Scene: Unhappy with a new treaty, Federation Colonists along the Cardassian border have banded together.
Calling themselves 'The Maquis', they continue to fight the Cardassians.
Some consider them heroes, but to the governments of the Federation and Cardassia, they are outlaws.
Chakotay: Damage report.
Tuvok: Shields at sixty percent.
Torres: A fuel line has ruptured. Attempting to compensate. Damn it! We're barely maintaining impulse. I can't get any more out of it.
Chakotay: Be creative!
Torres: How am I supposed to be creative with a thirty nine year old rebuilt engine?
Gul Evek: Maquis ship, this is Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. Cut your engines and prepare to surrender or we will d
Chakotay: Initiating evasive pattern omega. Mark.
Tuvok: Shields at fifty percent.
Chakotay: I need more power if we're going to make it to the Badlands.
Torres: Take the weapons offline. We'll transfer all power to the engines.
Tuvok: Considering the circumstances, I question that proposal at this time.
Torres: What does it matter? We're not making a dent in their shields anyway! You wanted creative.
Chakotay: Tuvok, shut down all the phaser banks. If you can give me another thirty seconds at full impulse, I'll get us into the Badlands.
Tuvok: Phasers offline.
Chakotay: Throw the last photons at them and then give me the power from the torpedo system.
Tuvok: Acknowledged. Firing photons.
Chakotay: Are you reading any plasma storms ahead?
Tuvok: One. Co-ordinates one seven one, mark four three.
Chakotay: That's where I'm going.
Tuvok: Plasma storm density increasing by fourteen percent. Twenty. Twenty five.
Chakotay: Hold on!
Tuvok: The Cardassian ship is not reducing power. They're following us in.
Chakotay: Gul Evek must feel daring today.
Tuvok: They've taken a hit on their port blade. They're sending out a distress signal on all Cardassian frequencies.
Chakotay: Can you plot a course through these plasma fields, Mister Tuvok?
Tuvok: The storm's activity is typically widespread in this vicinity. I can plot a course, but I'm afraid it will require an indirect route.
Chakotay: We can use a time to make some repairs. What was that?
Tuvok: Curious. We've just passed through some kind of coherent tetryon beam.
Chakotay: Source?
Tuvok: Unknown. Now there appears to be a massive displacement wave moving toward us.
Chakotay: Another storm?
Tuvok: It's not a plasma phenomenon. At current speeds, it will intercept us in less than thirty seconds.
Chakotay: Anything left in those impulse generators, B'Elanna?
Torres: We'll find out.
Tuvok: Still exceeding our speed.
Chakotay: Maximum power.
Tuvok: Wave is continuing to accelerate. It will intercept us in eight seconds. Five.
Janeway: Tom Paris? Kathryn Janeway. I served with your father on the Al-Batani. I wonder if we could go somewhere and talk.
Paris: About what?
Janeway: About a job we'd like you to do for us.
Paris: I'm already doing a job for the Federation.
Janeway: I've been told the Rehab Commission is very pleased with your work. They've given me their approval to discuss this matter with you.
Paris: Well then, I guess I'm yours.
Janeway: Your father taught me a great deal. I was his science officer during the Orias expedition.
Paris: You must be good. My father only accepts the best and the brightest.
Janeway: I'm leaving on a mission to find a Maquis ship that disappeared in the Badlands a week ago.
Paris: I wouldn't if I were you.
Janeway: Really?
Paris: I've never seen a Federation starship that could maneuver through the plasma storms.
Janeway: You've never seen Voyager. We'd like you to come along.
Paris: You'd like me to lead you to my former colleagues. I was only with the Maquis a few weeks before I was captured, Captain. I don't know where most of their hiding places are.
Janeway: You know the territory better than anyone we've got.
Paris: What's so important about this particular Maquis ship?
Janeway: My Chief of Security was on board, undercover. He was supposed to report in twice during the last six days. He didn't.
Paris: Maybe it's just your Chief of Security who's disappeared.
Janeway: Maybe. That ship was under the command of another former Starfleet officer, named Chakotay. I understand you knew him.
Paris: That's right.
Janeway: The two of you didn't get along too well, I'm told.
Paris: Chakotay will tell you he left Starfleet on principle, to defend his home colony from the Cardassians. I, on the other hand, was forced to resign. He considered me a mercenary, willing to fight for anyone who'd pay my bar bill. Trouble is, he was right. I have no problem helping you track down my friends in the Maquis, Captain. All I need to know from you is what's in it for me.
Janeway: You help us find that ship, we help you at your next outmeet review.
Paris: Ah ha.
Janeway: Officially, you'd be a Starfleet observer during the mission.
Paris: Observer? Oh hell, I'm the best pilot you could have.
Janeway: You'll be an observer. When it's over, you're cut loose.
Paris: The story of my life.
Paris: Stadi, you're changing my mind about Betazoids.
Stadi: Good.
Paris: Oh, that wasn't a compliment. Until today I always considered your people warm and sensual.
Stadi: I can be warm and sensual.
Paris: Just not to me.
Stadi: Do you always fly at women at warp speed, Mister Paris?
Paris: Only when they're in visual range.
Stadi: That's our ship. That's Voyager.
Stadi: Intrepid class. Sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor nine point nine seven five. Fifteen decks. Crew complement of one hundred and forty one. Bio-neural circuitry.
Paris: Bio-neural?
Stadi: Some of the traditional circuitry has been replaced by gel packs that contain bio-neural cells. They organize information more efficiently, speed up response time.
Quark: If I may say so, it's been my special pleasure to see many new officers like yourself come through these portals. Your parents must be very proud, my boy. You know, on an occasion like this
Kim: I'm really not interested.
Quark: Interested?
Kim: You were about to try to sell me something, right?
Quark: I was merely going to suggest that your parents might appreciate a memento of your first mission.
Kim: And you happen to have several to choose from?
Quark: I do carry a select line of unique artifacts and gem stones indigenous to this region. Why, quite recently, I acquired these Lobi crystals from a very strange creature called a Morn.
Kim: We were warned about the Ferengi at the Academy.
Quark: Warned about Ferengi, were you?
Kim: That's right.
Quark: Slurs about my people at Starfleet Academy.
Kim: What I meant was
Quark: Here I am, trying to be a cordial host, knowing how much a young officer's parents would appreciate a token of his love on the eve of a dangerous mission, and what do I get for my trouble? Scurrilous insults. Well, somebody's going to hear about this. What's your name, son?
Kim: My name?
Quark: You have one, I presume?
Kim: Kim, Harry Kim. But I
Quark: And who was it at the Academy who warned you about Ferengi?
Kim: You know, I think a memento for my parents would be a great idea.
Quark: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Kim: Really. What are these? It would make a great pendant for my mother.
Quark: Or cufflinks for your father.
Kim: Cufflinks. Great idea.
Quark: They're not for sale. Now, inform your commanding officer that the Federation Council can expect an official query.
Kim: How much for the entire tray?
Quark: Cash or credit?
Paris: Dazzling, aren't they? As bright as a Koladan diamond.
Quark: Brighter.
Paris: Hard to believe you can find them on any planet in the system.
Quark: That's an exaggeration.
Paris: You know, there's a shop at the Volnar Colony that sells a dozen assorted shapes for one Cardassian lek. How much are you selling these for?
Quark: We were just about to negotiate the price.
Paris: Come on.
Kim: Thanks.
Paris: Didn't they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy?
Doctor: Run a level three diagnostic, just to be sure. Can I help you?
Paris: Tom Paris, reporting on board.
Doctor: Oh yes. The observer.
Paris: That's me. As a matter of fact, I seem to be observing some kind of problem right now, Doctor.
Doctor: I was a surgeon at the hospital on Caldic Prime at the same time you were stationed there. We never actually met. Your medical records have arrived from your last posting, Mister Paris. Everything seems to be in order. The Captain asked if you were on board. You should check in with her.
Kim: Er, I haven't paid my respects to the Captain yet either.
Doctor: Well, Mister Kim, that would be a good thing for a new operations officer to do.
Kim: What was that all about?
Paris: It's a long story, Harry, and I'm tired of telling it. I'm sure someone around here will tell you before long.
Mark: The doctor called.
Janeway: And?
Mark: And I was right.
Janeway: She's pregnant?
Mark: The puppies are due in seven weeks.
Janeway: Oh, Mark. You've got to take her home with you.
Mark: With me? I just got the rugs cleaned.
Janeway: She's with child. I can't leave her in a kennel while I'm
Mark: Is this another 'love me, love my dog' demand?
Janeway: Yes.
Mark: How could I ever refuse you?
Janeway: Thanks, honey.
Mark: So, when are you leaving?
Janeway: As soon as I approve these systems status reports.
Mark: All right. Then I won't bother you anymore.
Janeway: Hey. You never bother me, except the way I love to be bothered. Understand?
Mark: I'll remember that.
Janeway: See you in a few weeks. Oh, Mark, go by my house and pick up the doggie bed. She'll be more comfortable.
Mark: I already did, an hour ago.
Janeway: Come in.
Janeway: Gentlemen, welcome aboard Voyager.
Kim: Thank you, sir.
Janeway: Mister Kim, at ease before you sprain something. Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don't like being addressed as sir.
Kim: I'm sorry, ma'am.
Janeway: Ma'am is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer Captain. We're getting ready to leave. Let me show you to the bridge.
Janeway: Did you have any problems getting here, Mister Paris?
Paris: None at all, Captain.
Janeway: My first officer, Lieutenant Commander Cavit. Ensign Kim, Mister Paris.
Cavit: Welcome aboard.
Janeway: Ensign Kim, this is your station. Would you like to take over?
Kim: Yes, ma'am.
Janeway: It's not crunch time yet, Mister Kim. I'll let you know when.
Cavit: Lieutenant Stadi, lay in the course and clear our departure with operations.
Stadi: Course entered, Ops has cleared us.
Cavit: Ready thrusters.
Kim: Thrusters ready.
Cavit: Initiate launching sequence.
Stadi: Sequence underway.
Janeway: Engage.
Paris: Tomato soup.
Computer: There are fourteen varieties of tomato soup available from this replicator. With rice, with vegetables, Bolian style, with pasta, with
Paris: Plain.
Computer: Specify hot or chilled.
Paris: Hot. Hot, plain, tomato soup.
Paris: There, you see? I told you it wouldn't take long.
Kim: Is it true?
Paris: Was the accident my fault? Yes. Pilot error. But it took me a while to admit it. Oh, fourteen varieties and they can't even get plain tomato soup right.
Kim: They said you falsified reports.
Paris: That's right.
Kim: Why?
Paris: What's the difference? I lied.
Kim: But then you came forward and you admitted that it was your fault?
Paris: I'll tell you the truth, Harry. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and I was home free. But I couldn't. The ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas. So I confessed. Worst mistake I ever made but not my last. After they cashiered me out of Starfleet, I went out looking for a fight and found the Maquis. And on my first assignment, I was caught.
Kim: It must have been especially tough for you, being the son of an admiral.
Paris: Frankly, I think it was tougher on my father than it was on me. Look, I know those guys told you to stay away from me. And you know what? You ought to listen to them. I'm not exactly a good luck charm.
Kim: I don't need anyone to choose my friends for me.
Janeway: Janeway to Paris.
Paris: Go ahead.
Janeway: Report to the Bridge. We're approaching the Badlands.
Rollins: Plasma storms were measured at levels three and four.
Janeway: The Cardassians gave us the last known heading of the Maquis ship, and we have charts of the plasma storm activity the day it disappeared. With a little help, we might be able to approximate its course.
Paris: I'd guess they were trying to get to one of the M-class planetoids in the Terikof Belt.
Cavit: That's beyond the Moriya system.
Rollins: The plasma storms would have forced them in this direction.
Janeway: Adjust our course to match.
Cavit: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: The Cardassians claimed they forced the Maquis ship into a plasma storm where it was destroyed, but our probes haven't picked up any debris.
Paris: A plasma storm might not leave any debris.
Janeway: We'd still be able to pick up a resonance trace from the warp core.
Kim: Captain, I'm reading a coherent tetryon beam scanning us.
Janeway: Origin, Mister Kim.
Kim: I'm not sure. There's also a displacement wave moving toward us.
Janeway: On screen.
Janeway: Analysis.
Kim: It's some kind of polarized magnetic variation.
Cavit: We might be able to disperse it with a graviton particle field.
Janeway: Do it. Red alert. Move us away from it, Lieutenant.
Stadi: New heading, four one mark one eight zero.
Cavit: Initiating graviton field.
Kim: The graviton field had no effect.
Janeway: Full impulse.
Kim: The wave will intercept us in twelve seconds.
Janeway: Can we go to warp?
Stadi: Not until we clear the plasma field, Captain.
Kim: Five seconds.
Janeway: Brace for impact.
Kim: Three.
Janeway: Report!
Kim: Hull breach, deck fourteen. Comm. lines to Engineering are down. Trying to re-establish.
Janeway: Repair crews, seal off hull breach on deck fourteen.
Crewwoman: Aye, Captain.
Rollins: Casualty reports coming in. Sickbay is not responding.
Janeway: Bridge to Sickbay. Doctor, can you hear me? Paris, how's Stadi?
Paris: She's dead.
Kim: Captain, there's something out there.
Janeway: I need a better description than that, Mister Kim.
Kim: I don't know. I'm reading. I'm not sure what I'm reading.
Janeway: Can you get the viewscreen operational?
Kim: I'm trying.
Kim: Captain, if these sensors are working, we're over seventy thousand light years from where we were. We're on the other side of the galaxy.
Kim: I'm not reading any life signs on the Maquis ship.
Janeway: What about on that, that array?
Kim: Our sensors can't penetrate it.
Janeway: Any idea what those pulses are that are coming from it, Mister Kim?
Kim: Massive bursts of radiant energy. They seem to be directed toward a nearby G-type star system.
Janeway: Try hailing the array.
Carey: Engineering to Bridge. We have some severe damage. The Chief's dead. Possibility of a warp core breach.
Janeway: Secure all engineering systems. I'm on my way.
Kim: No response from the array.
Janeway: Ensign, get down to Sickbay. See what's going on. Mister Rollins, the Bridge is yours.
Rollins: Aye, Captain.
Paris: Harry, wait for me.
Paris: They must have been right next to the console when it exploded.
Computer: Warning. Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent.
Janeway: What's the warp core pressure?
Carey: Twenty one hundred kilopascals.
Janeway: Lock down the magnetic constrictors.
Carey: If we lock them down at these pressure levels, we might not be able to reinitialize the dilithium reaction.
Computer: Warning. Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent.
Janeway: We don't have a choice. We've got to get the reaction rate down before we try to seal it.
Kim: Computer, initiate Emergency Medical Holographic program.
Emh: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
Kim: Multiple percussive injuries.
Emh: Status of your doctor?
Kim: He's dead.
Emh: Point four cc's of trianoline.
Kim: Trianoline?
Paris: We lost our nurse too.
Emh: How soon are replacement medical personnel expected?
Kim: That could be a problem. We're pretty far away from replacements right now.
Emh: Tricorder. Medical tricorder. A replacement must be requested as soon as possible. I am programmed only as a short-term emergency supplement to the medical team.
Paris: Well, we may be stuck with you for a while, Doc.
Emh: There's no need for concern. I am capable of treating any injury or disease. No concussion. You'll be fine. Clean him up.
Janeway: Unlock the magnetic constrictors.
Carey: Constrictors online.
Janeway: Pressure?
Carey: It's working. Twenty five hundred kilopascals and holding.
Rollins: Bridge to Janeway. We're being scanned by the array, Captain. It's penetrated our shields.
Janeway: What kind of scan? Bridge? Janeway to Bridge, respond.
Janeway: Initiate emergency lock-off.
Emh: You're not seriously hurt. You can return to your station.
Emh: This is the Emergency Holographic Doctor speaking. I gave no permission for anyone to be transported out of Sickbay. Hello? Sickbay to Bridge. I believe someone has failed to terminate my program. Please respond.
Aunt Adah: Come up here. Come on, now. I have a pitcher of lemonade and some sugar cookies.
Paris: Captain?
Janeway: Don't believe your eyes, Mister Paris. We've only transported a hundred kilometers. We're inside the array.
Kim: There's no indication of stable matter. All this must be some kind of holographic projection.
Aunt Adah: Oh, you poor things. You must be tired out. Come on and sit down and rest awhile. Have a cold drink, hmm?
Janeway: No, thank you. My name is Kathryn Janeway, captain of the Federation Starship Voyager.
Aunt Adah: Now, just make yourselves right at home. The neighbors should be here any minute. Oh! Why, here they are!
Caretaker: Well, good to see you. Welcome.
Daughter: We're real glad you dropped by.
Aunt Adah: Now we can get started. You're all invited to the welcoming bee!
Caretaker: Let's have some music!
Paris: The crew's scattered around this farm, Captain, but they're all accounted for.
Janeway: Move around. Scan the area. See if you can find anything that might be a holographic generator.
Aunt Adah: Have some nice fresh corn on the cob. Fresh corn on the cob. Corn on the cob. Corn on the cob.
Janeway: Can you tell me why we're here?
Aunt Adah: Oh, we don't mean you any harm. I'm sorry if we put you out. Why don't you just put your feet up and get comfortable while you wait?
Janeway: Wait for what?
Aunt Adah: Isn't anybody hungry? Come on now, make yourselves at home. I'm sorry if we put you out.
Daughter: Hey, let me show you around. The root cellar's right over there.
Kim: What's down there?
Daughter: Potatoes, onions. But it's real private.
Kim: Paris, she's only a hologram.
Paris: No reason to be rude.
Kim: Whoa.
Paris: What?
Kim: Sporocystian life signs. What's in the barn?
Daughter: Oh, nothing but a big old pile of hay. Hey, come on, let's go see the duck pond. There's nothing in there. It's just a dark, smelly barn. Hey, do y'all want some devilled eggs? Huh?
Daughter: See? Nothing but hay.
Kim: There is a life form here. Just one.
Paris: Where?
Kim: It's everywhere. I'm also reading some kind of matrix-processing device. It may be the holographic generator. Paris, humanoid life signs over here. I'm reading a Vulcan and several humans.
Daughter: I'm not ready for you yet!
Paris: Paris to Janeway.
Janeway: Janeway here. Paris? Come on!
Aunt Adah: Very well. Since no one seems to care for any corn, we'll have to proceed ahead of schedule. (The barn wall disappears to reveal a high-tech room that goes on into the distance. Chakotay, B'Elanna and Tuvok are lying on narrow ledges with a long needles sticking into their abdomens. Just as the farmers and Voyager crew vanish we see that all the Maquis are there. The next shot is of Janeway having her stomach skewered and her passing out. Paris is next to her and across the aisle Kim screams.
Janeway: Janeway to Bridge. Anybody there?
Rollins: Yes, Captain. We're here.
Janeway: How long were we over there?
Rollins: Almost three days.
Janeway: Three days?
Rollins: Captain, the Maquis ship is powering up its engines.
Janeway: Tractor them. All senior officers, report
Janeway: To the Bridge immediately.
Emh: Excuse me. Could you explain what has transpired?
Paris: Computer, locate Ensign Kim.
Computer: Ensign Kim is not on board.
Paris: Paris to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Paris: Kim didn't come back with us. He must still be over there.
Janeway: Acknowledged. Computer, how many crewmen are unaccounted for?
Computer: One. Ensign Harry Kim.
Janeway: Hail the Maquis. Commander Chakotay. My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway.
Chakotay: How do you know my name?
Janeway: We were on a mission to find you when we were brought here by the array. One of our crewman is missing. Was he transported back to your ship by accident?
Chakotay: No. A member of our crew is missing too. B'Elanna Torres, my engineer.
Janeway: Commander, you and I have the same problem. I think it makes sense to try and solve it together, don't you?
Chakotay: Three of us will transport to your ship.
Rollins: They're powering down their engines, dropping their shields.
Rollins: Watch out, Captain. They're armed.
Janeway: Put down your weapons. You won't need those here. It's good to have you back, Mister Tuvok.
Tuvok: I must inform you that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew, sir. I am Captain Janeway's Chief of Security.
Chakotay: Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan?
Tuvok: My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities, and then deliver you into their waiting hands. That is correct.
Chakotay: I see you had help.
Paris: It's good to see you too, Chakotay.
Chakotay: At least the Vulcan was doing his duty as a Starfleet officer. But you, you betrayed us for what? Freedom from prison? Latinum? What was your price this time?
Janeway: You are speaking to a member of my crew. I expect you to treat him with the same respect as you would have me treat a member of yours. Now, we have a lot to accomplish, and I suggest we all concentrate on finding our people and getting ourselves back home.
Tuvok: Based on my initial reconnaissance, Captain, I am convinced we are dealing with a single entity in the array. I would suggest he scanned our computers in order to select a comfortable holographic environment. In effect, a waiting room to pacify us prior to biometric assessment.
Paris: An examination?
Tuvok: It is the most logical explanation. Why else would he have released us unharmed?
Paris: Not all of us were.
Janeway: Break out the compression phaser rifles. Meet us in Transporter Room two. We're going back. We'll divide into teams. Mister Tuvok, while Chakotay and I are looking for Torres and Kim, your job is to find out as much about this array as you can. It brought us here. We have to assume it can send us home. Agreed? Mister Rollins, maintain Red alert. Keep us on constant transporter locks.
Paris: Captain. I'd like to go with you.
Janeway: If this has something to do with what Chakotay said.
Paris: It doesn't. I'd just, I'd hate to see anything happen to Harry.
Janeway: Come on.
Tuvok: There are no humanoid lifeforms indicated, Captain. Kim and Torres are not within tricorder range. They may not be on the array.
Chakotay: He can tell us where they are.
Janeway: Maintain your comm. link. I don't want to lose anyone else.
Caretaker: Oh, why have you come back? You don't have what I need.
Janeway: I don't know what you need and frankly I don't care. I just want our people back and I want us all to be sent home.
Caretaker: Oh, well now. Aren't you contentious for a minor bipedal species?
Janeway: This minor bipedal species doesn't take kindly to being abducted.
Caretaker: Oh, it was necessary.
Chakotay: Where are our people?
Caretaker: They are no longer here.
Janeway: What have you done to them?
Caretaker: You don't have what I need. They might. No, you'll have to leave them.
Chakotay: We won't do that.
Janeway: We are their commanding officers. We are entrusted with their safety. They are our responsibility. That may be a concept you don't understand.
Caretaker: Oh, no, I do understand, but I have no choice. There just is not enough time left.
Janeway: Left for what?
Caretaker: I must honor a debt that can never be repaid, but my search has not been going well.
Janeway: Tell us what you're looking for. Maybe we can help you find it.
Caretaker: You? I've searched the galaxy with methods beyond your comprehension. No, there's nothing you can do.
Janeway: You've taken us seventy thousand light years from our home. We have no way back unless you send us, and we won't leave without the others.
Caretaker: But sending you back is terribly complicated. Don't you understand? I don't have time. Not enough time!
Nurse: He's regaining consciousness.
Ocampa Doctor: How do you feel?
Kim: What am I doing here? Where am I?
Nurse: Please don't try to move yet. You are very ill.
Kim: Ill? No, no. There's some mistake. I'm not
Torres: No!
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48315.6. We've traced the energy pulses from the array to the fifth planet of the neighboring system and believe they may have been used in some fashion to transport Kim and Torres to the planet's surface.
Janeway: Come in.
Tuvok: Captain, I've observed something peculiar about the pulses. They're getting faster.
Janeway: Faster.
Tuvok: The interval between each pulse has decreased by point four seven seconds since we arrived. I can offer no explanation.
Janeway: That's only one of the mysteries we're dealing with, Mister Tuvok. Take a look at this.
Janeway: It's virtually a desert. Not one ocean, not one river. It has all the basic characteristics of an M-class planet except there are no nucleogenic particles in the atmosphere.
Tuvok: That would mean the planet is incapable of producing rain.
Janeway: I've studied thousands of M-class planets. I've never seen an atmosphere without nucleogenics. There must have been some kind of extraordinary environmental disaster. As soon as repairs are complete, we'll set a course for the fifth planet.
Tuvok: Captain, you require sleep.
Janeway: Kim's mother called me just after he left her. Delightful woman. He's her only son. He'd left his clarinet behind. She wanted to know if she had time to send it. I had to tell her no. Did you know he played clarinet in the Julliard Youth Symphony?
Tuvok: I did not have the opportunity to meet Mister Kim.
Janeway: I barely knew him. I never seem to have the chance to get to know any of them. I have to, I have to take more time to do that. It's a fine crew and I've got to get them home.
Tuvok: The crew will not benefit from the leadership of an exhausted captain.
Janeway: You're right as usual. I've missed your counsel, Tuvok.
Tuvok: I am gratified that you came after me so I can offer it once again.
Janeway: I spoke to your family before I left.
Tuvok: Are they well?
Janeway: Well, but worried about you.
Tuvok: That would not be an accurate perception, Captain. Vulcans do not worry.
Janeway: They miss you.
Tuvok: As I do them.
Janeway: I'll get you back to them. That's a promise, Tuvok.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. The Maquis ship and Voyager have encountered a debris field where sensors have detected a small vessel. One humanoid life form is on board.
Janeway: Hail them.
Neelix: Whoever you are, I found this waste zone first.
Janeway: We're not interested in this debris, Mister
Neelix: Neelix. And since you're not interested in my debris, well, I'm delighted to know you.
Janeway: Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager.
Neelix: A very impressive title. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds very impressive.
Janeway: Do you know this area of space well, Mister Neelix?
Neelix: I am famous for knowing it well. How may I be of service?
Janeway: Do you know anything about the array that's sending energy pulses to the fifth planet?
Neelix: I know enough to stay as far away from it as possible. Wait. Let me guess. You were whisked away from somewhere else in the galaxy, and brought here against your will.
Janeway: Sounds as though you've heard this story before.
Neelix: Sadly, yes. Thousands of times. Well, hundreds of times. Maybe fifty times. But the Caretaker has been bringing ships here for months now.
Janeway: The Caretaker?
Neelix: That's what the Ocampa call him. They live on the fifth planet. Did he kidnap members of your crew?
Janeway: As a matter of fact, he did.
Neelix: It's not the first time.
Janeway: Do you know where he might have taken them?
Neelix: Just that they're brought to the Ocampa. Nothing more.
Janeway: We'd appreciate any help you could give us in finding these Ocampa.
Neelix: I really wish that I could help you, I do, but as you can see, there's just there's so much debris for me to investigate today. You'd be surprised the things of value some people abandon.
Janeway: Of course, we'd want to compensate you for your trouble.
Neelix: Well, there's really very little that you could offer me. Unless.
Janeway: Yes?
Neelix: Unless of course, you had water.
Janeway: If you help us find our missing crew members, you can have all the water you want.
Neelix: That sounds like a very reasonable arrangement.
Janeway: Good. We'll beam you over and tow your ship into our shuttle bay. Mister Tuvok, go to Transporter Room two and meet our guest.
Neelix: Beam?
Janeway: We have a technology which can take you instantly from your ship to ours. It's quite harmless. May we?
Tuvok: Energize.
Neelix: Astonishing! You Federations are obviously an advanced culture.
Tuvok: The Federation is made up of many cultures. I am Vulcan.
Neelix: Neelix. Good to meet you!
Neelix: Interesting. What, what exactly, what exactly does all this, all this do?
Tuvok: I assure you that everything in this room has a specific function. However, it would take several hours to explain it all. I suggest we proceed to your quarters. Perhaps you would care for a bath.
Neelix: A what?
Kim: It's okay. It's okay.
Torres: Who are you?
Kim: My name is Kim. Harry Kim. I'm an ensign on the Starship Voyager. I was kidnapped from the array just like you were. I don't know where we are.
Torres: What was Starfleet doing at that array?
Kim: We were looking for you, actually. One minute we're in the Badlands, the next
Torres: You mean you were trying to capture us.
Kim: Yeah. Consider yourself captured. Oh, I know I have a phaser here somewhere.
Torres: I don't find this at all amusing, Starfleet.
Kim: There's no point. It's locked. Hey! Hey, hey, hey. What's that going to accomplish?
Torres: What are they doing to us? What are these things growing on us?
Kim: Look, do you want them to sedate you again?
Torres: You're right, Starfleet. It's the Klingon half of me. It's just it's hard to control it sometimes.
Kim: What's your name, Maquis?
Torres: B'Elanna. B'Elanna Torres.
Ocampa Doctor: I hope you're feeling better. I know how frightening all this must be for both of you. I've brought some clothes if you'd care to change.
Torres: Why are you holding us here?
Ocampa Doctor: You are not prisoners. In fact, we consider you honored guests. The Caretaker has sent you to us. As long as you are not violent, you are free to leave your quarters.
Kim: What's wrong with us? What are these things?
Ocampa Doctor: We really don't know. You must be hungry. Would you care to join me on the courtyard for a meal?
Ocampa Doctor: Our food dispensers are right this way.
Kim: We're underground.
Ocampa Doctor: Our society is subterranean. We've lived here for over five hundred generations.
Torres: But before that, you lived on the surface?
Ocampa Doctor: Until the Warming began.
Kim: The Warming?
Ocampa Doctor: When our surface turned into a desert and the Caretaker came to protect us. Our ancient journals tell us he opened a deep chasm in the ground and led our ancestors to this place. Since then he has provided for all our needs. Please forgive them. They know you've come from the Caretaker. None of us has ever seen him. This way, please.
Torres: Does the Caretaker provide your meals too?
Ocampa Doctor: In fact, he does. He designed and built this entire city for us after the Warming. The food processors dispense nutritional supplements every four point one intervals. It may not offer the exotic tastes some of our younger people crave these days, but it meets our needs.
Kim: Is this how the Caretaker communicates with you? (The eating area has large picture windows showing different scenes - sunset, clouds, waterfall.)
Ocampa Doctor: He never communicates directly. We try to interpret his wishes as best we can.
Kim: I'm curious to know how you've interpreted the Caretaker's reason for sending us here.
Ocampa Doctor: We believe he must have separated you from your own species for their protection.
Torres: Their protection?
Ocampa Doctor: From your illness. Perhaps he's trying to prevent a plague.
Torres: We weren't sick until we met your Caretaker.
Ocampa Doctor: From time to time, he asks us to care for people with this disease. It's the least we can do.
Torres: There have been others? Like us?
Ocampa Doctor: Yes.
Torres: Where are they?
Ocampa Doctor: Your condition is serious. We don't know exactly how to treat it. I'm afraid the others did not recover.
Tuvok: Sir.
Neelix: Ah, Mister Vulcan. Come in, come in, please. I can hardly see you.
Neelix: I want to thank you for your hospitality. I must admit, I haven't had access to a food rebel er, er, replicator before.
Tuvok: I'd never have guessed.
Neelix: And to immerse myself in water. Oh, do you know what joy this is? No one around here wastes water in this manner. Good sand scrub, that's the best that we can hope for.
Tuvok: I am pleased you are enjoying yourself, but we are in orbit of the fifth planet. We need your assistance.
Neelix: Oh! Could you hand me the, er, towel?
Neelix: If you will scan the large southern continent you'll find a range of extinct volcanoes. Follow the foothills north until you discover a dry riverbed. You'll find an encampment there.
Tuvok: Do you believe our people might be at this location?
Neelix: It's not impossible. Maybe. Perhaps not. But we'll find them. We'll need several containers of water to bring for barter. Do these, er, replicators make clothing as well?
Tuvok: Yes.
Neelix: Will it make me a uniform like yours?
Tuvok: No, it most certainly will not.
Paris: Why would anyone want to live in a place like this?
Neelix: The rich cormaline deposits are very much in demand.
Chakotay: The Ocampa use it for barter?
Neelix: Not the Ocampa, the Kazon-Ogla.
Janeway: The Kazon-Ogla? Who are the Kazon-Ogla?
Neelix: They are. Kazon sects control this part of the quadrant. Some have food, some have ore, some have water. They all trade and they all kill each other for it.
Janeway: I thought you said the Ocampa had our people.
Neelix: My friends, it's good to see you again!
Neelix: I must speak with your Maje, the ever-wise Jabin!
Neelix: Very amusing.
Kazon: Destroy him.
Neelix: Very amusing. I, I enjoy a joke as much as the next man. Jabin! My old friend! Water. Water, Jabin. I have water to replace all that I borrowed. Show them, Mister Paris. Their ship has technology that makes water out of thin air!
Jabin: You have more?
Janeway: Janeway to Voyager. Energize.
Janeway: There's more where that came from, if you can help us.
Jabin: How can we help someone so powerful they can create water out of thin air?
Janeway: This man led us here suggesting we might find a people called the Ocampa. Do you know where they are?
Jabin: Ocampa. She is Ocampa.
Jabin: Why would you be interested in such worthless creatures? They live only nine years. They make poor servants. We caught her when she wandered to the surface.
Janeway: To the surface? You mean they live underground?
Jabin: The entity in space that gives them food and power also gives them sole access to the only water on this world, two miles below the surface.
Janeway: This same entity has abducted two of our people. We believe they might be with the Ocampa.
Jabin: There's no way to get to them. We tried. The entity has established some kind of subterranean barrier we can not penetrate.
Chakotay: But she got out.
Jabin: Occasionally, some of them do find their way to the surface. We don't know how, but the Ocampa seal the tunnels afterwards.
Neelix: Maybe she can help these good people find a way down.
Jabin: You'd be wasting your time. I've used every method of persuasion I know to get her to help us. She won't.
Neelix: Then she's worthless to you. Let us trade you water for this scrawny little thing.
Jabin: I'd be more interested in acquiring this technology that allows you to create water from thin air.
Janeway: That would be difficult. It's integrated into our ship's systems.
Neelix: Tell them to drop their weapons. Drop them, my friends, or he dies in an instant.
Jabin: Do it. Do it!
Neelix: Step aside.
Neelix: Come on!
Neelix: I strongly suggest you get us out of here.
Janeway: Six to beam up.
Neelix: My dearest. Didn't I promise I'd save you?
Kim: Look, I'm sure Captain Janeway is doing everything she can to find us.
Torres: What makes you think any of them are still alive?
Kim: Should I call for some help?
Torres: No.
Nurse: Are you in pain?
Torres: Are you watching us? I thought we weren't supposed to be your prisoners.
Nurse: I wasn't watching you. I was coming to give you something. I don't know if it'll help. It's a medicine. There are people who have broken from tradition and left the city. Their colony grows fruits and vegetables. They discovered quite by accident that the moss that grows on certain fruit trees has healing properties. I'm sorry for what has happened to you.
Kim: Appreciate this, but the only way we're going to survive is if we can get to the surface and find our own people.
Nurse: The elders would say that's against the Caretaker's wishes.
Torres: What do you say?
Nurse: The Caretaker's been behaving strangely for the past several months. Abducting people, increasing the power supply.
Kim: Power supply.
Nurse: He's tripled the energy he sends us. They say we have enough stored now to run the city for five years.
Kim: Nobody knows why?
Nurse: When we ask, we're told to trust the Caretaker's decisions. One person I knew did get to the surface. We never saw her again.
Kim: How?
Nurse: The ancient tunnels that brought us here still exist. Over the years, small breaches in security barriers have appeared just large enough for someone to get through. But it still requires digging through meters of rock to get out.
Torres: Can you get us tools to dig with?
Nurse: It would take days, maybe even weeks to break through. You have to rest. Conserve your strength.
Kim: Please. It's our only chance.
Tuvok: If you had told us what you had planned, we might have anticipated your irrational behavior.
Neelix: Irrational? We got out of there, didn't we?
Kes: Excuse me. Don't blame Neelix.
Emh: That's enough. This is a sickbay, not a conference room. Visiting hours are over. Everyone except my patient is to leave immediately.
Janeway: Computer, end Medical Holographic Program.
Kes: I never should have gone to the surface. I'm too curious. I'm told it's my worst failing.
Neelix: No, no, it's a wonderful quality. Your most endearing.
Janeway: Would you be willing to take us underground to look for our missing crew?
Kes: I'm afraid Jabin was right. There's no way to get down. The tunnel I came out has been sealed.
Janeway: We don't need a tunnel. We have the ability to transport there directly.
Tuvok: Captain, our sensors did not pick up any indication of an underground civilization. The subterranean barrier Jabin described may be responsible. It might also block our transporter.
Kes: There are breaches in the security barrier where it's begun to decay. That's how I got out.
Janeway: Have the transporter room begin a sweep for any breaches we might be able to beam through.
Neelix: Kes can tell you where to go. But now that she's free, we're leaving this system together.
Kes: Neelix, these people rescued me.
Neelix: I rescued you.
Kes: With their help. It would be wrong not to help them now.
Tuvok: Captain, the pulses from the array continue to accelerate. The intervals between them have decreased another point eight seconds.
Daggin: Kes.
Kes: Hello, Daggin.
Daggin: We thought we'd never see you again. How did you get back?
Kes: These people rescued me from the Kazon. I'm trying to help them find two of their crewmen. Does anyone know where the aliens are kept? The ones the Caretaker sends here?
Daggin: I think they're at the central clinic.
Janeway: Can you take us there?
Toscat: No, she cannot.
Kes: They can't speak telepathically, Toscat. Please talk aloud.
Toscat: I didn't meant to be rude but you should not be here.
Janeway: We'll be glad to leave once we find our crewmen.
Toscat: That won't be possible. We cannot interfere with the Caretaker's wishes.
Chakotay: Maybe you can't, but we can.
Toscat: You don't understand.
Kes: That's right. They don't understand. They have no way of knowing that the Ocampa have been dependent on the Caretaker for so long, we can't even think for ourselves any more. They don't understand we were once a people who had full command of our mind's abilities.
Toscat: The stories of our ancestor's cognitive abilities are apocryphal. At the very least exaggerated.
Kes: We lost those abilities because we stopped using them.
Toscat: We should not dwell on what's been lost but on all that's been gained.
Kes: We've gained a talent for dependence, for simply taking what we're given. I'm going to help them, Toscat, whether you like it or not, and I think my friends will join me.
Toscat: You defied the Caretaker by going to the surface, Kes. Learn from the experience. Follow the path he has set for us.
Kes: I've learned very well, Toscat. I saw the sunlight. I can't believe that our Caretaker would forbid us to open our eyes and see the sky. Come with me. We'll find your people.
Torres: Come on. Don't let it beat you, Starfleet. Come on.
Kim: I'm sorry.
Torres: All right. It's all right. We'll rest a minute.
Kim: Maybe I'd do better if I had a little Klingon blood in me.
Torres: Trust me, it's more trouble than it's worth.
Kim: You know, I spent my whole life getting ready for Starfleet. And on my very first mission, I'm going to die.
Torres: We're not finished yet. I know a few things that old Sneezy didn't teach in his survival course.
Kim: Sneezy?
Torres: Commander Zakarian, remember? He must have been allergic to everything.
Kim: You went to the Academy.
Torres: Actually made it into the second year before we, er, we mutually agreed that it wasn't the place for me.
Kim: You know, I never really liked Zakarian.
Torres: Shush. Listen. They're getting faster.
Janeway: Away team to Voyager.
Rollins: Voyager here.
Janeway: What's going on with the array?
Rollins: It's no longer sending out pulses, Captain, and it appears to be realigning its position.
Janeway: Keep me informed. Janeway out.
Kes: They haven't been at the clinic for hours.
Daggin: We can search the city. Ask if anyone's seen them.
Janeway: If they were trying to get to the surface, how would they go?
Kes: Probably the same way I did. Up one of the ancient tunnels.
Janeway: Mister Paris, you and Neelix go with her and start checking them out. We need to talk to every doctor and nurse at this hospital, see what they can tell about Torres and Kim.
Rollins: Voyager to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Rollins: Captain, the array is firing some kind of weapon at the surface. It seems to be trying to seal the energy conduits.
Janeway: Understood. Keep a channel open.
Chakotay: If the array is the Ocampa's sole source of energy, why would the Caretaker seal the conduits?
Tuvok: He would seal them if he no longer intended to use them, to protect the Ocampa from their enemies. Captain, there is now enough evidence to form a reasonable hypothesis. I believe that the Caretaker is dying.
Janeway: Explain.
Tuvok: First, he increases the energy supply to provide the city with a surplus to last at least five years. Then he seals the conduits. The logical conclusion is that he does not intend to continue his role as Caretaker.
Chakotay: That doesn't necessarily mean he's dying. He could be leaving.
Tuvok: Doubtful. Not after a millennium of providing for these people. I believe that the Caretaker owes something to the Ocampa. I believe the debt that can never repaid is very likely a debt to them. In addition, there were his frequent references to running out of time. I think he knew his death was imminent.
Janeway: If he dies, how the hell are we supposed to get home?
Paris: They're in this one. Harry! Paris to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Paris: They're in one of the tunnels, Captain. I can't see them, but they're up there. We're going after them.
Janeway: Call for transport when you have them, Paris. We'll meet you on the ship. Janeway to Voyager.
Rollins: Voyager here.
Janeway: Three to beam up.
Rollins: Stand by.
Rollins: Captain, I can't get a lock on you.
Rollins: The weapons fire from the array has irradiated the planet's crust.
Rollins: The transport sensors can't find the breaches in the security barrier.
Janeway: Come on. There's only one other way out of here.
Janeway: Janeway to Paris.
Paris: Go ahead.
Janeway: The transporters aren't working. You're going to have to find a breach in the security barrier when you get to the top.
Paris: Understood.
Janeway: We're a few minutes behind you. Janeway out.
Paris: I see them.
Kim: Took you long enough.
Paris: How could I let down the only friend I've got?
Kim: Friend? What makes you think I'm your friend?
Paris: Paris to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Paris: We found them, Captain.
Janeway: Don't wait for us. Get them to safety.
Kes: Don't worry. I know we can get through the barrier.
Kes: Whatever you do, don't touch it. We've been told it'll burn your skin off.
Janeway: They're not far ahead of us. Keep going.
Paris: I think we've reached the top. Neelix, get out your phaser.
Paris: Voyager, can you get a lock on us now?
Rollins: Affirmative. But I'm reading only five signals.
Paris: The others are. Get down!
Paris: Paris to Janeway. Chakotay, Tuvok, do you read? Voyager, prepare to transport everyone in this group except me.
Rollins: Aye, sir.
Neelix: You're not thinking of going back there? Well, if a fool needs company. Take care of them, dearest. I'll see you later.
Paris: Voyager, make that three to beam up. Lock in on the other comm. badge and energize.
Chakotay: My leg is broken. I can't move.
Janeway: Hold on.
Neelix: There they are.
Janeway: Neelix, help me with Tuvok.
Paris: I'll get Chakotay.
Chakotay: Get out of here, Paris, before the whole thing comes down!
Paris: I intend to, as soon as I get you up.
Chakotay: You get on those stairs, they'll collapse! We'll both die!
Paris: Yeah? But on the other hand, if I save your butt your life belongs to me. Isn't that some kind of Indian custom?
Chakotay: Wrong tribe.
Paris: I don't believe you.
Paris: You'd rather die than let me be the one to rescue you?
Chakotay: Fine. Be a fool. If I have to die, at least I'll have the pleasure of watching you go with me.
Paris: Isn't there some Indian trick where you can turn yourself into a bird and fly us out of here?
Chakotay: You're too heavy.
Rollins: Bridge to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Rollins: Captain, two Kazon ships are approaching the Array.
Janeway: Set a course. I'm on my way.
Chakotay: We've got to get back to our ship.
Emh: I strongly advise you to rest. I will not be held responsible for the consequences. Is the crew always this difficult?
Kim: I don't know, Doc. It's my first mission.
Emh: Doesn't anyone know how to turn off the program when they leave?
Janeway: Bring the weapons systems online.
Tuvok: Powering up phase banks and photon systems.
Janeway: Red alert.
Tuvok: The lead Kazon ship is hailing us, Captain.
Janeway: On screen.
Jabin: Have you come to investigate the entity's strange behavior too, Captain?
Janeway: All we care about is getting home, Jabin. We're about to transport over to the Array to see if we can arrange it.
Jabin: I'm afraid I can not permit that.
Janeway: We have no dispute with you.
Jabin: I have a dispute with anyone who would challenge us.
Janeway: This is ridiculous. We have no intention of challenging you.
Jabin: And I have no intention of letting anyone with your technological knowledge board the Array.
Janeway: Jabin, can we discuss this like two civilized
Tuvok: They're powering up their weapons.
Janeway: I guess we can't.
Tuvok: Shields are holding.
Janeway: Fire phasers. Evasive pattern, delta four.
Janeway: Janeway to Chakotay. Tuvok and I are beaming to the Array. Can you hold off the Kazon?
Chakotay: I think so, Captain.
Janeway: Good. Mister Paris, take the conn.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Janeway: Maintain transporter locks, Ensign. Emergency beam out status.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Tuvok: The data processing system is behind this wall, Captain.
Janeway: You know what to do.
Caretaker: Well, you're nothing if not persistent.
Janeway: We need you to send us back where we came from.
Caretaker: That isn't possible. I've barely enough strength to complete my work.
Janeway: You're sealing the conduits before you die.
Caretaker: If I don't, the Kazon will steal the water. But in a few years, when the Ocampa's energy runs out, it won't matter. They'll be forced to come to the surface and they won't be able to survive.
Janeway: Something you did turned their planet into a desert, didn't it? That was the debt that could never be repaid.
Caretaker: We're explorers from another galaxy. We had no idea that our technology would be so destructive to their atmosphere. Two of us were chosen to stay behind and care for them.
Janeway: There's another like you here?
Caretaker: Not anymore. No, no. She went off to look for more interesting places.
Janeway: Why were you bringing ships here, infecting people with a fatal illness?
Caretaker: Oh, they didn't die of an illness. They died because they were incompatible.
Janeway: Incompatible?
Caretaker: I've been searching the galaxy for a compatible biomolecular pattern. Now, in some individuals I found cellular structures that were similar, but I
Janeway: You've been trying to procreate?
Caretaker: I needed someone to replace me. Someone who'd understand the enormous responsibility of caring for the Ocampa. Only my offspring could do that.
Janeway: Did you ever consider allowing the Ocampa to care for themselves?
Caretaker: They're children.
Janeway: Children have to grow up. We're explorers too. Most of the species we've encountered have overcome all kinds of adversity without a Caretaker. It's the challenge of surviving on their own that helps them to evolve. Maybe your children will do better than you think.
Kim: Voyager to Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Kim: We've got problems here.
Kim: The Kazon just got some back up.
Janeway: We need more time.
Janeway: Can you hold them off for another few minutes?
Kim: We'll do our best. Kim out.
Chakotay: Their weapons array has been hit. They're in trouble.
Torres: Neither of us has enough fire power to stop that ship.
Chakotay: I'm setting a collision course, but the guidance system is disabled. I'll have to pilot the ship manually. Get the crew ready to beam to Voyager. And drop shields for transport. Paris, my crew's coming over. Tell one of your crackerjack Starfleet transporter chiefs to keep a lock on me. I'm going to try and take some heat off your tail.
Paris: Acknowledged.
Paris: But don't for one second think this makes us even, Chakotay. Your life is still mine.
Paris: Paris out.
Rollins: I'm holding the lock on him, sir, but he's getting too close.
Paris: I'm getting you out of there, Chakotay.
Chakotay: Not yet!
Paris: You're breaking up. Stand by to transport.
Chakotay: Wait.
Chakotay: Now!
Paris: Transporter Room two, do you have him?
Chakotay: They've got me.
Tuvok: Captain, I can access the system to send us back to Federation space, but it will take several hours to activate.
Janeway: Unless you help us.
Caretaker: Oh, I wish I could but I have very little time left, so I have initiated a self-destruct program.
Janeway: If you destroy the Array, we'll have no way to get home.
Caretaker: The Ocampa's enemies can not be allowed to control this installlation. In minutes, it'll be destroyed. You have to go. Go now.
Tuvok: The Caretaker?
Janeway: Voyager, report.
Paris: Kazon vessel
Paris: Just collided with the array, Captain. Are you all right?
Janeway: Affirmative.
Janeway: Stand by.
Caretaker: The self-destruct program has been damaged. Now this installlation will not be destroyed. But it must be. The Kazon must not be allowed to gain control of it. They will annihilate the Ocampa.
Tuvok: Shall I activate the program to get us back?
Janeway: And what happens to the Ocampa after we're gone?
Tuvok: Captain, any action we take to protect the Ocampa would affect the balance of power in this system. The Prime Directive would seem to apply.
Janeway: Would it? We never asked to be involved, Tuvok, but we are. We are.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, ready the tricobalt devices.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Open a channel to the Kazon.
Kim: Channel open.
Jabin: Be advised, Captain. I have called for additional ships.
Janeway: I'm calling to warn you to move your vessels to a safe distance. I intend to destroy the Array.
Jabin: You can't do that!
Janeway: I can and I will. End transmission.
Kim: They're increasing fire, Captain. Shields are holding.
Janeway: Move us four hundred kilometers from the Array, Mister Paris.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Torres: What do you think you're doing? That Array is the only way we have to get back home.
Janeway: I'm aware everyone has families and loved ones at homes they want to get back to. So do I. But I'm not willing to trade the lives of the Ocampa for our convenience. We'll have to find another way home.
Torres: What other way home is there? Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?
Chakotay: She's the Captain.
Tuvok: The tricobalt devices are ready.
Paris: We're in position.
Janeway: Fire.
Kim: The lead Kazon ship is hailing us.
Janeway: On screen.
Jabin: You have made an enemy today.
Tuvok: They are withdrawing, Captain.
Janeway: Come in.
Paris: You asked to see me, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Paris, you have a problem. I've invited Chakotay and the other Maquis to become part of this crew. It seemed the only reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.
Paris: Will you provide a bodyguard for me, Captain?
Janeway: It seems you already have one.
Paris: I do?
Janeway: Mister Chakotay said something about his life belonging to you? He'll be taking responsibility for your safety.
Paris: I think I'm going to enjoy this.
Janeway: Don't be so sure. He'll also be my First Officer. Everyone aboard this ship will report to him, including the lieutenant assigned to conn.
Paris: Me?
Janeway: I've entered into the ship's log on this date that I'm granting a field commission of lieutenant to Thomas Eugene Paris. Congratulations.
Paris: Er, for the first time in my life I don't know what to say.
Janeway: You've earned this, Tom. I'm only sorry your father won't know.
Paris: Oh, he'll know. When we get back.
Neelix: Ah, Captain! We were just coming to see you.
Janeway: We supplied your ship with water, Neelix. It's ready to go.
Neelix: Well, you see, that's what we wanted to discuss. We'd like to go with you.
Janeway: I'm sorry. This isn't a passenger ship.
Kes: Of course not. We won't be passengers.
Neelix: We'd be valuable colleagues.
Janeway: Colleagues?
Neelix: Whatever you need is what I have to offer. You need a guide? I'm your guide. You need supplies? I know where to procure them. I have friends among races you don't even know exist. You need a cook? Oh, you haven't lived until you've tasted my angla'bosque. It will be my job to anticipate your needs before you know you have them. And I anticipate your first need will be me.
Kes: Captain, we both want very much to be a part of your journey.
Janeway: We're alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home.
Paris: Aye, Captain.


Carey: She's not just out of control, she's out of her mind.
Tuvok: If you will explain what happened, Lieutenant.
Carey: She hit me is what happened!
Emh: Your nose is broken in three places. I'll need to reset the ethmoid fossa. Try not to move.
Carey: We were having a disagreement about the power grid. She wanted to realign the lateral plasma conduit. I told her that would cause an overload. As usual, she wouldn't listen. So I told her to step aside and let me handle it. She pushed me away from the console. I pushed back. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the deck with blood pouring down my face.
Chakotay: Then what happened?
Carey: She said, 'Sorry. Maybe you should go to Sickbay.'
Emh: At least she gave you some good advice. Now
Carey: Ow!
Emh: Hold still.
Chakotay: Don't worry, Lieutenant. I'll take care of this.
Carey: You keep that woman out of my engine room and everything will be fine! Ow!
Tuvok: Where is Miss Torres?
Chakotay: I've confined her to quarters.
Tuvok: I would like her moved to the brig until formal charges can be filed.
Chakotay: Formal charges? Come on, Tuvok. We're seventy five years away from the nearest court. Are you really going to hold her in the brig for that long?
Tuvok: The Captain has the authority to try Miss Torres here on the ship, considering the extenuating circumstances.
Chakotay: Well, I'd like to settle this on my own without filing charges and without involving the Captain.
Tuvok: She struck a fellow officer. That is a court martial offense.
Chakotay: She's a Maquis, and in the Maquis, sometimes you have to push people out of your way to get things done.
Tuvok: Miss Torres is no longer a member of the Maquis, and with all due respect, Commander, neither are you. Allowing Miss Torres to get away with a clear violation of regulations sets a bad example for the rest of the crew. It makes it appear as though you were showing favoritism toward the Maquis.
Chakotay: Look, Lieutenant, I don't have to explain myself to you. I'll deal with B'Elanna personally, and then I'll inform the Captain. You're to drop this matter. That's an order.
Tuvok: I will yield my authority in this case to you. However, I will make a full report in my security log.
Chakotay: You do that. (The doors close and Tuvok walks away. Chakotay gets out on another floor and is joined by two of his Maquis crew.)
Jarvin: Sir, we heard what happened. What are they going to do with B'Elanna?
Chakotay: I don't know yet but I'll handle it.
Seska: We heard that Captain Janeway's going to put her in the brig for two months, and that all the Maquis are going to be restricted to quarters when they're not on duty.
Chakotay: Not true.
Seska: We just want you to know that if things do get our of hand, we're ready to back you.
Chakotay: What does that mean?
Jarvin: In case you want to take control of the ship, you have our full support.
Chakotay: If I ever hear you talk that way again, I'll personally throw you in the brig for mutiny.
Torres: Argh!
Chakotay: Here.
Torres: What's this?
Chakotay: The medical report on Lieutenant Carey.
Torres: Lieutenant Carey is an idiot! When I tell you what happened
Chakotay: I don't want to hear it! You might be interested to know that the impact fractures along his cranium were pretty severe. If you'd hit him just a little harder, you could have driven some of those bones into his cerebellum.
Torres: I didn't even come close to hitting him that hard.
Chakotay: So on the one side, I'm facing a Vulcan who wants court-martial you. And on the other, I'm facing all the Maquis who are ready to seize this ship over this. You've turned this into one lousy day for me, Torres.
Torres: So how long do I have to stay in here?
Chakotay: Rest of the trip. Seventy five years.
Torres: I've never found your twisted sense of humor very funny, Chakotay.
Chakotay: Or I could send you back to work with the understanding that you'll apologize to
Torres: Apologize? He was the one who
Chakotay: Not just a simple apology. A personal one, over a hot cup of pejuta. Bond with the man.
Torres: I am not going to bond with him.
Chakotay: You're going to need support from people like Carey.
Torres: I don't need support from anybody.
Chakotay: You are if you're going to be Chief Engineer of this ship.
Torres: Huh. Right.
Chakotay: This is not another example of my twisted sense of humor.
Torres: But Carey is next in line.
Chakotay: You're a better engineer than he is.
Torres: What does the Captain have to say about this?
Chakotay: She hasn't said a word, because I haven't told her yet.
Janeway: Captain's log, Stardate 48439.7. As we maintain a course back to the Alpha Quadrant, we're conducting what would normally be routine maintenance to the ship. Routine, that is, if we had access to a starbase.
Paris: Engine efficiency's down another fourteen percent. If we don't get more power to the warp drive, we're all going to have to get out and push.
Janeway: What about alternative energy sources? Ensign Kim, have you had any luck getting power from the holodeck reactors?
Kim: Not yet. We tried hooking them to the power grid and we ended up blowing out half the relays. The holodeck's energy matrix, it just isn't compatible with the other power systems.
Chakotay: Captain, if we relocate all security personnel to deck seven, we can shut down power on deck nine and reroute it to propulsion.
Tuvok: That would be inconvenient, but acceptable.
Janeway: Fine. Now let's move on to the personnel situation. We still have
Neelix: Sorry we're late, but I wasn't informed there was a meeting this morning. Oh, there don't seem to be enough chairs.
Janeway: Neelix, this is a briefing for the senior officers.
Neelix: I see. Well, I, I am the senior Talaxian on board. Kes is the senior Ocampa. And I do know more about this region of space than any other member of the crew.
Kes: We have some excellent suggestions, Captain.
Janeway: Very well. You're welcome to join us, this time.
Paris: Here you are.
Janeway: To be honest, we could use some excellent suggestions right now.
Kes: I've been thinking that you might be able to convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators are down and that the emergency rations won't hold out much longer.
Kim: What about Cargo Bay two? It was designed for organic storage and it already has adjustable environmental controls.
Janeway: When can you start?
Kes: Me?
Janeway: It's your idea. It's your project.
Kes: Right away.
Neelix: I can do some wonderful things with vegetables, Captain. My feragoit goulash is known across twelve star systems.
Janeway: Okay. The personnel situation. We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel.
Chakotay: I've made a list of several Maquis crew members who would make good officers.
Janeway: B'Elanna Torres? She was the one involved in that incident with Mister Carey.
Chakotay: That's right.
Janeway: Just what job do you think she's suited for?
Chakotay: Chief Engineer.
Janeway: You're serious.
Chakotay: Very.
Janeway: Regarding Sickbay, we still need a Chief Medical Officer.
Neelix: What about that electronic man down in Sickbay?
Tuvok: It is an Emergency Medical Hologram and its abilities are limited. It can only operate within the confines of Sickbay.
Paris: Not to mention its lousy bedside manner.
Chakotay: Perhaps we should assign somebody to train with the hologram as a field medic.
Janeway: Good idea. Lieutenant, I understand you studied biochemistry at the Academy.
Paris: Er, only two semesters.
Janeway: Close enough. You just volunteered to become a field medic. Report to Sickbay as soon as we're finished here.
Paris: But Captain
Janeway: Stations, everyone!
Janeway: Report!
Seska: We're running into some kind of spatial distortion.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok!
Tuvok: The distortions are emanating from a highly localized disturbance in the space-time continuum. Distance, twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow.
Janeway: All stop. On screen. Gravimetric flux density is over two thousand percent. If I'm not mistaken, we're looking at a type four quantum singularity.
Tuvok: Captain, I am receiving an audio transmission from within the singularity.
Janeway: On speakers.
Kim: I think I've found the source of the transmission.
Janeway: Does it look like any ship you're familiar with?
Neelix: No, nothing I recognize. But then it's, it's so hard to make out.
Janeway: They may be trapped in the event horizon. Open a channel. This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?
Kes: Event horizon?
Neelix: A singularity is a star that's collapsed in on itself. The event horizon is a very powerful energy field surrounding it. Why, er, once on a particularly dangerous trade mission to the twin stars of Keloda, I myself was almost trapped inside
Tuvok: No response to our hail, Captain.
Janeway: Can we tractor the vessel out?
Kim: No. The subspace interference is too heavy.
Neelix: Captain, we're less than three light years from Ilidaria. They have sophisticated technology. They might be able to help and they're quite friendly, most of the time.
Janeway: No. It looks like it's being pulled in toward the singularity. We have to get it out of the event horizon.
Chakotay: Bridge to Torres. We need a way to get that ship out of there. Any ideas?
Torres: I was thinking we could remodulate a tractor beam to match
Torres: The subspace interference. It might be enough to cut through the event horizon.
Chakotay: A subspace tractor beam?
Torres: Exactly.
Chakotay: When can you have it ready?
Torres: Two hours, maybe three.
Chakotay: Get right on it. Use as many people as you need.
Janeway: Mister Carey, what do you think?
Carey: With the right field modulation it might work, but we'll need more power to the emitter array.
Janeway: Very well. You're in charge, Mister Carey. Report to me when the tractor beam is ready.
Carey: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Mister Paris? Hold our position here. I'd like to see you in private.
Janeway: We have a problem and I think it's time we discussed it.
Chakotay: Captain, I appreciate your concerns about Torres, but I promise you
Janeway: You don't understand, Commander. This isn't about Torres. My problem is with you.
Chakotay: Me?
Janeway: Let me be blunt. What you tried to do just now was out of line.
Chakotay: In what way?
Janeway: When you decided to call Torres in Engineering.
Chakotay: I've worked with her. I know what she's capable of. We needed an answer right away and I knew she could give us one.
Janeway: Carey is the senior officer in Engineering.
Chakotay: If you look at it that way, none of my people will ever have seniority.
Janeway: That's the problem, right there. They're not your people. You're treating the Maquis on this ship like they're still your crew.
Chakotay: I'm doing everything I can to integrate them into your crew, but frankly, you're not making it easy for me, Captain.
Janeway: I can't make it easy, Commander. Surely you can understand that. They don't have the diskipline. They don't have the training.
Chakotay: But some of them, like B'Elanna Torres have the ability.
Janeway: The Starfleet officers on this ship have worked all their lives to earn their commissions. How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?
Chakotay: You're asking them to accept me.
Janeway: You're qualified. You're a graduate of the Academy, and you have Starfleet command experience.
Chakotay: Permission to speak freely.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Chakotay: I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer.
Janeway: Show me another qualified Maquis candidate and I'll consider him.
Chakotay: B'Elanna Torres.
Janeway: Who cannot control herself and who could not make it through the Academy.
Chakotay: She's the best engineer I've ever known. She could teach at the Academy. You're right, Captain. I do consider these my people because nobody else on this ship will look out for them like I will. And I'm telling you, you're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty.
Janeway: Theirs or yours, Commander?
Chakotay: I'm trying to help you. I'm sorry you don't see that. I strongly recommend you get to know Torres before you choose a new Chief Engineer. Permission to leave.
Janeway: Dismissed.
Kes: Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Holographic system.
Emh: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
Kes: Actually, there is no emergency. I'm creating a hydroponics bay. I was told you could provide me with some nitrogenated soil samples.
Emh: That's it?
Kes: I'm sorry if
Emh: So it begins. The trivia of medicine is my domain now. Every runny nose, stubbed toe, pimple on a cheek becomes my responsibility.
Kes: You are the only doctor we have.
Emh: I am not just a doctor. I've been designed with the information from two thousand medical reference sources and the experience of forty seven individual medical officers. I am the embodiment of modern medicine. How much dirt do you need?
Kes: Four samples will be enough.
Emh: Now I know how Hippocrates felt when the king needed him to trim a hangnail.
Kes: You're very sensitive, aren't you?
Emh: As a medical practitioner, I require a certain sensitivity to properly address a patient.
Kes: I'm talking about you as a person.
Emh: I am merely a hologram.
Kes: Doctor, has your program altered your appearance since I came to Sickbay?
Emh: No. Why?
Kes: When I first came in, your head was at the same height as this cabinet. But now you look at least ten centimeters shorter.
Emh: I've just run a diagnostic on my imaging processor. It shows that I've been reduced in height by ten point four centimeters. Sickbay to Operations.
Kim: This is Kim.
Emh: The holographic projector in here is malfunctioning. Would you send a repair crew down right away?
Kim: We're little busy right now. We'll get to it
Kim: As soon as we can.
Emh: It's just that I
Kim: Kim out.
Emh: Well, seems like a very busy day in Operations.
Kes: I'm sorry I bothered you with this.
Emh: No trouble at all. Just turn off the program before you leave.
Kes: What's your name?
Emh: What purpose would a name serve a hologram?
Kes: I'd just like to know what to call you besides Doctor.
Emh: I guess they never thought I'd be around long enough to need one. What's your name?
Kes: Kes.
Emh: Kes. I'm glad I could help you today.
Kes: Computer, end program.
Carey: Carey to Bridge. The subspace tractor beam is online and ready to go, Captain.
Janeway: Acknowledged. Mister Tuvok, lock onto that ship.
Tuvok: Engaging tractor beam. It's working. Beam is penetrating the event horizon.
Kim: Engineering, check your power levels. I'm showing
Kim: Massive fluctuations.
Torres: Damn it! The new relays on the power grid aren't holding.
Paris: We're being pulled toward the singularity.
Chakotay: What's going on?
Kim: Power to the tractor beam is down eighty percent. The gravimetric force of the singularity is pulling us in!
Janeway: Impulse engines, full reverse!
Janeway: Disengage the tractor beam.
Torres: I can't shut it down. The emitter relays are locked.
Kim: I'm picking up hull stress all over the ship. If we keep engines at full reverse while the tractor beam's engaged, it'll pull the ship apart.
Janeway: Cut the engines.
Paris: We're moving forward again.
Janeway: Engineering, get that tractor beam offline.
Carey: Captain, I can shut it down but I'll have to get in there and physically cut the main power feed.
Janeway: Do it.
Tuvok: Tractor beam disengaged.
Janeway: Move us to a safe distance, Mister Paris.
Chakotay: Are we abandoning the rescue attempt?
Janeway: No, but we are going to need some help. Lay in a course for the Ilidaria system, full impulse. Have Mister Neelix report to the Bridge. It looks like we're going to follow his suggestion after all.
Janeway: Come in.
Torres: You asked to see me, Captain?
Janeway: Have a seat.
Torres: I just want you to know that I have personally gone over every emitter relay again and refitted four of them myself.
Janeway: No one blames you for what happened. Commander Chakotay thinks very highly of you. He's recommended you for Chief Engineer.
Torres: Well, er, we've, er, we've been through a few scrapes together.
Janeway: Do you think you're ready?
Torres: Ready?
Janeway: Ready to be Chief Engineer on a starship.
Torres: Well, I think I know my way around an engine room, if that's what you mean.
Janeway: It's part of what I mean. There's also the matter of your ability to command others. I'm not sure I'd be doing you a favor by putting you in charge down there. There'd be a lot of hard feelings toward you from many of the Starfleet people.
Torres: I'm not bothered by what people think of me.
Janeway: And the job requires knowledge of Starfleet protocol, experience with Starfleet methodologies.
Torres: Listen, Captain, if you don't think I'm right for this job, just say so.
Janeway: I'll be honest. I'm not sure whether you are or not. That's why I wanted to meet, try to get to know you a little better. I've been studying your Academy record.
Torres: Where did you get that?
Janeway: Thanks to Tuvok, we had the names of your entire crew by the time we left DS9. Four diskiplinary hearings, one suspension. You had quite a turbulent couple of years, didn't you.
Torres: Yeah, I guess you could say that.
Janeway: What do you think the problem was?
Torres: The problem? The problem was a system that didn't give anyone a chance to breathe.
Janeway: We work under that same system on this ship.
Torres: Then I guess maybe this is just a bad idea.
Janeway: Why did you quit the Academy, B'Elanna?
Torres: I didn't want to have anything to do with Starfleet then, and I'm sorry that I have to now.
Emh: Sickbay to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Yes, Doctor?
Emh: May I request you activate monitor input forty seven, your Emergency Medical Holograph channel?
Janeway: Of course. I'm getting a distorted transmission.
Emh: No. In fact, that is how I appear at present. I'm shrinking.
Janeway: Shrinking?
Emh: There appears to be a malfunction in my imaging system. It's been reducing my height by five centimeters every hour. I've been waiting all day for repairs. That is not, however, what I'm calling about. Over the past three hours, nine crew members have reported unusual symptoms, severe headaches, muscle spasms and sudden waves of dizziness.
Janeway: All of this could be related to the quantum singularity.
Emh: Quantum singularity?
Janeway: It was sending out strong spatial distortions. They might have affected the crew, and your systems as well.
Emh: You know, Captain, if we were in the vicinity of a quantum singularity I should have been informed.
Janeway: You're right. I'll look into linking your program into the ship's data.
Emh: Hello? Captain? Hello?
Janeway: Report.
Chakotay: It looks like we're running into more spatial distortions.
Kim: I'm picking up a highly localized disturbance off the port bow.
Janeway: On screen. Mister Tuvok?
Tuvok: It is another type four quantum singularity. Physical and temporal dimensions are identical to the one we encountered earlier.
Paris: Captain, according to these readings, we've returned to our previous co-ordinates. This isn't another singularity. It's the same one.
Janeway: Check the navigational logs. Confirm our position.
Kim: Well, they show we've traveled one point four light years away from the anomaly, but I've confirmed our position against the star chart. We're definitely back where we started. Doesn't make sense.
Paris: They can't both be right. We're either still at the singularity or we're not.
Janeway: Well, we can see the singularity so I tend to believe that the external sensors are correct.
Tuvok: That would imply there was something wrong with the warp drive and the navigational logs.
Janeway: Mister Paris, lay in a course away from the singularity. This time at maximum warp. Ensign Kim, I want you to keep a sensor lock on the singularity. Verify that we're moving away from it. Engage.
Kim: Distance from the singularity is ten million kilometers and increasing.
Paris: Warp engines holding steady. All systems report normal.
Kim: Eleven million. Twelve million. I don't get it. Mister Paris, have we altered course?
Paris: No. We're still steady on three one zero mark two one five.
Kim: Then something's really wrong here. It's ahead of us again.
Seska: Confirmed. We're back at the same co-ordinates.
Janeway: All stop. Ensign Kim, transfer all the data on spatial distortions we encountered to my ready room. I'm going to begin my own analysis. Commander, have all departments run complete system diagnostics. I'll expect a full report from all senior officers at fifteen hundred hours.
Chakotay: Who will represent Engineering?
Janeway: Lieutenant Carey.
Chakotay: You should invite B'Elanna Torres as well, unless you've removed her from consideration.
Janeway: Fine.
Carey: The Captain says she wants you to attend the staff meeting this afternoon.
Torres: Oh. Well, I'll give you a full report on what happens.
Carey: I'll be there too. Just remember, Torres, I'm the senior officer and I speak for Engineering. Try not to say anything unless someone asks you a question. Fifteen hundred hours, deck one. Don't be late.
Seska: You should have broken more than his nose.
Kim: I've taken a look at every major subsystem and there's no sign of any trouble.
Tuvok: What about the navigational array?
Kim: I'll have the results in about an hour. So, I hear there's been some trouble down in Engineering.
Tuvok: There was an altercation, but it has been resolved.
Kim: That's not what I hear. I hear that the whole department's up in arms, that the Maquis and Starfleet people are almost at each other's throats.
Tuvok: I will never cease to be amazed by the human capacity for hyperbole. The situation may be characterized as tense, but one could hardly say that they're about to become violent.
Kim: I just hope you're right. Things are bad enough around here without, ow!
Tuvok: Are you all right?
Kim: Yeah. I just have this splitting headache and
Tuvok: I'd better get you to Sickbay.
Kim: Dizzy. Can't, can't focus.
Emh: Twenty seven other crew members have now reported the symptoms. And yet, when I examined each of them, I couldn't find anything wrong. I have no diagnosis, no prognosis, no recommended treatment. I'll contact you when I have something more to contribute. And by the way, I am now sixty eight centimeters shorter. I'd appreciated it if someone would repair my holographic projectors before I have trouble reaching my patients.
Janeway: I finished my study of the spatial distortions coming from the singularity. I can give you a long, boring analysis. Suffice it to say, I don't know what's going on. The readings are confused, the data is contradictory. None of it makes any sense. Anyone have anything more constructive?
Tuvok: Ship-wide diagnostics have revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
Carey: I tried sending out a tachyon signal to scan the singularity but all I got back was static.
Chakotay: B'Elanna, do you think you can work with Mister Carey to clean up that signal?
Torres: Yes.
Janeway: Good.
Torres: But it won't work. I mean, it was a good idea to try it but it won't work.
Janeway: You have another idea?
Torres: I was just thinking about the problem with the Doctor's holographic projectors. It seems like the spatial distortions might be interfering with the projectors phase alignment.
Janeway: That was my guess too.
Torres: If that's the case, I could screen out those distortions by setting up a localized dampening field around the projectors.
Carey: Is our priority here really the Medical Holograph system?
Torres: My point is, that if the spatial distortions are also interfering with the transmission we received from the other ship
Janeway: We could set up a similar field around our external sensors and communicate with them.
Torres: Exactly. And they may know more about what's going on than we do.
Janeway: Let's give it a try. Dismissed.
Torres: Emitters online. I'm rerouting the damping field through the deflector grid.
Janeway: Open a channel to the other ship.
Torres: Ramping up field intensity.
Kim: It's working. We're cutting through the distortions.
Voice: to the vessel near
Janeway: Remodulate the EM band. See if you can clear it up a little more.
Kim: Compensating for amplitude distortion.
Janeway: This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?
Chakotay: That's your hail.
Torres: I'm applying the damping field to our visual scanners. I'll see if I can clarify the image.
Paris: It's the Voyager. It's us.
Paris: Sensors confirm it's definitely USS Voyager.
Tuvok: I've been hailing the ship on all frequencies. No response.
Janeway: I don't think you'll get a response, Lieutenant. That message we unscrambled is the same message I sent out nine hours ago.
Kim: Could we have traveled back in time and met ourselves?
Torres: No, that's not it. I think I have an explanation.
Torres: Think of it like this. You're sitting at the bottom of a pond, which is frozen over, and you look up at the surface and you see a reflection of yourself. Now, you might think you're looking at another person sitting at the bottom of another pond, looking back at you.
Janeway: And in this case, we'd be staring up at the surface of the event horizon and seeing a time-delayed reflection of ourselves.
Chakotay: Are you saying we're the ones trapped in the singularity?
Torres: Unfortunately, yes.
Janeway: You're right. It's the only theory that explains everything that's happened to us. We've probably been in this singularity since we felt the first jolt.
Paris: Wait a minute. Wait. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. We were cruising along at warp seven, then we pick up a distress call and moved in to investigate. But now you're saying that the other ship is actually just a reflection of us and that the distress call is actually just the Captain's opening hail. But we picked up the distress call before she sent the hail. How could we have been seeing a reflection of something we hadn't even done yet? Am I making any sense here?
Janeway: No, but that's okay. One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in temporal mechanics is that sometimes effect can precede cause. A reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it.
Kim: So what do we do to get out?
Torres: I'm not sure. But I do know one thing. That as we slide deeper into the singularity, the spatial distortions are increasing. According to my calculations, within nine hours, they'll crush the ship.
Janeway: If your analogy's correct, how do we get through that sheet of ice?
Torres: Look for a crack.
Janeway: Or make a crack. Take something and smack it into the ice until it buckles.
Torres: Wait a minute. What if we've already made a crack in the ice?
Janeway: When we first entered the event horizon.
Torres: If we could find our entry point, we might be able to slip out the way we came in.
Janeway: So we'd be looking for a subspace instability in the event horizon. What would make it show up on our sensors? TORRES +
Janeway: Warp particles.
Janeway: If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles, we might be able to see the escaping through the rupture we made when we entered.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, take the main deflector off-line. Mister Kim, reroute the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector. We can use it to generate a warp field.
Tuvok: Deflectors off-line.
Kim: Initializing plasma flow.
Janeway: Release the warp particles.
Paris: Scanning the singularity.
Torres: Anything?
Kim: Not yet. Warp particles at full intensity.
Paris: I'm picking up something. A slight irregularity. It could be a rupture in the event horizon.
Janeway: Put it on screen.
Paris: It is a rupture, Captain. It's fifteen meters by ten meters.
Torres: Oh, it's too small. It must have collapsed since we first passed through it.
Janeway: We found the crack. That's the important thing. Now, how do we make it bigger.
Torres: Put a wedge in it and force it open. We could try a dekyon beam.
Janeway: All right, a dekyon beam. Mister Paris, bring us closer.
Paris: Captain, if we get too close to the rupture our warp engines might make it collapse even further.
Janeway: Can we emit a beam from here?
Kim: The rupture's over fifty million kilometers away. We don't have enough power to project a dekyon beam that far.
Janeway: We'll have to take a shuttlecraft.
Paris: You'll need the best pilot you've got in that shuttle, Captain. That'll be me.
Janeway: Getting there is the easy part, Mister Paris. We need someone who's familiar with the finer points of temporal mechanics, and unless you've been hiding your credentials, I don't think that's you. B'Elanna, you're with me. The Bridge is yours, Commander.
Janeway: We've cleared Voyager.
Torres: Shields at full strength.
Janeway: We'll reach the rupture in approximately four and a half minutes. Let's get that dekyon beam online.
Torres: Remodulating emitters. Captain, I want to apologize for losing my temper in your Ready room. I think maybe you were hitting a little bit too close to home, you know? I respect Chakotay but he's wrong. I'm not officer material and we both know it. The truth is, I quit the Academy because I realized I couldn't make it in Starfleet, and believe me, no one was sorry to see me go.
Janeway: Professor Chapman was.
Torres: What?
Janeway: He put a letter in your permanent file saying that should you ever re-apply, he would support you. He thought you were one of the most promising cadets he'd ever taught.
Torres: I fought with him almost every day. I was always questioning his, his methods, his assumptions, and he was always slapping me down like some upstart kid. I was surprised he didn't help me pack my bags.
Janeway: Some professors like students who challenge their assumptions, B'Elanna. And so do some captains. Professor Chapman wasn't alone. Many of your teachers thought you had the potential to be an outstanding officer. You had more friends at the Academy than you realized. We're fifteen kilometers from the rupture. Start charging the dekyon beam.
Torres: Dekyon beam online. Shields down to sixty two percent.
Janeway: Increase speed. We have to get to that rupture before these spatial distortions tear us apart. All right. Let's open this hole in the ice a little wider. Initiate the dekyon beam.
Kim: They've widened the rupture by almost thirty five percent.
Paris: They'll have to widen it twice that much before Voyager can make it through.
Chakotay: Hold our position! Mister Tuvok, report.
Tuvok: The spatial distortions are increasing.
Kim: Hull integrity has dropped
Kim: Eighteen percent.
Janeway: We've widened the opening by over sixty five percent. I'd like another five for safety.
Torres: We're losing power. I don't think we're going to get any more, Captain.
Janeway: Let's get back to Voyager.
Tuvok: The shuttle is returning, Commander. It appears as though they've been damaged. Their comm. system's down. I am unable to raise them.
Kim: The rupture's now one hundred twenty meters in diameter. That leaves us with less than two meters clearance on either side.
Chakotay: Mister Paris, as soon as we've recovered the shuttlecraft, lay in a course toward the rupture and take us out.
Paris: Aye, sir.
Torres: Well, this is a problem.
Janeway: One of them is a temporal reflection, but which one? I'm getting identical readings from both ships.
Torres: Captain, the rupture is starting to collapse again. If Voyager doesn't get through it within the next five minutes, they'll never get out.
Janeway: That means we have one chance to pick the correct ship.
Torres: Simple choice. Port or starboard?
Janeway: Starboard.
Torres: Port. The port ship is more likely to be the real one. It's closer to the rupture. That means,
Torres: That means they're holding position as close as they can to the rupture, waiting for us to dock before they head out.
Janeway: No. It may be closer to the rupture, but it's facing the wrong direction. The starboard ship is facing away from us. That means they're trying to give us easy access to the shuttlebay.
Torres: There has to be some way to tell them apart besides which direction they're facing.
Janeway: The starboard ship's thrusters are at standby. They're holding position. But the port ship is moving toward the rupture.
Torres: Then I was right. It's the port ship. They're heading out.
Janeway: Don't you see? Voyager did move toward the rupture twenty minutes ago when we first discovered it. That's why the port ship is moving toward it now. It's a time-delayed reflection of what we did before. The starboard ship's the real one. They're waiting for us.
Torres: If you're wrong, we're going to have a long time to debate it.
Torres: We're ready to dock.
Janeway: All right. Cut the thrusters. Let's see what happens. Feels like a real ship to me. Let's get back to the Bridge.
Janeway: Commander Chakotay, report.
Chakotay: We're almost to the rupture. Mister Paris is about to impress us with his piloting skills.
Kim: The rupture's collapsing. It's down to one hundred ten meters wide.
Torres: That's too narrow. We're not going to make it.
Janeway: In command school, they taught us to always remember that maneuvering a starship is a very delicate process. But over the years I've learned that sometimes you just have to punch your way through. Mister Paris, full impulse power.
Tuvok: Shields are down.
Paris: I'm losing power to the port impulse engine.
Kim: Switching to auxiliary power.
Tuvok: Hull integrity failing.
Janeway: Keep it together, Mister Paris.
Tuvok: We've cleared the event horizon, Captain. We've returned to normal space.
Paris: Sometimes you just have to punch your way through. I'll have to remember that one.
Janeway: Set a course. I want to be at least one hundred million kilometers away from the singularity before we begin repairs.
Chakotay: There they are. Your staff.
Torres: I'll try not to break any of their noses.
Chakotay: First order of the day. The Captain wants the warp drive back online by thirteen hours.
Torres: Thirteen hundred? That's impossible.
Chakotay: Then maybe you need to go break a few noses, or at least bend a few. Lieutenant.
Torres: All right. Get that isolinear bank up and running. And lock down those plasma relays. Please. I'm going to be counting on you, Lieutenant. I'm not up to date on the latest Starfleet protocols and I know that you're probably more familiar with the quirks of this warp engine than I am right now. I hope that I can depend on you.
Carey: I assure you, you'll never get less than my best. Lieutenant, congratulations. Welcome aboard.
Chakotay: Are you checking up on your new Chief Engineer?
Janeway: Observing.
Chakotay: And?
Janeway: Two crew members have already filed complaints about her promotion and she may be in for a tough period of adjustment, but I think B'Elanna's going to make a fine addition to this crew. Our crew.
Chakotay: Can I ask you a question, off the record? If things had happened differently, and we were on the Maquis ship now instead of Voyager, would you have served under me?
Janeway: One of the nice things about being Captain is that you can keep some things to yourself.
Emh: Sickbay to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Emh: Is someone ever going to come down here and fix my holographic projectors?
Janeway: We're little busy right now, Doctor.
Janeway: But I'll send a crew down as soon as I can.
Emh: I would appreciate a certain expediency in the matter.
Janeway: Acknowledged. Janeway out.
Emh: I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but whatever it is you're going to have to take care of it yourself.
Paris: Oh, it's all right. It's just a scratch, really. You know, I like you better this way.