Worst Case Scenario ( episode ) A buried holonovel with high entertainment value depicting a Maquis mutiny is discovered . Summary . Teaser . B ' Elanna Torres looks apprehensive as she walks down the corridor on the ship and approaches the turbolift to report for duty , and even more so as Chakotay joins her casually . Once they are in the turbolift , Chakotay begins asking a series of strange questions pertaining to his dislike for Tuvok and mentions that in fact a lot of the crew are not happy with the chief of security and Captain Janeway for that matter . He wonders whether Torres agrees , stating that there will be some changes around here . It seems a mutiny is in the works . All of the Maquis and 25 of the Starfleet crew members are behind him , and he wants to know which side Torres is on once the shooting starts . Act One . On the bridge , Torres and the other officers go about their duties , pushing buttons as if they are doing something , when Captain Janeway announces she will be going off in a shuttlecraft with Tom Paris and leaving Chakotay in command of the ship . Chakotay tries to convince the Captain to bring Tuvok with her , without success . The first officer has Harry Kim perform a diagnostic that shuts the transporter s down before a pair of security personnel arrive with what Chakotay claims to be the duty roster . As soon as Janeway ' s shuttle goes to warp , Chakotay tells all hands to begin their plan and commences the takeover , stun ning Tuvok and Kim before moving on to the rest of the ship . Torres goes along with his plan . Then there is a surprise : they turn a corner to find Seska . The siege continues through the mess hall – where Neelix takes their side . With the senior officer s in the brig and the rest of the loyal Starfleet personnel held prisoners in an empty cargo bay , Chakotay announces his plan of dropping the senior staff off at the nearest habitable planet and taking straight home – this time without letting mighty " Starfleet principles " get in the way . He offers the remaining crew the chance to join him , when suddenly Paris enters the cargo bay and asks Torres what ' s going on . It is then revealed that this has all been a holo - program depicting a Maquis mutiny . Torres tells Paris that she was doing a routine purge of the database to get rid of old files when she came across this holonovel , telling Paris that its a very compelling story . Paris asks who wrote it , and Torres admits she doesn ' t know as the author has encrypted the program to protect his or her identity , presumably due to the controversial plot . Act Two . Torres and Paris discuss reporting the program to Captain Janeway , but decide it best if they get a " full report " , so Paris has a go with the program . During Paris ' run , he walks down the corridor wearing an operations division gold uniform . Chakotay approaches Paris the same way he approached Torres , and knowing what will happen , Paris eagerly goes along with the plan . When it is time for Chakotay ' s mutiny , Paris attempts to warn Tuvok , but it is too late ; once again , Tuvok and Kim are shot , but this time Paris joins them and the other loyal Starfleet officers in the brig . There , Paris grows impatient with simply " waiting around " , but Tuvok insists that they wait for an opportunity to overpower the enemy . Chakotay eventually comes along to take everyone but Tuvok and Kim to cargo bay one . There he gives the same speech as before , when Torres ran the holonovel , which inspires Paris to join him . Paris and Torres now discuss the holonovel eagerly in the mess hall , and Paris reveals that his constant switching loyalties has apparently caused Chakotay to assign him to menial tasks . Torres advises him to go along with the mutiny from the start , since that is a lot more fun to play out . As they talk about plans of attack , Neelix wanders by and reveals that he too has played the program , and describes his own strategy ; he tried to send a secret message to Janeway and Paris ' s shuttle , but was caught by Chakotay . It seems Torres told The Doctor , who told Neelix , who promises his lips are sealed ; but as he speaks , Kim shows up asking them about the holonovel Ayala told him about . Paris and the mutineers are on the bridge again , out of uniform and in control despite problems with the warp core likely the result of a saboteur . As Janeway and the holographic Paris return in their shuttle , she has a chilly reunion with Chakotay , who genuinely does not want to hurt anyone . However , she attacks " Voyager " head - on and beams aboard with Paris as it opens fire to destroy her shuttle . Chakotay and Paris take the turbolift to the brig , where Janeway and her former first officer shoot one another before Paris comes face - to - face with himself . Paris and his holographic counterpart have each other at phaser point . . . . . . when suddenly the program shuts down leaving only an empty holodeck . Paris tries to resume the program but fails , as the computer explains no more story has been written so cannot continue . Paris is left very frustrated at the lack of conclusion . Act Three . In the holodeck , Torres and Paris try to access information on the author of the holonovel from the computer . Despite Torres ' knowledge of computer s and Neelix ' s gift of gab , no one is able to find the mysterious author of the holonovel . Janeway brings it up at the next staff meeting , by which time the program has been accessed 47 times by 33 different crew members . Of course , everyone present has tried it ( save Janeway and Chakotay ) , but no one knows who made it , so she tells them to talk to their respective staff and find the author . However , Tuvok reveals that in fact it was he himself who wrote the program , albeit not as a novel but more as a tactical training exercise for his security personnel in the event of a mutiny . He explains that he wrote the program when the Maquis crew had just joined the " Voyager " crew and when the possibility of a mutiny was very real . But when the two crews began to successfully work together , he realized that the threat of an insurrection was increasingly unlikely and the program might have ended up inciting ill feeling between the crews and and therefore deleted it – until Torres recovered the file . Paris asks if Tuvok intends to continue , but Tuvok instead wishes to permanently delete it since he still feels it could cause discontent between the Starfleet and Maquis crews and expects Janeway to agree . However , contrary to his expectations , Janeway tells him to ' loosen up ' . She tells him that while he may have intended it to be for tactical training it is clearly become some harmless fun , and stresses the need for original sources of entertainment now that they are so far away from home . Paris volunteers to write an ending , and Janeway jokes that she is excited to see how her character will manage to outwit the mutineers . Tuvok finds Paris in the mess hall , working diligently on an ending for the novel . When he suggests helping him craft the novel with some level of organization and logic al application , Paris casually states that he doesn ' t need any help in that regard as he is sort of making it up as he goes along . He tells Tuvok that in his version , Paris and Janeway retake the ship and Janeway decides to execute all the conspirators . Tuvok objects that this is a completely implausible plot development , since Captain Janeway would never do something so inhumane . But Paris laughs his objections off , saying that this wasn ' t real life but just fiction . Tuvok reiterates the importance of applying logic when writing stories and characters , citing the Vulcan " Dictates of Poetics " , which state that a character ' s actions must flow , inexorably , from his or her established traits . But again , Paris laughs off Tuvok ' s insistence on logical application and in fact finds his own interpretation of things more fun . The two continue butting heads over the " Dictates of Poetics " versus pure fun until Torres and Neelix each drop by to offer suggestions . Much to Tuvok ' s annoyance and objections that this wasn ' t a romance novel , Torres wants to see some passion and heart in the story . Paris suggests adding a passionate scene between " the Starfleet conn officer and the Maquis engineer . " Neelix , on the other hand – while not making any plot suggestions – tells Tuvok that he was completely misportrayed as he would would never betray Captain Janeway like the holographic Neelix did . Paris jokes that Tuvok must have forgotten to follow the " Dictates of Poetics " , at which point Tuvok suggests that it might be best to move their work to some place more quiet . The two go to the holodeck , where they find The Doctor waiting with his own set of suggestions . Once Tuvok gets rid of The Doctor , Paris tries to get rid of Tuvok . . . only for Tuvok to reveal he is the only person who can make alterations to the program . Paris concedes defeat and agrees to let Tuvok finish the program with him . Tuvok prepares the holonovel for additions and has the holodeck open the narrative parameters file of the program . Suddenly , the hologrid begins to glitch while the transporters on " Voyager " shut down , the comm system goes off - line , and the holodeck controls become scrambled . The holodeck safety protocol s are also disengaged . Tuvok and Paris suddenly appear in the brig , face - to - face with none other than Seska . It seems the Cardassian spy found Tuvok ' s program some time ago and rewrote it so the ending will be not - so - happy for its participants . Seska tells a confused Tuvok and Paris that they have ten seconds to run for their lives or she will shoot them with a phaser . Act Four . Tuvok tries to disable the holodeck program and contact help , but to no avail . Seeing no other alternative , Tuvok and Paris run from the brig where they encounter Captain Janeway , who they almost immediately recognize as being holographic . " Janeway " asks them to help her retake the ship by transporting into the cargo bay . Tuvok thinks that they shouldn ' t participate in the scenario , as it presents the least possible risk . After all , Seska may have programmed the holographic Janeway to betray them . Janeway configures the transporter and tells Tuvok and Paris to go when Chakotay and Seska appear at the door . Janeway defends herself with a phaser rifle , but it malfunctions and she is killed . Seska then tells Tuvok and Paris to run . Paris tells Seska that none of the simulation is real , including the holographic Chakotay who is attracted to her . She gets angry and has Chakotay shoot Paris ' arm with a phaser , removing any doubt that safety protocols on the holodeck had been disabled . Tuvok and Paris run once again . They enter sickbay to try to treat Paris ' phaser wounds . The Doctor appears and says he ' s going to treat Paris ' second - degree phaser burns , but he uses a hypospray to inject twenty cc s of nitric acid into his arm . Tuvok tries to help Paris , but The Doctor grabs him and starts to choke him . The Doctor ' s arms are the only part of him that are solid , so any attempts to hurt The Doctor are unsuccessful . Once The Doctor is finished " treating " them , he throws Tuvok and Paris out . On the bridge , the real Captain Janeway asks for information on Seska ' s modifications to the holodeck program . It turns out that on stardate 48671 , a month before she left " Voyager " , Seska found the program and modified it . She triggered her modifications to activate when Tuvok re - opened the narrative parameters file . To make matters worse , Seska put in various booby trap subroutine s to prevent the crew from helping Tuvok and keeping him trapped on the holodeck . For example , if the holodeck doors are forced open , the holodeck will explode . Janeway gets an idea to help . . . perhaps she could modify the program by co - writing it in a manner that would ultimately help Tuvok and Paris . Inside the holodeck , Tuvok and Paris are traveling through a Jefferies tube where they encounter a plasma fire behind a door . Tuvok isn ' t able to close the door , but all of a sudden a plasma extinguisher appears . Paris extinguishes the fire and crawls down to the next deck . Tuvok and Paris realize they are being helped from the outside ; however , Janeway is only able to make minor changes . A display appears telling them to go to the weapon ' s locker for additional help . When they reach the locker , however , Chakotay and a group of Maquis appear , and Paris and Tuvok are captured . Janeway , outside the holodeck , learns that Seska had programmed the holodeck to adapt to any changes that were made to it . Act Five . In engineering , Janeway and Torres are re - writing the program to help Paris and Tuvok . Harry Kim reports that the altered program has burned out the transporter access relays , so they can ' t simply beam them out of the holodeck for the time being . Meanwhile , in the holographic cargo bay , Seska tries to have Tuvok and Paris killed , but Janeway alters the Chakotay hologram character to prevent him from cold - bloodedly murdering the two . Angrily , Seska kills Chakotay to prevent any interference in her plans . Undeterred , Janeway decides another way to modify the program : she rewrites it to include a Rukani attack . Tuvok and Paris are able to take the weapons from the crew during the attack . Seska refuses to give up and activates a sixty - second auto - destruct , which would destroy the holodeck and everyone on it in the process . Tuvok tells Seska that he set his phaser rifle to kill and he will fire if she does not disable the auto - destruct . Seska refuses and demands that he hand over the phaser rifle to her . Tuvok does so , and Seska deactivates the self - destruct . She then turns the phaser rifle on Tuvok and Paris , intent on killing them . However , the weapon malfunctions , killing Seska . Tuvok reveals that he had reconfigured the rifle to malfunction in the same way it had for the holographic Janeway in the transporter room . With the holographic Seska dead , the story has come to an end and the simulation finally shuts down . Kim reports that the transporters have been brought back online , but Janeway assures him that there is no rush . The senior staff is having a discussion in the mess hall about holo - novels . Chakotay says that he looks forward to the next one , just as long as in whatever they write next , " he " is not the bad guy . Neelix suggests a story about a cook on a starship , similar to his own life . Tuvok says that if they decide to collaborate on a new holo - novel , they will choose a subject much less close to home . Memorable quotes . " " Under my command , we won ' t let almighty Federation principles get in the way of opportunities the way Janeway did when she destroyed the array that could have gotten us home . And we won ' t be wasting precious time stopping to investigate every insignificant anomaly that we come across . What we will do is use any means necessary to acquire technology that can shorten our journey . To hell with Starfleet regulations . You have fifteen minutes to make up your minds . " " " " Do you want me to shoot him ? " " " " Remember the good old days when it was impossible to keep a secret on a ship this small ? " " " " We ' re not going to kill anybody today . . . unless it ' s absolutely necessary . " " " " It ' s not like I caught you dancing the rumba with a naked Bolian ! " " " " I expected to find you shooting pool at Sandrine ' s . . . not hanging out with Seska . . . " " " " With all due respect , Mr . Tuvok , loosen up . " " " " You never should have crossed her , Tuvok . " " " " SHE has been dead for over a year ! There was no way to predict this turn of events . " " " " I guess we should have known Seska wouldn ' t let a little thing like death stop her from getting even . " " " " You just threatened the wrong woman , Chakotay ! " " " " I don ' t care what kind of story it is , as long as I ' m not the bad guy this time . " " " " If you think I will allow you to turn this novel into a parody you are sorely mistaken . " " " " Now up until now the story has been nothing but action , which is fine , but what it needs is a little heart , a little emotion . " " " " We are not writing a romance novel , lieutenant . " " " " No offense Mr . Vulcan , but I don ' t think you understand my character very well . " " " " Tuvok , did you forget to follow the " Dictates of Poetics " ? " " " " Twenty ccs nitric acid – a little proverbial salt in the wound . " " " " Mr . Neelix , if Mr . Paris and I do create another work of holofiction , I assure you , we will choose a subject much less close to home . " " Links and references . References . 47 ; all hands ; auxiliary database ; away mission ; Bolian ; booby trap ; brig ; burn ; Caretaker ' s array ; Class 2 shuttle ; coffee ; compression phaser rifle ; detective story ; " deus ex machina " ; " " ; dilithium matrix ; EPS conduit ; Federation ; fiction ; force field ; frying pan ; headache ; holofiction ; holomatrix ; holonovel ; holodeck ; holodeck safety protocol ; " Insurrection Alpha " ; internal sensor s ; intruder alert ; jack - in - the - box ; Jefferies tube ; kill setting ; kiss ; literary device ; logic ; Maquis ; Mister Vulcan ; mutiny ; narrative parameters file ; narrative subroutine ; nitric acid ; parody ; phaser ; plasma extinguisher ; plasma manifold ; plot twist ; pool ; practical joke ; quarters ; red alert ; rodent ; romance novel ; Rukani ; Rukani sector ; Rukani vessel ; rumba ; sabotage ; Sandrine ' s ; self - destruct ; senior officer ; Starfleet Regulations ; Starfleet uniform ; stun setting ; T ' Hain ; ; toast ; turbolift ; Vulcan ; Vulcan ( planet ) ; western ; writer ' s block