From: ses52823@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Sven E. Skoog)
Subject: Re: Shield Question
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 02:11:53 GMT

cosc1871@elroy.uh.edu (92F06787) writes:

>In article <q#vza2b@rpi.edu>, petitc@rpi.edu writes...
>> 
>> We all know that the shield generators are effected through conduits inside the
>>hull.  So, what happens when the E. is hit.  Do the shields just plain collapse,
>>since the shield 'bubble' is no longer symmetric?  Or are the areas that still
>>have the hull protected.  I'd assume it's the former, since they mention in the
>>TM that the shields make a massive spatial distortion, and it wouldn't work
>>if part of the bubble were missing.
>> 

>Depends on the period of the ship.  If it were pre-NCC-1701-C then if there were
>any hull damage it would only affect the localized portions of the shields since
>the shields work differently than the ones described by the TNG TM.  I think
>somewhere along the line that the shields on the TNG ship would still remain
>active despite hull damage (Hmmm, I haven't seen the ship shot up yet, though :)

>Then again, I believe under most circumstances that if you lost your shield 
>and took a hull breach... well, the ship is as good as an ionized twisted hulk
>(or worse) that is destined to tumble through space.  Unless you were on
>Kirk's ship that is :)

I believe that in "The Best of Both Worlds I" the Borg pulled a sneaky worthy-
of Khan maneuver.  They used a shield-draining impulse to force the Enterprise
into random manipulation of shield form and frequency, then cut off their
impulse and fired a greyish-blue beam which lanced CLEAN THROUGH the entire
saucer section (vertically of course).  Reminded me a little of the Chang-Kirk
battle in STVI.  

My point is that the Borg had not removed their shields at that point in time,
and even though the beam breached not only deflectors, but all the decks and
hulls, the Enterprise was later able to take more hits (remember the Picard
evasion into the nebula where the Borg release electromagnetic "depth charges"
?)  So I would therefore assume that loss of shields means

(a)	Only that portion (forward, port, starboard, aft) of the symmetrical
	shield bubble is removed, and possibly open to power transmission.
	It's not inconceivable that in an emergency Geordi could reangle the
	deflector dishes (aside from the main one, of course) to move the
	angle of shield ellipse.

(b)	Shields are perhaps allowed to discharge, however briefly, before
	power is reallotted to the bubble.  (I vaguely remember Yar babbling
	about "heat dissipation rates" in Yesterday's Enterprise.)

(c)	You (the captain/chief engineer/etc.) are S.O.L.

Does the Technical manual refer to Galaxy class ships as having only ONE ship-wide shield?  I thought that was the point in naming the blue thing the "main
deflector dish."  But I could be wrong.

If the Enterprise had compartmentalized shields, then in that episode where
they were caught in the inversion trap (not the radiation one, but the one
where the forces were used against them and the only way to escape was to drop
the shields... the energy was inverted as pressure against the force fields)
they should have suffered immense ship damage (ever try to crush an egg in your
fist?  Try wearing a ring;  the added one-directional pressure will crush it.)

Well, gotta run.  Level 1 Diagnostics await...

================================================================================    "Worf?  Is [beating the crap out of
     a female] your idea of Klingon sex?"

    "This IS sex!!"
				- Hide and Q
================================================================================		Sven E. Skoog
	      Alchemist at Large
	      ses52823@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
	      University of Illinois


A


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