The Reliant manages to destroy the port torpedo launcher of the Enterprise, which then returns fire and damages the Reliant's bridge, causing an explosion that kills several of the ship's bridge crew including Joachim, whom Khan vows to avenge.
Kirk is nevertheless able to ambush the Reliant because of his superior starship combat experience.
When Spock suggests that Khan is inexperienced, Kirk orders the Enterprise to drop below Reliant. Reliant glides past above Enterprise.
A shaken, but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge and offers his assistance. Kirk asks him to go to the weapons station.
Khan, thinking on a 2-dimensional scale, isn't prepared for Enterprise to descend before he passes overhead and then ascend directly behind him.
Reliant is hit with several phaser blasts, and a torpedo breaks off its port nacelle.
Reliant is crippled and drifts away, trailing plasma.
Most of Khan's crew is killed in the process, and Khan himself is left crippled and barely alive.
In a final attempt to kill Kirk, Khan activates the Genesis Device, knowing that the blast wave from it will destroy the Enterprise and its crew.
The Enterprise's warp drive is off-line from the earlier battle, and she cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger.
Spock exits the bridge and decides to sacrifice his life by entering the radiation-filled engine room and fixing the broken warp drive, while Kirk orders a withdrawal at "best possible speed."
On Reliant's bridge, Khan, believing the Enterprise cannot escape the blast, quotes Moby Dick: "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."
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