Star Trek Episode List - Star Trek: Voyager Season 7 |
|
Unimatrix Zero is a secluded place within the Borg collective where drones can be themselves while they regenerate, but only certain Borg have the ability to visit. The Borg Queen considers Unimatrix Zero a threat because she does not want her Borg to ever have traces of individuality, but Captain Janeway thinks it could give the Federation allies within the Collective. Janeway, Tuvok and B'Elanna Torres put Borg implants in their bodies and infiltrate the Borg Cube to try and free the select few that are able to go to Unimatrix Zero, giving them the ability to maintain their individuality outside of Unimatrix Zero. The away team has been injected with a neural suppressant to keep their Borg implants from really connecting them to the Collective.Review
While the away team is on the Borg Cube, Seven of Nine goes to Unimatrix Zero herself to tell the Borg within what the team is doing. Seven had been able to go there when she was part of the Collective and she still maintains that ability. In the past, she had a romantic relationship there with her fellow Borg, Axum, and when she meets him there again, she notices those feelings returning.
While the away team is headed for the Central Plexus of the Borg Cube, Tuvok notices that his neural suppressant is wearing off and the Borg Queen begins communicating with him telepathically. The Queen finally convinces Tuvok to stop Janeway and Torres as they download a virus to free the select group of drones. They manage to get the virus into the system, but Tuvok prevents them from leaving. More Borg drones appear and capture Captain Janeway, but Torres is able to get away. Tuvok restrains Janeway and puts her in contact with the queen.
The Borg Queen makes Janeway watch on a viewscreen as she blows up a different Borg Cube, destroying the thousands of lives on board, because she lost contact with three of the drones due to Janeway's virus. The Queen uses the virus Janeway used to free the drones and alters it to actually kill the drones. She tells Janeway that unless the captain tells the free drones to rejoin the collective, she will go to Unimatrix Zero and kill all of the drones inside. Janeway is put into contact with Chakotay on Voyager to tell him the free drones have to go back to the collective, but instead of telling him that directly, she secretly tells him to destroy Unimatrix Zero. Without Unimatrix Zero, the Queen will not be able to find all of the free drones, and if she destroys all of the Borg vessels they are on, she will destroy her entire fleet.
After Seven tells everybody in Unimatrix Zero of the plan, they all agree that it is the best way to handle the situation and they offer to help get the away team back to the U.S.S. Voyager. While Voyager is preparing to attack the Borg Cube, a smaller Borg Sphere appears through a transwarp conduit and hails them. Korok, a Klingon that has been assimilated into the Collective, has taken over the Sphere and offers to help them destroy the Cube. Chakotay accepts his offer and both ships begin attacking the Cube. Just as the Borg Cube explodes, Harry Kim manages to beam Janeway, Tuvok and Torres back to Voyager where they can be relieved of their Borg implants.
Seven, meanwhile, has gone back to Unimatrix Zero one last time to say goodbye to Axum. Axum and Seven are the only people left as Unimatrix Zero falls apart around them. Axum tells Seven that he is on a Borg Cube in a totally different part of the galaxy and though it seem like they will never see each other again, he will find her. They both leave Unimatrix Zero as it completely fritzes out of existence.
|
Seven of Nine watches as Rebi and Azan, two of the Borg children she had been taking care of since they were separated from the Collective, are reunited with their people, who agree to also give Mezoti a home. The only one of the Borg children staying aboard the U.S.S. Voyager with Seven is Icheb, the eldest of the four. After the children leave, Icheb notices that Seven is crying. Seven claims that her ocular implant is simply malfunctioning.Review
When Seven goes to see the Doctor, he confirms that there's a glitch in her cortical node, and he gets her to admit that she has been having headaches. Later, when Seven attempts to regenerate, she discovers she cannot interface with her alcove because her cortical node is malfunctioning. She stays up all night in the mess hall until Neelix arrives and offers to make her breakfast. Seven then falls to the floor convulsing, and Borg implants start bursting through her skin.
In sickbay, the Doctor realizes Seven's problem is more serious than he previously thought. Her cortical node, which regulates her vital functions, is destablizing, which means she will die unless it can be replaced. Captain Janeway gets an idea: She orders Ensign Kim to scan a nearby Borg debris field and transfer the coordinates to the Delta Flyer — she plans to salvage a replacement cortical node. Janeway, Lt. Paris and Tuvok depart for the debris field where they find several dead Borg drones and manage to remove the cortical node from one of them. Back on Voyager, Janeway and the Doctor practice the cortical node replacement operation several times in a holodeck simulation, failing miserably each time. They eventually decide that they cannot use a cortical node from a dead drone, but only from a living one.
Icheb also comes to realize that only the cortical node from a living Borg can save Seven, so he volunteers to have his own node removed and transplanted to her. Icheb devises a plan to have himself genetically altered to survive without his node, but the procedure is risky. When Icheb cannot get Janeway, Seven or the Doctor to listen to him, he programs the computer in his regeneration alcove to disengage his cortical node. Now dying, Icheb eventually convinces them to give his node to Seven and perform the genetic procedure on him. The operation is successful and both Seven and Icheb fully recover. Seven offers to help him study for the Starfleet Academy entrance exam, promising him a rigorous schedule. But then Icheb notices another tear in her eye ... only this time it isn't a malfunction.
|
As Tom Paris and Harry Kim are taking the Delta Flyer for a test run, another small alien ship pulls alongside them. The alien pilot, Irina, challenges them to a race. As the two ships race through an asteroid field, Irina's ship begins filling up with nyocene gas. They beam Irina to their shuttle and bring her and her ship back to the U.S.S. Voyager. While making repairs, she explains to them that she is entering a race in a couple of days. This prompts Paris and Kim to convince Captain Janeway to let them enter the race too.Review
Meanwhile, B'Elanna Torres has been frantically trading favors with crewmates so she can borrow enough holodeck time for her and Paris, her boyfriend, to have an entire weekend to themselves. When Paris explains to her that he forgot about the getaway weekend and entered the race, she tells him that she does not mind. Later, she confesses to Neelix that she was very hurt that Paris forgot about something that took her so much time to set up. She tells Neelix that she thinks things might be ending between Paris and her.
When Janeway registers the Delta Flyer in the race, she learns from O'Zaal, the race coordinator, that the race is the first step towards peace for the four different cultures living in the area. Each of the different species has been at war to control the area for nearly a century. This race marks the first time the four of them have ever competed peacefully.
Seven of Nine tells Torres that she has embraced some of Paris' interests and it has made him easier to work with. Taking Seven's comment as good advice, Torres convinces Kim to let her fly with Paris as co-pilot of the Delta Flyer. Paris is bewildered when Torres shows up in Kim's place wearing a flight suit, but he welcomes her as long as she remembers that they're there to win. The two ride in fourth place for much of the race, but they eventually manage to take the lead. Just as they get into first place, O'Zaal calls a temporary stop, saying that one of the racers has had an accident.
Irina's control panel had malfunctioned and electrocuted her co-pilot, which was later determined to be intentional sabotage. O'Zaal decides to continue the race the next day. Kim offers to help Irina fix her ship and also fly as her new co-pilot, which she is hesitant about, but lets him do. Paris and Torres notice that Kim and Irina seem to be forming a relationship, which causes Torres to wonder how good of a match she and Paris are.
When the race continues the next day, Torres is distracted by her thoughts and Paris can sense something is wrong, but the Delta Flyer manages to maintain its lead. Irina and Kim have successfully fixed Irina's ship and begin to catch up with the others almost immediately, keeping track of the Delta Flyer the whole time on their computer.
When Paris finally asks Torres what is bothering her, they get into a heated discussion. Paris is determined to work things out, but Torres sounds like she is ready to give up. Paris stops the Delta Flyer and tells her they are not going to move again until they work it out.
Meanwhile on Irina's ship, her control panel malfunctions again, almost electrocuting Kim. Kim suspects that Irina sabotaged her own ship and has his suspicions confirmed when she points a phaser at him. He manages to wrestle the phaser away from her and finds she has disabled the com system, so he just stops the ship and holds her at gunpoint. When Irina seems strangely interested in the Delta Flyer's progress, Kims realizes that she has sabotaged that ship as well. She admits to him that the fuel converter on the Delta Flyer is rigged to explode at about the time it crosses the finish line, killing all of the spectators and officials in the area.
As Paris and Torres are beginning to work out their problems, Kim sends them a message about the fuel converter. They check their computer and discover that it will explode in a matter of minutes. They pilot the Delta Flyer to a nearby nebula and eject the warp core. The nebula contains the explosion and the Delta Flyer gets safely away.
After the race is over, Paris and Torres take the Delta Flyer out again on a more personal mission — the back of the ship now reads "Just Married."
|
A mysterious Bajoran man named Teero sits in a musty room with Bajoran tapestries and drawings of Maquis vessels, reciting a mysterious chant while staring at a monitor displaying crewmembers from the U.S.S. Voyager.Review
On board Voyager, Tom Paris surprises B'Elanna Torres by taking her to his new holoprogram — a classic 20th century-style movie theater. In the theater, they discover that Crewman Tabor is sitting nearby completely unconscious. When the Doctor examines Tabor, he concludes that his injuries are the result of an attack, as evidenced by the microfractures on his cranium and contusions along his shoulder. Janeway then appoints Tuvok to investigate the case. Tuvok's initial belief is that a member of the crew is responsible.
Later, crewmen Yosa and Jor are working in engineering when Yosa reports that pressure is fluctuating. Jor then orders him to check the seals in the Jefferies Tube hatch. As Yosa crawls through the hatch, the lights suddenly go out. Then, a bright light shines in Yosa's face as someone approaches. Yosa, feeling threatened, crawls through another hatch but is unable to get the computer to seal the hatch shut. Again, the bright light shines on Yosa and he's knocked unconscious. Jor soon discovers Yosa and takes him to Sickbay. The Doctor examines Yosa and concludes that Yosa was attacked, having the same microfractures and contusions as Tabor. Janeway and Chakotay come to realize that all the victims are former Maquis.
Meanwhile, Paris and Kim are conducting an investigation in the holodeck Movie Theater, trying to capture a negative image that the intruder left behind. Their efforts show two humanoid figures — one is Tabor and the other is not recognizable. Tuvok requests that they work on increasing the resolution of the images. Later, Tuvok tells Kim that for security reasons he read all crew mail in the last data stream from Starfleet, which includes a letter from Kim's cousin. Tuvok implies that Kim is a suspect, by pointing out that the letter mentions the Maquis killed Kim's friend years ago. As Kim defends his innocence, Tuvok becomes strangely perturbed. Later, Chakotay finds Torres unconscious in a cargo bay, and finds Tuvok heading towards him. To Chakotay's surprise, Tuvok grabs him by the throat and mind melds with him until he becomes unconscious. While Chakotay and Torres are treated in Sickbay, the other victims have woken up out of unconsciousness with no memory of what happened to them.
Tuvok continues the investigation sleeplessly, with no memory of attacking Chakotay. At Janeway's urging, he returns to his quarters to meditate. Suddenly, he gets flashbacks of victims in Sickbay, Yosa in the Jefferies Tube and Chakotay in the cargo bay. Then Tuvok enters the bathroom and sees Teero's reflection in the mirror. Frightened, Tuvok rushes to the holodeck where Janeway and Kim are investigating, and learns from the computer that he was in the Movie Theater during Tabor's attack and that the height and weight of the negative-image figure matches his own description. Tuvok then hears Teero's voice telling him to ignore his doubts — and pulls a phaser. Tuvok soon gives up the weapon and admits to being the attacker, telling Janeway that he should be detained.
When Janeway visits Tuvok in the brig, he explains there is a voice trying to control his mind with Bajoran incantations. Tuvok also says that it was he who attacked Maquis crewmembers and performed mind melds on them, but without knowing why. Tuvok recounts that the attacks started after he received a letter from his son. Janeway, Chakotay, Seven and Paris then view the letter from Tuvok's son and discover that it contains a subliminal message, one of Teero chanting. Chakotay recognizes Teero and says that the Bajoran worked with the Maquis performing mind control experiments.
Janeway meets with Tuvok again in his cell to discuss Teero. Tuvok recalls meeting Teero seven years ago at a Bajoran temple. Then Tuvok gets a flashback of wearing Maquis attire and sitting in a surgical chair with devices attached to his head as Teero is performing a mind meld on him. Janeway urges Tuvok to tell her more, but Teero appears to Tuvok and tells him to complete his mission. Tuvok struggles to stay in control of his mind, but cannot. Instead, Tuvok sends Chakotay a command in the Bajoran language, and his behavior changes. Chakotay goes to Sickbay, fires his phaser at Paris and gives Torres the same Bajoran command. Together they gather the other former Maquis members who were also victims of Tuvok's attacks. They obey Chakotay's commands and fire at the Voyager crewmembers.
Meanwhile, the ship goes to red alert and Janeway tries to contact the Bridge, but there is no response. Chakotay finds her and announces that he is in charge. Chakotay tells Janeway that Teero helped them remember that they are Maquis members and that the rebellion on Voyager is not yet over. He releases Tuvok and detains Janeway in the brig. While the Maquis make plans to abandon the Starfleet crew on an M-class planet, Chakotay tests Tuvok's loyalty by commanding him to fire a phaser at Janeway. Tuvok fires the phaser, but nothing happens because the weapon is defective. Then, when Chakotay's back is turned to Tuvok, the Vulcan grabs Chakotay by the neck and performs a mind meld that brings Chakotay back to normal. After that, Chakotay hands control of the ship back to Janeway.
Eventually, the rest of the Voyager crewmembers become normal again, and Tuvok joins Janeway and the others at the movies.
|
Gar, a Dralian trader, enters an overcrowded, airborne hospital ship and looks for Chellick, the facility's administrator. Gar shows Chellick the Doctor's mobile emitter that he obtained from the U.S.S. Voyager. Gar fiddles with the controls on the device and the Doctor appears, but he immediately demands to be returned to his ship. The Allocator, the computer that prioritizes all patients on board the ship, announces that a generator has exploded and many patients are arriving. The Doctor witnesses the chaos surrounding him and decides his only option is to help. Chellick, Gar and Voje, another doctor, observe how the Doctor handles patients and are pleased with his work.Review
Back aboard Voyager, Kim is injured from a holodeck hockey match and visits the Doctor. When Paris and Kim talk to the Doctor, they notice something isn't quite right. Paris and Kim gather the others to examine the Doctor's mobile emitter; Torres announces it is a replicated fake. Neelix points out that Gar did spend a night in Sickbay and had ample access to the Doctor. Janeway then gives the order to search for Gar by scanning his ion trail.
Meanwhile, the Doctor is on Level Red of the hospital ship, scanning a young patient named Tebbis. The Doctor finds out that Tebbis has a deadly infection and has not received the proper treatment — cytoglobin — for it. Voje tells the Doctor that the patient's "T.C." level is not high enough to receive the necessary cytoglobin. Just as the Doctor asks what T.C. stands for, Chellick interrupts and says that he has acquired the Doctor's program from Gar. Chellick also says everyone on the ship must obey the Allocator's rules and that the Doctor must now provide his services on Level Blue. Then Voje explains that the patients on Level Blue receive the best treatment because their T.C. level is high. T.C., as the Doctor finds out, stands for "Treatment Coefficient," in which the Allocator assesses which patient has access to the best care depending on the importance of his or her profession, skills and accomplishments.
In the meantime, the Voyager crew is lead astray by Gar's trail. Then Tuvok recalls that Gar traded iridium with them and suggests they go to the location where Gar acquired the substance. They locate a mining operation on an asteroid and contact a resident. The man tells them that Gar sold them induction units, which came from a planetoid called Velos.
At the hospital ship, the Doctor finds the Allocator approving cytoglobin injections to all Level Blue patients. Another doctor named Dysek tells the Doctor that the injections increase the patients' life expectancy. The Doctor is concerned because he knows that Tebbis needs this medication to be cured. The Doctor sneaks to Level Red and tries to manipulate Tebbis' T.C. level by raising it higher, but the Allocator still denies medication. Then, the Doctor returns to Level Blue and takes a cytoglobin device from a nurse, whom he then dismisses. The Doctor returns to Tebbis with the smuggled cytoglobin injector and administers it to him. Later, the Doctor steals even more medication from Level Blue to treat the patients on Level Red.
Meanwhile, the Voyager crew enters the orbit of the planetoid Velos. They speak with an alien and find out that Gar is on Selek IV. The Voyager crew then locates Gar's ship and engages it in a tractor beam. They ask Gar where the Doctor is, but Gar refuses to tell them. After Gar is beamed aboard Voyager and questioned in the Brig, Neelix offers Gar a meal, which the prisoner quickly consumes. Suddenly, Gar experiences severe stomach pains. Neelix reveals that he poisoned Gar's meal and the Doctor is the only one authorized to administer the proper medication. Gar is then forced to tell them where the Doctor is.
Back on the hospital ship, the Doctor finds out that Tebbis was transferred to Level White — the morgue. The Doctor is angry and confronts Chellick, but Chellick reveals his knowledge of the Doctor's unauthorized injections and restricts the Doctor to Level Blue. Chellick also says that he interfaced the Doctor's holomatrix with the Allocator. Now, the Allocator will automatically monitor and delegate the Doctor's every move. Later, Chellick catches the Doctor on Level Red, but the Doctor injects Chellick with the same virus that inflicted Tebbis. The Allocator identifies Chellick as Tebbis and denies Chellick medication. The Doctor says that he will only help Chellick if Level Red is equipped with an adequate supply of medication. Chellick begs Dysek for help, but Dysek refuses his request, following the Allocator's rules — rules which Chellick established. The Doctor then proposes that Level Red patients, including Chellick, should be transferred to Level Blue to receive care. Chellick finally agrees.
The Voyager crew locates the hospital ship and retrieves the Doctor. Later, the Doctor asks Seven of Nine to check his ethical subroutines for any failures or changes, admitting that he had deliberately poisoned a man. Seven informs him that, unfortunately, he has "a clean bill of health."
|
After going without mail from home for over a month, the U.S.S. Voyager crew is looking forward to seeing the next datastream which is jammed in the ship's transceiver. Harry Kim and Seven of Nine determine that instead of letters, the datastream contains a hologram of Reginald Barclay, the Starfleet officer from the Pathfinder project on Earth who has taken a personal interest in getting Voyager home. Holo-Barclay tells Captain Janeway of the project's plan: Voyager will be passing through a sector of space occupied by a red giant star and at the same time, Federation scientists will target the magnetic field of another red giant in the Alpha Quadrant with a verteron beam to create a geodesic fold. As a result, space will be punctured at two points, creating a gateway between the quadrants. Janeway says the plan won't work because Voyager's shields are useless against geodesic radiation, but Holo-Barclay responds that he brought shield upgrades and medical technology to protect the crew.Review
The Doctor agrees to transfer his mobile emitter to Holo-Barclay so that the visitor can move freely about the ship while he makes preparations. In the briefing room, Holo-Barclay shows the crew where the geodesic fold will occur and passes out assignments to everyone.
In the Pathfinder research lab, the real Reginald Barclay investigates why the datastream transmission did not reach its target. Commander Pete Harkins, his supervisor, believes the hologram was lost because it was too complex and therefore it degraded, but Barclay insists something interfered. He comes to find that a spacecraft passed within 20 meters of the Midas Array just hours before Starfleet sent the first hologram, and conjectures that ship was either Borg or Romulan. Harkins refuses to listen, and orders Barclay to take a vacation.
Meanwhile in the Delta Quadrant, the Doctor tells Holo-Barclay that the medical inoculations are not strong enough to protect the crew from the geodesic fold's radiation, but Holo-Barclay assures the Doctor that in combination with the shield modifications, they will be enough. When the Doctor invites him to a game of golf, the hologram is evasive. Later, Torres and Kim prepare to transmit a "thank you note" back to the Alpha Quadrant, and Holo-Barclay asks to include his own "progress report." The datastream is transmitted to the Midas Array, but an alien device attached to the array diverts the transmission to a Ferengi ship near a red giant star. Three Ferengi on board huddle around a monitor to receive Holo-Barclay's report which includes information on Seven of Nine and her Borg nanoprobes. They intend to acquire those nanoprobes and sell them for a huge profit.
On Earth, Barclay catches up with his therapist and former crewmate Deanna Troi on vacation at the beach, and tells her about his distress. Troi recalls that Barclay was doing fine not long ago when he was dating a teacher named Leosa. Barclay reveals that Leosa expressed great interest in Pathfinder's plan, but then left him the same day that his hologram was lost. After prodding from Troi, Barclay admits that he suspects Leosa had something to do with the missing transmission.
On Voyager, Holo-Barclay proves to be the "life of the party" as he does impressions of the captain and Tuvok, to the delight of crewmembers. The Doctor calls Holo-Barclay to the holodeck and reminds him that they had an appointment to play golf. Holo-Barclay is strangely contemptuous toward his fellow hologram.
The real Barclay informs his superiors that Leosa is suspected of breaching Pathfinder security, and she is brought in for questioning by Admiral Paris. Leosa admits that she is not a teacher, but rather a dabo girl who works on a Ferengi casino ship. But she denies sharing her knowledge of the Pathfinder project with anyone. Troi knows she's lying, and coerces the truth from her, including the identity of the Ferengi ship involved in the theft. Scans find that ship near the red giant star, and Admiral Paris sends a starship to intercept it. Meanwhile, Leosa reveals to the broken-hearted Barclay that the Ferengi are after Seven of Nine's Borg nanoprobes, and that she would get a cut of the profit.
After his strange encounter with Holo-Barclay, Voyager's Doctor urges Janeway to run a diagnostic of the hologram since the crew is putting their lives in his hands. Janeway agrees, and the diagnostic shows Holo-Barclay is working perfectly.
While Admiral Paris and Commander Harkins are waiting for the U.S.S. Carolina to arrive at the red giant, Barclay tells Troi that he figured out what the Ferengi have done: They stole the first Barclay hologram that was sent a month ago, reprogrammed it to steal Seven's nanoprobes, and then smuggled it to Voyager in the next transmission. Meanwhile the Ferengi initiate a pulse in the red giant star to open a geodesic fold. This is seen back at Pathfinder, and the officers realize the Ferengi plan is to bring Voyager through the fold, which will kill the entire crew. On Voyager, Seven of Nine also realizes the crew will not survive the trip, so Holo-Barclay phases his holographic hand into Seven's cranial implant, causing her to fall unconscious. Since the Carolina won't arrive in time to stop the Ferengi, Barclay comes up with another plan.
The Ferengi ship receives a message from what they think is Holo-Barclay, who says that Captain Janeway found out about their plan, has developed a way to protect the ship as it comes through the fold, and will hunt down and kill the parties responsible. The three Ferengi believe him, and start closing the fold. They don't realize the message came from the real Barclay from a holodeck re-creation of Voyager at the Pathfinder lab.
Meanwhile, Holo-Barclay beams himself and Seven to an escape pod and heads toward the geodesic fold. Kim manages to beam them back aboard while the pod goes through the fold and rams into the Ferengi ship. The Ferengi are disappointed they didn't get their profit, and the Voyager crew are disappointed that yet another shortcut home failed. Meanwhile, Barclay is programming a new hologram with security precautions when Troi arrives to invite him to dinner, where she plans to set him up with a friend who's a real teacher.
|
The Doctor, Seven of Nine and Harry Kim are on a mission in the Delta Flyer to study preanimate biomatter from a comet. The ship jolts a few times and they realize they are under attack. The captain of the attacking vessel, Ranek, claims the Delta Flyer is transporting a "photonic insurgent" through Lokirrim space, which is forbidden. Kim explains that the "photonic," or hologram, is their Doctor. The patrol vessel grabs the Delta Flyer in a tractor beam and fires a disruption field that begins to decompile the Doctor's matrix. Kim then tells Seven that she must somehow hide the Doctor's program. The Lokirrim beam aboard with weapons demanding the photonic, but Seven announces that they "murdered" him. The boarding party inspects the vessel, and Ranek finds the Doctor's mobile emitter, which Seven claims is her "portable regeneration unit." Ranek confiscates the device regardless. He then orders the Delta Flyer to be secured in the Lokirrim docking bay, and locks Kim and Seven in a holding cell. It is here that Kim finds out that Seven downloaded the Doctor's program into her cybernetic implants, and the Doctor is now in control of her body. For the first time, the Doctor is able to have sensory experiences, including touch and smell.Review
On the U.S.S. Voyager, unaware of the Delta Flyer crew's predicament, Captain Janeway sets out to rendezvous with them in 48 hours. In the Doctor's absence, Tom Paris is examining Tuvok for a neurochemical imbalance, which turns out to be his Pon Farr, the mating instinct that inflicts Vulcan adults every seven years. Paris promises to provide a special medication from the Doctor's database, and to keep his condition secret.
On board the Lokirrim patrol ship, the Doctor in Seven's body is enjoying the sensation of eating, even though their prison rations taste terrible, according to Kim. Ranek has Seven released and sent to the Delta Flyer for questioning. He asks her about the food replicator and whether it is used to create bio-weapons. Exasperated by his suspicious nature, Seven/Doctor replicates a slice of New York cheesecake to prove it's harmless, and experiences rapture upon tasting it. Before long, Seven/Doctor and Ranek have devoured plates of food and downed several glasses of wine. Despite being inebriated, the Doctor maintains the ruse of being Seven, and tells Ranek that she/he needs the "regeneration device" back. Ranek agrees to hand over the mobile emitter in exchange for medical services, then returns Seven/Doctor to the holding cell.
As Kim holds the mobile emitter, Seven/Doctor injects it with Borg tubules to restore the Doctor's matrix. The disoriented Seven then scolds the Doctor for abusing her body. The Doctor apologizes for his overindulgence, and thanks her for saving his life. The three then make a plan to get a message to Voyager, but it'll involve downloading the Doctor back into Seven's implants.
The patrol ship's tactical officer, Jaryn, takes Seven/Doctor to their medical bay and explains that the patients are suffering from synaptic failure caused by a viral weapon from their photonic enemies. As Seven/Doctor synthesizes a treatment, she/he gets to know Jaryn better and learns about the photonic servant who was part of her own family before the uprising. She/he suggests that Voyager's own "photonic," the Doctor, would have taken a liking to her.
On Voyager, the medication Paris applies to Tuvok isn't working to stabilize his condition. Paris suggests creating a replica of the Vulcan's wife in the holodeck in order to satisfy his longing, and Tuvok hesitantly agrees. While Tuvok participates in the holodeck simulation, the ship comes under attack by a Lokirrim vessel because of "photonic activity" aboard. Janeway agrees to shut down the holodecks and allow the Lokirrim ship to escort Voyager through their territory.
While Seven/Doctor is working with Jaryn in the patrol ship's medical bay, Ranek calls for Seven of Nine to meet him on the bridge. Ranek redirects the ship to a pulsar cluster called the "Window of Dreams," the most beautiful sight in the quadrant, and lets the pulsars' EM vibrations fill the bridge with natural music. Seven/Doctor doesn't realize he's trying to set a romantic mood, until Ranek can't help himself and plants a kiss on her/his lips. Seven/Doctor pushes him away and storms off. Seven/Doctor returns to the medical bay and tells Jaryn about Ranek's behavior, and learns that she has feelings for her captain. Since the Doctor has been developing feelings for Jaryn, he makes an impassioned plea for her to find someone more like him, when Seven/Doctor pulls a neck muscle. Jaryn starts massaging her/his neck, until she/he has certain feelings and pulls away nervously.
Seven/Doctor then gets called to the holding cell to treat Kim, who has been faking a seizure in order to get her/him back there. The Doctor separates himself from Seven into the mobile emitter, and Seven chastises him for kissing Ranek and for getting aroused by Jaryn. After the two argue about living life with or without indulgences, Kim presses them for what they've learned about the ship's com system. Seven now knows Ranek's command codes, and they need to get to the Delta Flyer to transmit them to Voyager. The Doctor conjures up a plan.
Seven/Doctor approaches Ranek and asks for a private meeting on the Delta Flyer, with an apology for her harsh reaction before, and a suggestion that they "start over." She/he offers him champagne, turns on music and starts dancing with him. When Ranek is called to the bridge, Seven/Doctor injects him with a hypospray and knocks him out.
Voyager gets a message from Seven that the away team is being held prisoner, and she provides their precise location and the command codes to disable the patrol ship's shields. Her personality and her comments cause Janeway and the others to realize that the Doctor is occupying her body, which means they're in more trouble than they thought. Janeway orders a phaser shot to the Lokirrim escort vessel, and Voyager makes a quick getaway.
At the patrol ship, Seven/Doctor has brought Ranek to the medical bay, telling Jaryn that he has an especially low tolerance for synthehol. Over Seven/Doctor's objection, Jaryn revives Ranek, who orders Seven back to detention, separate from the other prisoner, suspecting her of trying to aid the insurgents. They then receive word that an alien vessel is approaching, and Ranek takes Seven with him back to the bridge where he can keep an eye on her.
Janeway opens a channel to the patrol ship and demands the return of her people. When they refuse, Chakotay uses Ranek's command codes to disable their shields. Ranek ties the shields directly into their warp matrix, and announces that if Voyager fires, it'll trigger a core breach and their crewmates will die. Janeway sends a message directly to Seven's cortical node asking for her help to disable the patrol ship's shields. The Doctor materializes himself into the mobile emitter, and takes up a weapon while Seven works the shield controls. Ranek fires a weapon at the console Seven is working at, but she has already destabilized the shield grid. When he goes to the console to undo her work, it explodes, throwing Ranek across the bridge and seriously injuring him. Although the Lokirrim order him to stay back, the Doctor insists on treating Ranek, and he refuses to beam back to Voyager until he does, or else Ranek will die. Playing on Jaryn's feelings for Ranek, the Doctor gets her to let him operate.
Ranek is saved, and he and Jaryn both express their gratitude to the Doctor, even though their opinion toward "photonics" in general may not have changed. Back on Voyager, the Doctor is paid a visit in Sickbay by Seven, who brings delicacies and wine that she previously would have considered "indulgent." Since the Doctor can no longer share the experience of eating and drinking, Seven promises to describe the meal to him so he can enjoy it vicariously.
|
Voyager sets down on a planet for a major maintenance overhaul while away teams in shuttles are sent in search of supplies. As Torres informs Captain Janeway that repairs will take days longer than originally expected, suddenly several consoles black out. Moments later the consoles flicker back on, and Icheb steps forward to explain the repair he made. Impressed, Janeway assigns Icheb to work with Torres, hoping he can help get the job done a little faster.Review
Harry Kim, Seven of Nine and Neelix are on the Delta Flyer searching for dilithium when they are caught in the crossfire between two alien ships. They receive a distress call from a Kraylor captain begging for help with casualties and claiming that his ship is on a humanitarian mission. Hesitant to get involved, Kim contacts the opposing ship, but the Annari commander there is very arrogant and charges weapons. Kim uses the Flyer's deflector to damage the Annari ship, forcing them to retreat. He and Neelix then beam over to the damaged Kraylor ship with medical kits and learn that the captain was killed along with all the ship's other officers. Kim sets out to repair the ship's engines and cloaking device, and impresses the Kraylor with his skills. When the ship is ready to fly again, Loken, the doctor in charge of the research team aboard, asks Kim to command the ship to their destination, since no one left alive among them is trained. Kim declines, but Loken insists that they can't afford to fail in their mission to deliver vaccines to their homeworld that will save thousands of lives. Since their flight plan will take them close to Voyager's location, Kim agrees to fly the ship that far.
When the cloaked Kraylor ship approaches the planet where Voyager is grounded, they discover three Annari warships in orbit. It turns out the Annari are attempting to befriend the Voyager crew and become trading partners. Once the Annari leave the planet, Kim brings Loken to Voyager, where he appeals to Captain Janeway for help getting home. In private, Janeway tells Kim that he has put her in a difficult position, but Kim presses the case on behalf of the Kraylor, and offers to take charge of the mission himself. He notes that after seven years on Voyager he's still an ensign, and wants a chance to prove himself as a commander. Janeway agrees, but orders him to take Seven along.
After getting a lesson in decisiveness from Neelix, Kim enters the bridge of the Kraylor ship with authority and lays in a course. He renames the ship "Nightingale" after the famous wartime nurse from his homeworld. He then prepares the ship for departure and gives the command to engage. During the flight, Seven informs Kim that she asked the acting helmsman, Terek, to make a course correction. Over Seven's objection, Kim goes to check up on the crewman and ends up doing the job himself.
Meanwhile on Voyager, Icheb has been working with Torres, who invited him to go rock climbing with her on the holodeck. After he gets advice from the Doctor on how to tell if someone has romantic feelings for another, Icheb thinks he's getting "signals" from Torres while working very closely with her in a Jefferies Tube, and even scans her for the physiological responses the Doctor described.
On the Nightingale, an alarm sounds and the cloak destabilizes. Kim orders all stop and works in Engineering with Seven and crewman Dayla, making the repairs himself and rejecting the suggestions of the others. Seven criticizes Kim's overly hands-on and dismissive approach to commanding the crew, but Kim proceeds to order the ship to resume course. The cloak soon fails again, and six Annari vessels swoop in and fire upon them. While Seven tries to get the cloak back on-line, an explosion in Engineering knocks her unconscious. Kim tries to leave the bridge, but the crew insists he stay, so he lets Dayla go down to Engineering while he gives her instructions over the com. As he's doing that Loken suddenly interrupts and gives Dayla different orders, which succeeds in re-engaging the cloak. Kim eyes Loken suspiciously as he orders the ship to escape at full impulse.
Later, Loken reports that Dayla is dead while Kim tries to treat the still-unconscious Seven. Kim tests Loken by asking his advice as a doctor, having realized that he knows a lot more about cloaking systems than he does biology, as did Dayla. He presses Loken for the truth, and the Kraylor admits that he and his colleagues have not been developing vaccines, but rather cloaking devices for his people's fleet. The so-called medical transport is actually a prototype ship, and the Annari don't want it to reach the Kraylor homeworld. He reveals that his planet has been under an Annari blockade for three years which has been choking off supplies of food and medicine, therefore their mission is still a humanitarian one. Nevertheless, the angered Kim orders the ship to reverse course back to Voyager. But the crew refuses to obey, and Kim realizes he's lost command.
Back on Voyager, Icheb gets flustered when Paris jokes that he's been spending a lot of time with his wife lately. Icheb approaches Torres and tells her outright that they should not be romantically involved. Torres is dismayed, but she plays along and agrees that they should stop "seeing each other."
When Seven of Nine comes to, Kim tells her about the situation and that they should take an escape pod back to Voyager. Seven asks if he's abandoning ship because the mission isn't what he expected, or that being a captain isn't what he expected. In spite of his remorse over Dayla's death, she exhorts him to fulfill his commitment to get the Kraylor home, because they won't survive without him.
As the Nightingale approaches the Kraylor homeworld, the crew sees Annari ships in orbit emitting pulses of energy designed to illuminate cloaked ships. Unsure how they will get through that barrage, Kim comes back to the bridge and promises to find a way.
Voyager receives a hail from the Annari captain who befriended them earlier, ordering Janeway to leave Annari space immediately because they've discovered her people are supporting their enemy. The warp engines are not repaired yet, but Janeway has no choice but to let Voyager be escorted away at impulse speed.
Meanwhile, the Nightingale is detected and gets fired upon by Annari ships. Kim opens a channel to the lead Annari vessel and offers to discuss terms for surrender. He tells his crew to trust him as he proposes to the Annari that they be allowed to evacuate to the surface in exchange for turning over the ship with its cloaking technology, otherwise he'll self-destruct the ship. The Annari commander agrees, but Kim has a plan. Kim, Seven and Terek stay aboard while Loken and the others leave in escape pods. Kim tells Seven to get the exact polarity of the Annari's tractor beam in order to use their own weapons against them. At just the right moment, the Nightingale reverses shield polarity and snaps free, heading for the Kraylor defense perimeter. They outrun the Annari and get through the planet's shield grid, and the Annari break off pursuit. Kim orders Terek to take them to the surface, completing his mission. Back on Voyager, Kim notes in his log that although the mission was a success, he doesn't feel entirely good about it, and he confesses to Neelix that he's not a captain ... not yet, anyway.
|
Two Hirogen move through a jungle hunting prey. Suddenly phaser shots are fired at them from a small lake. Four armed Starfleet crewmen rise out of the water and continue firing, destroying their predators with vengeance.Review
The U.S.S. Voyager receives a distress call on a Hirogen frequency and approaches a mysterious vessel. An away team beams over and finds themselves in a jungle, and upon surveying the area, they discover the bodies of Hirogen killed with Starfleet-issue phasers. They are also surprised to find a Klingon bat'leth stained with Hirogen blood. The team detects a lifesign that appears wounded, and upon approaching a cave, they are fired upon. A panicky Hirogen civilian, Donik, warns the visitors away and continues firing his weapon. Tuvok sneaks up behind Donik and renders him unconscious with a nerve pinch. The Hirogen has lost a lot of blood, so Paris beams him to Voyager's Sickbay. Meanwhile the away team finds a holodeck interface of Starfleet design, and they realize the jungle environment is simulated, and wonder why their tricorders didn't detect that fact. Seven of Nine shuts down the holodeck emitters, and they find themselves in a hologrid filled with dead Hirogen.
Back on Voyager, Chakotay tells Captain Janeway the holo-technology she gave the Hirogen three years ago so they could hunt holographic prey was apparently modified to be more dangerous. The Captain is astonished that the Hirogen obviously "missed the point" and got themselves killed. She approaches the terrified Donik in Sickbay, and after convincing him she is not a Hologram, learns that the vessel he was on is a training facility where young Hirogen learn to hunt. He is a technician who was maintaining the system when the Holograms malfunctioned, took control and deactivated the safety protocols.
Just then, a Hirogen ship intercepts Voyager and starts firing. The Alpha-Hirogen in command demands that Voyager leave immediately, but Janeway informs him that she has the one survivor from the facility on board. The Alpha- and Beta-Hirogen beam over and confront Donik, accusing him of being a coward for hiding from the Holograms while hunters fought and died. Donik reveals that the Holograms transferred their programs to a vessel equipped with holo-emitters, and are on the loose.
The Hirogen team up with Voyager's crew to locate the renegade Holograms. Once they detect their ship, the Hirogen prepare for the "hunt" and Janeway insists on joining them, feeling partly to blame for the situation. The Hirogen vessel moves in for the kill over Janeway's objections, and after it's too late they realize the ship they see is a decoy — it's really a bomb, which explodes and seriously damages the Hirogen vessel. While Voyager beams over the survivors, the actual ship occupied by the Holograms drops out of warp and starts firing. The Holograms then tap into the holo-emitters in Sickbay and transfer the Doctor's program to their own ship, then immediately go to warp, masking their signature so they can't be followed.
The Doctor materializes on the Holograms' ship and finds himself surrounded by simulations of various Alpha Quadrant species. A Bajoran hologram named Iden welcomes the Doctor aboard. He demands to be returned to Voyager, but Iden says they have "wounded." The Doctor says he's not an engineer and has limited experience in repairing holograms, but Iden insists that he try.
At Voyager, Janeway learns that the Holograms are very sophisticated and have the ability to learn and adapt, so they will be hard to disable. Donik confesses that he modified the Holograms under his Alpha's orders to make them formidable prey. Janeway approaches the Beta-Hirogen, who is in charge now, and lets him know she found out about the modifications, and points out that they created prey with skills that surpass their own. The Beta-Hirogen says he will resume the hunt, but Janeway insists they must find a way to take the Holograms offline from a safe distance, and do it with the Hirogen's help or else she'll leave them on the nearest habitable planet. The Beta-Hirogen has no choice but to agree.
At the Hologram ship, the Doctor finds a way to perform a "subroutine transplant" in order to repair a Klingon hologram, and succeeds with the help of Kejal, a highly intelligent Cardassian hologram. The Doctor is shocked to find Holograms bleeding and experiencing pain, and Kejal explains that the Hirogen programmed them to suffer when they are killed. Once he's done treating the injured, the Doctor finds Iden praying at a Bajoran altar, and wonders how someone who's programmed with spiritual beliefs could perform such a massacre. Iden explains that his Alpha-Hirogen would hunt him and kill him over and over, causing him to live in fear and pain. With the ability to adapt, he became cunning enough to escape, and joined other photonic beings who were being oppressed by various races in the sector and who had chosen to fight back. The training facility they just left was actually the third one where Iden "liberated" the holograms. Iden tells the Doctor his life will never be his own as long as he is controlled by organics, and asks him to stay and make a new life with his own kind. The Doctor refuses.
Soon after, the Doctor finds himself running through a jungle, being hunted by Hirogen. The confused and terrified Doctor gets wounded and starts bleeding, then he's stabbed to death. The Doctor wakes up in shock on the Hologram ship. Iden explains that they transferred memory files from one of their Holograms into his program so he can come to understand what they've been through. Enraged, the Doctor accuses them of being thugs looking for a fight. But Iden says what they're looking for is a home where the Hirogen can't hurt them anymore. His sympathy growing, the Doctor asks to hear more about this "home." Iden and Kejal show the Doctor a photonic field generator, which they plan to deploy on a planet's surface to create a holographic environment they can live in. The Doctor suggests that the Voyager crew could help, especially Lt. Torres, who's an expert on holo-emitters. Iden does not trust organics, but is interested in knowing more about Torres.
At Voyager, Donik discusses strategy with Janeway, Seven of Nine and Torres on how to shut down the Holograms, and Torres embarks on a plan to reconfigure the ship's deflector to emit an anti-photon pulse. Soon afterward, the Hologram ship intercepts Voyager and hails them. The Doctor appears on the viewscreen and says the Holograms have come to make peace. He comes back aboard and tells Janeway that the Holograms want to create a new life for themselves and need Voyager's assistance. Janeway is hesitant to share technology again, because that's how the problem got started. The Doctor gets frustrated and tells her the Holograms are a new species, one that she helped create, and she can't turn her back on them. Janeway and the Doctor argue contentiously over "holographic rights" when they get word that a fight has broken out in the Mess Hall where the Hirogen are being confined.
The Hirogen are creating chaos so that the Beta-Hirogen can get to a control panel and access the com system. Tuvok arrives and stops him, but he has already summoned two Hirogen vessels. With less than an hour to intercept, Janeway orders Torres and Donik to prepare the deflector to take the Holograms off-line so there will be no more bloodshed. The Doctor objects to having them deactivated, but Janeway proceeds and contacts Iden, telling him to prepare his people to be transferred to Voyager's database. Iden doesn't trust that Janeway, an organic, will ever reactivate them. He ends the transmission, fires on Voyager and begins moving away. The Doctor pleads for Janeway's reconsideration, but she orders him to go help Paris treat the wounded in the Mess Hall. The Doctor leaves the Bridge, but in a crisis of conscience, goes to Sickbay instead. He contacts Iden and transmits data on the pulse about to be used to deactivate the Holograms, along with Voyager's shield frequencies so they can beam him off the ship. The Doctor transports over while Voyager and the Hologram ship exchange fire. Iden had given his word he wouldn't use the shield frequencies to attack Voyager, and he keeps that promise, but when Voyager emits the deflector pulse, he sends a feedback surge through the beam that overloads the ship's deflector and causes an imminent warp core breach. As Torres puts up a forcefield to reinforce the core, an energy tendril knocks her out. Iden beams Torres over to his ship, then escapes to warp as Voyager is left adrift.
|
The Doctor, who voluntarily joined the renegades, is furious with the group's leader, Iden, but Iden promises to let Torres go once she has a chance to decide for herself whether to help the Holograms. Meanwhile, the Voyager crew struggles to repair the ship in Torres' absence, and Janeway learns that the Doctor betrayed and abandoned the ship, and wonders if his matrix may have been altered by the other Holograms. When Torres wakes up on the Hologram ship, she intends to leave immediately, and rebukes the Doctor for switching allegiances. The Doctor points out she did the same thing as a Maquis, and tries to convince her that by providing her technical expertise, she can help stop the violence. He takes her to meet Iden, and she agrees to look at the photonic field generator, but makes no promises.Review
On Voyager, the crew has no luck locating the Holograms. Donik thinks he can modify the ship's sensors to detect them, and asks to stay aboard rather than go back with the other Hirogen. Two much larger Hirogen vessels arrive and retrieve all their people except for Donik, and the new Alpha-Hirogen threatens to turn the Voyager crew into prey if they interfere with their hunt. The Hirogen vessels go to warp, and Janeway decides to follow using a plan by Donik to hide Voyager in the ion wake of one of the Hirogen vessels — a "blind spot."
Torres looks at the photonic field generator with Kejal, suspicious of the Holograms' motivations. When she comes to realize she's prejudged these beings, Torres proceeds to help enhance their technology. Meanwhile, Iden approaches the Doctor, who is having doubts about being with the Holograms. Iden shows him their destination: a Class-Y planet he calls "Ha'Dara," which is Bajoran for "Home of Light." He plans to install the generators on that planet because its environment is toxic to organic life, so they'll be left alone there. Just then, the Holograms realize that two Hirogen vessels have detected them, so they proceed to hide in a nebula. The Hirogen ships also fly into the nebula, unaware that Voyager is trailing one of them from within its ion wake.
The Holograms try to evade the Hirogen while Torres works a little faster to get the field generator on line. She successfully tests the generator by running Kejal through it, and lets the hologram know that as the closest thing they have to an engineer, she's the most important member of her crew. Meanwhile, the Doctor tells Iden that in their new society on Ha'Dara, he hopes to expose the others to music and art from various worlds. Iden responds that the Holograms will develop a culture of their own without emulating organics. In fact, he plans to establish a new religion with himself being worshipped as the "Man of Light" who delivered his people to freedom. The Doctor's doubts grow stronger.
A Nuu'bari mining ship is detected, and Iden orders an intercept course, planning to liberate the holograms on board. The Doctor expresses his concerns to Torres, revealing that Iden is showing signs of megalomania. Meanwhile, the Hirogen detect the Hologram ship on the other side of the nebula and move to intercept, with Voyager surreptitiously tagging along. On the Hologram ship, Iden contacts the Nuu'bari miners and tries to coerce them to turn over their holograms. They refuse, so Iden fires upon them and has Kejal steal the hologram programs. The Nuu'bari threaten to retaliate, so Iden targets torpedoes upon their warp core and destroys them, to the Doctor's and Torres' horror. He then sets a course for Ha'Dara as Torres accuses him of murder. He has her confined and then asks Kejal to bring their new "friends" on-line. Because their programs are incompatible with their emitters, she needs Torres' help, who agrees because she thinks she can get through to Kejal. As they work, Torres lets Kejal know that Iden doesn't have to be the one to make all the decisions, and she has the power to deactivate him. Finally the Nuu'bari holograms come on-line, but they are incapable of any interactions — they are only programmed with very rudimentary subroutines. Torres points out that Iden killed two living beings to "liberate" mindless machines, but Iden fervently declares that they are "children of light" and he will deliver them to freedom. Just then the bridge announces they are approaching Ha'Dara. Iden orders the generator to be deployed immediately, and refuses the Doctor's request to release Torres.
The Hirogen follow the Holograms to the planet, and when they drop out of warp, Voyager immediately fires weapons and disables both hunting vessels. Voyager then turns on the Hologram ship. Iden has the Hirogen hunters transported to the planet's surface so that the Holograms can hunt them in retaliation. The Doctor objects to his actions, so Iden deactivates his program, but not before assuring him that he'll be remembered in their prayers. He takes the Doctor's mobile emitter and transfers his own program to it, and orders the field generator transported to the surface. He rallies the other Holograms, declaring that this time, the hunt is theirs.
On the surface, the unarmed Hirogen have trouble breathing. The Holograms materialize around them and begin pursuing them with weapons. Meanwhile on the ship, Torres convinces Kejal to stop the massacre, but their transporters and communication system were damaged by Voyager. Torres tells Kejal to shut down the Holograms, which she does, and the Holograms on the surface dematerialize before they can kill more Hirogen. However, Iden is using the mobile emitter, so she can't deactivate him. Torres suggests sending the Doctor to the surface through the generator.
The Doctor materializes on the planet with a Hirogen hunting rifle, and he begins pursuit. Just as Iden is about to kill the Beta-Hirogen, the Doctor catches up with him and demands he lower his weapon. Iden refuses, so the Doctor fires and obliterates his fellow Hologram.
The surviving Hirogen are rescued by Voyager, and after recovering, the Beta-Hirogen intends to reclaim the Hologram vessel along with everything in its database. But Neelix convinces him that the stories that are told about this hunt will reflect more favorably upon him if the Hologram ship is thought to have been destroyed. The Hirogen agrees, and leaves Voyager empty-handed. Janeway transports to the Hologram vessel and learns from Torres that Iden is unrecoverable, but the other Holograms are intact in the database. Janeway offers Kejal refuge on Voyager, but she insists that this ship is her home, and Donik volunteers to stay with her and reprogram the Holograms to undo some of the damage he caused. Torres vouches for them, and Janeway urges them to always consider the consequences of their actions, which she's saying just as much to herself as the others. Back on board Voyager, the Doctor offers to let Janeway take his mobile emitter away and revoke his freedom, but she won't punish him for becoming as fallible as those who are made of flesh and blood.
|
While Icheb tutors Naomi Wildman in genetics and Chakotay joins Janeway for dinner, Voyager gets rocked by the gravimetric force of a spatial rift. Chakotay heads to Engineering when the ship's warp core begins to destabilize, and as he tries to maintain containment, an energy blast strikes him and knocks him out. Chakotay and the ship both shimmer in a strange patchwork effect. Torres checks Chakotay and sees that half his face is aged and the other half is youthful, and has him beamed to Sickbay. Chakotay wakes up in Sickbay and learns that his body was in a state of temporal flux, but the Doctor created a chronoton-infused serum that brought him back to normal. Chakotay asks the Doctor to come with him to check for other injured crewmen, but the hologram says he can't leave Sickbay. Chakotay asks about his mobile emitter, but the Doctor doesn't know what he's talking about. Chakotay can tell something is wrong and leaves.Review
Chakotay ascends in the turbolift and a distortion wave passes through it, causing the medkit he was holding to disappear. Chakotay enters the Bridge and asks Kim what's going on. Kim doesn't recognize him, but Janeway does, and orders guards to take him into custody, accusing him of sabotage on behalf of the Maquis. Chakotay realizes he's somehow been thrown seven years into Voyager's past. As he rides the turbolift with the guards, another distortion wave causes the guards to disappear. Chakotay then proceeds to Engineering and he finds it occupied by Kazon warriors and his old lover-turned-nemesis Seska. After they knock him out and revive him, Chakotay realizes he's in a time period five years ago when Seska (restored to Cardassian form) and the Kazon took control of Voyager. He tries to tell Seska what's going on, but she won't listen, so he has to bluff his way out of captivity. He manages to climb to an upper level in Engineering and passes through a distortion, and disappears from Seska's point of view.
Chakotay returns to Sickbay and tells the Doctor that the ship has somehow been fractured into different time periods, and that the serum injections seem to allow him to pass through the barriers between them. Chakotay asks the Doctor to give him the same serum in a hyospray that can also pass through the temporal barriers, so that he can put the ship "back together" again. He goes back to the bridge and approaches the Janeway of seven years past, telling her personal things about herself that he couldn't know. She starts to listen to his story and his plan, but still suspects him of nefarious intent, so he forces the serum injection upon her and takes her through a time barrier. Starting to gain her trust, Chakotay takes Janeway to the Astrometrics Lab which has temporal sensors that can help them map the time distortions. On the way they encounter injured crewmen in a corridor, in a time during one of Voyager's many predicaments, and Janeway gets increasingly perplexed. In Astrometrics, Chakotay and Janeway find a grown-up Icheb and Naomi 17 years into the future. They reveal that Chakotay and Janeway both died in the accident that shattered the space-time continuum aboard the ship. Janeway theorizes that if they can get to a section of the ship that still exists in the time period where the chronokinetic surge occurred, maybe they can counteract it. They could use the help of Seven of Nine — a name Janeway doesn't recognize — so Chakotay suggests finding her in another time frame.
Chakotay takes Janeway to the Cargo Bay where the Borg have entrenched themselves during Voyager's temporary alliance with them. Seven of Nine, who is still fully a drone, says a chronoton field generated by the warp core and projected throughout the vessel would force it back into temporal sync, and Chakotay would have a few seconds to counteract the energy surge that caused the problem. Janeway gets the idea of injecting the ship's bio-neural circuitry with the Doctor's serum in order to transmit the chronoton field. Chakotay and Janeway get the Doctor to replicate more serum, at which time the Doctor accidentally reveals to Janeway that the crew will get stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
Janeway and Chakotay begin going throughout the ship to inject the neural gel packs with the serum. In a corridor, they are chased by a macrovirus from another incident in Voyager's history in the Delta Quadrant, leaving Janeway further bewildered. They then enter a monochromatic environment in the ship's holodeck, which is Paris' "Captain Proton" program. Just when they find the panel they need, Doctor Chaotica and his henchmen appear and restrain them. Unable to deactivate the program, Chakotay tells Janeway to play along in the role of Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People. Rolling her eyes the whole time, she convinces Chaotica that she is loyal to him, and gets him to inject the gel pack himself.
In a transporter room, Janeway and Chakotay encounter several Maquis members, including Torres before she joined the Voyager crew. Torres accuses Chakotay of collaborating with the enemy, but he gains her trust and injects the gel pack. They next go to the Mess Hall, where Paris has set up triage for several crewmen injured in the original incident. Janeway finds her friend Tuvok, who is afflicted with radiation burns and dies while holding her hand. After leaving that location, Janeway tells Chakotay that she can't let all this happen again, and wants to put Voyager into temporal sync with her own time frame. She intends to change the future, the Temporal Prime Directive be damned. Chakotay sets her straight by pointing out that she's seen bits and pieces of the future, but not the whole picture. Despite the problems that Voyager has encountered, much has been gained through the crew's experiences, such as Seven of Nine recovering her humanity and Paris and Torres getting married, and the Maquis and Starfleet crews coming together under a captain who would never stop believing they would get home.
Their final stop is Engineering, where Chakotay has to deal with Seska. His story is so preposterous that she believes him, so she lets him inject the gel pack, but realizing that his presence means the Starfleet crew will regain control of Voyager, she demands that he modify the plan by bringing the ship into temporal sync with her time frame. He refuses, so she threatens to kill him. However, Janeway is waiting in the upper level, along with Paris and Kim who have been injected with the serum. They storm the Kazon contingent, and on that cue, the adult Icheb and Naomi rush in from one side of the room while Torres and another Maquis come in from the other side to surprise the Kazon and wrestle away their weapons. But Seska manages to grab Janeway and hold her hostage with a phaser. She demands inoculation for herself and her people, or Janeway will die, but at that moment Seven of Nine appears through a temporal barrier. Seska fires at the drone, but Seven's Borg forcefield repels the phaser shot and she overtakes the Cardassian, saving a thankful Janeway.
Janeway has everyone return to their section of the ship, pointing out that once the timeline is restored that will have no memory of what happened. Chakotay works the warp core as Janeway returns to the bridge. The chronoton pulse is initiated, and the ship is restored to the original time frame but a few seconds earlier. Chakotay immediately orders Torres to reroute main power to the ship's deflector so it can serve as a "lightning rod." The energy discharge from the spatial rift hits the deflector dish and burns it out, but the warp core is unaffected and the ship is saved. Chakotay refuses to tell the present-day Janeway why he made that order, invoking the Temporal Prime Directive, but that doesn't keep them from finishing their dinner together.
|
B'Elanna Torres starts the morning in an uncommonly good mood, but then in Engineering her mood changes and she scolds Icheb for being there without her permission. Suddenly she gets dizzy and drops to the floor. Seven of Nine goes to help as Icheb scans her with a tricorder. Icheb says he detects a lifesign inside Torres, perhaps a parasite. But Seven contacts the Doctor and tells him Torres may be pregnant. In Sickbay the Doctor confirms to Torres and her husband Tom Paris that they are indeed having a baby, and the reason Torres fainted could be that Klingon and human metabolism sometimes clash. The fetus is healthy, but the Doctor warns Torres that she can expect to experience some behavioral volatility.Review
Despite Tom and B'Elanna's wish to keep the news to themselves for awhile, the rest of the crew quickly finds out about Torres' pregnancy, and both Neelix and Chakotay vie to be the child's godfather. Captain Janeway offers Torres time off, but Torres insists that she can handle her duties. Meanwhile an increasingly anxious Paris faces the prospect of being of father, and even solicits advice from Tuvok. Later Paris has a candlelight dinner set out when Torres returns to their quarters, but she's upset about the Captain practically relieving her of duty and annoyed by crewmembers' unsolicited advice. She gets further upset when Tom makes a comment about her being a Klingon mother. B'Elanna catches herself in "behavioral volatility" and calms down, but then the Doctor summons them to Sickbay.
Tom and B'Elanna learn their child's spine will be deviated, but that a genetic modification will correct it. The Doctor also accidentally reveals that it's a girl. At Tom's request, the Doctor projects an holographic image of the baby. Tom thinks she's beautiful, but B'Elanna wonders why the girl has forehead ridges when she's only one-quarter Klingon. The Doctor says Klingon traits remain dominant for several generations. B'Elanna has a flashback to a time when she was a young girl on a campout with her human father, and recalls that he told her how much she was like her Klingon mother. Later, Paris and Torres turn in for the night, and Torres continues to recall the campout experience from when she was 12-years old. Young B'Elanna didn't want to go hiking with her human cousins because she thought they didn't like her.
The next morning Torres reports to Sickbay to undergo the Doctor's recommended genetic treatment. While lying on the bio-bed she has another flashback from the campout: one of her cousins, an 11-year-old boy, put a worm in her food and teased her about being Klingon, causing young B'Elanna to storm off. After the Doctor completes the treatment successfully, Torres goes to a holodeck and projects a computer-generated image of her daughter when she will be 12 years old. Seeing her forehead ridges, Torres examines the child's genetic makeup, and deletes certain gene sequences in the computer display. Asking the computer to extrapolate the genetic changes to the projection, she eventually causes the girl to look completely human. Torres saves the changes and restricts access to the file for herself.
Torres returns to Sickbay and tries to convince the Doctor to make further genetic changes in her baby, claiming it will prevent potential health problems. The Doctor is against the idea and suggests that she talk this over with Paris. When she does, Paris is totally against the idea. He comes to realize the issue is not about the child's health, but the fact that the child is part Klingon. He tries to assure her that their daughter will not be treated like an outcast. But they fail to come to an agreement, and turn to Captain Janeway. Torres argues that she wants to make physiological changes for her child's best interest, just as Janeway did for Seven of Nine. Janeway points out their problem is not ethical, but marital, and she would not overrule the Doctor. Torres is not happy that Paris has gotten his way, and before he knows it he's at Harry Kim's doorstep needing a place to sleep.
Torres sits in bed alone, recalling more of the campout experience. Young B'Elanna finally returned to the campsite after having run off, and told her father, John Torres, that she wished she wasn't Klingon because everyone made fun of her and her schoolmates hated her. Despite her father's assurances that the other kids didn't hate her, young B'Elanna chose to sit alone and read rather than join the rest of her family around the campfire. In the present moment, Torres re-experiences the isolation she felt back then.
While working in Engineering the next day, Torres recalls when she overheard her father talking to Uncle Carl about how moody and argumentative young B'Elanna had become, just like her mother. John reminded his brother about their parents' reservations about him marrying a Klingon, and noted that now, ironically, he was living with two of them. Later Torres meets up with Paris in the corridor, and they reconcile. They are then summoned to Sickbay.
The Doctor tells Torres and Paris that he reviewed the data and has concluded the genetic alterations she wanted are necessary because the "clash" between Klingon and human metabolism is more extensive than he realized. The child risks complete metabolic failure, and to prevent it he must eliminate most of her Klingon genetic material. The Doctor schedules a procedure for the next morning. Meanwhile a disturbed Paris takes the Doctor's findings and runs it by Icheb, who spots a computational error. Seven runs a diagnostic on the Doctor and discovers that his program has been tampered with. Paris tries to contact Torres, but she doesn't respond. The computer reveals she's in Sickbay. Torres has already arranged to undergo the procedure to alter the baby.
Torres has blocked communications to Sickbay and access to the Doctor's program, so Paris, realizing that Torres manipulated the Doctor to "change his mind," summons Tuvok to meet him at Sickbay. They have to manually open the door, and then encounter a forcefield. Paris orders the Doctor to stop the procedure, but Torres tells the Doctor to ignore him. Eventually the forcefield is cut off and Tuvok informs the Doctor he's been altered, so he agrees to deactivate himself. Tuvok leaves Paris and Torres alone. The couple argue over Torres' actions, and in the heat of the moment Torres reveals her issue is with her father. She tells Tom about how she and her father grew apart, and during the campout when she was 12, she blurted out to her father that if he can't stand living with two Klingons, why doesn't he just leave. And several days later, he did. Tom realizes she has blamed herself all this time for her father leaving, and she fears the same thing will happen again. He assures B'Elanna he will never leave her, and he hopes to have even more Klingon children and that every one of them is just like her. Later, Torres reverses the alterations to the Doctor, and while apologizing to him she feels the baby kick. Now she's happy about having a feisty Klingon in her womb. She asks the Doctor to be the child's godfather, and he elatedly accepts.
|
Responding to a distress call, the U.S.S. Voyager approaches a damaged alien vessel and transports two injured passengers to Sickbay and nine others to a Cargo Bay. In the Cargo Bay, three of the rescued aliens are Nygean guards holding the others prisoner, and they are concerned that their weapons didn't beam over because the other men are dangerous criminals. In Sickbay, another prisoner named Iko takes Seven of Nine hostage and demands a ship and some food. Tuvok arrives with the Nygean warden, Yediq, who says he won't negotiate with criminals. Iko is distracted and Seven breaks free from his grasp. He then grabs the Doctor, but Tuvok fires his phaser through the holographic Doctor and strikes Iko to the floor.Review
Later, Yediq thanks Captain Janeway for saving them, and he tells her, Chakotay and Tuvok that the prisoners are being transported back to the Nygean homeworld for execution, because they have all been convicted of murder. The officers are uncomfortable that their ship will help deliver eight men to their deaths, but they are bound by the Prime Directive, so Janeway agrees to keep the prisoners detained for several days until a Nygean ship can make a rendezvous. Tuvok outfits the Cargo Bay with prison cells secured by forcefields and tritanium bulkheads, and the prisoners are held there, including Iko, who is beamed over from Sickbay after threatening to kill the entire crew unless he is released.
While Tuvok lays down the ground rules to Yediq, Neelix arrives with a dinner cart. Yediq tells him to take it back because the prisoners don't deserve such an elaborate meal, but Neelix and Tuvok cite Federation protocols regarding the treatment of prisoners, and Yediq relents. Meanwhile, the Doctor expresses to Seven how troubled he is by the captain's arrangements with the Nygeans, because he believes their death penalty is barbaric.
In the Cargo Bay, a prisoner named Joleg provokes Iko into causing a disturbance, and when Yediq checks on him, Iko threatens the warden's children. The Nygean guards enter Iko's cell and beat him severely, but then Voyager security officers jump in and stop the violence. Afterwards Janeway is infuriated with Yediq and bans him and his men from the Cargo Bay, putting Tuvok in charge of the prisoners. The Doctor treats Iko in Sickbay, and asks Seven to provide nanoprobes so he can program them to repair the neurological damage done to the prisoner's brain.
Meanwhile Neelix delivers food again to the prisoners, and Joleg tells him that he ended up among the condemned because he was found in the vicinity of a murder, and was arrested and convicted simply because he is Benkaran — a species "known" by the Nygeans to always be criminal. Later, Neelix contacts the Nygean government under the pretense of a "cultural exchange" and acquires data on their criminal justice system. He tells Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres that Benkarans occupy a disproportionate amount of space in Nygean prisons, and are ten times more likely to be executed for their crimes than Nygeans. In particular, Joleg was convicted on circumstantial evidence. Paris tells Neelix from personal experience that in prison, "everyone has a story," and to not put too much stock into what Joleg says. But Neelix reminds him that Joleg is sentenced to die.
In Sickbay the Doctor has applied the nanoprobes to Iko, who has woken up in pain, but much calmer than before. The Doctor observes that Iko is now acting grateful and considerate, a stark reversal of his earlier behavior. Iko complains to the Doctor that he is suffering nausea and that he can't stop thinking about the man he killed. Seven believes his discomfort is a manifestation of guilt. Iko's never felt guilt before, and blames the Doctor for making him feel so horrible. Looking at scans of Iko's brain, the Doctor finds that the nanoprobes have established new neural pathways in his brain. While the Doctor gathers more information about Nygean physiology, Iko tries to make conversation with Seven. She is intrigued when he regains his childhood fascination with stars and constellations.
Meanwhile in the Cargo Bay Neelix teaches Joleg how to play Kadis-Kot. In their conversation Neelix learns that the Nygean legal system is based on a principle called "Vekto Valek K'Vadim" — ancient Nygean for "Favor the Victims" — by which the victim's family dictates the convict's sentence. He also learns that if a defendant is wealthy enough, he can negotiate a monetary settlement with the family rather than serve a sentence. Neelix is appalled and wants to help Joleg, but the prisoner doesn't want to do anything that would imply he's guilty. Instead he asks Neelix simply to transmit a letter to his brother.
The Doctor determines that Iko was born with a congenital brain defect that made him prone to violence and sociopathic behavior, and the nanoprobes have inadvertently repaired it. He informs Janeway of this, and she realizes that Iko's "conscience" has been activated. The Doctor believes Iko is no longer a threat, and Seven notes that by some definitions he is not the same man who committed the murder. They tell a skeptical Yediq that Iko has undergone a fundamental change, and killing him won't accomplish anything. They persuade him to work with Tuvok to draft an appeal and submit it to the authorities on behalf of Iko. Iko doesn't want the appeal though, and tells Seven that he deserves to die. He demands to be returned to his cell, where he asks Neelix to give his meal to another prisoner, Egrid, whom he used to always steal food from.
Later, Janeway and Yediq inform Seven that Iko's appeal was rejected. Seven passionately insists on doing more to help him. Janeway realizes that Seven has an issue with atonement, that perhaps if Iko is found not guilty that she herself will somehow be not guilty for the violent acts she committed as a Borg. Just then the ship is jolted by alien fire. The attack causes a power loss in the Cargo Bay holding the prisoners. Joleg and the other inmates, except for Iko, overpower the guards and escape with weapons. The alien vessel tries to beam over the five Benkaran prisoners, but Voyager fires upon the vessel's transporter array and it retreats.
Meanwhile Tuvok tries to neutralize the prisoners in the ship's corridors, but Joleg takes Yediq hostage and demands a shuttle. Joleg backs into the Cargo Bay and has another prisoner seal the door with a phaser rifle. Joleg pushes Yediq to the floor and prepares to kill him, but Iko stops him, saying, "He's mine." Iko takes the phaser and points it at Yediq while Joleg laughs. But then he hands the phaser to Yediq, who immediately shoots down Joleg and the other prisoner. Yediq realizes that Iko really has changed.
Yediq subsequently uses his influence to convince the family of Iko's victim to hear his appeal. Iko speaks to them on Voyager's viewscreen, saying that he will accept death if it helps them find peace but if they let him live, he'll never hurt anyone again. Meanwhile Neelix tells the re-incarcerated Joleg that he found out the "note" sent to his brother was really meant to help him track down Voyager and attack. Joleg tries again to manipulate Neelix, and the Talaxian leaves disgusted. While Iko and Seven look at constellations in Astrometrics, Janeway arrives and announces that Iko's appeal has been denied. Iko must now be detained again and taken home for execution. Seven is devastated, and for at least a day cannot regenerate. Janeway learns that Seven feels remorseful for having murdered thousands without punishment, but Janeway reminds her that she lost 20 years of her life to the Borg, and that's punishment enough.
|
The U.S.S. Voyager finds itself under attack by a cloaked vessel. The bridge crew discovers it's an antiquated Klingon battle cruiser, which they can detect with a metaphasic scan. Captain Janeway orders return fire, disabling the vessel's cloak. Janeway hails the damaged ship, telling them to stand down, but Captain Kohlar declares they will not surrender to sworn enemies of the Klingon Empire. Janeway says there's been a misunderstanding since the Klingons and the Federation signed a peace treaty more than 80 years ago. Kohlar does not trust her, so Janeway tells him her Chief Engineer is a Klingon. He wants to meet that Klingon.Review
Kohlar boards Voyager and meets B'Elanna Torres. He sees that she is pregnant, and asks if the child was conceived during a holy month, which she confirms. Kohlar returns to his ship and tells the other Klingon leaders that the prophecies of the "Scrolls" have come true, and that the "Day of Separation" has arrived.
The Voyager bridge crew realizes the Klingon ship is having a warp core breach. Kohlar requests emergency transport, and all 204 Klingons from the vessel are beamed over into the shuttlebay. Voyager jumps to warp as the Klingon ship explodes. Janeway and Tuvok confront Kohlar with information that he made his ship self-destruct. Kohlar says it was the only way to get them aboard Voyager. He explains that they were following a sacred text that told them to embark on a long journey to find their "Kuvah'Magh" or "Savior." Kohlar believes that savior is the unborn child of B'Elanna Torres.
Janeway briefs the senior staff about the situation and asks them to respect the Klingons and make room for them by having the crew double up on quarters. The Klingons fill the Mess Hall as Neelix provides them meals of gagh, and when a fight breaks out between two of the visitors Harry Kim breaks it up, attracting the attention of a large, lustful Klingon woman. Meanwhile, Torres avoids contact with the Klingons for fear of being ambushed. Some of them start a hunger strike and won't eat until Torres meets with their Council of Elders, so Janeway asks her to cooperate. Torres reluctantly complies, and in the meeting a skeptical elder, T'Greth, realizes she is only half-Klingon and that the baby, with a human father, is also a "mongrel child." Captain Kohlar counters that the signs of the prophecy are there, but T'Greth believes he led them to a false savior.
Later, Kohlar tells Torres that whether or not her baby is the true savior, they must convince his people that she is. He explains that they have been searching for more than a hundred years, and have found nothing but hardship and isolation. He sees Torres and her child as an opportunity to end the wasteful journey. If the Klingons accept her child as their savior, Torres will hold great influence over them and point them toward a home. Torres and Janeway both tell him that they will not deceive his people. So Kohlar suggests that Torres study their scrolls and interpret them in a way that appears consistent with the events of her life, and then they will bring those consistencies to the attention of the council. Otherwise violence could break out.
Torres agrees to help out Kohlar, who makes her realize that the Scrolls can mean anything one wants them to. For example, a "glorious victory against an army of 10,000 warriors" could be interpreted as destroying a Borg vessel, which Torres has helped to do. After spending two days reviewing the Sacred Scrolls, she appears before the Klingon council and tells a spirited story about a heroic encounter with the Hirogen, exaggerating her role in the fight, to the pleasure of the Klingons. She also tells them that Voyager has set course for a planet very much like their homeworld. But T'Greth is still unconvinced, accusing her of saying what Kohlar tells her to. When Torres' husband Tom Paris comes to her defense, T'Greth tests his role in the prophecy by challenging him to a death match. Paris accepts, to Torres' dismay. Janeway refuses to allow such a death match, but at Paris' and Kohlar's urging agrees to a compromise bout where blunted bat'leths would be used and no one would be killed.
Meanwhile, Kim is trying to avoid Ch'Rega, the Klingon woman he restrained earlier and who now wants to mate with him. Neelix helps out by treating Kim with Klingon-style harshness, which causes Ch'Rega to get aroused over the Talaxian instead.
The match between Paris and T'Greth commences in the holodeck. Paris holds his own against his bigger opponent, but he is surprised that T'Greth seems to wear out so quickly. T'Greth collapses, and Kohlar realizes he's come down with the "Nehret," a fatal disease. The Doctor learns that all the Klingons aboard carry the Nehret virus, and have passed it to Torres and her child. Refusing to stay in Sickbay, T'Greth approaches his comrades and declares that since the child has the disease, she cannot be the Kuvah'Magh. They must resume their search, and to do so, they must seize control of Voyager.
The ship arrives at the planet that will serve as the Klingons' new home. Pretending to cooperate with Kohlar, T'Greth asks to beam down as part of the survey mission, rather than to die on Voyager. Kohlar agrees, but T'Greth takes the opportunity, with help from his supporters, to take over the Transporter Room and beam most of the Voyager crewmembers to the surface. Unable to beam out the Bridge crew, the Klingons transport themselves to the Bridge and do battle there with phasers, but T'Greth and his accomplices are eventually knocked out.
T'Greth wakes up in Sickbay and is informed that his illness has been cured — the Doctor has synthesized an antivirus using hybrid stem cells from the unborn mixed-breed baby. T'Greth realizes the child has cured him, and Kohlar declares that she is truly their savior. The Klingons begin to settle on their new homeworld, and Torres accepts a bat'leth from Kohlar, given to him by his great-grandfather, as a gift for the baby. Later, Paris wonders if the child isn't truly the prophesized savior, given the coincidence of the two ships running into each other. Torres doesn't buy it, but she agrees to consider "Kuvah'Magh" as a name for their daughter.
|
The U.S.S. Voyager is pulled into a void with no apparent way out. Neelix presents an exotic dinner to Janeway, Chakotay, Paris and Torres, a meal prepared by Seven of Nine who is trying her hand at being a gourmet chef. Suddenly the ship jolts and a graviton surge pulls them toward a swirling funnel, and they wind up in a realm of complete blackness. Then, an alien ship begins firing upon them. As Voyager fires back, a larger ship swoops by and fires at the other ship. Then the second ship fires at Voyager, penetrating their shields, and transports several cargo containers, food, deuterium and other supplies from Voyager to their ship.Review
Another ship approaches Voyager and an Annarian named General Valen appears on Voyager's viewscreen, welcoming Captain Janeway to "the Void." Coming aboard, Valen tells Janeway that Voyager was sucked into an inert layer of subspace, nine light-years wide, through one of its "funnels." Valen and his ship have been in the Void for five years, and no one has ever found a way to escape from it. In order to survive, the trapped ships compete for resources from new ships that are drawn in.
Torres reports that the anomaly's graviton forces are draining the warp core, and they will run out of power in 10 days. Seven, Tuvok, Paris and Janeway come up with a plan to enter a funnel and jump to warp at exactly the right moment to escape. Implementing their plan, they peer through the eye of a funnel and prepare to jump warp. However, the eye suddenly closes and the funnel shoots Voyager back into the Void. Torres reports that the warp core is now off-line.
Torres thinks she can fix the warp core, but they need the deuterium that was stolen from them or basic systems won't last more than a week. Janeway gives orders to track down the ship that raided them and get back their supplies. They find that ship, but detect no lifesigns on it — apparently it was raided as well. However, one piece left behind — the ship's warp core casing — is composed of tricesium, which can be converted into a power source. Voyager beams the casing over, and when Seven and Torres scan it they find a small alien inside. The timid creature does not speak, and has a leg injury. In Sickbay, the alien won't let the Doctor close enough to treat him, and he eats voraciously. Janeway and Seven wonder why they didn't detect the mysterious being, but decide to make him comfortable until they can find a safe place for him.
Meanwhile, Tuvok and Harry Kim discover that General Valen raided the lifeless ship and now has Voyager's supplies. Janeway contacts Valen and demands the supplies back, but he refuses and the two ships exchange fire. Voyager manages to transport back about half of their stolen resources, and an opportunity presents itself to raid Valen's ship for additional food, but Janeway declines to do that. Later, Tuvok and Chakotay approach Janeway and suggest that the crew may need to be more opportunistic in order to survive in the Void. Janeway points to the Federation Charter as a statement of principles that they should not abandon. Using the Federation model of mutual cooperation, Janeway proposes forming an alliance with other ships to pool resources and devise a way to escape, on the condition that members of the alliance not resort to killing or stealing.
Janeway's first prospective ally is a Jelinian survey ship with a captain named Garon. Skeptical, Garon says he will consider her proposal. Janeway continues to make overtures to a ship of Nygeans and other potential alliance members. Meanwhile, the Doctor realizes the mute creature in his Sickbay loves music, and has named him "Fantome" after "The Phantom of the Opera." Seven gets the idea of trying to communicate with the alien by way of computer-generated tones, and Fantome responds enthusiastically.
A funnel opens in the Void and another ship is pulled in. Two warships approach, including Valen's, and try to attack, but Voyager defends the newcomer. About to lose the battle, Voyager is joined by Garon's ship and forces the raiding vessels to retreat. Garon hails Janeway to accept her offer of an alliance.
With Garon on board, finding new allies becomes easier. Janeway hosts a visit by Commander Bosaal whose ship has technology that could aid in an escape. But he reacts adversely upon seeing Fantome in the Mess Hall, accusing his species of being vermin. Janeway tells Bosaal that they've figured out how to detect the creature's lifesigns and can transport those of his kind off his ship. With that, Bosaal agrees to be an ally.
Torres works with Garon to build a polaron modulator that will help the alliance ships escape the Void, but so far they have failed. Janeway hopes to trade with another ship for a polaron modulator. Meanwhile, Fantome joins others of his kind in learning how to communicate through tones generated by PADDs, creating a musical "conversation" that amazes Janeway. Later, Janeway learns that Bosaal has provided a fully compatible polaron modulator, but pressing him on how he got it, she realizes he stole it from another ship and killed its crew. Enraged, Janeway orders Bosaal off the ship along with the modulator — although the technology would help them escape, she refuses to be accessory to murder. As a result, some of the other ships drop out of the alliance, and Torres has to continue trying to build a modulator from scratch.
Later, one of the remaining allies spies on Bosaal and discovers that he is attempting to form an alliance of his own with Valen and other adversaries, with a plan to attack Voyager. Without the resources to defend themselves, Janeway realizes they need to make an escape attempt right away, even though Torres hasn't had time to test her new modulator. The ship readies its plan with its allies, and Fantome's people — who are native to the Void and live as nomads on ships — want to help out. When a funnel is detected, the alliance ships prepare to go in. Bosaal and his fleet approach and begin firing. Firing back, Voyager manages to penetrate shields on two of the ships and transports Fantome and his friends over. Seconds later Fantome hails Voyager that they have sabotaged Valen's ship; Bosaal's vessel has also been disabled. That gives the four alliances ships time to enter the funnel in a "shield bubble" and jump to warp to enter normal space. The successful allies then wish each other well and go their separate ways.
|
In a vast alien metropolis on a planet called Quarra, Kathryn Janeway enters a power distribution plant and reports in to a shift supervisor, who takes her to a workstation and explains her task. Janeway has taken a job among a multi-species workforce with no recollection of her previous life as captain of Voyager. When she has trouble working the controls, another worker named Jaffen comes over to help and tries to befriend her. They are chastened for fraternizing by Seven of Nine, who knows herself as "Annika Hansen" (her human name), the new Efficiency Monitor. Jaffen doesn't return to his station until he invites Janeway to go out for a meal after work, but she turns him down.Review
Meanwhile, Tom Paris — also unaware of who he really is — gets himself hired in a local tavern to wait and bus tables. That night Jaffen is in the tavern telling an anecdote to some friends, and he gets an uproarious laugh from Tuvok, whose behavior is very atypical. Janeway comes in, supposedly to eat alone while she studies manuals, but Jaffen joins her, and he ends up walking her home. They live in the same building, and he invites her to his place; she turns him down.
The next day, Janeway learns that all the workers must periodically receive inoculations to protect them against radiation. As a squeamish Tuvok is getting injected, he has a flashback of himself in his Starfleet uniform, struggling against a Quarren doctor giving him an injection. The strange memory leaves him trembling and perspiring.
All this time Chakotay, Harry Kim and Neelix have been in the Delta Flyer on a trading mission with the Nar Shaddan. When they return, Voyager is not at the rendezvous point. The starship is disabled inside a nebula, and the Doctor is the only crew member on board and is trying to make repairs. When the others find the ship and come aboard, the Doctor explains what happened: Voyager hit a subspace mine which deluged the ship with poisonous tetrion radiation, so Captain Janeway ordered the crew into escape pods, leaving the Doctor in charge of the ship as the Emergency Command Hologram. The Doctor then had to fend off scavengers trying to claim the abandoned vessel, and hid inside the nebula. He since discovered that the subspace mine was a deliberate attempt to disable Voyager. And he hasn't heard a word from the rest of the crew.
At the power plant, Tuvok has another flashback: He and Janeway were brought into a Quarren medical facility where a Dr. Kadan claimed to be treating Janeway for "Dysphoria Syndrome"; when Tuvok demanded her release, Kadan had him restrained and "inoculated." Shaken by this flashback, Tuvok approaches Janeway and says they know each other, that perhaps they met in the hospital, but she has no recollection of a hospital or of knowing him prior to her job. He gives up as Jaffen steps in, who makes dinner plans with Janeway. Meanwhile, Torres is sitting alone in the tavern, and Paris tries to get to know her. He asks to get together with her, but she reveals that she's pregnant, although unmarried, and leaves. The four people aboard Voyager complete repairs and begin searching for their crew. Kim finds them on a class-M planet less than three days away, and they set course. Janeway and Jaffen have their date, where dinner is a disaster. But it doesn't matter — they fall in love and kiss.
Voyager arrives at Quarra and Chakotay speaks with an ambassador who will not allow him to communicate with his crewmates. The ambassador says they are leading safe, comfortable lives there, and any attempt to disturb them would be met with force. Neelix learns there is a severe labor shortage in the Quarren system, so Chakotay gets the idea of applying for jobs themselves so they can infiltrate the plant where their people are working. Because he has spoken with authorities and could be recognized, Chakotay has the Doctor alter his features to look non-human, and he and Neelix prepare to go to the planet undercover, with subdermal transponders that will allow them to transport through the shield grid.
At the power plant, "Annika Hansen" orders Tuvok to go get the inoculations that he's been neglecting. Tuvok speaks her Borg name — "Seven of Nine" — and tries to mind-meld with her to make her remember herself. But security guards grab him and take the desperate Vulcan away. Chakotay secures a job at the plant and immediately approaches Janeway. She doesn't recognize him, so Chakotay continues the ruse of being a happy new employee. Neelix runs into Paris at the tavern, keeping up the same ruse, unable to jar his friend's memory. After Chakotay meets up with Neelix, they follow Torres in the streets and grab her. Kim beams Neelix and the struggling Torres up to Sickbay, where the Doctor tries to help her. Meanwhile Jaffen asks Janeway to move in with him, and she agrees. Tuvok is in the Quarren hospital where Dr. Kadan tells him he's experiencing "Dysphoria Syndrome" and will feel better after an injection. Chakotay is being pursued by security guards, but Kim can't beam him up because the ship has fallen under attack. The guards chase Chakotay through the facility up to a precipice overlooking the massive city, and he finds himself trapped.
|
A disguised Chakotay is being pursued by Quarren security officers and is trapped at a forcefield. He smashes a control panel to disable the forcefield, then overpowers the guards and escapes, but not before getting a phaser shot in the arm. Meanwhile, Harry Kim and the Doctor are in command of Voyager as it is being fired upon by Quarren patrol ships. They disable the first two ships, but five more approach and they are forced to retreat. The injured Chakotay enters the tavern where a brainwashed Janeway has just decided to move in with her new boyfriend, Jaffen.
A Quarren investigator named Yerid enters the tavern inquiring about two people who disappeared earlier that evening — named B'Elanna and Neelix. The waiter, Tom Paris, points him to Chakotay, but he's already disappeared. In the Quarren hospital, Dr. Kadan orders a skeptical Dr. Ravoc to do a memory sequencing treatment on Tuvok. Meanwhile in the power plant, Seven of Nine is on the job and has a flashback of life on a Borg cube. Connecting the flashback to her encounter with Tuvok earlier, she goes to her Supervisor's office and asks about him. Yerid arrives to inquire about the two missing employees, saying he believes that Amal Kotay — Chakotay's assumed identity — is responsible for their disappearance.
Janeway moves her things to Jaffen's apartment, but when she returns to her old place she finds Chakotay hiding out there. He tells her that B'Elanna and other people in the city were brought to the planet against their will and made to forget their real lives, and he's trying to help them. Janeway reluctantly lets him stay, and decides to do something about his injury. Voyager, meanwhile, has hidden in a moon's crater to make repairs and to treat Torres for her altered memory. Neelix takes Torres to her quarters to re-introduce her to her real life, and she is surprised to learn that the waiter from the tavern is her husband. At the plant, Seven catches Janeway taking a dermal regenerator, but she promises to return it. Seven is sidetracked when she has an opportunity to enter the Supervisor's office and use his console; she learns that Tuvok has accessed numerous employee files including Janeway's, B'Elanna's, and her own. Janeway returns to Chakotay to heal his injury, and he reveals that he's from a ship called Voyager. Chakotay observes that she seems happy in her job and her life, but she seems capable of so much more. Janeway responds that she wouldn't want more responsibility. Chakotay is contacted by Voyager through his subdermal transponder, and they inform him that the ship is two days away but need the planet's shield grid disabled so they can transport the crew members back. Chakotay tells Janeway that she's the captain of that ship, but she has a hard time believing him. To prove himself, he takes the dermal regenerator and undoes the alterations made to his face, revealing that he is the same race as she. He tells her they are also friends.
Janeway tells Jaffen the story she just heard, but he thinks Chakotay is trying to manipulate her with promises of a better life. Meanwhile Chakotay is found by Yerid and is taken in for questioning. Chakotay tells him they are both investigating disappearances, and has questions of his own. Just then Dr. Ravok enters with orders to transfer Chakotay to Neuropathology to be treated for mental illness. As he's taken away, Chakotay tells Yerid the truth about himself and his abducted crewmates.
On Voyager, Kim and the Doctor are discussing tactics and arguing over whether the Doctor should remain a Command hologram, when they are hailed by Chakotay. He says he's almost ready to shut down the shield grid, and gives instructions on where and when the ship should enter orbit. They don't know that Chakotay is being subjected to a mind control device and is sending them into a trap.
At the tavern, Seven meets discreetly with Yerid to share her findings that more than a hundred employees — most of the same species — began work on the same day, which is unusual during a labor shortage. Also, they were all processed through the Neuropathology division, including herself, wh