Perhaps one of the most fundamental points in the journey was, inevitably, linked to the actions of the ACTP members. Following manipulations by the dysfunctional Toroid 6 Computer and the actions of the tragically misunderstood Mordecai White, a standoff evolved in the ship’s core.

A large number of Earth Dominion commandos were preventing the Captain and other senior staff from correcting their mistake in trying to overwrite our Computer with a version from Toroid 6. Despite the battle skills of Captain Lyla and department heads Ellis and Markus, the ED troops had them outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered. In the ensuing standoff more backup was called for — seemingly from both sides. Meanwhile Markus worked to turn the ITTS into a weapon to even the odds.

Before long Victor arrived in the VAPOUR (thought by many to be the first true mech-suit) along with combat specialists Piers Red and Ulysses Grey. At the same time more commandos arrived from toroid six carrying heavier weapons. History does not record who started shooting first, but it quickly became apparent that our guys were losing and drastic measures were required. Markus initiated the act for which he is famous, and propelled the ITTS carriage through the toroid six engine, causing a radiation burst that killed all the enemy forces.

This had the unfortunate side effect of irradiating the area where the disconnection needed to be performed to prevent the toroid six dysfunction from spreading. Left with no other choice, someone would need to sacrifice themselves to save Computer.

Hephaestus Black stepped up to the plate. Apparently not a trained engineer he had little choice but to shoot out all the connections he could linking toroids five and six. This had the unfortunate effect of damaging several ship systems that would ultimately require substantial work to restore.

The final upshot of the Core Incident was that the Asimov was left with the toroid six engines a complete write-off, spiralling through space as a result of the unbalanced impulse imparted by the parts of the toroid six engine that were catapulted out the back of the ship at an angle. The weight and power redistribution systems were severely damaged, along with the ITTS. The Toroid 1 core access air locks had been rendered inoperable as a result of the application of heavy handed tactics to overcome engineering difficulties. Computer was reporting damage as a result of everything that has been done to it, and to top things off the firefight had punctured one of the NGF pitches.

And that was before we got to the social fallout…