4.1 Warp Core Breach & Catastrophic Failures

Inertial damping failure

The Enterprise travels at such tremendous speeds (even when under impulse power) that the acceleration and deceleration involved would instantly turn our crew to chunky salsa unless protected by the Inertial Damping field. Should this system (and its backups) fail, the ship would be limited to very gentle speed changes (compared to what it ordinarily does). It would take many months for the ship to accelerate to Warp One, or to change warp factor. This would mean that the ship would be essentially trapped at whatever speed it is travelling, for any significant speed change would take a very long time or would kill the crew and severely damage the structure of the starship.

Warp field collapse

When travelling at warp speed, the Enterprise is presumably enveloped in a warp field which suspends the ship in a bubble of subspace. In other words, the ship is partially existing in another universe. In order for the ship to return to “normal” space, the subspace field generators must be powered down in a properly synchronized sequence. This is not ordinarily a problem (in fact, it is possible to simply “turn off” the generators, and the residual field collapse will normally be safe). On the other hand, should the fields collapse in an unsynchronized sequence, it is possible for different parts of the ship to be travelling at different warp factors. The result would be that the subspace field stress would immediately shred the ship and its crew.

Emergency landing

When seperated, the primary (saucer) hull can theoretically be maneuvered into the atmosphere of a Class M planet and (hopefully) safely landed. The structural strain of atmospheric entry and landing would mean that the ship could never return to space. No Galaxy Class starship has ever attempted this risky maneuver, but it is an option in an extreme emergency.

Warp core breach

One of the worst imaginable accidents in an antimatter reactor, the breach of the reaction vessel, exposing the ship to antimatter plasma and other high-pressure, high temperature gasses. In such an accident, a number of emergency safeguards automatically activate. First, a cylindrical forcefield is activated, isolating the engine from the rest of Engineering. Second, an emergency shutdown procedure automatically shuts off all fuel feeds and magnetic quenching fields are activated. Should these fail to work, a series of explosive bolts blow a hole in the bottom of the engineering hull and the entire warp reactor core is ejected into space. This will result in venting much of the engineering hull to the vacuum of space and the probable death of a significant number of engineering personnel. Additionally, without the warp core, the ship will be limited to impulse speed. Nevertheless, this procedure can prevent the loss of the entire starship in the event of a catastrophic loss of antimatter containment. (Note: This is probably similar to what happened to the USS Yamato in the episode “Contagion”, except that the safety procedures failed and the ship blew up.)

Antimatter containment failure

Equally dangerous as a warp core breach, this indicates a failure in the magnetic containment fields which isolate the volitile antimatter fuel from the rest of the ship. Should even a tiny quanity of antimatter come into contact with the “normal” matter in the Enterprise, the resulting explosion could very easily destroy the ship. Many backup power supplies and mag field generators exist to insure that such an accident never happens, but it is remotely possible. If such an accident occurs, the antimatter fuel supply can be vented into space. Emergency shutdown of the warp engine would be performed, and forcefields would attempt to contain the extent of any antimatter annihilation explosions. In a severe accident, explosive bolts would blow a hole in the bottom of the engineering hull and the antimatter storage pods would be ejected. (This is one reason why antimatter storage is located at the bottom of the engineering hull.) This procedure is somewhat similar to procedures invoked during a warp core breach.