It just wasn't working.

Travis had spent the last five minutes trying desperately to focus exclusively on his board, to block out any fears about impending death, to pretend that he was indifferent about his fate but it wasn't working. In that short span of time, he had learned many things about himself, things that he hadn't really thought about before. He didn't want to die and more than anything else, he wanted to see Gannet again.

And yet, he found himself completely calm, despite knowing what was to come. It was really weird.

Under his direction, Enterprise crept from the asteroid belt at just over one-eighth impulse, trailing debris and warp plasma; he couldn't risk anything faster, what with the continual alerts he was receiving from the impulse drive. Not to mention, it was exceedingly stupid to fly really fast in an asteroid belt.

Actually, he reflected, it was pretty stupid to fly in an asteroid belt at all.

The bridge had been quiet since Phlox and Cole carried the captain and Hoshi to the lifeboat and Travis couldn't help but think how odd it was to be one of only two people on the command deck. Two living people anyway.

"Get to the lifeboat, Travis," Reed instructed calmly but Mayweather said nothing, kept his eyes on his board. He could almost feel Commander Reed's surprise at his unspoken refusal to obey. "That is an order, Lieutenant."

"You need a pilot, sir. The longer I'm here, the more people we can get to safety." He did look at Reed this time, speared the acting-captain with an unblinking expression. Mayweather's features were hard, resolute, unyielding. "I'm staying, Commander." Malcolm gave him a tight nod, his expression approving yet impossibly sad at the same time. "Once more unto the breach and all that, sir," Travis offered with a smile, exhausting his supply of the Bard and then only because Tucker had gotten on a Shakespeare kick for Movie Night a couple of weeks earlier. Reed returned the smile with one of his own.

"We band of brothers..." Malcolm quoted softly, his mask of professionalism cracking ever so slightly for the briefest of moments; he gave Travis a nod and keyed the intraship comm. "All hands, brace for impact. Core ejection in forty seconds. Do not launch lifeboats until core detonation." He paused for a moment. "Good luck." Enterprise rocked suddenly as the Romulan began accelerating from the asteroid belt, disruptor bursts reaching out to slash through what little hull plating remained. Alarms begin flashing on Mayweather's board.

"He's going for the impulse manifold," Travis realized.

"I know." Reed was a rock as he studied the sensor feed at his station, speaking with a Vulcan's indifference. "Come about to heading ... two-five mark zero, best speed."

Like a crippled bird, Enterprise sluggishly responded to Mayweather's touch, maneuvering thrusters firing to alter their trajectory. The Romulan ship took the bait, sliding into a trailing position that was almost directly aft of Enterprise'simpulse drive. A soft beeping began sounding from the tactical board; the Romulan was acquiring a torpedo lock.

"Ave imperator, morituri te salutant," Reed muttered. It sounded like he was quoting something but Travis didn't have a clue what it was or what it meant. Given what he knew of the tactical officer, it was probably some ancient battle cry, a 'come get some' sort of thing. If the situation was any less grim, Mayweather would have smiled and teased him about it; Malcolm Reed did not quote dead languages. Clearly Hoshi's love of language had rubbed off on the dour Brit whether he knew it or not. "Bridge to Engineering."

"Kel ... by..." It hurt just listening to the engineer and Travis couldn't imagine the pain he was in; stabs of guilt surged through him once more and he felt like crap for ever doubting Kelby.

"Eject the core," Malcolm ordered without any hint of regret at the engineer's loss. His mask was back in place.

Kelby gave no acknowledgment that he actually heard the command but Enterprise shuddered, lurching forward as she spat the warp core free. Even as he coaxed more speed out of the battered Starfleet vessel, Travis reflected on his lack of knowledge; he hadn't even known you could eject a breached warp core, had always assumed that a ship was lost if the containment field was compromised.

The core tumbled end over end in the hard vacuum, deceptively fragile-looking for such a powerful object. No longer surrounded by the containment field, its collapse accelerated at an exponentially increasing rate. Too late, the Romulan craft recognized its danger. Too late, it twisted into a dive, engines screaming in a frenzied attempt to get clear. Too late, it began targeting its weapons.

Too late.

With a blinding flash that could be seen at the very outskirts of the system, the breached core detonated. Shockwaves of raw concussive force radiated outward from the explosion, slamming into the Romulan ship with hull-crushing power. Its nacelles smashed or torn free, the small warship was sent reeling.

Back into the asteroid field.

It bounced off of several shuttlepod-sized rocks, each impact only serving to accelerate its mad spin into the field. Huge chunks of metal were torn free as the ship began to break apart and still it spun uncontrollably. Moving at slightly less than one-quarter impulse, it struck a Texas-sized asteroid and vanished in a flash of fire.

Exactly two point three seconds later, the shockwave reached Enterprise.