"Right," Picard said, acknowledging their comments as he worked on the phaser. It had been a long time since he'd deliberately blown one up. The power coupling protocols were mildly more difficult to disengage than he remembered, but in a moment he was done. He pulled his arm back to swing.

"Mister Static, open the shield now!" Already the phaser was emitting a dangerous sounding high-pitched whine, and he let it fly, not wanting to lose his arm or more to a makeshift nadion grenade.