Saturday, May 10, 2008

7.03 drive

For months, B’Elanna has been trading and dealing to get a full weekend of holodeck time for her and Tom Paris and some romance. As the weekend approaches, Tom and Harry are field-testing the newly rebuilt Delta Flyer when they an encounter a friendly – and competitive ship piloted by a woman who challenges them to a little race. The Flyer wins – and the woman is rescued when her ship is damaged. She invites Tom and Harry to compete in an upcoming race – a race between previously warring races, the first collaborate effort in a new and unsteady peace. Janeway agrees that it is a great idea, and Tom, who in his rush of excitement, completely forgot about the romantic weekend, is forced to apologize to B’Elanna. B’Elanna agrees that he should run the race, but secretly confides to Neelix that her feelings are hurt, and that perhaps she and Tom are ‘mach-ta’, the Klingon expression for ‘bad match’. Neelix suggests that she confront Tom with her feelings; instead, she asks Harry Kim to forego his planned stint as co-pilot in the race so she can take his place.

Pre-race meetings reveal that not all the participants are happy about the race – some still seem at war, in particular the rude, big and ugly Assan. Assan drives aggressively, bumping other ships, including the ship of the woman who raced Tom earlier. Her co-pilot is injured when his console explodes, and she blames Assan, although the Flyer also bumped against her during a tight passing move. Subsequent investigations reveal that her ship had been sabotaged. Harry, very interested in the woman, asks to take her co-pilot’s place for the second leg of the race. Once again, the Flyer takes the lead, with Harry right behind. But the female pilot doesn’t seem to be trying to win very hard, and when Harry’s console explodes, he finds himself face to face with a phaser. He manages to reverse the situation, and the female admits to sabotaging her own ship. She is still at war. She has also sabotaged the Flyer to explode at the congregated finish line, but fortunately, Tom and B’Elanna are having a serious discussion about their relationship, and Tom has shut down the Flyer and forfeited the race to prove how important their relationship is to him. Harry gets a message to Tom and B’Elanna, and they manage to dump the core a safe distance away, and avoid the explosion. Tom proposes to B’Elanna and she accepts, and in the final scene, they move away at impulse in the Flyer, which is adorned with ‘cans’ and a ‘Just Married’ sign.

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