Crossroads (episode)

When the crew attempts to secure transport to the Federation, they unwittingly cross paths with the vice admiral who is hunting them.
== Summary ==
===Act One===
On the , as The Diviner is being helped back his bed by Ensign Asencia, he suddenly remembers his daughter's name – Gwyndala.
The crew travels to an ice planet where they hope to find transport to Starfleet. After burying the Protostar so it can't be used against Starfleet, the crew hikes to the nearby Denaxi Depot where they encounter a man who introduces himself as Thadiun Okona. Okona offers to give the group transport in exchange for some deuterium. Unfortunately, he is suddenly approached by a Xindi-Reptilian security team who accuse him of smuggling.
At the outpost, the crew separates hoping to find Starfleet. Gwyn is saved from an encounter from an aggressive Klingon by Ensign Asencia, who realizes that Gwyn must be the Diviner's daughter. When the ensign mentions that Gwyn's father is aboard the Dauntless, Gwyn is spooked and runs off. Pog comes face to face with Dr. Noum. The pair trade insults but Pog is caught off-guard when Noum disdainfully says that is a name reserved for runts. Meanwhile, Dal is intimidated when he comes face to face with Admiral Janeway. Suddenly, he spots Barniss Frex being led to the admiral and runs off before Frex can recognize him. While hiding, Dal overhears Frex describe the "fierce marauders" who destroyed the station and overhears the admiral's vow to catch them. Realizing that she intends to arrest them and concerned that Starfleet might discover the Protostar and accidentally activate the living construct weapon, Dal finds the others and they speed away on a speeder hoping to unearth the Protostar and escape. They soon find Okona, who had stowed away on their speeder hoping to evade security. When Okona suggests he can help them evade the authorities, they let him accompany them. 
===Act Two===
The Protostar takes off with the Dauntless in pursuit. As Zero does their best to evade them, Murf hatches and accidentally fires the torpedoes when he sits on a console. Believing they've been deliberately fired upon, Janeway orders the Dauntless to return fire, careful to disable to the ship, not destroy it. To escape the Dauntless, Dal orders Pog to initialize the proto-drive. Discovering that they're near the Romulan Neutral Zone, Okona suggests that they cross over since no Starfleet vessel would follow them in and he can remodulate their shields so the Romulans won't detect them.  Against Hologram Janeway's advice, Dal has the ship enter the Romulan Neutral Zone. When Janeway seems prepared to follow them in, Commander Tysess refuses to obey her order warning that she is letting her emotions, specifically her desire to find Chakotay dictate her actions, actions which could lead to war.
Before the admiral can decide whether to heed her first officer's advice nor not, the Dauntless is greeted by a warbird and are hailed by its commander, Kaseth, who warns her not to cross into the zone.
==Log entries==
==Memorable quotes==
"Jankom Pog is so excited to be meeting a fellow Tellarite! Consider me underwhelmed."
"I consider you under… something. Undersized pauper."
"Hey, you're Starfleet? Pog needs to tell you… WHA? Pauper? We Tellarites are practically royalty!"
"Royalty? HAHAHA! "Pog"'s a name we reserve for runts, short in size and vocabulary.
:- Jankom Pog and Dr. Noum
"Janeway to away team. Status report."
"Captain Janeway?"
"I prefer "Vice Admiral Janeway." Is there something I can help you with? Can I help you?"
"I, uh… Whew. Didn't expect… I was on my way to… What's it called? I, uh...'"
"Try stringing a few words together and we'll start from there."
:- Admiral Janeway and Dal
"What did you do while I was sleeping?!"
:- Hologram Janeway, to the Protostar crew upon seeing the Dauntless
"You're in more trouble than I am!"
:- Okona
"The real me is hunting us with a quantum slipstream Dauntless-class starship? Good luck with that."
"Thanks for your support."
:- Hologram Janeway and Dal
==Background information==
===Title===
* The title was announced by Paramount+ on . 
===Cast and characters===
* Billy Campbell reprises his role of Thadiun Okona after last portraying the character onscreen in the episode in . Okona last made an appearance in the second season episode , albeit in a non-speaking portrayal.
===Continuity===
* The Xindi-Reptilians make their first contemporary appearance since .
* Barniss Frex returns after his introduction in and is shown explaining his story to the Kazon slave trader from .
* Okona tried smuggling Ferengi thought makers, an illegal mind-altering device used by DaiMon Bok to control Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the episode .
* Tysess warns Janeway of "the negotiations" and a "treaty" as they get close to the Romulan Neutral Zone border. With the season set in 2384, it can be assumed that the Federation and the Romulans were hashing out details on the evacuation of Romulus before its sun went supernova at this time. This intent in confirmed in Star Trek: Prodigy Logs.
==Links and references==
===Cast===
* Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk
* Dee Bradley Baker as
** Murf
** Denaxi Visitor #2
** Alien
* Brett Gray as Dal
* Angus Imrie as Zero
* Ella Purnell as Gwyn
* Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
* John Noble as The Diviner
* Jimmi Simpson as Drednok 
;And
* Kate Mulgrew as "Hologram Janeway / Vice Admiral Janeway"
* Jason Alexander as Doctor Noum
* Eric Bauza as
** Barniss Frex
** Klingon Pilot
** TSA Monitors
** Denaxi Visitor #1
* Kimberly Brooks as
** Commander Kaseth
** Emergency System
* Billy Campbell as Thadiun Okona
* Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess
* Jameela Jamil as Asencia
* Brook Chalmers as
** Passerby
** Xindi Sentry #1
** Xindi Sentry #2
** Xindi Sentry #3
=== Background characters ===
* Kazon
* Xindi Sentry #4
* Human command officer 1
* Human operations lieutenant 1
* Human sciences officer 1
=== References ===
act of war; Andorian; barrier; blizzard; Brikar; captain; (title); cargo trolley; Chakotay; chlorine trifluoride; class 9 vessel; Coalition of Madena species; cocoon; combadge; CR-721; Dal R'El's species; daughter; ; ; (unnamed (×2)); Denaxi Depot; Denobulan; depot; deuterium; "dingle-dangle"; emotions; ensign; Erstwhile; exothermic reaction; eyewitness; father; Federation; field trip; "hatching; head of security; hover skiff; hover speeder; junkyard; Kaseth's warbird; Kazon; kilogram: Klingon; Klingonese; lieutenant junior grade; "little guy"; living construct; Medusan; Mellanoid slime worm; memory; meteorologist; Milky Way Galaxy; mind reader; mommy; name; nanosecond; nimbostratus cloud; number one; Orion; Orion crew; pauper; photon torpedo; ; progeny; proto-drive; proto-jump; ; ; purple; quantum slipstream; Romulan; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulan Star Empire; royalty; runt; savage; science vessel; size; sleeping; sleep mode; smuggler; Starfleet; ; Tars Lamora; tech; Tellarite; "this guy"; thought maker; transportation hub; Trill; Vau N'Akat; vocabulary; warp factor; Xindi-Reptilian; Xindi-Reptilian language
====LCARS references====
armament; data analysis; error log; fuel cap; ionization chamber; navigation; power distribution; temperature monitor; turbine; wireframe mode
=== External links ===
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