Feedback pulse A feedback pulse or feedback surge was a burst of energy which travelled in an opposing direction of pre - existing energy stream , which has the capability of disrupting the initial transmission . In 2153 , Lieutenant Reed and Major Hayes initiated a feedback pulse by reversing polarity on ' s plasma coil s , in an effort to counter an attack by a Sphere - Builder who was attempting to destroy the ship . The plan was successful , and the alien was thrown clear of " Enterprise " s warp core . ( ) In 2154 , a group of Augment s left over from Earth ' s Eugenics Wars initiated a feedback pulse by amplifying a thousand percent a self - destruct command which Hoshi Sato had transmitted to Cold Station 12 , which the Augments had taken over . The pulse had the effect of taking " Enterprise " s communication system offline . ( ) In an alternate timeline in 2165 , Jonathan Archer initiated a feedback pulse in " Enterprise " s warp core , in an attempt to trigger a subspace implosion with which to destroy a series of parasites which had infected his hippocampus , impairing his ability to form new long - term memories . As the parasites existed in a state of interspatial flux , existing outside of normal time , destroying them in the present also had the effect of neutralizing them in the past , resulting in the creation of a new timeline in which the infection never occurred in the first place . ( ) In 2370 , a feedback pulse was created along the particle beam of a phaser beam which the crew of the was using to drill beneath the surface of the planet Atrea IV . The pulse was created as a result of the phaser beam impacting a pocket of magnesite ore , causing the crew to believe that they were going to have to terminate the beam and restart the process in a new location . This proved not to necessary , however , when Juliana Tainer , a scientist working on the project , managed to adjust the phaser harmonics to compensate for the pulse . ( ) In 2374 , Seven of Nine created a feedback surge to zap the Hirogen Iden . Iden received a mild shock because he wasn ' t responding to diplomacy . ( ) In 2375 , a Borg sphere used a feedback pulse to invert a phaser beam being fired at the sphere by the . ( ) The next year , Kathryn Janeway , " Voyager " s captain , ordered Lieutenant B ' Elanna Torres to send a feedback pulse along a tractor beam being utilized by a group of adolescent Borg drone s in an attempt to tear " Voyager " s deflector dish from the rest of the ship . Rerouting warp plasma , Torres was successful , and the pulse successfully overloaded the Borg cube ' s shield matrix , which drew power from the same grid as the tractor beam . This allowed the " Voyager " crew to obtain a transporter lock on several of their crewmembers who were being held captive aboard the cube . ( ) In 2377 , an interstellar trader named Gar attempted to use a feedback pulse to destabilize a tractor beam with which the " Voyager " crew had locked onto his ship . Although Ensign Kim initially attempted to compensate for the pulse , Captain Janeway instead ordered him to simply beam Gar into " Voyager " s brig , so they could pursue their investigation into the whereabouts of their EMH , whose program Gar had stolen . ( )