The warp core ejection system was a system aboard warp-capable vessels designed to eject the warp core in the event of a warp core breach in order to prevent the destruction of the ship.
Activation of the ejection system typically required security clearance by the chief engineer or a senior officer. This tactic is generally considered to be a last-ditch effort to save a ship during a crisis situation and is often unreliable at best.
In the alternate reality of 2258, the USS Enterprise ejected and detonated several of its warp cores in order to boost the ship out of the gravitational pull of a black hole created with red matter. (Star Trek)
In 2368, the Romulan Star Empire experimented with an interphase generator on board a science vessel. The experiment went wrong and destroyed their graviton generator and resonator coil causing a warp core breach. The USS Enterprise-D crew and the Romulans ejected the core, but Parem, Geordi La Forge, and Ro Laren got phased. The situation was resolved when Data creates an Anyon field and returns La Forge and Ro to normal with Geordi ordering Engineering to stop the power transfer and to shut down the engines before the muon wave causes a warp core breach. (TNG: "The Next Phase")
In early 2372, the USS Defiant's ejection system failed after a power surge triggered a core breach. The excess power was eventually drained via the deflector array, averting the breach. (DS9: "The Visitor")
Also in 2372, the True Way sabotaged the USS Orinoco by removing the warp core ejection system, leaving the crew unable to stop a warp core breach which later destroyed the vessel. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")
The USS Enterprise-E ejected its warp core in 2375 to seal a subspace tear created by a isolytic burst. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
USS Voyager's warp core was ejected on several occasions:
- In 2371 by B'Elanna Torres, under the influence of the consciousness of Commander Chakotay, to prevent Voyager entering a dark matter nebula. (VOY: "Cathexis")
- In 2374, after a stream of tachyons triggered a core overload. The core was captured by the Caatati, but later recovered. (VOY: "Day of Honor")
- The Silver Blood USS Voyager was forced to eject its warp core shortly before its destruction in 2375. The ejection allows the ship to drop out of warp, but caused further damage to the already disintegrating vessel. (VOY: "Course: Oblivion")
- The Doctor as the Emergency Command Hologram had the ability to order a core ejection. In 2378, he did so in order to pay for Captain Kathryn Janeway's release from the Hierarchy. (VOY: "Renaissance Man")
In 2377, the Delta Flyer ejected its core, after problems with the ejection subroutines, to avert an antimatter explosion from destroying the Antarian Trans-stellar Rally. (VOY: "Drive")
In 2381, the USS Cerritos ejected its core during warp to destroy the pursuing Texas-class ships attempting to destroy them. The detonation destroyed the USS Dallas and the USS Corpus Christi, but the USS Aledo was only heavily damaged; worse, the Cerritos was also heavily damaged and dead in the water due to a combination of prior overspeed and having suddenly been thrown out of warp, and would have been destroyed if not for the arrival of the Free Spirit and the rest of the California-class fleet. This stunt was something Lieutenant Shaxs always wanted to do and he thanked Ensign Brad Boimler for giving him the chance to do so.(LD: "The Stars At Night")
Activation[]
Activation of the ejection system usually involved a voice command to the computer, however the core could also be ejected through an engineering station. (VOY: "Cathexis")
The voice command syntax for ejecting the warp core had a standard structure and required an authorization code. (VOY: "Day of Honor", "Renaissance Man", "Course: Oblivion")
- "Computer, prepare to eject the warp core, authorization {authorization code, e.g. "Torres omega 5-9-3"})."
The computer would respond by saying:
- "Warp ejection systems enabled."
Then a final command would be necessary to eject the core.
- "Computer, eject the warp core."
On the California-class, ejecting the warp core required the chief engineer and a senior officer to each take a keycard, insert them into a lock within two pillars that were risen upwards from the deck in front of the warp core, and unlock it simultaneously in engineering. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
Quark's model kit of the Cerritos featured the ability to eject the warp core, which imitated the real California-class by including a pair of keycards that the model builder inserted beneath the security station on the bridge. (LD: "An Embarrassment Of Dooplers")