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SUMMARY: Torres must disarm a sophisticated missile before it destroys a planet's population, a missile that she herself programmed.
In Sickbay, pregnant Ensign Samantha Wildman has a medical check-up. She airs some proposed names for the baby.
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| Wildman discusses baby names |
The Voyager crew are shocked to discover that a sophisticated Alpha Quadrant missile, nicknamed Dreadnought, has been brought to the Delta Quadrant (by the Caretaker's coherent tetryon beam which had also brought Voyager and Chakotay's Maquis ship). During a briefing that the increasingly troublesome Paris is late to, and he turns up dishevelled, Chakotay and Torres explain that the missile is a Cardassian one, launched against a Maquis target, but which the Maquis captured and Torres reprogrammed against a Cardassian fuel depot on Aschelan V. But the weapon of mass destruction went astray and was lost in the Badlands. Now Voyager's scanners indicate that Dreadnought is inexplicably heading straight for a heavily populated planet, named Rakosa V, in the Delta Quadrant.
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| above 4 pictures: Dreadnought is detected and its history and powerful weaponry described at a staff meeting |
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| Paris turns up late for the staff meeting and is afterwards told off by Chakotay |
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Jonas, the traitor in Voyager's crew, secretly informs the Kazon about this superweapon. |
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Janeway warns Kellan, a leader of Rakosa, about the approaching missile. |
Torres beams onto Dreadnought, where she manages to convince the device's sophisticated computer system (which she reprogrammed to have her voice) to stand down from its attack plans by informing the machine that it is not headed for its intended target and is in fact in the Delta Quadrant.
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| Torres on Dreadnought. When she arrives it scans her to check her ID. |
After she beams back to the ship, Torres learns that Dreadnought has resumed its deadly course for Rakosa. When Torres interrogates Dreadnought, it says that it does not believe it is in the Delta Quadrant but still in the Alpha Quadrant. It believes Rakosa V is Aschelan V, its intended target. It did not obey Torres' instruction to stand down as it believed that Torres had been coerced by the Cardassians into logging false information into its navigational sensor array. The Voyager crew then attempt to disable the missile but Dreadnought retaliates and damages many of Voyager's main systems.
Dreadnought says that it does not believe Torres, that she is being coerced |
Voyager fires on Dreadnought |
With two million lives at stake on Rakosa, Torres manages to beam back on Dreadnought as a Rakosan fleet of fifteen small fighters approaches. Outmatched and under fierce fire from Dreadnought, the Rakosan ships retreat after sustaining losses. Dreadnought refuses to listen to Torres' arguments. Whenever she disables a system, Dreadnought brings backup online. It cuts Torres' communications with Voyager once Torres stops reporting to Janeway what her plans are, and it disengages the transporter lock so that Torres is stranded on Dreadnought. When Torres looks at the datafiles, Dreadnought decides she has changed loyalties and is working for the Cardassians. It cuts life support.
Dreadnought destroys two Rakosan fighters |
Dreadnought foils Torres' attempts to disable key systems |
As the last resort, Janeway orders her crew to get to the escape pods and abandon ship. She, Tuvok, Paris and Kim remain on board, and she activates Voyager's self-destruct system on a time-delay setting. Her plan is to deliberately ram Voyager into Dreadnought and cause the warhead to detonate in the self-destruct explosion, before it hits Rakosa. Kellan is impressed by her willingness to sacrifice herself for a people she does not know, and says that he does not believe the rumours that the Kazon, Voyager's enemies, have been spreading about Voyager being "a ship of death".
Janeway talks to Kellan |
Janeway orders the crew to abandon ship and she sets the self-destruct system |
the two conflicting programs |
Meanwhile, on Dreadnought, Torres manages to initiate an old Cardassian program lying dormant in its systems. That program and the Maquis one she had programmed immediately begin to "quarrel" about the missile's target, distracting it long enough for her to reach Dreadnought's warhead casing. As she works to breach the containment field, Dreadnought tries to bargain with and then blackmail her as it realises her intent. |
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| Torres accesses the warhead's casing and fires a phaser at it trying to breach the containment field |
Back on Voyager, Kim reports that he has cut through the interference and re-established a communications link with Torres and has also re-established a transporter lock. With 7 minutes to go before Voyager self-destructs, Janeway orders Paris and Kim to their escape pods but Tuvok insists on staying, out of friendship though his argument is one of logic - in case she is incapacitated and unable to carry out the plan. Meanwhile, Torres manages to remain conscious long enough to breach the containment field and detonate the warhead. When Voyager's sensors convey Torres' success, Tuvok beams Torres back to Voyager, and Janeway veers the starship away, just as Dreadnought explodes harmlessly well away from Rakosa. Janeway then cancels the self-destruct sequence and Voyager's escape pods are retrieved.
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| Janeway steers Voyager into a collision course with Dreadnought |
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| Torres manages to breach the containment field, she is beamed off Dreadnought, Voyager abandons the collision course, and Dreadnought explodes harmlessly before it reaches Rakosa |
 | | DREADNOUGHT: The probability of being in the Delta Quadrant, 75,000 light-years from last confirmed location is negligible. The target is located in the Alpha Quadrant. Target lock has been established. There will be no further warnings. Terminating communications link. |
| | KELLAN TO JANEWAY: Your repuation in this Quadrant isn't deserved, Captain. For what it's worth, you've made a friend here. |
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