S5E5 · Disaster

The crew of the Enterprise are undertaking routine tasks when suddenly the ship is struck by some outside force, rendering much of it inoperable and cutting communications between different sections. They eventually discover that the ship had collided with a fragment of a quantum filament, make emergency repairs, and set course back to the nearest starbase for a full overhaul.

Several different sub-plots are followed among the various crew members:

Counselor Troi hesitantly takes command of the ship, as the highest-ranking officer on the bridge at the time, and is accompanied by Chief O'Brien and Ensign Ro. They find that the antimatter containment field in the warp core is rapidly deteriorating, and Ro suggests that they separate the saucer and drive sections of the Enterprise in order to save those in the former. O'Brien objects to this plan, not wanting to abandon any survivors in the drive section; Troi agrees and directs him to divert some of their minimal power reserves to the appropriate panel in Engineering, hoping that someone there can rectify the situation. This is later done by Commander Riker and Lt. Commander Data. Ro apologizes for considering such a drastic action while Troi acknowledges that she could have easily been correct.

Riker and Data are in Ten Forward along with Worf and the pregnant Keiko O'Brien at the time of the disaster. Ten Forward is set up as a triage area with Worf and Keiko tending to the wounded. Riker and Data realize that without functioning turbolifts, it would be faster to travel through the Jefferies tubes to reach Engineering in order to regain control of the ship rather than to try to make it to the bridge. A high-voltage electrical discharge blocks their way; Data sacrifices his body to disrupt it, but his head remains fully operational and Riker takes it with him.

In Engineering, they find the computer offline and Data offers to use his own positronic brain to gain basic control of ship systems. Riker notices the operating panel that indicates the containment field failure, and he and Data quickly set up the proper connections to strengthen it until repairs can be made.

Captain Picard is giving a guided tour of the ship to three children who have won a science fair, a task he has not been looking forward to as he is uncomfortable around children. They are aboard a turbolift when the accident occurs and Picard fractures his ankle from the sudden stop. He calms the children down, and to boost their morale, assigns them honorary command roles. With their spirits renewed, Picard and the children climb out of the turbolift and up the shaft until they are able to open the lift doors on another floor and climb out safely. Picard comes to appreciate the children and offers to give them another tour once the situation has been resolved.

Doctor Crusher and Lieutenant Commander La Forge are in a cargo bay examining a recent supply of thruster fuel. When the disaster strikes, they are trapped in the bay and find that a plasma fire has erupted in a nearby panel; it is emitting radiation capable of both endangering their lives and destabilizing the fuel to the point of explosion. By depressurizing the bay, they are able to both expel the fuel into space and extinguish the fire due to a lack of oxygen; they survive by holding on to a ladder and then re-establishing normal air pressure.

Keiko goes into labor while she and Worf are tending to patients in Ten Forward, forcing Worf to help her deliver her child despite having only basic emergency medical training. Though the delivery is tense, Keiko gives birth to a healthy baby.