Voyager is intercepted by an alien ship, from a race of people known to Neelix and renowned for their hospitality. They allow shore leave on their home world and shower the crew of Voyager with gifts. Harry Kim gets chummy with a female alien. She loves his stories; she uses a special transporter device to take him to one of her favorite places. Kim asks her how far away it is, and is excited to find out it is 40,000 light years away! He bursts in on Janeway and the ‘head’ alien just as they are about to kiss, and asks if they can use the device to transport Voyager. Though it is physically feasible, the aliens have a strict code about sharing their technology less it is misused, and the alien leader declines. Janeway proposes a swap of the ship’s entire library – with millions of ‘stories’, but while the leader negotiates, Kim is taken to an unauthorized alien who is willing to trade the technology for stories. Kim takes the offer to the captain, but, meanwhile, Seska and others are plotting to take it upon themselves to use the technology, and B’Elanna has to choose sides. Eventually, the evil Seska convinces her to get and use the technology, but just as they are about to beam down to get it, Tuvok of all people shows up and says he will make the exchange. The part is tested but is incompatible and almost destroys the ship. Faced with the opportunity to cover it up, B’Elanna insists on reporting the truth and taking her medicine. Tuvok admits to being the senior officer involved, saying that he felt it was his logical duty to compensate for Janeway’s inability to get the crew home within the bounds of her obligation to follow Starfleet laws.
Nit: I think it was contrived for Tuvok to use logic to break the chain of command. This is even less believable than when Chakotay stole a shuttlecraft on a Kamikaze mission to deal with Seska (see ‘basics’).
No comments:
Post a Comment