Paris: Inertial dampers have failed.
Kes: I can't get any response from the field coils.
Paris: Did you verify the control inputs?
Kes: Stand by. The inputs have locked. We've got to flush the plasma injectors. Or maybe it's just a phase synchronization adjustment.
Paris: Plasma injectors.
Kes: Plasma injectors. Right.
Paris: Field coils responding. Inertial dampers back online.
Kes: That was not fair.
Paris: As your flight instructor, it's my duty to prepare you for anything, fair or not.
Kes: Clogging someone's plasma injectors is a dirty trick.
Paris: Yes, well, I'm famous for my dirty tricks, you know?
Kes: What was that?
Paris: I never said the simulation was finished.
Kes: Computer, evasive maneuvers.
Kes: I'll be ready for anything next time.
Paris: Oh, ho! Sounds like a challenge to me.
Janeway: Come in. I hope you have good news, Commander. Based on this inventory, our food reserves look to be down to thirty percent of capacity.
Chakotay: Good news and bad. We have located an M class planet, and it shows high amino acid and protein readings.
Janeway: That should indicate a healthy plant life. What's bad about it?
Chakotay: It's a full day out of our way.
Janeway: I don't think we have any choice. It's the first chance we've had to replenish our supplies in weeks.
Chakotay: And our long range sensors can't confirm any plant life on the surface.
Janeway: Why not?
Chakotay: It's one strange planet, Captain. It's shrouded. Vapors cover it like a curtain. EM disturbances all over the atmosphere.
Janeway: Some of these readings suggest a planet early in its evolution, almost like a primeval Earth.
Chakotay: The people in Stellar Cartography have already nicknamed it Planet Hell.
Janeway: So it might be a wild goose chase.
Chakotay: Captain, I don't know what we'll find when we get to the surface. Flora or fauna, friend or foe.
Janeway: If we knew we'd find another M class planet soon, I'd. Set a course for Planet Hell, Commander.
Paris: That was you?
Kim: That was me.
Paris: I'm impressed.
Kim: I keep hearing my mother say, practice, Harry, practice. So I ate Neelix's food for a week and used my replicator rations.
Paris: Play something for me.
Kim: Well, I've only had it for a few days, and I don't think
Paris: Oh, come on. Play something. Just pretend I'm not here.
Paris: Play something different.
Kim: Different?
Paris: Something not so cheerful.
Kim: Why?
Paris: What, you don't take requests?
Kim: Something bothering you, Paris?
Paris: Oh, Harry. I'm in trouble.
Kim: What's new?
Paris: I think I'm in love.
Kim: What's new?
Paris: With Kes.
Kim: Kes!
Paris: I know. I know. I never even saw it coming. I thought we were just good buddies. But there she was in my arms.
Kim: In your arms? Paris, you didn't.
Paris: What? Oh, no. I didn't. I wouldn't. She stumbled during a flight simulation. I caught her. I held her for an instant. Are you going to play or not?
Paris: A whole crew full of women and I have to fall for the one I can't have. Why do I do this to my self?
Kim: If you ask me, I say you enjoy it.
Paris: Enjoy it?
Kim: Only thing that makes sense. You've been doing the same thing to yourself your whole life. Setting yourself up for rejection. You must enjoy playing the part.
Paris: Hey, don't knock it if you haven't tried it. I just have to be more careful. I can't let myself be alone with her.
Kim: There's an old Chinese expression. Stay out of harm's way.
Paris: That's not a Chinese expression.
Kim: If it works, use it.
Paris: Of course, it would help a little if Kes and I weren't going to be stuck on the same ship for the rest of our lives.
Kim: That's a pessimistic view.
Paris: I'm in a pessimistic mood. Play something pessimistic. Practice, Harry, practice.
Kes: And then suddenly we fell into a subspace anomaly. None of the readings made any sense. I didn't know what to do!
Neelix: It must have been terrible for you. Pepper, sweeting.
Kes: Ah. Anyway, it was quite a learning experience.
Neelix: I'm sure Lieutenant Paris is a fine teacher. Oh! I almost forgot the Palliantyne peas. Ever so lightly spiced.
Janeway: Analysis.
Chakotay: High levels of trigemic vapors, but it should still support humanoid life.
Emh: Sickbay to Bridge. Please turn to your Emergency Medical Holographic Channel.
Emh: I hope you don't mind that I've been eavesdropping, but I have something important to contribute.
Janeway: What is it, Doctor?
Emh: Of course, it wouldn't be necessary for me to eavesdrop if I were included in these discussions as a matter of operating protocol.
Janeway: Doctor.
Emh: You should be aware that trigemic vapors at the recorded levels can cause severe humanoid skin irritations.
Chakotay: Could you provide some sort of skin protection that might help?
Emh: I am whipping up a batch of dermal osmotic sealant as we speak. Nevertheless, skin exposure to the atmosphere should be limited.
Janeway: Noted, Doctor. Thank you. Tell me, just how often do you eavesdrop?
Emh: I am simply trying to monitor issues involving the health of the crew, Captain. When activated, the Emergency Medical Program establishes comm. links with all key areas of the ship, and I have, on occasion. I am a Doctor, not a voyeur. I am programmed to be diskreet.
Janeway: I'm sure. Commander Chakotay will discuss operating protocols with you at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, no more eavesdropping, Doctor.
Emh: But Captain, I, I, I
Janeway: That's an order.
Torres: There's another problem, Captain. We won't be able to transport to the surface because of the EM disturbances in the atmosphere. They'll interfere with our comm. links too.
Chakotay: I'll have Mister Kim take a look.
Kim: Listen, why don't we take in a holodeck program later? A Moliere comedy. That'll cheer you up.
Paris: I think I'll just eat later.
Paris: Damn.
Kim: What do you want to do?
Paris: Very simple. We just won't sit with her.
Kim: But that's rude.
Paris: No, that's smart. We'll make it look like we have bridge operations to discuss.
Neelix: Gentlemen. May I recommend the Alfarian hair pasta today?
Kim: Hair pasta? That is just an expression, isn't it?
Neelix: Not at all. It's actually made from the follicles of the mature Alfarian. We harvest the hair during shedding season in early fall. It's very high in protein.
Paris: Whatever. We just have a lot of bridge operations business to discuss. Yeah.
Chakotay: Mister Kim, please report to the Bridge.
Kim: Have a nice lunch.
Neelix: You subclass genus.
Paris: I beg your pardon?
Neelix: Sitting with your backs to each other like two strangers waiting for a transport. Was that supposed to fool me?
Paris: Oh, a guy just can't win. Look, there is nothing to fool you about. Really. I swear.
Neelix: Liar.
Paris: What the hell are you doing?
Neelix: I'll kill you!
Paris: It's too late. I'm betting your hair pasta already did the trick.
Janeway: Janeway to Lieutenant Paris and Mister Neelix.
Paris: Go ahead.
Neelix: Yes, Captain?
Janeway: Please report to my Ready room right away. I have something important to discuss with you.
Paris: Er, Captain, did you say right away? If we could have
Janeway: That's what I said, Mister Paris. Janeway out.
Janeway: Would anyone care to explain?
Paris: It might be too long to go into right now, Captain.
Janeway: Very well. I have a mission for the two of you. We have reason to believe that there are food sources on this planet, but we can't transport to the surface. You're going to take a shuttle down and do a little scouting.
Neelix: Me and him?
Janeway: He's our best pilot, and you're our expert on edible plant species in this quadrant.
Paris: Captain, I'm not one to pass up a mission, but in this circumstance, maybe Ensign Baytart who is a fine pilot
Janeway: There are electromagnetic anomalies in the atmosphere and I would rather have you at the helm. Am I diskerning a personal problem here, gentlemen?
Neelix: Frankly, yes, Captain.
Janeway: Solve it. You leave at fourteen hundred hours.
Torres: We're modifying the transporter to try and penetrate the atmosphere. So far, no luck.
Kim: However, we have been running computer simulations to determine if the EM disturbances follow any specific pattern. Our data analysis suggests that there may be occasional atmospheric windows that would allow us to get through.
Chakotay: How occasional, and how long would they last?
Kim: We should see one every thirty hours or so, but they may only last for a matter of minutes. I can't be sure yet.
Janeway: At least long enough for us to beam up food supplies. Mister Paris, you and Mister Neelix will collect as many vegetables and fruits as you can while we wait for this atmospheric window to open. Mister Kim, be sure your computer simulations include
Kes: What happened? I heard that you
Neelix: Nothing happened.
Kes: They said that you and Tom Paris had
Neelix: Kes. We'll talk when I get back.
Kes: I want to know, Neelix. Is it true that you were fighting?
Neelix: When I get back.
Kes: But
Neelix: Shuttle bay.
Emh: Good afternoon. When you have a chance, could you run an analysis of the cytokinetic results for
Kes: I did it during lunch.
Emh: Are you all right?
Kes: I'm fine.
Emh: Are you sure? You seem a little
Kes: I'm fine.
Emh: You know, if you skip lunch, the result might be a lower blood sugar level, which could. I'm sorry. It's in my program. I see something wrong, I must attempt to diagnose it.
Kes: There are some things you can't cure. Neelix and Tom Paris had a physical fight over me.
Emh: How delightful.
Kes: Delightful?
Emh: You should consider it a high compliment. Throughout history, men have fought over the love of a woman. Why, I can quote you autopsy reports from duels as far back as 1538.
Kes: That's not funny.
Emh: It's not meant to be. You've always been interested in autopsies.
Kes: Are all Talaxians so jealous?
Emh: I wouldn't know. I've only met one.
Kes: I love Neelix. Why can't he just accept that? His suspicions about Tom are completely unjustified.
Emh: Are they? Lieutenant Paris's affection for you is obvious.
Kes: What do you mean?
Emh: I mean he desires you.
Kes: That's not true. Tom and I enjoy each other's company. We're friends.
Emh: Whenever you walk into the room, his respiration increases, his pupils dilate and the coloration of his ears turns decidedly orange. Until I noticed the pattern, I thought he was suffering from Tanzian flu. It's there for anyone to see. Maybe not in the same diagnostic detail as I see it, yet
Kes: Are you saying that I didn't want to see it?
Emh: You're only two years old. There may be a few things you don't know to look for in a man. In time, you'll understand.
Kes: On my homeworld it's so much simpler. You choose a mate for life. There's no distrust, no jealousy, no envy, no betrayal.
Emh: Hmm. Your world must have very dry literature.
Kes: I don't know how to handle something like this. What am I going to do?
Emh: You've done nothing to precipitate this state of affairs. You may not be able to do much to resolve it either. There are some things you can't cure.
Paris: Entry sequence at two minutes, mark. All systems normal. Trigemic density at point zero four one and rising.
Neelix: We lost communication with Voyager thirty seconds ago. You don't have to impress me with your technobabble.
Paris: I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm entering it into the flight record. Look, can I make a suggestion?
Neelix: You're the commander of this mission. You can make any suggestion you want, and if you make it an order, I'll even have to obey it.
Paris: My suggestion is that we put our personal problems aside until this mission is over. Okay?
Neelix: I left my personal problems back on the ship. I can't speak for you.
Paris: Fine. Let's get the job done.
Neelix: You get us down in one piece, and I'll take it from there.
Paris: Entry sequence at three minutes, mark. All systems, stand by. Have you been briefed on shuttle operations?
Neelix: Ensign Baytart took me through the basics. Of course, I didn't have the benefit of your personal tutelage.
Paris: Check your console. I'm reading a power output decline of fifteen percent.
Neelix: Confirmed.
Computer: Warning. Vectored exhaust controls malfunctioning.
Neelix: What does that mean?
Paris: We're getting some kind of reaction in our driver coil assembly from the EM anomalies in the atmosphere. I'm going to abort the mission. Hold on. We've lost our impulse drive. Shut off the deuterium flow! I'm dumping excess fuel.
Neelix: Deuterium flow sealed.
Paris: Setting DCA pulse over to neutral. Engaging thrusters.
Neelix: Can you regain control?
Paris: I'm trying, Neelix. Prepare for an emergency landing. Send out an EMS pulse. There's still a chance Voyager will pick it up.
Tuvok: Captain, we're picking up a locator signal from the shuttle.
Janeway: Can you track it?
Tuvok: Their last velocity vector indicates a steep descent. We've lost contact.
Chakotay: Bridge to Torres.
Torres: Torres here.
Chakotay: B'Elanna, our shuttle's in trouble. Any progress on modifying the transporter?
Torres: Negative. It's an extremely complex interference pattern, and it keeps changing.
Janeway: Bring in as much help as you need. This is now a search and rescue operation.
Torres: Acknowledged. Torres out.
Janeway: Keep me informed. I'll be in my Ready room.
Neelix: I said in one piece.
Paris: Sorry. I did the best I could. Any broken bones?
Neelix: Everything seems to be working. I'm itching.
Paris: I feel it too. We've got atmospheric leakage in the hull. The trigemic vapors really sting. Here. Doc said this would help a little.
Neelix: If we've got atmospheric leakage, how can we fly out of here?
Paris: We can't. We'll have to wait for Voyager to find us.
Neelix: We're not even sure they're looking for us yet. We don't know if the EMS pulse got through.
Paris: B'Elanna's working on the transporter, and one of those atmospheric windows might open up. In the meantime, we're going to have to look for some kind of cover.
Neelix: I say we stay right here.
Paris: The trigemic vapors are going to
Neelix: You're the one who wants to go out into those vapors. Staying here is our best chance of being found. You heard what they said. Those windows may only be open for a matter of minutes.
Paris: And we may be waiting here for days. Exposure to these vapors is too dangerous. We're leaving. Grab your gear.
Neelix: Is that an order or a suggestion?
Paris: An order!
Neelix: Yes, sir!
Neelix: I hope you're satisfied. We were a lot more comfortable inside the shuttle. I have red welts all over my hands now.
Paris: You know, it might be more constructive if you could find us something safe to eat.
Neelix: I certainly don't know why the ship's sensors indicated this planet might be rich in food supplies. It sure doesn't look it.
Paris: Our emergency rations won't last forever.
Neelix: I'll find something for us. Of course, it might not meet your personal culinary standards.
Paris: Oh, don't worry. I've learned to lower my standards since you became cook. I'm picking up some caves about a kilometer west of here.
Neelix: What good fortune.
Kes: Come in. Harry. Any word yet?
Kim: We're doing everything possible. The transporter just doesn't want to work in that atmosphere. How are you doing?
Kes: Oh, I'm all right. It's just, I was very angry at them a few hours ago.
Kim: You had a every right to be.
Kes: And now they might both be dead. And I'm sitting here, and I'm feeling guilty for some reason.
Kim: Guilty? Why?
Kes: I don't know. But I don't like it. And it's their fault. And I can't even tell them how angry I am at them, and I may never be able to tell them how angry I am at them, so it doesn't matter, does it?
Kim: Look. You know if there was any way to land that shuttle, Tom Paris got it down.
Kes: And no one has stronger survival skills than Neelix.
Kim: I'm sure they'll both be fine.
Kes: Unless they kill each other.
Kim: They're professionals.
Kes: Oh, they'd better be all right, because when I see them, I'm personally going to tell them that I never intend to speak to either one of them again.
Chakotay: Chakotay to crew. Battle stations.
Paris: This is good. We can last a while in here.
Paris: That should do it.
Neelix: Garnesite. This will give us a little heat, at least.
Paris: We'd better conserve our beacon cells.
Neelix: So, what is Starfleet protocol for situations like this?
Paris: Oh, there's a whole course at the Academy full of all sorts of survival strategies.
Neelix: I hope you had a passing grade.
Paris: B minus.
Neelix: That's not very encouraging.
Paris: My father was teaching the class that year.
Neelix: And he gave you a B minus? I guess he didn't play favorites, huh?
Paris: What about Talaxian protocols?
Neelix: I wrote my own book. My life before Voyager was no bed of Felaran rose petals.
Paris: No, more like a bed of
Neelix: What?
Paris: Nothing.
Neelix: You were going to say junk, perhaps? Go ahead. Say it. Junk. I was a dealer in junk. Perhaps not worthy of a woman like Kes, in your opinion.
Paris: Neelix, I didn't say that. I never even
Neelix: Tell me something. In that Starfleet survival course, did your father teach you to check for life signs before you seal yourself inside a cave?
Paris: I checked for life signs. There weren't any.
Neelix: There are now.
Janeway: Hail them.
Tuvok: They do not respond, Captain.
Kim: They're powering down their weapons systems.
Tuvok: Their vessel has taken up a position directly beneath us.
Janeway: What do you make of it, Lieutenant?
Tuvok: They would seem to have adopted a defensive posture, Captain.
Janeway: I agree. But defending what? The planet?
Chakotay: Or something on it.
Paris: Whatever this life form is, its vital signs are awfully faint.
Neelix: In this atmosphere, it could be dying of exposure.
Paris: No, I don't think so. They're faint, but steady.
Neelix: I'd say it's becoming more and more evident that we chose the wrong cave.
Paris: This is where the life signs are coming from. They're embryonic life forms. These two are half formed. This one almost seems to be
Kim: The EM disturbance patterns match the computer simulations. I'd say we'll get a shot at an atmospheric window in about fifty three minutes.
Chakotay: Where does that leave us with the transporter?
Torres: Our range will still be limited, but the transporter should work as long as we stay in an area with reduced electromagnetic activity.
Janeway: The problem is we don't know where our shuttle went down.
Chakotay: So there's no way to know how close they'll be to the window when it opens.
Janeway: Recommendations?
Torres: Take the ship through the window into the atmosphere. The closer you can get us to the surface, the better our chances for a successful beam out.
Janeway: Get on it.
Chakotay: Are you going to be able to warn us before the window closes again?
Kim: I think so.
Janeway: Mister Kim, that's not an answer I can live with.
Kim: I'll try to get you a better one, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, we need you to find a way to get us by that ship.
Tuvok: I have anticipated your request, Captain. Am I correct in the assumption that you will want to use minimal force?
Janeway: Assumption confirmed.
Tuvok: I cannot guarantee success. My evaluation of their weapon systems suggest a capacity equal to our own. However
Janeway: You've come up with an ingenious plan to neutralize them.
Tuvok: I have. In my analysis of our first encounter, I have detected what I believe to be a vulnerability in their shield configuration. There appears to be a slight phase retraction when auxiliary power is transferred to their aft weapons systems.
Chakotay: A covariant phaser pulse into their aft control systems might disable their entire weapons array.
Tuvok: That was my ingenious plan, Commander. You are correct.
Janeway: Very well. Red alert. Mister Kim, set coordinates. Torres, speed at two thousand kph.
Torres: Aye, Captain. Chakotay, take the helm.
Kim: Coordinates entered.
Janeway: Engage.
Paris: This creature's going to have the ability to stand upright. It has the skeletal system of a humanoid. It's cold-blooded, has reptilian epidermis. Its brain is significantly larger than most reptilian species. I'd say we're dealing with a sentient life form here, Neelix.
Neelix: If this species is sentient, wouldn't that suggest that its parents might return to care for it?
Paris: It's hard to say. Most common reptiles lay their eggs and never return to protect them.
Neelix: I think we've established we're not dealing with a common reptile.
Paris: True. And if this thing does have a mother, I'd say we don't want to be around when she gets back. Come on.
Neelix: We can't just leave it here.
Paris: We're not leaving it here, its mother left it here. We just happened to wander in.
Neelix: But we blocked off the cave. The mother might have been trapped outside.
Paris: We'll leave the door open for her when we go, okay?
Neelix: Look. It's not that simple. What if she can sense we were here? She, she might be able to smell that faux lime aftershave of yours. I'm sure you realize many species won't return to a nest after it's been tampered with.
Paris: There's not much we can do about that now, is there? We should just leave all this the way we found it.
Neelix: No.
Paris: Neelix!
Neelix: This creature is our responsibility.
Paris: Ours?
Neelix: The moment we came in here, it became our responsibility.
Paris: And you expect to take care of this thing until what? It graduates from high school, college? And what if Mom doesn't come back? Are you planning to bring this with us back on the ship?
Neelix: Look, if she does return and accepts the hatchling, it'll solve everything. We just have to wait and see what she does. I don't know how it is in your quadrant, but in mine we don't abandon a new-born thing.
Paris: Fine. Fine. You made your point. I officially designate you its godfather.
Neelix: It's stopped crying.
Paris: It's shivering. That's normal, isn't it? I mean, new born life forms do shiver, don't they?
Neelix: To be honest, I haven't been around many new borns.
Paris: Me neither.
Neelix: Oh, look at this, Paris. It's stopped shivering.
Paris: It's asleep. Forget what I said, Neelix. You're not its godfather. You're its godmother.
Kim: The atmospheric window is forming, Captain, thirty degrees off the predicted co-ordinates.
Janeway: How soon will we have maximum aperture, Mister Kim?
Kim: Nine minutes.
Janeway: All right, Commander, let's try to draw some fire from their aft weapons systems. Bring us within ten kilometers.
Chakotay: Shields at eighty percent.
Torres: Minor damage to our port nacelle. Rerouting power to lateral thrusters.
Janeway: Tuvok.
Tuvok: So far I'm not detecting the same vulnerability in their shields this time, Captain. We may have to resort to additional force.
Janeway: Arm photons.
Kim: Ready.
Janeway: Prepare to
Tuvok: Stand by, Captain. I'm detecting an opening.
Tuvok: Direct hit to their aft control systems. Their weapons are disabled.
Janeway: Commander, proceed to Mister Kim's coordinates. One half impulse.
Paris: Oh, come on. Come on. It doesn't seem to care for Starfleet rations.
Neelix: If I were in my kitchen, I could cook you up some delightful leola root broth.
Paris: Are you serious? Ugh. I hope I never see another leola root. And you're certainly not feeding any of that hideous broth to my niece. Or nephew. Whatever it is.
Paris: Its heartbeat is getting weaker. I don't like it. Come on, kid. You've got to eat something.
Neelix: It seems far more interested in my jacket than your food.
Paris: Neelix, it's not your jacket. It's the residue of the trigemic vapors we walked through. Think about it. Voyager's sensors picked up high levels of proteins and amino acids, which we assumed meant this was a planet filled with vast supplies of edible plant life.
Neelix: We were certainly wrong about that.
Paris: The residue is a concentration of proteins and amino acids.
Neelix: The perfect source of nutrition for the hatchling.
Paris: The source we cut off when we blocked the cave. Come on. We've got some rocks to move.
Kim: The atmospheric window is at full aperture, Captain. We should have at least seventeen minutes before it starts to close.
Tuvok: Captain, the alien vessel is in pursuit.
Janeway: Are their weapons systems back online already?
Tuvok: Negative. They are still disabled.
Chakotay: They couldn't be preparing to ram us, could they?
Janeway: Hold your course. We need to get through that window but prepare to take evasive action if necessary.
Chakotay: Understood.
Tuvok: Alien vessel closing to one thousand kilometers. Five hundred. Three hundred. It has passed us and is proceeding toward the surface.
Janeway: Take us down, Commander.
Neelix: It's not breathing! I don't think it's breathing! Come on. Suck in some of those hearty vapors.
Paris: It's just too weak.
Neelix: There must be something in here we can use to resuscitate it.
Paris: Neelix, we did the best we could.
Neelix: No! It's our fault. It's our fault. If we hadn't come. Here. Cordrazine. This is a stimulant.
Paris: You can't pump it full of drugs without knowing its body chemistry.
Neelix: So we should just let it die?
Paris: Give me that.
Paris: When I was a kid, a baby bird fell out of a nest and landed on the windowsill next to my bed. We had to feed it water with an eyedropper to keep it alive.
Neelix: What are you doing?
Paris: Filling the eyedropper. Can you hold its mouth open?
Neelix: Do it again. Again.
Neelix: It's working. It's working!
Paris: Life signs are getting stronger.
Neelix: You did it!
Paris: We did it. You know, I never would have thought of that hypospray if. The vapors.
Neelix: Who cares?
Torres: Sensors are operating as well as can be expected under these conditions. Either we're just not close enough to where they landed to pick up their comm. signals, or they never landed. The shuttle might have burned up in the atmosphere.
Janeway: I'm not willing to concede that yet. Any sign of the alien ship?
Torres: No, Captain. We've lost them.
Janeway: Mister Kim, how much longer before that window starts to close?
Kim: Nine minutes, twenty seconds.
Janeway: Chakotay, extend our surveillance pattern. If we don't find them in five minutes, we'll head back to the window.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Neelix: I'm sorry.
Paris: Hmm?
Neelix: I feel I owe you an apology.
Paris: No, you don't.
Neelix: I had no right to push that pasta in your lap.
Paris: Well, think of it this way. You saved me from having to eat it. Nothing personal, but I just don't have an affinity for hair in my food.
Neelix: I haven't been fair to you. You know, I hear people talking about you in the mess hall.
Paris: No kidding. What do they say?
Neelix: Oh, that you used to be a coward and couldn't be trusted. It's typical of Kes that she would befriend someone like you. Someone who really needs a friend. And I guess I just got a little jealous. I got more than a little jealous. I realize now I was wrong.
Paris: Neelix, I told you the truth when I said that nothing happened between me and Kes.
Neelix: I know.
Paris: And I promise you nothing ever will. But you weren't wrong about me.
Neelix: What do you mean?
Paris: I, well, I guess the only way to say it is to say it. I am attracted to Kes.
Neelix: Oh?
Paris: To be honest, if you weren't around, I'd be knocking at her door. But I respect you, Neelix. And that's that. Everything you heard those guys saying about me, well, it was true. But it's not who I am anymore. At least not who I want to be. This upside down mission to the wrong side of the galaxy has given me a second chance, and I don't intend to blow it.
Neelix: I see. Well, in a way I can't say I blame you. She is very attractive.
Paris: She's devoted to you, you know.
Neelix: Well, I did save her life. I'm sure she's grateful.
Paris: Oh, she's a lot more than grateful. She loves you, Neelix. I wouldn't stand a chance. Nobody would.
Neelix: There are others?
Paris: If you ever doubt yourself, just look into her eyes. See the way she looks at you. You'll never doubt yourself again. And as far as I'm concerned, I'll just be her friend. I mean, if you don't mind.
Neelix: I don't pick Kes's friends for her. Just my own.
Paris: Voyager? This is Lieutenant Tom Paris and Mister Neelix. Do you read?
Janeway: We do, Mister Paris. Are you all right?
Paris: Aside from a nasty rash, yes.
Janeway: Have you encountered
Janeway: Life forms?
Paris: Actually, yes.
Janeway: Are they hostile?
Paris: No, just young.
Janeway: Young?
Paris: Yes. We found a nest, and one of the creatures hatched.
Janeway: Be aware we encountered a hostile ship of unknown origin and we're showing that ship on the surface approximately one kilometer from your
Janeway: Position. We're attempting to lock onto you for transport. Stand by.
Neelix: We can't leave yet.
Paris: What? Why?
Neelix: What if the mother rejects it?
Paris: Neelix, one thing's for sure. Whether the mother rejects it or not, she will reject you and me.
Neelix: We promised each other we wouldn't abandon it until
Janeway: Away team, we're showing a life form moving towards your position. Prepare to transport.
Neelix: Captain, this is Neelix. Are you in a particular rush to leave?
Janeway: Did you hear what I just said, Mister Neelix?
Neelix: Yes. But
Neelix: We're not quite finished here yet.
Janeway: Finished with what? We have an atmospheric window closing in less than six minutes.
Neelix: And another one will be coming in how long?
Janeway: Days.
Janeway: Is there a problem?
Paris: The problem is, Captain
Paris: If we leave our little hatchling here and the mother rejects it
Paris: It might die of exposure before we get back.
Janeway: I appreciate your concern for
Janeway: It's welfare, but
Paris: How long can you give us, Captain?
Kim: One minute, ten seconds, max.
Neelix: We'll take it.
Paris: Lock onto us, Voyager. If you hear muffled screams, consider that a request for a beam out.
Neelix: There's nothing like a family reunion.
Paris: Voyager, two to beam out.
Neelix: As soon as you're ready.
Neelix: Kes!
Kes: We didn't know if you were dead or alive. What happened?
Paris: I became an uncle.
Neelix: And I'm a godmother. I'd say this is the special occasion I've been waiting for to open up that bottle of Potak cold fowl I've been saving.
Paris: Cold fowl in a bottle? That's just an expression, isn't it?
Neelix: No. It's actually made from the glandular secretions of an adult dunghill bird, found only on Potak Three. It's very rare. Very exquisite. There are, I believe, only twenty seven bottles in existence at this time.
Neelix: It has a rather smoky flavor, going well with strong, meaty dishes. But I prefer it for sipping in the company of good friends.


Paris: Paris to the Captain.
Janeway: Janeway here.
Paris: I've done an analysis of our route through Botha space. Whenever you have a minute to check it out.
Janeway: I'm on my way to Engineering. I'll be with you as soon as I'm done.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Neelix: Ah, Captain, the computer told me I'd find you on deck eleven section four B, starboard side, and sure enough, here you are.
Janeway: What can I do for you, Neelix?
Neelix: I assumed you'd want to talk to me.
Janeway: About?
Neelix: About the Botha. We're headed for their space and as I've told you, they're going to have to be handled very carefully.
Janeway: I understand, and of course I want your counsel, but right now I'm late for a meeting.
Neelix: I wouldn't put this off too long. We're getting closer, you know.
Janeway: Yes, I know. And I will be with you as soon as I can.
Janeway: Sorry, I'm late. What do you have?
Torres: I think we're about ready to make our first attempt, Captain.
Janeway: If you're successful, will the Doctor be able to move freely around the entire ship?
Kim: Not exactly. The holoemitters would be set up in certain key areas, the Bridge, Engineering. We'll be able to transfer him to those locations.
Janeway: In the same way we can now transfer him to the holodeck.
Torres: Exactly. But if he tries to move into an area where there's no emitter field, he'll dematerialize.
Kim: I have the holoprojector online. We're ready to start.
Janeway: Proceed. I don't have much time.
Torres: Engineering to Sickbay. Doctor, we're ready here.
Emh: I'm standing by.
Torres: Okay. Here goes.
Kim: Initiating transfer. Here he comes.
Emh: Well, this is certainly a brilliant feat of engineering.
Janeway: What happened?
Torres: I'd guess the imaging interface wasn't properly stabilized.
Kim: Just a small oversight. No pun intended.
Emh: Very amusing.
Janeway: How long will it take you to correct this small oversight?
Kim: Maybe a couple of hours.
Janeway: Mister Kim, I have to assess our navigational plan and get ready to make contact with an alien species. I can't drop everything whenever you call.
Tuvok: Tuvok to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Tuvok: Captain, I would like a half an hour of your time to review the security protocols before we encounter the Botha.
Janeway: Yes, Mister Tuvok. Somehow I will find half an hour.
Emh: Excuse me, Captain. Would you come down here, please?
Janeway: Yes?
Emh: When did you last take shore leave?
Janeway: About two months ago.
Emh: Ah. How long since you've done something pleasurable, for recreation?
Janeway: Doctor, I know I'm a bit testy today, but I can assure you
Emh: How long?
Janeway: It's been a while. I have a holonovel program. It helps me unwind. I haven't had time to run it for a few weeks.
Emh: Well, I want you to, now.
Janeway: Doctor, I'm really very busy.
Emh: I've checked Starfleet regulations. The Chief Medical Officer outranks the Captain in health matters. Now I realize this may be the first time a hologram has given an order to a captain, but I'm ordering you to report to the holodeck, now.
Janeway: Aye, sir.
Emh: And the two of you can get busy undoing this ridiculous blunder of yours!
Janeway: Good afternoon, my lord. Will the children be joining us for tea?
Burleigh: Presently.
Janeway: Lord Burleigh, is something wrong?
Burleigh: Yes. Terribly wrong.
Burleigh: I have fallen in love with you, Lucy.
Janeway: My lord.
Beatrice: Hello, Father.
Henry: We're ready for tea. I want cucumber sandwiches.
Templeton: You'll wait your turn, young man. What may I serve you, my lord?
Burleigh: Nothing, thank you.
Templeton: I see.
Beatrice: I want my tea in this cup, please. And I don't want a cucumber sandwich. I don't like the way Cook cuts them.
Janeway: My lord, you'll be very pleased with the children's progress in their studies this week. Henry shows a real talent for mathematics, and Beatrice turns out to be quite musical.
Templeton: Beatrice? Musical?
Beatrice: I don't know what she means.
Janeway: She's very modest about it. I've heard her several times in the music room, playing a lovely Mozart sonata. But whenever I ask her to play it for me, she won't. I think her talent should be encouraged. Would you consider lessons?
Burleigh: I didn't know Beatrice could play the piano.
Beatrice: I'm sorry.
Henry: It's just a cup. Don't be a goose.
Beatrice: It's the flower cup, Mother's cup.
Henry: It doesn't matter.
Burleigh: Mrs Templeton, please take the children to the nursery.
Templeton: Yes, my lord. Come.
Burleigh: Please stay here, Mrs Davenport.
Janeway: Beatrice is upset. I should be with her.
Burleigh: I want you here.
Janeway: What's happening in this house? How can you not know that Beatrice plays the piano? Why shouldn't I go to the fourth floor? What's up there?
Burleigh: Those are questions you must not ask.
Janeway: But I am asking them. I'm worried about the children. Beatrice fantasized that her mother is still alive.
Burleigh: Don't pursue this, I beg you.
Chakotay: Bridge to the Captain.
Janeway: Freeze program. Janeway here.
Chakotay: We've been hailed by a representative of the Bothan government. They'd like to talk to you.
Janeway: I'll be right there. Sorry, my lord. Duty calls.
Neelix: Captain, I knew we should have talked this morning.
Janeway: Tell me what you know, Neelix.
Neelix: I've been in subspace contact with some old friends of mine. Nomads, collectors, much as I used to be. They're in a position to gather information during their travels. What they've told me doesn't sound good.
Janeway: In what way?
Neelix: There are lots of rumors about ships entering Bothan space, never to be heard from again. My sources on Mithren say that they have lost a number of vessels. They say the Botha protect their territory fiercely.
Janeway: But we aren't aggressors.
Neelix: I don't think they are either. They just don't want anyone crossing their borders.
Janeway: Will they negotiate? Will they respond to diplomacy?
Neelix: It's hard to say. There's some belief that they don't even have a legitimate claim to the space, that they're nothing more than pernicious, odious vandals. In which case, diplomacy would fall on deaf ears.
Tuvok: We're being hailed again, Captain.
Janeway: On screen. I'm Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.
Bothan: Why have you entered our space without permission?
Janeway: We didn't realize that this was your space. On what basis do you claim it?
Bothan: I have no intention of explaining myself to you. The fact is, you're violating our territory.
Janeway: I assure you, we mean no disrespect. We are from another part of the galaxy. We're just trying to make our way home.
Bothan: We'll send a ship to rendezvous with you. If you meet the criteria, we'll consider your request.
Janeway: Thank you. What are the criteria?
Bothan: We'll discuss that when we meet.
Paris: Friendly fellow.
Janeway: At least they're willing to talk.
Kim: I wonder why he wouldn't let us see his face.
Janeway: I suspect it was a calculated move. An attempt to intimidate us. Commander, you have the Bridge.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Neelix, join me in my Ready room. We should talk about this meeting.
Neelix: Captain, if I may. What was the last time you ate?
Janeway: Ate? Oh, I had some soup last night.
Neelix: Then let me suggest that we conduct our talk in the mess hall. We're serving a sumptuous repast for lunch.
Janeway: Right. Lunch it is.
Neelix: Captain, you have a nasty habit of skipping meals and that can do horrible things to your electrolyte levels.
Janeway: I know, but sometimes I just get too busy to eat.
Neelix: All you have to do is give me a call. I'll be there in a trice with a tray of food so delectable you won't be able to resist. I do think I've outdone myself this time. An exquisite pate made from Seltin wood fungus. Brine-soaked neccel strips. Deviled wood throk.
Janeway: Where did these come from?
Neelix: Lieutenant Hargrove asked for them. Is something wrong?
Janeway: No, just a funny coincidence. Something I saw on the holodeck. Thank you, Neelix. This all looks delicious. And it's bound to boost my electrolyte levels. Where did you get that cup?
Neelix: Why, I'm not sure. I think I found several of them in storage. Unusual, isn't it? Captain, is everything all right?
Janeway: It's perfectly all right, Neelix. I just have to remind myself that coincidences do happen.
Burleigh: I can't help myself. I've fallen in love with you.
Beatrice: My mother is alive, and my father loves her, not you.
Janeway: In the course of your experiments with the Doctor, have you accessed any of the holodeck programs?
Torres: No, we're bypassing the holodecks.
Janeway: Where did you get this holoprojector?
Kim: We found several of them in storage. We've been reconfiguring them one by one.
Janeway: So you haven't worked directly with any of the projectors on the holodecks?
Torres: No.
Janeway: Is there anything you've done, anything you can think of, that might have caused holographic objects and characters to appear outside the holodeck?
Torres: Not that I'm aware of.
Janeway: I was sure your experiments would explain it.
Torres: Captain, there has to be a reason why you've had these delusions and we're going to figure out what it is.
Janeway: The Doctor pointed out that I've been under some stress. I can't ignore that.
Kim: I think we should check out the imaging systems on the holodeck. There might be a simple malfunction.
Janeway: Good idea.
Torres: We can run the diagnostic from here in Engineering, but you should activate the program first.
Janeway: I'll contact you from the holodeck.
Janeway: Janeway to Engineering.
Torres: Torres here.
Janeway: Have you set up the diagnostic?
Torres: We're ready, Captain.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Burleigh: Lucy. Thank God you've come back. Why are you dressed so strangely?
Janeway: It's a costume.
Burleigh: You'd look lovely in anything. I've thought of you constantly. Remembered your touch, your perfume, your lips
Janeway: Computer, delete character.
Torres: Torres to Janeway. We're finished, Captain, but we didn't find any malfunctions.
Janeway: Recalibrate and try it again. I'm going to check something else.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Neelix: Captain! I'm delighted to see you. Do you want a snack?
Janeway: No, I'm fine. But I wanted to ask you about lunch.
Neelix: Didn't you like it?
Janeway: It was delicious. I was just trying to remember all the dishes you made. There was the Seltin pate.
Neelix: Delectable.
Janeway: The neccel strips.
Neelix: Exquisite!
Janeway: The devilled throk.
Neelix: Sublime.
Janeway: And the cucumber sandwiches.
Neelix: Cucumber sandwiches?
Janeway: Weren't there cucumber sandwiches?
Neelix: I don't even know what that is. The other item on the menu was a fried murt cake. You ate one.
Janeway: And the cup you served my tea in?
Neelix: One of these. The ones I found in storage.
Janeway: I thought it had flowers on it.
Neelix: Flowers? Well, no, I don't see any flowers. Maybe there was another cup, but I don't think so. Would you like a cup with flowers on it? I'm sure I can replicate one.
Janeway: It's all right, Neelix. You've told me what I need to know.
Emh: I don't detect anything so far. No evidence of aneurysm, subdural haematoma, stroke.
Janeway: Could it be stress?
Emh: Possibly. Did you go to the holodeck as I ordered?
Janeway: Yes.
Emh: And was that relaxing?
Janeway: It was interesting. I'm not sure how relaxing it was.
Emh: There are other possibilities we should consider. I want to scan for airborne bacteria and viruses. We should investigate the possibility of an alien intruder. And I'd like to do a cerebro-cortical scan on you.
Kes: Oh! Oh.
Emh: Kes?
Kes: I don't know. Strange. Oh, suddenly I felt cold, shivery.
Janeway: Someone was walking your grave.
Emh: Hmm?
Janeway: It's just an old saying on Earth. A way of describing an odd feeling like that.
Emh: Hmm. How macabre.
Janeway: It's human expression, Doctor. I'd think you'd have heard it.
Emh: My programrs didn't clutter me up with pithy Earth trivia. They programmed me with far more important data. Kes, would you please get my sub-neural scanner from the Med Lab?
Kes: Yes, Doctor.
Beatrice: What's about my mother's grave? There's no one inside. The coffin is empty.
Janeway: Doctor. Doctor. Who do you see here?
Emh: I see you.
Janeway: And I see you. But I also see a little girl from my holodeck program.
Emh: What happened?
Janeway: I'm not sure. The image of the little girl suddenly rushed at me.
Kes: I saw it too. When I came in, I felt as though something hit me, bounced off me, then I saw the little girl moving right into you.
Janeway: As though you became a mirror. You reflected her back toward me.
Kes: I've been doing some mental exercises with Tuvok developing my telepathic abilities, but we haven't done anything like this.
Emh: Captain, until I am able to determine the cause of these hallucinations, I'd prefer that you return to your quarters. Get some rest.
Janeway: Vegetable bouillon. No, cancel that. Coffee ice cream.
Janeway: Hello? Is anyone there?
Mark: Kath, are you there?
Janeway: Computer, is there anyone in these quarters except me?
Computer: Negative.
Mark: Kath, are you there?
Janeway: Who's that?
Mark: Come look at the puppies.
Janeway: Mark.
Mark: I have missed you so much, Kath. When are you coming back? I don't think you've missed me. Someone else is in your thoughts now.
Mark: Isn't that true? Isn't there someone you're thinking of?
Janeway: Computer, open the door.
Templeton: Everything was fine until you came here. I took care of him. He trusted me. But when you arrived, all that changed.
Janeway: Janeway to Security. Intruder alert.
Templeton: You've done nothing but cause trouble. We don't want more trouble in our lives!
Janeway: Security to the Captain's quarters! Tuvok, please respond!
Tuvok: Captain!
Emh: Can you still see the hallucinations?
Kes: Yes, the woman with the knife is receding into the Captain, just like before.
Tuvok: Captain! Listen to me! You are in Sickbay. You are all right. Captain!
Janeway: I think Neelix can help you. No one knows much about the Botha, but he has some information.
Chakotay: I know he's been doing research. I'll check with him.
Janeway: You'll probably want him on the Bridge with you when their ship arrives.
Chakotay: Good idea.
Janeway: I'm not sure how Torres and Kim are coming. You know they're trying to find a way to transfer the Doctor out of Sickbay.
Chakotay: Yes.
Janeway: It's not a priority, but you might want to stay on top of it.
Chakotay: Of course.
Janeway: Let's see. There was a problem with one of the deflector shields. You'll want to follow up on that. And Stellar Cartography was hoping for a review of their latest report. I think Tuvok wanted to discuss something about weapons storage.
Chakotay: Captain, you've trained your crew well. We'll be able to do without you for a few days. In the meantime, we're continuing diagnostics on all ship's systems. There's a reason for what's happening to you, and we're not stopping until we find it.
Janeway: Thank you, Commander.
Emh: My patient has to rest now. I'm sure you'll want to get to the Bridge.
Chakotay: Call me if there's anything I can do.
Janeway: Just be sure to report to me after you meet with the Botha.
Chakotay: Yes, ma'am.
Emh: Captain, if you'll take a seat on one of the beds, I'd like to do some further tests. Kes, please prepare the Captain for a cerebro-cortical scan.
Kes: Certainly. Captain, I saw your hallucination again.
Janeway: What did you see?
Kes: You were struggling with a woman. She had a knife. She was trying to hurt you.
Janeway: That's right.
Kes: As I focused on you, it was just like with the little girl. The image seemed to reflect off of me and move back into you.
Janeway: Your telepathic abilities must be increasing.
Kes: I think it's more than that. I think something strange is happening on this ship and it's not just happening to you.
Tuvok: I am picking up a ship on long range sensors, Commander. It is a design we have not encountered before.
Kim: I show it on a direct intercept course.
Chakotay: That must be our welcoming party.
Paris: They're in a hurry, too. Closing fast.
Tuvok: They are hailing, Commander.
Chakotay: On screen.
Bothan: Where is your captain?
Chakotay: She's not available right now. I'm Commander Chakotay, the First Officer. I can speak for her.
Bothan: We observe rather strict protocols. I'd prefer to negotiate with the Captain.
Chakotay: I understand, but she's not able to come to the Bridge now. And in her absence, our protocols allow me to assume her place. Our request is the same. We'd like permission to cross through your space. We'll do it as quickly as possible.
Bothan: What kind of weapon systems do you possess?
Chakotay: I'm not sure why that information is necessary.
Bothan: How do I know you aren't a heavily armed invader here to attack our settlements?
Chakotay: I don't know how to convince you, but we're a peaceful people. If you doubt us
Chakotay: What happened?
Tuvok: I terminate the transmission, Commander, and made it look like an accidental interruption. I am concerned about some anomalous sensor readings.
Kim: I'm getting them too. Residual energy displacements. Two discrete readings. One off the port bow, one off starboard.
Paris: We have to consider the possibility of cloaked ships.
Chakotay: Reverse course, Mister Paris.
Paris: Aye, sir.
Kim: Two ships decloaking.
Tuvok: The Bothan ship is powering up weapons.
Chakotay: Evasive maneuver gamma five.
Chakotay: Report!
Tuvok: Shields at eighty seven percent. Minor damage on decks four and twelve.
Kim: They're turning back for another strike.
Paris: Initiating evasive pattern beta two.
Chakotay: Get the weapons online.
Tuvok: Powering up lateral phaser arrays. Shields down to eighty three percent.
Chakotay: Return fire.
Tuvok: A direct hit. However, their shields were not penetrated.
Janeway: I can't stay here.
Emh: Captain, I can't allow you to leave Sickbay. You're in no condition to
Janeway: Sorry, Doctor. If we're in trouble, my place is on the Bridge.
Kim: There's something weird going on, Commander. I'm not reading any life signs on the two ships that just decloaked.
Chakotay: There's no crew?
Kim: Looks like the ships are automated. They're being controlled by the Bothan ship.
Chakotay: Return fire, Tuvok.
Tuvok: We have hit their weapons array, but not severely enough to disable it.
Kim: Commander, the three ships are maneuvering to surround us.
Chakotay: Get us out of here, Paris.
Paris: I'm trying.
Kim: The ships are powering their weapons, preparing to fire.
Tuvok: That last volley took our shields down to twenty one percent.
Kim: We've got damage on all decks. Reports of injuries.
Chakotay: All stop.
Tuvok: The lead ship is hailing us, Commander.
Chakotay: On screen.
Bothan: Your ship is damaged and your captain incapacitated. I will accept your immediate surrender.
Janeway: You're not getting one. The Captain is fine.
Bothan: I don't think so. I think the battle is over now.
Janeway: Mark.
Mark: Don't you recognize the man you love?
Janeway: Mister Paris, who do you see on the viewscreen?
Paris: It's my father.
Admiral Paris: I hope you've been behaving yourself.
Kim: I see my girlfriend, Libby.
Janeway: Mister Kim, shut down visual.
Kim: I'm trying, Captain. It won't terminate.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, do a multiphasic scan on those ships. I want any evidence of defensive weakness. And prepare the forward photon torpedoes for launch. Tuvok.
Tuvok: I do not understand how this can be.
T'Pel: Don't try to understand, Tuvok. Just accept it. We're together again.
Tuvok: No. You are not my wife.
T'Pel: Of course I am. I am T'Pel. And there, right in front of you, is your lute. The one you used to play for me. And look. Look around you. You're back home, on Vulcan.
Janeway: Tuvok? Tuvok, answer me. Tuvok!
Kim: Captain, I'll do it. Running a multiphasic scan.
Torres: Torres to the Captain.
Janeway: Janeway here.
Torres: We're having problems down here.
Torres: People are becoming delusional.
Janeway: It's happening her too.
Torres: I think I know why. There's a massive energy field coming from those ships. It's bioelectric, modulating on a delta wave frequency. It has psionic properties, and it's permeating the hull.
Janeway: A psionic field has a psychoactive effect. That would explain the hallucinations.
Torres: You can try remodulating
Torres: The shields, but in the meantime, I'm going to set up a resonance burst from the warp core. That will probably block the field, but it'll take a while to set up.
Janeway: Notify the Doctor. If the field is bioelectric, he might have some ideas how to neutralize it. Commander, give Lieutenant Torres a hand in Engineering. Mister Neelix, if the crew ever needed a morale officer, now's the time. See if you can help.
Neelix: Aye, Captain.
Mark: Kath, do you always have to be the captain? Can't you relax for a minute? I want to talk to you.
Janeway: Mister Kim, remodulate the shields on a rotating frequency.
Janeway: Janeway to Kes.
Kes: Yes, Captain?
Janeway: Can you come to the Bridge? I think we could use you.
Kes: Right away.
Janeway: Paris, are you still with me?
Paris: Sure am, Captain. I'm running the scans on those ships.
Janeway: I'll work on the shields. I suggest you don't look at the viewscreen.
Paris: Oh, it's not even tempting.
Chakotay: How's it going down here?
Torres: Not good. I can't get a response from anybody. It's like they're catatonic.
Chakotay: It's the same all over the ship. On my way here, I must have seen fifty people just sitting, staring.
Torres: A few minutes ago, there was a momentary interruption in the psionic field. Were there any indications that the alien somehow came on board?
Janeway: I'll find out. Chakotay to Janeway. Chakotay to the Captain. Please respond. Chakotay to anyone on the Bridge. Kim, Paris, anybody. We may be the last ones left.
Torres: What do we do?
Chakotay: I think we should take an escape pod. We passed an M Class planet yesterday. The pod should get us there in a week. We can try to get help.
Torres: A week? That might be too late.
Chakotay: It may be our only hope. If we stay here, we'll end up like the others.
Torres: No, I have to keep trying to set up the resonance burst.
Chakotay: Do I have to give you an order?
Torres: I can't believe you're saying this. You know we have to stay here and try to help the others.
Chakotay: I want you with me.
Torres: You aren't Chakotay.
Chakotay: I'm the Chakotay you want me to be. The one who loves you. This is what you want, isn't it? The secret you've been keeping? You want us to be together. And we can be.
Torres: I have to help the others.
Chakotay: I want you. I've always wanted you. You feel the same way too.
Torres: Yes.
Paris: Captain, I'm getting results from the scans. No apparent defensive weaknesses. Metallurgical analysis is inconclusive.
Janeway: I can't remodulate the shields. Try moving us out of here. If we can get some distance between us and those ships, we might be able to block the effects.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Admiral Paris: This time let's see if you can do it without causing an accident. You usually manage to make a mess of everything you do.
Paris: Let me say something I've always wanted to say. Get out of my life.
Admiral Paris: I'm just telling you what you already know. When the going gets tough, you crumble.
Paris: Not any more. Not any more.
Admiral Paris: You don't really believe that. In your heart, you believe you'll fail again. And of course you will. You can't do anything right. You'll fail. Why even try?
Janeway: Tom? Tom? Janeway to Engineering. Janeway to Torres. Are you there? Engineering respond. If anyone in Engineering can hear me, I'm on my way. Computer, put the Bridge controls on security lockout.
Janeway: Deck eleven.
Mark: Now, maybe you have time to talk to me. You're so strong, Kath. That's one of the things I always loved in you.
Mark: What's the matter? You used to love it when I kissed you there.
Janeway: I don't know who you are, what you are, but I won't let you touch me.
Mark: What about the man on the holodeck? You didn't seem to mind him touching you, did you? In fact, I think you liked it. Now I ask you, Kath, is that fair to me? I've stayed faithful to you. I've vowed to wait for you no matter how long it takes. Shouldn't you do the same?
Janeway: I haven't been unfaithful.
Mark: Oh, Kath.
Emh: Sickbay to Engineering. Lieutenant Torres, please respond. Doctor to the mess hall. Mister Neelix, are you there? This is the doctor to anyone on the ship. If you can hear me, please reply. Either the communication system is malfunctioning or everyone on board has succumbed to a delusional state.
Kes: Except you and me.
Emh: It would appear that if the psionic field is to be blocked and the crew restored to normal, it's up to us.
Emh: You will have to go to Engineering and complete Lieutenant Torres's efforts to create a resonance burst.
Kes: I don't know how to do that.
Emh: I will assist you from here.
Kes: Do you know how to do it?
Emh: I discussed the matter with Lieutenant Torres. I think I understand the basic principle behind her plan. How hard can it be?
Kes: All right.
Emh: Go to Engineering immediately. I'll contact you there.
Kes: Tom, what happened?
Paris: A plasma leak caught me in the face. Help me.
Kes: Can you get to Sickbay? The Doctor is there.
Paris: Come with me.
Kes: I can't. I have to get to Engineering.
Paris: You can't leave me like this. It hurts.
Kes: Tom, you can walk. You have to get to Sickbay on your own.
Paris: Kes, please. I can't.
Kes: You don't want me to get to Engineering.
Paris: No.
Kes: I'm hallucinating.
Paris: Kes, wait. Come back. Don't leave me! Come back!
Emh: Finally. What took you so long?
Kes: Doctor, we have to set up this resonance burst as quickly as possible. I've started hallucinating.
Emh: Then see if Lieutenant Torres's last program is active.
Kes: I think I have it. B'Elanna was writing a program to open a symmetrical warp field.
Emh: All right. You'll have to sequence the magnetic plasma constriction to the following formula. T equals C sub-one over theta times P sub-E.
Kes: Er, how do I do that?
Emh: I'm not sure. Wait a minute. I'll see if I can access Starfleet's interactive database.
Neelix: Sweeting! Thank goodness I found you. Are you all right?
Kes: Where have you been?
Neelix: In the mess hall, trying to help the poor souls there.
Kes: Why didn't you answer the Doctor's hails?
Neelix: I didn't hear them. The comm. system must be down. And frankly, I was a little busy. Ashmore thought I was a Kazon. Tried to kill me with a carving knife.
Kes: How do I know you're really Neelix?
Neelix: Who else would I be? Kes, all I want to do is protect you, to keep you safe. We have to get away from here, get to my shuttle.
Kes: Doctor, have you figured out how I can enter that sequencing code?
Emh: It's quite simple, really. Do you know where the command module is?
Kes: Of course.
Emh: Activate it and select magnetic plasma sequencing.
Neelix: You're becoming annoying.
Kes: I've got it. It's activated. Now it's asking me to enter the core temperature.
Neelix: Move away from that console.
Emh: Now, we need a temperature high enough to emit the resonance burst, but not so high as to irradiate everyone on the ship. Try three million Kelvins.
Emh: Kes, look at him.
Kes: It hurts!
Emh: Look at him. Focus.
Kes: I can't.
Emh: Yes, you can. The mirror, remember?
Kes: It hurts too much!
Emh: Kes, look at him.
Neelix: What's the matter, Kes? Can't lift your head?
Kes: Focus.
Neelix: Stop it!
Kes: I'm all right now, Doctor, and I've entered a temperature of three million Kelvin.
Emh: Then all you have to do is activate the warp field.
Kes: All right. Here we go.
Kes: Kes to the Captain. If you can hear me, please report to Engineering.
Torres: What happened?
Kes: It's a long story, but I think everything's all right now.
Torres: Is that who's responsible for all this?
Kes: Apparently. He looks so harmless. It's hard to believe he almost destroyed us.
Bothan: You're a powerful little thing. I must say, you surprised me.
Janeway: Why did you do this to us?
Bothan: Because I can.
Janeway: Is it just telepathy, or is there technology involved?
Bothan: Does it matter?
Janeway: Oh, it matters to me, because I don't intend to let you continue preying on others.
Bothan: How would you propose to stop me?
Janeway: We could destroy your technology. Or adjust your brain wave patterns to prevent telepathy. And then we could turn you over to the government of Mithren. We could even keep you confined in our brig behind a force field.
Bothan: I'm sure you're very well-intentioned, Captain, and I'd like to be able to accommodate you but you see, I'm not really here. Captain's log, supplemental. We have no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the telepathic alien. We can't even be certain that he was actually here. He seems to have left us with any number of unanswered questions.
Torres: I'm surprised to see you here, Captain. Isn't this the day that you're usually in the holodeck with your novel?
Janeway: I thought, after our recent experience, that I'd take a break from fantasy for a while.
Torres: I don't blame you. I think it had quite an impact on all of us. Do you think it's true? That the alien was reading our minds, creating images from our own experiences?
Janeway: It seemed that way. He had uncanny ability to bring buried thoughts out into the open. Why?
Torres: Oh, it's just, I experienced something I'd rather not admit.
Janeway: I know. Me too. But, in a way, maybe he did us all a favor. Maybe it's better to look those feelings in the eye than to keep them locked up inside.
Torres: I guess. I'll have to think about that. I have an early watch tomorrow, so I'd better turn in. Good night, Captain.
Janeway: Good night, B'Elanna. Sweet dreams.
Torres: Thanks. You too.


Chakotay: Anything?
Torres: Not really. The polyferranide deposits are contaminated with astaline.
Tuvok: Commander, there's something over here I think you should see.
Chakotay: Pack it up. We'll find better quality somewhere down the line.
Torres: That line is going to be cut short when our nacelles burn themselves up if we don't find it soon.
Chakotay: What have you got, Lieutenant?
Tuvok: There have been other visitors to this moon recently.
Neelix: What do you think this is? Some kind of message?
Kolopak: I don't want you to go wandering off.
Young Chakotay: I'm not. I'm just looking at something.
Kolopak: Antonio.
Kolopak: He says you're quite a scout, a kep-o-ne.
Young Chakotay: I was just looking at a lizard when I saw it.
Kolopak: Well, it was your eyes that saw it. No one else's did. That's the important thing. Come. I want you to understand this. It's a blessing to the land, an ancient healing symbol. A chamozi. They probably cut this down for firewood.
Young Chakotay: The Rubber Tree People?
Kolopak: Well, the closest thing to the ancient Rubber Tree People that we'll ever see. The people in this tribe are their descendants, just like we are. But they never left this jungle, and they rarely intermarry with other tribes.
Young Chakotay: And they still use firewood instead of magnesite fuel like everyone else.
Kolopak: Chakotay, they have chosen to live like this for centuries. That's why we are traveling on foot and not using a transporter. We honor the Sky Spirits who led our ancestors to this sacred land.
Young Chakotay: Sacred land?
Kolopak: Yes.
Young Chakotay: Huh. The Sky Spirits must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Chakotay: Maybe it's a blessing to the land, for damaging it with the campfire.
Tuvok: What is your basis for that conclusion, Commander?
Chakotay: Oh, just something somebody told me once.
Emh: Describe the nature of your pain.
Wildman: In the lower back. It's tight.
Emh: Choose the word that would best describe your pain. Burning, throbbing, piercing, pinching, biting, stinging, shooting
Wildman: Shooting. It even goes down my legs.
Emh: Hmm.
Wildman: Is the baby all right?
Emh: Hmm? Oh, certainly. Fine. Nothing to worry about.
Wildman: Well, that makes me feel better.
Emh: The position of the baby is simply putting pressure on your sciatic nerve. You may return to your post.
Wildman: The pain makes it difficult to sit for any period of time. It's really quite uncomfortable.
Emh: Elevating your legs when you sit should provide all the relief you need.
Kes: Perhaps a day of rest, off duty.
Emh: Mmm. Ensign Wildman, according to your medical history, this is your first pregnancy, correct?
Wildman: Yes.
Emh: Well, Ensign, unfortunately, pregnancy causes its fair share of discomforts, and you'll have to learn to live with them. That's just the way it is. We'll schedule her for follow-up in two days. If the pain has not subsided on its own by then, we'll attempt to decrease the sensitivity of the nerve in that region.
Wildman: Thank you, Doctor.
Kes: Call me day or night if this gets any worse.
Kes: Don't you have any compassion for the way she feels?
Emh: Every member of this crew is an adult. I will not coddle them. Compassion can be your department. Fortunately, you have enough for both of us.
Kes: You've never been sick or in pain. I just wish once in your life you could know what it's like, how it makes you feel vulnerable and a little afraid. Then you'd understand.
Emh: I don't have a life. I have a program.
Chakotay: I hated every minute of it. My father had dragged me all the way from our colony near the Cardassian border on this quest of his. Away from my friends, my home, and here we were in the middle of a brutal Central American jungle looking for the descendants of the ancient Rubber People.
Janeway: It must have been very important to him.
Chakotay: Believe me, it was. And he was very disappointed that I didn't share his enthusiasm. He'd been tracking down the origins of our tribe for years.
Chakotay: The one on the right is the one I found today.
Janeway: And now something you saw on that trip years ago shows up again on a moon's surface almost seventy thousand light years away. I don't suppose you have any theories that might explain this.
Chakotay: I can give you an official Rubber Tree People theory if you like. Sky Spirits.
Janeway: Sky Spirits?
Chakotay: It's an ancient myth. Sky Spirits from above created the first Rubber People in their own image and led the way to a sacred land where the Rubber People would live for eternity.
Janeway: You obviously don't put a great deal of faith in this explanation.
Chakotay: How much faith do you put in Adam and Eve? Hasn't science proved that all humans developed from a single evolutionary process?
Janeway: That's what I was always taught. On the other hand, none of my teachers ever spent much time in the Delta Quadrant. B'Elanna tells me we've picked up a warp signature heading away from the moon. Think we should follow it?
Chakotay: I don't know that it's fair for me to put my own personal curiosity ahead of the ship's priorities.
Janeway: We still haven't found the polyferranide we need to seal the warp coils. If these people have warp technology, they might be able to help us. Besides, we are in the business of exploring, aren't we?
Chakotay: My father would put on his expedition hat and shout, let's go. I guess that's good enough for me.
Kim: Showing no life signs.
Janeway: Mister Paris, are you certain the warp signature ended here?
Paris: Positive, Captain. Harry, check your sensors. That look like some kind of power source to you?
Kim: That is an unusually high EM reading for a natural occurrence.
Chakotay: Could be some kind of cloaking technology.
Janeway: Mister Kim, transmit a continuous message on all frequencies identifying who we are, where we're from, and make it clear our intentions are peaceful.
Torres: Torres to Bridge.
Janeway: Go Ahead.
Torres: We're in luck, Captain.
Torres: My readings are showing high concentrations of polyferranide about ten kilometers below the surface.
Janeway: Acknowledged. We'll send down an away team to continue the survey. Report to Transporter room three.
Torres: On my way.
Janeway: Commander, if we meet any resistance, abort the mission. I have no intention of disturbing an alien race that would rather be left alone.
Chakotay: Understood.
Janeway: On the other hand, if we can make contact, our goal is to get permission to begin excavation as soon as possible.
Chakotay: Tuvok, you're with me. Mister Neelix, please report to Transporter room three for an away mission.
Neelix: I'll meet you there, Commander.
Torres: We may be out of luck.
Chakotay: Problem?
Torres: I'm not sure we can transport down. Every time we try to lock onto a transport site, a storm begins.
Chakotay: Storm?
Torres: We've tried seven different sites and as soon as we lock on, an electrical storm forms right above the location. When we change sites, a new storm forms and the old one dissipates.
Tuvok: Might the transporter beam itself be causing an electrostatic charge in the atmosphere?
Torres: That's as good a guess as any. I can't explain it. We just can't transport.
Chakotay: Fine. We'll take a shuttle.
Tuvok: Once again, the storm seems to have formed as a direct result of our interaction with the atmosphere. The meteorological conditions changed radically when we began our entry sequence.
Torres: Shields are holding.
Neelix: It takes more than a little thunderstorm to bother one of your mighty Starfleet ships, huh?
Chakotay: Nothing we can't handle. Relax, Neelix.
Kolopak: That's why they call it a rain forest.
Young Chakotay: Why do your Sky Spirits choose a place where it rains all the time? And it's hot, and there are so many bugs.
Kolopak: It's said the Sky Spirits honored the land above all else. Maybe it's because this land yields so many different kinds of life. Maybe they wanted us to become friends with everything in nature, including the bugs.
Young Chakotay: Sorry, Sky Spirits, I will never make friends with bugs.
Kolopak: Maybe that's why they keep biting you. You're miserable. It was a mistake to bring you. I'm sorry.
Young Chakotay: I'm sorry I can't be what you want me to be.
Kolopak: From the day you came out of your mother, upside down, I knew the Spirits had chosen you to be a contrary.
Young Chakotay: No one chooses for me. I choose my own way. And if that makes me a contrary, I'll have to live with it.
Kolopak: If you have no spirits to guide you, I fear you will lose your way.
Torres: Altitude, five thousand meters.
Chakotay: Decreasing speed to seven hundred twenty kph. Entering terminal approach phase.
Torres: Visibility still zero. Switching to enhanced terrain scanning.
Chakotay: Touchdown site scanned. Continuing descent.
Kes: Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Holographic program.
Emh: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
Kes: I thought we changed your program so you wouldn't have to say that anymore.
Emh: We did. But I became so uncomfortable trying to find new ways to break the ice, as it were, that I restored it. Let's just say it works for me.
Kes: Doctor.
Emh: Ah, you noticed.
Kes: Are holograms supposed to sneeze?
Emh: Generally, no, but I have accepted your challenge. I've programmed myself with the symptoms of a twenty nine hour Levodian flu. Thus, I will gain the experience that you suggest would be beneficial to the performance of my duties. A-choo.1 Holographic tissue paper for the holographic running nose. Don't offer them to patients. Hmm. Interesting sensation, blowing one's nose. It's my first time.
Kes: I think this is very brave of you.
Emh: Nothing of the sort. I intend it to be an educational experience.
Kes: I'm sure you'll learn a lot.
Emh: I meant for the crew. I'm tired of the whiny, cranky attitudes we see around here. I intend to serve as an example of how one's life and duties do not have to be disrupted by simple illness.
Kim: Doc, I don't feel so good.
Emh: Neither do I, and you don't hear me complaining.
Tuvok: We are not making any progress locating the source of that unusual power reading, Commander.
Chakotay: Then I guess we'll have to search for these people the old fashioned way, with our eyes and ears.
Neelix: Is something bothering you, Commander?
Chakotay: No. It just reminds me of another jungle that I visited once. The Central American rain forest on Earth. It's the only other place in the universe that I've ever seen this flower.
Tuvok: It appears to be a rare variety of Cypripedium, of the Asiatic genus Paphiopedilum.
Neelix: I never knew you had such horticultural expertise, Mister Vulcan.
Tuvok: In fact, I am, or more accurately I was, a breeder of prize Vulcan orchids.
Neelix: Then we have something in common. I breed orchids too. Don't they make the most exquisite salad? A touch of Baldoxic vinegar, pure heaven.
Chakotay: I hereby designate the two of you the team's botanical surveyors. Collect a sample of that flower. B'Elanna?
Torres: It's just what we've been looking for. Almost pure polyferranide. But there's a problem with crust reactivity. If we can't solve it before excavation, we might contaminate the entire yield.
Chakotay: Have Ensign Kim run an analysis from the ship. We should be able to.
Chakotay: I'll be damned.
Torres: What?
Chakotay: It almost looks like a hawk, doesn't it?
Kolopak: Listen to him, Chakotay. What does he say to you? He says, you are home, eh?
Young Chakotay: I'm leaving the tribe, Father.
Kolopak: What?
Young Chakotay: I got to know a lot of the Starfleet officers patrolling the Cardassian border. I asked Captain Sulu if he would sponsor me at Starfleet Academy.
Kolopak: And he would do such a thing without even discussing it with me?
Young Chakotay: I told him I had your approval.
Kolopak: Ah.
Young Chakotay: I kept him as far away from you as I could.
Kolopak: I take it you've been accepted by the Academy? Well, you've never fully embraced the traditions of our tribe, I know that. And you've always been curious about other societies, and that is why I allowed you to read about them. Because I believe that ignorance is our greatest enemy. But to leave the tribe?
Young Chakotay: Our tribe lives in the past. A past of fantasy and myth.
Kolopak: That past is a part of you, no matter how hard you try to reject it.
Young Chakotay: Other tribes have learned to accept the twenty fourth century. Why can't ours?
Kolopak: It is not the place of a fifteen year old boy to question the choices of his tribe.
Young Chakotay: I know. That's why I have to leave.
Kolopak: You will never belong to that other life. And if you leave, you will never belong to this one. You'll be caught between worlds.
Young Chakotay: I ask for your blessing, Father.
Neelix: Botanical surveyor number one to Commander Chakotay.
Chakotay: Go ahead, Neelix.
Neelix: You won't believe what I've found. I think it's argh! Ow!
Chakotay: Neelix, what the?
Neelix: The bird! The bird!
Neelix: My eye. Oh.
Chakotay: Away team to Voyager.
Paris: Go ahead, Commander.
Chakotay: Emergency beam out. Get Neelix to Sickbay.
Paris: Acknowledged.
Tuvok: Commander.
Emh: You're very lucky this bird didn't snatch your eye right out of the socket. We have no spare Talaxian eyeballs.
Neelix: Is something the matter with him?
Kes: The Doctor gave himself the Levodian flu to see what it's like.
Neelix: Is he contagious?
Emh: It's a holographic simulation, not an actual virus. There's no need for concern. You may sit up.
Neelix: Touchy, isn't he?
Kes: He isn't feeling well.
Emh: I don't require any compassion, thank you very much. I have been experiencing these symptoms for nearly twenty hours, and I am in complete command of my faculties. You may both leave now.
Janeway: Mister Kim believes if we bombard the crust with antithoron radiation, we can decontaminate it before excavation begins.
Chakotay: Then all we need to do is locate these people and get their permission.
Janeway: Any progress?
Chakotay: Everything we've found here suggests the people who live in this village left recently and in a hurry.
Janeway: Do you believe our arrival frightened them?
Chakotay: We can't discount that.
Kim: You'd think with warp technology, they would have encountered other alien life before now.
Chakotay: You'd think
Chakotay: With warp technology, they wouldn't be living like this. Captain.
Chakotay: Have you had any unusual readings that might explain the images of a strange face I've been seeing?
Janeway: Images?
Chakotay: Very odd. Like the flash of a memory, but it's someone I've never met.
Janeway: Nothing unusual has shown up on the ship's sensors.
Chakotay: Tuvok hasn't detected any telepathic activity either.
Janeway: If you want to call it a day, Commander.
Chakotay: No.
Chakotay: I think we'll press on for a while. If there are any other problems, I'll let you know. Chakotay out.
Torres: The dwellings are constructed with an alloy polymer matrix we've never encountered before, Commander.
Chakotay: They're out there. Our tricorders may not tell us so, but they're out there. Lay down your weapons.
Tuvok: Commander?
Chakotay: Disarm. I want them to see that we don't pose any threat to them.
Tuvok: May I remind the Commander that Starfleet protocol demands that away teams remain armed and ready to defend themselves until contact is made.
Chakotay: I know all about Starfleet protocol, Lieutenant.
Tuvok: As we have not yet established the inhabitants' intentions, it would not be a logical course of action.
Chakotay: The logical course isn't always the right course. Lay down your weapons in plain sight. Those are my orders.
Tuvok: Would you at least permit me to advise the Captain to move the ship into a stronger tactical position?
Chakotay: Negative. We'll show no force of any kind.
Tuvok: For the record, I must take exception to these orders.
Chakotay: Noted.
Kolopak: They have reason to be scared. Who can blame them? Their history, our history, is filled with conquerors who brought slavery and disease and death.
Young Chakotay: Maybe we should just leave them alone.
Young Chakotay: Father.
Kolopak: A chamozi.
Kolopak: I honor the sacred land of the Sky Spirits. I have come very far to find you, my cousins.
Chief: How do you know our language?
Kolopak: It is the language of my ancestors.
Chief: We are of the same hand.
Tuvok: I have no explanation, Commander. There is no storm activity indicated.
Chakotay: All right. Let's get back to the shuttle.
Chakotay: Hey, wait!
Tuvok: We will never make it.
Torres: Where's Chakotay?
Tuvok: Away team to Voyager. Emergency beam out.
Torres: He was right behind us. I don't understand what could have happened to him.
Janeway: Was he wearing the comm. badge the last time you saw him?
Tuvok: Just before the storm, he was using it to speak with you, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Paris, what are the current surface conditions near the shuttle.
Paris: Surface conditions are back to normal, Captain. Winds, two knots. But I can't find any sign of their shuttle. It's not where they landed it.
Janeway: And it isn't airborne?
Paris: No, ma'am.
Janeway: I'll lead the away team back. Mister Tuvok, Lieutenant, you're with me. Mister Paris, you have the
Emh: Captain Janeway, this is the Doctor. Please turn to your Emergency Medical Holographic channel.
Janeway: What is it, Doctor?
Emh: Something terrible has happened. My program
Janeway: Doctor, I think you're carrying this experiment of yours a little too far.
Emh: One hour too far to be precise. I very specifically programmed a twenty nine hour Levodian flu, and it has now been thirty hours.
Janeway: Doctor, I'm sorry but we have more pressing matters to
Emh: You can't leave me like this. I need help.
Emh: Now, get me somebody who can tweak the computer and make me feel better, immediately.
Janeway: Very well. Mister Kim is on his way. Try to relax
Janeway: Doctor.
Kes: I'll see to that, Captain.
Janeway: I'm going to need you with me, Kes. Prepare a medkit and bring it with you to Transporter room three. Commander Chakotay is still on the surface and may be injured.
Janeway: Janeway out.
Emh: Oh, I don't understand it. I ran a computer diagnostic and it said my program was fine.
Kes: Just rest, Doctor.
Emh: Oh.
Kes: Here's a cool holographic towel for your forehead.
Emh: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, don't go yet.
Kes: I have to. The Captain
Emh: I feel like I'm fading. Just fading away. You don't know what that means to a hologram.
Kim: What seems to be the problem?
Emh: Oh. My simulated virus is leading me to a simulated death.
Kes: It's nothing to worry about. I just added a couple of hours to his computer program. He'll be fine in about forty five minutes. Knowing when it would end didn't exactly make it a fair test, did it, Doctor?
Emh: She is far more devious than I ever suspected.
Chakotay: No shuttle. Well, at least they got out okay.
Chakotay: You have nothing to fear from me. Talk to me. Let me see you.
Chief: Make our cousins one with us.
Young Chakotay: No, thank you.
Chief: He is one of us.
Chakotay: You have nothing to fear from me. Talk to me. Let me see you.
Torres: I don't understand it. It's the same thing that happened the first time we tried to go down. A storm develops wherever we try to lock on.
Janeway: Why would we have the ability to beam people up, but not beam them down?
Tuvok: I believe we have seen enough to diskern a pattern, Captain. The logical conclusion is that someone is controlling the elements of nature to ward us off. The transporter anomaly is evidence of this conclusion. We are allowed to leave the planet, but not to approach.
Janeway: If that's true, I'd be happy to respect their wishes. But unfortunately, I have a missing crewman to get back first. Janeway to Paris.
Paris: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Paris, we're going to land Voyager on the surface. Take us into the atmosphere.
Paris: Acknowledged. Beginning entry sequence.
Kim: I'm reading a electrical storms forming all around us.
Paris: Adjusting flight path.
Kim: The barometric pressure is continuing to fall. We're looking at monsoon conditions out there.
Janeway: Mister Paris, the shuttle crew didn't report turbulence this severe during their landing.
Paris: I'm doing the best I can, Captain. I'm showing gale force winds out there.
Tuvok: It is conceivable that the aliens have been able to intensify their response now that they are familiar with our capabilities.
Janeway: Red alert.
Paris: Inertial dampers are offline. We seem to be caught in some kind of vortex. I can't maintain altitude.
Kim: Captain, it's a cyclone.
Paris: Altitude, twenty thousand meters and falling. I can't get us out of this thing, Captain.
Janeway: Bridge to Torres. We need more power
Janeway: From the engines.
Torres: I've got them running twenty percent over rated maximum.
Torres: Captain.
Janeway: It's not enough.
Kim: Could we go to low warp under these conditions?
Paris: The ship might make it without inertial dampers, but we'd all just be stains on the back wall.
Torres: I can try to
Torres: Augment the engines with power from the auxiliary fusion reactors, but it's going to take at least twenty minutes.
Janeway: How much time do we have, Mister Paris?
Paris: Altitude at eighteen thousand meters and falling. At this rate, we're looking at about ten minutes.
Chakotay: If you can hear me, speak to me.
Chakotay: I'm sorry. I don't know the ancient language of my people. I can't understand.
Chakotay: Chamozi.
Chakotay: Chamozi.
Paris: Altitude, six thousand meters.
Computer: Warning. Approach vector is too steep. Discontinue landing sequence.
Paris: Would somebody turn that off, please?
Janeway: Engineering. Report.
Janeway: We need that extra power, B'Elanna.
Torres: Ten minutes. I just need
Torres: Ten minutes.
Alien: Do you understand my words now?
Chakotay: Yes.
Alien: Explain the face marking.
Chakotay: I wear it to honor my father. He wore it to honor his ancestors.
Alien: Ancestors. You are human?
Chakotay: Yes.
Alien: Are there others on your world with this mark?
Chakotay: Yes. Not many, but some.
Alien: We were taught all of them had been annihilated. We were taught your world had been ravaged by those with no respect for life or land.
Chakotay: There was a time when that was true, but no longer.
Alien: He claims to be a descendent of the Inheritors.
Chakotay: Inheritors?
Alien: The ones our ancestors chose to honor. I'm surprised you have no memory of the Inheritors. One of our gifts was the memory. If you are a descendent, you should remember.
Chakotay: I'm not sure I understand.
Alien: Perhaps it has been lost over time.
Alien: Forty five years ago, on our fist visit to your world, we met a small group of nomadic hunters. They had no spoken language, no culture, except the use of fire and stone weapons. But they did have a respect for the land and for other living creatures that impressed us deeply. We decided to give them an inheritance, a genetic bonding so they might thrive and protect your world. On subsequent visits, we found that our genetic gift brought about a spirit of curiosity and adventure. It impelled them to migrate away from the cold climate to a new, unpeopled land. It took them almost a thousand generations to cross your planet. Hundreds of thousands of them flourished in their new land. Their civilization had a profound influence on others of your species. But then, new people came with weapons and disease. The Inheritors who survived scattered. Many sought refuge in other societies. Twelve generations ago, when we returned, we found no sign of their existence.
Chakotay: My people called you the Sky Spirits. Why have you been hiding from us since we landed here?
Alien: When we heard your message, who you were, observed you probing our land, we believed you were a threat. We thought you would annihilate us as you had the Inheritors.
Chakotay: Our message was supposed to communicate peaceful intentions.
Alien: We were taught that is the way human conquerors often introduce themselves.
Chakotay: As I said, we've tried to change our ways since the last time you stopped by.
Paris: Altitude, two thousand meters.
Torres: Stand by, Bridge. We're initiating the transfer now.
Kim: I'm showing an eight percent boost in the engines.
Janeway: That's all?
Torres: The fusion
Torres: Reactors are nearly drained. Fighting the storm is taking every reserve we have.
Paris: Altitude, one thousand meters.
Kim: Impact in twenty seconds.
Janeway: B'Elanna.
Kim: Impact in fifteen seconds.
Torres: I'm sorry, Captain. That's all we've got.
Kim: Impact in ten seconds.
Janeway: Report.
Paris: We're free. Gaining altitude. Two thousand meters, twenty five hundred. Dampers back online.
Kim: The storms have completely dissipated. There's not a cloud in the sky.
Janeway: Stand down Red alert. Anybody have an explanation?
Tuvok: It appears the inhabitants of this planet have decided to make contact, Captain. The cloaking device has been turned off and we are showing an alien population. I have located the shuttle. It may be possible to locate Commander Chakotay without landing.
Janeway: Establish a search pattern, Mister Paris.
Paris: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: Begin scanning for human life signs. As soon as you find Chakotay, we'll send down an away team.
Chakotay: My ship will be coming for me soon.
Alien: I'm sorry we cannot permit you to extract all the materials you need.
Chakotay: You were generous to offer as much as you did.
Alien: You have a long journey ahead. It took us more than two generations to reach your world.
Chakotay: I wish I could see my father's face right now.
Alien: Does he still live?
Chakotay: No. He died fighting enemies who would have taken our home colony. Our tribe moved there a few hundred years ago.
Alien: So he honored the land just as his ancestors did.
Chakotay: Yes. Yes, he did. We weren't on very good terms when he died. Once he was gone, I didn't know how to reconcile our differences, how to heal our old wounds. I returned to my colony and continued the fight in his name. I took the mark that he wore to honor his ancestors. I spoke to him in my vision quests, but he never answered. Until now.
Alien: Chamozi.
Tuvok: Commander?
Chakotay: Put those away.
Kolopak: Listen to him, Chakotay. Do you hear what he says to you?
Chakotay: Yes, Father. I hear him. I finally hear him.
Tuvok: Four to beam up, Voyager.