Fabula
Object
Object

Strategema

A towering, cone-shaped holographic Strategema projection that blooms from the Ten-Forward gaming table. Slim metallic thimbles at the cone’s base register players’ neural-motor input and permit tactile control while the playfield projects animated geometries, gases, latticed grids, and glittering sparks. Audible chimes and tactical readouts punctuate turns. The installation is large enough to command the room but insubstantial to touch; its animation froze on move twenty-three in the referenced scenes, producing a public spectacle that amplifies humiliation and rivalry aboard the Enterprise.
7 appearances

Purpose

Provide a tactile, biometric input/output interface for Strategema players to connect fingertips to the game system—registering moves, relaying haptic feedback, and synchronizing users with the holographic board.

Significance

Acts as the physical pivot of an unexpectedly brutal public rebuke: the thimbles energize the ceremonial match before failing on move twenty-three, turning a private contest into a dramatic humiliation that undermines Riker’s authority, heightens Kolrami rivalry, and seeds psychological fault lines within the command team.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

7 moments
S2E21 · Peak Performance
Riker Deflates Expectations — Privilege Over Pride

The Strategema holographic cone is referenced as the impending contest and functions as the narrative catalyst for the exchange; the game's reputation shapes Riker's comments and Geordi's teasing, even though the physical display is not present in the corridor.

Before: Located in Ten‑Forward's gaming table as an available—but not currently active—recreational projection.
After: Unchanged physically; conceptually elevated as the focal point of crew discussion and emotional investment, awaiting activation later in Ten‑Forward.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
Kolrami's Gauntlet — Picard Deflects, Data Forced to Play

The Strategema game (represented by its holographic cone in broader canon) is the psychological device Kolrami invokes; here it functions as the symbolic arena to which Data is being coerced, turning a friendly contest into an honor-bound trial.

Before: Conceptually present as an agreed-upon contest format but not yet physically invoked in this moment.
After: Declared the focal contest — Kolrami has framed it as the instrument of honor and Data is pressured to participate.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
Kolrami's Public Strategema Gauntlet — Data Tested

Strategema (as a represented game object/concept) functions as the narrative catalyst: Kolrami names it as the contest, Pulaski references it to manipulate social expectation, and Data is pressed to accept or refuse — even though the tangible holographic cone is not deployed in this moment.

Before: Not actively displayed on the bridge; exists as a referenced game with cultural significance.
After: Elevated from abstract reference to an active social demand, with a challenge issued and expectation set that it will be played.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
Data's Defeat at 133 — The Fracture of Infallibility

The Strategema Move Counter ticks each numbered play and provides the decisive, objective readout that marks the match's endpoint. Its abrupt stall at 133 supplies the incontrovertible proof of outcome and serves narratively as the concrete rupture in Data's reputation.

Before: Operational and incrementing steadily from 001 upward in sync with the board's plays.
After: Digit display frozen at 133, no longer incrementing; functions as frozen evidence of the defeat.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
The Day Data Lost

The small digital move counter audibly and visually tracks each play; as moves tick upward it creates mounting tension and then abruptly freezes on '133', offering the definitive, unambiguous evidence that Data was outplayed and converting ambiguity into a concrete outcome.

Before: Counting sequential moves, registering rapid increments during the accelerated play.
After: Stalled at move 133; the display blinks no further, marking the moment of Data's defeat.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
Hathaway Gambit — Ruse, Rescue and Vindication

The Ten‑Forward digital counter relentlessly increments to record the number of Strategema moves, becoming a visible metric of the match's absurd length and the crowd's astonishment; it climaxes at 35,693 before stopping.

Before: Reset and active at the start of the match, incrementing regularly with each move.
After: Frozen at 35,693 when Kolrami abruptly tears his fingers free and storms out, serving as a public scoreboard of Data's feat.
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S2E21 · Peak Performance
Data's Draw — Humiliation as Victory

The Ten‑Forward digital counter functions as the visible metric of the Strategema rematch, accelerating into tens of thousands and becoming the tangible signifier of Data's endless stalemate strategy; its soaring number humiliates Kolrami and galvanizes the crowd's incredulity and jubilation.

Before: Active and incrementing normally at lower values as the rematch begins.
After: Frozen or suspended at a very high reading (35,693) after Kolrami tears his fingers free and storms out; remains as proof of the marathon stalemate.
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