Veteran Navy pilot Alex Kamal attempts an emergency core dump in The Expanse season 5, episode 5. “Down and Out” opens with a confrontation between Oksana and Drummer in the aftermath of the attack on Earth, and Marco Inaros’ offer to Drummer regarding her faction’s future and involvement with the Belt.
Meanwhile, Alex and Bobbie watch news coverage of Marco’s coordinated attack on Earth, Mars, and Tycho Station on the Razorback, after which pertinent events unfold. While Alex wishes to contact Holden regarding these developments, Bobbie convinces him to keep pursuing the Barkeith, which changes course midway towards a remote location in the Asteroid Belt. Realizing it to be a rendezvous point, Alex is cautious about this change, but is ultimately persuaded by Bobbie to change course while staying as veiled as possible.
The duo soon lose sight of the Martian ships and are driven closer to the risk of being spotted, while they begin collecting profiles on a Belter ship and two Martian destroyer ships spotted alongside the Barkeith. This is when they come to the realization that the frigates are the contraband they had been tracking all along, and the Martian Congressional Republic Navy is selling warships to Marco Inaros and the Free Navy. After making this dangerous discovery, the Razorback is spotted, which forces them to activate the Epstein drive while a missile is fired directly at them. This is when Alex manages to hit the missile with an emergency core dump, which allows them to escape and evade the attack - but their craft is left spiraling uncontrollably in space.
Alex’s actions are a last-ditch effort to evade death and destruction, as core dumping is the process of removing the fusion reaction from a ship’s Epstein Drive. Fusion reactions create high-energy plasma, which is essentially fuel for generating drive thrust, which facilitates ship propulsion in the first place. As this process is heavily dependent on the smooth functioning of the magnetic fields, it is safer to completely eject the fusion reaction in case of a magnetic field failure or heavy vehicle damage. Hence, core dumps are only performed in extreme scenarios, when a ship is about to explode or be destroyed. With a missile heading straight towards the Razorback, Alex had no choice but to eject the fusion reaction, which collides with the missile in the question, allowing them to escape.
Aside from this, Alex and Bobbie were in intense physical pain after they were forced to activate the Epstein drive, which put immense strain on their bodies. In the best-case scenario, the ship’s drive can be fixed as soon as the magnetic fields are fixed, until which the duo would have to rely on thrusters until the core is restored. Episode 6 of The Expanse reveals how Alex and Bobbie manage to blow up the Belter skiff that was trading warships with the Martians, after which they speed away.