Battle of the Briar Patch The Battle of the Briar Patch was fought between the and two Son ' a battle cruiser s in 2375 . The Son ' a cruisers attempted to prevent the " Enterprise " from informing the Federation Council about a conspiracy to forcibly relocate the Ba ' ku . They were defeated via an unorthodox maneuver by acting " Enterprise " captain William T . Riker . Prelude . Investigating a " malfunction " in Lieutenant Commander Data during a mission to the Ba ' ku planet , the " Enterprise " crew discovered a joint plan between Starfleet Admiral Matthew Dougherty and Son ' a Ahdar Ru ' afo to relocate the Ba ' ku population . Once the Ba ' ku were evicted , the Son ' a would deploy a collector to harvest the life - rejuvenating metaphasic radiation from the Ba ' ku planet ' s rings , rendering the planet uninhabitable for generations . Captain Jean - Luc Picard was outraged that Starfleet would condone a plan that deprived the Ba ' ku of their rights . He ordered his first officer Commander Riker to take the " Enterprise " out of the Briar Patch and alert the Federation Council , while he and several of the command staff remained on the planet to forestall the deployment of the collector . Ru ' afo , well - aware his plans would be jeopardized if revealed to the Federation public , told Dougherty that he could have his ships intercept and " escort " the " Enterprise " back . Despite knowing the likely outcome , Dougherty reluctantly consented to the action . The battle . The two Son ' a battle cruisers closed on the " Enterprise " when it was still an hour ' s travel from the edge of the Briar Patch . Riker had Lieutenant inform them that the " Enterprise " s transceiver assembly was down and that they could only send messages , not receive them . The Son ' a responded with a photon torpedo . Riker ordered the " Enterprise " to full impulse , even though it would damage the engines as the impulse manifold s had not been properly outfitted for the Briar Patch . The " Enterprise " began " burning deuterium " as it traded fire with the Son ' a . One of the Son ' a cruisers detonated an isolytic burst behind the " Enterprise " , creating a subspace tear . As the " Enterprise " s warp core was acting like a magnet to the tear , Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge recommended ejecting the core and detonating it to hopefully seal the tear . Riker gave the order , though La Forge had already carried it out by then . The resulting explosion impacted the " Enterprise " , causing heavy damage . Since there was nothing preventing the Son ' a from firing another burst , Riker realized that he had no choice but to confront the Son ' a to complete his mission . As the Son ' a cruisers outgunned the " Enterprise " , Riker had the Bussard collector s gather volatile metreon gas to " shove it down the Son ' a ' s throat " , which La Forge dubbed the " Riker Maneuver " . Taking personal control of the helm via the manual steering column , Riker flew the " Enterprise " in front of the Son ' a and released the stored gas just as the lead cruiser prepared to fire . The Son ' a ignited the gas , causing a massive explosion that destroyed the lead cruiser and propelled its debris into the second , disabling it . Aftermath . With the battle won , Riker successfully contacted the Federation Council and was assured that the Ba ' ku relocation would be halted pending a top - level review . He then brought the " Enterprise " back to the Ba ' ku planet in time to disable Ru ' afo ' s flagship and retrieve Picard from the collector . ( ) Background information . Some observations and suggestions about how the Battle of the Briar Patch was depicted in the first draft script of " Star Trek : Insurrection " were made by the executives at Paramount Pictures , in a memo sent to the " " Star Trek " team " on . The comment was : " " We would like Riker ’ s battle with the two Son ’ a ships to be as riveting as any " Star Trek " battle to date [ . . . ] Because the Son ’ a are not yet much of a threat , this battle is not particularly dramatic . Also , because the ships are moving slowly , the battle does not seem that thrilling . What would happen if Riker jumped to warp , or full impulse power in the Briar Patch ? " " The document then proposed that the battle might conclude with a maneuver that ultimately became the Riker Maneuver . The memo ended : " " However the battle is choreographed , this should be a defining sequence for the movie . " " ( " Fade In – The Writing of Star Trek : Insurrection " )