Ficus Quadrant

A remote swath of deep space that registers less as a map coordinate and more as a gap in history — the birthplace of an ancient, raspy distress beacon traced to an obsolete European Hegemony archive. The quadrant returns only electromagnetic echoes and antiquated databanks: creaking signal pulses, static-laced telemetry, and sensor reads that smell of long-cold circuits. Its star charts show no recorded launches or colonies where a human outpost should stand, leaving silence to press on the Enterprise like a question. The region functions as both forensic puzzle and moral summons, converting Picard’s scholarly curiosity into command resolve to investigate a vanished human settlement.

2 events

2 rich involvements

Detailed Involvements

Events with rich location context

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

The Ficus Beacon — Echo of a Lost Colony

The Ficus Quadrant is the mysterious spatial origin named in the databanks; though not physically present in the scene, it operates as the narrative destination and the central unknown that compels the Enterprise to change course and investigate.

Atmosphere

Absent and enigmatic — a silence on the map that creates an uncanny tension.

Functional Role

Destination to be investigated and the source of the central plot mystery (missing colony / unaccounted distress origin).

Symbolic Significance

Symbolizes historical erasure and the limits of institutional memory; a void where human presence should be recorded.

Access Restrictions

No explicit restrictions shown; practically remote and uncharted according to the databanks.

Described only through databank entries and coordinates No recorded launches or colonies listed against it Evokes deep‑space silence and archival absence

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

From Curiosity to Command: Picard Seizes the Mariposa Lead

The Ficus Quadrant is invoked as the manifest's destination/origin and as the geographic locus of the vanished colony; its mention converts an archival oddity into a spatial mystery demanding an on‑the‑ground (or in-space) inquiry.

Atmosphere

Not directly observed in-scene — described as a gap in history, lending an air of cold, remote mystery.

Functional Role

Investigative locus — the quadrant that must be searched to reconcile the manifest's anomalies with on-site evidence.

Symbolic Significance

Represents the unknown in humanity's past and the literal place where history may have been interrupted.

Access Restrictions

Remote region of space with no obvious recorded launches; access would require Enterprise resources.

Described as a deep-space silence with raspy distress beacon echoes (implied). Absent star charts and no recorded launches making it a forensic blank. Evokes centuries-old telemetry and static-laced signals.

Events at This Location

Everything that happens here

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

The Ficus Beacon — Echo of a Lost Colony

While docked at a starbase, Picard and Riker answer a raspy, centuries‑old SOS whose tone and databanks identify it as an obsolete European Hegemony distress beacon. Computer scans show the …

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

From Curiosity to Command: Picard Seizes the Mariposa Lead

Picard, sitting alone in his ready room, is freed from immediate duty when Pulaski's brief report confirms Worf is 'in no danger.' That clearance removes a personal distraction and lets …