

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

In order to free her imprisoned crewmembers, Captain Janeway accepts the help of a delusional resistance fighter.

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Summary

Teaser

A USS Voyager away team is sent to a marketplace on a planet to purchase tellerium. After Captain Kathryn Janeway examines a sample, Neelix is told to purchase it and not to negotiate over the price as they need it badly. After Neelix has left, Tuvok notices some Mokra Order soldiers entering the marketplace and they seem to be looking for the away team. Although Tuvok is able to hit one of them with his phaser, he and B'Elanna Torres are captured. When Janeway has fought off a soldier and is about to contact Voyager, she is grazed by phaser fire in her neck and falls down. When the soldier removes her combadge, he is violently pushed against a wall by a man.

Act One

In engineering, Harry Kim and First Officer Chakotay are discussing the situation they are in. They are badly in need of the tellerium as the antimatter reaction rate in the warp core is approaching 9%. When this happens, the vessel's plasma injectors will lockup, leaving them unable to reinitialize the nacelles and thus leave Voyager without warp propulsion. To save power, and keep the reaction rate above 9%, the only option left is to power down their shields. At this point they are contacted by Neelix, who informs them the away team has been captured by the Mokra Order, but that he has the tellerium. Kim diverts emergency power to transporter room 2 and Neelix is beamed directly to engineering where Kim uses the tellerium to stabilize the antimatter reaction rate. Chakotay tries to contact the Captain but gets no answer. He discusses the capture of the away team with Neelix, wondering how the Mokra Order knew that Voyager personnel were on the planet. Neelix suspects a Mokra informant, although the ship's only contact was with the Alsaurian resistance movement. Their conversation is interrupted by Harry Kim, who has brought the warp engine online, restoring the ship's warp capability.

On the bridge, helmsman Tom Paris is ordered to bring Voyager out from the moon behind which they were hiding and to set a course to the planet. Meanwhile Neelix informs Chakotay that the Mokra are paranoid and hostile, and have little use for diplomacy. While approaching the planet Voyager is detected by the orbital sensor net and is hailed by Augris, third magistrate of the Mokra Order. When Augris hears that some members of Voyager are on his planet, he is not happy with it and sends a copy of the Mokra regulations to them, for future reference. When he learns that Chakotay believes they might be detained by the Mokra Order, Augris tells them that he will look in to it. Neelix does not believe that Augris will help them as he is nothing like the Mokra he has met before.

Although Commander Chakotay wants to try a diplomatic solution first, he does order a continuous surface scan of the planet, just in case.

Meanwhile, in a prison on the planet, B'Elanna notices a control circuit, which might be controlling the force field at the prison's entrance. Tuvok warns her not to tamper with it and just wait but Torres gets a shock from the force field. As Tuvok has no idea whether any member of the away team made it back to Voyager there is nothing left to do but wait.

Captain Janeway awakens in the home of her rescuer, Caylem, an older man who has tended to her wound on her neck. He immediately tries to keep her from moving and insists she is OK. Then, he reveals he believes she is his long-lost daughter.

Act Two

Later, Janeway sits up and examines her surroundings. The man calls her Ralkana. At first she denies it, telling him her real name and that she is a starship captain, but he doesn't appear convinced. He gives Janeway a necklace that originally belonged to his wife, but Janeway is more interested in finding her crewmembers and escaping. Janeway asks Caylem for a communication device to contact Voyager, but the citizens are prohibited by the Mokra Order from having them.

Augris comes on board to discuss the situation with Chakotay. Voyager's false reputation has reached them, apparently, and Augris says he doesn't believe it, but it's clear he's just being diplomatic. Chakotay asks to speak to his people. Augris says it will take time, but agrees and leaves. Chakotay asks Neelix afterward for another avenue with contacts on the ground.

On the planet, Augris interrogates Tuvok. Tuvok denies helping the resistance, and Torres insists they know nothing about it, but Augris is convinced they are helping them, and has Tuvok removed from the prison cell. Torres puts up a fight, but Tuvok orders her to stand down and the Vulcan is taken away.

Janeway continues to try to get away from Caylem but he is still thinking about rescuing his wife. He wants to join Janeway in her attempt to free her crew from prison, believing he can save his wife at the same time. Janeway is very resistant to the idea, however, while Caylem is showing Janeway the letters he wrote for his imprisoned wife, Mokra Order soldiers appear and demand entry. Caylem and Janeway escape the shelter together before the soldiers break in.

Act Three

Together, Caylem and Janeway are in public with Janeway leading them to Darod, the crew's contact in the Alsaurian resistance movement, hoping to contact her ship. He's not in his building, but is traveling from the opposite end of the plaza. Augris has a team in the area searching for Janeway. He almost takes Darod into custody when Caylem rushes out and dons a character of a mentally ill person. He immediately amuses everyone there with his antics and distracts the guards from the resistance member who manages to sneak away. Augris and his team leave, having humiliated him. He doesn't care, since he's achieved his objective. Janeway is impressed and quickly gets him back into the shadow.

Meanwhile, Torres tries to inspect the cell further, but hears Tuvok scream under the torture. On the Voyager, Neelix reports what he's learned. The prison's location and the fact that it's surrounded by metaphasic shields. Unfortunately, the detention center is underground and sensors can't penetrate it. Chakotay deems transporting in too dangerous and tasks Kim with finding another way in.

Janeway makes contact with Darod, but he says his communications equipment has been confiscated. He does confirm Neelix made it back to the ship with the tellerium. Janeway is intent on rescuing her team and asks for weapons. He balks at the idea, but says he has connections to an arms dealer. The resistance member suggests trading the necklace Caylem gave Janeway in exchange. She is reluctant, but Caylem encourages her to make the trade.

Act Four

Janeway gets worried when the arms dealer is over three hours late for their meeting. When he finally appears Janeway is about to approach him but at the last second notices he is wearing shiny military boots. Suspecting a trap, Janeway walks away. Caylem is impressed with her cleverness, but Janeway needs to find a different way to get in. Seeing two women walk by, she gets an idea.

In the prison, Tuvok is returned to the prison cell with Torres, having been obviously tortured. While Vulcans can block out pain to a certain extent, he explains, this ability is limited. Torres wants to fight back and try to escape, but Tuvok cautions that physical resistance is ineffective in their current situation and they can best resist by refusing to give information. A sound gets Torres' attention, and she sees that Darod has been taken prisoner.

Janeway comes up with another idea to infiltrate the prison. Affecting the demeanor of a prostitute, she entices one of the soldiers, who drops his guard and is promptly struck over the head by Caylem. Janeway takes the guard's phaser and Caylem his knife. Janeway decides to separate from Caylem, and quickly drops a force field but activates it again so he cannot follow.

Aboard Voyager, Ensign Kim comes up with a means of tricking the sensor net by sending out dozens of radion beams from the ship's main deflector; one of these beams would carry the transporter signal of the rescue team, but it would be difficult to determine (and thus to stop) the "real" beam. Upon firing the first volley of radions however, the ship comes under fire from the ion cannons on the surface, which knock the main deflector offline. Augris hails them and gives the crew two minutes to leave before opening fire with the 85 ground-based phased ion cannons on the planet.

Act Five

Janeway is moving about successfully toward the cells. She destroys a power conduit, releasing the force fields. Torres, Tuvok and Darod take the chance and escape their cells, with one of the guard's weapons. On Voyager, Kim detects a disruption in the shields around the prison. Taking this turn of fortune as a good sign, Lieutenant Paris offers to lead the away team down to make a surgical strike to recover the Captain and the other crewmembers. Commander Chakotay agrees but informs Paris that they might not be able to wait for long after the transport. After beaming Paris' rescue team to the surface, Voyager comes under heavy fire again, and are about to withdraw when Ensign Kim discovers a magnetic storm over the northern magnetic pole which scatters the sensors of the orbital sensor net, and enables Voyager to hide a little longer.

Back on the surface Janeway, Caylem, and Darod find Tuvok and Torres in one of the prison passageways but wind up being captured. Augris tells Janeway and the resistance members that Caylem had made other efforts to infiltrate the prison to rescue his wife... who had been dead for twelve years. They had been letting him go as a show of the futility of challenging the Mokra Order. Augris also tells Caylem that his daughter was killed, and tells him his foolishness has condemned another innocent woman. He orders the others taken back for questioning with the exception of Janeway whom he wants to interrogate himself.

In a rage, Caylem leaps at Augris and they get into a struggle. The others take this opportunity to attack the guards. With a intense firefight that ensues Caylem stabs Augris to death with his own knife but was hit by a disruptor shot from one of the soldiers. As he lays dying in Janeway's arms, she accepts the role of his daughter and tells him she and her mother forgive him, and that his wife enjoyed reading his letters. Caylem's last words to his "daughter" are "My sweet girl" before he passes away content. Darod says that his actions will not be forgotten before the away team was brought back by Paris' rescue team.

Back on Voyager, Ensign Kim gives the somber looking captain a status report on the warp drive and main deflector in her ready room. After asking about her welfare, she thanks him and he leaves, she picks up the necklace that Caylem gave to her and holds it tightly, with tears welling up in her eyes, recognizing how much Caylem loved his family.

Memorable quotes

"Shh, shh. Don't worry. Everything's all right now. My little girl is home."

- Caylem, to Janeway



"Vulcans are capable of suppressing certain levels of physical pain. Beyond that, we must simply endure the experience."

- Tuvok, to Torres after being tortured



"Caylem!"

"Ralkana. He said you'd been shot."

"He was lying to you, father. I'm all right."

"And your mother?"

"Fine. She was so happy to get your letters. She wants me to tell you something. She forgives you. We both do."

- Janeway, assuming the role of his daughter to soothe the dying Caylem

Background information

Production history

Story and script

Cast and characters

Production

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Continuity

Reception and aftermath

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Also starring

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And

Special guest star

Uncredited co-stars

Stunt doubles

Jay Caputo as stunt double for Joel Grey

Lynn Salvatori as stunt double for Kate Mulgrew

Stand-ins

References

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