Tricobalt Device [1] |
The tri-cobalt warhead is a high yield device used for destruction of large scale stationary targets such as space stations. [1] Several species have deployed this technology at some time; one notable example is the planets Eminiar VII and Vendikar, who used computer simulations of tri-cobalt devices as part of their simulated war. The USS Enterprise was declared a casualty of one of these devices when it failed to raise its shields during a simulated attack by Vendikar, a situation which brought a rather determined response from the commanding officer. [2]
Although the Federation is banned from using subspace weapons by the Khittomer accords [3], Starfleet vessels do carry tri-cobalt devices occasionally. In 2371 the USS Voyager used two of them to destroy the Caretaker's array in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Kazon. [1] The Starfleet weapon has a programmable yield which can reach 20,000 Teracochranes, more than enough to destroy even a large station like the Caretaker's array. [4]
Detonating tri-cobalt devices within high gravity fields such as those found near to dead stars can create pockets of interphase space. These can form gateways between parallel dimensions [5], though such gateways can be highly unstable and are easily disrupted by energy releases. [6] |