A Verteron collider was a massive piece of technology which was capable of creating an artificial wormhole.
Overview[]
These massive gleaming cylinders were measured to be at least eight kilometers in length which possessed the necessary science in order to create a stable wormhole from one point to another. One of the problems with the creation of a verteron collider was gaining the necessary construction material to reinforce the mouth of the developing wormhole where the outward radial pressure was tremendous which led to tidal stresses that were similar to the center of a massive neutron star. This meant that an exotic substance was required to strength the mouth of the veteron collider and ensure it functioned which was only achieved through the use of Corzanium. (DS9 novel: Behind Enemy Lines) The main structure of the device was a magneton collider though the most critical component was the magneton accelerator which was one point that was capable of being exploited in order to sabotage the machine. By doing enough damage to the accelerator control room, an saboteur was capable of shutting down the collider for quite some time. (DS9 novel: Tunnel Through the Stars)
The sheer size, resources and technical expertise used to create this large collider led it to being considered as the eighth wonder in the universe. It was considered a trumph of engineering and construction. (DS9 novel: Behind Enemy Lines)
History[]
In 2373 during the Dominion War, the Dominion began construction of a verteron collider in order to connect their Cardassian Union territories in the Alpha Quadrant to the Founders strongholds in the distant Gamma Quadrant. It was hoped that with the success of the verteron collider that the Changelings in charge of the Dominion would win the Dominion War with their legions of reinforcements. After the brief occupation of Deep Space 9, the Dominion had managed to capture the unjoined Federation Trill scientist Enrak Grof and used his studies on wormholes to develop the verteron collider.
Rumors of this development circulated the Alpha Quadrant which led to the Romulan Star Empire, who were neutral in the conflict, to dispatch intelligence agents to covertly uncover the artificial wormhole project. This was because the Romulan leadership needed to determine if the verteron collider worked and if it did than the Star Empire have joined in an alliance with the Dominion. Starfleet also uncovered evidence of artificial wormhole research and dispatched an infiltration team led by a disguised Captain Jean-Luc Picard who journeyed on the Bajoran starship, Orb of Peace which went into Cardassian space to uncover the truth of the scientific initiative. This infiltration team learnt that the Dominion had sent a mining ship to the Eye of Talek in order to mine for Corzanium and they were successful in preventing it from being returned to the Dominion. However, the Founders had dispatched a second mining ship to another black hole to mine for the exotic substance for their verteron collider. At the time, the verteron collider was nearly ready to begin the testing phase of its development. (DS9 novel: Behind Enemy Lines)