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DREADNOUGHT : Episode 33

DREADNOUGHT : Page 1


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This article concentrates on the interior of Dreadnought.

 

 

 

In 2372, on stardate 49447, USS Voyager finds and analyses debris from a small unmanned space vehicle, possibly a probe, destroyed by Dreadnought. Dreadnought is an experimental Cardassian self-guided tactical missile which was originally designed to wipe out Maquis targets within the Badlands in the Alpha Quadrant.

Chakotay: "Originally the Cardassians sent this thing to destroy a Maquis munitions base [designation: planetoid Alpha 441]. We nicknamed it Dreadnought. It's a self-guided tactical missile, carrying a charge of a 1,000 kilos of matter and another 1,000 of anti-matter."
Tuvok: "Enough to destroy a small moon."
Torres: "Now add to that one of the most sophisticated computer systems I've ever seen. They made this missile adaptable, evasive, armed with its own defensive weaponry. ... Leave it to the Cardassians to build such an incredibly advanced tactical weapon and then arm the warhead with an old kinetic detonator."
Chakotay: "The missile skipped off into the atmosphere and quietly went into orbit."
Torres: "I got inside it and reprogrammed the computer. Hell, I didn't just reprogram it, I changed its identity. I made it forget about being Cardassian. Now it was working for the Maquis."
Chakotay: "And with a new mission: to destroy the Cardassian fuel depot on Aschelan V, but it never made it out of the Badlands. We thought it had been destroyed in one of the plasma storms."
Subsequent examination reveals that Dreadnought has incorrectly targetted the Delta Quadrant planet Rakosa V, believing it to be Aschelan V. Rakosa V is a populated planet, with projected estimates of 2 million casualties should Dreadnought detonate on the eastern continent. To try and prevent this horrific catastrophe, Torres uses the security codes she knows in order to transport onto Dreadnought where she manages to persuade it that it has entered the Delta Quadrant and shuts it down.....or so Dreadnought lets her believe. Once she has transported back to Voyager, Dreadnought heads off a high warp toward Rakosa V, rejecting Torres' earlier attempt to shut it down as the result of her being coerced by Cardassians, using the so-called Delta Quadrant Deception. USS Voyager sets off in pursuit. Later, with the help of Kim's expertise, Torres manages to conquer Dreadnought's anti-transportation measures and beams back aboard the missile as it races toward Rakosa V with USS Voyager matching its course and speed. Torres finds that Dreadnought has denied her access to the programmer interface, and it even subjects her to an electric shock when she tries to handle its isolinear computer chips and circuitry. It warns that the intensity of the shock will increase if she makes further attempts to access the computer systems. It does not, however, try to kill her as it believes she is being coerced by Cardassians until she gets it to play a hypothetical game and re-assess her claims that they are indeed in the Delta Quadrant. Dreadnought's re-assessment, however, is that Torres has changed loyalties - she is a Cardassian agent, and not under any coercion - and it deactivates life support and urges her to return to her ship. Janeway evacuates Voyager and prepares to self-destruct the ship in Dreadnought's path, but Torres manages to partially resurrect an original Cardassian back-up file and it attempts to recapture control from the Maquis-altered aspects of the Dreadnought program. Its efforts are rendered ineffective by Dreadnought's counter-virus program which neutralises the Cardassian file, but the diversion created gives Torres enough time to access and crawl into Dreadnought's core. Lying in the narrow crawlway and swiftly running out of air due to the deactivation of life support, she fires concentrated bursts of phaser fire at the warp core casing, eventually breaching the containment field. She is beamed back to Voyager just as the casing is breached, and Voyager veers away from the huge explosion that is Dreadnought's destruction. Rakosa V is saved at the last moment.

 

3D cutaway drawing of the interior of Dreadnought
Red alert: The picture below is 152Kb.
3D cutaway, over 100Kb

 
a Personnel transporting over to Dreadnought are immediately subjected to a DNA scan in the recessed section of the control room, or transporter pad, to confirm their identity. Security measures are then undertaken by Dreadnought against persons with unauthorised access.
 
b A circular control panel is loated on one entire wall of the interior. It features a multitude of controls displayed in traditional Cardassian font and style.
 
c A light-coloured ribbed alloy covers the floor of Dreadnought's interior.
 
d Access ports are featured in the lower section of the illuminated coloums. The access ports provide access to Dreadnought's computer chips.
 
e A work console attached to this illuminated column allows Torres to access the programmer interface.
 
f Control consoles located on the wall of the control room allow access to Dreadnought's targetting parameters via voice-activated commands given by authorised personnel.