Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 50460.3. We've been investigating an inversion nebula for several days. This phenomenon has never been seen in the Alpha Quadrant, and is proving something of a mystery to us here.
Janeway: According to Federation astro-theorists, inversion nebulae are so unstable they're supposed to burn out within a few years, but this one appears to be centuries old.
Paris: Maybe the theorists were wrong. After all, they never had a chance to look at the real thing.
Chakotay: Not entirely wrong. These plasma strands we're approaching look ready to ignite.
Janeway: Tom, back us off two thousand kilometers. That'll give us a safety margin.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Harry, set the sensors for full spectrum scans, continuous sweep. If that nebula does flare up, I don't want to miss a beat. Mister Kim, I need your attention on the sensors.
Kim: Sorry, Captain. Full spectrum scans. I'm on it.
Janeway: Astro-theory never predicted this would be so lovely. Beauty and mystery, a tantalizing combination.
Paris: No argument here. Right, Tuvok?
Tuvok: I am fully capable of appreciating this phenomenon without the extraneous sentimentality humans find so necessary.
Chakotay: Being moved by an emotion isn't always extraneous. Sometimes it's the whole point.
Tuvok: Enter. Mister Kim. Can I help you?
Kim: Er. That's kal-toh, isn't it? Vulcan chess?
Tuvok: Kal-toh is to chess as chess is to tic-tac-toe.
Kim: I should have known.
Tuvok: What is on your mind, Ensign?
Kim: Tuvok, I need your help. I want to eliminate emotions, like Vulcans do.
Tuvok: Mister Kim, it is a lifelong process.
Kim: I realize that. And I also know that Vulcans use certain techniques.
Tuvok: The t'san s'at, the intellectual deconstruction of emotional patterns.
Kim: I'm willing to learn.
Tuvok: May I ask why?
Kim: I have feelings I don't want to have.
Tuvok: That would seem to be self-evident. And what is the nature of those feelings?
Kim: I'm in love, and I don't want to be.
Tuvok: I see. And who is the object of your affections?
Kim: Her name is Marayna.
Tuvok: I am not aware of anyone on the ship with that name.
Kim: She's not a member of the crew. She's a character on the holodeck.
Tuvok: You're in love with a computer subroutine?
Kim: That's the problem.
Tuvok: Interesting.
Tuvok: To see through an emotional complex is to rob it of its power. The first step is to identify the complex in which you have been caught.
Kim: I told you. I'm in love.
Tuvok: There are many different kinds of love, Ensign. You must learn to differentiate. For example, you told me that you met this individual only days ago. Yet you feel overwhelmed.
Kim: I can't get her out of my mind. Not for a second.
Tuvok: Have you been able to sleep?
Kim: No.
Tuvok: Have you eaten?
Kim: No.
Tuvok: Does your daily routine seem somehow empty, perhaps even ludicrous?
Kim: Yes!
Tuvok: You are experiencing shon-ha'lock, the engulfment. It is the most intense and psychologically perilous form of eros. I believe humans call it love at first sight.
Kim: But we're talking about a holodeck character.
Tuvok: Irrelevant. The emotional complex in which you are trapped is the same and so is the cure. Logical deconstruction, followed by a regimen of meditative suppression. As I shall demonstrate.
Neelix: Ah, a little further to the left. Mmm, no. That's too much.
Kim: Neelix. Have you seen Marayna?
Neelix: Ah, perfect. Welcome, gentlemen. Just getting things ready for tonight's little get-together.
Kim: I completely forgot. The luau.
Neelix: Polynesian style. I've done my research. Er, Lieutenant Tuvok, you neglected to RSVP.
Tuvok: That was not an oversight, I assure you.
Kim: Where's Marayna?
Neelix: Who?
Kim: She's part of this program.
Neelix: Doesn't ring a bell.
Kim: How could you miss her? She's tall, athletic, blonde.
Neelix: Oh, one of the entertainment directors. I believe she's giving Kes a hydrosail lesson.
Neelix: No, no, not there. There.
Kes: Harry, Tuvok, the lake is perfect today.
Marayna: Hello, Harry.
Kim: Hi, Marayna.
Kes: We were just talking about you.
Kim: You were?
Kes: Marayna said what an excellent student you are.
Kim: She's a great instructor.
Marayna: Ready to get your ears wet?
Tuvok: Vulcans do not hydrosail.
Marayna: Oh, why not?
Kes: Lieutenant Tuvok prefers the solitude of his own quarters and a game of kal-toh.
Marayna: I'm sure we can do better than that.
Kes: I'm going back on duty. Thanks.
Marayna: You're welcome. There's a volleyball game starting down in the sand.
Tuvok: Mister Kim and I would prefer some conversation. Would you care to join us?
Marayna: All right. I tried a reverse curl this morning. I think I pulled a tendon. Feel that.
Kim: It's like a knot.
Tuvok: I'm sure it is.
Marayna: Are you two friends?
Kim: Yes.
Tuvok: No. We're colleagues. I respect Mister Kim for his intelligence and his integrity. And I assume he holds me in the same regard.
Marayna: So Vulcans don't hydrosail, and they don't have friends?
Tuvok: We have fellowships and associations, but without the emotional dimension humans experience.
Marayna: Hmm. You and I are friends, aren't we?
Kim: Er, yeah.
Marayna: Good.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Tuvok and Kim. Report to the bridge.
Tuvok: Acknowledged. We're on our way.
Marayna: There's a luau tonight. You're coming, aren't you? Both of you?
Tuvok: No.
Kim: Yes.
Marayna: You've got to stop doing that.
Tuvok: Ensign?
Tuvok: As I predicted, your responses were as formulaic as a mathematical equation.
Kim: What do you mean?
Tuvok: Consider the expression on your face when Neelix did not recall Marayna. Annoyance.
Kim: That's not true.
Tuvok: It is quite true. At that moment, Neelix was functioning in Vulcan terms as the soo-lak, the third party who, by his very lack of interest, trivializes your own.
Kim: I guess it really did bother me.
Tuvok: And the arrival of Kes with Marayna then precipitated in you the k'oh-nar, the feeling of being completely exposed.
Kim: I was embarrassed, and I was sure Kes would take one look at my face and know exactly what I was feeling.
Tuvok: And when Marayna placed your hand on her stressed tendon.
Kim: Let's not even talk about that.
Tuvok: Bridge.
Kim: It's all so predictable.
Tuvok: That's just what I've been trying to get you to perceive. To the trained Vulcan intellect, intense romantic love is nothing more than a set of stereotypical behaviors. Not having our diskipline, typically, humans are swept along by the process until it ends.
Kim: How does it end?
Tuvok: Either in conversion to a more balanced, stable relationship, or in tragic circumstances.
Kim: I can't have a balanced, stable relationship with a holodeck character. Marayna's a computer program. She could never feel for me what I feel for her.
Tuvok: Exactly. Logic dictates a single course of action. Retreat.
Kim: To tell you the truth, I don't even like hydrosailing.
Chakotay: The temperature's five thousand degrees kelvin and rising.
Tuvok: Captain?
Janeway: We've located a plasma strand that looks like it's seconds from igniting.
Chakotay: There is some kind of unknown process that's been keeping this nebula from going up like a torch. We're going to see it in action.
Tuvok: And if there isn't?
Paris: I've got my hand on the controls. We'll be out of here before it even touches our shields.
Kim: Captain, the temperature is nine thousand degrees kelvin. I'm picking up a subatomic cascade reaction.
Paris: There she goes.
Kim: The plasma strand completely burned itself out.
Chakotay: Without causing a chain reaction in the nebula.
Janeway: Harry, what put out the flames?
Kim: Sensors show some kind of dampening effect between the strands, but I can't isolate it.
Janeway: Like a firebreak in space.
Chakotay: If we understood how this happened, we might be able to find a new way to contain a warp core breach.
Janeway: Or any plasma reaction. It's an investigation worth pursuing. Tom, it seems safe enough. Take us in for short range sensor scans. Let's find out all we can about this phenomenon.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: I'll see all of you at Mister Neelix's luau. I'm sure everyone will be attending.
Paris: Lieutenant, you look absolutely
Torres: Tropical?
Paris: More along the lines of smashing.
Torres: Thanks.
Paris: Of course, nothing can quite measure up with this shirt. This is an exact recreation of a 1962 Big Daddy-O Surf Special, an American classic.
Torres: I'd say you put just a little bit too much thought into that.
Paris: Now that's where you're wrong.
Torres: Let's go. I told Vorik we'd pick him up at sixteen hundred hours, and you know how Vulcan he gets when anybody is late.
Paris: Vorik? I thought we were meeting Harry.
Torres: Oh, he's not coming.
Paris: Why not?
Torres: He said he was busy.
Paris: With what?
Torres: I don't know.
Paris: Harry and I will meet you and Vorik at the luau.
Torres: You're pretty confident about your powers of persuasion.
Paris: Yes, I am.
Kim: Come in.
Paris: Surf's up, Mister Kim.
Kim: Hi, Tom.
Paris: Harry, this is a luau. You look like you're dressed for a funeral. What are you doing?
Kim: A Vulcan meditation.
Paris: What for?
Kim: To suppress my emotions.
Paris: Is something wrong?
Kim: Not really.
Paris: The resort woman? What was her name?
Kim: Marayna. How did you know that?
Paris: Well, for two days now, every time I look for you it's always, he's in Holodeck one. And since you don't like hydrosailing, I figured something was going on.
Kim: Am I that predictable? You sound like Tuvok.
Paris: Tuvok? He told you to do all this?
Kim: Logically, the best course is retreat. Meditation helps.
Paris: Retreat? A classic case of Vulcan denial, if you ask me. Come on, Harry. We have all fallen for a holodeck character. It happens. You deal with it by staying with your normal routine, not by hiding out in your quarters.
Kim: I'm not hiding out. I'm deconstructing the emotional complex.
Paris: Okay. Have fun.
Kim: No, wait. Computer, standard illumination. I'm getting tired of this anyway.
Paris: Computer, one Hawaiian shirt.
Computer: Specify parameters.
Paris: Pineapple motif.
Neelix: Greetings, Mister Vulcan.
Tuvok: No, thank you.
Neelix: I've done a great deal of ethnographic research on the Polynesian cultures on Earth. The flowered garland, or lei, is said to represent the flowering of love. It's a marvelous tradition, don't you think?
Tuvok: Marvelous.
Neelix: Oh. Oh, my! Did I program a centerpiece that big? Computer, open parameter adjustment file.
Emh: The life of a recreational hologram - dining, dancing, non-restrictive clothing. I see the allure. Your turn.
Janeway: Oh, thank you. Tuvok, I'm glad to see you here.
Tuvok: I would never disobey an order, Captain, no matter how burdensome.
Janeway: There's a difference between an order and a suggestion.
Chakotay: The evening's young, Lieutenant. Let's mingle.
Tuvok: Vulcans do not. Curious.
Chakotay: What's that?
Tuvok: If you will excuse me.
Tuvok: A common error among novice players. By placing the t'an on opposite sides of the kal-toh, you are attempting to introduce a spatial balance, a strategy that will most certainly fail.
Marayna: Why?
Tuvok: Kal-toh is not about striving for balance. It is about finding the seeds of order, even in the midst of profound chaos. May I?
Marayna: Please.
Marayna: How beautiful.
Tuvok: Kal-toh is not about beauty.
Marayna: I understand, but it's still beautiful. Did you learn to play on Vulcan?
Tuvok: Yes. From the age of five, I took lessons from a master.
Marayna: I thought you might enjoy having an opponent. Playing alone must get a little predictable sometimes.
Tuvok: You are perceptive.
Marayna: Yes, I am. Extremely so.
Girl: Aloha, miss.
Girl: Sir?
Tuvok: No, thank you.
Marayna: You're the only one here not wearing a garland.
Tuvok: Given the decor, it seems somehow excessive.
Marayna: I don't believe you.
Tuvok: I beg your pardon.
Marayna: I think you're tying to isolate yourself and make a public protest at the same time.
Tuvok: Explain.
Marayna: You didn't want to be here in the first place. Being the only one without a lei sets you apart from the others, allowing you to symbolically maintain your solitude. And since everybody can see that you're the only one without a lei, you're letting them know that you'd rather be somewhere else.
Tuvok: Your logic is impeccable.
Paris: Thanks.
Torres: Thanks. I am starving.
Paris: Oh, me too. Let's find us a spot. This place is filling up fast.
Vorik: I have already taken the liberty of reserving a table, Lieutenant, with a view of the lakeside. You did express a fondness for that particular vista.
Torres: I did?
Vorik: Five days ago in a conversation we had in Engineering regarding holodeck programs.
Torres: I guess maybe I did.
Paris: Good memory.
Vorik: Of course.
Torres: Well, then, Ensign, let's go.
Paris: Harry?
Kim: What?
Paris: Do you want to get something to eat or not?
Kim: I don't know. Maybe this isn't a good idea. Listen, I'm going back to my quarters.
Paris: Harry.
Kim: Tom!
Paris: Okay. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow.
Marayna: I like the excitement of the water, the danger of being tossed around by the wind and the waves. But at the same time, feeling like I'm in control.
Tuvok: The illusion of control.
Marayna: That's exactly right, because no one can control the wind and the waves. But for a few moments when you're on the water, and the ride is perfect, the feeling is that you can. You ever feel that?
Tuvok: No.
Marayna: Never? Don't you have an imagination?
Tuvok: If by imagination, you mean the ability to spontaneously generate images within my mind, then, yes, I have a highly developed imagination, as do all of my race.
Marayna: All right, imagine this, that you with your logic and your reason, are skimming atop endless waves of emotion. You believe you're in control, but you know that control is an illusion. You believe that you understand the depths beneath you, but that, too, is an illusion.
Tuvok: I can see why Ensign Kim finds you compelling.
Marayna: I can see why Harry admires and respects you, because it's obvious that he does. And so do I.
Tuvok: I must return to my quarters.
Marayna: Please stay. I've never met anyone like you.
Tuvok: I must admit, I share that conclusion. You are a unique individual.
Marayna: Then stay.
Tuvok: It is late. I must go.
Marayna: Then come back tomorrow. I'm sure the weather will hold.
Tuvok: No doubt.
Marayna: Please.
Tuvok: Perhaps.
Marayna: Good night, Tuvok.
Tuvok: Good night, Marayna.
Tuvok: Computer, end resort program. Captain's log, supplemental. We've completed sensor scans and confirmed our discovery of an unusual dampening field responsible for keeping this unstable nebula from going up in flames. The field's origin is still a mystery.
Chakotay: The dampening field only seems to appear when one of the plasma strands ignites, as if the fire itself initiates the field.
Janeway: Which puts out the fire. A feedback loop.
Chakotay: One that's preserved this nebula for hundreds of years.
Janeway: Mister Kim, do we have enough data on this dampening field to produce one artificially using the deflector dish? Harry, do we have the data?
Kim: Yes, Captain. But it'll take a while. We'll have to simulate the process on the computer, and then try to recreate it with the deflector dish. Probably a few weeks.
Janeway: The project is yours, Ensign. Tom, resume course for the Alpha Quadrant, warp six.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Paris: Captain, propulsion is not responding.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering. B'Elanna, what's going on?
Torres: I'm not sure, Captain. We're trying to track the problem now.
Janeway: Acknowledged. Harry, give B'Elanna a hand.
Chakotay: The nebula could be having an effect on the ship's systems.
Janeway: That's a possibility we can't discount.
Vorik: The warp drive is functioning within established tolerance levels. Matter antimatter containment is at recommended field strength. The impulse engines are also
Torres: Within tolerance.
Vorik: Yes.
Torres: Most likely there's some kind of failure in the computer pathways. Nothing's wrong with propulsion, but the commands from the helm just aren't getting there.
Kim: The warp drive seems okay. Impulse too. I think the problem must be somewhere else. I think maybe the helm's being blocked.
Torres: Like some kind of failure in the computer pathways?
Kim: Maybe.
Torres: I just said all that. You're not listening, Harry.
Vorik: I'll return to my station, Lieutenant.
Kim: I'm sorry. I guess I've got a lot on my mind.
Torres: Forget about her.
Kim: What did Tom say to you?
Torres: Not a single word. I saw the way you were looking at Marayna yesterday.
Kim: Hi. My name's Harry read-me-like-a-book Kim.
Torres: It's not that bad.
Kim: Apparently it is. I can't get her off my mind.
Computer: Input algorithm not accepted.
Torres: Why don't you take a break? I can handle it from here.
Kim: Thanks. I'll be in my quarters if you need me.
Kim: Deck three. Computer, belay that order. Holodeck one.
Kim: Computer, activate Neelix resort program.
Computer: That program is currently running.
Marayna: Hello, Harry.
Kim: Enjoying yourselves? Now I know why you told me to keep off the holodeck.
Tuvok: Mister Kim, you are misconstruing the nature of this situation. Your jealousy is entirely insupportable.
Kim: Stop analyzing me! I respected you. I trusted you. And you did this right behind my back.
Tuvok: I have done nothing of the sort.
Kim: Then what do you call this?
Tuvok: A game of kal-toh which I am playing with a nonsentient computer subroutine.
Marayna: Harry, I didn't intend to harm you, and I didn't do anything wrong.
Kim: I'll accept that from her, Tuvok, but not from you. You said to stay away from her. You should have done the same.
Tuvok: You're implying a desire on my part that simply does not exist. Marayna is an intriguing interactive hologram, nothing more.
Kim: If you say so, Lieutenant.
Tuvok: Mister Kim, I value our working relationship. I would not allow a holodeck character to disrupt that.
Kim: I think it's a little late
Marayna: Tuvok! Harry! Please. Stop arguing.
Tuvok: Computer, delete the Marayna subroutine.
Marayna: Tuvok, what are you
Kim: That's not going to help. I never should have come to you in the first place. I should have worked it out myself.
Janeway: Let's try it again, Mister Paris. Warp six.
Paris: Course laid in.
Janeway: Engage. It would appear to me that we're not moving, Mister Paris.
Paris: I don't understand it, Captain.
Janeway: Any ideas, B'Elanna?
Torres: Warp drive is still on line, and helm control appears to be working, but the engines aren't responding. It's possible we've got a computer malfunction, but I can't seem to localize it.
Janeway: Let's run a level four computer diagnostic. All systems.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Torres: Captain, I just got aft thrusters to respond. It's not much.
Janeway: I'll take it, B'Elanna. Tom, let's go.
Chakotay: At this speed, we'll be completely clear of the nebula by tomorrow.
Janeway: Good enough.
Marayna: Your move.
Marayna: I think you'll find my game has improved.
Tuvok: How did you get here?
Marayna: Simple. I transferred myself from the holodeck to the sickbay, then used your physician's mobile emitter.
Tuvok: I deleted you from the holodeck.
Marayna: But you only did that for Harry's benefit. I know you wanted to keep seeing me. I like Harry, but you're different. You're not like anyone else.
Tuvok: Why have you come here to my quarters?
Marayna: You're like a new world to me, Tuvok. I want to know everything about you. I didn't realize how lonely my existence was, and I can't go back to the way things were, not without you.
Tuvok: Tuvok to bridge. Intruder alert. Security team to my quarters.
Marayna: No! Why did you do that? Don't you want us to be together?
Tuvok: Given your actions, I have no choice but to consider you a potential threat to myself and to Voyager.
Marayna: But you're wrong. I would never do anything to harm you. Make it stop!
Tuvok: You have access to the ship's control systems?
Marayna: And I'll use them all if I have to. You can't just delete me!
Janeway: Where is this individual now?
Torres: When security got to Tuvok's quarters, she downloaded herself back into the computer and onto the holodeck.
Paris: More to the point, what is she?
Chakotay: Most likely a sentient computer program. I checked the Starfleet database. This kind of thing has happened before. The Enterprise-D under Picard was once taken over by a holocharacter.
Kim: We studied that case at the Academy. It gained control of the ship from inside the holodeck.
Tuvok: Marayna may well have done the same. She was able to silence the intruder alert by an apparent act of will.
Janeway: Does that mean she has the run of our entire computer system?
Tuvok: She may.
Janeway: Is it possible that she's the source of our mysterious malfunctions?
Torres: It's certainly possible. If Marayna's able to manipulate the ship's computer pathways, she could have disrupted propulsion and then covered her tracks so we couldn't trace the cause.
Janeway: But why? What's her motivation?
Tuvok: I believe it has something to do with her feelings toward me. In my quarters, she made reference to her loneliness and expressed her desire to continue our relationship.
Paris: But what does that have to do with knocking propulsion offline?
Chakotay: Could she be trying to keep us near the nebula?
Kim: This all started the day we got here. That's when I first met her. Maybe the nebula is somehow affecting the holodeck.
Janeway: Giving rise to an intelligence that doesn't belong there.
Torres: It's possible.
Janeway: In any case, I can't allow her to gain any further control over my ship. Tuvok, Paris, Torres, get down to holodeck one. I want this situation resolved one way or another.
Torres: She's locked us out of the program. We'll be lucky if we can open the doors.
Paris: We're lucky.
Tuvok: Marayna may have opened the doors. Caution is advised.
Torres: I'll try to access the inside control panel.
Paris: It's kind of creepy.
Tuvok: Marayna's attempting to recreate the setting of my previous encounter with her.
Paris: Ah. You really know how to pick 'em, Tuvok.
Torres: I got access to the holodeck computer.
Paris: I'm not reading anything unusual on the holodeck. It seems to be working perfectly.
Torres: There's a subspace signal coming from outside of Voyager. It's some kind of an uplink. There's somebody on a ship out there, tapping into the
Paris: B'Elanna!
Tuvok: Shoot the control panel.
Janeway: Shield status.
Kim: Still holding, Captain, but the inertial dampeners are offline.
Chakotay: Starboard shields are down to eighty percent.
Janeway: What happened down there?
Tuvok: Marayna attacked us and attempted to restrain me. She has control over the holodeck characters.
Janeway: But she's not actually on the holodeck. I found an uplink and tracked it to the nebula. She's on a hidden ship or a space station. She's manipulating the holodeck from there.
Chakotay: She's been using the Marayna character like a puppet.
Janeway: As an interface, a way to move around Voyager to interact with us.
Marayna: Tuvok, come back to me. I'm waiting for you.
Janeway: Harry, try to trace the uplink. Find her.
Marayna: Don't make this more difficult than it already is, Captain.
Janeway: Are you responsible for the plasma fires?
Marayna: You're giving me no other choice but to force the issue.
Janeway: What do you want?
Marayna: Tuvok. I want Tuvok. Let him come to the holodeck alone, or I'll destroy your ship.
Marayna: Tuvok, you're back.
Tuvok: I had little choice.
Marayna: We're alone now. No one can see us or hear us. We can do whatever we want. You don't have to pretend anymore. This is our world.
Tuvok: You successfully lured me here by threatening the ship, but any attempt to generate intimacy between us will not be successful.
Torres: I've isolated the source of the uplink signal.
Janeway: Stand by to transport.
Marayna: I understand your sense of duty, of loyalty to your captain, but we have something stronger, a connection that goes beyond duty and loyalty. I know you want to be with me, Tuvok.
Tuvok: You must leave Voyager now and allow us to continue on our course.
Marayna: I won't.
Tuvok: I suggest you reconsider, or Captain Janeway will be forced to take action.
Marayna: There's nothing she can do. You're staying here with me. She'll just have to accept that.
Tuvok: Energize.
Kim: Transporting to the source of the uplink.
Marayna: Stop!
Chakotay: Shields are down to forty seven percent.
Chakotay: Shields are gone.
Janeway: Try to hail Tuvok.
Kim: I can't Captain. Something's blocking the signal.
Tuvok: Marayna.
Marayna: Your ship is helpless. If I ignite one more strand, the hull will fail.
Tuvok: You are using the nebula as a weapon.
Marayna: My nebula.
Tuvok: I will fire if necessary.
Marayna: You're too late. I've already set the ignition sequence. Only I can stop it.
Tuvok: Are you alone here, on this station in this nebula?
Marayna: Yes. It's my work.
Tuvok: I don't understand.
Marayna: I keep the plasma fires from chain-reacting.
Tuvok: You are responsible for the dampening field we've been investigating.
Marayna: That's correct. I generate it from here to preserve the nebula so that others from my home planet may enjoy its beauty. I watch the ships when they pass by. They don't even know I'm here.
Tuvok: You are lonely.
Marayna: By choice. I prefer to be here, alone.
Tuvok: But you uplinked with our holodeck and created a character in order to interact with us.
Marayna: To amuse myself. I have done it before. Tapped into the computer of a passing alien vessel, examined all the little details of their lives. But I never expected to find something as diverting as your holodeck. I never expected to find you. You are like nothing else I've ever encountered. And I can't be without you. Stay here with me, and I will let your ship resume course.
Tuvok: If it is the only option, I would willingly sacrifice myself to save my crewmates.
Marayna: No! That's not enough. You have to want to be with me.
Tuvok: If you truly understood who and what I am, you would know that I could never return your affections.
Marayna: But you are more like me than you are like them. I've seen the way you isolate yourself. Even in a crowd of people, you're alone. We should be together.
Tuvok: I must admit, I have found our conversations stimulating. Your insight and intelligence, fresh and unexpected. In other circumstances, I would be willing to spend time in your company, to continue to share knowledge and ideas. But I have a home and a spouse on Vulcan. I have a mission, and colleagues who depend on me. I do not have a complete understanding of emotions, but I believe that if you truly care for me, you will not pursue this course of action.
Marayna: You may go. Your communicator will function now.
Tuvok: Tuvok to Voyager.
Janeway: Go ahead, Tuvok.
Tuvok: I am ready to return. Stand by to beam me aboard.
Kim: Captain, ship's systems are coming back online.
Janeway: Acknowledged, Tuvok.
Janeway: Standing by.
Tuvok: Consider this. Your feelings toward me may be evidence of a deeper need. A more profound loneliness than you are willing to admit. Why don't you call for a replacement? Let another occupy this task. Attempt for a time to live among your own kind.
Marayna: Logically, that would be the best thing to do.
Tuvok: Yes.
Marayna: Perhaps I will.
Tuvok: Tuvok to Voyager. Ready for transport.
Marayna: But what about you, Tuvok? Will you always be alone? Security chief's log, stardate 50471.3. The remaining damage to the ship was easily repaired, and we soon left Marayna's nebula behind. Voyager is back on course, and I have resumed my normal routine.
Tuvok: Mister Kim, would you be interested in learning to play kal-toh?
Kim: I thought kal-toh was beyond human understanding.
Tuvok: Not entirely. Ensign, I failed to respect the complexity of your emotions. I apologize for my lack of consideration.
Kim: Don't worry about it, Tuvok. Apology accepted.
Kim: Won't this take years to learn?
Tuvok: It will indeed.
Girl: May I join you? TUVOK +
Kim: No.
Tuvok: But thank you.


Neelix: Oh Captain, do you have a minute?
Janeway: Just about a minute. I'm on my way to the shuttlebay.
Neelix: I thought last night went well, didn't you?
Janeway: Extremely well. Everyone had a lot of fun.
Neelix: I was thinking of making it a regular feature, say once a month?
Janeway: It's certainly worth a try.
Neelix: And Captain, you were especially good last night.
Janeway: Thanks, Neelix. It's been a while.
Neelix: You'd never know. Now, Captain, I, do you think, I mean, I, I, I was wondering if
Janeway: What is it, Neelix?
Neelix: Could you possibly keep Mister Tuvok busy on the bridge that evening?
Janeway: I'm sure something could be arranged. Our secret, Neelix.
Neelix: We never had this discussion.
Chakotay: Harry's clarinet solo was okay. I could have done without Tuvok's reading of Vulcan poetry. But the highlight of the evening was definitely Kathryn Janeway portraying the Dying Swan.
Janeway: I learned that dance when I was six years old. I assure you, it was the hit of the Beginning Ballet class.
Chakotay: I don't doubt it. If Neelix has another talent night I hope you reprise it.
Janeway: Oh, no. Not until certain other people take their turn. The ship's First Officer for instance.
Chakotay: Me? Get up in front of people and perform? I don't think so.
Janeway: Come on, Chakotay, there must be some talent you have that people would enjoy. Maybe I could stand with an apple on my head and you could phaser it off.
Chakotay: Sounds great. If I miss I get to be Captain. Atmospheric turbulence. We might be in for a rough landing.
Janeway: Funny, a minute ago there wasn't any indication of rough weather.
Chakotay: I'm reading even more severe storms near the surface.
Janeway: Ion lightning. Maybe we'd better try the fifth planet instead and come back here when things have cleared up.
Chakotay: I think we took a lightning hit. Attitude control is out.
Janeway: I'm switching to manual.
Chakotay: The navigational system's out.
Janeway: Reverse engines. Full thrusters.
Computer: Warning. Hydrazene gas leak.
Janeway: Altitude twelve kilometers. Hull temperature four thousand degrees. We have to reduce speed.
Chakotay: I'll try the emergency anti-grav thrusters.
Chakotay: Kathryn. Kathryn!
Chakotay: Kathryn! Kathryn!
Chakotay: No!
Computer: Warning. Hydrazene gas levels at one hundred twelve parts per million. Begin evacuation procedures.
Chakotay: Hang on, Kathryn.
Chakotay: Breathe, damn it. Breathe! Don't you die on me now. Come on, Kathryn. Breathe! Listen to me, Kathryn. You've got to breathe. Breathe! Breathe! Come on. Come on!
Chakotay: Yes.
Janeway: Chakotay.
Chakotay: Don't ever do that to me again.
Janeway: Thanks.
Chakotay: You went into shock. You gave me quite a scare there for a minute. This should help reduce your cranial swelling. Should have a headache for a while.
Janeway: I'll live with it.
Chakotay: We need to set up a homing signal. Hey, take it easy.
Janeway: I'm all right. Chakotay, we're going to need the blankets and the rations.
Chakotay: I can get them. You set up the homing signal. Here. At least the storm seems to be dying.
Janeway: What were you looking at?
Chakotay: There are phaser burns on the hull. I don't think it was lightning strikes that hit us. I think we were shot down.
Janeway: By whom?
Chakotay: I don't know. I'm going back to see if I can get an energy signature from the burns.
Janeway: Chakotay, the homing signal. We might be telling someone just where to find us.
Chakotay: Disconnect it while I scan the shuttle.
Janeway: Can you tell anything?
Chakotay: The signatures are Vidiian.
Janeway: Vidiian? I thought we'd moved beyond their space.
Chakotay: If they shot us down you can be sure they'll be coming for us. We need to find a hiding place.
Janeway: What is it?
Chakotay: Life forms, fifty meters from here. They're coming this way.
Janeway: Let's go.
Chakotay: There's another group in this direction. We're surrounded.
Janeway: Let's take cover. We'll have to fight.
Janeway: Back off now. We'll fire if we have to. Back off!
Janeway: Chakotay!
Chakotay: Harry's clarinet solo was okay. I could have done without Tuvok's reading of Vulcan poetry. But the highlight of the evening was definitely Kathryn Janeway portraying the Dying Swan.
Janeway: I learned that dance when I was six years old. I assure you. Wait a minute, what's happening here?
Chakotay: You're right. We have been here before.
Janeway: Do you remember Vidiians?
Chakotay: Yes. They shot us down and attacked us.
Janeway: We may have wandered into some kind of repeating time loop. I'm going to scan for temporal anomalies.
Chakotay: Whatever's going on, let's change tactics this time. Let's not try to land on that planet.
Janeway: Agreed. I don't see any evidence of temporal flux, or any kind on anomaly for that matter.
Chakotay: Or of Vidiian ships.
Janeway: So far, so good.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Voyager. Chakotay to Voyager, do you read us?
Janeway: We're out of range. I'd still like to figure out what happened to us. Send a subspace message that we won't be landing on the planet. Tell them that we'll be looking for evidence of temporal anomalies. I see a ship approaching at high impulse. It's on an intercept course.
Chakotay: Is it Vidiian?
Janeway: Yes.
Chakotay: I've got it. It's a warship, loaded with weaponry. It's closing fast.
Janeway: Can we outrun it?
Chakotay: We can try.
Janeway: They're two hundred thousand kilometers away and gaining.
Chakotay: Setting evasive pattern Delta four.
Janeway: They're powering weapons. Shields up! Stand by all phaser arrays.
Chakotay: Shields down to eighty four percent.
Janeway: Returning fire.
Chakotay: Nice aim.
Janeway: It didn't stop them.
Chakotay: We've lost shields!
Janeway: Firing starboard array!
Chakotay: That one hit the reactant injectors.
Janeway: Shut them down, they'll leak antimatter.
Chakotay: The magnetic fields are failing. The gas flow separators are down.
Janeway: Dump the core!
Janeway: It's looking more and more like we're in a time loop. The question is, how do we break it?
Chakotay: Let's retrace our steps. Get back to the part of space we were in before all this started happening.
Janeway: Agreed. If we're experiencing a temporal field, a tachyon burst might disperse it. Chakotay.
Chakotay: Let me guess. It's a Vidiian ship.
Janeway: Two Vidiian ships, still twenty million kilometers away but headed right for us.
Chakotay: Sacajawea to Voyager. Do you read us?
Tuvok: You have just come into comm. range, Commander.
Chakotay: We're being pursued by two Vidiian ships. Set a course for our shuttle and have weapons powered.
Janeway: We also believe we're experiencing some kind of temporal phenomenon, a time loop. Make certain you scan for anomalies.
Tuvok: Aye Captain. We're on our way.
Chakotay: If you're going to emit that tachyon burst, you'd better do it now. In a couple of minutes those ships'll be right on top of us.
Janeway: Here goes.
Janeway: I can't tell if it's affecting anything.
Chakotay: The Vidiians are almost within range. Ready weapons. What happened?
Janeway: They just vanished! But I'm picking up a residual temporal signature.
Chakotay: Then those ships must have been part of the time loop.
Janeway: And the tachyon burst disrupted it.
Chakotay: Not a minute too soon. I was getting awfully tired of talking about Talent Night.
Tuvok: Voyager to Sacajawea. We will rendezvous with you in approximately four minutes.
Janeway: Believe me, Tuvok, we're looking forward to it.
Tuvok: Good to have you back, Captain.
Janeway: Good to be here. I'd still like to get to the bottom of whatever was happening to us in that shuttle. Did Voyager detect any evidence of a temporal field?
Tuvok: To my knowledge, we did not.
Janeway: Let's run a second level temporal scan. I'd feel better entering this part of space if I knew what caused the phenomenon.
Torres: Phenomenon? I'm not sure what you mean, Captain.
Janeway: The time loop, or whatever it was we ran into out there.
Paris: Time loop?
Janeway: We told you, Chakotay and I experienced some kind of temporal loop. It involved the Vidiians. They'd attack and kill us and then we'd be sitting in the shuttle again. Tell them.
Chakotay: We were on our way to the second planet of a binary system.
Janeway: To collect some nitrogenase compound. But we encountered a storm and we crashed.
Chakotay: And then we were attacked by the Vidiians, but we managed to escape and get back here.
Tuvok: You and the Commander were checked by the Doctor, who treated your injuries, and you proceeded here to the bridge.
Chakotay: But I don't remember anything about a repeating time loop.
Janeway: You don't remember how we kept ending up in the shuttle talking about Talent Night? Then I'm the only one who recalls things differently. Something strange is going on here. I'll have the Doctor examine me. In the meantime, I still want those temporal scans.
Chakotay: You heard the Captain. Let's get moving.
Emh: I ran a microcellular scan after you returned to the ship. I have just analyzed the results.
Janeway: What did you find?
Emh: You have contracted a disease. The Vidiian Phage.
Janeway: The Phage? What about Chakotay? Is he infected too?
Emh: No, Commander Chakotay shows no signs of the disease.
Janeway: How did I get it?
Emh: You said one of the Vidiians grabbed you. It may be that the virus was transferred in that way.
Janeway: But we've encountered Vidiians like that before and had physical contact with them. No one's ever gotten sick that way.
Emh: I can't offer an explanation at this point. It may be that the Phage virus has mutated to become more infectious. I believe however this explains the hallucinations you described. There is often concomitant stress to the thalamus in the early stages of the disease. It is known to cause a kind of dementia that produces hallucinations.
Janeway: What's the prognosis?
Emh: I wish I could tell you, Captain. For the moment it would be best if you remained in sickbay, under quarantine.
Janeway: Of course.
Emh: The fact that the virus has acted so quickly raises the possibility that others on the crew may be infected.
Janeway: But you've studied the Phage in great detail. Have you made any progress in finding a cure?
Emh: I hadn't pursued the matter since we seemed to have moved beyond Vidiian space. But I'll now redouble my efforts. In the meantime I'd like to give you a sedative. Captain? I'll be running a series of deep level tissue scans.
Janeway: I understand.
Emh: There. That should give you a good night's sleep. I'll erect a bioforcefield, and I promise you, Captain, I won't deactivate myself until I have some answers for you.
Janeway: Doctor. I know I'm in good hands.
Janeway: Doctor?
Emh: Ah, you're awake.
Janeway: How long have I been asleep?
Emh: Almost forty hours.
Janeway: Forty.
Emh: I'm afraid this strain of the Phage is particularly virulent. It's spreading rapidly.
Janeway: Have you? Is there any hope of a cure?
Emh: I regret to inform you that I have been unsuccessful.
Janeway: Then what's the next step?
Emh: I've given that a great deal of thought. The prospects are unpleasant, Captain. You face a lingering, painful death marked by increasing periods of dementia and eventual insanity.
Janeway: I see.
Emh: I've come to the conclusion that there's only one humane course of action.
Janeway: What's that?
Emh: Euthanasia.
Janeway: What?
Emh: It would be wrong to subject you to such a prolonged and painful death. The crew would also be adversely affected if that were to happen.
Janeway: Surely there are other options to explore, Doctor. B'Elanna's DNA for instance. It's coded to produce antibodies against the Phage.
Emh: Klingon DNA might provide a vaccine for the disease, but not a cure. I'm sorry, Captain. The space within the forcefield is filling with a neural toxin. It is fast acting and merciful.
Janeway: Turn it off. That's an order, Doctor!
Emh: Please relax and take deep breaths. It will be over more quickly that way.
Janeway: Computer, delete Emergency Medical Hologram.
Computer: A security code is required for that command.
Janeway: Security code Janeway Lambda Three.
Computer: That code is not recognized.
Janeway: I'm the Captain! Delete the EMH!
Computer: A security code is required for that command.
Janeway: Don't do this. It isn't right.
Janeway: Chakotay!
Chakotay: I know. We're back.
Janeway: That's it. That must be the anomaly. That's what's behind all this.
Chakotay: It's exerting a gravito-magnetic force.
Janeway: We've got to get away from it. Divert all power to the engines.
Chakotay: Changing course. We're still being drawn toward it.
Janeway: Reverse engines, full power.
Chakotay: Structural integrity is weakening.
Janeway: Reinforce the hull.
Chakotay: Captain, maybe we should go in.
Janeway: No!
Chakotay: Listen to me. Maybe we're doing this all wrong. Maybe the thing to do is fly into it.
Janeway: No, I don't believe that. We've got to get away.
Chakotay: It's going to tear the shuttle apart. The hull is breaching!
Chakotay: Don't you die on me, Kathryn.
Janeway: Chakotay, what's happening?
Chakotay: Start breathing! Breathe, dammit. Breathe! Don't do this to me, Kathryn. Come on, Kathryn, breathe.
Janeway: Can't you hear me?
Chakotay: Don't you die on me. Come on, breathe. Kathryn, listen to me, you have to breathe. Start breathing! Come on! Come on!
Chakotay: No, Kathryn! You can't die.
Janeway: Chakotay, I'm here.
Tuvok: Voyager to Sacajawea, do you read us?
Chakotay: Yes, Voyager. How far are you? I have an emergency here.
Tuvok: We're in orbit, Commander. We've located you but transporters won't function in the storm. A shuttle is on its way to the surface now.
Chakotay: The Captain's dead. We have to get her back to sickbay. The Doctor may still be able to revive her.
Tuvok: The away team should be with you in minutes.
Chakotay: Acknowledged.
Janeway: I know you can't see me or hear me. I don't know what's going on. But I am here, Chakotay. I am not dead.
Chakotay: Kathryn, we're going to get you back.
Emh: Ten milligrams cordrazine. We'll use it in conjunction with the cortical stimulator. Now!
Kes: No pulse, no blood pressure. Minimum electrical activity in the midbrain. No measurable response in the cerebral cortex.
Emh: Again.
Kes: Doctor, we're getting a thready pulse.
Emh: Quickly. Seventy five milligrams inaprovaline. I'll begin direct synaptic stimulation.
Kes: Pulse is weakening. We're losing her again.
Emh: Cortical stimulator. Now!
Kes: No vital signs. No brain activity.
Emh: Again!
Kes: No change.
Emh: Again!
Kes: Doctor
Emh: Don't question me. Again! Make a note in the log. Death occurred at oh three twenty hours. Cause, massive cerebro-vascular collapse.
Janeway: Computer, confirm Janeway voice pattern. Kes, you're a telepath. You've been able to sense things others can't. Kes, can you sense me?
Emh: Kes, please go to the science lab and prepare the autopsy protocols.
Janeway: I'm here, Kes. I'm staying with you until you realize it.
Kes: Captain?
Janeway: Did you feel that, Kes? It was me.
Kes: Kes to Commander Chakotay. I need to talk to you right away.
Kes: Maybe it was nothing, but I have the strongest feeling that the Captain was there in the corridor with me.
Tuvok: It is possible that in your distress over the Captain's death you imagined that you were aware of her.
Kes: It was more than that, I'm sure of it.
Chakotay: In the past Kes has shown an ability an unseen presence. I think we have to take her seriously.
Torres: The Captain's consciousness might have phase-shifted out of our reality.
Paris: She could be in some kind of alternate dimension in subspace.
Neelix: We have to find her somehow.
Torres: Harry and I can run a full subspace sweep, see if we can come up with anything.
Chakotay: Get on it. It's your top priority. Neelix, help the crew with this. Keep their morale up until we can get some answers.
Chakotay: Yes, sir. Right away.
Tuvok: Commander, I suggest I work with Kes. I may be able to help her increase the range of her perceptions.
Chakotay: Good idea. Tom, we'll take duty stations.
Janeway: That's more like it.
Torres: I've reconfigured the lateral sensor array to scan subspace.
Janeway: Don't forget to run a magneton sweep.
Kim: The forward array is ready to scan for temporal phase-shifting, chronoton particles or field flux.
Torres: I'm going to activate the magneton scanner. It might pick up an anomalous presence.
Janeway: Now what?
Janeway: Daddy! Who are you? Are you responsible for what's going on here?
Admiral: You know who I am, Kathryn.
Janeway: My father died over fifteen years ago.
Admiral: Yes. Drowned under the polar icecap on Tau Ceti Prime. It was devastating to you.
Janeway: You may be an hallucination, or some kind of projection of my own imagination, but you are not my father.
Admiral: Kathryn, Kathryn. I raised you to be a doubter and a skeptic, to look at the world with a scientist's eye, but in this instance that won't work.
Janeway: Why not? If you know what's going on here, tell me.
Admiral: Isn't it clear? You're dead. You died in that shuttle crash.
Janeway: No, no, no, that's not possible.
Admiral: I understand your confusion, your refusal to accept what's happened. I went through the same thing after my accident.
Janeway: What do you mean?
Admiral: I went back to you, and your mother, and your sister after I died for a long time, until I realized it was futile. That's what happens when dead is unexpected. One's consciousness isn't prepared to let go.
Janeway: Consciousness. Is that what you're calling me? Kathryn's consciousness.
Admiral: For the want of a better word. Some say ghost or spirit. We all heard the stories and thought they were the product of vivid imaginations or self-induced hysteria. I'll admit I was surprised when I found they were true.
Janeway: If you stayed with me after you died, you should be able to tell me what happened then.
Admiral: You were so grief-stricken you fell into a terrible depression. You spent months in bed, sleeping away your days rather than confronting your feelings. I'm not sure what would have happened if your sister hadn't forced you into the real world again.
Janeway: If you're an hallucination, a part of me, you'd know those things.
Admiral: Kathryn, remember, several times after I died you woke up thinking I was in the room with you? You told your sister it felt absolutely real. That's because it was real. I was there trying to convince you to get on with your life.
Janeway: Just for the sake of argument, let's say you're right. What's next?
Admiral: That's up to you. Eventually you will cross over. The only question is how long it will take you to give up this world.
Janeway: Cross over to where?
Admiral: I don't know what to call it. Another state of consciousness, unlike anything we could have imagined in life. It's not a frightening place, Kathryn. It's full of joy and indescribable wonder.
Janeway: Kes sensed I was here. They're looking for me.
Admiral: People have felt the presence of ghosts throughout the ages, but the technology to find them still hasn't been invented.
Janeway: They won't give up easily.
Admiral: But they will give up eventually. They'll accept what's happened, and that's what you have to do.
Janeway: Kes did it once, she can do it again. I'm going to help her.
Admiral: If that's what you feel you need to do, I understand.
Tuvok: Let us try one more time. Open yourself to the impressions around you, The thoughts, the minds that are on this ship. All the minds that are on this ship.
Kes: I hear them. So many voices.
Tuvok: They are a turbulent storm, and you are the one who must rise above the tempest, to a place that is quiet.
Kes: It's difficult.
Tuvok: You must lift yourself from the confusion of the storm. soar into the quiet space among the stars where everything is still.
Kes: Yes, I'm in that place now.
Tuvok: Is there a voice that you can hear? A single voice isolated in the stillness?
Janeway: Kes, I'm here. Focus on me, on my voice.
Tuvok: There are only two beings in the void. you and Captain Janeway. Nothing else exists that can interfere. Can you hear her voice, however faintly?
Kes: I'm trying.
Tuvok: Is there anything? Any presence in the void with you?
Kes: I don't think so. I can't hear anything.
Janeway: Kes, keep trying. You have to find me.
Tuvok: Now I am with you, moving through the quiet space. My thoughts join with yours, extending the range of the search.
Janeway: Tuvok, surely you must know I'm here? We've shared so much.
Kes: I'm just not getting anything.
Tuvok: Nor am I.
Kes: I felt empty. alone. Maybe you're right. What I sensed wasn't the Captain. it was me wanting to believe she wasn't dead.
Tuvok: We've been trying for three days without success. Nor have Lieutenant Torres and Ensign Kim found any indication that the Captain is alive. There is a point at which we must accept the inevitability of her death.
Kes: Thank you for helping. I don't think I would have accepted it if you hadn't at least tried. Goodnight.
Tuvok: Tactical officer's log, supplemental. My attempt to help Kes detect the Captain's presence has ended in failure. I am forced to conclude that we have, in fact, lost Kathryn Janeway. I would like the record to show that I have lost a good friend as well as one whom I can never replace.
Janeway: Oh, Tuvok.
Admiral: They all love you, Kathryn. It's going to be hard for them.
Janeway: This can't be happening. I don't believe it.
Admiral: Because you don't want to. Tomorrow, it will become easier.
Janeway: My memorial service.
Torres: When I came to this ship I resented the fact that Captain Janeway was responsible for our being stranded here in the Delta Quadrant. I didn't think that she made the right decision, and I certainly didn't want to serve under her command. In the beginning, I fought her. Even when she made me Chief Engineer, I didn't trust her reasons. I kept looking for a hidden agenda. I actually believed that she'd set me up to fail. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. She saw, she saw something in me that I didn't see. She saw a worthwhile person, where I saw a lost and hostile misfit. And because she had faith in me I began to have faith in myself. And when she died, the first thing I thought was that I couldn't do this without her. That I needed her too badly. Her strength and her compassion. But then I realized that the gift that she gave me, and gave a lot of us here, was the knowledge that we are better and stronger than we think. I wish I had said these things to her. I wish I'd taken the time.
Chakotay: Would anyone else like to say something?
Kim: I would, sir. I know Captain Janeway wouldn't want us to be sitting around moping. She'd want us to be cheering each other up, remembering the good times. Like the away mission when we found all those bushes of over-ripe fruit. I must have eaten half a kilo. My hands and mouth were all purple, and the Captain. The Captain came and sat down next to me, and her mouth was all stained too. She put her arm around my shoulder and she said. She said, Ensign, these are the times we have to remember. It. It's. Sorry.
Chakotay: I know this hasn't been easy, but I think we'll all be better for it. We will honor the Captain one last time. Release the pod.
Chakotay: Ensign Kim was right when he said the Captain wouldn't want us to be sad. Neelix has prepared some food, and it would be nice if we could all get together and share the good times we had with Captain Janeway.
Admiral: It's over, Kathryn. There's nothing left for you here. Come with me.
Janeway: What do I do to leave here?
Admiral: Just decide. The only thing that keeps you is your refusal to leave.
Janeway: You may be right in everything you've said to me, but I'm not ready to accept it. I'm not ready to go.
Admiral: My poor little bird. You always made it hard for yourself. If there was a rocky path and a smooth one, you chose the rocky one every time.
Janeway: If I stay, maybe it'll be easier for them. Maybe I could be comforting somehow.
Admiral: You're saying all the things I told myself when I refused to leave you. I was hoping you wouldn't have to go through that. It's a horrible existence, Kathryn. As time wears on you begin to see how potent, how destructive, loneliness is. You'll see the people you love going on with their lives, doing all the things you used to share with them, but you won't be a part of it any more. You'll be forever shut out of their existence. It becomes agonizing. I don't want that to happen to you.
Janeway: Maybe that's what it will take for me to make that decision. I just know that now I'm not ready.
Admiral: What can I do to convince you?
Janeway: Nothing. I can't, I won't abandon them. We're too much a part of each other, can't you see it? We've been through so much together. I have to know what's going to happen to them. To see Kes continue to grow and learn. To know if Tom and B'Elanna will ever stop sparring with each other and develop a real friendship.
Admiral: You can only be an observer of their lives, never a participant.
Janeway: I don't care. I'd rather be here in spirit than not at all. A Captain doesn't abandon ship.
Admiral: Every hour you stay here makes it that much more difficult to leave.
Janeway: Why are you pushing me? I've made up my mind. I'm staying here.
Emh: The cortical stimulator is working. I'm getting a weak pulse.
Chakotay: She's coming back.
Emh: I'll use cordrazine along with the stimulator.
Janeway: What was that? What happened?
Admiral: What do you mean?
Janeway: I saw Tuvok and Chakotay and the Doctor.
Admiral: Here?
Janeway: No. It was different, as though, as though I were looking up at them.
Admiral: An hallucination like the others.
Janeway: It didn't feel like the others. I didn't see myself. I was looking up at them. That's the real me, isn't it, lying on the ground on that planet, dying, and this is the hallucination. This isn't real.
Admiral: More denial. You're only making it harder on yourself.
Janeway: You're trying very hard to convince me to come with you. Why is that? If what you're saying is true, why not let me come to the decision on my own?
Admiral: I'm trying to spare you unnecessary pain.
Janeway: My father would never act like this. He always believed I had to learn my own lessons, make my own mistakes. He never tried to shield me from life. Why would he try to shield me from death? You're not my father. I could be imagining you, but I don't think so. You have such a specific agenda. You're determined that I go with you somewhere. Who are you?
Admiral: I'm trying to help you. Stop fighting me.
Janeway: Are you an alien being of some kind? Is that it?
Chakotay: Her eyes are open.
Emh: Vital signs are responding. Blood pressure is sixty over thirty.
Tuvok: But the entity is still inhabiting her cerebral cortex, impeding your treatment.
Chakotay: Kathryn, hang on. We're bringing you back. Just fight a little longer.
Emh: Direct synaptic stimulation might drive out the alien presence.
Janeway: I was right. I heard Tuvok and Chakotay and the Doctor. You're an alien. You've created all these hallucinations, haven't you?
Admiral: This is what my species does. At the moment just before death one of us comes to help you understand what's happening, to make the crossing over an occasion of joy.
Janeway: And what is that?
Admiral: Our Matrix, where your consciousness will live. I was being truthful when I said it was a place of wonder. It can be whatever you want it to be.
Janeway: Then why didn't you tell me this from the beginning? Why pretend to be my father.
Admiral: Usually people are comforted to see their loved ones. It makes the crossing over a much less fearful occasion. I've done this many times, but I've never encountered someone so resistant.
Emh: Something's happened. The alien presence is getting stronger again.
Chakotay: Fight it, Kathryn, just a little longer.
Emh: I'll have to try a thoron pulse.
Janeway: My people are telling me to fight. They're trying to save me.
Admiral: They're trying out of desperation. It's hopeless.
Janeway: You're the one who sounds desperate. I don't get the feeling you're trying to make me comfortable. You're only interested in my agreeing to come with you.
Admiral: Because it's inevitable.
Janeway: And you don't strike me as any type of Good Samaritan. You're more like a vulture, preying on people at the moment of their death when they're at their most vulnerable.
Admiral: I've waited for you. I've been patient.
Janeway: But your patience is wearing thin. What's the real reason you want me in that Matrix? Somehow I don't think it has anything to do with everlasting joy.
Admiral: You must go with me.
Janeway: If you could force me to go, you'd have done it already. You need me to agree, don't you? I have to go voluntarily.
Admiral: Wouldn't that be better than standing here in this endless debate?
Janeway: Let me tell you this. We can stand here for all eternity and I will never choose to go with you.
Admiral: You're in a dangerous profession, Captain. You face death everyday. There'll be another time, and I'll be waiting. Eventually you'll come into my Matrix and you will nourish me for a long, long time.
Janeway: Go back to hell, coward.
Chakotay: Kathryn?
Emh: I'm no longer detecting the alien presence. Vital signs are responding. Blood pressure one ten over sixty five.
Janeway: Doctor, what happened?
Emh: Perhaps you can explain, Commander.
Chakotay: You and I were caught in a magnetic storm and crashed here. You were badly injured. The Doctor just arrived on the shuttle with Tuvok and began treating you.
Tuvok: As he was doing so we detected an alien presence within your cerebral cortex. It appeared to be preventing our attempts to heal you.
Emh: Eventually it was dislodged, but there were a number of times I thought we'd lost you.
Chakotay: But each time you seemed to fight back.
Janeway: He kept telling me to let go, but I wouldn't.
Tuvok: He?
Janeway: My father. The alien. He wanted to take me into another place.
Chakotay: Another place? Some kind of afterlife?
Janeway: Maybe. But I can tell you this. From what I saw, it's certainly not where I'd like to spend eternity.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 50518.6. The Doctor has examined me thoroughly and pronounced me physically fit, but I'll admit that it'll take a little longer to work through the emotional impact of my experience.
Janeway: Come in.
Chakotay: I could have sworn I heard the Doctor tell you to take it easy for a few days.
Janeway: Talking it easy usually makes me feel worse.
Chakotay: You shouldn't push yourself. You've been through a lot.
Janeway: Oh. To tell you the truth, I'd rather stay busy than dwell on what happened.
Chakotay: I can understand that. I can't help thinking about it. That alien, his Matrix. He was like the spider that has to lure a fly into his web.
Janeway: Do you think it's possible that each of the near death experiences we've heard about are the result of an alien inhabitation?
Chakotay: That's a little hard to believe.
Janeway: I hope so. I'd prefer to think his species was unique to the Delta Quadrant and that I've seen the last of him.
Chakotay: I'm sure that's the case. After going head to head with Kathryn Janeway he must have realized he'd met his match.
Janeway: Come on, Chakotay. We've cheated death, that's worth a celebration, don't you think? A bottle of champagne, moonlight sail on Lake George, how does that sound?
Chakotay: Like something worth living for.


Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 50537.2. Routine scans of an uninhabited star system have revealed the presence of gallicite, a very rare substance, on the fourth planet.
Torres: If these readings are right, we're looking at a yield of nearly a kiloton. That would be enough gallicite to completely refit the warp coils.
Paris: They sure could use it with all the damage they've taken the past two years.
Chakotay: Is there anyone in the area who might consider this their property?
Tuvok: They are indications that a colony once existed on the planet's surface. However, it appears to be long abandoned.
Janeway: All right, let's stake a claim. I'll leave this in your hands, B'Elanna. Use whatever resources or personnel you need. You might want to talk to Mister Neelix. I believe he spent some time working in a mining colony.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Torres: These tunnels are clearly artificial. Someone else must've been interested in digging up this gallicite.
Vorik: That should make it easier to access the deposits.
Torres: True, but we have to be careful. There's been a lot of seismic activity down there. Look, theses tunnels are completely collapsed. We should bring Tom Paris on the away team. He's had quite a lot of rock climbing experience.
Vorik: I have spent several summers exploring the Osana caverns, which involved some quite treacherous climbing.
Torres: Great. You two can be our safety experts.
Vorik: Have we completed our preparations to your satisfaction?
Torres: We're done here, yes.
Vorik: Let me take this opportunity to declare koon-ut so'lik, my desire to become your mate.
Torres: What?
Vorik: In human terms, I am proposing marriage. Do you accept?
Torres: This is, er, a little sudden, isn't it? Besides, I thought that Vulcan marriages were arranged. Don't you already have somebody back home?
Vorik: She has sufficient reason to consider me lost, and has most likely chosen another mate. It's appropriate for me to do the same.
Torres: And you've chosen me?
Vorik: I have come to greatly admire not only your impressive technical skills, but also your bravery and sense of moral duty. All excellent qualities in a prospective mate.
Torres: But you're Vulcan. I am half-Klingon. I really can't imagine
Vorik: Perhaps we are not an obvious match. However, our differences would complement each other. You've often expressed frustration with your Klingon temper. My mental diskipline would help you control it. Furthermore, I feel that
Torres: Wait, please. Please, I'm. I see that you've given this a lot of, er, logical thought and I really am very flattered, but my answer is no. I'm sorry.
Vorik: B'Elanna, you may wish to reconsider. Your choices for a mate are currently limited to seventy three male crew members on this ship, some of whom are already unavailable.
Torres: I'll worry about my choices myself, thank you.
Vorik: I should also remind you that many humanoid species are unable to withstand Klingon mating practices
Torres: Okay, that's enough.
Vorik: whereas my superior Vulcan strength would make me a very suitable partner.
Kes: Here are the results of his cortical scan.
Torres: So what's wrong with him?
Emh: In addition to a dislocated jaw, Ensign Vorik seems to be suffering from a neurochemical imbalance.
Torres: Meaning what?
Emh: I believe I should discuss that with the patient privately.
Emh: You're going through the Pon farr, aren't you?
Vorik: That's an extremely personal question, Doctor.
Emh: Yes, I'm aware that Vulcans prefer to keep their mating practices very much to themselves. There's almost nothing in the medical database beyond a few observations made by Starfleet doctors over the years. Your symptoms, the chemical imbalance and loss of emotional control, are consistent with those observations. Have you been eating and sleeping normally?
Vorik: I knew there was something wrong. I was hoping it wasn't this.
Emh: I assume this is your first Pon farr? There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's a normal biological function. I'll do what I can to help you through it, but I'll need a little more information.
Vorik: We do not discuss it.
Emh: I'm afraid you'll have to. You have a severe imbalance in your brain chemistry. If it gets much worse, it could become life threatening. Now I need to know how Vulcans deal with this condition.
Vorik: We go home. Every seven years of our adult life, Vulcans experience an instinctual, irresistible urge to return to the homeworld and take a mate.
Emh: But in your case, being stranded halfway across the galaxy, that's impossible.
Vorik: Yes.
Emh: So then logically, you try to find a mate here. I assume that explains your behavior toward Lieutenant Torres.
Vorik: I have always had great respect for B'Elanna. I hope she isn't too upset with me.
Emh: With Lieutenant Torres, upset is a relative term. In any case, we're going to have to try to find another way to treat your condition. Let's start with a microcellular scan.
Vorik: No! I don't want medical treatment. I will resolve this myself.
Emh: How do you intend to do that?
Vorik: There are certain meditative techniques. I will be fine if simply left alone. Please, allow me to return to my quarters. Confine me there, if you wish, but allow me to resolve my situation privately.
Emh: Until I have a better idea of how to treat your condition, I'll release you to your quarters. You'll be under confinement and wearing a cortical monitor at all times.
Vorik: Thank you.
Emh: I'm concerned about Ensign Vorik's cortical readings. One returns to normal levels, then another one spikes. It's chaotic. As if the brain's regulatory system had simply shut down. I can't tell if he's making any progress with these meditations. I thought maybe you could suggest other possible treatments.
Tuvok: I cannot.
Emh: Is that because you don't know, or because you don't want to discuss it?
Tuvok: For both of those reasons there is little help that I can offer. It is inappropriate for me to involve myself in Ensign Vorik's personal situation.
Emh: For such an intellectually enlightened race, Vulcans have a remarkably Victorian attitude about sex.
Tuvok: That is a very human judgment, Doctor.
Emh: Then here's a Vulcan one. I fail to see the logic in perpetuating ignorance about a basic biological function.
Tuvok: There is nothing logical about the Pon farr. It is a time when instinct and emotion dominate over reason. It cannot be analyzed by the rational mind, nor cured by conventional medicine. Anyone who has experienced it understands that it must simply be followed to its natural resolution.
Emh: Which is what, exactly?
Tuvok: There are three options that I am aware of. Taking a mate, which Ensign Vorik has already attempted. The ritual combat which does not apply to his situation.
Emh: Combat?
Tuvok: An ancient tradition of fighting for one's mate which as I have said, is not relevant here. The third alternative is the intensive meditation he has chosen to try.
Emh: Isn't there anything we can do to help him with that?
Tuvok: I believe that any interference would be unwelcome and counterproductive. You must allow him to face this challenge privately. If he possesses enough diskipline to reach a point of psychological resolution, then his chemical imbalance should correct itself.
Emh: The Vulcan brain never ceases to amaze me. Thank you, Lieutenant. You've been a great help.
Torres: Ah, you two are awfully prompt.
Paris: Impressed?
Torres: Oh, it'll take a little more work than that to impress me, Lieutenant.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Torres: All right. Let me show you our target area.
Neelix: Shouldn't we wait for Ensign Vorik?
Torres: He's not coming. This seems to be the most accessible vein of gallicite. We'll beam to the surface, then go down through this passageway until it dead ends in this chamber. Then we'll descend almost fifty meters, almost straight down. Do you see any problem with that, Tom?
Paris: Well, as long as we go slow and easy, we'll be fine.
Torres: Good. You're all set, Neelix?
Neelix: I've got a laser drill, sample cases, geo-spectral analysis kit.
Torres: In other words, you're ready. Let's go.
Torres: This way.
Neelix: Look over here. This must've been the colony.
Paris: Not more than fifty or sixty years ago. Hardly enough time for these structures to decay so badly.
Neelix: They must've suffered some kind of disaster. Maybe an earthquake.
Torres: Well, we'll send down an archeological team later on. Right now we've got our own work to do.
Paris: Are we in a rush?
Torres: I just don't see any point in wasting time. Unless, of course, you want to stall to put off demonstrating your climbing expertise.
Paris: Grab your gear, and try to keep up.
Neelix: No matter how real a holodeck program may seem, it just doesn't get your heart pumping like a genuine physical challenge. It's exhilarating.
Torres: If you're looking for exhilaration.
Neelix: It didn't look quite so steep on the sensor map, did it?
Torres: We're prepared for this. We can handle it. Let's go.
Neelix: All this Starfleet technology almost takes the fun out of it.
Paris: If you mean the fun of wondering whether your anchor will hold while you're dangling over a cliff, I think I'll pass. See you below.
Torres: You go first. I'll follow you.
Paris: Watch your footing!
Torres: You're right. My heart is pumping faster.
Neelix: Wait till we climb back up with a pack full of gallicite.
Torres: Oh, I'm just getting warmed up.
Paris: No!
Paris: Are you hurt?
Torres: You, you almost got us both killed.
Neelix: I'm sorry. I don't know what happened.
Paris: Careful. Careful. You might have broken it.
Torres: You had no business rigging safety equipment when you had no idea what you were doing!
Paris: Calm down. This wasn't Neelix's fault. I saw him drive the piton and it was solid. It must've malfunctioned. You are hurt.
Torres: I'm fine, no thanks to you two. I would have been better coming down here alone.
Paris: Don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?
Torres: Just drag him to the ship. I'll get the gallicite myself.
Neelix: We can't leave you down here alone!
Paris: He's right. Let's contact the ship.
Torres: You get your hands off of me.
Paris: Ow! B'Elanna! What is wrong with you?
Torres: Nothing. I'm in charge of this mission. I'll finish it.
Paris: Wait!
Neelix: Go ahead, Tom. I'll be all right here.
Paris: The last thing we need is for all three of us to split up. Paris to Voyager. We've got problems down here.
Paris: I haven't been able to contact her. She's either out of communications range
Paris: Or just not responding.
Janeway: Where is she now?
Paris: Last location I can
Paris: Verify is about ten meters below us. I tried to stop her from leaving, Captain, but she got very hostile and bit me.
Chakotay: She bit you?
Paris: And she seemed to be enjoying it, in a Klingon kind of way. She's really not herself.
Janeway: Any luck in getting a transporter lock on them?
Lang: No. They're too far beneath the surface.
Janeway: Tom, I'm sending an away team down to you. We'll get Neelix out of there, then go after B'Elanna. Tuvok, you're with Chakotay.
Tuvok: Captain, I'd like to request a short delay. I may have an explanation for Lieutenant Torres's behavior.
Vorik: Go away.
Vorik: I said, go away! I'm sorry, sir.
Tuvok: No, I must apologize for the intrusion, particularly at this time.
Vorik: Then you know.
Tuvok: Yes. I regret that I must ask you some uncomfortable questions regarding Lieutenant Torres.
Vorik: Yes, sir.
Tuvok: It is important for me to know specifically what happened between the two of you. Was there any physical contact?
Vorik: Yes.
Tuvok: Please describe your actions.
Vorik: It's hard to remember. I was acting irrationally. I believe I approached her. I, I touched her face. I meant to be gentle, but she tried to move away, and then I was holding her more tightly, both hands on her face like this. It felt very important not to let go. I'm, I'm not certain why.
Tuvok: I believe you were initiating a telepathic mating bond.
Vorik: I didn't know it could happen that way. I wanted to bond with her, that much I remember clearly.
Tuvok: Apparently you've succeeded. Lieutenant Torres has been displaying unusual behavior, very much like the early stages of Pon farr.
Vorik: How is that possible? She's not Vulcan.
Tuvok: There have been instances of Vulcans mating with members of other races.
Vorik: But she rejected me forcefully.
Tuvok: Even a brief moment of bonding may have been enough to disrupt her self-control, as the Pon farr does in us. In a half-Klingon, the effects may be even more extreme.
Vorik: I have to go to her.
Tuvok: You cannot. Lieutenant Torres is out of contact on the planet.
Vorik: I'll find her. B'Elanna needs me and I need her.
Tuvok: It is a far more sensible strategy to get her safely back to Voyager, and then decide on the proper resolution.
Vorik: The resolution must be that we become mates. It is only logical.
Tuvok: Lieutenant Torres has never been a great follower of logic.
Vorik: You think she'll reject me again?
Tuvok: It might be wise to continue your meditative efforts.
Vorik: I'll do my best, sir.
Tuvok: It is difficult to estimate how soon her condition will become life threatening.
Paris: Life threatening? She could die from this?
Tuvok: Yes.
Paris: And you've gone through it every seven years of your adult life?
Tuvok: You only need to be concerned with Lieutenant Torres' situation.
Paris: Right. Well, it looks like finding her won't be easy. Scanning range is limited to about twenty meters, and even that's not too reliable.
Chakotay: You said she was going after the gallicite, so we'll do the same and hope it leads us to her.
Neelix: I'm ready to go, Commander.
Chakotay: Let's go.
Paris: B'Elanna.
Torres: Tom. Come here. You've got to see this.
Tuvok: How are you feeling, Lieutenant?
Torres: Fine. This is an active power system. It must've been built by the colonists.
Chakotay: We'll send somebody down here to study it more closely. Right now we've got to get you back to the ship.
Torres: No, no. This is my discovery. It's my mission. You don't understand. This is the source of the gallicite readings. These conduits are covered with gallicite plating. It's exactly what we need, and I found it.
Tuvok: Yes, Lieutenant, you've succeeded in your mission. Now you must tend to yourself. You're experiencing a condition known as Pon farr.
Torres: Pon what?
Tuvok: Your emotional balance has been disrupted. You may not be in control of your more aggressive instincts.
Torres: I lost my temper for a minute, that's all. Why are you all staring at me like that?
Tuvok: Please, come back with us to the ship.
Torres: Just leave me alone.
Ishan: Who are you? What do you want?
Chakotay: My name is Chakotay. I assure you, we have no hostile intent.
Ishan: She does.
Chakotay: B'Elanna, please.
Tuvok: She is suffering from a chemical imbalance, which is affecting her behavior.
Ishan: An imbalance? Is it contagious?
Tuvok: No. However, she does need our assistance.
Chakotay: We'd be glad to take her and leave your territory.
Ishan: Not before you tell me why you came here.
Chakotay: We only came to find some gallicite. We thought this planet was uninhabited.
Ishan: Then why are you carrying weapons?
Chakotay: It's standard procedure for any mission into unfamiliar territory.
Ishan: Let me see one.
Ishan: And what is that? Some sort of scanning device?
Paris: Yes. It's called a tricorder.
Ishan: But it didn't detect any lifeforms here?
Paris: No, it didn't.
Torres: What's that?
Ishan: Seismic alert. That wall is unstable. Be careful.
Alien: Watch out.
Paris: B'Elanna, don't! B'Elanna!
Torres: There must be a hidden door, some kind of a passageway.
Paris: I'm not picking up anything like that. Or any life signs.
Torres: Then you're using it wrong.
Paris: Yeah, that must be it. Or else these aliens are generating some kind of interference so we can't detect them. We have to get out of here before they come back.
Torres: We can't leave Chakotay and Tuvok.
Paris: If you have any ideas how to find them, I'm listening! We have to get back to the ship and get some help, for them and for you.
Torres: Why does everybody keep saying there's something wrong with me?
Paris: I'll try to explain it to you, but we've got to get moving.
Emh: There. Your serotonin levels are stabilized for the moment, but I'm concerned about these fluctuations. It's becoming more difficult to compensate.
Vorik: I will increase my efforts to control them, Doctor.
Emh: I'd like you to consider an alternative treatment I've been developing.
Vorik: No. I will deal with this myself.
Emh: Ensign, your life is at risk.
Vorik: You don't understand. How well a Vulcan copes with this experience is a test of his character. I've already humiliated myself and Lieutenant Tuvok by allowing a private matter to become so public.
Emh: Give yourself a little credit. You're doing the best you can under unusually difficult circumstances. If you were back on Vulcan, you'd have your family and friends there to help you.
Vorik: I shouldn't need any help.
Emh: I know that self-sufficiency is very important to a Vulcan, but there is nothing shameful in getting a little guidance every once in a while. I'd like you to consider my alternative, and then you can decide whether or not to try it.
Emh: Ensign.
Vorik: I don't understand the purpose of coming here.
Emh: Trust me. Ensign Vorik, I'd like you to meet T'Pera.
Vorik: Surely you're not suggesting that she become my mate.
Emh: Well, I wouldn't recommend a lifetime commitment, but she might be able to help you with your immediate problem.
Vorik: She's a hologram. She isn't real.
Emh: Then I assume you have the same low regard for me.
Vorik: You're a skilled physician, Doctor, but let me point out the limitations to your own experience with physical matters.
Emh: I believe we're discussing your sexual difficulties at the moment, Ensign. And this holographic mate is the best solution I can think of.
Vorik: She won't be the same as a real mate.
Emh: The difference is all in your mind, which, if I've understood you and Mister Tuvok correctly, is where the Pon farr must ultimately be resolved. Let your mind convince your body that she is exactly what you need her to be. Think of this as an advanced self-healing technique. It was still require considerable mental diskipline on your part.
Vorik: There is a certain logic to your suggestion, Doctor. I will try.
Emh: Good. Well, then, I'll leave the two of you alone.
Torres: Tuvok must be wrong about this Pon farr business. It doesn't make any sense.
Paris: It does explain how you've been acting.
Torres: I don't see what's so strange.
Paris: How about starting a fight with a group of armed aliens, shouting at Neelix, giving me this. If I remember my Klingon customs, biting someone on the face means
Torres: I know what it means. All right, so maybe I do feel something, some kind of instinct. What am I supposed to do about it?
Paris: When we get back to the ship, the doctor should be able to help. Or there's always Vorik.
Torres: I am not helping that Vulcan petaQ! The idea of bonding with him, it's ludicrous! What's this?
Paris: The tremor must've shaken the rocks loose.
Torres: Well, they're in the way.
Paris: Hold it! We don't know how stable this tunnel is. An energy blast might bring the rest of it down on our heads.
Torres: Let go!
Paris: No. I think I should keep this.
Torres: Never pick a fight with a Klingon, Tom.
Paris: I'm not going to fight with you, B'Elanna.
Torres: Afraid I'll break your arm? You should be.
Paris: B'Elanna, stop it! This isn't about the gun. This is about sex. But that's not gonna happen right now.
Torres: I think it is. See, I have picked up your scent, Tom. I've tasted your blood.
Paris: No. No. I'm your friend, and I have to watch out for you when your judgment's been impaired. If you let these instincts take over now, you'll hate yourself, and me too for taking advantage of you. I won't do that.
Torres: Maybe, maybe we should continue separately.
Paris: No.
Torres: You don't know how strong, how hard it is to fight this urge.
Paris: Are you telling me that I'm impossible to resist?
Torres: I wouldn't go that far.
Paris: Good. Come on.
Ishan: I want to know about the vessel which brought you here. Your propulsion systems, weapons, sensors, everything. You have an artificial implant in your arm.
Tuvok: Yes. It was necessary to replace the elbow joint after I was injured in a combat simulation.
Ishan: I also want to know about your medical technology, scientific advances, artificial intelligence.
Chakotay: I'd be glad to tell you all about my people and learn about yours. There's no need to hold us here for interrogation.
Ishan: You should expect no better treatment after invading Sakari territory.
Chakotay: As I said, we didn't know there was anyone down here.
Ishan: Yes, so you've said.
Tuvok: Your people have clearly made every effort to avoid detection by outsiders. Is it so difficult to believe that those measures were effective in our case?
Ishan: If they had been fully effective, you wouldn't have found anything interesting enough to bring you here.
Chakotay: That's something we can help you with.
Ishan: What?
Chakotay: We can show you how we detected the gallicite, so you can disguise it better. We can also help you eliminate the last traces of the ruins on the surface, so no one else will be curious about them.
Ishan: You've seen the ruins?
Chakotay: Yes. I assume the Sakari once lived there.
Ishan: Long ago, before I wan born.
Tuvok: What happened?
Ishan: My people never even knew who the invaders were or why they attacked. It was all over in less than an hour. Some of the colonists were fortunate enough to escape into the mines. We've lived here ever since, where it's safe. If the invaders ever learned of our existence here, they might return.
Chakotay: I can certainly understand your caution, but let us demonstrate our good faith by helping you protect yourselves. Then we'll go and never bother you again.
Ishan: Agreed. But you will be supervised at all times.
Paris: We're almost to the next passageway. Can you make it?
Torres: Not much choice.
Paris: It's all right. We'll find a way out.
Torres: We should use that weapon. It's worth the risk now.
Paris: I might agree with you if I still had it. It's buried somewhere under all that.
Torres: What?
Paris: Sorry. Try to stay calm. I know it's hard.
Torres: You don't know anything. I feel like I'm crawling out of my skin. I need to do something. I can't take this.
Torres: You've never been hard to get, Tom.
Paris: Well, I'm making an exception. I can't let you do this.
Torres: Oh, I'll bet you wish you could. All those invitations to dinner. And on the holodeck, the way you would stare at me when you thought I wasn't looking, and get jealous when I'm with someone else. You can't tell me you're not interested in me.
Paris: You're right. I can't.
Torres: Then don't push me away.
Paris: Oh, believe me, I'd like to, but I know this isn't really you. You've made it clear that you're not interested, and I have to accept that's how you feel, even now.
Torres: No. No, it isn't. I was, I was just afraid to admit it. You see, I've wanted this for so long.
Torres: Just let it happen.
Paris: I hope someday you'll say that to me and mean it.
Torres: You'd let me go insane rather than help me?
Paris: You know that's not true.
Torres: You just stay away from me.
Emh: You called, Ensign? Is there a problem?
Vorik: Not at all.
Emh: You seem much improved.
Vorik: Yes. Your holodeck therapy was very effective. I must compliment you on an innovative solution.
Emh: I'm pleased to hear that. This could be a viable alternative for space-faring Vulcans. When we get back, I'm sure Starfleet medical will
Emh: Never hear about your personal experiences from me.
Vorik: Thank you, Doctor. May I return to duty?
Emh: Soon enough, Ensign. I'll need to run a few more cortical scans.
Emh: Mister Vorik's biochemical readings are stabilizing. They're not back to normal yet, but I believe he's gotten through the worst of it. I'm ready to release him from Sickbay.
Janeway: Good work, Doctor. Will this treatment help B'Elanna as well?
Emh: I don't see why not.
Janeway: As soon as the away team gets back, I'll send her straight to you.
Emh: I'll get to work designing the half-Klingon version of the program. There's a copious amount of information in the cultural database about their mating practices. Did you know that fracturing a clavicle on the wedding night is actually considered a blessing on the marriage?
Janeway: As a matter of fact, I didn't.
Emh: I'm planning to do a comparative study of all these mating rituals. It really is fascinating, from a socio-biological point of view.
Janeway: I'm sure B'Elanna will appreciate your efforts, Doctor.
Torres: Where are we?
Paris: Still stuck in the cave, I'm afraid.
Torres: The caves? The gallicite. Where's my tricorder?
Paris: No. We're not looking for the gallicite anymore. We're trying to get back to the ship, remember?
Torres: No, I don't.
Chakotay: Are you two all right?
Paris: B'Elanna needs help. We've got to get her out of here.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Voyager. Please respond. Still nothing.
Paris: What's the matter? Why aren't they answering?
Chakotay: There must be some kind of communications problem. I'm sure they'll clear it up soon.
Tuvok: It may not be soon enough. I am concerned about the rapid progression of her symptoms. You must help her now, Mister Paris. If she does not resolve the Pon farr, she will die.
Paris: B'Elanna, I know this is a pretty bizarre situation, probably not what either one of us had in mind, but it's too late to worry about that now.
Torres: Tom.
Paris: What?
Torres: Be quiet.
Paris: So this is the part where you throw heavy objects at me?
Torres: Maybe later.
Paris: I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do.
Torres: Well, what are you doing?
Paris: Enjoying myself?
Torres: Then show it.
Vorik: You are my mate, not his!
Torres: What are you doing here?
Vorik: I've come to claim you, to fulfill our bond, and if necessary, to face my rival. Lieutenant Tuvok!
Tuvok: Ensign.
Vorik: Sir, I declare Koon-ut-kal-if-fee.
Tuvok: The ritual challenge. He intends to fight to win his mate.
Paris: You want a fight? You've got one.
Chakotay: Hold on, Tom. There's not going to be any challenge. Are you responsible for the ship being out of contact?
Vorik: It was necessary to disable the communications, transporters and shuttles. No one will keep me from my mate!
Torres: I am not your mate!
Vorik: We will soon decide that.
Torres: If anyone is going to smash your arrogant little face in, I will! I take your challenge myself.
Tuvok: She has the right to choose her own defender, even herself.
Chakotay: Just hold on. Neither of you are thinking straight right now.
Tuvok: They are following their instincts, and I suggest we allow them to do so.
Chakotay: You mean let them fight?
Tuvok: It is logical. Both must resolve their Pon farr before it kills them. We cannot wait to hear from Voyager.
Paris: They'll tear each other to pieces.
Tuvok: The risk of injury seems preferable to the certainty of dying from a chemical imbalance. Commander, I see no alternative but to follow Vulcan tradition.
Chakotay: All right.
Tuvok: Begin.
Paris: It's over, isn't it?
Tuvok: The blood fever has been purged. They will both recover. Captain's log, stardate 50541.6. We're following through with Chakotay's offer to help the Sakari improve their camouflage and they've agreed to supply us with a generous quantity of gallicite.
Paris: Deck two. So, looks like you're feeling better. You back on duty?
Torres: Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Thanks. The refit is going well. We should have new warp coils by the end of the week.
Paris: Oh, good. Glad to hear it. Computer, halt turbolift. Look, this is ridiculous. We are going to be together on this ship for a long time.
Torres: You're right. We have to pretend that the whole mission didn't happen.
Paris: But something did happen, B'Elanna.
Torres: Look, Tom, I really appreciate what you did, what you were willing to do for me. But as far as I'm concerned, I was under the influence of some weird Vulcan chemical imbalance, and, and whatever I did, whatever I said, it wasn't me.
Paris: Yeah, I know. You're afraid that your big, scary Klingon side might have been showing. Well, I saw it up close, and you know, it wasn't so terrible. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing it again someday. Computer, resume.
Torres: Careful what you wish for, Lieutenant.
Janeway: Your call sounded urgent.
Chakotay: I think there's something you should see, Captain. We found this as we were clearing away the ruins. Undoubtedly, one of the invaders who destroyed this colony.
Janeway: The Borg!