Phantasms. Why did they leave the Starbase without testing the warpcor

[WraithDukat]

The question is in the title.

Why leave the starbase without testing the warp core? Surely they shoud've tested the Flagships warp drive near a starbase so they would have use of their facilities in the event of failure rather than floating around in space with no warp capability.

Thoughts?

Or did I miss something?

 

[Timo]

Re: Phantasms. Why did they leave the Starbase without testing the war

Well, it's difficult to say whether they are "near" Starbase 84 when they start testing the core, or "far". Obviously they wouldn't test something that explosive right next to the base...

On the other hand, how could the ship get to any appreciable distance from that base without going to warp? It's by that token that they must be testing the core basically right next to SB 84. When it fails, the options are to sail back to SB 84 at impulse (until that fails, too!) or attempt repairs in situ. And we learn that Picard prefers in situ, apparently both because the ship's reputation and his personal pride would take a blow otherwise, and because repairs on the spot would consume more time and thus help Picard be late from the Admirals' Banquet he so passionately hates.

So for all we know, SB 84 is right there, just out of frame, and Picard simply doesn't want to go there. There's no emergency, after all, just an annoying malfunction.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Phantasms. Why did they leave the Starbase without testing the war

Sort of my assumption, Or that they had a mission to get to and the were installing components to the new warp core enroute and then it failed.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: Phantasms. Why did they leave the Starbase without testing the war

Well, it's difficult to say whether they are "near" Starbase 84 when they start testing the core, or "far".

Perhaps we should consult an expert....

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZhEcRrMA-M[/yt]

 

[JessDD]

Re: Phantasms. Why did they leave the Starbase without testing the war

That's actually an interesting point. You wouldn't neccessarily want to "test" a warp core near a starbase or any nearby structure. If something went bad, (ie: warp core breach/failure/explosion), you wouldn't want to risk destroying anything else.

Alternatively, you could also say that the computer ran a Level X diagnostic on the warp core, and everything checked out. So, no need to test it.