The phrase "weapons of mass destruction" has gotten a lot of play in the news lately, and in the world of
Star Trek, it brings to mind the horrific devices of war used on a planetary or even galactic scale. We don't wish to make light of the current international climate, but
Star Trek has always served as social commentary on contemporary issues, and by revisiting some of the classic stories we can remind ourselves of the lessons they teach ... and perhaps see them in a new light as times change. On this topic in particular, at the very least they can help us grasp the sheer devastation that these devices of mass destruction — whether mechanical, biological or chemical — can achieve. For now, thankfully, they don't reach beyond our own planet. But while we're all still sharing one world, maybe one thing that
Star Trek can help us remember is that almost any situation can and should be resolved peacefully, at least when humanly possible.
The Planet Killer They say there's no devil... but there is. So saith
Commodore Matt Decker as he attempted in vain to capture in words a terrifying piece of ancient machinery whose sole purpose was to gobble up planets. No one ever learned exactly where this thing came from or why it was made, but the only conclusion that could be reached was that it was an extragalactic "doomsday machine," built as a bluff during some war countless years ago and never really meant to be used — much like the nuclear weapons of 20th-century (and 21st-century) Earth. But once these things are built, they become much more than a negotiation point — they become a force unto themselves which can overtake their creators and spread their destructive influence far beyond their original intention. Norman Spinrad's script for this haunting episode was written in the midst of the Cold War when fears of nuclear holocaust were at their height. But the message of this story is no less poignant or relevant today: there is no constructive purpose for a weapon of mass destruction ... except maybe to destroy another weapon of mass destruction.
Genesis Device
"According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now watch out — here comes Genesis, we'll do it for you in six minutes!" Dr. McCoy knew instinctively what dangers are inherent when Man tries to play God ... even when the intentions are good. The power of creation equals the power of destruction, and indisputably it should never fall into the wrong hands. But pray tell, whose are the right hands? Are we evolved enough to be entitled to such judgments? The drama of "Wrath of Khan" plays out as simple good vs. evil, but the themes run much deeper, as this story reminds us not only that a madman in possession of a device of immense force should be dealt with appropriately, but also that part of the onus belongs to those who invented the device in the first place.
Tox Uthat
What exactly were the Vorgons going to do with the Tox Uthat once they got their hands on it? And for that matter, why did Kal Dano create it? To refresh your memory, the Tox Uthat was a quantum phase inhibitor capable of halting all nuclear reactions within a star. Picard immediately branded it a weapon, because after all, what other use could it have than to destroy entire systems? Even more startling was that an object of such enormous potential was no bigger than a Palm Pilot. Kal Dano attempted to protect it from 27th-century criminals (namely the Vorgons) by hiding it in the 22nd century. Since Captain Archer & company failed to stumble upon it during their jaunt to Risa, it stayed there another 200 years until archaeological assistant Vash tracked it down, and maneuvered Jean-Luc Picard into the middle. Thank God, because Picard did what no one else would — blow it to smithereens. Why couldn't the inventor do that in the first place? Ego? A perverse love of his creation? One can only guess. "Captain's Holiday" was a fun little romp, but when you stop to think about the story's implications, it could turn you paler than Picard's legs.
Metagenic Weapon
Some so-called "weapons of mass destruction" are biological in nature. In Captain Picard's day, metagenic and other biological weapons were considered so insidious, so frightful, that they were banned by multilateral treaties which even the Romulans adhered to. So when intelligence came down that the Cardassians were developing metagenic toxins which could be delivered on a subspace carrier wave, the Federation scrambled to respond — for one such weapon could destroy a planet's entire ecosystem within days, and once it's activated it can't be stopped. Since "weapons inspectors" were not part of the political landscape of the time, a covert team was dispatched to address the situation. It turns out the whole thing was a Cardassian disinformation campaign designed to entrap Picard in order to extract strategic information out of him. And that, in turn, was part of a whole climate of two governments posturing for war, which in no small measure involved the hard-line rhetoric of antagonists Captain Jellico and Gul Lemec. Wow, what a striking resemblance "Chain of Command" has to events of today. Any lesson to be learned? Perhaps. In this story, a way was found to resolve the crisis in an isolated manner, before entire fleets of ships were committed. With enough cleverness and open-mindedness, a relatively peaceful solution can almost always be found.
Harvesters
Another biological weapon of mass destruction was deployed by both sides of a centuries-long war between the T'Lani and the Kellerun. It was a biomechanical gene disrupter that took the form of a bright orange gel held in clear cylinders, and it was called by the interesting name "the Harvesters." The Harvesters decimated the populations of entire planets, and both sides finally stopped killing each other long enough to unite against their common enemy: their own weapons. With the Federation's help, a form of subatomic radiation was found to neutralize the gel's nanobiogenic properties, and the two governments immediately saw to the 100% destruction of their stockpiles, and also wiped out every bit of scientific data concerning the Harvesters to prevent any possible re-emergence of the gruesome stuff. Unfortunately, they also attempted to kill off every scientist with any knowledge of how to recreate the Harvesters, including our own Dr. Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien. That may seem extreme from our point of view, but we don't know what horrors may have led these people to such desperate measures. The message? Unconscionable acts lead to more unconscionable acts, so nip the insanity in the bud now before everyone loses their humanity.
Trilithium
Villains in the 24th century did not have to wait around for the Tox Uthat to be invented — they already had a way to destroy stars, in the form of an exotic chemical compound called trilithium. Trilithium acts as a powerful nuclear inhibitor, and just a few kilograms (a few pounds) delivered into the heart of a star can generate a quantum implosion of such magnitude that it can halt all fusion reactions in the star, triggering a supernova that will eradicate the entire system. ("Trilithium resin," a by-product of warp core reactions, can be used as a lethal explosive, but it doesn't quite fit the definition of "weapon of mass destruction.") The innocent folks of Veridian IV could be damned as far as Dr. Soran was concerned, as he attempted to extinguish their sun with a trilithium probe just so he could be taken up by the Nexus and experience bliss. But a more blatant act of war was committed by the Dominion, as a Changeling infiltrator posing as Dr. Bashir attempted to introduce a trilithium bomb (also containing tekasite and protomatter) into the Bajoran sun, in order to wipe out not only Bajor and Deep Space Nine, but the combined Federation, Klingon and Romulan fleets that were duped into gathering in one place. The Federation had no choice but to go to war to fight tyranny, but fortunately they didn't have to go it alone — no victory would have been possible without firm alliances with other major powers and clearly established common goals.
Metreon Cascade
How does an otherwise decent and thoughtful man of science live with himself when his invention is used to obliterate hundreds of thousands of innocent lives? He either indulges in an awful lot of rationalization, or he loses an awful lot of sleep, or both. In a story that echoes real-life ethical quandaries of the past half-century, Dr. Ma'Bor Jetrel was the mind behind the Metreon Cascade, which ended a lengthy war after it was deployed on the Talaxian moon Rinax, permanently snuffing out the shimmering lights of the colony there and forcing Talax's unconditional surrender to the Haakonian Order. Jetrel justified his creation as a "scientific inevitability" and argued that all of the knowledge of the universe and all the power that it bestows is of intrinsic value to everyone, regardless of the consequences. "Something so enormous as science will not stop for something as small as man, Mr. Neelix." In actuality he was so laden with guilt that he tried to redeem himself — tried to prove he was not a monster — with a bizarre scheme to reanimate the dead, which ultimately proved unworkable. We must remember that mistakes so heinous, so unthinkable, simply cannot be reversed. But ... if you're really lucky, maybe, just maybe, someone will find it in his heart to forgive you.
Dreadnought
What happens when you make a smart bomb too smart? You run the risk of not being able to disable it when conditions and priorities change. B'Elanna Torres became all too aware of this predicament when she had to contend with a monster she herself created. As Maquis rebels, Chakotay and Torres managed to intercept a Cardassian self-guided tactical missile carrying a charge of a thousand kilos of antimatter — enough to destroy a small moon. They dubbed it "Dreadnought," after a heavily armed battleship, and Torres took it upon herself to get inside and reprogram the computer so it would answer only to the Maquis, and set it on its way to target Cardassian military sites. But it got lost in the Badlands and ended up in the Delta Quadrant, apparently via the Caretaker, and when the U.S.S. Voyager came across the warhead it was on a deadly course to an inhabited planet, in denial of its change in location. Torres thought she could easily get the device to stand down, but it turns out she imbued it with such a high level of artificial intelligence that it could assess the "probability" she was acting under coercion by the Cardassians, and therefore resist her efforts to disarm it. It became a dangerous battle of wits between B'Elanna and her own paranoid alter-ego, with 2 million innocent lives at stake. What did we say about letting weapons get so powerful that their threat can spread way beyond their original purpose?
Species 8472 Bioships
The U.S.S. Voyager encountered more than its share of massively destructive weapons in the Delta Quadrant — the Omega Molecule ("The Omega Directive"), the Krenim temporal weapon ship ("Year of Hell"), a sentient bomb ("Warhead")... But one of particular note was the dramatic display of lethal force exhibited by Species 8472. By arranging several of their bioships in a circle, they could channel their collective firepower into one enormous planet-disintegrating beam. Cool stuff! And we didn't really mind because it was a Borg planet that done got blowed up. However, the fluidic space creatures had every intention of employing their death ring against all the rest of us. "Your galaxy will be purged," they announced (telepathically). Of course, they felt this way because their only experience with our realm at that point was a really, really bad one. After they suffered defeat by an alliance between human and Borg, they equated humans with Borg and developed an elaborate scheme to infiltrate Starfleet at the source ("In the Flesh"). Fortunately, circumstances turned in a way that gave the humans and the 8472's a chance to talk and find a mutual understanding. After some carefully played diplomacy by Captain Janeway, the extradimensional race realized the humans weren't so wicked after all, and they dismantled their plans and returned to their own space. The lesson? A little communication can go a long way toward keeping your military budgets down.
Thalaron Radiation
A discussion about weapons of mass destruction wouldn't be complete without mentioning the latest big-screen entry on this nefarious list, Shinzon's "Thalaron generator" which took the form of his ship, the Scimitar. Also referred to as a "Cascading Biogenic Pulse," Thalaron radiation consumes organic material at the subatomic level, leaving its victims literally in the dust. Even a minuscule amount could kill every living thing on a starship in a matter of seconds, while leaving the ship itself intact. Thalaron is so sinister its research was banned in the Federation. But Shinzon of Remus knew no such restrictions, and on the strength of his military reputation and a lot of help from friends on both Romulus and Remus, he built the gargantuan Scimitar with the intention of wiping out Earth and conquering the Federation. Fortunately, his vendetta had a personal element, and that chink in his colorful armor could be exploited. But it still took the sacrifice of a brave individual to put an end to this madman's scheme. When evil rears its head on such a scale, lives will be lost, so let us never forget the fallen, and let us always be grateful for their courage and selflessness.
Xindi Weapon
Going back in time to the 22nd century, the Xindi began constructing their huge planet-destroying superweapon after they were told by their otherworldly "Guardians" that the human race would wipe them out 400 years in the future. Operating out of fear and dogma, they were resolved to carry out a heinous act of pre-emptive self-defense, despite the utter lack of evidence of a real threat. Captain Archer had proof the Xindi were being manipulated, but minds and hearts are very difficult to change, especially among the hard-line who prefer easy certainty to complex thoughtfulness in the face of changing facts. The real weapon here was not the technological device, but belief and perception, as the string-pulling Sphere-Builders knew so well.
