franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

11.9 AUTO DESTRUCT SYSTEMS11.9 AUTO DESTRUCT SYSTEMSIt is an accepted fact of life aboard Starfleet vessels thatthe ultimate sacrifice may have to be made to insure thafneitherthe intact starshipnorthe technology contained thereinwill fall into the possession of Threat forces. The totaldestruction of the docked spacecraft or either of its twoseparated components can be executed by special commandauthorization procedures, and may be accomplished with tworelated systems.DESTRUCT SCENARIOSMost situations in which vehicle destruct would occurhave been extensively modeled using computer simulations.As this is a tactic of extreme last resort, all other availableoptions must first be exhausted. The bulk of the modeling hascentered around potential loss of the ship during combatoperations with known and computer-created Threat forces,although sophisticated hijacking schemes cannot be ruledout.In the worst-case examples, all propulsion and defensivesystems are irreversibly disabled or destroyed, and thereis no possibility of assistance by other Starfleet or alliedvessels. A high probability that the ship can be boarded ortractored then exists, and the activation of the auto-destructsequence within the computer is to be the final event. To alesser degree, certain scenarios judge a disabled starship tobe a catastrophic danger to a greater number of living beings;e.g., the population of a planet, requiring the abandonment ofthe ship and its subsequent destruction to prevent the disaster.COMMAND AUTHORIZATIONThe command to activate auto-destruct can be issuedonly by a limited number of crew members according tospecific flight rules. Conditional tests programmed into themain computers are distributed to key autonomous subprocessornodes throughout the ship to allow the autodestructsequence to be carried out, even if the main computersare disabled. These tests check for the proper sequenceactivation inputs by command personnel, beginning with thecaptain and first officer. The programmed conditions checkforthe succession of command personnel; if eitherthe captainor first officer is determined by the computer to be unavailable,the system will accept-inputs from officers only down to theposition of Operations Manager.In the case of authorization issued by the captain andexecutive officer, the captain activates the destruct sequenceprogram, and both officers provide verbal input, which permitsthe computer to recognize the identity and authority of bothofficers. The computer then requests verbal confirmation ofthe executive officer's concurrence with the destruct order.Following such confirmation, the computer will request the de-11.9.1 Location of auto-destruct ordnance packages