Everything was shaking. I lost my balance. I was just trying to hold on to something.
I didn't mean to do it.
What was it that didn't you mean to do, Timothy? My arm hit the computer panel.
That's what destroyed the ship. The ship was damaged when your
arm hit the computer panel? Timothy, listen to me. The damage to your ship
might have occurred at the same time your arm touched the panel, but it was only a coincidence.
This wasn't your fault. Yes it was.
It is not possible. The onboard control systems for every starship
require a user code clearance. You could not have inadvertently affected any of the Vico's systems.
Your computer had safety precautions. There is nothing you could have touched
that would have damaged your ship. You're not responsible for what happened
to your parents, Timothy. But if it wasn't me
We're trying to determine what happened right now, and if there is anything you
can remember that may assist (they shake from a wavefront)
That's just how it was
when it started on the Vico. [Bridge]
Wavefront intensity has increased. Increase shields to seventy five percent.
Aye, sir. (a big wave sets off alarms)
Damage, Mister Worf. Minimal, sir. Shields are holding.
(Picard, Timothy and Troi enter) Ensign, full about. Go to warp two.
The gravitational distortion is too high. We can't maintain a warp field.
Full shields. Aye.
Captain, impulse power has been disrupted. The helm won't respond.
We couldn't get out either. Timothy, perhaps you and I should go below
and get out of everyone's way. No.
Riker to La Forge. Can you give me more power to the shields?
Stand by. That's what they kept saying.
More shields, more shields. Timothy, accompany me,
please. (go to science station)
I want you to recall everything you heard people say aboard the Vico before it was destroyed.
I don't know. Just that. Just more shields.
Captain, I've transferred [Engineering]
Fusion reactors four through nine into the shield array. That should double the shield strength.
Wavefront intensity has increased by an order of magnitude.
Impact in three, two, one. (very big hit)
Wave front intensity is continuing to increase. Structural over-pressure now exceeding
one hundred eighty percent. La Forge?
I don't understand. That should have been enough. [Engineering]
We could run the shield grid directly off the warp drive.
[Bridge] Go ahead, Commander.
Initiating warp-transfer pathways now. Diverting warp power to the shields.
Warp power to the shields. They said that too, Data. I'm positive.
Wavefront intensity has increased by a factor of ten. Contact
in thirty one seconds. Without additional power to the shields, the outer hull will not hold.
La Forge? [Engineering]
Warp transfer to the shields complete. [Bridge]
That's as strong as they're going to get. Impact in fifteen seconds.
(Data finishes running his analysis) Sir, drop the shields.
That's suicide, Data. Captain, drop the shields.
Make it so. Aye.
(a very gently ripple rocks the ship)
Our own shields caused the increases in the wavefronts,
sir. We have been experiencing a harmonic amplification effect.
The more energy we dumped into the shield grid, the worse the impact.
Precisely. That is also what destroyed the Vico. When Timothy remembered similar procedures on his
ship, I initiated an analysis of shield output to wavefront amplitude and discovered a correlation.
If we had transferred all that warp power to the shields, it would have torn the ship apart.
Status, Ensign? Navigation is coming back online.
Full about, one quarter impulse. Take us out of here.