Into the Breach, Part II (episode)

Gwyn runs into a familiar foe on the planet Solum. Janeway reveals the true stakes of their mission to Dal and his friends.
== Summary ==
=== Act One ===
Gwyn's diplomatic shuttle, the Sacagawea, approaches Solum and the pilot teases her for reading the first contact protocols more often than Picard. Gwyn knows that a lot is riding on her mission, and the Vau N'Akat are not exactly friendly to outsiders. Afraid that she won't be able to stop the civil war, the pilot reminds Gwyn to remember her training, that she has the advantage of being one of her people, and it's not every day that you get to introduce one's own to life on other planets. The pilot stops the shuttle, unable to go any further, but promises that Gwyn can call her if she needs her.
Gwyn beams down to Solum, and introduces herself to the shocked people. She announces that she has traveled here from the stars on behalf of a brave group of explorers called the Federation. Before long, she is accosted by guards and led before Solum's council, where she makes her case.
:"Elders of Solum, I am Gwyndala, one of you. I come with a message from distant worlds, peaceful worlds, other civilizations I've seen with my own eyes who want nothing more than to meet us. Solum, the Vau N'Akat, are truly incredible. We can share our gifts with the cosmos if we embrace the truth that we are not alone in the universe."
Stepping out of the shadows, Asencia reveals that the council already knows because she already warned them. Asencia announces that Gwyn is the spy that she said would come, a traitor to Solum who was sent by their enemies from above. Gwyn insists that Asencia is lying, and that she's here on a mission of peace. But Asencia tells the council that Gwyn was not born on Solum, that she was made to look like one of them, and that her heirloom is stolen. Asencia claims that Gwyn will say anything so that the Vau N'Akat kneel to her Starfleet masters, and Asencia has seen firsthand the future that Gwyn wants for them: Solum's destruction. To the gathered Vau N'Akat's horror, Asencia's displays a holographic image of the destroyed future Solum that she comes from. Gwyn insists that the council has to trust her, and she is Vau N'Akat, but Asencia states that Gwyn will never belong on Solum, while Asencia has always belonged there. The present day Asencia steps forward as proof of Asencia's claims to be one of the Vau N'Akat; Gwyn has no such proof, as she didn't exist on Solum.
The council orders the guards to seize Gwyn, but she manages to fight her way free, break through a window, and use her heirloom to slide down a cable to the ground. Dodging guards, Gwyn calls for the Sacagawea to beam her out, but two Vau N'Akat warships attack the shuttle out of nowhere, destroying it. Gwyn watches the explosion from the ground in horror.
The arrives at the Beta Quadrant border where the wormhole is located, and sends in a probe. On the bridge, Commander Tysess reports that the probe is breaking up, but still transmitting. However, the probe is destroyed once it enters the wormhole, and The Doctor suspects that they will need more than a probe to survive that trip. Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway orders them to keep trying, wanting for there to be nothing in the way of their mission.
In the ship's corridors, Dal R'El wonders why Janeway is lying to him and his friends about Voyagers mission, but Zero clarifies that technically Janeway merely omitted facts. They were never meant to see the hidden spacecraft in Shuttlebay 3 and Rok-Tahk wishes that her friends had never told her about it, which has made Rok an accomplice to their actions. The group runs into Maj'el who asks what Rok is an accomplice to, but Dal brushes it off as an inside joke. Dal points out that they had been told that Janeway was here to observe the wormhole, not fly into it using a secret ship on a crazy time travel rescue mission. Zero senses that Janeway is omitting a lot of facts, and Dal heads into the Jefferies tubes to find answers, over Rok's objections.
Observed by Dal through a ceiling grate, Janeway wonders about the strange readings that they are getting, which Tysess detects is not from the wormhole but rather an energy fluctuation off of Voyagers forward hull. A large glowing orb appears in front of Voyager. Counselor Noum reports that they're getting no warp signature or life signs from it, but the orb is hailing them. A mysterious entity tells Janeway that she cannot go through the wormhole, or else all will be lost. Janeway tries to get the entity to clear up the distorted transmission, but the entity reiterates that Janeway must not enter the anomaly and vanishes without answering any of her questions. Tysess informs Janeway that they have lost the signal, and she notes that their activities seem to have attracted some unwanted attention.
The ceiling grate suddenly gives out, dropping Dal onto the bridge right behind the captain's chair. Dal lies that he was doing some routine maintenance, but Janeway tells Dal that now is really not the time, and has Tysess escort Dal off of the bridge. Before the door closes, Dal yells to Janeway that maybe he'll just meet her later in Shuttlebay 3, catching her attention. Dal tells the others that he thinks that he got his message across, before The Doctor suddenly appears to inform the group that Janeway wants to see all of them in the observation lounge.
On Solum, Gwyn hides on a rooftop from searching guards. The patterns on Gwyn's face suddenly start glowing and Gwyn senses something that surprises her. Gwyn finds herself drawn to a nearby observatory that the elders have ordered the guards to keep watch around. Inside, Gwyn finds Ilthuran, the present day version of her father, the Diviner. Gwyn introduces herself and tells Ilthuran that she's his daughter, or at least, she will be. Ilthuran drops his cleaning rag and stares at Gwyn in shock.
=== Act Two ===
On Voyager, Janeway orders the computer to seal the doors to the observation lounge and erase the logs as she wants this conversation off the record. Janeway demands to know what the kids know about Shuttlebay 3, and Dal tells her that they know about the cloaked ship that she's hiding. Janeway acknowledges that they seem to know quite a bit, but they don't know everything. Janeway shows the group an isolinear chip from the Protostar which was found after the Protostars destruction six months ago. Starfleet followed a beacon to the ship's black box and salvaged what they could from it. Janeway shows the group classified security footage recovered from the black box, recorded 52 years in the future. The footage shows Captain Chakotay and his first officer Adreek-Hu and is the last known sighting of Chakotay. After his ship fell through an unstable wormhole, Chakotay was captured by the Vau N'Akat, held prisoner for months, and was forced to watch helplessly as the Protostar was turned into a weapon to destroy the Federation via the living construct. Janeway narrates as the footage shows Chakotay attempting to commandeer the ship, only to have Adreek shot and wounded. Chakotay records a final message for Janeway, "I don't know if anyone will ever find this, but if they do, I may not be coming back from this one. Tell Kathryn... I'm sorry... But I'm doing this for you," and launches the ship on autopilot. The footage ends as Chakotay, supporting a wounded Adreek, is surrounded by Vau N'Akat forces as the ship launches.
Zero sympathetically recognizes Janeway's pain over the loss of her friend, and tells her that they didn't know. Rok and Jankom realize that Chakotay was the one who had launched the ship so that it would be lost in the past, until they found it on Tars Lamora. Dal states that they were just a bunch of nobodies living on a rock with no hope or future, until they found the ship. By sending the Protostar back in time, Chakotay's sacrifice saved them and changed their lives. Janeway states that Chakotay changed her life too, and that's why they have to save him. The rescue mission was classified and highly dangerous, and Janeway is well aware that time travel is not to be trifled with. Starfleet's thorough analysis of the rift shows that although the two time periods are separated by 52 years, time is synched so an hour passing on their end equals an hour on the other end.
However, the rescue mission can't go through the wormhole until after Chakotay sends the Protostar through, which is in exactly 41 hours. They can't go through and rescue Chakotay now as it would mean that he would never send the Protostar back in time to Tars Lamora, thus creating a temporal paradox. This would mean that Gwyn would likely never be born, and the group would never meet, altering history. They built the for the rescue mission, which has a cloaking device to avoid detection and temporal shielding designed to resist paradoxes, and it's their only hope to get Chakotay back. However, Starfleet still feels that it's too risky, and if word leaks that Janeway is keeping the mission alive, they might pull her out and they'll completely lose their shot at rescuing Chakotay. The group agrees to her request to keep this a secret until Janeway makes the call.
On Solum, Gwyn explains to Ilthuran that she had nowhere else to go so she came to him, as Ilthuran is her father from a different time, where Gwyn only ever knew him as the Diviner. As the Diviner, he traveled into the past to prevent Solum from falling to civil war, and Gwyn is here to save it from that fate. Ilthuran had heard warnings about an impostor in the capital, and is having a hard time taking this all in. As proof, Gwyn causes her heirloom to shift into a large shape, which Ilthuran's heirloom copies, much to his surprise. Gwyn explains that it's the same heirloom, and Ilthuran passed it down to Gwyn, his progeny. Ilthuran laughs in astonishment at his daughter, and Gwyn admits that her father isn't quite what she expected him to be, having only ever known the tyrannical Diviner and not the kind-hearted Ilthuran, the man he once was. Gwyn wasn't even sure Ilthuran would agree to help her, surprising Ilthuran that he would ever even consider refusing to help his own daughter. Gwyn sadly admits that it's complicated, and while Ilthuran is willing to help in any way that he can, he is only a lonely astronomer on a planet that cares nothing about the stars. Ilthuran has always dreamed of life on worlds beyond Solum, and now it's here in the form of his own child. Gwyn tells her father that in the future he gets to see those worlds, and teaches her the thousands of languages from them. While Ilthuran doesn't have the answers Gwyn seeks, he knows where she can find them.
=== Act Three ===
Ilthuran leads Gwyn to the Arcanum, a reliquary of the Vau N'Akat's great history and knowledge, taking the form of a large glowing orb. A white Drednok appears, causing Gwyn to draw her heirloom in surprise, but Ilthuran identifies him as the Lorekeeper, who is barely more than a library with legs. Lowering her weapon, Gwyn apologizes, having thought that the Lorekeeper was . Gwyn explains that the elders think that she's an imposter, and Gwyn needs Solum to listen to her. On the Lorekeeper's instruction, Gwyn extends her heirloom into the Arcanum. The Lorekeeper displays images of the Va'Lu'Rah, the most ancient rite of Solum. Those who succeed are acknowledged as true Vau N'Akat by all who witness it. The Lorekeeper calls it a dangerous ceremony from the Vau N'Akat's earliest origins, when they rose from the depths to overcome. Ilthuran explains that the ceremony hasn't been tried in millennia, but admits that the Va'Lu'Rah is the foundation of the Vau N'Akat's culture and will prove that Gwyn is one of them. The elders would have to listen to her, if Gwyn survives.
On Voyager, Dal is excited that he and his friends are already a part of a classified Starfleet mission when they aren't even in the Academy yet. Passing nearby, Maj'el hears Dal, including him mentioning that this secret is locked up in Shuttlebay 3, which she knows doesn't exist. Dal unsuccessful tries to brush it off, but Maj'el contacts the other Nova Squadron candidates to meet her at the shuttlebays in a priority one. Dal sends Zero to try to slow her down, but Maj'el telepathically reveals that a Vulcan's psychic senses are enhanced near other telepaths, allowing her to read Zero's mind. Maj'el orders the others to meet her in the restricted hanger instead, and to prepare a report to Starfleet Command. As Maj'el makes her way down the turbolift, Dal, Jankom, Zero and Murf race to use the Jefferies tubes to get to the shuttlebay before Maj'el. Maj'el is slowed down by various people using the turbolift to get to other decks, while the group is slowed down by having trouble finding their way through the tubes. Finally, Dal and his friends slide down a tube into Shuttlebay 3, beating Nova Squadron there.
With Nova Squadron bound to find the hidden ship just like they did, Dal decides to move it. After literally running into the Infinity, Dal finds the control panel and decloaks and opens up the ship. As Dal tries to find the engine controls, Zero argues that this is a terrible idea as they don't know how to fly the Infinity. Dal reassures Zero that he's just going to move it to another shuttlebay and orders them to open the hanger bay door, and keep an eye on their six. However, Maj'el arrives with and Grom and orders Dal and his friends to stand down per Starfleet Regulation 7, Paragraph 4. Dal tries unsuccessfully to object, and Maj'el orders Zeph and Grom to detain the group. As Rok arrives, Jankom and Murf fight with Zeph while Dal and Grom yank Zero between them. Rok grabs Murf and Grom, objecting to all of the violations being committed, and Dal attempts to use the chance to fire up the ship. Struggling over the controls with Dal, Maj'el uses a Vulcan neck pinch on Jankom, causing him to fall and accidentally activate the autopilot launch sequence for the mission through the wormhole. The Infinitys impulse engines engage, throwing Rok, Murf, Zeph, and Grom off of the ship as it flies out of the shuttlebay.
On the bridge, The Doctor asks Janeway how the conversation with their little surprise guests went, and Janeway admits that it went as best as you could expect. Tysess detects unauthorized access in Shuttlebay 3. The orb reappears to tell Janeway that now is the time, and she objects that they're not going into the wormhole and they don't even have a ship capable of making the trip, only to spot the Infinity heading for the wormhole as the orb disappears. Knowing that it's too soon, Janeway orders a tractor beam locked on the ship, however the subspatial interference is too great for Tysess to get a lock.
On the Infinity, Maj'el warns that they are caught in the rift's gravimetric well. Unable to do anything else, Zero straps the makeshift crew in because like it or not, they're going into the wormhole. As Voyagers crew watches helplessly, the Infinity flies into the wormhole.
== Log entries ==
"Admiral's log, classified. Stardate 61859.6. Voyager has arrived at the Beta Quadrant border where we've located our mission's objective, an unstable time rift leading to a future reality some 52 years from now, and based on his SOS, I've reason to believe Chakotay is stranded on the other side."
== Memorable quotes ==
"Elders of Solum, I am Gwyndala, one of you. I come with a message from distant worlds, peaceful worlds, other civilizations I've seen with my own eyes who want nothing more than to meet us. Solum, the Vau N'Akat, are truly incredible. We can share our gifts with the cosmos if we embrace the truth that we are not alone in the universe."
:-- Gwyn to Solum's council
"You cannot go."
"Can you clear up the signal?"
"That is the signal."
"All be lost."
"This is Admiral Janeway of the starship Voyager. We're having trouble understanding you. Do you require assistance."
"Janeway... Do not enter the anomaly."
"I assure you, we have no plans to enter the wormhole at this time. Where are you calling from?"
"We've lost the signal."
"Hm. Seems our activities have attracted some unwanted attention."
:-- The Orb, Janeway, and Tysess after a mysterious orb makes contact with Voyager
"Ah! Uh, Janeway, er, admiral. I was just, uh, doing some routine maintenance."
:-- Dal drops in
"Are you Ilthuran?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm your daughter, Gwyndala. Or... I will be?"
:-- Gwyn meets Ilthuran, the present day version of her father, the Diviner
"So, you've had quite an education, unsupervised on my ship. Tell me, what do you know about Shuttlebay 3?"
"Well, you're hiding a cloaked ship."
"Seems like you know quite a bit, but you don't know everything. An isolinear chip from your Protostar found after its explosion six months ago. We followed a beacon to its black box, salvaged what we could, and our scientists recovered this. Classified security footage, recorded in a future 52 years from now, the last known sighting of Captain Chakotay. After his ship went through an unstable wormhole, he was captured by the Vau N'Akat. Held prisoner for months, he watched helplessly as they turned the Protostar into a weapon to destroy the Federation."
"Oh, the Construct. Who could forget?"
"Chakotay wouldn't allow Starfleet to be annihilated. His plan was to commandeer the ship, but his first officer fell in battle. Time was short. He couldn't fly it, so he did the next best thing."
:-- Janeway, Dal, and Jankom as Janeway reveals the truth
"I don't know if anyone will ever find this, but if they do, I may not be coming back from this one. Tell Kathryn... I'm sorry... But I'm doing this for you."
:-- Chakotay's message
"Such pain. Janeway, we didn't know."
"He was the one who launched the Protostar through the wormhole so it would be lost in the past."
"Until we found it on Tars Lamora."
"We were just a bunch of nobodies on a rock. No hope, no future, until we found that ship. He saved us."
"His sacrifice changed our lives."
"He changed mine too, and that's why we have to save him. The rescue was classified. Highly dangerous. If I know anything, time travel is not to be trifled with. We analyzed the rift six ways from Sunday. The exit is fixed on Solum. Though separated by 52 years, time on the other end is synched with ours."
:-- Zero, Rok, Jankom, Dal, and Janeway discuss the revelations about Chakotay.
"We can't go in until after Chakotay launches the Protostar, which happens in exactly 41 hours."
"Why 41 hours? Can't we get him now?"
"Because if Chakotay never sends the Protostar back to Tars Lamora, the Diviner might never go after it. Gwyn might never be born."
"And none of us would ever meet."
"Lose Gwyn or spend years in the mines? What kind of choice is that?"
"There isn't one. It's a classic time paradox. Didn't you read "Temporal Mechanics 101?""
"That's why we built the Infinity. It has cloaking to avoid detection and temporal shielding designed to resist time paradoxes. It's our only hope to get him back. But Starfleet feels it's still too risky. If word leaks I'm keeping this mission alive, they may pull me out, and we lose our shot completely. He was my Number One. Can I trust you to keep this secret until I make the call?"
"Yes, Admiral."
:-- Janeway, Dal, Zero, and Rok discuss the mission's stakes
"I have to admit, you're not quite what I expected you to be. I wasn't even sure you'd help me."
"What? Refuse to help my own daughter? Surely, I don't make that bad of a father, do I?"
"It's... Complicated."
"Well, while I am willing to help however I can, I'm just a lonely astronomer on a planet that cares nothing about the stars. Ironic. I dreamed of life on worlds beyond ours, and here it is on my doorstep, my own child."
"You see those worlds. You taught me their languages, thousands of them."
"Thousands? I don't have the answers you seek, but I know where we can find them."
:-- Gwyn is astonished by how different, kind and helpful Ilthuran is to the Diviner
"Ah! Stay back!"
"It's just the Lorekeeper. He's barely more than a library with legs."
"Greetings. What knowledge do you seek?"
"I'm sorry. I thought you were ."
:-- Gwyn, Ilthuran and the Lorekeeper, as Gwyn meets the Lorekeeper
"Halt."
"Huh?"
"You will take the next one."
:-- A frustrated Maj'el to a crewmember trying to board the turbolift
"Warp cores are so beautiful up close. It's the delta radiation."
"Uh, keep moving."
:-- Zero and Dal during a wrong turn through engineering
"This isn't what it looks like."
"It looks like you are boarding an unsanctioned vessel which is forbidden by Federation law."
"Okay, so it is what it looks like."
:-- Dal and Maj'el
"Janeway, time is now. You..."
"Whoever you are, listen to me carefully. We're not going into that wormhole. We don't even have a ship capable of -- no, it's too soon. Ready a tractor beam. Get a lock on that ship."
"I can't. Subspatial interference from the anomaly is too great."
"They're gone."
:-- The Orb, Janeway, Tysess, and Noum as the Infinity launches
"Like it or not..."
"They're going into that wormhole."
:-- Zero and Janeway as the Infinity flies into the wormhole
== Background information ==
=== Title ===
=== Story and script ===
=== Preproduction ===
=== Production ===
=== Postproduction ===
=== Cast and characters ===
=== Sets and props ===
=== Costumes ===
=== Soundtrack ===
=== Special effects ===
=== Continuity ===
=== Apocrypha ===
=== Reception ===
=== Awards ===
=== Releases ===
* Like the rest of the second season, it was first released on France.tv (a French public television's streaming service) as well as on AppleTV+ France on 22 March 2024, well in advance of the Netflix release in the United States.
== Links and references ==
=== Cast ===
* Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk
* Dee Bradley Baker as Murf
* Brett Gray as Dal
* Angus Imrie as Zero
* Ella Purnell as Gwyn
* Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
;And
* Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Janeway
* John Noble as Ilthuran
* Jimmi Simpson as Lorekeeper
* Robert Beltran as Captain Chakotay
* Robert Picardo as The Doctor
* Jason Alexander as Counselor Noum
* Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess
* Jameela Jamil as Asencia
* Michaela Dietz as Maj'el
* Sunkrish Bala as 
* Susanne Blakeslee as Kathon
* John Pirkis as Borom
* Bonnie Gordon as Ship Computer
* Ben Thomas as Elite Guard
* Afi Ekulona as Shuttle Pilot
* Debra Wilson as Crew Member
==== Uncredited co-stars ====
* Sunkrish Bala as Ensign #1
* Bonnie Gordon as Ensign #2
=== Background characters ===
* Grom
=== References ===
Arcanum; Augment; Beta Quadrant; black box; Brikar; cadet; captain; cloaking device; containment suit; counselor; doctor; ensign; first contact protocol; General Orders and Regulations; gravimetric well; hologram; hybrid; impostor; impulse engine; ; isolinear chip; Janeway wormhole; ; lieutenant; Lurian; Medusan; Mellanoid slime worm; Nova Squadron; ; ; ; Sacagawea; ; spy; ; telepathy; Tellarite; temporal paradox; temporal shielding; time travel; tractor beam; Trill; wormhole; Va'Lu'Rah; Vau N'Akat; vice admiral; ; Vulcan; Vulcan neck pinch
==== LCARS references ====
damage repair; diagnostic; energy; operations; ; space distortion; waves influence
==== Meta references ====
==== Unreferenced materials ====
=== External links ===
* 
* 
Category:PRO episodes
de:Gegen die Regeln, Teil II
es:Into the Breach, Part II
fr:Into the Breach, Part II (épisode)
pl:Into the Breach, Part II