“Disaster” is episode five of season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is having a respite from their duties. In Ten Forward, a very pregnant Keiko and Chief O’Brien are talking to Riker, Worf and Data about what to call their child. Riker thinks William is a great name. O’Brien excuses himself; he needs to go to the bridge.
In a cargo bay, Dr Crusher wants Geordi to try something; he will be terrific. He finally agrees and starts singing the Major-General song from Pirates of Penzance. The doctor thinks he was terrific. A little off pitch, but she can take care of that.
On the bridge, Troi introduces Captain Picard to the girl and two boys who won the primary school science fair. They’re here for their tour. O’Brien arrives as the captain and the children leave; he comments to Troi he isn’t sure who he feels sorry for, the captain or the kids.
In the turbolift, the captain is awkwardly trying to make conversation asking what their projects were. The boys answer, but before the girl, Marissa, can, the turbolift shakes and starts to fall. Alarms sound all over the ship.
On the bridge, Ensign Mandel at Ops reports they were hit by a quantum filament. O’Brien reports they’ve lost primary life support and warp drive. Another is approaching and the duty officer, Lt Monroe, orders all hands to brace for impact. Her console explodes when it does.
Troi attempts contacting a medical team, then anyone, but comms are down. Mandel tries the turbolifts. O’Brien reports the computer is down; they have impulse power and not much else. Monroe is dead.
In the captain’s turbolift, the children are crying. He checks they are alright, tries his communicator and tells them they aren’t going to die. And to stop crying. That doesn’t work.
O’Brien has sent out a distress call but tells Troi that he doesn’t even know if they are broadcasting. One turbolift is pried open and Ensign Ro climbs out. O’Brien fills her in and she says an emergency bulkhead has closed. Isolation protocol. This is explained to Troi; they’re cut off from the rest of the ship. Mandel reports partial sensors online. There are sporadic lifesigns throughout the saucer section; he can’t specifically check Ten Forward, to the chief’s query. Ro asks about the drive section. Nothing, but there’s no way to know if that’s accurate. Troi can detect a lot of people alive; many hurt.
Ro says they need to start emergency procedures and asks who the duty officer was. The dead Monroe. O’Brien says Troi is the senior officer; she carries the rank of lieutenant commander. Troi looks stunned and would appreciate some suggestions, going along with what both Ro and O’Brien say.
In Ten Forward, Data reports access to the bridge has been severed, as has access to sickbay. He’s ordered casualties be brought here. Riker says they must assume everyone on the bridge is dead. They need to re-establish control from engineering. There’s a crawl way; Data and Riker will head that way, leaving Worf in charge.
In the cargo bay, Geordi can’t get the door open. The doctor says a wall is hot, then Geordi gets knocked back by a plasma fire. One he says puts off a lot of radiation. The doctor says they can’t stay. There’s a bigger problem; one of the things stored in the bay, according to Geordi, explodes when exposed to radiation.
In the turbolift, the captain is injured. He decides to make Marissa his first officer, and gives her pips, doing similar things for the boys. Riker and Data are in a Jefferies tube but the way is blocked by an electrical discharge. In the cargo bay, the doctor and Geordi decide to move the containers away from the radiation to give them some time.
On the bridge, O’Brien is explaining to Troi when Ro gets the engineering console up and running, using a technique O’Brien isn’t fond of. There’s a problem with the antimatter containment field. It’s failing. When it does, it will go boom.
Lots of different threads and just about everyone is having to do things they are not used to. Worf, going by later comments on DS9, is perhaps permanently ‘scarred’ by some things. He certainly panics when he hears Keiko is pregnant again. Troi is completely out of her depth, as Ro realises. In fact, going by what’s said in the later episode, “Thine Own Self”, she isn’t even qualified to be in charge of the bridge.