DESTRUCT SCENARIOS

	Most situations in which vehicle destruct would occur have been 
extensively modeled using computer simulations. As this is a tactic of 
extreme last resort, all other available options must first be exhausted. The 
bulk of the modeling has centered around potential loss of the ship during 
combat operations with known and computer-created Threat forces, 
although sophisticated hijacking schemes cannot be ruled out.
	In the worst-case examples, all propulsion and defensive systems 
are irreversibly disabled or destroyed, and there is no possibility of 
assistance by other Starfleet or allied vessels. A high probability that the ship 
can be boarded or tractored then exists, and the activation of the auto-
destruct sequence within the computer is to be the final event. To a lesser 
degree, certain scenarios judge a disabled starship to be a catastrophic 
danger to a greater number of living beings; e.g., the population of a planet, 
requiring the abandonment of the ship and its subsequent destruction to 
prevent the disaster.  Æ