Quite Impossible
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data pauses—not in hesitation, but in the brutal calculus of existence—asking if leaving Sarjenka here is possible, revealing that his question is no longer theoretical, but existential.
Sarjenka erupts in a terrified whisper—'Don't leave me here. Please don't leave me.'—her voice tearing through the sterile air, transforming Data’s abstract dilemma into a living, breathing cry for survival.
Data’s response—'Quite impossible.'—is not comfort, not reassurance, but a final verdict: he has chosen not as a Starfleet officer, but as a being who now feels, and thus cannot unsee, unhear, unendure her terror.
Data and Sarjenka exit the transporter room, her hand locked in his—a silent, unbreakable bond forged in ash and lightning—leaving O’Brien frozen in bewildered silence at the precipice of Starfleet’s moral collapse.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Measured outward calm with an emergent empathic resolve; a logical determination colored by nascent compassion.
Data materializes with Sarjenka, assesses command structure, calmly engages O'Brien with procedural questions, then decisively takes the child's hand and escorts her off the transporter platform toward the bridge.
- • Protect and not abandon the frightened child
- • Deliver Sarjenka to bridge command where she can be cared for and decisions can be made
- • The child's immediate safety supersedes passive adherence to non‑interference in an imminent crisis
- • Command (Riker/Picard) should be informed by presence and facts rather than abstract reports
Panicked and frantic on the surface, seeking safety and human (alien) contact; instinctually attaches to Data as protector.
Sarjenka materializes terrified, edges toward Data, slides her hand into his and then seizes his arm while whispering a desperate plea not to be left behind; she clings to him as her only immediate refuge.
- • Avoid being abandoned on an unfamiliar, dangerous ship
- • Secure immediate comfort and protection from a trusted figure (Data)
- • Adults/strangers may abandon or harm her unless she clings to someone familiar
- • Data (or the entity who responded before) is a safe guardian she can trust
Shock morphing quickly into alarm and professional indignation; worried about rule breaches and the fallout.
O'Brien watches the materialization in stunned silence, voices an under‑breath warning about consequences, answers Data's procedural question, then reacts with incredulous protest as Data departs with the alien child.
- • Preserve transporter protocol and procedural integrity
- • Signal the severity of the unauthorized action and its likely repercussions
- • Unauthorized transportations will provoke disciplinary or operational consequences
- • Starfleet rules and standard operating procedure must be defended for the ship’s safety
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The transporter platform is the physical locus of the event: Data and Sarjenka dematerialize onto it, providing incontrovertible proof of an arrival and serving as the dramatic staging that precipitates the confrontation. It functions as the forensic anchor O'Brien cites and as the literal threshold between away world and command decision.
Sarjenka's small hand functions as the event's emotional tether: she places it in Data's, then locks onto his arm in desperation. The grip embodies trust and forces Data's moral choice into a physical act of guardianship.
The transporter platform is the physical locus of the event: Data and Sarjenka dematerialize onto it, providing incontrovertible proof of an arrival and serving as the dramatic staging that precipitates the confrontation. It functions as the forensic anchor O'Brien cites and as the literal threshold between away world and command decision.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
Across episodes
"In Episode 14, Worf’s holodeck ritual symbolizes the crew’s surrogate kinship—their labor to recreate his cultural identity. In Episode 15, Data’s defiant transport of Sarjenka escalates this dynamic: the crew’s ethical boundaries are tested, and O'Brien’s role transitions from passive observer in Worf’s ritual to active participant in Data’s moral crisis."
The Holodeck Reveal — Worf's Unexpected Ascension"O'Brien's stunned reaction to Sarjenka's transport ('There's gonna be hell to pay') mirrors his earlier grim technical assessment of the painstik's lethality. Both are moments of ethical shock: one at cultural brutality, one at moral deviation."
Holodeck Ascension: Simulation Becomes Threat"The immediate consequence of Data's unauthorized transport with Sarjenka (Episode 15) is that Senior Staff is already aligned on the necessity of bending rules for moral reasons—which sets the tone for Picard’s willingness to authorize a risky, unplanned away mission in Episode 16."
Stun-Ready Away Team Prepares to Beam to Borg Ship"Sarjenka’s terrified clinging to Data and his refusal to abandon her in Episode 15 symbolically parallels the discovery of the Borg nursery in Episode 16—a moment where the raw, human bond (or the inhuman denial thereof) is exposed and questioned."
Nursery Discovered — Ship Regenerates"The moral and procedural tensions of transporter operations in Episode 15 (Data smuggling Sarjenka aboard) parallel the high-stakes transporter operations in Episode 16 (away team transporting to a Borg vessel), both involving O'Brien facilitating potentially dangerous transports."
Stun-Ready Away Team Prepares to Beam to Borg ShipKey Dialogue
"O'BRIEN: "You're going to take that?""
"SARJENKA: "Don't leave me here. Please don't leave me.""
"DATA: "Quite impossible.""