Object
JAG Office Hearing on Data's Status
A tightly convened, improvised legal proceeding held inside the JAG office where Starfleet procedure replaces private plea. The hearing assembles serving officers as makeshift counsel, centers under Admiral Phillipa Louvois’s procedural command, and unfolds at a small conference desk rather than a formal courtroom. Voices spike as Picard demands adjudication, Riker is named and pressured into the prosecutor role, and Phillipa wields the Acts of Gould to declare Data Starfleet property. The hearing operates through threats of summary judgment and immediate personnel transfer, producing visible fracture among officers and forcing formalized declarations about Data’s status.
2 appearances
Purpose
To adjudicate and formally determine Data's legal and personnel status under Starfleet law (the Acts of Gould), converting an interpersonal dispute into an enforceable administrative ruling.
Significance
Serves as the narrative crucible that turns institutional cruelty into official sanction, fractures command loyalty, forces Riker to choose duty over friendship, and raises the central ethical conflict about personhood and military authority.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used