Synopsis:
An encounter with a strange nebula leaves Chakotay
brain-dead and the crew battling a powerful force that seems to
be taking over their minds.
An assault on a shuttlecraft manned by Tuvok and Chakotay
leaves both men injured and Chakotay apparently brain-dead. The
Doctor explains that something has drained all the bio-neural
energy from the First Officer's brain. The prognosis looks grim,
but Torres places a Native American medical wheel near
Chakotay's bed, in the hopes that it will help her friend
"find his way home" from his illness.
After Tuvok recovers, he reveals that they were attacked by
an unidentified ship that emerged from a dark matter nebula.
Janeway orders Voyager to head back to the nebula to
investigate, but before they reach it, the ship changes course.
The navigational computer implicates Paris, but he denies having
made the change. A short time later, Torres initiates a warp
core shutdown, but like Paris, she can't remember instigating
the actions. When the Doctor examines the pair, he discovers
that a strange brainwave pattern was superimposed on them during
the tampering incidents -- which could mean that an alien entity
momentarily seized control of their minds. As a precaution,
Janeway transfers the ship's command codes to a non-organic
source: the Doctor.
When Kes tells Janeway that she has been "sensing"
an alien presence on the ship, Tuvok suggests that he perform a
mind-meld with the Ocampan to help her focus her telepathic
abilities. But a short time later, the two are found unconscious,
the result of an energy discharge similar to the one that hit
the shuttle, according to Tuvok. A short time later, someone
disables the Doctor's program. With him out of the picture, the
command codes revert to Janeway, who decides to divide them
between herself and Tuvok. The unseen force tries to take over
Janeway, but the crew incapacitates her. It jumps to Kim, and
then Lieutenant Durst, before Tuvok finally stuns everyone on
the bridge.
A series of clues turns up in quick succession, all of which
imply that Tuvok has been lying to the crew. There was no ship
in the nebula, and Kes' injury now appears to have been the
result of a Vulcan nerve pinch. Under increasing suspicion,
Tuvok takes over command of the ship and orders it into the
nebula, where he says the Komar -- others of his kind -- await.
But before they can get there, something makes Torres eject the
ship's warp core. Since they now know that Tuvok, under the
control of the Komar, has been trying to bring them all to the
nebula all along, who has been acting against him, trying to
keep Voyager out? All signs seem to indicate that it is
Chakotay.
Realizing that the Komar want to extract their collective
neural energy, the crew manages to overpower the Vulcan at last.
The lifeform leaves his body to join the others of its kind in
the nebula. Voyager's crew needs to leave the area, but since
the possessed Tuvok plotted the course in, they are uncertain
how to get out of the nebula.
Down in Sickbay, Neelix is suddenly compelled to rearrange
the markers on Chakotay's medicine wheel. Janeway realizes that
it is a message from her First Officer, a map showing them the
correct course. They escape from the nebula just in time. Later,
the Doctor finds a way to reintegrate Chakotay's displaced
neural energy with his body and he revives at last, pleased that
he was able to help protect the crew, despite his disembodied
condition.
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Cast:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway™
Robert Beltran as Chakotay™
Roxann Biggs-Dawson as B'Elanna Torres™
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris™
Jennifer Lien as Kes™
Ethan Phillips as Neelix™
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok™
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim™
Guest Cast:
Brian Markinson as Durst
Michael Cumpsty as Lord Burleigh
Carolyn Seymour as Mrs. Templeton
Creative staff:
Director: Kim Friedman
Story By: Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
Teleplay By: Brannon Braga
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