback and study.
Vector Processor (Parallel Subspace Field Processor)

The Parallel Subspace Field Processor is invoked by Leah as the subsystem whose speed can be increased to improve response time; it is the critical intermediary the team debates to accelerate field response without burning out components.

Before: Operating at nominal shipboard/archival parameters within design tolerances.
After: Targeted in simulation to run at increased cycle …
Before: Operating at nominal shipboard/archival parameters within design tolerances.
After: Targeted in simulation to run at increased cycle rates as part of the corrective configuration; flagged as stress‑sensitive and requiring careful calibration before live application.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

2
Main Bridge

The USS Enterprise Main Bridge functions as the command center receiving Geordi's comms, processing recovered Promellian coil data, and weighing tactical implications. The bridge sequences mirror and validate holodeck activity through acknowledgment and questioning of Geordi's results.

Atmosphere Tense, urgent, and procedural — officers move with purpose under flashing readouts and intermittent static …
Function Oversight and decision hub where engineering progress is monitored and where operational questions (e.g., 'Is …
Symbolism Embodies institutional responsibility and the chain of command balancing scientific risk against crew welfare.
Access Restricted to bridge crew and authorized personnel; activity is coordinated by senior officers.
LCARS console displays showing fuzzy/deteriorated playback with intermittent static. An operator inserting a recovered coil into a playback panel. Busy Science One/Two stations with supernumeraries analyzing data. Low, authoritative voices and clipped command chatter under the hum of ship systems.
Holodeck Drafting Room Five

The Holodeck Drafting Room serves as the intimate technical crucible where Geordi runs Leah's facsimile, manipulates interactive schematics, and emotionally engages with the synthesized persona. It functions as a controlled simulation space that lets Geordi test high‑risk engineering permutations without immediate shipboard consequences.

Atmosphere Focused and hushed with an undercurrent of warmth when the facsimile becomes interactive — simultaneously …
Function Primary workroom for prototype simulations and private emotional refuge; a place to translate archival design …
Symbolism Represents Geordi's isolation and his blending of technical genius with emotional yearning — the holodeck …
Access Holodeck access is controlled by user commands and Starfleet protocols; in this scene it's effectively …
Life‑size holographic projection of Leah Brahms that can interact and move. Scrolling LCARS overlays and three‑dimensional cross‑sectional schematics of dilithium chamber and injector streams. Soft, warm console lighting contrasting the cold urgency on the bridge. Relative quiet — only computer and conversational audio punctuate the space.

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

What led here 2
Character Continuity medium

"Geordi's professional admiration for Leah Brahms evolves into a deeper collaboration and personal connection."

Blocked Logs — Leah's Restricted Design
S3E6 · Booby Trap
Character Continuity medium

"Geordi's professional admiration for Leah Brahms evolves into a deeper collaboration and personal connection."

Accelerated Reactant Injection — Leah's Guiding Hand
S3E6 · Booby Trap
What this causes 2
Causal

"The discovery of the Aceton assimilators leads to the failed phaser attack that increases radiation levels."

Targeting the Point‑One Percent — Picard's Risk and Its Failure
S3E6 · Booby Trap
Causal

"The discovery of the Aceton assimilators leads to the failed phaser attack that increases radiation levels."

Phaser Gamble Fails — Radiation Surge
S3E6 · Booby Trap

Themes This Exemplifies

Thematic resonance and meaning

Key Dialogue

"LEAH: Systems L-452 through L-575 will accept reactants, providing all other systems are calibrated to an equal factor."
"GEORDI: Then, if we use multiple injector streams, hitting more than one crystal facet, we could do it... we could hold our own. Leah, you're beautiful."
"LEAH: This is my design we're talking about. I did all the calculations myself."