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SUMMARY:
Seven is continuing on her long arduous journey to become human. According to her personal log entry, her plans for the day include the following: conduct a comprehensive diagnostic of the aft sensor array with Kim (she allows extra time for his conversation), engage in one hour of cardiovascular activity, and review 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens as recommended by the Doctor for its educational value.
 When a strange reading appears on Voyager's scans, Janeway begins giving orders without explanation - Torres is ordered to install multiphasic shielding around the warp core, Paris is ordered to modify a shuttlecraft to withstand extreme thermal stress of at least 12,000 Kelvins, and Janeway orders the Doctor to prepare 20 milligrammes of arithrazine, a pharmaceutical which is used for the most severe cases of theta-radiation poisoning (and even though the Doctor protests that it goes against Starfleet medical protocols to provide that much arithrazine).
The crew are mystified by Janeway's behaviour. They do not realise that Voyager's sensors have detected the Omega molecule and that she is actually carrying out a highly classified mission called the Omega Directive. This Directive orders her to take whatever action is necessary to destroy the Omega molecule. What Starfleet designates the Omega molecule is the most powerful substance known to exist. A single Omega molecule contains the same energy as a warp core. In theory, a small chain of Omega could sustain a civilisation. Federation cosmologists theorised that the molecule once existed in nature, for an infinitesimal period of time, at the exact moment of the Big Bang, and some claimed Omega was the primal source of energy for the explosion that began the universe. The molecule was first synthesised over a hundred years ago (calculating from the 24th century), by a Starfleet physicist named Ketteract who was hoping to develop either an inexhaustible power source or a weapon. Ketteract managed to synthesise a single molecule particle of Omega, but it existed for only a fraction of a second before it destabilized and destroyed a classified research centre in the Lantaru Sector. Ketteract and 126 of the Federation's leading scientists were lost in the accident. Rescue teams attempting to reach the site discovered an unexpected secondary effect - subspace ruptures extending out several light years, made it impossible to create a stable warp field in the Lantaru Sector, and ships can travel through it only at sublight. The general public believed this to be a natural phenomenon, as the truth was kept hidden. Omega destroys the fabric of subspace. A chain reaction involving a handful of molecules could devastate subspace throughout an entire quadrant and make warp travel impossible. When Starfleet realised Omega's power, they suppressed all knowledge of it. The Omega Directive is so vital that it overrides even the Prime Directive.
The Omega Directive also commands that Janeway discuss the mission with no one, and she obeys even though she is thousands of light years from Starfleet - only starship captains and Federation flag officers have been briefed on the nature of this threat. However, Seven of Nine is the only other person the Captain can take into her confidence, since the Borg had previously assimilated knowledge of the Omega molecule and Janeway would not be telling Seven anything the former drone did not already know.
Janeway's orders as a Starfleet captain are to destroy Omega. But Seven believes its power should be harnessed because, to the Borg, it represents perfection because the molecules exist in a flawless state as infinite parts functioning as one. The Borg themselves have incurred huge losses (600,000 drones) in studying Omega (they designate it Particle 010) and have only managed to create a single Omega molecule which they kept stable for one-trillionth of a nano-second before it destabilised. Every drone is aware of Omega's existence and is instructed to assimilate it at all costs. Seven agrees to help Janeway carry out the Directive if only for the opportunity to study the molecule.
Janeway briefs the senior staff; on the monitor screen is a schematic of an Omega molecule |
Chakotay surmises from her earlier orders that Janeway is bent on a suicide mission of some kind. He convinces her that she needs the help and full resources of her crew with this mysterious and dangerous plan. |
the senior staff are briefed by Janeway about Omega |
She therefore, in contravention of part of the Omega Directive, briefs the senior staff. A new plan is devised to deal with the Omega threat, and accordingly Voyager sets a course for the Omega molecules, with the crew now aware that their lives and the very existence of the quadrant are in danger. |
the resonance chamber |
Aided by several crewmembers, whom she organises into a small working collective, Seven begins working on a harmonic resonance chamber based on Borg design, which should stabilise the Omega molecule. The chamber will emit an inverse frequency to dissolve Omega's interatomic bonds. |
Meanwhile, Janeway leads a rescue mission to the moon where alien researchers were working to create the molecule when an explosion destroyed the base. Before being beamed to Sickbay, the senior researcher tells Janeway the Omega molecules survived in the primary test chamber. When Seven questions him later, he pleads with her not to destroy Omega. He says that the discovery of this phenomenon is the lifeblood of his people.
Janeway and Tuvok, about to open the test chamber |
Once she breaks into the test chamber, Janeway finds enough Omega, at 200 million particles, to wipe out half of the Delta Quadrant. To destroy it with Seven's harmonic resonance technology, the molecules must be transported to Voyager. |
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| Janeway and Tuvok open the test chamber |
Yearning to understand Omega's perfection, Seven no longer believes it should be destroyed. After the molecules are safely beamed into containment on Voyager, ship and crew leave but with several of the alien ships in pursuit.
Seven peers into the chamber |
Janeway prepares to jettison the chamber containing the molecules into space and destroy it with a torpedo. Seven manages to neutralise almost half of the molecules within the harmonic resonance chamber. |
Just before the chamber is launched into space, she witnesses them stabilise spontaneously, thereby glimpsing perfection.
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| the Omega molecule stabilises |
Once the chamber is jettisoned, the torpedo is fired and Omega destroyed, Voyager escapes at maximum warp. Janeway has successfully carried out the Omega Directive, by using a combination of both the proposed solutions - the harmonic resonance chamber and a torpedo. Later Janeway discovers Seven on the holodeck, unusually in the Da Vinci workshop holoprogram. There Janeway realises that with the Omega molecule Seven has had her first spiritual experience, another milestone on her journey toward regaining her humanity.
 | | SEVEN: For 3.2 seconds, I saw perfection. When Omega stabilised, I felt a curious sensation. As I was watching it, it seemed to be watching me. The Borg have assimilated many species with mythologies to explain such moments of clarity. I've always dismissed them as trivial. Perhaps I was wrong. |
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