Dangerous Grounds (Star Trek: Dragon episode)

"Dangerous Grounds" was the fourteenth episode of Star Trek: Dragon, written by Jon Wasik.

Overview
A month has passed since the Britar joined the war against the Vorkalai, and after three more massive battles, smaller conflicts have begun to break out as the Vorkalai shift strategy, forcing the Britar and Hintaru armada to likewise break into smaller fleets. Thanks to the Britar, the armada has begun pressing the Vorkalai back into their own territory at an extraordinary rate.

While patrolling near the Onkrine Nebula, the Dragon takes a moment to analyze the nebula to determine if its unusual characteristics could be a viable source of energy. What they discover as that the nebula is extremely volatile and unstable, and if the gas within were ignited, it would set off a chain reaction that could destroy everything within 40 parsecs: essentially a naturally occurring weapon of mass destructions, on a galactic scale.

Fearing the Vorkalai could use the nebula as a weapon themselves, Captain Harriman orders a defense fleet be brought in, and meanwhile orders a probe sent in to ensure a device wasn't already left behind. When the probe finds an antimatter bomb, three Vorkalai ships decloak within. At a stand-off, Captain Harriman contacts the lead ship and communicates with them. While distracting the Vorkalai Commander, they are able to beam the bomb out of the nebula using the probe as a relay. The Dragon then enters the nebula and beams the Vorkalai ships' reactors into deep space. After words, using tractor pulses and RCS thrusters, the Dragon begins moving the Vorkalai ships out of the nebula as safely as possible.

During the Dragon's operations, however, a distress signal is received from a Britar fleet: a massive Vorkalai ship is decimating the fleet. Fearing the worst the Dragon races to rescue the fleet, only to find its too late. Where the fleet should have been are highly-destructive space-time distortions. They follow a trail of smaller distortions back to the defense perimeter to find a hole in the defenses, likewise caused by the space time distortions. Captain Harriman is confident that the Vorkalai have finally launched the Destroyer, a dangerous weapon they had discovered plans for months earlier while trying to reach Hintaru space.