Disclaimer: See previous log entries.
By Mindy
With Tuvok back to normal, (however you define 'normal' in relation to Vulcan's), Suder confined and Paris' betting pool taken care of, things were again normal. That is until we hit a debris field.
Paris made comment that whatever it was, there wasn't much of it left. No organic materials so at least it wasn't manned. Harry said it was made of Duratanium Polyalloy.
"Duratanium?" Kathryn questioned.
"I haven't seen many weapons that could do that kind of damage to a Duratanium hull." I said. Very strange. One of the strongest alloys known to us floated in rubble.
"Transport some samples of the debris to engineering for analysis." Kathryn ordered of Harry.
"Continuous scans, Lieutenant. We don't wasn't whoever did this to catch us by surprise." I ordered Tuvok.
I went down to engineering to give B'Elanna a hand with the analysis. B'Elanna and I found something we didn't expect to find. The one thing that hadn't fully occurred to us. Kathryn came down to check on our progress.
"Any conclusions?" She asked, her stride indicating all business.
"Afraid so. " I said.
"We've identified the signature left by the weapons fire." B'Elanna said. "There is no question. It was Cardassian."
"Cardassian? Could Seska be responsible?" Kathryn asked.
I looked at B'Elanna, she looked at me. No bluffing, no lying. Believe me, I knew how tough this was for her.
"No, Captain. I am." B'Elanna stated plainly and firmly.
To her credit, Kathryn's face didn't betray what she was feeling. Not even her eyes, which were usually dead giveaways to her emotions. The story had to come out. I know we both had hoped that it was destroyed in the badlands. Apparently, a Maquis trick was about to come back and haunt us.
Dreadnought.
Kathryn called a briefing.
**
". . .by an experimental Cardassian weapon from the Alpha Quadrant." B'Elanna was saying, when Paris interrupted, late and looking very disheveled.
"Sorry." Was all he said as he took his seat. I halfway expected Kathryn to say something, but she didn't. B'Elanna continued. I'd deal with Paris later.
"I recognized it's signature because--because I know this weapon very well. Chakotay and I got our hands on it when we were fighting the Cardassians."
"How did it get here?" Harry asked.
"Probably the same way we did." I put in.
"The last time we saw it, it was heading in the same direction in the badlands where the Caretaker picked us up."
"Originally, the Cardassians sent this thing to destroy a Maquis munitions base; we nicknamed it 'Dreadnought'. It's a self guided, tactical missile, carrying a charge of 1000 kilos of matter and another 1000 of anti-matter."
"Enough to destroy a small moon." Tuvok said.
"Now add to that, one of the most sophisticated computer systems I've ever seen. They made this missile adaptable, evasive, armed with it's own defensive weaponry. In other words, unstoppable."
"So, how did you stop it?" Neelix asked.
"We didn't. It got through all our defenses. Worked like it was supposed to except for one minor detail; it didn't go off." I said.
"Leave it to the Cardassians to build such an incredibly advanced tactical weapon then arm the warhead with an old kinetic detonator."
"The missile skipped off the atmosphere and quietly went into orbit."
"I got inside it and --reprogrammed the computer. Hell, I didn't just reprogram it, I gave it a new identity. I made it *forget* about being Cardassian. Now, it was working for the Maquis."
"And we gave it a new mission," I said. "To destroy the Cardassian fuel depot on Ashelon V. But it never made it out of the Badlands. We thought it had been destroyed in one of the plasma storms."
"So how do we stop this weapon?" Kathryn asked. "Before it causes anymore damage."
"Dreadnought masks it's warp trail with a randomized EM field. But I can modify our navigational sensors to cut through that." B'Elanna told her.
"And what are we going to do with it once we find it?" Paris asked.
"I get back inside it. I know all the security codes; I installed it myself." B'Elanna said.
"Lieutenant Paris can assist you with the Navigational sensors. Keep me informed. Dismissed." Kathryn said, rising from her chair. As we departed, I stopped Paris. His tardiness needed to be addressed. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kathryn stop to see what was going on.
"Lieutenant, I expect everyone to show up for meetings on time and properly dressed."
It was on the tip of his tongue to say something sarcastic, knowing Paris. But he managed to control himself. "Yes, Sir." The he turned and left.
I followed him out, not at all pleased with his current attitude problem. And Kathryn saw the whole conversation.
**
As I went back to the bridge, I realized I had involved myself in the Dreadnought incident a lot more then in reality. I hadn't approved of what B'Elanna had done. It was early in our relationship in the Maquis, but I thought we had had an understanding
.Somewhere, deep inside, I knew she was feeling guilty.
Dreadnought was a recurring nightmare for the both of us.
**
After the modifications had been made to the navigational sensors, we all reconvened on the bridge. B'Elanna had done one hell of a job of programming Dreadnought. It would change course if it felt it was being followed. It would produce echoes of itself to throw us off track with it. We eventually tracked its new location.
"On screen." I said, rising from my command chair.
As B'Elanna read the read out on Dreadnought, she discovered something. "The targeting scanners have activated." Double damn.
I turned to Kathryn. She looked at me and asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's not suppose to do that until it's locked onto its final target." I said, going over to join B'Elanna.
Dreadnought was heading for a planet 10 light years away. A Class-M, which Dreadnought would reach within three weeks. A planet with many heavily populated areas.
Something that didn't sit very well with Kathryn.
**
Honor being the better part of Valor, Kathryn contacted the planet Dreadnought was targeting. They had been observing our course for the past couple of days. They'd also picked up Dreadnought on a parallel course to ours.
"You have the right to know, First Minister, that this missile is carrying a warhead with a significant destructive force. . ."Kathryn was telling him, when he interrupted.
"Is this some sort of threat, Captain?"
"On the contrary, we want to help." She said.
"I find that hard to believe. Your reputation proceeds you, Captain." As he said that, I watched her back go straighter. "We've been told that you've threatened many races since your arrival in the Quadrant."
"First Minister, we're aware the Kazon have been telling that to people. They'd like to prevent us from making allies. I assure you, you've been mislead." Kathryn went on to explain that the missile had come to this Quadrant in a very unusual accident, that we didn't know why it had chosen his planet to target. She tried to reassure the First Minister that B'Elanna was going to attempt to disarm it before it could carry out its mission.
He was going to monitor our progress and raise defensive means. It was obvious that he didn't quite trust us. Kathryn told him that we could have maintained communications silence and not told them at all. Perhaps he would think about that.
Dreadnought had responded to B'Elanna's codes and she was ready to beam over. Kathryn told her to proceed. I wouldn't be lying by saying that I had my fingers crossed.
**
When B'Elanna had returned, Kathryn and I met with her in the ready room. We were discussing how we could use parts of Dreadnought for our own needs.
"The Dreadnought's quantum torpedoes could be modified to be compatible with our launchers." I said.
"What about it's engines components?" Kathryn asked.
"Easily converted to Star Fleet specs. We'll have spare parts for years." B'Elanna told her.v
"We should also download some files from the computer core." I added.
"B'Elanna, you can begin the salvage operation, first thing in the. . ." Kathryn began.
"Paris to Janeway."
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"The missile just took off. It's going into warp."
"Stay with it, Tom." She ordered and was out of that seat.
B'Elanna was upset. The missile had been completely shut down when she left it. It was back on a heading toward Ricosa V, and gaining speed.
"At this rate, it will reach the planet in 51 hours." Kathryn and I looked at each other. Unless we stopped Dreadnought, we were going to have one hellashish body count.
It was going to warp nine. Kathryn ordered Paris to get within 10 kilometers of it. We were managing to keep parallel with it. B'Elanna was down in the transporter room, trying to beam back over to Dreadnought, but it wasn't recognizing any of her codes. Kathryn told her to get back up here. B'Elanna's voice sounded so defeated, as if she had let everybody down. How was she to know what was going to happen?
Kathryn ordered Tuvok to ready photon torpedoes.
"Torres programmed the missiles shields to adjust to all known weapons; even Star Fleets." I told her.
"Voyager wasn't in service when she did it. We're equipped with type six quantum torpedoes. They may *just* get through." Kathryn replied. 'Okay," I thought, 'You're the captain.'
We fired two and did absolutely no damage. Dreadnought had most probably scanned us and adjusted it's shields. It was maintaining course and speed. What was eerie was when it hailed us. With B'Elanna's voice. It told us to stand down our weapons.
"You stand down your weapons and I'll stand down mine." Kathryn told it. For some reason, I didn't think that Kathryn had the reputation that Kirk did; for talking a computer into submission.
Obviously, something was seriously wrong with Dreadnought. It believed that we were deceiving it.
"When a bomb starts talking about itself in the third person, I get worried." Paris said. Leave it to Paris to come up with something like that.
Dreadnought was lying all of its trump cards on the table. It was determined that we were working for the Cardassians. The thing even *admitted* lying to B'Elanna. This was unbelievable. Sentient robots, now sentient missiles.
As Dreadnought terminated communication (still hell bent convinced it was in the Alpha Quadrant). Kathryn circled around B'Elanna like a vulture. Coming to stand beside me, she crossed her arms over her chest in her 'I-don't-want-to-hear-excuses,-just-fix-the-damn-problem' mode.
I felt for B'Elanna. She was obviously embarrassed by the whole affair. Thinking on her feet was one of her best gifts. She thought of a possible answer to our question-- could Dreadnought be stopped?
"The one, possible vulnerability I remember, is in the thoron shock emitter. If we can get it to fire at full power, that should destablize the reactor core for thirty seconds. A single, sustained tachyon beam might just penetrate that core and destroy it." B'Elanna said.
"What would it take to provoke Dreadnought into firing?" Kathryn asked. B'Elanna thought that an all out assault should get Dreadnought to fire the emitter. We fired at it and it did what B'Elanna predicted it would do. We then went after the core with a tachyon beam. All was going as planned, then Dreadnought sent back a plasma surge along our beam, knocking us around quite a bit. It burned out EPS relays all over the ship.
The son of a bitch knocked out our warp drive, impulse engines, even maneuvering thrusters. Dreadnought had received no serious damage and was going merrily on its way, back on course.
We began repairs on the engines. We had to catch that thing before it did more then destroy some star ship engines.
**
The Rikosan attack fleet had arrived just as we got B'Elanna back over there. Fifteen ships that were going to take on Dreadnought with our without one of our crew members on it. Kathryn was about to beam B'Elanna back, but B'Elanna said that if we beamed her out now, she may never get back in. She said the Rikosan fleet was giving Dreadnought the distraction that she needed; she had already managed to disable the security protocols. If she could only get to central processing. Kathryn had us move into weapons range.
The Rikosans lost a few vessels while we attempted to draw more fire. It worked. One hour, nine minutes until Dreadnought reached its destination. Then we lost contact with B'Elanna in the middle of our communication. Transporter lock was also a lost cause.
Days like these make me wish I had stayed in bed and slept late.
**
Kathryn retreated back to her ready room. Ten to one, she was talking to the First Minister again. And probably thinking about what to do about our friendly missile. I sure wasn't ready for her solution. She came out that ready room, grim and business like.
"Gentlemen, I believe our best chance of stopping Dreadnought now, is to set off a large anti matter explosion directly in its path."
"To work, it would take more energy then all our photons put together." I said.
"Or more to the point, a warp core breach." Tuvok added. I didn't like where this conversation was headed. I looked over at him, then back to Kathryn.
No!
"You'll be in charge of the evacuation, Commander." She told me.
"I'm not leaving you on this ship." I told her, hoping that wasn't revealing more then I wanted it too.
"Captain's perogitive. Get the rest of the crew to the escape pods. I'll send the senior officers to join you in a few minutes." As she turned away, I grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. "We don't have time to debate this, Chakotay." She emphasized.
"Everyone except senior officers with me." I said, turning toward the turbo lift. Before the door shut, I heard her engage the auto destruct sequence. I was hoping to hell that she would get out of there before it went off. Something deep inside told me I should have pressed to stay with her. But she was flawless. If she failed, she died, she knew I would take care of her crew.
The First Officer understood.
The man didn't.
Plain and simple.
**
From afar, I watched Voyager veer off as Dreadnought exploded. The ship was safe. My gut told me B'Elanna and Kathryn were both just fine.
As the escape pods were brought back aboard, I was glad I didn't have to say good bye.
Because that's the one thing all the training in world can prepare you for.
Besides, I want good bye to be a long time from now.
**End Log**