“Dreadnought” is episode seventeen of season two of Star Trek: Voyager.
The pregnant Ensign Wildman is in sickbay, having her baby examined. She’s been thinking of naming the baby after her husband; it’s a tradition in his family. The Doctor says that choosing names is no easy matter. He’s looked at all sorts of names from over 500 worlds and still hasn’t come up with one. The husband’s name is less than catchy, so Wildman considers something else. She mentions a few names and the Doctor, thanks to his extensive research, can find problems with them all. So Kes suggests a name; her father’s. The captain then requests all science officers to report to their stations and the ensign leaves. Afterwards, the Doctor seems a little upset that Kes didn’t suggest her father’s name to him. She thought he was only looking at human names.
Voyager has encountered debris of something not much bigger than a shuttle. The lack of organic matter suggests it was a probe. Chakotay hasn’t seen many weapons that could do that sort of damage to a hull. Part is beamed into engineering for analysis. Captain Janeway arrives there and asks B’Elanna and Chakotay if they’ve discovered anything. Yes. The weapons fire is Cardassian. No, Seska isn’t responsible. B’Elanna is.
B’Elanna is briefing the senior staff that the probe was destroyed by an experimental Cardassian weapon from the Alpha Quadrant when Tom arrives late and scruffy. B’Elanna and Chakotay got their hands on it. It probably arrived in the Delta Quadrant the same way they did. The Cardassians built the weapons, which the Maquis called ‘Dreadnought’, to destroy a Maquis based. A self-guided tactical missile with enough explosives to destroy a small moon, adaptable software and defensive weapons. The probe was unstoppable, and the Maquis failed to stop it. However, the Cardassians built a powerful, cutting edge weapon – with an ancient detonator. It failed to go off. B’Elanna got on board and reprogrammed the computer to attack a Cardassian target. She can find it again and get back inside to stop it.
In engineering, B’Elanna and Tom are working on the matter and she is being very quiet, feeling guilty over the whole thing. Because she reprogrammed the weapon without Chakotay’s permission. Which hurt him. If anything happens, it’s her fault. Tom reassures her that it isn’t. B’Elanna wants to know what’s going on with Tom – he got dressed down by Chakotay after the meeting for his tardiness and appearance. People are starting to talk. Not Chakotay; people like her. Tom admits that something’s wrong, but not what.
The missile is detected and B’Elanna tells Harry how to get through its deceptions. Unfortunately, it has locked onto a final target. A planet. One that’s populated. The missile will be there in three weeks. Meanwhile, Jonas, who reached out to the Nistron in “Alliances”, contacts them again about the weapon. Captain Janeway contacts the First Minister of the planet the missile is going to attack. He assumes she is making a threat; she is not. They want to help. The First Minister finds it hard to believe; Voyager‘s reputation precedes them. They have threatened many races in the quadrant since their arrival. The captain says that is spread by the Kazon to prevent them from making allies. They are preparing to disarm the missile.
B’Elanna beams across to the weapon, to be greeted by herself – she changed the computer’s voice. The missile things it is attacking the target B’Elanna programmed in. It doesn’t believe it’s possible for it to be in the Delta Quadrant. B’Elanna convinces the missile to reinitialise its navigational systems, and it admits that it is in the Delta Quadrant and removes target lock. B’Elanna shuts the missile down.
On Voyager, B’Elanna, Chakotay and Janeway are discussing stripping the missile for parts when Tom contacts them and says the missile has set off again. Faster. It will reach its target in 51 hours. This time, B’Elanna can’t get through the shields. Janeway suggests disabling the drive. The missile was programmed with knowledge of weapons, including those of Starfleet. Voyager wasn’t built back then, though. However, they are unable to get through the shields.
The missile hails them and warns them off. It decided that B’Elanna was in on the Delta Quadrant deception, and that Voyager is acting under accord with the Cardassian-Federation Alliance. It still does not believe it is in the Delta Quadrant, and feels B’Elanna was being coerced.
So, they have an almost impossible to stop weapon, one that insists that it is in the Alpha Quadrant and explains away any attempt to prove otherwise as deception or coercion. That is not good. Voyager is unable to shoot the missile down and, when B’Elanna finally gets back on board, the missile won’t let her tamper with it.