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Location
Federation Starbase Lounge

Starbase 173 Lounge

A neutral, high‑tech public lounge/dining enclave aboard Starbase 173 defined by modular seating, soft controlled lighting and the distant mechanical thrum of docking rings. The space functions as a hinge between private conversation and institutional authority: officers and civilians pass beneath the hum while casual reunions readily admit formal oversight. Key scenes occur here (including the Picard–Phillipa Louvois confrontation and the arrival of Admiral Nakamura and Commander Maddox), turning everyday utensils and seating into staging for charged ethical and procedural interaction.
4 events
4 rich involvements

Detailed Involvements

Events with rich location context

S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Louvois' Return — Old Wounds Reopened

The Starbase 173 restaurant provides a publicly neutral, quietly high-tech setting where private and institutional worlds collide. It allows for a casual meal yet is implicitly monitored space, making the reunion both ordinary and liable to become an official matter.

Atmosphere

Calm, low-key, quietly formal with the hum of Starbase activity in the background; intimacy laced with institutional restraint.

Functional Role

Meeting point for an unplanned, charged reunion that shifts the scene from private reflection to an incipient public-professional confrontation.

Symbolic Significance

Represents the collision of Picard's private life with Starfleet's institutional world; a neutral surface where personal history is made visible to the organization.

Access Restrictions

Open to public patrons of the starbase but implicitly monitored; not a restricted briefing room, yet subject to formal expectations of conduct.

High-tech restaurant design and muted lighting Distant mechanical thrum of docking rings creating an institutional backdrop Single place setting on a dark laminated table with a cup A passway/patron flow where Phillipa enters and approaches Picard
S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Inspection and Declaration: Maddox's Intent

The Starbase 173 lounge is invoked as the intended, calmer venue to continue the discussion — a negotiated space offering lower visibility and more diplomatic footing. Picard seeks to move the confrontation there to de-escalate and shield Data from immediate procedural coercion.

Atmosphere

Quiet, neutral, and socially oriented — designed for conversation but not immune to institutional pressure from visiting authorities.

Functional Role

Secondary meeting place and de-escalation space where private negotiations and political management can occur off the formal bridge stage.

Symbolic Significance

Represents a softer, diplomatic arena contrasted with the bridge's institutional rigor.

Access Restrictions

Public but monitored; appropriate for officers and visitors, less formal than the bridge.

Modular seating and soft lighting suggest privacy A distant mechanical hum signals the base's operational backdrop Designed for casual reunions but convertible into a venue for formal discussion
S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Maddox Announces Intent to Disassemble Data

The Starbase 173 lounge is proposed by Picard as the next venue — a private, neutral space intended to defuse public spectacle and allow a controlled conversation about Maddox's intentions and procedural requests.

Atmosphere

Intended to be quieter and more private — modular seating and low lighting suggest a refuge from the bridge's formality.

Functional Role

Private negotiation room where sensitive, potentially volatile discussions will be moved away from crew witnesses.

Symbolic Significance

Represents an attempt to separate institutional pressure from human dignity and to contain an emergent crisis.

Access Restrictions

Less formally restricted than the bridge but socially reserved for invited parties and officers.

Modular seating and soft lighting designed for confidential conversation. Mechanical hum of station systems in the background; quieter than bridge noise.
S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
The Disassembly Declaration — The Sentience Rift

The Starbase 173 lounge is invoked as the immediately reachable private venue where Picard will continue the conversation away from the bridge's public scrutiny. It is named as the procedural remedy to diffuse a public spectacle and to allow more controlled, diplomatic discussion.

Atmosphere

Invoked as quieter and more private — softer lighting and modular seating imagined to support an internal, lower-stakes exchange though the moral stakes remain high.

Functional Role

Intended meeting place for a private, controlled negotiation and de-escalation of public confrontation.

Symbolic Significance

Represents an attempt to move contested institutional decisions out of communal scrutiny and into managerial venues where hierarchy can operate without immediate witness.

Access Restrictions

Public lounge but situationally semi-private when attended by senior officers; not an open hearing space.

Modular seating and soft lighting Distant mechanical thrum of docking rings A quieter, more intimate acoustic than the bridge

Events at This Location

Everything that happens here

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