Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48734.2. Sometimes it's a good idea to get away from being a Captain for a while. To that end, I've started participating in a new holonovel. The setting is ancient England.
Templeton: The drawing room is in here.
Templeton: Bridget, take Mrs Davenport's cape, and tell Lord Burleigh that she's here.
Bridget: Yes, ma'am.
Templeton: There's tea.
Janeway: That would be lovely. Thank you.
Templeton: Tea is usually served at five thirty and dinner's at eight thirty. His lordship doesn't appreciate being kept waiting.
Janeway: I'll be sure to be prompt.
Templeton: Let's make something clear, Mrs Davenport. My job is to make sure that this household runs smoothly. I have been with Lord Burleigh for nearly twenty years because this household runs smoothly. He has come to trust me, and I will not brook any behavior that might jeopardize that trust, so you will be expected to follow the rules that I have set down.
Janeway: Mrs Templeton, I have no wish to do anything that might disrupt this household but let me make something perfectly clear. I've been hired by Lord Burleigh, and it's his orders I will follow, not yours.
Templeton: You would be wise not to make an enemy of me. I can make sure we have another governess by next week.
Janeway: I suggest we try to get along, Mrs Templeton. Surely there's room here for both of us?
Templeton: One lump or two?
Janeway: Two, please.
Templeton: Lord Burleigh will be here directly.
Burleigh: Forgive me. I've startled you.
Janeway: I'm sorry. I didn't here you come in.
Burleigh: Mrs Davenport, I'll come to the point. I am not an easy man to live with. Since my wife died I'm told I'm even worse. She was a buffer for me.
Janeway: I understand.
Burleigh: The children are the ones who've suffered. I've not been much of a father to them, and God knows I can't be a mother. I'm not asking that you replace their mother, but I think that they'll respond to a woman's sensibilities. You might fill a void in their lives.
Janeway: I'll certainly try, your Grace.
Burleigh: Young Henry is sometimes a bit stubborn and little Beatrice misses her mother terribly. I hope they won't make things difficult for you. One thing above all I must demand. You are never, under any circumstances, to go onto the fourth floor. Is that clear?
Kim: Bridge to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead, Mister Kim.
Kim: I've got Commander Chakotay and
Kim: Mister Tuvok's shuttlecraft on long range sensors, but they're not responding to our hails. The shuttle's been badly damaged. I'm reading multiple hull fractures.
Janeway: Life signs?
Kim: Two, but they're very faint.
Janeway: Beam them to Sickbay as soon as they're in range. I'm on my way.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Doctor.
Emh: They've each taken a blast to the head by some kind of energy discharge. Cardiostimulator. Mister Tuvok has a serious concussion, but it's nothing I can't handle. As for Commander Chakotay, all of the bioneural energy has been extracted from his brain.
Janeway: Extracted?
Emh: Yes. From the looks of it, someone drained the energy from every single axon and dendrite right down to the synapses. I can keep his heart beating and I can keep him breathing, but other than that there's nothing I can do. He's brain dead.
Tuvok: The attack lasted no more than a few seconds, but it was highly effective. I feel Commander Chakotay and I are fortunate to be alive.
Janeway: What happened, Lieutenant?
Tuvok: We had completed our trade mission with the Ilidarians and were on course to the rendezvous point when we encountered a dark matter nebula. As we began a routine analysis, an unidentified ship emerged and attacked our shuttle.
Janeway: Any idea why?
Tuvok: No. They would not respond to our hails. We were hit by an energy discharge which penetrated our shields and filled the cabin. Commander Chakotay lost consciousness immediately, and I was barely able to activate the autopilot before I was overcome as well.
Janeway: And the alien ship?
Tuvok: The last image I saw was the ship flying back into the nebula, but the details are difficult to remember.
Emh: Can you tell me anything about the energy discharge? Its modulation or phase distribution?
Tuvok: No. There was no time for a detailed analysis. However, the shuttle's sensors may have recorded information that could be helpful. I will download the sensor logs.
Janeway: Why would someone want to extract his bioneural energy?
Emh: I don't know, but if I'm to have any hope of reviving him, I must know precisely how his neurons were depleted. It would be a great help if I could examine the weapon.
Janeway: We're going back to that nebula to try to find the ship that attacked you. Janeway to Bridge. Prepare to lay in a new course. Mister Tuvok will provide you with the coordinates.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: We'll keep you posted, Doctor.
Tuvok: The energy discharge overloaded the shuttlecraft's central computer core. All sensor data have been erased.
Janeway: Lieutenant Torres is in Sickbay now. When she reports, tell her to go over those damaged sensor logs with a fine tooth comb to see if she can reconstruct any of the data.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Well, this is going to make things a little more difficult. I've been using the long range sensors to analyze the nebula you discovered. It's sending out strong electromagnetic radiation. We won't be able to scan inside it. You know, it sounds to me like a perfect hiding place.
Tuvok: I agree.
Janeway: I don't like the idea of going in there blind. Let me see if I can reconfigure the sensors to a multiphasic bandwidth.
Tuvok: Is there a problem?
Janeway: I've lost all sensor contact with the nebula. I don't understand. Wait a minute, we've altered course. Mister Paris?
Paris: Our new heading is one twenty one mark six. We've completely come about, Captain, but it wasn't me.
Janeway: Mister Kim, check the navigational computer. Who ordered the course change?
Kim: According to my readings, the command was issued from the conn.
Paris: I'm telling you, it wasn't me, and the helm controls are working perfectly. No sign of a malfunction.
Janeway: Ensign, transfer helm control to your station and reset our original course.
Kim: Course laid in.
Janeway: Mister Paris, I want you to run a full diagnostic on the conn station. See if you can isolate the problem.
Paris: Aye, Captain.
Emh: You might have asked before adorning my Sickbay with animal remains.
Torres: It's a medicine wheel, a talisman used by Chakotay's tribe. He once showed me how it works. He said if anything ever happened to him, that I should perform a special healing ritual.
Emh: Ah.
Torres: The wheel represents both the universe outside and the universe inside our minds as well. They believe each is a reflection of the other. When a person is sleeping, or on a vision quest, it's said that his soul is walking the wheel. But if he's in a coma or near death, it means that he's gotten lost. These stones are signposts to help point the way back. Not exactly standard medical procedure, I know, but
Emh: You've placed the Coyote Stone at the crossroads of the fifth and sixth realms, which would divert Commander Chakotay's soul, that is his consciousness, into the Mountains of the Antelope Women. According to his tradition, an extremely attractive locale. He might not want to leave.
Torres: How do you know about the medicine wheel?
Emh: It's my business to know about a variety of medical treatments, including those based on psycho-spiritual beliefs. Unfortunately, in this case, the medicine wheel won't be much help. There's just not enough of his mind left to work with.
Torres: Find your way home, Commander.
Kes: Hello? Is someone here?
Kes: It's like sensing some kind of presence, as if someone else were here.
Neelix: Your telepathic senses again. Is this like last week, when you went into Sickbay and you knew Lieutenant Hargrove had been there, only he'd left hours before?
Kes: It's not the same. That was like, like hearing faint music from a faraway place. When I was in my quarters just now
Neelix: Mmm hmm?
Kes: It was almost tangible. I felt like there was someone in the room with me.
Neelix: Who was it?
Kes: I don't know. A presence, that's all I can say.
Durst: Warp engines still within normal parameters, Captain.
Janeway: We just changed course again. Mister Kim?
Kim: Our new heading is one twenty one mark six.
Janeway: Get us back on course.
Kim: The helm's not responding. I'm locked out.
Tuvok: This command station has been blocked.
Janeway: From where?
Tuvok: The lockout originated on deck twelve, section B seven, navigational control.
Janeway: See if you can re-establish control.
Paris: I've checked every ODN junction in the helm control network, and I still can't find the problem.
Janeway: It seems we've developed a new problem while you were gone.
Tuvok: Helm control re-established.
Janeway: Get us back on course for the nebula. Janeway to Torres.
Torres: Torres here.
Janeway: Who's in the navigational control?
Torres: No one right now. I was there this morning, and Lieutenant Paris was in there just a few minutes ago.
Paris: That's not true.
Janeway: Are you certain about that, B'Elanna?
Torres: Positive. I just saw him leave about five minutes ago.
Janeway: Janeway out. Explanation, Mister Paris?
Paris: I passed by the navigational control on my way back from the Jefferies tube, but that's all. Am I being accused of something here?
Tuvok: We are merely following a line of deductive reasoning, Lieutenant. Both deviations from our course were apparently issued from locations where you were working.
Paris: I'm telling you, I didn't do it.
Janeway: Well, I'm willing to rule out mutiny for time being. I believe you, Mister Paris, but we have to consider the possibility that you might be having a problem with your memory. I want you to go down to Sickbay. Have the doctor check you out.
Paris: All right.
Janeway: Lieutenant Durst.
Emh: Neurotransmitters at normal. Synaptic functions stable. Hold still. This is an extremely sensitive scan.
Paris: What I wouldn't give to see good old Doc Brown right now.
Emh: What?
Paris: Doc Brown. Lollipops in the waiting room, no holocomic books more than six months old, house calls. I caught a bad cold one time when I was nine years old. The doctor whipped up a pot of garlic soup and brought it over himself.
Tuvok: Your report, Doctor?
Emh: I still have a series of tests to perform, but other than his irritating lapses into nostalgia, I see nothing wrong with him.
Paris: I guess you're going to have to round up another suspect, Tuvok.
Tuvok: On the contrary, Lieutenant. I ran a forensic sweep of the navigational control. I found traces of your DNA on the console.
Paris: That's impossible.
Tuvok: The cellular residue you left behind is less than twelve hours old. Do you still wish to maintain your innocence?
Paris: To be honest, I don't know what to think.
Emh: Perhaps my biomolecular scan will reveal something.
Tuvok: Keep me informed, Doctor.
Tuvok: I believe I have found the ion trail of the ship that attacked us. It leads directly into the dark matter nebula. This is the nebula, and this is the ion trail. As you can see, their flight path is highly erratic.
Janeway: These planetoids inside the nebula, they may be generating a dangerous gravitational effect, like storm currents. Chances are they've mapped those currents and they're taking the only safe way through.
Tuvok: A reasonable assumption. I recommend we follow their exact flight path.
Janeway: Agreed. Lay in a course to the
Kim: Captain, we're dropping to impulse power. I'm reading a massive energy drain all over the ship, and the warp core is shutting down.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering. Report. Lieutenant Torres, please respond. Mister Kim, take the Bridge. Tuvok, you're with me.
Janeway: Torres, what's going on?
Torres: Captain?
Janeway: You've initiated an emergency warp core shutdown.
Torres: What?
Janeway: Too late. The warp core is offline. It'll take at least two hours to regenerate the dilithium matrix. Ensign, get the rest of the systems back online. Apparently, you've just crashed the main computer, locked out the Bridge and stopped this ship cold. Do you want to tell me why?
Torres: Captain, I don't know what you're talking about.
Janeway: What the hell is going on here?
Emh: I found something, and you're not going to like it. This is Mister Paris' memory engram for the last twenty four hours. As you can see, it has a very consistent and distinctive modulation, except at thirteen fifty hours. For one minute forty seven seconds, a different memory pattern appeared. Thirteen fifty hours is also the exact moment when Mister Paris presumably tampered with navigational control. It gets worse. In addition to that, there is another disruption at twelve oh two hours, the moment when he allegedly entered the new course at the helm. I also found there's an identical disruption in Lieutenant Torres's pattern at the moment she shut down warp power. I should point out that this is a neuroelectrical signature, what I believe to be another brain wave that was superimposed on their own.
Paris: Another brain wave? Whose?
Emh: I don't know. It has an unusual energy signature, one I've never seen before.
Janeway: Doctor, what are you saying?
Emh: One possible explanation, and the only one I can think of at the moment, is that an unknown alien entity momentarily took control of their minds.
Tuvok: Intruder alert. All security personnel, go to Condition Four. Captain, it is possible the intruder returned with us in the shuttlecraft.
Janeway: If we're right and there is an alien here, it seems intent on preventing us from going back to the nebula. What's more, it seems to have the ability to jump from person to person. If that's true, it could be in any one of us, controlling our actions without us realizing it.
Emh: Well, except for me.
Paris: That's true. So far it's only affected organic beings. If it could control the computer and navigational systems directly, it probably would've done it already.
Janeway: Which means the doctor is the only person on board we can trust at this moment. Doctor, until we have eliminated this alien presence, I can't take the risk that it could take over any of the senior officers. I'd like to transfer all command codes to you until further notice.
Emh: What would that mean? That I am in command?
Janeway: No, but you will act as a failsafe. If you feel at any time that any one of us are under the influence of the alien, you can countermand our orders and take control of the ship. Do you feel up to it?
Emh: Well, of course. I make life and death decisions every day.
Paris: I feel better already.
Janeway: Computer, transfer all command codes to the holographic doctor. Authorisation Janeway eight four one alpha six five.
Computer: Command code transfer complete.
Janeway: Let's see if we can get the warp core back online ahead of schedule.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Kes: Captain, I heard what's happened. I think you're right. There is an alien presence here, I've been sensing something unusual all day. I don't know how to describe it, but I know there's something here.
Janeway: Do you know where?
Kes: No, just that it's on the ship.
Tuvok: Captain, Kes's telepathic abilities are undiskiplined. If I could initiate a Vulcan mind-meld with her, I may be able to help her focus those abilities to detect the alien more accurately.
Kes: I'm willing to do that.
Janeway: Very well. Proceed, Mister Tuvok.
Kim: The captain wants to seal off all critical areas of the ship. Make sure the access hatch of Jefferies tube A-seventeen is secured.
Durst: So what exactly are we securing against?
Kim: We're not sure yet, but we think it's some kind of noncorporeal alien.
Durst: Noncorporeal? That means it can probably move through a bulk
Kim: Medical emergency. Deck seven, section thirteen alpha.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. It appears that Mister Tuvok and Kes were both hit by an unidentified energy discharge. Tuvok was not badly hurt, but Kes is in a coma.
Tuvok: It was similar to the attack on the shuttlecraft. An energy discharge came through the bulkhead, filled the turbolift and hit both of us.
Torres: We didn't pick up a discharge of any kind on the internal sensors.
Tuvok: Perhaps this type of energy is beyond our sensor bandwidth.
Janeway: Perhaps, but that discharge had to come from somewhere.
Paris: The most thorough scanning device we have on board is a magneton scanner. We could search the ship centimeter by centimeter, but that wouldn't do much good. This alien could be anywhere at any time.
Torres: But what if we could perform a magneton scan on the entire ship all at once?
Janeway: What do you suggest?
Torres: A magneton flash scan. We could reconfigure every sensor array on the ship to emit a single burst. It might be enough to illuminate any anomalous energy. Harry, what do you think?
Kim: Whoa. What did I do?
Tuvok: Stay where you are, Mister Kim.
Torres: I don't see anything unusual, but that doesn't mean anything.
Janeway: Mister Kim, what were you doing just now?
Kim: I was just thinking. I was remembering an old study I saw about magneton scanners. I guess my mind started to wander a bit.
Janeway: I'm very disturbed by what just happened here. We don't have any idea what occurs when someone is occupied by this alien presence. If we start pointing a finger every time someone gets distracted, it won't be long before outright paranoia starts sweeping the ship. Tuvok, B'Elanna, I want you to get started on that magneton flash scan. It's worth a try. Dismissed.
Neelix: And that's not all. Ensign Parsons ordered his pejuta cold.
Emh: So?
Neelix: He always drinks it hot. Hot! With lemon. But not today. Today it's cold pejuta, hold the lemon.
Emh: Mister Neelix, just because a man changes his drink order doesn't mean he's possessed by an alien.
Neelix: Nevertheless, don't you think you should scan him or dissect him or something, just to make sure?
Emh: I could examine every crew member you've mentioned so far, every person on board, for that matter and it wouldn't do any good. From what we can tell, the alien can jump from person to person at will.
Neelix: It sounds to me like you're defending Ensign Parsons.
Emh: I'm not defending him, I'm just pointing out that you're acting a little paranoid. In fact, one could say you're acting a little too paranoid.
Neelix: Are you suggesting that I, that I could possibly? Doctor, I can assure you, not even an alien intruder could make me do anything to hurt Kes.
Emh: All I'm suggesting, Mister Neelix, is that paranoia is only going to aggravate your already precarious emotional condition. Try to relax. I don't think Kes has suffered any permanent neurological damage. I'll let you know the moment I've had any success in reviving her.
Neelix: I'll be back as soon as you wake, dearest. And don't worry, you're in good hands. Thank you, Doctor.
Emh: What are you doing?
Tuvok: I am reconfiguring the sensor relays on the ship. This will only take a minute.
Emh: Must you do it now? I'm in the middle of a treatment.
Tuvok: I am sorry, Doctor. Captain's orders. How is she?
Emh: No irreparable damage. In fact, her injuries are quite different from Commander Chakotay's. Her bioneural energy is completely intact, and I'm curious about these contusions on her neck and shoulder. They're not consistent with an energy discharge. They look more like wounds sustained during a physical struggle.
Tuvok: Odd. There was no physical struggle that I can recall.
Emh: I just don't understand it. The only thing these injuries come close to resembling is an extreme trauma to the trapezius nerve bundle. It's as though her nerve fibers have been ruptured.
Janeway: Come in.
Tuvok: Lieutenant Torres and I will be ready to initiate the magneton scan in approximately two hours. You should be aware that it will be a high-intensity burst. It will cause dizziness and disorientation in all crew members, including myself, for several seconds.
Janeway: Make a ship-wide announcement before you initiate the scan.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain. There is another matter of some concern. It appears that Kes's injuries were not caused by an energy discharge. The doctor has found evidence that she was physically assaulted.
Janeway: Assaulted? But you weren't physically assaulted.
Tuvok: That is correct.
Janeway: Is it possible that you inflicted her wounds?
Tuvok: Me?
Janeway: Maybe you were inhabited by the alien at that moment.
Tuvok: It is possible. Perhaps we should have the doctor run a neurological scan to see if I show a memory disruption.
Janeway: Agreed. Janeway to Sickbay. Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic System.
Computer: Unable to comply. The EMH program has been disabled.
Janeway: Disabled? By whom?
Computer: Unknown.
Janeway: The Doctor's initialisation routine has been locked out. It's encrypted. I can't reactivate the program.
Tuvok: It appears the lockout originated somewhere above deck four.
Janeway: Why would someone deactivate the Doctor?
Tuvok: The Doctor does hold the command codes to Voyager.
Janeway: Yes, but once he was deactivated the codes automatically reverted back to me.
Tuvok: If we assume the alien could not take over the holographic doctor, then logically it would try to force the command codes back into a humanoid host.
Janeway: Me. It's too dangerous for one person to retain the command codes at this point. I suggest we divide my command protocols into two code groupings.
Tuvok: A sensible precaution.
Janeway: You would be the reasonable choice to hold the second grouping, if there's any such thing as a reasonable choice right now. The alien could occupy either one of us at any time.
Tuvok: But presumably not both of us at the same time.
Janeway: I'll tell the bridge crew the plan. We'll all have to act as checks and balances for each other.
Janeway: I want you all to be aware of something that has happened, something I must assume was due to the alien. The Doctor has been deactivated, and we can't get him back online. I have decided to divide my command protocols.
Tuvok: Captain?
Tuvok: Stun her! She's the alien!
Paris: That should do it, Captain.
Janeway: Thank you, Mister Paris. I feel better already. Any luck getting the Doctor back online?
Kim: Not yet. Whoever did this put up one hell of a roadblock. I'm going to have to break through at least six levels of encryption to access the holo-emitters.
Janeway: How long is it going to take?
Kim: Two, maybe three hours.
Torres: Torres to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Torres: Captain, can you come down to Engineering? There's something here I think you should see.
Janeway: I'm on my way. Mister Paris, you're our temporary medic until the Doctor returns.
Paris: Right.
Janeway: Ensign, I need you on the Bridge.
Torres: I've been trying to reconstruct the damaged sensor logs from Tuvok and Chakotay's shuttlecraft. I didn't have any luck until I ran a parity trace scan. Captain, the sensor logs weren't destroyed by an energy discharge. Someone erased them, and then overloaded the sensor matrix to make it look like they'd been damaged. It gets worse. There was enough information left in the backup logs for me to reconstruct what happened during the attack. They were near a dark matter nebula and an energy discharge did breach the hull, but there was no other ship.
Janeway: No ship?
Torres: I'm certain of it. From what I can tell, the energy discharge came from the nebula itself.
Janeway: Why would Tuvok lie about an attack?
Torres: He must have been under the alien's influence.
Kim: Bridge to Janeway. We're approaching the dark matter nebula.
Janeway: Acknowledged. How long until the magneton flash scan is ready to go?
Torres: The sensor arrays are charging now. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.
Janeway: When it's ready, transfer control of the scan to the Bridge. In the meantime, I think we should take a look at exactly what it is we're not supposed to see.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, can you locate the ion trail of the alien ship that attacked you?
Tuvok: I believe so. Mister Kim, lay in that course. Shields are at maximum, Captain. All preparations for entering the nebula are complete.
Paris: Captain, I've finished the bioanalysis the doctor was running on Kes before he was deactivated. I think he was on to something. If I'm interpreting his data correctly, the bruises on Kes's neck and shoulders were the result of a Vulcan neck pinch.
Janeway: Lieutenant?
Tuvok: I have no memory of injuring Kes. Perhaps I was occupied by the alien at that time.
Janeway: Perhaps so, but then, why does it keep attacking you? In three separate instances now, it's assaulted you.
Tuvok: I am the Chief of Security. It may see me as a particular threat.
Janeway: So far, you've posed no greater threat than anyone else, and yet it keeps going after you.
Tuvok: Captain, I believe you are having a typically human response to circumstances which are frightening and inexplicable, commonly known as paranoia.
Janeway: Maybe, but I don't think it's paranoia that's keeping me from picking up this ion trail of yours. What bandwidth are you on?
Tuvok: I'm using a multiphasic scan. If you examine the alpha K band, you will see it.
Janeway: Yes, here it is. A very interesting ion trail. There's no sign of any subspace distortions in its wake. According to these readings, it's a ship without engines. You're lying, Tuvok. There is no alien ship, and there never was. We're not going inside that nebula until we get some answers. Mister Kim, reverse course and
Tuvok: Belay that order. That is exactly what the alien has been trying to do, keep us from entering the nebula. I suspect the captain has been occupied. I am relieving her of command. Ensign, proceed into the nebula, one half impulse.
Janeway: Don't do it, Harry.
Tuvok: Now, Ensign.
Kim: No sir, I won't do it.
Tuvok: I must inform you this phaser is on wide beam dispersal and set to kill. I am taking command of this Bridge. I must ask you all to stand together where I can see you. Step away from the console, Ensign.
Durst: Captain, we're entering the nebula.
Kim: Captain, I'm picking up some kind of energy pulses in the nebula, highly coherent, with a biomatrix.
Janeway: Life forms.
Kim: And they're heading this way.
Janeway: Those beings out there, are they your people?
Tuvok: We are the Komar. This is our domain.
Janeway: What's happening?
Durst: The warp core's been ejected.
Tuvok: No. No! We must continue.
Torres: Torres to Bridge. Captain
Torres: I think I was just taken over by the alien. One second I was working the plasma relays and the next thing I knew, I was ejecting
Torres: The warp core.
Janeway: Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Stand by.
Paris: I don't get it. If the alien's in Tuvok, how could it be down in Engineering at the same time?
Kim: I don't know. Unless there are two aliens.
Paris: Two?
Janeway: Wait a minute. Lieutenant Torres isn't authorized to eject the warp core on her own. That requires a command code authorisation. Computer, who authorized the ejection of the warp core?
Computer: The authorisation was entered by Commander Chakotay.
Janeway: Chakotay.
Kim: How is that possible?
Janeway: The alien in Tuvok wants us in that nebula, but there's another presence that's been trying to keep us out. It doesn't make sense, unless it's Chakotay and he knows we'll be in danger if we go in there.
Kim: But he's in Sickbay. He's brain dead.
Janeway: Maybe not. Maybe his neural energy was displaced somehow and he's able to move from person to person.
Durst: Tuvok's engaged emergency thrusters. We're moving again, Captain.
Janeway: You brought us here, for what? To extract our neural energy?
Tuvok: Very perceptive, Captain. The collective neural energy of your crew will sustain my people for years to come.
Janeway: You don't have to do this. Maybe we can help you find another source of energy.
Kim: Captain, we're under attack. We're being bombarded by the energy beings.
Janeway: The magneton scan identified the entity before it left the ship. It was a trianic-based energy being.
Kim: Looks like he's joined his friends outside.
Paris: Shields are holding, but they won't last long at this rate, and the electromagnetic radiation is blinding our sensors. I can't find a way out.
Janeway: Come about. Maybe if we reverse course, we can just backtrack.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Kim: I don't know if that'll work, Captain. Tuvok was navigating a complicated course. We could be going deeper into the nebula.
Janeway: Mister Kim, maybe you can reconstruct Tuvok's navigational logs.
Kim: I'm on it, Captain.
Durst: Shields down to sixty five percent, Captain! The energy beings are starting to penetrate our defenses.
Kim: I'm not having any luck. Tuvok deleted the navigational logs as he went along. He wanted to make sure we didn't get out of here.
Neelix: Neelix to Bridge.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Neelix: Captain, I can't be sure but
Neelix: I think I was just taken over by the alien.
Neelix: And I've done something very strange. I've rearranged the stones on the medicine wheel.
Janeway: If it's Chakotay, maybe he's trying to tell us something. Mister Kim, activate Sickbay visual relay sixteen and put it on the view screen.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: What is it? What does it mean? Is it a code, a message?
Paris: Or a map.
Janeway: Computer, overlay a star map of the nebula on the current viewscreen image.
Paris: The stones are in the same position as those three planetoids. Chakotay must be using them to point a way out.
Janeway: Mister Kim, lay in a course that takes us along a line connecting those three planetoids. Engage.
Durst: Shields failing. The aliens are penetrating the hull.
Janeway: Mister Kim, report.
Kim: We're passing the third planetoid now, Captain. The dark matter density is thinning. Reading normal space ahead.
Janeway: Bridge to Torres. Transfer all remaining power to the thrusters, including life support.
Kim: We've cleared the nebula, Captain. Main power coming back online. Shields at full strength, hull integrity normal. The alien beings are not pursuing.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48735.9. We have returned to the co-ordinates where we ejected the warp core and have successfully retrieved it. Now we're hoping the Doctor will be able to successfully reintegrate Commander Chakotay's consciousness.
Janeway: Did it work?
Emh: It appears so. Commander. Can you hear me?
Chakotay: Yes. I'm a little dizzy, but I think I'm all here.
Torres: How did you manage to reintegrate his consciousness?
Emh: It involved three neural transceivers, two cortical stimulators and fifty gigaquads of computer memory. I would be happy to take you through the process, but it would take at least ten hours to explain it all to you. Needless to say, it was a remarkable procedure. I would consider writing a paper about it if there were a convenient forum in which to publish it.
Janeway: What happened, Commander?
Chakotay: After the attack on the shuttle, I had the sensation of floating above my own body. I thought I was dead.
Janeway: And when the shuttle returned to Voyager you were still disembodied?
Chakotay: Yes. I couldn't speak, I couldn't touch anything. But then I found if I concentrated on someone who was in the room with me, I could share their consciousness. At first I could only do little things with the host's body. Push buttons, work a console. As time went on, it became easier to do more. I'm sorry I had to knock you around, Tuvok.
Tuvok: No apology is necessary.
Janeway: Good job, Commander, and welcome back.
Chakotay: To be honest, I feel like I never left.


Sulan: Regeneration phase completed. Deactivate the genitron. Shut down the biomatrix. B'Elanna? B'Elanna Torres, wake up.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48784.2. We have completed our survey of the Avery system and are returning to retrieve Lieutenants Paris, Torres and Durst. By now, they should have concluded their inspection of the magnesite formations on the third planet.
Neelix: Here we are Mister Tuvok, one bowl of authentic Vulcan plomeek soup.
Tuvok: As I have told you, Mister Neelix, this is an unnecessary indulgence. I am quite content to eat whatever the rest of the crew is eating.
Neelix: Nonsense. Everyone aboard this ship deserves a little taste of home every now and then.
Tuvok: Very well then, thank you.
Neelix: Don't thank me, I'm having a marvelous time experimenting with the native dishes of the entire crew. So far I've learned to make corn salad for Mister Chakotay, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Mister Paris. He calls it comfort food. Isn't that charming? What are you waiting for, it's no good cold.
Neelix: Well?
Tuvok: It is rather piquant.
Neelix: It is zesty, isn't it. I tried following the recipe in the computer's databank but it seemed so bland, so I took the liberty of spicing it up a bit. Call it plomeek soup a la Neelix.
Tuvok: I must point out that if you take the liberty of changing a time-honored recipe you are hardly presenting a taste of home.
Chakotay: Senior officers please report to the bridge.
Neelix: But your soup?
Tuvok: Please, enjoy it.
Neelix: Ah, there's no place like home.
Chakotay: The away team hasn't arrived at the pre-arranged coordinates, Captain, and they've failed to respond to our hails.
Janeway: Have you tried locking on to their comm. signals?
Kim: We scanned the entire surface. No sign of them. They must still be underground, but I can't locate them there either.
Tuvok: Then as we suspected, the dense magnesite formations in the planet's crust are blocking our sensors.
Kim: Take a look at this. This is the cave system nearest the beam-in coordinates as it appeared in our initial geological scan. And this is the same system now. This tunnel here has shifted to the west by almost seventy five degrees.
Janeway: Are you saying walls of solid rock have changed shape in the two days since the away team was deployed?
Kim: Apparently so, Captain, but our initial scans didn't indicate tectonic activity of anywhere near that magnitude.
Chakotay: In any case, it's possible that Torres and the others haven't returned to the beam-out site because they were trapped by these geological shifts. I'd like to lead a team down to investigate, Captain.
Tuvok: And what is to prevent us from losing you as well, Commander?
Kim: Breadcrumbs.
Janeway: Ensign?
Kim: I'm sorry, Captain. What I mean to say is I think I can modify some subspace transponders which could be deployed along the Commander's path, kind of like
Janeway: Breadcrumbs. Got it.
Kim: If they're placed at regular intervals I believe they'll maintain a signal link with the ship and they could serve as a transporter relay in case we need to stage an emergency beam-out.
Janeway: Very well, Commander, take a team with you, but I want a transporter lock on you at all times.
Chakotay: Aye Captain. Tuvok, Kim, you're with me.
Sulan: I apologize for the restraints, but your presence here is very important to us. Do you understand?
B'Elanna: Who are you?
Sulan: I am Sulan, chief surgeon of the Vidiian Sodality.
B'Elanna: I demand to know what is happening here.
B'Elanna: You've surgically altered my face. I look like a Klingon.
Sulan: I've performed no surgery as you understand the term. There are several questions I need to ask you before we proceed.
B'Elanna: You can't possibly believe I'm going to cooperate with you.
Sulan: Perhaps I was in error to leave your consciousness and memory intact.
B'Elanna: Durst. Paris. What have you done with them?
Sulan: What is your exact age, Klingon.
B'Elanna: If you want me to answer your question, you will have to answer one of mine first.
Sulan: Very well.
B'Elanna: What exactly have you done to me.
Sulan: I have reconstituted your genome. You are now purely Klingon.
B'Elanna: That's not possible.
Sulan: I assure you it is. I have developed a procedure to stimulate cell division. A kind of enhanced mitosis. Your Klingon genetic material was extracted. It was then converted from matter to energy by our genetron. Finally you were rematerialized as the purified Klingon specimen that you are now.
B'Elanna: Why? Why have you done this?
Sulan: For generations my people have been searching the quadrant for a species immune to our disease in the hope that it would lead us to a cure.
B'Elanna: And you think Klingons are immune to this phage?
Sulan: I believe your genetic structure has phage-resistant nucleotide sequences, yes. But I needed a pure specimen to be certain. My people do not know it yet, but you are their greatest hope.
B'Elanna: I will never help you.
Sulan: You are very strong. I can only hope that you will be truly resistant to the phage.
B'Elanna: And how will you know that?
Sulan: I have infected you.
Paris: They're the ones with the guns, remember?
Durst: We've got to find a way out of this place.
Paris: Agreed. But I don't want to do anything until we find out what they've done with B'Elanna. In the meantime, we have to keep track of the guards movements. How long are their shifts, when do they eat, when do they sleep?
Durst: There don't seem to be many of them. I guess they figure we're all so exhausted we don't have any fight left.
Paris: We'll find an opening, Pete, and when the time is right we'll make our move.
Paris: Something funny, friend?
Talaxian: You.
Paris: Really. How's that?
Talaxian: Nobody ever escapes from this place. Those Vidiian leeches can yank the beating heart out of you in a heartbeat. Heart out of you in a heartbeat. Now that's funny.
Durst: Hilarious.
Paris: Seems like you know this place pretty well.
Talaxian: I should, I've been here six years.
Paris: Then tell me something. I thought those Vidiians were in the business of harvesting organs. How come we're all still in one piece?
Talaxian: The disease makes them weak. They need somebody to dig their tunnels. That's us. Best way to keep alive around here is to stay strong.
Paris: Thanks for the advice.
Talaxian: Don't worry, they're always in need of replacement body parts. They'll get around to gutting you eventually. There were twenty three of us from my ship. I'm the only one left.
Paris: Listen. When they grabbed us there was a woman with us. B'Elanna Torres. Any idea what might have happened to her?
Talaxian: If she's not here, she's been taken to organ processing.
Kim: I've deployed the transponders, Commander. The relay signal is coming through clearly.
Chakotay: Good work.
Kim: Any sign of them?
Chakotay: According to my tricorder readings they definitely came this way. The question is, where did they go from here?
Kim: Delightful spot to get lost.
Tuvok: Commander, Ensign. Over here.
Chakotay: What is it.
Tuvok: I detect traces of at least five humanoid lifeforms.
Kim: Five? There were only three in the away team.
Tuvok: Evidently they did not enter this cavern alone.
Sulan: Are you in pain?
B'Elanna: It's nothing.
Sulan: Remarkable. One of the symptoms of the early stages of the phage is excruciating joint pain. I find it extraordinary that you can endure it. Some who have been infected have been known to die from the agony itself.
B'Elanna: It's going to take more than an infection to kill me.
Sulan: It appears you are correct. Your body's successfully fighting off the phage. I am overjoyed.
B'Elanna: How delightful for you.
Sulan: Soon we will begin a series of procedures replicating your genetic code and attempting various methods of integrating your DNA with our own. In time we'll be successful and eliminate the phage forever. When that time comes you will be honored as a hero by my people.
B'Elanna: I know I'm the first Klingon you've ever seen, so I'll tell you that Klingons find honor as warriors on the battlefield, not as guinea pigs in a laboratory.
Sulan: Earlier you accused me of mutilating you. Now you sound positively proud to be Klingon. You have me to thank for that, B'Elanna.
B'Elanna: You'll get no gratitude from me.
Sulan: Perhaps you'll feel different in time, but I don't blame you for your obstinacy. I would be proud too, with a form as handsome as yours. I believe Klingons are the most impressive species I have ever seen.
Torres: Tom? Tom, wake up.
Paris: B'Elanna?
Torres: Yeah, it's me.
Paris: B'Elanna, what have they done to you?
Torres: I remember them grabbing us outside the caves and then I, I guess I just blacked out.
Paris: Yes, they stunned all of us.
Torres: The next thing I knew, they were waking me up in some kind of laboratory. I was so groggy I couldn't see. I asked them what they had done to me and then one of them said that they had completely extracted my Klingon DNA.
Paris: It doesn't seem possible, but you look human.
Torres: I feel so weak, sick to my stomach.
Paris: Considering what they've done to you, I'm not surprised.
Torres: So strange.
Paris: What?
Torres: When I was a child, I did everything I could to hide my forehead. Hats, scarves, you name it.
Paris: When I was a kid, I wore a cap to cover the haircuts my father used to make me get first day of every summer.
Torres: I grew up on a colony on Kessik Four. My mother and I were the only Klingons there, and that was a time when relations between the Homeworld and the Federation weren't too cordial. Nobody ever said anything, but we were different and I didn't like that feeling. Then my father left when I was five years old. One day he was there and the next he wasn't. I cried myself to sleep every night for months. Of course I never told anybody. And then I finally decided that he'd left because I look like a Klingon. And so I tried to look human.
Paris: Looks like you finally got what you wanted.
Tuvok: Strange.
Chakotay: What is?
Tuvok: According to our last geological scan this cave should continue straight ahead for another eight kilometers.
Kim: This is solid granite, more than fifty meters.
Chakotay: If these caves were changing configuration while we were here, we certainly would have felt it.
Tuvok: True, Commander, but I do not believe there has been any tectonic activity. I believe this wall is merely an illusion, a disguised force field.
Chakotay: Away team to Voyager.
Janeway: Go ahead Commander.
Chakotay: We've run into some type of force field, Captain.
Chakotay: One minute we were reading an empty tunnel, and the next we walked
Chakotay: Right into a solid wall of rock.
Tuvok: Captain, the energy configuration of the force field matrix is virtually identical to those used by the Vidiians.
Janeway: Mister Ayala, scan for any alien vessels in the sector. Commander, we know from past experience that our phasers can disrupt that forcefield. I want to find out what's in there.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: But I don't want you taking any unnecessary risks. We'll be
Janeway: Standing by to implement an emergency beam out.
Chakotay: Acknowledged.
Chakotay: It's not working, Captain.
Janeway: Try reconfiguring your phaser to match the band width modulation.
Kim: Commander!
Chakotay: Three to beam up!
Sulan: B'Elanna? How are you feeling today?
B'Elanna: I feel strong. It's very frustrating to be restrained like this.
Sulan: I sympathize.
B'Elanna: I don't like being chained up like an animal.
Sulan: I'm sorry, I wish there was some
B'Elanna: I've been thinking about what you said. It's because of you that I am Klingon and I do like this feeling. In a strange way I suppose I am grateful. Did you know that Klingon females are renowned in the Alpha Quadrant not only for their physical prowess but for their voracious sexual appetites as well? Why not let your creation out of her harness. Study her in action.
Sulan: I wish it were possible, B'Elanna, but I'm afraid I can't risk releasing you just yet.
Sulan: Forgive me.
B'Elanna: For what?
Sulan: Please, don't condescend. I may have a grotesque appearance but I assure you my instincts are finely honed, and I do have feelings. Hard as it may be for you to imagine, B'Elanna, my people were once handsome and vigorous like yours, and with your help we will be again. Perhaps when that time comes I will not disgust you quite so much as I do now.
Paris: They're coming to take us to the work detail. You can't let them see how sick you are.
Torres: Maybe if they think I'm too weak they'll leave me behind. I could try to get my hands on that console over there.
Paris: Or maybe they'll skip the preliminaries and take you straight to organ processing.
Guard: You. Come with me.
Durst: What for?
Guard: You asked to contact your ship. The Prefect wishes to discuss your request.
Paris: I'm the senior officer here. If your superiors want to talk with one of us, it should be me. He's not going anywhere without me.
Torres: Tom, don't. They'll kill you.
Guard: Stop!
Durst: It's okay, Tom. They're the ones with the guns, remember?
Paris: What is it?
Janeway: Now that the Vidiians know we're here, we have to be prepared for the possibility they'll call in reinforcements.
Kim: So far long range sensors haven't located any alien vessels near here.
Tuvok: However, it is possible that the same technology that disguises their forcefields, cloaks their ships.
Chakotay: The other thing we have to consider is that the prisoners may be at greater risk now.
Kim: Captain, take a look at this. Using our tricorder data I've been able to scan the entire planet for the forcefield signature, and it looks like the field surrounds an area more than six hundred kilometers in circumference.
Janeway: Is there any way to scan inside it?
Kim: Every reconfiguration I've tried has failed.
Janeway: If it's the same kind of forcefield that the Vidiians used the last time we ran into them, why didn't our phasers breach it?
Tuvok: Apparently it has been adapted to repulse phaser fire.
Janeway: If the Vidiians can move in and out of there, so can we. Start setting up simulations. Find a way to get through that forcefield.
Sulan: B'Elanna? I have something I want to show you.
B'Elanna: Durst.
Sulan: I thought perhaps this new face would make you more comfortable with me.
B'Elanna: You've killed him.
Sulan: Yes, B'Elanna, but his organs will save more than a dozen lives.
Kim: Deep level scans have revealed a network of microfissures, miniscule openings that develop each time the field matrix remodulates.
Janeway: Just how small are these microfissures?
Kim: Less than one micron. And they close up within a few seconds.
Janeway: Would it be possible to use our phasers to expand one of these openings as it's forming?
Tuvok: That was our first thought. But we realized such an attempt would have to be at close range and would carry the risk of alerting the Vidiians to our presence.
Kim: So then it occurred to us. If we could narrow the transporters energy beam tightly enough, it might be possible to transport one of us through the microfissures.
Tuvok: Of course, timing the transport to the precise moment of an opening would be critical.
Chakotay: But if we could get someone inside, we might be able to find our people, and also deactivate the forcefield.
Janeway: And then, presumably, we could beam everyone back to the ship.
Tuvok: Precisely. But you should be aware that because we are incapable of scanning beyond the forcefield we will have no way of communicating with whoever transports inside it. Nor will we be able to verify that the transport has been successfully completed.
Janeway: Moreover, what's to prevent whoever goes in from being captured by the Vidiians.
Chakotay: I have an idea about that, Captain.
Emh: Dermal stimulator, please.
Kes: Remarkable work, Doctor.
Emh: If you think this is remarkable, you should see me remove a bunion.
Tuvok: I have done my best to replicate Vidiian attire. I trust it will prove sufficiently convincing.
Chakotay: It's a fine piece of work, Mister Tuvok. Next time I need a tailor, I'll know just where to look.
Guard: Quickly, now. In there!
Paris: Here, B'Elanna. Sit down.
Talaxian: Here. It's water.
Paris: Thanks.
Talaxian: Rest while you can. The guard won't be back right away. Keep it.
Torres: Tom, I've been thinking. When they did this thing to me, I think it changed more than just the way I look.
Paris: What do you mean?
Torres: Back there, when they took Durst away, I was terrified.
Paris: No one could blame you for that.
Torres: You don't understand. I've been in worse situations but I've never felt like that before. Never. I mean, my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. I didn't even try to help you.
Paris: B'Elanna, I'm no doctor, but I have to believe that what ever they did to you has seriously depleted your strength. There's nothing you could have done.
Torres: No, that's not it. I think that when they extracted my Klingon DNA, they turned me into some kind of a coward.
Paris: Sometimes fear can be a good thing. Keeps you from taking unnecessary chances. Courage doesn't mean that you don't have fear. It means that you've learnt to overcome it. And I know that you can find the courage to hold on until we can find a way out of this place.
Guard: What's going on here?
Paris: She's ill. She needed a rest.
Guard: If she's too weak, I'll take her back to the barracks.
Torres: That's okay, Tom. Maybe if I'm there I can try to make contact with the ship.
Kim: The emitter array has been initialized, Captain.
Janeway: Good. Are you ready, Mister Chakotay?
Tuvok: Captain. There's an opening forming in the forcefield.
Kim: Initiating auto sequence.
Tuvok: Targeting scanners to match coordinates. Scanners locked.
Janeway: On my mark, Mister Kim. Energize. Well, now we wait.
B'Elanna: Make a sound and I'll break your neck, understand? I'm looking for my friend, Tom Paris, a human male. Have you seen him?
Talaxian: He was here, but they sent him to another tunnel.
Torres: Which one?
Talaxian: Back that way. There was another human with him, but they took her back to the barracks.
Torres: A human female?
Guard 2: I need your help here.
Guard: What are you doing? Come with us.
Torres: Where are you taking me?
Guard 2: For a shower and a hot meal.
Torres: No, please.
B'Elanna: Wake up, petaQ! Eat!
Torres: What is it?
B'Elanna: Some rodent I killed.
Torres: No, thanks.
B'Elanna: I'm sorry I can't replicate you a soufflé but you need nourishment. I can't carry you all the way out of here.
Torres: How are we supposed to escape this place? There are guards everywhere.
B'Elanna: We fight our way out.
Torres: Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm not exactly in fighting form.
B'Elanna: That's why you need food. Eat. So, you're what's left over when all the Klingon DNA is taken out.
Torres: Apparently.
B'Elanna: If I hadn't come along, were you just going to waste away in that prison camp until they killed you for your body parts? Were you too frightened to act?
Torres: I was looking for a way to escape.
B'Elanna: Looking! I'll show you the way to escape! This and this.
Torres: That's the way you respond every situation, isn't it? If it doesn't work, hit it. If it's in your way, knock it down. No wonder I got kicked out of the Academy.
B'Elanna: For which you should be eternally grateful.
Torres: Well, I'm not! Your temper has gotten me into trouble more times that I can. Listen to me. Listen to us. This is ridiculous. Do you realize we're each fighting with our self.
B'Elanna: I'm not the one who's fighting, petaQ. If I remember correctly, I'm the one who rescued you from that prison and carried you here. Don't you think you could at least acknowledge that? Can't you even admit that you won't be able to get out of here without me?
Torres: I don't know that I can get out of here with you. Brute force isn't going to do it.
B'Elanna: Maybe not. Maybe we'll die in the attempt. But that's better than sitting here like frightened tik'kah cats doing nothing.
Torres: There you go again. Out of control. Just leaping into action before you think things through.
B'Elanna: Fine. You stay here. I'm getting out.
Torres: No, wait a minute, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry. Please. Just before you rescued me, I logged onto the Vidiian's computer system. I only had a few seconds, but I think I found a way to access the force field that's cloaking this place. With a few minutes more I could have deactivated it.
B'Elanna: Then Voyager could get a lock on us, beam us back. Paris, too.
Torres: It may not be as exciting as fighting our way out, but it stands a much better chance of working, if I have your help.
B'Elanna: So. You need me.
Torres: I can't get back to that computer without you. And you'll have to cover for me while I work.
B'Elanna: We can't go to the prison barracks. There are too many guards there. In the lab where they were holding me, there was a security console. That's the last place they would expect us to be.
Talaxian: They must have taken her to organ processing.
Paris: Tell me how to get there.
Paris: Keep your hands off me!
Chakotay: Whatever you say, Paris, but I thought you might like to get out of this place.
Paris: Chakotay?
Chakotay: Where are Torres and Durst?
Paris: I think they've been taken to what the Vidiians call organ processing.
Guard: You! Why are you talking to that prisoner.
Chakotay: I was ordered to take him to organ processing.
Guard: Why wasn't I notified?
Chakotay: I was told you had been.
Guard: I've never seen you before.
Chakotay: My face was just grafted.
Guard: Very well, take him. But from now on I expect to be notified in advance of all transfers.
Chakotay: Yes, sir.
B'Elanna: There.
Torres: I have to bypass the security code so I can access the force field grid. Then I'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with. That should do it. There! That's what we're up against, and I think we're here.
B'Elanna: Can you shut it down?
Torres: I'm working on it.
B'Elanna: What now?
Torres: If they didn't know we were here before, they do now. Take it easy. I'll be done in a minute.
B'Elanna: You're not frightened any more, are you?
Torres: Maybe I just don't have time to think about it.
Torres: Are you hurt?
B'Elanna: Keep working.
Sulan: B'Elanna, stop.
B'Elanna: You're not going to hurt me. You need me.
Sulan: You're right. But if you do not surrender, I will kill her.
Chakotay: Drop it!
Sulan: Who are you?
B'Elanna: That's what I want to know.
Chakotay: It's Chakotay!
Torres: I think I've just about accessed the forcefield.
B'Elanna: Hurry!
Torres: Got it! There!
Tuvok: Captain, the forcefield has been disrupted.
Janeway: Mister Kim, can you get a lock on Commander Chakotay?
Chakotay: Chakotay to Voyager, do you read?
Janeway: Loud and clear, Commander.
Chakotay: I've found them, Captain.
B'Elanna: No!
Sulan: No!
Chakotay: Three humans and one Klingon to beam up.
Paris: She's badly wounded, Captain.
Torres: Beam her to Sickbay!
B'Elanna: Don't. No time. You showed true courage. It makes my death an honorable one.
Emh: Using tissue from your counterpart, I can replicate the Klingon DNA, then over the course of several days, I'll reintegrate that genetic material into your cellular structure.
Torres: Wait a minute. You're not saying that you're going to change me back?
Emh: That's precisely what I'm saying. Your cell's ability to synthesis proteins has been severely compromised. You need the Klingon genes to survive.
Torres: So she's saving my life again.
Emh: I'll get started on the DNA.
Chakotay: How are you doing?
Torres: I'm not sure. It's been a pretty strange experience. I do know that right now, the way I am, I'm more at peace with myself than I've ever been before. And that's a good feeling.
Chakotay: But?
Torres: I'm incomplete. It doesn't feel like me. I guess I've had someone else living inside of me for too long to feel right without her.
Chakotay: I'd have to say that you two made quite a team down there.
Torres: I know. I came to admire a lot of things about her. Her strength, her bravery. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I'll spend the rest of my life fighting with her.


Neelix: He hasn't left me with a single shot.
Gaunt Gary: In that case, pal, call a safety.
Neelix: Safety?
Paris: it's a defensive strategy. Since you can't make a shot, the idea is to leave the cue ball somewhere on the table where Tuvok can't make a shot either.
Neelix: Oh, I don't know. It sounds cowardly.
Gaunt Gary: Suit yourself pal, but if you leave Vulcan Slim over here with an open shot he's got a very good chance of running the table.
Neelix: All right. Safety.
Neelix: Ah ha ha! Mister Vulcan, let's see you reason your way out of this conundrum. This safety business is a lot more satisfying than I imagined. I've left him with an impossible shot.
Tuvok: The shot may be difficult, Mister Neelix, but to say that it is impossible is an exaggeration.
Neelix: Go ahead then. Call your shot.
Tuvok: Logic would dictate that if I strike the cue ball properly, it will deflect first off the rear bumper, then the side, striking the eleven ball and causing it to roll directly into the corner pocket.
Paris: This I have to see.
Tuvok: Perhaps the ship's stabilizers are not operating at peak efficiency.
Gaunt Gary: Yeah, and maybe Tom Terrific over here forgot to tell you that Sandrine's table rolls a little to the east.
Neelix: You should have called a safety.
Janeway: Janeway to Mister Neelix. Please report to the bridge.
Neelix: You wanted to see me, Captain.
Janeway: Yes, Neelix. We've received a subspace message from an approaching vessel. They're asking for you.
Neelix: Me?
Kim: The alien ship is entering visual range, Captain.
Janeway: Slow to impulse. On screen. Do you recognize it?
Neelix: That's a Haarkonian shuttle.
Chakotay: Haarkonian?
Neelix: My people were at war with them for the better part of a decade. They conquered my homeworld more than fifteen years ago.
Chakotay: Any idea what the Haarkonians want with you now?
Neelix: None at all.
Kim: The shuttle is hailing us, Captain.
Janeway: Open a channel.
Kim: Channel open.
Janeway: I'm Captain Katherine Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. What can we do for you.
Jetrel: As I stated in my message, Captain, I understand you have a Talaxian called Neelix aboard your vessel.
Neelix: I'm Neelix. What do you want?
Jetrel: It is a matter of utmost urgency. However, I would prefer to speak with you privately. Your life may very well depend on it.
Neelix: Who are you?
Jetrel: Forgive me. I am Jetrel. Doctor Ma'bor Jetrel.
Janeway: Neelix.
Neelix: He's a mass murderer! When I was much younger my family and I lived on a moon called Rinax, a colony with the most temperate climate in the entire Talaxian system. Warm days, balmy nights. Until the Meteron Cascade. A melodic name, isn't it? Especially for a weapon of mass destruction.
Janeway: And Jetrel was somehow involved with this weapon?
Neelix: Doctor Jetrel was the scientist who conceived the Meteron Cascade, then he led the team of scientists who built it.
Janeway: I see.
Neelix: In the blink of an eye Rinax was enveloped by a deadly cloud, and those lovely days were turned into one endless frigid night. More than three hundred thousand were killed.
Janeway: But you survived.
Neelix: I had the good fortune to be on Talax at the time with our defense forces, preparing for an invasion that never came. It wasn't necessary. The day after the Cascade was deployed, Talax surrendered unconditionally to the Haarkonian Order.
Janeway: And your family?
Janeway: I am so sorry.
Janeway: Doctor Jetrel. Lieutenant Tuvok, my chief of security.
Jetrel: I have heard of your transporter technology, Captain, but, to experience it first hand is truly remarkable.
Janeway: Mister Neelix has declined to meet with you.
Jetrel: That's not surprising. I'm afraid I am not a very popular figure among the Talaxian people.
Tuvok: May we show you to your quarters?
Janeway: Mister Neelix has given me permission to speak on his behalf. You indicated that he may be in some kind of danger?
Jetrel: Yes. It's imperative that he undergo a compete medical examination.
Janeway: For what purpose?
Jetrel: Our war records show that he was part of the team that returned to Rinax after the Cascade in order to evacuate survivors. He was exposed to high concentrations of Meteron isotopes. In recent years several of the rescuers have developed a degenerative blood disease called metermia.
Janeway: Is it serious?
Jetrel: I am afraid that it's fatal. The disease attacks its victims on a molecular level. It may lay dormant for years, but once it manifests itself, it will cause the body's atomic structure to undergo fission. The cells will begin to disintegrate. My equipment is specifically designed to detect the sub-atomic signature of the disorder.
Tuvok: May I ask, Doctor, why you've taken it upon yourself to examine Mister Neelix?
Jetrel: I've evaluated as many members of the team as possible, collecting data, in hopes that one day my research may lead to a cure for metermia. Please, try to persuade Mister Neelix to see me. Each Talaxian I screen brings me one step closer to a cure.
Kes: Neelix, why didn't you ever tell me about the war?
Neelix: Maybe this is one experience that can't be shared. It's too hard to describe how I feel to someone who didn't see what I saw. I'm sorry.
Kes: You've nothing to be sorry about, Neelix.
Janeway: Excuse me.
Neelix: Captain! Back from your doctor's appointment already?
Janeway: I'm afraid I have some disturbing news, Neelix.
Neelix: Nothing you tell me can make this day more disturbing than it's already been.
Janeway: According to Jetrel, you were exposed to dangerous levels of Meteron poisoning, and may be at risk of developing a fatal blood disorder. He wants to screen you for the disease.
Neelix: Er, Captain, please tell Doctor Jetrel that I am touched by his tender concern for my state of health, but that I'd rather be immersed in a pit of Kraylinnian eels than examined by him.
Kes: Neelix, if there's something wrong with you we should find out.
Neelix: I don't want that man within ten parsecs of me!
Janeway: I understand your feelings, but this is your life we're talking about.
Neelix: Don't either of you find it the slightest bit strange that a man who has made it his life's work to develop a weapon to destroy as many Talaxians as possible should suddenly be concerned with this Talaxian's health.
Janeway: I don't know what his motives are. Maybe he's trying to undo some of the damage his weapon caused? But he seems sincere, Neelix, and at this point I have no reason to doubt him.
Neelix: If the disease is fatal, what's the point of knowing whether I have it or not?
Kes: Our doctor is the most skilled physician either of us has ever met. If you have this disease he won't stop until he's found some way to treat it.
Janeway: And if Jetrel discovers you don't have the disease, at least you'll have peace of mind.
Neelix: Peace of mind is a relative thing, Captain.
Janeway: I simply want you to hear what he has to say. Then, if you still don't want him to examine you, no one will force you.
Neelix: Outnumbered and outflanked. All right then, I surrender.
Jetrel: The Meteron isotopes are unique. The rate of decay is highly variable. We have found that it's sometimes years before Metermia sets in, and unfortunately
Neelix: Why are you doing this?
Jetrel: I beg your pardon?
Neelix: Is it all just scientific curiosity, Meterons and isotopes. Or do you feel guilty about what you did.
Jetrel: Guilty? I do not regret it. I did what had to be done.
Neelix: Really? It was necessary to vaporize more than a quarter of a million people and to leave thousands of others to be eaten away by Meteron poisoning.
Jetrel: Would it make any difference if I told you we never thought there would be any radiation poisoning. That anyone close enough to be exposed would be killed by the initial blast. It was unfortunate we were wrong.
Neelix: Unfortunate? Did you hear that, Captain? It was unfortunate.
Janeway: Neelix, I think what Doctor Jetrel is trying
Jetrel: No, Captain, that's all right. I'm used to it. I'm simply a scientist. Yes, I developed the weapon, but it was the government and the military leaders who decided to use it, not I.
Neelix: That must be a very convenient distinction for you. Does it help you sleep at night?
Jetrel: I slept no worse last night than I have any other night for the past fifteen years.
Neelix: What is that supposed to mean?
Jetrel: It means I must live with my conscience, as you who must live with yours. How many did you kill during the war?
Janeway: Gentlemen, please. This is obviously very difficult for both of you but we are not here to debate history. We are here to talk about Neelix's condition.
Neelix: Don't worry about it, Captain, because Doctor Jetrel will have to find himself another laboratory rodent to help his experiments. Because I would rather die than help you ease your conscience.
Jetrel: I do not expect you to like me, Mister Neelix, nor do I hope to allay your obvious pain with moral arguments, but I do believe I can help you. If not you, then others of your race. Isn't that more important than punishing me?
Neelix: Are you sure you can't do this?
Emh: You're new found confidence in me is flattering, Mister Neelix, but Doctor Jetrel has instruments designed specifically to analyze Talaxian physiology.
Neelix: Just get it over with.
Neelix: Did I ever tell you about the notorious two-tailed talchoks of Rinax?
Kes: I don't think so.
Neelix: Nasty little vermin. Sharp claws, dripping fangs. Ugh. It was quite a nuisance. So one summer when I was a boy, I decided to do something about them. I spent weeks tinkering, creating a fool-proof talchok trap. Once I'd perfected it I set it in the garden. And the next day I found one of those beasts pinned at the neck. But it wasn't dead, it was squirming, squealing in agony. And suddenly it didn't look so fiendish any more. It looked like a poor innocent animal.
Kes: What a horrible story.
Neelix: You see, I had become so fascinated with my invention that I never really thought about how that poor creature would suffer.
Jetrel: Are you finished?
Neelix: For now.
Jetrel: So am I.
Neelix: And?
Jetrel: I'm sorry, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: Sorry? Why are you sorry?
Jetrel: I'm afraid you have incipient metermia.
Neelix: Come in.
Kes: How are you feeling?
Neelix: Kes, my sweet, I'll have you know this is not the first time I have gazed into the gaping maw of death. Why once, during the battle of the Pyrithian Gorge I faced down an entire battery of Haarkonian artillery. There I was, with only a small crevice for cover
Kes: Neelix, you're protecting me again. I can understand your not wanting to talk about Rinax. I wasn't there, you're right. But I'm here now with you. We have to face this together.
Neelix: Well, there's one good thing that will come from all this. When I first met you I didn't know that your species lived only eight or nine years. I fell in love with you without knowing how lonely it would be to live without you after you're gone. Now that I'm going to die first, I don't have to worry about it.
Kes: Before I met you, eight or nine years seemed like an eternity. It never occurred to me that anyone could live longer. Now that we're together, no matter how many years we have left, it doesn't seem like enough. But the important thing is to cherish whatever time we have together, whether it's a day or a decade.
Janeway: Come in.
Jetrel: Am I interrupting?
Janeway: Please, sit down.
Jetrel: Captain, I must tell you, your ship is simply astounding. I have been studying your transporter systems.
Janeway: Transporter systems. I would think you would be more concerned with Mister Neelix.
Jetrel: Forgive me, but that is what I am here to talk about. I believe, with a relatively few minor modifications, the transporter system could be used to retrieve a sample of the Meteron cloud surrounding Rinax.
Janeway: To what end?
Jetrel: I've always believed that if I could isolate the free isotope that causes metermia, it could be used to synthesis an antibody.
Janeway: Then theoretically, a victim's own immune system could destroy the disease.
Jetrel: Yes, Captain, and your transporter system makes it all possible.
Janeway: Is the isotope stable enough to be transported?
Jetrel: I believe so.
Janeway: We could construct a containment field to prevent any contamination of the ship, and I could have our Doctor assist you with synthesizing the antibody.
Jetrel: My thoughts exactly.
Janeway: Janeway to bridge.
Chakotay: Chakotay here, Captain.
Janeway: Have Doctor Jetrel's shuttle tractored into the shuttlebay and lay in a course for the Talaxian system.
Chakotay: That's a significant detour, Captain.
Janeway: I'm aware of that, Commander.
Janeway: But it may mean saving Neelix's life.
Chakotay: Understood.
Janeway: I'll send a message to Talax requesting permission to transport material from the cloud. In the meantime, Lieutenant Torres in Engineering can give you a hand with the transporter modifications.
Jetrel: Thank you, Captain.
Janeway: Thank you, Doctor Jetrel. It's a very promising idea.
Janeway: What is it?
Jetrel: Nothing, I just think I'm a little over excited about the prospects of discovering a cure, and all that sparring with Mister Neelix does take a toll.
Janeway: Maybe you should let the Doctor have a look at you.
Jetrel: No, I'm fine, and there's so much to be done. I want to start right away.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48832.1. Kes has prevailed upon Neelix to allow Doctor Jetrel to continue metabolic scans in the hope that it will facilitate treatment once the antibody has been synthesized.
Emh: Will you be needing my assistance, Doctor?
Jetrel: Not until we have the isotope.
Emh: Mister Neelix, is there anything more I can do for you? Very well, then. Computer override command one EMH alpha and end program.
Jetrel: Incredible. A hologram that can deactivate itself.
Neelix: Is there anything besides science that makes your heart beat faster, Jetrel?
Jetrel: Not any more. Now, would you please sit down?
Neelix: You know what I've been thinking? If I'd been in charge of the Cascade I'd have, I don't know, chosen a military target, simply deployed it on an uninhabited planet. Somehow I don't think I'd have targeted innocent civilians.
Jetrel: The military strategists did not think a demonstration would work. They wanted to show the power of the Cascade in all it's horror.
Neelix: You should have tried to stop them! Why didn't you speak out? People would have listened to you.
Jetrel: It would not have made any difference. If I had not discovered the Cascade, it would have been someone else, don't you see? It was a scientific inevitability, one discovery flowing naturally to the next. Something so enormous as science will not stop for something as small as man, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: So you did it for science.
Jetrel: For my planet, and yes, for science. To know whether or not it could be done. It's good to know how the world works. It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that all the knowledge of the universe and all the power that it bestows is of intrinsic value to everyone, and one must share that knowledge and allow it to be applied, and then be willing to live with the consequences.
Neelix: Consequences? Who are you to talk about consequences.
Jetrel: You are not the only one to loose family during the war, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: Your family was killed?
Jetrel: Nothing as clean as death. When I returned home after the Cascade to my wife, my lovely wife Ka'Ree, she could not bear to look at me. When I would reach out to her she would pull away, as if I had some contagious disease. You see, like you, she thought I had become a monster, and shortly after that she took my three children and I have not seen them since.
Neelix: That's a sad story, Jetrel, but let me tell you another one. A man goes back to Rinax after the Cascade. Back to what had been his home, to look for survivors. But the impact of the blast has set off hundreds of fires, and there's nothing there. Just smoldering ruins and the stench of seared flesh. But in the distance, in the middle of all that emptiness, from out of this huge cloud of billowing dust, he can see bodies moving, whimpering, coming toward him. They're monsters, their flesh horribly charred, the color of shale. One of them comes toward him, mangled arms outstretched, and he can't help it, he turns away frightened. But then the thing speaks and he knows by the sound of her voice that she's not a monster at all, but a child. A little girl.
Jetrel: Mister Neelix, I
Neelix: Her name was Palaxia. We brought her back to Talax with the other survivors. Over the next few weeks I stayed at her bedside and watched her wither away. Those are consequences, Doctor Jetrel.
Jetrel: There is no way I can ever apologize to you, Mister Neelix. That's why I have not tried.
Neelix: Did you ever think that maybe your wife was right. That you have become a monster?
Jetrel: Yes. The day when we tested the Cascade, when I saw that blinding light, brighter than a thousand suns. I knew at that moment exactly what I had become.
Neelix: I hope you have to live with that a very long time.
Jetrel: I'm afraid you will not get your wish, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: And why is that?
Jetrel: I have advanced metermia. I will be dead in a matter of days.
Figure: It's your turn.
Neelix: There's no open shot.
Figure: Why don't you call a safety, Neelix? Isn't that what you always do?
Neelix: I'm no coward.
Figure: That's not what I've heard.
Neelix: What are you doing, it's my turn!
Figure: You've lost your chance to play. Now you're going to lose!
Janeway: Neelix, where did you go? Why did you leave us?
Neelix: I did what I thought was right.
Paris: You were afraid.
Neelix: No! I
Kes: Neelix.
Neelix: Who are you?
Kes: It's me, Palaxia.
Neelix: Palaxia!
Kes: Why weren't you here to help us?
Neelix: You! You did this, butcher!
Janeway: Bridge to Neelix.
Neelix: Here, Captain.
Janeway: Neelix, I thought you'd like to know, we're approaching Rinax.
Janeway: Neelix?
Neelix: Thank you, Captain. I'll be right there.
Paris: Entering synchronous orbit, Captain.
Neelix: Hard to believe that on clear nights you could look up from Talax and see the shimmering lights of the colony. The night of the Cascade, a bright flash cut across the sky. It was so blinding that people threw themselves to the ground. Then everything stopped, like a moment out of time. Then we all looked up to see where the flash had come from, but the sky seemed oddly empty. Took most of us a few seconds to realize it was because Rinax was gone. Of course, the moon was still there. We just couldn't see it because of that Meteron cloud.
Torres: Engineering to Bridge. We're ready to begin transporter pre-sequencing, Captain.
Janeway: Acknowledged.
Neelix: This brings back too many memories, Captain. If you'll excuse me.
Janeway: Of course.
Jetrel: I believe I asked for a larger container.
Torres: Correct me if I'm wrong, Doctor, but we're talking about a cloud sample large enough to contain a few subatomic particles, right?
Jetrel: Yes. But the isotope accounts for just a miniscule fraction of the cloud's total mass. I want to be sure we get enough.
Torres: Don't worry. We do this all the time. Pre-sequencing complete, Captain. I'm ready to begin transport.
Janeway: Proceed.
Torres: Targeting scanners. Locking on. Energize.
Torres: Captain, we have the sample aboard. The containment field is holding.
Janeway: Well done, Janeway out.
Torres: Good luck, Doctor.
Kes: Neelix? Neelix, are you in here? Neelix?
Kes: I've been looking for you everywhere. Why did you take your comm. badge off?
Neelix: I wanted to be alone.
Kes: I'm sorry to bother you, but I was worried. I know how you must feel.
Neelix: No, you don't know! Not everything. You don't know where I was the night Rinax was destroyed.
Kes: On Talax, fighting with the defense forces.
Neelix: I was on Talax, but I wasn't fighting with the defense forces. I was hiding from them. I wasn't a hero at the battle of the Pyrithian Gorge. I've never even been there.
Kes: I don't understand.
Neelix: I never reported for duty.
Kes: Why not?
Neelix: I thought the war was unjust, that Talax was fighting for reasons that weren't worth killing for. Or at least, that's what I told myself. But the real reason I didn't report was because I was a coward. Now you know.
Kes: If the Talaxian authorities would have caught you, what would they have done?
Neelix: During war time, the punishment for refusing military service was death.
Kes: So, you put your life at risk for something you believed in, and you think that makes you a coward? I don't understand.
Neelix: It makes me a liar! I've lied about it all these years, to you, to Jetrel, to everyone.
Kes: Because you're dishonest.
Neelix: Because I'm ashamed.
Kes: What an awful burden you've carried all these years. No wonder you're so angry with Jetrel.
Neelix: Of course I am. He killed them all. My mother, my father, my little brothers.
Kes: Is that really why? Every since Jetrel came on board you've despised him. The hurt and anger you've held in all these years was vented right at him. But was it really Jetrel you're angry with? Is he the one you blame for what happened?
Neelix: I don't know.
Kes: Or was he just a convenient target to keep you from looking somewhere else.
Neelix: You mean from looking at myself? You may be right, but I hate him. And I don't think I can stop hating him.
Kes: Maybe you have to stop hating yourself first.
Emh: Are we ready to begin synthesis?
Jetrel: Computer, override command one EMH alpha and end program.
Emh: Now just wait one
Neelix: Doctor Jetrel.
Jetrel: You startled me!
Neelix: I'm sorry, but I need to speak with you.
Jetrel: Is it possible we could talk later? It won't be long before I am too weak to work. I would like to finish before I die.
Neelix: What is that? You're engaging in some kind of bizarre experiment, aren't you? What is it this time?
Jetrel: You don't understand. I can help them.
Neelix: What do you call that? Scientific progress? I'm going to the Captain!
Janeway: Any report on Doctor Jetrel's progress, Commander?
Chakotay: Not yet, Captain.
Janeway: Bridge to Sickbay.
Janeway: Janeway to Sickbay. Janeway to Doctor Jetrel.
Janeway: Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram.
Emh: Please state the nature of
Janeway: What the hell is going on down there, Doctor?
Emh: Doctor Jetrel deactivated me.
Emh: He's gone now.
Tuvok: Computer, locate Doctor Jetrel.
Computer: Doctor Jetrel is in Transporter room one.
Emh: And Mister Neelix is unconscious. It appears he's been tranquilized.
Janeway: You have the Bridge, Commander. Security, meet me in Transporter room one. Tuvok.
Tuvok: Please step aside, Doctor.
Jetrel: You must let me continue. Lives depend on it.
Janeway: We've heard that from you before. You're beginning to loose credibility.
Jetrel: Captain, I beg you, let me bring them back.
Neelix: Bring who back? Who, Doctor? Who is it you're going to bring back?
Jetrel: The victims of Rinax.
Neelix: He's out of his mind, Captain.
Jetrel: Please, look at my calculations. You remember what I told you about metermia, Captain, how it causes the bodies atomic structure to undergo fission. It mirrors the way the Meteron Cascade vaporized its victims through bio-molecular disintegration.
Neelix: Do we have to listen to this?
Janeway: I think we should hear him out.
Jetrel: What I've been working on for the past fifteen years is a way to rebuilt that atomic structure. What I call regenerative fusion.
Janeway: Are you saying you're actually trying to restore people who were vaporized by the Meteron cascade?
Jetrel: Yes!
Janeway: Given the degree of fragmentation you're talking about, I don't see how that's possible.
Jetrel: The electrostatic properties of the cloud are such that the disassembled biomatter has been held in a state of animated suspension. I discovered years ago that re-integration is possible.
Neelix: Is that what you were doing with that thing in Sickbay?
Jetrel: Yes, exactly! Neelix saw it. It was an amalgamation of randomly fused organic material. Bits and pieces of previously vaporized biomatter.
Neelix: But, but, if the biomatter in the cloud is so random, so jumbled, how could you reconstruct something whole?
Jetrel: I used medical records to identify the genetic coding of a specific victim, a test case if you will. Once we input his DNA sequence, then we can isolate his atomic fragments with your targeting scanners, and then rematerialize him.
Neelix: What if he's right?
Tuvok: Captain, Doctor Jetrel is proposing the reconstruction and re-animation of a remarkable complex set of biosystems from billions of subatomic particles.
Janeway: I'm afraid I have to agree. It all sounds very implausible.
Jetrel: You sound exactly like my country. I asked them for more funds to continue my research to help the victims of Rinax, because I wanted the world to know I'm not a monster. My theories can be used to heal, as well as to destroy. But they refused me, called me a Talaxian sympathizer, and exiled me.
Janeway: Does Neelix really have metermia, or was that just a pretext for getting us to come to Rinax.
Jetrel: It was just a pretext, Captain. You do not have metermia, Neelix. You are not going to die.
Neelix: Why didn't you just tell us the truth in the first place?
Jetrel: Your Captain is an accomplished scientist. She doubts my theories. My own government did too. I just could not risk being not believed again. But, Captain, it will work.
Neelix: Captain, if there's any chance he can do it, you've got to let him try.
Janeway: Neelix, there are just too many variables.
Neelix: Please, Captain.
Janeway: Lieutenant Tuvok, activate the emergency containment field around the transporter pad.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain. Emergency containment field activated.
Janeway: We'll have to re-target scanners to the widest possible confinement beam. It's our only hope of achieving bond cohesion with such broadly scattered fragments.
Tuvok: Re-targeting scanners to wide beam.
Janeway: Energize. Phase transition coils to maximum.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Is the biogenic field operational?
Tuvok: Affirmative.
Neelix: It's incredible.
Tuvok: Atomic cohesion has dropped to forty nine percent, Captain.
Janeway: Pattern buffers to maximum power.
Tuvok: They are already at one hundred percent.
Janeway: Take them to one twenty, Lieutenant.
Tuvok: Pattern buffers to one hundred and twenty percent of rated maximum.
Janeway: We're losing him.
Tuvok: Atomic cohesion to thirty nine percent. Twenty two percent. Fourteen percent. His pattern is degrading rapidly.
Jetrel: You must increase the power to the pattern buffers, Captain.
Janeway: We've got to stimulate cohesion. Is there anyway to augment the biogenic field?
Tuvok: The degree of fragmentation is simply too great. It will not work. We are overloading the system.
Janeway: Shut it down, Mister Tuvok.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48840.5. Doctor Jetrel's metermia is now in it's final stage. He's spending his remaining hours in Sickbay.
Jetrel: Neelix. I suppose you think this is a fitting punishment for me.
Neelix: Maybe the Cascade was a punishment for all of us, for our hatred, our brutality. There's something I need to tell you. I tried to tell you before, but
Jetrel: What is it?
Neelix: I want to tell you that I forgive you.