DRAGON'S TEETH
Episode 127
Part A

 

The Vaadwaur home planet is being bombarded by plasma bombs. Destruction rains down.

Deep underground one city, a woman frantically tries to find her husband. She calls desperately: "Gedrin! Gedrin!"

He eventually emerges from a chamber's door. Jisa: "What happened? I lost you." Gedrin: "Thirty seven bio-pods were damaged. I had to disconnect them from the reactor." Jisa: "Were they dead?"

He leads her away into the control chamber. Gedrin: "I had no choice." He checks the computer console. "The main power's holding. The rest of the bio-pods are secure. That leaves us."

Warily Jisa approaches her stasis chamber, which is located next to another empty one - his.

Gedrin: "Don't look so worried. It'll be like a simple night's sleep."

Gingerly she gets in and lies down. The cavern shakes as plasma bombs rain down above. "We're out of time."

Jisa: "Do you think we'll dream?" Gedrin: "I don't know. We'll get through this."

Jisa: "What if there's nothing left?" Gedrin: "We'll start again. Five years." He closes the bio-pod and initiates the stasis.

Janeway enters the Bridge from the corridor entrance: "Report." Kim: "We've entered some kind of a subspace corridor." Paris: "We were cruising at warp six then, wham, this thing pulled at our warp field like a magnet." Janeway: "Where did that debris come from?"

Tuvok: "Unknown, but the corridor is filled with it - metal fragments, plasma exhaust, organic residue." Seven: "Some of the debris is over eight hundred years old, Captain."

Janeway: "I'd like to avoid becoming part of this garbage stream. Can you find a way out?"

Paris: "I dunno. There's hundreds of corridors. It's like a maze." Janeway: "Well, be a good rat and find us the cheese, hmm?" Paris: "I'll do my best, Captain."

Chakotay: "Tuvok?"

Tuvok: "It was a vessel, sir. They are hailing us." The vessel they past follows them.

Janeway: "Put it through." Turei commander, on viewscreen: "Who are you?" Janeway: "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager. And you are?" Turei commander, on viewscreen: "This under-space belongs to us." Janeway: "We're here by accident. We're trying to find a way out. Can you help us?" Turei commander, on viewscreen: "Help you? Yes, we'll help you."

Tuvok: "They are targetting our shields with a resonance pulse. It's altering the harmonics. We're being pushed out of the corridor."

Paris: "We're clear." They see ordinary space on the main viewscreen. Tuvok: "The vessel has exited the corridor as well." Paris: "Captain, we're over two hundred light years from where we entered the corridor." Kim: "Two hundred light years in five minutes?"

Janeway: "Hail them." The Turei commander appears on the main viewscreen again. "Thank you for your help. There's something I'd like to ask you. We've got a long journey ahead of us and I was wondering if we could negotiate passage through this under-space of yours."

Turei commander, on viewscreen: "Lower your shields. Prepare to be boarded."

Chakotay: "Boarded? For what reason?"

Turei commander, on viewscreen: "We must purge your computer, remove all readings you've gathered in our territory."
Janeway: "We pose no threat to you. We're simply trying-"
Turei commander, on viewscreen, forcefully: "We're going to destroy that information, one way or another. Lower your shields."
Janeway: "I won't do that." Contact ends. The Turei open fire. The ship jolts. "Evasive maneuvers. Try to disable them."

Tuvok: "Their vessel is highly maneuverable. It's difficult to get a phaser lock." Kim: "Picking up two more ships heading our way." Voyager jolts as another Turei volley hits it. Paris: "Direct hit. Our warp drive is offline." Tuvok: "Shields down to 82 per cent......60 per cent." Paris: "They're closing."

Chakotay: "We could use some clever suggestions about now." Seven: "There's a planet 8 million kilometres ahead, uninhabited but the atmosphere is charged with radiogenic particles." Chakotay: "How radiogenic?" Seven: "3,000 isorems." Chakotay looks at Janeway: "If we route enough power to the shields, we can survive in that, but maybe our friends can't." Tuvok: "Shields at 53 per cent." Janeway: "Do it."

Voyager speeds toward the planet, hotly pursued by three Turei ships which continue firing.

Paris: "Entering the thermosphere." Kim: "Radiation levels at 3,000 isorems and climbing." Chakotay: "The alien ships?" Tuvok: "In pursuit and charging weapons." Janeway: "Increase our descent vector." Paris: "They're still closing."

Voyager is jolted by Turei weapons fire. Tuvok: "Direct hit to our aft shields." Janeway: "Find the highest concentration of radiation, and take us through it." Kim: "Proximity radiation at 4,000 isorems.....5,000....6,000."

Tuvok: "Their shields are weakening. They're breaking off." Janeway: "Now, all we need is a place to set down and make repairs. Tom?" Paris: "We're clearing the lower stratosphere." Janeway: "On screen." They see city ruins.

Chakotay: "I thought you said this planet was uninhabited." Kim: "Radiation must have interfered with my scans."

Paris: "I doubt it's inhabited any more. Looks like this planet's in the middle of a nuclear winter."

Tuvok: "Agreed. Gamma radiation levels are highly toxic. The impact crater suggests an orbital bombardment."
Janeway: "How long ago?"
Kim: "From the rate of radiogenic decay, 892 years."
Janeway: "This must have been a city of millions. Set us down."

Voyager comes in to land.

Voyager about to land.

Voyager lands. Paris: "Disengaging engines." Janeway: "Stand down red alert."

Janeway to Chakotay: "Assign damage repair teams." To Paris: "And, Tom, make sure B'Elanna has enough help in Engineering. I want those warp engines back online." Paris: "Yes, ma'am."

Tuvok: "Our friends are still in orbit." Chakotay: "Circling like vultures." Janeway: "Well, they're going to go hungry." Chakotay: "Not if they find a way to adapt their shields and come down after us."

Kim: "Captain, I'm detecting faint lifesigns coming from a chamber several hundred metres beneath the surface." Janeway: "Survivors?" Chakotay: "After nine hundred years?" Janeway: "Oversee the repair teams." Chakotay: "You're going down there."

Janeway: "If somebody survived this catastrophe they might need our help. Get a good fix on those co-ordinates. I don't want to beam into solid rock. Seven, Tuvok, you're with me." The three enter the turbolift. Lieutenant Ayala takes over at the security/tactical station.