The phasers were set to levels that would slag them within ten seconds, and kill the personnel operating them within two.

This was known and understood. At the last moment, a way was found to up the terawattage. This would slag the banks within 5 seconds, and kill the operators nearly instantly. All cheered to hear this.

The shields were brought up and reinforced, and then brought up further still. They would now fail to hold back cosmic radiation, and this was giving every crew member incurable cancer. Also, the enhancements would burn out the shields after one good shot was absorbed.

This was known and understood. Said shot would be followed by another within seconds, destroying the ship. When someone suggested that the phaser beam itself could be shielded, increasing its focus, this was done at the immediate cost of life support for 120 people. No complaints were heard.

The thrusters were made to be as responsive as possible. This was done by tearing apart the ship's replicators and having them create a rare, expensive, super-slick coating that increased response time. This would keep the ship just nanos ahead of a beam it could never hope to truly evade.

This was known and understood. 200 personnel volunteered to be beamed into final dispersal, so as to increase the ship's ability to move by one more nanosecond. The Captain approved this request.

All files and notes were transmitted, then purged. The computer knew now only how to operate the ship's movement. The vast libraries were wiped, and so were all personal files. Two more nanoseconds were purchased in this way.

This was known and understood. The air was hyperoxygenated, this at the request of a Methane-Breathing crewman, who pointed out that now all life support could be cut, for the time remaining.

Grav-boots and harnesses were passed among the remaining crew, who then gathered on all of two decks. On all other decks, inertial dampeners were taken off-line.

This was known and understood. At last, the deadly machine called The Planet-Killer came into view, and the crew were all happy that it was not the device's mortal enemy, King Ghidorah. Now, the ship pulled its last trick, and altered its  density by reversing the design of the old Romulan Cloaks, and forcing themselves into frame with current time, despite not being in warp. If they lived, each would lose 30 years from their lives as their metabolisms ruptured. But this would not ever be their concern.

The Hood situated itself past one of the device's great spiral spikes, and moved in. The target was found. The Doomsday Machine had two sets of sensors. One for finding planets to provide fuel, the other to seek and find Ghidorah. The second set was located well within the immense firing chamber. The first was right along the outer rim of what had been the funnel, prior to the device's evolution. The Hood's beam struck true. The planetary sensors were still a harder target than most enemy dreadnoughts. Their size was a bafflement to most scientists, being no bigger than a console's button.

This was known and understood. The phaser crew died. The phaser banks slagged as the intense beam kept on firing, and those aboard The Hood who did not suffocate boiled within their own skins from background radiation. The time differential aged their corpses into dust.

The Planet-Killer's planetary sensors were destroyed, and it had no back up. Its final act in this system was to obliterate the now-shieldless Hood with another beam before proceeding in Ghidorah's direction---which was towards Earth. It would continue to chew up planets, but only those directly in its path. Its ancient enemy awaited it.

Below the scene of this battle stood the saved world called Memory Alpha. Doctor Romaine called President Kirk, to let him know that the collected knowledge of the Galaxy survived, for now. If that hideous year saw life-kind endure, then so would civilization as they knew it.

On board the Omega-Class USS Enterprise, President James Kirk looked out at the rubble that had been the planet Vulcan before King Ghidorah destroyed it. But he also stared at the response the late Hood had given to his orders to somehow save Memory Alpha from the marauding Planet-Killer. From these words, the great man tried to take heart.

"Orders Accepted. We Know And Understand Our Duty."

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"Out Of The Cold And Foggy Night Steamed The British Ship The Hood; And Every British Seaman, He Knew And Understood; We Gotta Sink The Bismarck, The Terror Of The Seas, With Guns The Size Of Steers And With Shells As Big As Trees;"

From : 'Sink The Bismarck' by Johnny Horton, available at  http://www.lyricsworld.com