Yellow Alert — Probe to Nelvana Three; Data as Recorder
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard receives dire war preparations from Admiral Haden via a grim communique, signaling the Enterprise's proximity to conflict.
Picard summons Data and orders maximum-scan probe preparation for Nelvana Three, prioritizing intelligence gathering.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Grave and resolute; communicates urgency without alarm, signaling both readiness and reluctance for conflict.
Admiral Haden appears on the ready-room computer screen and delivers a terse communique informing Picard of reinforcements and that all Federation starships are placed on Yellow Alert, framing the strategic seriousness of the situation.
- • Inform field commanders of fleet posture and available reinforcements.
- • Convey centralized Starfleet intent: prepare but avoid unwanted escalation.
- • Ensure commanders understand the seriousness of the situation and act prudently.
- • Centralized command must set posture and coordinate fleet responses.
- • Transparent warning and preparedness reduce strategic surprise.
- • Tactically prudent postures (e.g., Yellow Alert) balance deterrence with restraint.
Tired and burdened; outwardly controlled with a steady seriousness that conceals anxiety about escalation and the weight of potential consequences.
Picard receives Admiral Haden's communique while drinking tea, reacts to the Yellow Alert, gives a tactical order to prepare a maximum-scan Class One probe for Nelvana Three, requests Data keep the official record, queries crew morale, and reflects privately on the moral cost of command.
- • Gather accurate, nonprovocative intelligence about Nelvana Three to avoid unnecessary escalation.
- • Preserve an impartial archival record of decisions and events for posterity and accountability.
- • Assess and shore up crew morale while maintaining chain-of-command discipline.
- • Measured, evidence-based action reduces the risk of unnecessary war.
- • Data's objectivity is uniquely valuable for an unvarnished historical record.
- • Command decisions carry moral consequences felt long after any tactical outcome.
Calm, neutral, and duty-focused; demonstrates an even-tempered clarity that Picard explicitly relies upon.
Data enters on cue, acknowledges Picard, accepts orders to begin probe calibrations, agrees to keep the official, dispassionate record, answers Picard's question about crew morale with an objective assessment, and then exits to carry out technical duties.
- • Execute Picard's orders accurately by beginning probe calibrations.
- • Fulfill the role of impartial recorder, preserving a factual account for history.
- • Provide Picard with honest, unemotional status assessments to aid command decisions.
- • Obedience to Starfleet command and the captain's instructions is paramount.
- • An unbiased, factual record serves both operational and historical needs.
- • Objective assessments of crew morale and systems aid better decision-making.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Picard's Ready Room Door Chime emits the brief two-note tone that punctuates the private moment, signaling Data's entrance and snapping the scene from internal reflection to immediate procedural engagement.
Picard gestures to his Ready Room chair as an invitation for Data to sit and receive confidential instruction; the chair functions as a staging prop that concentrates the intimate, command-to-advisor exchange.
The Class One probe is explicitly ordered into action by Picard as the primary technical response: configured for maximum-scan to monitor Nelvana Three. It functions as the narrative hinge between caution and action, converting command deliberation into tangible intelligence-gathering.
The Monitor is referenced in Admiral Haden's communique as an en route reinforcement. It operates narratively as the promise of aid that nonetheless will arrive too late to change immediate tactical decisions, underscoring Picard's isolation in the present moment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Nelvana Three is the explicit surveillance target Picard tasks the probe to monitor. Though not physically present in the ready room, the planet functions as the remote focal point of this private command decision—an unknown that must be converted into data to prevent miscalculation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Picard's engagement with Shakespeare's themes of leadership and morality in both beats highlights his internal struggle with command decisions."
"Picard's engagement with Shakespeare's themes of leadership and morality in both beats highlights his internal struggle with command decisions."
Key Dialogue
"ADMIRAL HADEN: "The Monitor and the Hood are headed in your direction though they will arrive too late to be of assistance. Warnings have gone out to all outposts along the border... as well as several independent vessels in nearby sectors. No one here wants a war, Captain. But we're prepared to take them on if that's what they want. All Federation starships have been placed on Yellow Alert.""
"PICARD: "Data, prepare a class one probe. Set sensors for maximum scan. I want every meter of Nelvana Three monitored.""
"PICARD: "Yes. Your clarity of thought, your objectivity... as always... We're very possibly about to go to war, Data. The repercussions of what we do during the next twenty-four hours may be felt for years to come. I'd like you to keep the official record of these events, so we may give history the benefit of a dispassionate view.""