Dreadnought ( episode ) " Voyager " encounters " Dreadnought " , a Cardassian missile that B ' Elanna Torres reprogrammed during her time in the Maquis . Even though lost in the Delta Quadrant , the missile still believes it is on a Maquis mission in the Alpha Quadrant , setting an intercept course with an inhabited world . Summary . Teaser . The Doctor and Kes are conducting a prenatal exam on Ensign Samantha Wildman and are discussing possible names for Samantha ' s baby , the difficulty of which The Doctor can sympathise ; he has reviewed databases from over five hundred worlds but has yet to find anything suitable for his own name . Samantha has been considering naming the child after her husband , Greskrendtregk , because it is a tradition in his family but she would prefer something simpler . She suggests , Frederick and Sural , but The Doctor discounts each possibility . Cameron is from the ancient Celtic for " one whose nose is bent , " Frederick bears a resemblance to an impolite term on the Bolian homeworld and Sural was the name of a brutal dictator on Sakura Prime . Kes suggests Benaren , her father ' s name , and both The Doctor and Wildman like the name . However , The Doctor is hurt that Kes never suggested the name for him . Meanwhile on the bridge , the crew is investigating a debris field and are concerned because it would take a very powerful weapon to cause so much damage to the duritanium - hulled unmanned probe . Upon investigation , Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant jg B ' Elanna Torres find that a powerful Cardassian weapon caused the destruction . Captain Kathryn Janeway asks if Seska could be involved but Torres reveals that she herself was responsible . Act One . The bridge crew gathers in the briefing room , although Lt . jg Tom Paris arrives late and disheveled , to hear Torres ' explanation . She reveals that the probe was destroyed by an experimental Cardassian missile from the Alpha Quadrant which the Maquis had acquired . They surmise that the must have brought the missile to the Delta Quadrant in the same way as the because the last time they saw the probe it was headed into the same area of the Badlands where " Voyager " was taken . Chakotay explains that the weapon is a self - guided tactical missile armed with 1 , 000 kilogram s each of matter and antimatter , its own defensive weaponry and one of the most sophisticated computer systems that Torres had ever seen . The Maquis nicknamed the missile " Dreadnought " after the famous British battleship of the early 20th century . Neelix asks how the Maquis stopped the missile , to which Chakotay replies that they didn ' t . The " Dreadnought " made it through all of their defenses but despite its tactical sophistication , the Cardassians had armed it with an old kinetic detonator which failed to go off when it reached its target . Torres got inside the missile and reprogrammed it , giving it a new identity and making it work for the Maquis . They then sent it off on a mission to destroy the Cardassian fuel depot on Aschelan V but it never made it out of the Badlands and they assumed it was destroyed in the plasma storms . Torres says she can modify " Voyager " s sensor s to find the " Dreadnought " and then she can get back inside and shut it down . The crew is dismissed but Chakotay confronts Paris about his tardiness and the untidiness of his uniform . While Paris and Torres work on reconfiguring the sensors , she reveals that Chakotay had not told the whole truth during the briefing . She says that they didn ' t send the probe to attack the Cardassians ; she had done it alone without Chakotay ' s permission . After Chakotay found out he confronted her and said that she had hurt him because he thought he had earned her trust and loyalty . Torres regretted her actions and was relieved when the probe disappeared . Now she feels that if anyone gets hurt by the " Dreadnought " , it will be her fault . Paris tries to console her and the conversation switches to his own problems fitting in . Torres says that people are starting to talk about his behavior and she asks if it ' s true that Paris got in a fight with Lt . Rollins . Paris said the lieutenant had hassled him about the punctuation on his conn report s not being up to Starfleet protocol . Paris admits that Rollins was right about the reports and that he himself was beginning to feel that he did not fit in on " Voyager " . " Voyager " eventually finds the " Dreadnought " s warp trail , which is erratic due to an evasive pattern that had been programmed in , indicating that the missile sensed them following it and took evasive action . Once they find the missile , Torres realizes that its targeting scanners have been activated , which is not supposed to happen until it has locked onto its final target . Scanning its trajectory , they find that the " Dreadnought " has locked on to a planet approximately ten light year s away and will take about three weeks to reach its destination . Much to the crew ' s dismay , the planet is class M with several heavily populated areas . Act Two . Michael Jonas makes another call to the Kazon - Nistrim and wants to tell Seska about the weapon but his Kazon contact , Lorrum , won ' t let him speak to her directly . Before Jonas can give a full report to the Kazon , he must get off the comm line because someone else is about to make a subspace transmission and might discover him . On the bridge , Janeway has made contact with First Minister Kellan of Rakosa V , the planet toward which the probe is headed . The first minister has been tracking " Voyager " and the missile , but had not yet determined what it was . When Janeway tells the minister that the object is a powerful missile , he first believes that she is making a threat against the planet . The minister says that " Voyager " has a reputation for threatening many races since its arrival in the Delta Quadrant . Janeway says that the Kazon have been spreading those lies to prevent them from making allies and that the " Voyager " crew is going to try to stop the missile , but Kellan is still skeptical and says he will put his planet ' s defense forces on alert . Meanwhile , " Dreadnought " has accepted Torres ' access codes and she beams over to the missile , where her identity is confirmed by a DNA scan . The missile , which speaks with Torres ' own voice , greets her . The probe states that Torres ' last systems access was on stardate 47582 . The current date is 49447 , time 0840 hour s . Torres begins to try to find what is wrong with the missile ' s programming to make it lock onto the wrong target . The missile ' s computer argues that the planet it is targeting is in fact Aschelan V , based on parameters such as size , radiothermic signature and atmospheric composition and it refuses to believe Torres when she says that the missile has the wrong planet targeted . Torres is unable to access the missile ' s navigation system because it is at Stage 3 alert status , a safety measure which Torres remembers was her idea . As she starts working on another way to get at the system , Torres asks the " Dreadnought " what happened to it on the day after her last systems access . The computer confirms that it encountered a coherent tetryon beam , which Torres realizes must have damaged the " Dreadnought " s sensors . After some modifications , she has the missile reinitialize its navigational system which causes the missile to realize it is in the Delta Quadrant . Since Aschelan V is not in the Delta Quadrant , the probe stands down from Stage 3 , deactivates the target lock and assumes Stage 4 alert status . Janeway immediately contacts Torres , reporting that the missile ' s engines have shut down . Believing her mission was accomplished , Torres packs up her gear , puts the missile in Stage 5 status power - saving mode and bids the " Dreadnought " goodnight as she beams back to " Voyager " . Later , however , while Torres , Chakotay and Janeway discuss the possibility of salvaging parts from the " Dreadnought " for use on " Voyager , " Paris interrupts to report that the " Dreadnought " has suddenly powered up and jumped to warp nine , putting it on an intercept course with Rakosa V which it will reach in 51 hours . Act Three . " Voyager " chases after the probe , which no longer responds to Torres ' access codes , making it impossible for her to beam over . Janeway orders Tuvok to fire on the missile , in an attempt to disable its drive systems . Chakotay informs her that the missile was programmed to adapt to all known weapon types , including Starfleet ' s , but Janeway is optimistic that " Voyager " s type 6 photon torpedo s , which weren ' t in service yet when " Dreadnought " was launched , might just get through . " Voyager " fires two photons for direct hits , but there is no damage to the missile . Chakotay surmises that the " Dreadnought " must have scanned their weapons and adapted . Janeway contacts First Minister Kellan again to report on the situation , stating that " Voyager " s engines will be back online in an hour and they will try again to stop the missile . Kellan says that his planet is projecting two million casualties if the missile attacks and has deployed a fleet which will intercept the missile in a few hours . Janeway says that the Rakosan fleet is no match for the " Dreadnought " s weapons , but Kellan refuses to just sit and wait for destruction . Janeway implores the minister to wait , as Torres is still the best hope for stopping the missile , but Kellan says the decision has already been made . Eventually , Torres does manage to beam back over to the missile , which greets her warmly but denies her access to any programmer interfaces , and even shocks her when she attempts to access the circuit pathways . Torres continues trying to access the computer and at first is surprised that she manages to get through without much of a fight , but before long the missile announces it is going to Stage 2 alert . Torres asks what is happening , and the computer responds that fifteen priority targets are approaching with weapons armed – the Rakosan fleet . Act Four . Aboard " Voyager " , Janeway tries to convince the Rakosan fleet not to attack , but the pilot of the lead ship , Rakosa One , states that he intends to carry out his orders . However , Torres requests that Janeway not beam her away from " Dreadnought " , as the Rekosan fleet has provided a distraction which is allowing her to access the missile ' s computer systems . Janeway agrees not to pull her out yet , but will maintain a transporter lock and " Voyager " engages the missile alongside the Rekosan fleet in order to provide cover fire . Torres starts to make progress on accessing " Dreadnought " s weapons systems , until the computer informs her that it has rerouted all command functions through protected backups in order to prevent tampering . Torres again tries to reason with the computer , saying that the Rekosans are not Cardassians and therefore not the enemy , but the computer answers that it is programmed to respond with all necessary force and begins the attack . " Voyager " is able to draw the " Dreadnought " s fire and allow the Rekosans to escape , but Torres has just over an hour left to prevent the attack . Janeway asks if she has any other ideas , but Torres doesn ' t want to discuss them in front of the " Dreadnought " computer . " Dreadnought " promptly cuts off Torres ' comm link with " Voyager " , stating that there had been a tactical advantage to monitoring her communications , but now that advantage was gone . Torres goes back to work and the missile realizes that she is trying to access the detonation control system in order to blow up the missile before it reaches its target . Torres responds that that wouldn ' t make much sense , since she would be killing herself in the process and why would she sacrifice herself if being coerced by the Cardassians ? " Dreadnought " cannot come up with an answer for this and begins a new probability analysis and Torres sees a possible opening . She starts to play a hypothetical game with the computer , something she had done before during the " Dreadnought " s initial programming . Torres asks the computer to hypothetically accept the assumption that the missile is in the Delta Quadrant , heading for the wrong target and explain how this might have happened . The computer responds that if key sensor programs were damaged , it could have compromised the databanks . Torres calls up the databanks to see if they were compromised and finds an unidentified Cardassian backup file in the databank that she had missed during her first reprograming of the " Dreadnought " . Before she can learn more , the " Dreadnought " completes the new probability assessment and comes to a new conclusion . . . Torres is not being coerced , but has instead changed loyalties . With this , the computer terminates humanoid life support , goes to Stage 1 alert and begins its final detonation sequence . Act Five . First Minister Kellan is beginning to give up hope but Janeway tells him that she is prepared to use " Voyager " to stop the missile by colliding with it rather than letting it hit the planet . Kellan is taken aback by her willingness to sacrifice her vessel to save people she hadn ' t met until only a few days ago . He says that " Voyager " s reputation is undeserved and for what it ' s worth , they have made a friend today . Janeway reminds him that they still have forty - one minutes to stop " Dreadnought " and she hasn ' t given up yet . Back on the missile , " Dreadnought " cannot understand why Torres has remained after life support has been cut off and key systems have been made unaccessible , but Torres is too busy working on accessing the old Cardassian file . Meanwhile , Janeway tells Chakotay and Tuvok that at this point their only option to destroy the missile is to set off a large explosion in its path , with the only thing that would create a big enough detonation being a warp core breach . She puts Chakotay in charge of evacuating non - senior officers from the ship , then initiates the self - destruct sequence , just as Torres accesses the Cardassian file and brings the original Cardassian ATR - 4107 control system for the missile online , triggering an " identity crisis " in the computer . The conflicting computer systems attack each other as they battle for control of the missile , enabling Torres to access the missile ' s reactor core so she can detonate the warhead before it reaches the target . Seven minutes before " Voyager " self - destructs Janeway orders Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim to their escape pods , however she allows Tuvok to remain behind when he points out she ' ll need someone to take over if she is injured . " Dreadnought " manages to fight off the Cardassian computer system and regain control , but Torres has nearly managed to destroy the containment field with a sustained phaser attack , despite the fact that the air on the missile is getting very thin and she is about to lose consciousness . " Dreadnought " tells B ' Elanna that it is willing to reconsider the possibility that it is in the Delta Quadrant but Torres won ' t be tricked again . As she runs out of air , she notes how ironic it is that after all the time she spent reprogramming " Dreadnought " that two years later they ' d end up trying to kill each other . " Dreadnought " admits that it never would be predicted this outcome , as Torres breaches the core . Tuvok manages to beam Torres off the " Dreadnought " just as it explodes and Janeway cancels the self - destruct . The Doctor , who had been forgotten in all the excitement , states that Torres will be fine and Janeway orders Tuvok to come about and start gathering up the escape pod s . Memorable quotes . " " You would . . . sacrifice yourselves to save a people you didn ' t know two days ago ? " " " " To save two million lives ? That ' s not a hard decision . " " " " . . . your reputation in this quadrant isn ' t deserved , captain . For what it ' s worth . . . you have made a friend here . " " " " Warning . Self - destruct sequence has been initiated . Warp core overload in twenty minutes . " " " " When a bomb starts talking about itself in the third person , I get worried . " " " " Please turn to your Emergency Medical Holographic Channel . " " " " Doctor , I forgot about you . " " " " How flattering . " " " " . . . I even programmed it to warn Federation ships to stay out of its way . In my own voice ! " " " " Your own voice ? " " " " Listening to that Cardassian computer voice was driving me crazy ! " " " " Never thought I ' d be glad to hear that voice . " " " " Who ' d have thought , two years ago , all those weeks we spent together , perfecting your program , that we ' d end up out here , trying to kill each other ! " " Links and references . References . 2367 , Alpha 441 ; Alpha Quadrant ; antimatter ; Aschelan V ; astronomical marker ; auto - destruct ; Badlands ; Benaren ; Bolarus IX ; ; captain ' s prerogative ; Cardassian ; Cardassian ATR - 4107 ; ; Celtic ; class M ; computer virus ; conn report ; containment field ; debris ; Delta Quadrant ; Demilitarized Zone ; DNA ; duritanium ; electromagnetic field ; Elrem ; EPS relay ; Federation ; Frederick ; file directory ; Greskrendtregk ; ; ion radiation ; kilometer ; kinetic detonator ; Ktarian ; logic ; magnetic constrictor ; Maquis ; multiphasic sweep ; name ; navigational sensor ; neutrino ; Ocampa ; offensive capability ; plasma wave ; photon torpedo ; plasma burst ; plasma storm ; polyalloy ; quantum torpedo ; radiothermic signature ; Rakosa V ; " Rakosa One " ; Rakosan ; Rakosan fighter ; reactor core ; red alert ; Rollins ; Sakura Prime ; self - destruct ; sensor echo ; Seska ; Sural ; Sural ' s parents ; Sural ' s rivals ; tachyon beam ; tactical subroutine ; Tarrik ; tetryon ; third person ; thoron shock emitter ; type 6 photon torpedo ; unnamed star system ; Vulcan ; warp trail