Torres: What?
Seska: I've seen that look before. Ensign Murphy had better watch out.
Torres: I happen to know that Murphy is seeing one of the Delaney sisters.
Seska: Not since Harry and Tom Paris made their move.
Torres: Harry and the Delaney sisters? He would have told me.
Seska: I guess there are some things he keeps to himself.
Torres: Harry, is it true about you and the Delaney sisters?
Kim: Is what true?
Seska: Come on Harry, there aren't any secrets on a ship this small.
Kim: What have you been telling people?
Paris: Well, we did take that trip to Venice with them.
Kim: The holodeck? You've got to be kidding. That lasted all of fifteen minutes.
Paris: Yeah, you know, I've been meaning to ask you. What happened when you and Jenny Delaney disappeared in that gondola?
Kim: Nothing.
Torres: Harry, we're your friends. You can tell us.
Kim: Nothing. We talked, and then I fell over the side.
Seska: You fell out of the gondola?
Paris: I think maybe Harry wasn't quite prepared for how voracious Jenny Delaney can be.
Janeway: I think it's finally beginning to happen. Both crews getting along.
Tuvok: That kind of bonding should improve performance and maximize efficiency.
Janeway: Yes, I'm sure it will.
Chakotay: Bridge to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead
Chakotay: Captain, we're receiving a distress call in one of the lower subspace bands.
Janeway: I'm on my way.
Janeway: Report, Commander.
Chakotay: The subspace distress signal is coming from a vessel bearing one two five mark two one. Distance two hundred thousand kilometers.
Kim: Captain, sensors indicate five lifeforms aboard.
Tuvok: The vessel is altering it's course to intercept us.
Janeway: Go to yellow alert and slow to impulse. Hail them, Mister Kim.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. What is the nature of your emergency?
Gath: We have no emergency.
Janeway: But you're sending out a distress call.
Gath: Yes, we are.
Janeway: Why?
Gath: Because you are in distress. I am Gathhorel Labin of the planet Sikaris. Please, let us welcome you to our system. Show you the hospitality of our people.
Janeway: that's very kind of you
Gath: If I could come aboard your ship, I have gifts for you and a proposal I hope you will find irresistible.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, make the necessary arrangements to receive our guest.
Janeway: Mister Labin, it really isn't necessary to go to all this trouble.
Gath: Please. Call me Gath. And I promise you I would like nothing better than to prepare a few of our newest delicacies for you. Ah, this will be perfect.
Neelix: Captain, I'm serving lunch in less that two hours.
Janeway: We won't be long, Neelix. This is Mister, this is Gath. He's from Sikaris.
Neelix: Ah! Ooo. Sikaris!
Janeway: Do you know the planet?
Neelix: Only stories about their incredible hospitality.
Janeway: Tell me, how do you know about us?
Gath: Our people are very well traveled. Some of them have brought back stories about the ship of aliens from another part of the galaxy. People lost and alone, struggling to find their way home again.
Janeway: This is wonderful.
Gath: And I decided to come and meet you and offer you respite.
Tuvok: Respite?
Gath: A vacation, if you will. Get away from the confines of the ship, enjoy the beauty of our landscape, meet and talk with interesting, learned people.
Kes: And the crew would certainly welcome a little shore leave, Captain.
Neelix: And I hear the Sikarians have a huge variety of edible plants. If we could collect some seeds, we'd expand our selection significantly.
Janeway: Sounds like all this would increase performance and maximize efficiency, don't you think, Mister Tuvok?
Tuvok: Indeed.
Janeway: Well Gath, looks like you're getting visitors. We'll set a course and follow you in.
Gath: I could not be happier.
Gath: If you see anything you like, just let me know.
Janeway: What is this material? It's so delicate.
Gath: Exquisite, isn't it? It's the latest import from Vedestris. It's spun from the petals of a flower that blooms only in moonlight. Shall I have a dress made for you?
Janeway: It's lovely but, no, thank you.
Gath: Is it so hard for you to accept a gift?
Janeway: All right, but something small. Maybe a scarf?
Gath: What a curious people you are. Tell me would it help if I said that you could have an entire wardrobe made from these beautiful fabrics and that it would give all of us great pleasure to create it for you.
Janeway: Let's start with the scarf.
Gath: As you like. Which cloth do you prefer?
Kim: That's beautiful. Are you a musician?
Eudana: This isn't a musical instrument. It's an atmospheric sensor. The frequency of the chimes indicates changes in weather conditions.
Kim: Then it must work on a principle of non-linear resonance, adjusting to the dynamic variables in the atmosphere.
Eudana: That's exactly right. Are you a scientist?
Kim: In a sense. Can you show me how to operate it?
Eudana: I'd be happy to. First, you have to initialize the sub-harmonic mode.
Janeway: Oh, I think this one.
Gath: When I see you wearing that scarf, my pleasure will be greater than yours.
Janeway: Well, I should get back. But with your permission, I'd like to start organizing teams to gather plants and seeds.
Gath: This is my associate, Jaret Otel. You may contact him to make any necessary arrangements.
Jaret: We'll be glad to assist you in any way, Captain.
Janeway: I'll find my officers and we'll return to the ship.
Gath: Tonight we are having a celebration here. I hope you and your officers will be my guests.
Janeway: We'd be delighted.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48642.5. The crew is enjoying an evening on Sikaris. They are discovering, to their delight, that reports of this species' hospitality have not been exaggerated.
Kim: So the whole thing exploded and there we were, seventy thousand light years from home and no way to get back. It felt pretty lonely.
Eudana: That's a very noble story.
Kim: Noble?
Eudana: Stories can be whimsical, or frightening, or melancholy, or many other things. But noble stories are the ones that can most affect our lives. May I have your permission to tell others this story?
Kim: Sure. It's no secret.
Eudana: But stories are an essential part of every person's being. I would never share one without permission.
Kim: Go right ahead. I've got a few others too.
Eudana: You do? Come with me. I know a private place where you can tell me all your stories.
Eudana: Stand close to me. Alastria.
Kim: Where are we?
Eudana: The woods of Alastria, my favorite place. I usually come here when I want to spend time alone but, tonight it seemed right to bring you. Now, tell me your stories. All of them.
Kim: Why is it so much warmer here?
Kim: What is that?
Eudana: The dawn zephyr.
Kim: Dawn? We just got here. That's, that is an amazing feeling. What's happening?
Eudana: The erosene winds, passion winds, come just before the dawn. The erosene creates euphoria.
Kim: I'll say. Why am I seeing two suns?
Eudana: Because this is a binary system.
Kim: But your planet only has one sun.
Eudana: But Alastria has two.
Kim: Eudana, where are we?
Eudana: I told you. Alastria. A system far from Sikaris.
Kim: How far?
Eudana: Do you have to ask all these questions?
Kim: Please, it's important.
Eudana: Alastria is about two and a half billion times the distance between Sikaris and it's sun.
Kim: That's almost forty thousand light years.
Eudana: Now, feel the breeze.
Kim: Er, we have to go back.
Eudana: It's still night on Sikaris. We have plenty of time.
Kim: No, er, we're going back, and I need you to tell me everything you know about that platform that got us here.
Gath: And tomorrow night you must let me take you to the theater.
Janeway: Oh my, I have lost all track of time. My crew has gone. I'm the last one here.
Gath: I hope that's because you're enjoying yourself.
Janeway: I am.
Kim: Captain! Excuse me for interrupting but I've just found out about something incredible.
Janeway: Calm down, Ensign. What is it?
Kim: That platform. It's a transportation device. Extremely sophisticated. It operates on the principle of folding space.
Janeway: That's something that's been theorized, but no one's ever been able to develop the technology.
Kim: Well, these people have. I've just been to Alastria and back. Alastria is forty thousand light years away.
Gath: We call it a spatial trajector. We are able to travel to all the planets in this quadrant.
Janeway: How far can it take you?
Gath: Alastria is at the uttermost limits of it's range.
Kim: Apparently it's never been used to move anything as large as Voyager, but as I understand the principle of space folding, the size of the object isn't relevant.
Janeway: What do you think? Would it be possible to modify your technology so we could use it?
Eudora: I tried to tell him.
Janeway: What is it?
Gath: We cannot share our technology. Once it's out of our control, it might fall into the hands of those who would abuse it, and our canon of laws strictly forbids that.
Kim: But we wouldn't abuse it. Don't you see what it would mean to us?
Gath: Please, don't make it more difficult for me. I don't enjoy denying you this, but our canon of laws has determined our entire system of values. To break one of it's precepts would undermine everything we believe in. I'm sorry, but there can be no exceptions to the law.
Kim: I can't believe they're not going to help us. Some kind of hospitality.
Torres: Forty thousand light years. Even if that's as far as we could go, it would still knock about four decades off our trip.
Chakotay: And the possibility exists that we could reconfigure the matrix at that point to take us another thirty thousand light years, right into Federation space.
Tuvok: Since they've already said no, this kind of thinking is only going to make you feel worse.
Janeway: It's the first time we've been on the other side of the fence.
Paris: What fence?
Janeway: The one that's made of binding principles. We have our own set of rules, which includes the Prime Directive. How many times have we been in the position of refusing to interfere when some kind of disaster threatened an alien culture. It's all very well to say we do it on the basis of an enlightened principle, but how does that feel to the aliens? I'm sure many of them think the Prime Directive is a lousy idea.
Paris: Even we think so sometimes.
Chakotay: I know of many times when Starfleet personnel have decided on strong ethical grounds to ignore it.
Kim: Still, there's a reason why it's Starfleet's General order number one. On the whole, it does a lot more good than harm.
Tuvok: Captain, it occurs to me that we know little about the Sikarians. We cannot assume that their first refusal is unalterable. It may be that no is simply a prelude to negotiation.
Torres: He's right, maybe they can be reasoned with.
Chakotay: Maybe they want something. Maybe they'll bargain.
Paris: But what do we have to offer? They seem to have everything they need.
Kim: Stories. Stories are an important part of their culture. They seem to provide more than entertainment. They're kind of a measuring rod of values and beliefs. We have a huge library in our databanks. We could offer them the whole thing. All the great literature of dozens of cultures.
Chakotay: What do you think, Captain? Would they be interested?
Janeway: They just might be. From what we've seen of them, they're a remarkably pleasure oriented people. They might appreciate a gift of literature. I'll arrange to meet with Gath. As Magistrate he has the authority to make this decision.
Torres: In the meantime, I'm going to take a look at that trajector platform. Maybe I can figure out how it works.
Janeway: You'll do nothing of the sort, Lieutenant. If I find this law is negotiable, I'll make every attempt to get the technology, but until then we won't do anything that might violate their canon of laws as we understand it. That's all.
Kim: What's wrong?
Torres: I just hope she gets it.
Kim: She will.
Gath: Exquisite. What did you say you call it?
Janeway: Pecan pie.
Gath: I must have the recipe.
Janeway: I'd be happy to share it with you. Gath, I want you to know I understand your reluctance to share your technology with us. We have similar restrictions. But I wondered, would it make any difference if I gave you my word that we would destroy the trajector matrix as soon as we'd used it?
Gath: I know this will upset you, but I can't.
Janeway: I understand. And frankly, I suspected as much. But I have a proposal which might allow you to obey your laws and still give us what we want. Surely you could use the trajectory to send us? Forty thousand light years would mean a great deal to us. And in return, we're prepared to offer you something you might enjoy.
Gath: Oh?
Janeway: A full library of the Federation's finest literature.
Gath: Literature?
Janeway: Centuries of stories. New stories from diverse cultures. Stories that fire the imagination.
Gath: You certainly know how to tempt me, Captain. It's certainly possible. I'll have to meet with the other Magistrates to discuss it. No one has ever made a request like that. In the meantime, I'd like to enjoy every bite of this, how did you call it?
Janeway: Pecan pie.
Torres: I've finished the maintenance check on the shock attenuation cylinders. They'll have to be replaced in another two thousand hours but we'll face that problem when we come to it. Seska?
Seska: Sorry. I wasn't concentrating. What did you say?
Torres: You looked a million light years away.
Seska: No, only about seventy thousand. My brother's birthday is in four days. Last year I promised I'd meet him on Nivoch, celebrate with him. He'll think I broke my promise, that I'm dead. What are you doing?
Torres: I've been thinking. The folding of space should leave a sub-space residue. If we can detect one, we might be a step closer to knowing how the trajector works.
Seska: Look at that neutrino dispersion pattern. Could that be a result of space folding?
Torres: Maybe. If the device creates a neutrino bubble around whatever's being trajectored.
Carey: If that's the case, we'd need a bubble big enough for the ship. Don't worry Lieutenant. I'm with you on this one. After all, it doesn't hurt to theorize.
Seska: Right. And hypothetically, if we could modify the deflector array to emit phased neutrinos, we could create a big enough bubble.
Torres: Let's give it a try. In theory, of course.
Kim: I don't understand. Why is it so important I come here now?
Eudana: You'll see in a minute. We're here.
Jaret: Good evening, Ensign. Thank you for coming.
Kim: What's this about?
Jaret: I asked Eudana to invite you here because I was sure you would respond to her, and because it would look perfectly natural. I am prepared to accept your collection of literature in exchange for our trajector technology.
Kim: Is that something you're authorized to do?
Jaret: Officially? No. But many people believe that rules should be flexible enough to meet the needs of the moment. There is a great desire here for new stories and I want to be the one to supply them.
Kim: So you'd stand to benefit from this arrangement, right?
Jaret: We will both benefit. I would gain prestige and you would gain forty thousand light years in your journey home, possibly more. This is it, Ensign. The matrix of the trajector.
Kim: Captain Janeway has asked the Magistrate to send us forty thousand light years.
Jaret: He won't. He never had any intention of helping you leave here.
Eudana: Jaret is right. I know how much it means to you to get home. Please, listen to him.
Jaret: You must believe me when I tell you this is the only way you will make that journey. Consider my offer. I'm sure you will decide it is a fair one.
Kim: I don't know what to do. I know we'd all like to get that much closer to home, but I don't think Captain Janeway is going to go for getting the technology like that.
Torres: Maybe she will. After all, it's a Sikarian who's making the offer.
Paris: But it's not above board. The Captain is only going to deal with an official representative.
Crewman: Bridge to Ensign Kim. The Captain can see you now.
Paris: Just tell her everything you know. Let her take it from there.
Kim: Right.
Paris: I'll walk you part way. I'm headed for bed.
Torres: Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this. It's just not going to work out.
Seska: Don't you think that's up to us?
Torres: What does that mean?
Seska: It means that we can sit here and let someone make the decision for us, or we can take matters into our own hands. We've been offered the grand prize. All we have to do is step up and claim it.
Torres: Take the technology? Without permission?
Seska: Since when do you talk like that? Do you think that permission is more important than getting us half way home? The Captain is so infatuated with the Sikarian Magistrate she can't think straight. We can't trust that she's going to make the best decision for all of us. If we do this, we'll need to use engineering to configure the matrix. It would be a lot easier if we knew we could count on you.
Torres: Seska, I am a senior officer now. I have responsibilities.
Seska: And the main responsibility for everyone on this ship is to try to find a way home. Captain Janeway made that clear from the beginning. That's our primary mission. Just think about it, that's all.
Janeway: Did Jaret explain what he meant when he said Gath had no intention of helping us leave?
Kim: No, he just made it clear that our only choice was to get the trajector technology from him.
Tuvok: He may simply want us to believe that so we would deal with him.
Janeway: Possibly. But somehow I suspect he's right. Thank you for coming to me with this, Ensign. It may muddy the situation somewhat, but it helps me force the issue. Dismissed.
Kim: Goodnight, Captain. Lieutenant.
Janeway: Oh, Tuvok, what do I do now?
Tuvok: You would seem to have two options. Continue to negotiate with a man who may have a hidden agenda, or deal with a man who is willing to defy his own laws.
Janeway: Not very pretty choices.
Tuvok: At least if you deal with Jaret, it is his law that is being compromised, not ours.
Janeway: But does that matter? I told the crew when we started this journey that we'd be a Starfleet crew, behaving as Starfleet would expect us to. That means there's a certain standard I have to uphold. Principles, principles. That's what it comes down to. Do I compromise my almighty principles? But how do I not compromise them if it involves a chance to get the crew more than half way home. How do I tell them my principles are so important that I would deny them that opportunity.
Tuvok: I believe the first thing you must do is determine whether Gath is willing to use the trajector to help us. If that possibility exists at all, you must explore it.
Janeway: You're right. Thank you, Tuvok.
Janeway: Have you spoken with the other Magistrates about using the trajector?
Gath: Actually, I haven't. Some of them are traveling now but I assure you I will do it.
Gath: I've already seen all those.
Janeway: It's becoming a matter of some urgency.
Gath: Oh? Why?
Janeway: We've imposed on you for long enough.
Gath: Not true. We welcome you for as long as you can stay. And I hope that's a very long time indeed.
Janeway: My crew is eager to continue our journey. Once they realized the trajector might bring us forty thousand light years closer to home.
Gath: Why are you so consumed with this desire to get home? I find it difficult to understand.
Janeway: Home is home. It's where we belong.
Gath: Couldn't you create a new home here, with us? Can you imagine a more delightful place to live, where you could pass your time extracting pleasure from every moment. I promise you, you and I have many such moments to explore.
Janeway: Yes, but for how long? I've seen how quickly you get tired of your pleasures. All that interests you is what's new and unexplored. After a day or two it becomes commonplace.
Gath: Yes?
Janeway: We prefer permanence. The reward of relationships that endure and grow deeper with the passing of time.
Gath: You would loose those notions if you stayed with us.
Janeway: You may be right. And that's why we have to leave.
Gath: We have offered you nothing but hospitality. Is this how you repay us? With an attack on our beliefs?
Janeway: I'm sorry. I was just trying to illustrate the differences between us.
Gath: I don't enjoy being judged like this. It's very upsetting. Not at all pleasurable.
Janeway: That's all you really care about, isn't it? Your pleasure. All your hospitality, your graciousness, it was never about giving us pleasure. It's all been to gratify yourselves. We're nothing more than the latest novelty.
Gath: You're hostile and vicious. You would infect the joyousness of our lives. You must leave immediately.
Janeway: You never had any intention of helping us, did you?
Gath: Of course I did. I did everything in my power to persuade you to stay here.
Janeway: Janeway to Voyager. One to beam up.
Janeway: Cancel all shore leave and recall the away teams. We've been asked to leave.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Tuvok: I assume that means Gath will not be assisting us.
Janeway: I don't think he ever had any intention of helping us. He just strung us along.
Tuvok: Are you considering Jaret's offer?
Janeway: Oh, I wish I could, but I can't.
Chakotay: Captain, it'll take hours to get everyone up. We've got crewmembers scattered throughout both hemispheres.
Janeway: Get them back as quickly as you can, Commander. I think we've overextended our stay here. I'll be in my Ready room.
Seska: I've downloaded the Federation Library. It's all on these chips. We know the man to contact, he wants the Library and he doesn't care who gives it to him.
Torres: We're under orders.
Seska: B'Elanna, right now our people are still fighting Cardassians, dying for our cause. Settlers in the demilitarized zone are still under attack. We made a promise, B'Elanna, that we'd all stick together until the Zone was safe, and I intend to keep that promise.
Carey: I have a wife, and two little boys. I don't want them to grow up without a father. I'd do anything to prevent that.
Seska: We're not the only ones. Everyone wants to get back. They're just waiting for someone to act.
Carey: I've been working on the theory that the trajector operates within a neutrino envelope. If that's true, I think we can use it as many times as we need, until we're all the way home.
Seska: Just think, by tomorrow we could be there.
Torres: All right, let's do it.
Torres: With shore leave canceled, can we get to the surface undetected?
Seska: We'll have to override the security lock-out but that shouldn't be a problem.
Carey: It's not accepting my security code.
Seska: Re-initialize the lock out buffers.
Carey: I did. It's not working. Someone's altered the security sub-routine.
Torres: Why would anyone do that?
Seska: Never mind. Beam me down.
Torres: Are you crazy? Security will find you out before you get there.
Tuvok: I altered the security sub-routines. Any attempt to over-ride the lock out would have alerted me to your presence here. Is this Voyager's library which you intended to trade for the trajector technology?
Seska: Yes.
Tuvok: When I attempted to download it, I noticed it had already been accessed.
Torres: You were going to download it?
Tuvok: I will make the exchange with Jaret Otel. Return to your stations. Do what you can to prepare the ship for the matrix. Energize.
Chakotay: Mister Tuvok is on the surface now, Captain. He says the remaining away teams should be on board in fifteen minutes.
Janeway: Are all the food supplies secured?
Chakotay: Aye, Captain. As soon as the last of the crew gets back, we'll be ready to leave.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering.
Torres: Torres here.
Janeway: We'll be leaving orbit within minutes.
Janeway: Ready all propulsion systems.
Torres: We're ready now, Captain.
Seska: Where's Tuvok?
Torres: He'll be here. We certainly won't leave without him.
Seska: Well, what's keeping him?
Torres: Calm down. You're going to draw attention to yourself.
Tuvok: Do not attempt to activate the device until I've spoken to Captain Janeway.
Torres: What are you doing? He said not to activate it!
Seska: I'm not. I'm just going to try the interface simulation. We don't know even if it will interface. We can give ourselves a head start by testing it now.
Torres: All right. But just a simulation.
Seska: It's working.
Carey: I was right. It operates within a neutrino envelope.
Seska: The trajector field is bigger than anything we've created by ten orders of magnitude.
Carey: To get a field that size, you'd need an amplifier as big as a planet!
Seska: I don't understand. How do they get that kind of amplification?
Torres: I'll show you. Sikaris has a mantle of tetrahedral quartz twenty kilometers thick. The crystalline structure of the mantle seems to focus and amplify the trajector field.
Carey: If that's how the power transfer occurs, then once we leave orbit we loose the ability to traject.
Torres: We don't have time to test it. We'll have to try it now, or forget it.
Seska: Do it!
Torres: If there are any compatibility problems
Seska: Then we can abort. This is our only chance.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering.
Torres: Torres here.
Janeway: We're ready to leave orbit. Thrusters online.
Torres: Aye Captain.
Seska: We have to do something.
Janeway: Mister Paris, take us out of orbit. Four thousand kph.
Paris: Aye, Captain. There's no response. Thrusters are offline.
Janeway: Janeway to Engineering.
Janeway: What's going on, Lieutenant?
Torres: We've got a phase variance in plasma conduit three. I'll have to check it out before we can engage thrusters.
Janeway: When did this problem show up?
Torres: Just now, Captain. It's only a slight variance, I'll have it fixed in a minute.
Janeway: Keep me advised.
Torres: All right, the matrix is activating.
Seska: The trajector field is forming.
Carey: And it's amplifying. Look how fast it's expanding!
Torres: That's the effect of the quartz mantle.
Seska: We're nearly at full field strength. This is going to work.
Carey: What is it?
Torres: The plasma manifold is becoming unstable.
Seska: I can compensate for that!
Carey: The manifold is being bombarded by anti-neutrinos from the trajector field.
Seska: Anti-neutrinos?
Torres: They must be the catalyst for the space-folding process.
Seska: It's not working. I can't compensate for the instability.
Carey: There's no way to compensate for a field that size!
Kim: Captain, I'm showing an unstable plasma manifold. We're heading for a breach.
Janeway: Bridge to Torres. What's happening?
Janeway: We're reading a warp core breach up here.
Torres: We're on it, Captain. No time to talk. Shut down the matrix!
Seska: I can't! It's not responding!
Carey: It's fused!
Seska: Plasma temperature at forty three million Kelvins.
Torres: Carey, get everybody out!
Carey: All right, people, let's go. Move it out! Move out, let's go, right now. Let's go. Come on, move it out. Fast! Right now. Keep moving!
Torres: I can't unlock it! The command matrix is sealed.
Seska: Plasma temperature at fifty million Kelvin.
Seska: Anti-neutrino bombardment has stopped. Plasma temperature dropping.
Torres: We didn't anticipate anti-neutrinos. The trajector could never be compatible with Federation technology.
Seska: I'll start erasing the sensor logs. We can blame it on the phase diskrepancy.
Torres: No! We're not going to cover this up.
Seska: Are you crazy? We don't have to take the blame for this!
Torres: But we're going to. We disobeyed orders, gambling that it would pay off. It didn't. And now we just can't pretend that nothing happened.
Seska: I don't understand. There's no need for this.
Torres: I'm sorry if you don't get it, Seska, but it has something to do with, er, with being able to live with yourself.
Seska: That doesn't sound like you. You've changed.
Torres: If that's true, I take it as a compliment.
Torres: I take full responsibility for what happened. There were others involved, but I was the senior officer, and the culpability is mine.
Tuvok: Lieutenant Torres is not precisely correct, Captain. She was not the senior officer involved, I was.
Janeway: You?
Tuvok: It was I who made the exchange. The Federation Library for the trajector matrix.
Janeway: I will deal with you in a moment. I don't have the luxury of throwing you in the brig for the rest of this voyage. I need you. I need every person on this ship. But I want you to know how very deeply you have disappointed me. If there are any further transgressions, even a minor one, you will no longer be an officer on this crew. Is that clear?
Torres: Yes, Ma'am.
Janeway: Dismissed.
Janeway: I don't even know where to start. I want you to explain to me how you, of all people, could be involved in this.
Tuvok: It is quite simple, Captain. You have made it clear on many occasions that your highest goal for the crew is to get them home. But in this instance, your standards would not allow you to violate Sikarian law. Someone had to spare you the ethical dilemma. I was the logical choice, and so I chose to act.
Janeway: You did it for me because you knew I couldn't.
Tuvok: I accept the consequences of my actions. I expect to loose my commission and to be court-martialled when we return to Federation space.
Janeway: You are one of my most valued officers and you are my friend. It is vital that you understand me here. I need you, but I also need to know that I can count on you. You are my counsel, the one I turn to when I need my moral compass checked. We have forged this relationship for years and I depend on it. I realize you made a sacrifice for me, but it's not one I would have allowed you to make. You can use logic to justify almost anything. That's it's power, and it's flaw. From now on, bring your logic to me. Don't act on it behind my back.
Tuvok: You have my word. My logic was not in error, but I was.
Janeway: Dismissed.


Carey: Commander! Look at this. I think they're some kind of apple. There are trees filled with them as far as the eye can see, just over that ridge.
Neelix: Kaylos. Ah. Aren't they gorgeous? One bite'll kill you. Puff you up like a vakol fish. First your windpipe swells, and just when you think you're going to die of suffocation, ow! Oh, you get a sharp pain in your knees, which begins to work its way right up to
Chakotay: I think we get the picture.
Neelix: Sorry, Mister Carey. Just remember the old trader's axiom. Never judge a fruit by its skin. Er, on the other hand, take a bite.
Chakotay: What is it?
Neelix: A leola root.
Chakotay: You expect us to eat this?
Neelix: This is the reason I brought you here, Commander. There's no better source of vitamins and minerals in the quadrant than in this, this ugly little root.
Chakotay: I'd find the second best source acceptable if it tasted better.
Neelix: You humans! You're not used to roughing it, are you? Well, you take it from one who knows. The day may come when you'll relish every last crunch of leola.
Neelix: Stewed for a few hours in a light herbal broth, you wouldn't even notice the mildew.
Paris: Captain, I don't think we're alone. Mister Tuvok, run a lateral EM scan for me. Coordinates eight one mark four zero.
Tuvok: Running scan.
Janeway: What do you see, Mister Paris?
Paris: It's like a reflection, something in low orbit when it moves into a certain angle from the sun.
Tuvok: He's correct. I am picking up an ionization trail. There is another ship in orbit.
Janeway: Using some kind of cloaking device.
Tuvok: It's not a cloaking device as we know it, Captain. I cannot say for certain what it is, but the ship does employ some kind of masking circuitry that has affected our sensors.
Janeway: Voyager to Away team.
Chakotay: Go ahead, Captain.
Janeway: Any unexpected
Janeway: Life signs down there, Commander?
Chakotay: Nothing but bloodworms. Neelix wants to bring some back for a tartar
Chakotay: He wants to make. I'm trying to talk him out of it.
Janeway: We're picking up an unidentified ship in low orbit. Collect your teams and prepare to transport back while we investigate.
Chakotay: Acknowledged.
Chakotay: Chakotay out. All units, report to transport site A immediately.
Tuvok: Captain, I believe a polaron burst may give us visual contact.
Janeway: Do it.
Janeway: Kazon.
Tuvok: The hull design does conform to known specifications of the Kazon-Nistrim sect.
Janeway: Voyager to Away teams. Return to the ship immediately.
Chakotay: Acknowledged
Chakotay: Captain. Transporter Room, get ready to begin on my command.
Kim: Where's Ensign Seska?
Chakotay: Chakotay to Seska. Transporter room, can you locate Ensign Seska's comm. badge signal?
Crewman: Negative, Commander. I'm not reading any sign of her.
Kim: She was picking berries with our group over by the hillside. There were caves nearby.
Chakotay: If she went inside one, it might be blocking her comm. badge signal. The rest of you get back to the ship. I'm going to look for her.
Seska: Oh, thank the Prophets.
Chakotay: What are you doing here?
Seska: Mushrooms. I saw them growing by the mouth of the cave. I wanted to teach Neelix how to make your favorite soup.
Chakotay: I appreciate the thought, but we've got to get out of here.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48658.2. We successfully left orbit without further interference from the Kazon. Commander Chakotay was injured, but is recovering from his wounds.
Chakotay: Come in.
Seska: I didn't think I'd make it. Feeling better?
Chakotay: Yeah. What have you got there?
Seska: Real food.
Chakotay: You got Neelix to make some mushroom soup!
Seska: Are you kidding? The man wanted to stretch the mushrooms with just a little
Both: Leola root.
Seska: We got into this tug-of-war with the bag of mushrooms in the middle. It was the most ludicrous thing you've ever seen. Tuvok and Kes broke us up, and then Neelix threw me out of his kitchen.
Chakotay: So how did you?
Seska: Strictly a Maquis operation.
Chakotay: Mm hmm.
Seska: First we arranged for a little morale crisis. A couple of our people suddenly came down with severe homesickness. Neelix, our devoted morale officer, responded to the call and came in to cheer them up. And while they are all singing Rakan folk songs, Jackson and I broke into the kitchen.
Chakotay: You looted the food reserves?
Seska: Well, if he's not going to give us a decent meal.
Chakotay: I can't believe you did this.
Seska: Well, it's not like we're hiding anything. I did bring soup straight to the First Officer, didn't I?
Chakotay: Thanks for including me in a criminal conspiracy. Does he know about this yet?
Seska: Well, the moral crisis ended a few minutes ago, so I'd say
Neelix: Neelix to Chakotay!
Seska: That he probably does.
Chakotay: Go ahead, Neelix.
Neelix: I'd like to report a crime. Someone has broken into my kitchen and stolen food, taken food out of the mouths of their crew mates.
Chakotay: I know.
Neelix: It was that Seska, wasn't it?
Chakotay: I promise you, everyone involved will be diskiplined.
Neelix: If you'd like my recommendations for punishment, I
Chakotay: Thank you. I'll handle that. Chakotay out. Replicator privileges revoked for two days. Everyone, including me.
Seska: They're not going to do it.
Chakotay: Then I'll personally put them in the brig.
Seska: You'd put me in the brig? After all we've been through?
Seska: The soup was worth losing the replicator privileges for two days. Admit it.
Chakotay: That's not the point.
Seska: I get the point. Can we make up now? Who else knows how to make your favorite soup like I do?
Chakotay: No one, but we agreed a long time ago this wouldn't work.
Seska: Look around, Chakotay. There aren't that many potential mates out here. Of course, if you're not interested, I have had my eye on young Ensign Kim.
Janeway: Janeway to all senior officers. Please report to the Bridge.
Kazon: We require help. Immediately. Anyone who can hear this message, please help.
Janeway: Long-range scanners picked up the distress signal three minutes ago.
Tuvok: The ship's dimensions are identical to the vessel we encountered at the planet. It is a Kazon-Nistrim ship, Captain.
Neelix: Captain, this may be a trap. The Kazon-Nistrim is one of the most violent sects in the entire Kazon collective.
Kazon: We need immediate assistance. We have lost all bridge operations. Barely able to function. Please assist.
Janeway: Mister Kim. Can you determine that this ship has sustained genuine damage?
Kim: There are fluctuating nucleonic patterns. It might indicate a reactor breakdown on board.
Janeway: Mister Paris, run an extended scanner sequence to identify any other Kazon ships that might be in the area.
Paris: Nothing showing up, Captain.
Janeway: Maintain scans and set a heading to intercept.
Paris: New heading entered.
Janeway: I take your warning seriously, Neelix, and we'll act with caution, but if we can help we should. Besides, this may be an opportunity to make a friend and out here, we can use all the friends we can get.
Torres: What could do something like this?
Chakotay: I'm showing high levels of nucleonic radiation. It seems to be isolated in that area.
Tuvok: It is likely that the ship's automatic containment systems were activated when the radiation entered the bridge. We should be safe as long as we stay on this side of the force field.
Seska: Someone's alive over here.
Chakotay: Away team to Voyager. We've got a single male Kazon alive on the bridge. Transport him directly to Sickbay.
Kim: Energizing.
Tuvok: It appears the explosion emanated from this console.
Torres: Does something look a little odd about it to you?
Tuvok: The structural pattern does not conform to the rest of the bridge.
Torres: No, there's something else strange about it. The residue has a point four one percent trace of a neosorium composite, and I don't know anyone who uses neosorium technology except for the Federation. So how did it get into the hands of the Kazon?
Emh: Incredible. Somehow virtually every cell in his body has been altered.
Janeway: Altered?
Emh: His cells have mutated. Or they've been fused with inorganic matter. I can't make heads or tails of it. Look at this. His blood cells have bonded with metallic nuclei.
Chakotay: The crew members closest to the explosion were virtually melded with huge pieces of metal fragments. He was luckier than the others.
Emh: That remains to be seen. I'm going to have to do a complete pyrocyte replacement if we're going to keep him alive. We'd better hope there are compatible donors on board.
Kes: I'll run a cytological screening of the crew.
Emh: We'll let you know the results as soon as we can.
Tuvok: Captain, there was an apparent Federation signature to the explosion.
Janeway: What?
Chakotay: It looked like they were trying to installl some new technology that detonated.
Janeway: You're saying they have some kind of Federation weapon on board?
Chakotay: A console on the bridge was the source of the explosion. We're not sure what its function was, and it's going to be hard to get to.
Janeway: We can't transport it out?
Chakotay: Not with those levels of nucleonic radiation. The transporter beam would disperse the moment it hit the irradiated cabin.
Janeway: How could they possibly have Federation technology?
Tuvok: There are only three alternatives I can diskern at this time. One, it is not Federation technology at all but something similar.
Janeway: Bridge.
Tuvok: Two, another Federation starship may have been brought to the Delta Quadrant prior to our arrival, and they interacted with the Kazon-Nistrim.
Chakotay: Were there any other reports of missing starships?
Janeway: Not to my knowledge.
Tuvok: Three, someone from this ship has covertly given technology to the Kazon.
Janeway: Computer, hold turbolift. I don't like number three at all, Tuvok.
Tuvok: Nevertheless, it is the most probable explanation. It may not be a coincidence that the Kazon ship we encountered at the planet was able to deceive our sensors. Perhaps someone transmitted instructions to them before we arrived.
Janeway: I want you to personally go through the transmission logs, Tuvok. Compare them to the actual telemetry. See if there's any evidence of prior contact with the Kazon. Who would have had a chance to meet with them while you were on the surface?
Chakotay: A dozen people. We were scattered all over the area.
Tuvok: You did discover Ensign Seska in proximity to them.
Chakotay: Seska almost killed me because she thought I was Kazon. She wouldn't do something like this.
Tuvok: Nevertheless, I urge you to regard her with caution for the time being.
Janeway: Why would anyone on this ship betray us? We're all in this together. We need to retrieve that console and get some answers before the rumors get out of hand. Computer, resume.
Torres: Releasing the force field isn't an option. That would just allow the radiation into the whole cabin.
Seska: We could generate a localized subspace bubble to get past the force field.
Torres: One minor subspace disruption and you're dead. It's too risky.
Seska: I'd be willing to risk it.
Carey: We could use an expander to manipulate the containment field.
Torres: Manipulate it how?
Carey: Move it out of the way. Rotate the field and the radiation trapped inside it away from the console. Once it's clear, we have access.
Janeway: How long will it take to set this up?
Torres: We, er, we should be able to make an attempt by tomorrow.
Janeway: I want it ready by the end of the day.
Torres: No, Captain. When I say tomorrow, I mean tomorrow. I don't exaggerate. Tomorrow is the best I can do.
Janeway: Understood, Lieutenant.
Torres: All right. We'll begin on the Kazon bridge. Carey, Nicoletti, Seska.
Chakotay: No. I want Ensign Seska to coordinate the operation from our bridge.
Torres: Okay. Henard, you're with us. Dismissed.
Seska: What was that all about?
Chakotay: What?
Seska: Oh, you know what I'm talking about. There's nothing important to do on the Bridge.
Chakotay: I disagree. We need someone up there who
Seska: What the hell is going on?
Chakotay: There's some concern about you.
Seska: What kind of concern?
Chakotay: Concern because I found you near the Kazon on the planet.
Seska: Oh, I see. So now I'm a traitor. I sell technology to the enemy.
Chakotay: I don't believe that.
Seska: No, you just take me off my assignment.
Chakotay: I'm trying to take you out of harm's way to protect you.
Seska: This is your idea of protection? You might as well point a finger at me in front of the entire crew!
Chakotay: You don't assign someone you don't trust to the Bridge. Look, I'm sorry, but if something goes wrong over there, I don't want you anywhere near it.
Seska: Thanks for your concern.
Seska: How is he?
Kes: Not very good. We need to completely replace his blood.
Seska: Will he regain consciousness?
Emh: I'm not sure. Even if he does, there's no way to predict what kind of brain damage there might be.
Seska: He's the only one who really knows what happened on that ship, Doctor. The only one who can tell them I had nothing to do with it.
Emh: You? I don't understand.
Seska: Would you call me right away if he wakes up?
Emh: All right.
Kes: Ensign, did you ever come in to leave a blood sample on file?
Seska: No. I never got around to it. Why?
Kes: I've been running a crew compatibility analysis and your file never came up.
Seska: My blood won't help you. I had a childhood disease that infected it. I was warned never to donate blood for transfusion.
Emh: All the more reason we should have your blood on file.
Seska: I will. Right now I have something more important to take care of.
Tuvok: Someone did make an unauthorized transmission.
Chakotay: And whoever it was, was an expert at covering their tracks.
Tuvok: The signal was masked by a test of the dorsal emitters that we conducted a week ago.
Janeway: Who was working on that test?
Chakotay: Only the whole engineering crew.
Tuvok: We're trying to trace the station where the signal originated. Again, the perpetrator was skilled enough to make the tracking process extremely difficult for us.
Chakotay: It's like working backwards through a maze of circuits. We keep bumping into dead ends.
Paris: Paris to Captain Janeway. Please report to the Bridge.
Paris: Captain, another Kazon ship is approaching, trying to hail the disabled ship. They're not within visual range yet.
Tuvok: Perhaps someone else picked up the distress call.
Janeway: What's their ETA?
Paris: At their current speed, four hours twenty minutes. Should I tell them we're here?
Janeway: If we know about them, it's a good bet they know about us. We don't have anything good to tell them. I think we'll wait.
Kim: Captain, I'm showing an unauthorized autosequence in Transporter Room two. Someone's left Voyager.
Janeway: Computer, identify who just beamed off the ship from Transporter Room two.
Computer: Ensign Seska.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Seska.
Seska: I really don't have time to talk to you right now, Chakotay.
Chakotay: What the hell do you think you're doing?
Seska: Retrieving the console, my way.
Chakotay: I want you back on this ship, and I mean now.
Seska: The Captain said she wanted the console today. Carey's plan couldn't do it in time
Seska: But mine can.
Tuvok: Captain, it is conceivable that she's gone to the Kazon ship to destroy evidence that might implicate her.
Chakotay: She's gone back to the Kazon ship to prove herself to us. Can't you see that?
Kim: I've got a lock on her, Captain. Do you want me to transport her back?
Janeway: If we try to beam her out while she's manipulating subspace, we might kill her.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Seska. Seska, respond! Get her out of there! Send her to Sickbay.
Kim: Energizing.
Emh: Prep three cc's kelotane. I'll need a dermal regenerator. Run a full blood scan.
Janeway: Have a seat, Mister Carey.
Chakotay: How have things been going for you in Engineering?
Carey: Fine. Why, is there a problem?
Chakotay: You getting along all right with Lieutenant Torres?
Carey: I think we've settled our differences.
Janeway: She was promoted to Chief Engineer over you, Lieutenant. That might be difficult for someone in your position to accept.
Carey: Captain, I accepted your decision, and I've worked as hard as I can to make myself a valuable member of Lieutenant Torres's team. I can't believe she'd have any complaints about my performance.
Janeway: She doesn't.
Carey: Then what am I doing here?
Tuvok: Lieutenant, have you had any contact with the Kazon-Nistrim since we arrived in the Delta Quadrant?
Carey: What? You mean me, personally? No, of course not.
Chakotay: You were out of contact for almost an hour on the planet where we encountered the Kazon.
Carey: You mean when I was picking those poisoned apples?
Janeway: What about before we arrived at the planet? Did you have any reason to signal the Kazon-Nistrim ship?
Carey: No.
Tuvok: Nevertheless, a signal was sent to the Kazon from your station in Engineering during our dorsal emitter test last week.
Carey: My station?
Tuvok: Were you not in Engineering at that time?
Carey: Well, yes, I was, but you know how it is down there during a systems analysis.
Chakotay: Did you see anyone else at your station?
Carey: Honestly, I don't remember. Maybe you should ask Seska.
Janeway: Why Seska?
Carey: Everybody knows she was found in the cave with the Kazon. Look, I'm not saying she did anything wrong, but I didn't either.
Janeway: I'd like to believe you, Mister Carey, but somebody did contact the Kazon. And until we know who, I'm going to have to restrict you to quarters.
Janeway: What do you think?
Chakotay: He had the motive and the opportunity.
Janeway: He's also had a distinguished Starfleet career. Seska has spent most of the last two years as an enemy of the Federation.
Chakotay: So have I.
Kim: Captain, we're being hailed by the approaching Kazon ship.
Janeway: How soon will they be here?
Kim: Four minutes.
Janeway: I wish we had something more definitive to tell them. Open a channel. I am Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Federation Starship Voyager.
Culluh: My name is Culluh, First Maje of the Kazon-Nistrim. What have you done to our ship?
Janeway: We responded to a call for help. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to respond, all but one of the crew were dead.
Culluh: I would like to speak to the survivor.
Janeway: He hasn't regained consciousness. We have him in our Sickbay. We'd be happy to beam you aboard so you can see him.
Culluh: You will prepare for my arrival.
Paris: Friendly sort.
Emh: Ah, Captain. I'm glad you're here. I was just about to call you.
Janeway: Doctor, this is First Maje Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim. Could you give us the latest condition report on your Kazon patient?
Emh: Well, the good news is, we've been able to stabilize him. We had to completely replace his blood.
Culluh: Replace his blood? With what?
Janeway: The blood of volunteers from our crew. They saved his life.
Emh: His own blood cells were killing him. They were changed by the accident on his ship.
Culluh: Changed in what manner?
Emh: We haven't been able to determine that yet.
Janeway: We've been working on a plan to access the source of the explosion, which should answer a lot of the questions.
Culluh: That will no longer be necessary. We will take the damaged vessel to our port for inspection.
Janeway: I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that just yet.
Culluh: And what gives you the right to interfere in our affairs?
Janeway: There was a trace of a Federation compound in the remains of the explosion. We have reason to believe that someone on board this ship gave technology to your people. Until we have a better explanation of what occurred, I can't release that ship to you.
Culluh: That is not acceptable.
Janeway: It will have to be.
Culluh: Your unique technologies make you brave, Captain, but you have only one ship. In less than a day there will be four Kazon vessels off your bow.
Janeway: Perhaps by then we'll have the answers we need.
Culluh: You will leave us with him.
Janeway: I assume they'll want to take him back to their ship. I'd rather not let them do it just yet in case he regains consciousness. There are a lot of questions he can answer. Can I tell them it's not safe to move him?
Emh: It will be the truth.
Janeway: Good.
Emh: He's dead.
Janeway: Get off this ship.
Emh: There was some kind of nerve toxin in that needle. He died instantly. Captain, may we talk to you in my office?
Emh: It's about Seska.
Janeway: Complications?
Kes: I was analyzing her blood chemistry to try to locate a compatible donor. But when I got the results, her blood was lacking all the common Bajoran blood factors.
Janeway: Meaning?
Seska: The only conclusion we can reach is that she is not, in fact, Bajoran. It appears Seska has been genetically altered. My suspicion is she was born Cardassian.
Chakotay: You're making me to believe she's a Cardassian agent who infiltrated the Maquis?
Tuvok: Starfleet Security has documented several incidents in which Cardassian have used cosmetic alterations for the purpose of infiltrating an enemy.
Chakotay: This is crazy. This is just impossible.
Tuvok: The Doctor has informed us that there's no other plausible explanation for the medical anomalies, Commander.
Chakotay: If you don't mind, I'd like to hear her explanation before we dismiss it. Has she been told?
Janeway: No.
Chakotay: I'd like to be the one who questions her.
Janeway: I suggest we wait until we retrieve the console. Janeway to Torres.
Torres: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: Your status?
Torres: We're finished with the computer simulations.
Torres: Everything looks okay. We're ready to beam over.
Janeway: Good. Then let's get started. Janeway out.
Chakotay: You were working for her. Seska was working for them. Was anyone on board that ship working for me?
Kim: The Kazon ship is hailing us.
Janeway: Open a channel. On screen.
Culluh: Our sensors show that you are trespassing on our vessel.
Janeway: As I've already informed you, we're attempting to retrieve the console that caused this explosion.
Culluh: If you attempt to remove anything from our ship, it will be considered an act of war.
Janeway: You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don't like bullies, and I don't like threats, and I don't like you, Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth, but I promise you, if you do I will respond with all the unique technologies at my command. Janeway out.
Tuvok: Their weapon systems are standing down. They do not appear to be posing a threat to us at this time.
Janeway: At least not until reinforcements get here. Janeway to Away team.
Torres: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: I don't want to rush you, Lieutenant, but
Torres: We're finished, Captain.
Janeway: I beg your pardon?
Torres: Decontamination went exactly as planned. The console has been transported to Engineering, and we're on our way back now.
Janeway: Acknowledged. Well done, Away team. We'll meet you in Engineering.
Torres: Of all the things to die for. It's a food replicator, or at least it was trying to be.
Janeway: We may take replicators for granted, but imagine what it would mean to a culture that doesn't have this technology.
Torres: They didn't use a thick enough interior shield casing. Once the nucleonic radiation leaked out, a cascade reaction was inevitable.
Janeway: Can you tell if any part of the console came from out ship?
Torres: There's no doubt about it, Captain. The pattern buffer relays are clearly composed of bio-neural fibers. No other Federation ship would have them. Somebody on board Voyager gave them what they needed. I guess they just didn't know what to do with it.
Janeway: I want a complete report on everything we've found so I can share it with our Kazon friends.
Chakotay: We've recovered the console. It's a replicator, constructed with materials from Voyager.
Seska: I suppose now everyone thinks I went over there to destroy the evidence.
Chakotay: Did you?
Seska: I was only trying to show everyone, show you. You really think I had something to do with this, don't you?
Chakotay: To be honest, I'm not sure anymore. I'm not sure of a lot of things.
Seska: Well, why don't you go talk to your animal guide and figure it all out?
Chakotay: I plan to.
Seska: Good. Get back to me when you do.
Chakotay: You know, it's funny. I've been thinking about what's been real and what's not been real.
Seska: What is this about? What's wrong with you? Talk to me, Chakotay. You owe me that much.
Chakotay: What would you say I owe to a Cardassian who infiltrated my crew?
Seska: What are you talking about?
Chakotay: Isn't that why you never got around to a blood analysis when we came on board?
Seska: I didn't get around to it because I didn't get around to it.
Chakotay: Turns out your blood is missing all the common Bajoran blood factors.
Seska: It's a side effect of Orkett's disease. Ask your doctor.
Chakotay: Orkett's disease.
Seska: A childhood virus that swept through the Bajoran work camps during the occupation. Thousands of children didn't survive. I did, thanks to a bone marrow transplant from a sympathetic Cardassian woman. Her name was Kattell. When we get home, you can ask her yourself. You must think I'm horrible. Do you think I gave you my, my heart to get your Maquis secrets?
Chakotay: I'm starting to wonder.
Seska: Let me tell you something. Your secrets weren't good enough. They wouldn't have been worth the trouble for a Cardassian agent. I had only one agenda with you, Chakotay, and I never kept it secret. So, do you believe in me again?
Chakotay: I want to.
Seska: Good. Because I want to go back to work.
Chakotay: Let's not rush things.
Seska: I'm going stir crazy in here.
Chakotay: You're going to have to stay confined, at least until we find out exactly where the replicator components were taken from.
Seska: Well, what'll that tell you?
Chakotay: There might be evidence of who took them.
Seska: Oh, you don't think whoever did this is foolish enough to log in using their own name?
Chakotay: Chief Inspector Tuvok leaves no stone unturned. I'll tell the Captain what you told me. Somehow we'll try to clear this up soon.
Chakotay: She said a Cardassian bone marrow transplant saved her life as a child.
Tuvok: Did you set our plan in motion? I gave Lieutenant Carey the same information.
Chakotay: Now all we can do is wait and hope someone takes the bait.
Tuvok: Gin.
Chakotay: I never knew Vulcans had such a talent for cards.
Tuvok: It is simply a matter of logical diskards, which give a false impression of my own requirements and deny the needed cards to your hand. I believe that's ninety four points to me.
Chakotay: If you ever need a sponsor in a gin tournament, let me know.
Torres: We're picking up two more Kazon warships about six hours away. We're not going to be able to stay her much
Chakotay: That's sounds like a nibble to me.
Tuvok: Someone is accessing the inventory data base.
Torres: And they're going straight to the missing replicator materials.
Chakotay: Should we start the trace now?
Tuvok: Negative. It might alert them.
Torres: They're entering data.
Tuvok: Intriguing. It appears as though they're trying to place evidence at the scene of the crime to indicate the guilty party.
Torres: They're entering an encrypted security code into the materials requisition file.
Chakotay: Which would suggest they're hiding it. But not very well.
Torres: Anybody know whose security code that belongs to?
Chakotay: I do. It's Seska's.
Torres: Then it has to be Carey. Carey is trying to point the finger at Seska.
Seska: Chakotay. Is anything wrong?
Chakotay: It's over. We know who gave the technology to the Kazon.
Seska: Who?
Chakotay: You did.
Seska: Look, I don't know what evidence you think you've found, but
Chakotay: We found the evidence you put there for us to find. Your own security code.
Seska: I have no idea what you're talking about.
Chakotay: We already knew where the stolen materials had been taken from before I met with you. We were monitoring the inventory manifest, hoping either you or Carey would try to cover your tracks.
Seska: Hell of a way for me to cover my tracks, putting in my own security code for you to find.
Chakotay: That's exactly what you did. You knew no one would believe you could be that careless. You wanted us to believe that someone else was trying to frame you.
Seska: Ever consider that maybe someone was?
Chakotay: We traced the computer station used to enter the data. Oh, you took us all around the system and back again before we could locate the source, but it was this station, in Sickbay.
Chakotay: I'd almost say it was a Maquis operation, if I didn't already know you were a Cardassian. Computer, activate Emergency Holographic Medical Program.
Emh: Ah. Have I been called to testify?
Chakotay: Before you even mentioned Orkett's disease to me, the Doctor had already discounted that as a possible explanation for your blood anomalies.
Emh: And may I say a doctor less informed about Bajoran medicine might have been fooled, but my program includes the complete Bajoran medical text on Orkett's disease. There's no way any childhood virus or Cardassian bone marrow transplant can explain away the genetic markers in your blood. You are Cardassian, Ensign.
Chakotay: But that didn't necessarily make you the traitor we were looking for. We needed more evidence, and you gave it to us. The one thing I still can't understand is why?
Seska: I did it for you. I did it for this crew. We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens, because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation Captain. A Federation Captain who destroyed our only chance to get home. Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion? Do you understand, if this had been a Cardassian ship, we would be home now. We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we must have powerful friends. The Kazon-Nistrim were willing to be our protectors in return for some minor technology.
Janeway: Minor technology that could change the balance of power in this quadrant.
Seska: Change it in our favor! That is all that matters at this point. Building a base of power in this quadrant. You are a fool, Captain, and you're a fool to follow her. I can't imagine how I ever loved you. Computer, command XJL.
Chakotay: Computer, override transport in progress.
Computer: Unable to comply. Security lockout is in place.
Janeway: Computer, identify destination of transport.
Computer: A Kazon vessel fourteen kilometers off the port bow.
Paris: Bridge to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Paris: The Kazon ship
Paris: Is powering up its engines. It looks like they're getting ready to go to warp.
Janeway: Ready a tractor beam.
Paris: I've also got two Kazon warships on an intercept course less than ten minutes away.
Tuvok: Captain, even with our superior defense capabilities, we cannot prevail against three Kazon warships.
Paris: Awaiting your instructions, Captain.
Janeway: Power down the tractor beam. Set a course out of here, Mister Paris, warp four. Engage when ready.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Janeway: We'll have to wait for another day to settle up with Seska.
Chakotay: Can I ask you to be honest with me, Lieutenant?
Tuvok: As a Vulcan, I am at all times honest, Commander.
Chakotay: That's not exactly true. You lied to me when you passed yourself off as a Maquis to get on my crew.
Tuvok: I was honest to my own convictions within the defined parameters of my mission.
Chakotay: You damned Vulcans and your defined parameters. That's easy for you.
Tuvok: On the contrary. The demands on a Vulcan's character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure for ease. How may I be honest with you today?
Chakotay: I'd just like to know, from someone else who pulled the wool over my eyes, was I particularly naive? Was I not paying enough attention? What the hell was it that let all you spies get by me?
Tuvok: Like all humans, you depend on feelings and instincts to guide you, and they invariably let you down. But particularly naive? No, Commander, and I've always considered your attention span to be adequate.
Chakotay: Did you ever see anything about Seska that make you suspicious?
Tuvok: No. She quite expertly pulled the wool over my eyes as well.
Chakotay: Well, that makes me feel a little better. Thanks.
Tuvok: Curious.
Chakotay: What?
Tuvok: That my failure, added to your own, should improve your feelings.
Chakotay: Misery loves company, Tuvok.


Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48693.2. We've altered course to investigate some unusually intense photonic activity in a nearby protostar. Lieutenant Torres and I are beaming aboard samples for further analysis.
Torres: Containment field is active. We're ready for transport.
Janeway: Energize.
Torres: That's strange. Both containers should have been filled.
Janeway: Here's the problem. A slight breach in the annular confinement beam.
Torres: I'm aborting transport. Okay, let's try that again. Energizing.
Torres: All right. I'll get a complete phase spectrum analysis on this as soon as possible.
Janeway: If this photonic matter works as well as I think, it could boost the efficiency of our power converters fifteen percent.
Torres: I'd say more like twenty.
Janeway: How long will it take to finish the preliminary analysis?
Torres: Um, six hours. Maybe more.
Janeway: I'd like to get it sooner than that. I believe Ensign Kim is off duty. Could you use his help?
Torres: Can you convince him to give up his free time?
Janeway: I think I might be able to. Janeway to Kim. That's odd. Computer, locate Ensign Kim.
Computer: Unable to comply. Ensign Kim is not aboard the ship.
Tuvok: Sensor logs show no record of any unauthorized transporter activity and all shuttlecraft are accounted for. If Ensign Kim left the ship, he did not do so by conventional means.
Chakotay: His last shift ended four hours ago, and he was scheduled for time on holodeck two when he went off duty. No one has seen him since.
Janeway: Scan the holodeck. What's the matter?
Tuvok: There is significant interference in the holodeck. I cannot obtain a clear scan.
Janeway: Is it a system malfunction?
Tuvok: I do not believe so.
Janeway: Commander.
Tuvok: The holodeck is definitely active. There appears to be a program in progress.
Chakotay: Can you shut it down?
Tuvok: Manual overrides are not functioning. I cannot terminate the program.
Chakotay: All right, let's go in.
Chakotay: Computer, identify program.
Computer: The program in progress is a holonovel based on the epic Earth poem Beowulf.
Tuvok: Beowulf?
Chakotay: An ancient English epic, set in sixth century Denmark, if I remember correctly. It's about a hero named Beowulf who fights a creature that's terrorizing a kingdom and murdering its subjects. Monsters and swordplay. That sort of thing.
Tuvok: I'm not detecting any life signs but there's still considerable interference.
Chakotay: I can't determine the source.
Freya: Speak as a friend or stand challenged.
Tuvok: Computer, delete character.
Chakotay: The holodeck command systems must not be functioning either.
Tuvok: We must also consider the possibility that the safety programs are malfunctioning as well.
Freya: I am Freya, shield maiden, daughter of King Hrothgar. I hold this guard post against any intruders who would bear us harm, so declare yourselves. I will hear your answer before you march any further through this land.
Tuvok: We have no desire to trespass. However, we are on an urgent mission, so if you would allow us to continue, we would appreciate it.
Freya: What land do you call home? Your faces tell me you are not men of the Danes. Are you kinsmen of Beowulf?
Chakotay: Yes. We are Beowulf's kinsmen. My name is Chakotay and this is Tuvok. Have you seen Beowulf?
Freya: Yes. He was like no other. Hair straight and raven black. Eyes bright with fierce fire. The burning gaze of a hero.
Tuvok: Grandiloquence notwithstanding, that would qualify as a description of Mister Kim. How did you know he was Beowulf?
Chakotay: This is Harry's holonovel. It'd make sense that he'd be playing the hero. She might be able to help us figure out what happened to him.
Tuvok: A reasonable assumption.
Freya: Your kinsman was a truly noble warrior. It is right you should avenge his death.
Chakotay: Yes. But first we'd like to know more about how Beowulf died.
Freya: Of course. Come. I will take you to the king.
Freya: Hail, Lord Hrothgar! I bring new friends, Chakotay and Tuvok, kinsmen of Beowulf who come to avenge his death. Greet them well.
Hrothgar: I would bid you welcome to my hall, but the days of glad tidings are gone from this place. We grieve with you for your kinsman. We had hoped that a warrior of Beowulf 's strength and renown would be able to deliver us from our curse.
Chakotay: Could you tell us exactly what happened to him?
Unferth: He met with the same fate as did thirty of our own warriors.
Hrothgar: It's true. Grendel.
Chakotay: That's the monster who's been attacking you.
Hrothgar: Repelled by light and laughter, the beast waits until we slumber. Then bereft of remorse, Grendel comes in murderous rage to my hall to take my people, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. If you are wise, you will forego your vengeance and return home. Death lives here now.
Unferth: My lord is fatigued. It is time to retire.
Tuvok: We would like more information about Beowulf. Would it be possible to examine his body?
Freya: The body of Beowulf is gone, dragged down to Grendel's foul lair, no doubt. The beast leaves no traces.
Chakotay: Did anyone actually see the battle?
Freya: No. Beowulf chose to face Grendel alone.
Chakotay: Then I think we'd like to see this Grendel for ourselves.
Unferth: To what purpose? To raise false hopes in our king again, as did your kinsman? Leave us alone in our misery.
Freya: Unferth, these men are our guests. You will show them the hospitality they deserve.
Unferth: They deserve nothing! If their Beowulf was truly the champion he claimed to be, then Grendel would be dead, his head mounted on a spear! Instead, we spend yet another night in terror.
Tuvok: If you would allow us to assist you, perhaps we could help alleviate your terror.
Unferth: Your names mean nothing to me. There are no songs of your deeds nor stories of the battles you have fought. Who are you to believe you can slay Grendel?
Tuvok: We have no intention of slaying anyone. We simply wish to examine the creature.
Unferth: Grendel might not wish to be examined without a fight. And if you would fight Grendel, then you will first prove your worth to me. Defend yourselves!
Hrothgar: You are able warriors. You may stand sentry tonight.
Freya: You are brave men. I hope to see you again, fate permitting.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Chakotay: Captain, we haven't found any definite signs of Harry, but we've encountered several holodeck characters who claim to know what happened to him.
Tuvok: Mister Kim was running a holonovel based on the poem Beowulf. According to the holo characters, he attempted to battle a creature of some kind and was killed in the process.
Janeway: Killed?
Tuvok: Since the
Tuvok: Safety programs are malfunctioning, we must consider the possibility.
Janeway: But you haven't found a body.
Chakotay: No. If we shut down the program, we'd know if he's here or not.
Janeway: Run a diagnostic on the holodeck's imaging control systems. If they're not working, try to repair them. And relay your tricorder scans to the Bridge. I'd like to analyze your readings.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain. Chakotay out.
Tuvok: Primary imaging matrix should be here behind this wooden panel. I will attempt to locate the auxiliary matrix. This ancient Earth culture seems fascinated with monsters.
Chakotay: Every culture has its demons. They embody the darkest emotions of its people. Giving them physical form in heroic literature is a way of exploring those feelings. The Vok'sha of Rakella Prime believe that hate is a beast which lives inside the stomach. Their greatest mythical hero is a man who ate stones for twenty three days to kill the beast and became a saint.
Tuvok: Such fables are necessary only in cultures which unduly emphasize emotional behavior. I would point out there are no demons in Vulcan literature.
Chakotay: That might account for its popularity.
Janeway: Bridge to Chakotay.
Chakotay: Chakotay here.
Janeway: Commander
Janeway: We've analyzed your tricorder data. A deep-level scan shows minute quantities of photonic energy.
Chakotay: How could it be in the holodeck?
Torres: We think it happened when we beamed aboard the samples from the protostar. There was a breach in the annular confinement beam, and photonic energy must have leaked into the transporter system.
Janeway: And from there into other ship systems as well. We've already found some in the replicators.
Tuvok: That raises an uncomfortable possibility, Captain.
Tuvok: If the holodeck's conversion nodes were contaminated, Ensign Kim may have inadvertently undergone the process of matter conversion.
Chakotay: You're saying he might have been converted into energy?
Janeway: We have to consider it a possibility. After all, the holodeck are basically an outgrowth of transporter technology, changing energy into matter and back again every time a program is run.
Torres: Except it's not supposed to convert people.
Chakotay: Hold on, Captain.
Chakotay: Something's coming.
Tuvok: It is an object approximately one meter in diameter.
Chakotay: I think Grendel may be paying us a visit.
Tuvok: Captain, the holo-characters told us Kim was killed by Grendel. An examination of this part of the program might be advisable.
Janeway: Proceed.
Torres: Captain, I'm picking up signs of matter energy conversion.
Janeway: Emergency transport. Get them out of there now.
Torres: I can't get a lock.
Janeway: Commander Chakotay, report. Mister Tuvok.
Torres: Captain, I've lost their life signs. They're gone.
Torres: This is a scan of the holodeck just before we lost contact with Chakotay and Tuvok. The readings are pretty garbled, but I'm still inclined to think there is a malfunction in the holodeck's matter conversion nodes.
Janeway: Photonic energy leaking into the subsystems could certainly damage the nodes, and it might have created a defect in the program that occurs when Grendel shows up.
Torres: A defect that dematerialized our people.
Paris: I'm not willing to accept the fact that Harry and the others are gone for good. Their molecular patterns might still be there. And if they are, we might be able to rematerialize them. The only thing we can do is go back into the holodeck, study this energy surge, find out what exactly happened.
Torres: Anyone who goes back in there might wind up just like the others.
Paris: Maybe not anyone.
Emh: Me?
Paris: A hologram can't be converted into energy. It already is energy. You're the perfect choice.
Emh: How do you intend to transfer me out of Sickbay?
Janeway: We'll have to modify your data stream protocols and imaging systems. But the fact that you're going to the holodeck simplifies things. The projection systems are already in place there.
Torres: And we're going to give you complete control over your magnetic containment field. You'll be able to make yourself solid or let matter pass through you at will.
Janeway: Nothing on the holodeck will be able to touch you unless you want it to.
Emh: I see.
Janeway: Think of this as your first away mission, Doctor. I can understand your hesitation. But there are three lives at stake, and you have the best chance of anyone on this ship to save them. Do you understand that?
Emh: Yes.
Janeway: Good. Your job is to find the photonic energy surge and scan it closely. We need all the data we can get. You'll have to interact with the characters in the holonovel, so make sure you're familiar with the Beowulf story. Your circuit modifications will be finished in three hours.
Emh: Yes, Captain.
Emh: Computer, access full text of ancient Earth epic Beowulf including historical annotation and cultural references.
Computer: Data compilation in progress.
Kes: Doctor?
Emh: Ah, Kes. Come in. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but my absence is no reason to suspend your studies. How are you doing with the protein synthesis text?
Kes: I finished it yesterday.
Emh: Good. Then you may as well start learning how to operate the base-pair sequencer. You'll find the manual in the technical database. Was there something else?
Kes: There's something bothering you.
Emh: Not at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a great deal of preparation to do.
Kes: You're nervous about this mission, aren't you?
Emh: Nervous? I can perform emergency surgery without getting nervous. I can make life-or-death decisions about patients without getting nervous. What makes you think I'm nervous?
Kes: Those things are familiar to you. You've been programmed to do them but, this is different, isn't it?
Emh: I can describe every detail of every piece of equipment in this Sickbay from biobed to neurostimulator, but I've never even seen a sky or a forest, let alone Vikings and monsters. I can't afford to fail but I don't know what to expect in that holodeck.
Kes: You've been telling me that you deserve to be treated like a member of the crew. Well, here's your chance. And I can tell you that none of the crew knows exactly what to expect when they go on an away mission. Doctor, have you chosen a name for yourself yet?
Emh: I have narrowed the list to three possibilities.
Kes: Then let me suggest you choose one before you go. It might help you feel more like a Starfleet officer.
Emh: You may be right. I'll give it some thought. And Kes, thank you.
Kes: Good luck.
Paris: Paris to Janeway. We're ready for the transfer, Captain.
Janeway: Good. Go ahead.
Paris: How about you, Doctor? Are you ready?
Emh: Of course.
Paris: I've already transported a tricorder onto the holodeck. Engaging transfer circuits now.
Janeway: Is everything all right, Doctor?
Emh: Yes. There were no problems with the transfer. I'm on my way.
Freya: Speak as a friend or stand challenged. I am
Emh: Yes, you're Freya, the king's daughter. A female warrior known as a Shield maiden.
Freya: We have never met and yet you know my name? Are you a sorcerer?
Emh: No. It's simply that your reputation precedes you. A warrior of your skill. You're quite famous where I come from.
Freya: I did not know that word of my deeds has carried to other lands. Tell me what you have heard.
Emh: Well, your battle with
Freya: Scyld, the Gar-Dane?
Emh: It's practically legend. An incredible story.
Freya: I burned his hall to the ground. There was nothing left but ashes.
Emh: Charming.
Freya: And did you hear of my campaign against the Heatho-bards to the south? I fought them for
Emh: I'd be delighted to hear all about it but I'm on an urgent mission of my own. I'm looking for Grendel.
Freya: Only a warrior would seek that which others flee. What is your name?
Emh: I'm glad you asked. My name is Schweitzer. Doctor Schweitzer.
Freya: Schweitzer. A hero's name. Come, I will take you to the king. The hall is not far from here.
Freya: Look, fortune is with us. Atuta, a most powerful plant.
Emh: What exactly do you intend to do with it?
Freya: We brew the Atuta into a broth which we drink before battle. It brings on the spirit of the bear and gives us strength to swing our swords.
Emh: It's more likely to bring on profuse sweating, convulsions and acute delirium. This is an amonita muscaria, a fungus common to sub-arctic climates and, let me assure you, quite poisonous.
Freya: Yes, but those it does not kill it makes strong. A most hardy plant. Are you a master of herb lore?
Emh: In a way, I suppose I am.
Freya: You are truly a man of many talents, Lord Schweitzer. Your people must value you greatly.
Emh: You would think so.
Freya: Hail, Lord Hrothgar! I bring a new friend, Schweitzer, who has come to destroy Grendel. Greet him well.
Hrothgar: I would bid you welcome to my hall, but the days of glad tidings are gone from this place.
Emh: I'm sorry to hear that, but with your permission, sir, I'd like to stay here tonight and wait for Grendel.
Unferth: To what purpose? To raise false hopes again, as have others before you? Leave us alone in our misery.
Emh: I'm afraid I can't do that. I have a mission.
Unferth: Your name means nothing to me. There are no songs of your deeds nor stories of the battles you have fought. Who are you to believe you can slay Grendel?
Emh: I'm simply a warrior. I'm only concerned with Grendel. I have no quarrel with you.
Unferth: Indeed you do. And if you will fight Grendel, then you will first prove your worth to me. Defend yourself!
Freya: Fate be with you.
Unferth: If this is your best, then you should thank me. Grendel would destroy you with far greater ease than I.
Emh: This is absurd.
Unferth: So be it.
Emh: You might want to put some ice on that. It'll take down the swelling.
Freya: Our time of deliverance is at hand. We have been given a new champion, one whom weapons cannot hurt! The one who will destroy Grendel and end our suffering! All hail the hero! All hail Schweitzer!
All: All hail Schweitzer! Schweitzer!
Hrothgar: Eat. Eat.
Emh: What is it?
Hrothgar: Elk. When I built this hall, the forest ran thick with them. But today, game's more scarce. Enjoy it, Lord Schweitzer. It is a great delicacy in our land.
Emh: It's quite good.
Hrothgar: We rarely hear stories of other lands. Honor us with a tale of your home to gladden our hearts.
Emh: I'm not much of a storyteller.
Hrothgar: Please, indulge us.
Unferth: Yes. Tell us a tale of your prowess in battle.
Emh: Well, there was the time I managed to stop the spread of Paronisti measles before it became epidemic. For a while, things were touch-and-go. Six people came down with it. Fortunately, I was able to isolate the endoplasmic virus and replicate it in order to form an antibody. Even then, it wasn't altogether clear I could create an effective vaccine, but I worked at it for seventy four hours straight and managed to create an inoculation that successfully protected the crew.
Unferth: You'll excuse me, my lord, if I take leave of this folly.
Hrothgar: A truly unique tale. Come, Lord Schweitzer. Allow me to show you my home. If you are in need of anything, please do not hesitate to ask.
Emh: All I need is to find Grendel.
Hrothgar: You're a true champion, always ready for the fight. Ah, perhaps you would like some mead to fortify yourself for the battle.
Emh: No, thank you. I'm fine.
Hrothgar: Away! You're disturbing Lord Schweitzer! It was with that weapon I made my first kill. I was eleven years old.
Emh: You killed someone when you were eleven?
Hrothgar: Well, it's a poor weapon, I agree, but a token of my youth. You must have similar trophies from your own childhood.
Emh: I don't remember much about my childhood.
Hrothgar: Well, I'm certain you distinguished yourself in battle many times and did honor to your father.
Unferth: My lord! It grows late. It is time to retire.
Hrothgar: Always with you it is time to sleep. Perhaps you have forgotten that the work of a warrior is battle not rest. You would do well to learn from Lord Schweitzer. This was a beautiful hall once, before Grendel. You will make it so again. You have our thanks.
Emh: I appreciate your faith in me, sire.
Dane: Come, my lord.
Unferth: You may have deceived them with your tricks, but the king is old and desperate for hope, and the rest are just fools!
Emh: You have nothing to worry about, Unferth. Once I'm done with Grendel, I'll be leaving.
Unferth: We shall see. The morning will prove if your deeds are as strong as your words.
Freya: The nights here are cold. I wanted to make certain you were comfortable.
Emh: I appreciate your concern. I thought everyone had gone to sleep.
Freya: Sleep does not come easily in this place. Not anymore. I was taught the world would end in winter. First there would be a desperate cold, followed by a demon who would devour the sun. It has been long since we felt summer, and a demon does walk these halls.
Emh: Freya, your world isn't coming to an end.
Freya: Perhaps not. But it has changed. Every night, the monster comes. And every day, our numbers are lessened and no one will speak of it. No one speaks of the fear that he will be next. Each meal become quieter than the last, and after time, we barely speak at all. Do you know what it is to be alone among many and unable to speak your fears?
Emh: I think I do.
Freya: How do you survive?
Emh: I'm still learning how. I'm sure that's not very helpful.
Freya: Sometimes I believe I can see the moment of my own death. It comes in battle, I think, my sword raised high. It is said that fate often spares a doomed warrior if his courage can prevail, but there have been days when I have felt my own courage falter, and then you came.
Emh: I'm glad I could help.
Freya: Perhaps I can help you. Before combat, it is most important to stay warm.
Emh: Well, you've done an excellent job with the fire. I'm sure I'll
Freya: Fire is not the only heat, Lord Schweitzer. You know where I sleep.
Emh: Holodeck to Bridge.
Janeway: We're monitoring you.
Emh: Captain, I'm picking up readings of photonic energy.
Emh: Captain, it's right in front of me. It's some kind of photonic energy formation.
Emh: Emergency! Get me out of here!
Emh: Now!
Janeway: Sickbay, emergency transfer.
Paris: I'm on it.
Janeway: Sickbay. Report.
Paris: Er, I have him, Captain, more or less. I think you'd better come take a look at this.
Paris: How does it feel?
Emh: Just like the old one, actually.
Janeway: Apparently, contact with photonic energy disrupted your magnetic cohesion, but we're still not sure if that's what happened to the others.
Torres: Captain, take a look at this. The readings from the Doctor's tricorder when the energy surge made contact with him.
Janeway: They're showing a synaptic pattern. I wouldn't expect to see something like this in photonic energy. Is this the first time those patterns have shown up like this?
Torres: Yes, but it's the first time we've had clear readings from a moment of contact. I wonder if I could produce these same patterns in the samples we have in Engineering.
Janeway: If you can, you might be able to get more information about how photonic energy damaged the holodeck systems.
Torres: I'm on it.
Paris: I'll give you a hand.
Paris: Okay, I've initiated a polarization field. I'm introducing it into the container.
Torres: We're getting a reaction.
Paris: It's producing a synaptic pattern, all right. Highly complex.
Torres: What's that?
Paris: Whatever it is, it's cutting through the bulkheads.
Torres: Let's get a containment field around it.
Paris: It's heading for deck fourteen, section C five.
Torres: Okay, now I've got a containment field blocking it.
Paris: Oh. It's changing direction. It's like it's avoiding the containment field.
Torres: Let's give it another try. Now it's blocked on three sides.
Paris: It's changing course, heading for the open side.
Torres: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Paris: Those synaptic patterns could be some sort of neural net.
Torres: We may be dealing with a life form.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering.
Torres: Torres here.
Janeway: We're detecting an energy mass
Janeway: Moving through the ship.
Torres: Right. It broke through the sample container. Captain, it's showing the properties of a life form.
Janeway: A life form?
Torres: It seems to have a neural net, and it's demonstrating signs of intelligent behavior.
Paris: It's cutting its way through the ship, heading for the outer hull. It'll breach in about fifteen seconds.
Janeway: Are there any critical systems in its path?
Paris: Negative.
Janeway: Then let it go.
Janeway: Be ready to seal the hull breach with a force field. I'll have a damage control team standing by for repairs. And let's track it on sensors when it gets out.
Paris: Captain
Paris: It's penetrating the outer hull.
Torres: Force field is in place.
Paris: I'm showing the energy form one hundred meters off our port side.
Janeway: Let's get it on screen.
Janeway: What was that?
Janeway: It appears to be some kind of photonic lattice.
Torres: And it seems pretty clear that the energy form was trying to get back to it as though it's a shelter of some kind.
Janeway: Or maybe a transportation device. Their equivalent of a ship. At any rate, we had sensor contact for a few seconds, and we picked up three distinct bio-electrical patterns inside it.
Emh: Bio-electrical? What are you suggesting, Captain?
Janeway: We have three missing crewmen. Our best guess has been that they were somehow converted into energy while they were on the holodeck. We find no sign of them on this ship. Then we pick up three discrete patterns in that lattice. Three patterns that don't match anything else in that lattice, and which have biological components. I don't think it's a stretch to hypothesize that those are our crew members, converted into a kind of photonic energy.
Torres: But what are they doing over there? How did they get there?
Janeway: We have good evidence now that there are photonic beings that live in that protostar. Life forms that have intelligence. We didn't know that when we beamed those energy samples on board. We had no idea that what we were doing, in essence, was capturing those life forms. We locked them in a containment field and began to experiment on them. If my people were taken like that, I know what my response would be. I would do whatever was necessary to get them back.
Emh: Then you think they have simply retaliated against us?
Janeway: Yes. These beings can manifest themselves on the holodeck in the matrix of a holo-character. That's how they were able to take our crew members hostage.
Emh: Captain, if you're right about this, then we should return the remaining life form.
Janeway: A gesture, to show we mean well. It's certainly worth a try.
Emh: If I took the life form onto the holodeck and released it to Grendel, maybe they'll understand and release our people.
Janeway: Ordinarily, officers go through intensive training before they're put into a first contact situation but you're the only one who can do this safely.
Emh: I'd like to finish what I started, Captain. I can do this.
Janeway: I agree. Make arrangements to transfer the life form to a container so the Doctor can carry it. But remember, if you're holding the container, you'll have to stay in solid form.
Emh: I understand.
Emh: Freya? Freya!
Freya: Lord Schweitzer! We thought that Grendel had taken you.
Emh: Not entirely.
Freya: How did you survive?
Emh: That would be difficult to explain. But, that's not important right now. This is a talisman to destroy Grendel. I
Unferth: You lie! No man could survive an encounter with Grendel unless he were in league with the beast. You have brought that talisman to destroy us all!
Freya: That is not true! He has returned to help us.
Unferth: No! You speak his lies now. He has bewitched you.
Emh: Unferth, I need to get this talisman to the Hall.
Unferth: Then that gives me reason enough to make sure it never gets there.
Emh: No. Please, you don't know what you're doing.
Unferth: Prepare to die, demon.
Emh: Freya.
Freya: My lord, my time has come.
Emh: Freya, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do.
Freya: It is a good death. Take my sword. Stop Unferth, and Grendel.
Emh: I won't forget you.
Freya: Then I die happily with your name on my lips. Farewell, Schweitzer.
Unferth: Here, sire.
Emh: My lord, you know me as a true warrior. You know I am the one hope you have to rid your kingdom of Grendel. That talisman will aid me in my conquest. I must have it.
Unferth: Do not listen to him. He has already killed Freya.
Unferth: Stop him, my Lord! He is a madman!
Emh: The only reason you won't die is that I've taken an oath to do no harm.
Emh: Grendel, I'm ready for you.
Emh: I don't know if you can understand me, but watch, I'm setting this one free.
Emh: There's no need for any more of this. Please, we ask you to return our crew.
Paris: Captain, the photonic lattice has reappeared.
Janeway: Scan it. All sensors.
Torres: I'm reading a massive particle surge on our holodeck.
Paris: The lattice is gone again.
Emh: Holodeck to Bridge.
Janeway: Go ahead, Doctor.
Janeway: What is it?
Emh: We have them back, Captain. All three of them.
Janeway: Good work, Doctor.
Kim: Yeah, good work. Would you mind telling me where I was?
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48710.5. Since the return of our missing crewmen, we've been unable to locate any further traces of the photonic aliens.
Emh: I don't know if the being understood language or just my behavior. It would have been interesting to pursue the relationship further.
Janeway: It's one of the most exciting aspects of space exploration, meeting new species, establishing communication, sharing differences and similarities.
Emh: I'm sorry none of that happened this time.
Janeway: But it did. It just didn't happen in very predictable ways. But if you think about it, we entered into conflict, communicated, and eventually established a peace treaty with them. I'm placing a special commendation in the logs for exemplary performance by the Chief Medical Officer during his first away mission.
Emh: Thank you.
Janeway: I'd like to cite you by name. Kes tells me you've chosen one. Is that true?
Emh: I had, but I'm not sure I want to keep it. The last time I heard that name spoken was a painful one. I don't think I want to be reminded.
Janeway: Sounds like you had quite an adventure on that holodeck, Doctor.
Emh: Yes, I would say so.
Janeway: Well, something tells me you haven't had your last one.
Emh: Something tells me the same thing.