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November 18, 1998
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46 minutes
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SUMMARY
Stardate: Unknown. In the future, Harry Kim attempts to correct a mistake he made 15 years earlier, which had resulted in the loss of Voyager during use of experimental engine technology.
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TRANSCRIPT
[Glacier surface]
(Two figures beam onto an ice planet wearing thermal suits. They pick their way carefully across the uneven snow-covered surface until the tricorder beeps.)
KIM: We're here!
(We pull back to see the faint details of Voyager's hull beneath the ice.)
KIM: The glacier fractures are stable.
CHAKOTAY: We're clear to beam inside.
TESSA [OC]: Acknowledged.
[Frozen Corridor]
KIM: Not exactly the way I remember it.
(They scrape ice off a wall display and attach a power supply.)
KIM: Power grid's been destroyed. Neural gel packs frozen solid. Decks nine through fourteen are now deck ten. They've been compacted.
CHAKOTAY: Looks like they hit the ice at full impulse. The EMH?
KIM: I'm trying to access Sickbay. The relays aren't responding. I'm losing the interface. Reset the power cell. Come on!
CHAKOTAY: Let's get moving. Keep an open comm. link.
[Frozen Bridge]
(Some emergency lighting is still flickering. There are frozen bodies in the frost on the decks and in the Jefferies tubes. Chakotay finds Janeway, but kneels next to Seven.)
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Tessa.
[Delta Flyer]
TESSA: Go ahead.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: I've found her. Lock on to the
[Frozen Bridge]
CHAKOTAY: Transporter relay and beam her to the lab.
TESSA [OC]: Stand by.
CHAKOTAY: Make it quick. This isn't exactly a happy reunion.
[Delta Flyer]
TESSA: I've got a lock.
[Frozen Sickbay]
(Kim coaxes the systems into life.)
EMH: Please state the nature of
KIM: Long time no see.
EMH: Ensign.
KIM: I go by Harry now. It's a long story. Where's your mobile emitter?
EMH: What's happened to the ship? The crew?
KIM: No time. The emitter.
EMH: It's in here, but
KIM: Here. Slap it on. Ket's go.
EMH: Wait! I demand an explanation.
CHAKOTAY: I'll give you one. We're here to change history.
[2375 Engineering]
(All the crew is gathered and applauding. There are streamers and confetti, Torres carries a bottle of champagne, which she breaks against the railing around the warp core.)
JANEWAY: Ladies and gentlemen, please. May I introduce the next generation of instellar propulsion, the Quantum Slipstream Drive. Four years, two months, eleven days. That's precisely how long Voyager's been in the Delta Quadrant. During that time we've advanced the frontiers of exploration, and more importantly, we've survived. Now it's time to go home. Enjoy the celebration but keep in mind we've still got a lot of work to do before tomorrow's flight. Go easy on that champagne, Lieutenant.
(Strolling with Chakotay.)
JANEWAY: Quantum Matrix, benamite crystals, Borg technology. Can you imagine what Starfleet is going to say?
CHAKOTAY: I don't think we'll hear any complaints. The Federation's first Slipstream drive. They'll probably nominate us for the Cochrane Medal of Honour.
JANEWAY: I'll start working on my acceptance speech.
CHAKOTAY: I'd like to thank the Borg Collective.
JANEWAY: Dinner plans?
CHAKOTAY: Nothing special. Date with a replicator.
JANEWAY: Cancel it, that's an order.
CHAKOTAY: Aye, Captain.
NEELIX: Lieutenant. Lieutenant! Excuse me. My contribution to the Slipstream Drive.
TORRES: Thanks. What is it?
NEELIX: A Talaxian fur fly. An old spacefaring tradition among my people. If one of these creatures stowed away on your ship, it was a sign of good fortune. I had this little fellow preserved. He hung in my engine room for six years.
TORRES: Cute.
TUVOK: Mister Neelix, you are an unending source of astonishment.
NEELIX: Why, thank you, Mister Vulcan.
EMH: Seven?
(Seven is staring at the back of her hand.)
SEVEN: My visual processors and motor cortex. They are malfunctioning.
EMH: Sounds like a problem with your cortical implant. We'd better have a look. Hold still.
SEVEN: I cannot comply.
EMH: You're intoxicated.
SEVEN: Impossible.
EMH: Your blood synthehol level is point zero five percent. How many glasses of champagne did you consume?
SEVEN: One.
EMH: Obviously the Borg can't hold their liquor. Come to Sickbay. I'll give you some inaprovaline to counteract the effects.
SEVEN: I was simply trying to perfect my social skills as you instructed me to do.
EMH: And you're doing a fine job.
SEVEN: You have always been of enormous assistance to me, Doctor. You are my mentor.
EMH: Yes.
SEVEN: We are as one. We are as one.
KIM: Did you see that?
PARIS: Hmm?
KIM: I think our drone did a little too much celebrating. Speaking of which, when are you going to join the party?
PARIS: In a minute.
KIM: You're running a warp core diagnostic now?
PARIS: Harry, I think we built an Edsel.
KIM: A what?
PARIS: A lemon. A disaster waiting to happen! I ran a simulation last night and I discovered a point four two phase variance in the slipstream threshold.
KIM: Point four two? So it'll be a bumpy ride. We've flown through worse.
PARIS: If we get knocked out of that slipstream mid-flight it could overload the quantum matrix.
KIM: Did you tell the Captain?
PARIS: Not yet. Didn't want to spoil the festivities until I was sure.
KIM: Tom, if it'll make you feel better, we'll go to the holodeck right now, run a few more simulations. It's probably just a sensor glitch.
[2375 Holodeck - Bridge]
PARIS: We're at full impulse.
KIM: Engaging Slipstream Drive. Quantum field is stable, deflector at maximum.
PARIS: Slipstream velocity in four, three, two. Power output is steady. Quantum field is holding.
KIM: Shields down to seventy three percent.
PARIS: Looking good. Keep that deflector aligned and we should be
KIM: We've got a phase variance. Point one, point two.
PARIS: Remodulate the deflector.
KIM: No effect. Point four.
PARIS: I'm shutting down the drive.
KIM: No, wait. I want to try to invert the Quantum field.
PARIS: It's no use, the slipstream is collapsing. Inertial dampers are offline.
COMPUTER: Warning. Hull breach on deck ten.
KIM: We're losing structural integrity.
PARIS: Computer, freeze programme!
KIM: One more time. I think if we reroute emergency power to the deflector a little earlier
PARIS: It won't help.
KIM: Computer, restart simulation at time index
PARIS: Computer, belay that order. It's no use, Harry.
KIM: We can't just give up.
PARIS: Twenty three simulations, twenty three catastrophes. This is no sensor glitch. We've got to tell them.
[2375 Engineering]
TORRES: That can't be right. We tested this engine molecule by molecule.
PARIS: I'm sorry, B'Elanna.
SEVEN: I wish to examine the results of the simulation.
PARIS: Holodeck two. Run them for yourself. That is, if you don't mind being vaporised a few dozen times.
CHAKOTAY: I looked at their findings, Captain. If we try to take that flight in the morning, we'll be in escape pods by afternoon.
TUVOK: It would appear we have no choice but to cancel it.
PARIS: Either that or, we can try it Harry's way.
JANEWAY: Ensign?
KIM: I've got an idea. It's tricky, but I think it could work. The trouble begins about seventeen seconds into the flight. The phase variance kicks in and the Slipstream becomes unstable. What we need is someone in a shuttle to ride the rapids in front of Voyager.
TORRES: Yes. They could map the threshold of the Slipstream as it's forming and send the phase corrections back to us. That is a great idea, Harry.
KIM: Now, here's the tricky part. The shuttle will only be a couple of seconds ahead of Voyager. That doesn't give auto-navigation much time to compensate.
JANEWAY: Tom?
PARIS: Couple of seconds?
KIM: We can do this, Captain. Put me on that shuttle. I'll get Voyager through the Slipstream. What choice do we have? Take the drive offline? Months of work for nothing?
TUVOK: We built a highly experimental piece of technology. There were bound to be setbacks.
KIM: The benamite crystals at the heart of this engine have already started to decay. It could take years to synthesise more. I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't do all this work just to be stopped by a point four two phase variance. No offence, Captain.
JANEWAY: None taken. All right, Mister Kim. You've convinced me. Prepare a flight plan and have it on my desk within the hour.
KIM: Yes, ma'am.
JANEWAY: I'll let you know what I decide.
[2375 Janeway's quarters]
(The table is set with candles and flowers. Soft piano music plays in the background.)
JANEWAY: Come in. Commander, I hope you've got an appetite.
CHAKOTAY: Famished, but I assumed you called me here to talk about the Slipstream flight.
JANEWAY: No reason to cancel our dinner plans. I've programmed a dish my grandmother used to make back on Earth. Vegetable biryani.
CHAKOTAY: Sounds delicious. I didn't know you could cook.
JANEWAY: Normally, I draw the line at a pot of coffee, but tonight is a special occasion.
CHAKOTAY: Oh?
JANEWAY: Our last night in the Delta Quadrant. I'd say that's special enough.
CHAKOTAY: You've made your decision.
JANEWAY: We launch tomorrow at oh eight hundred. You and Harry will take the Delta Flyer. Voyager will be right behind you.
CHAKOTAY: The crew will be pleased.
JANEWAY: You can give them the news yourself, after dessert. What about you, Chakotay? What do you think about my decision?
CHAKOTAY: I've analysed Harry's flight plan. The theory is sound, but there are just too many variables. If something goes wrong in that slipstream
JANEWAY: It could be our only chance to use the Quantum Drive.
CHAKOTAY: True, but if you showed this data to any Starfleet engineer, they'd think we were out of our minds. We can find another way home. We've waited this long.
JANEWAY: Long enough. We've waited long enough. I know it's a risk, probably our biggest one yet, but I'm willing to take it. Are you with me?
CHAKOTAY: Always.
JANEWAY: Speaking of risks. Are you ready to try some home cooking?
CHAKOTAY: I'll alert Sickbay.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
EMH: Fifteen years?
KIM: Give or take a few weeks.
EMH: Where are we?
CHAKOTAY: In the Takara sector, just outside the Alpha quadrant.
EMH: The crew?
KIM: Except for us, dead.
CHAKOTAY: We think Captain Janeway tried to make an emergency landing on this planet. The ship must have been too heavily damaged. They were all killed on impact.
KIM: They've been buried inside a glacier for the past fifteen years.
(Now they are taking off their thermal suits, we get a look at the older Kim and Chakotay. Chakotay's hair has long silver streaks at the temples. Kim has just a few strands of silver. Their hair styles are subtly different, too.)
EMH: You two were here, on the Delta Flyer, ahead of Voyager. You made it.
KIM: All the way back to Earth. We got home, Doc, and all it took was killing everyone we cared about.
CHAKOTAY: Harry!
EMH: Starfleet certainly took their time finding us.
KIM: Starfleet. Starfleet gave up their search for Voyager over nine years ago. We had to find you on our own.
EMH: Well, I don't know what to say except thank you. I suppose I'd have stayed in that deep freeze forever.
CHAKOTAY: We're not here to salvage your programme. We're here to prevent this disaster from ever happening.
KIM: You see Doc, fifteen years ago, I miscalculated the Slipstream threshold and transmitted the wrong phase corrections to Voyager. Boom! They were knocked out of the Slipstream and sent to an icy death. Thank you, Ensign Kim. But I've had a long time to rethink my mistake, and now I know how to fix it. So, we're going to send Voyager a new set of phase corrections.
EMH: Isn't it a little late for that?
CHAKOTAY: We've found a way to communicate with Voyager, in the past, just before the accident.
KIM: Better late than never.
EMH: A message back through time?
CHAKOTAY: Exactly.
EMH: How?
(Kim opens a stasis unit to reveal a defrosted Seven.)
EMH: I don't understand.
CHAKOTAY: One of her cranial implants is a transceiver designed to communicate with other drones.
EMH: That's right. It's called an interplexing beacon.
CHAKOTAY: We want you to extract the beacon and determine its translink frequency.
EMH: That shouldn't be a problem. She looks reasonably well-preserved.
CHAKOTAY: Good. That'll tell us where to send the message. Now the hard part. We need to know when to send it. Can you access Seven's chronometric node and pinpoint the exact moment her cybernetic implants disengaged from her organic systems?
EMH: Her time of death?
CHAKOTAY: Down to the millisecond, if possible.
EMH: I'll see what I can do.
KIM: I told you he'd come in handy.
EMH: You said you'd found a way to communicate with Seven in the past. How?
KIM: Behold. Salvage component three six six nine eight. A Borg temporal transmitter.
CHAKOTAY: Starfleet Intelligence found it in the wreckage of a Borg cube in the Beta Quadrant.
KIM: We stole it.
(Tessa enters.)
TESSA: Trouble. Long range sensors are picking up a Federation vessel.
CHAKOTAY: How much time do we have?
TESSA: I entered a low orbit and remodulated our shields, but it won't be long before they find us. Six hours if we're lucky.
EMH: Let me get this straight. You're fugitives?
KIM: The Galaxy's most wanted. We stole the Delta Flyer too, right out of a Federation shipyard. We're wanted on two counts of high treason and conspiracy to violate the Temporal Prime Directive.
EMH: Wonderful. Out of the icebox and into the fire.
CHAKOTAY: We don't have time for this. Get started.
EMH: Aye, sir.
CHAKOTAY: We still have to retrieve those sensor logs. Get ready.
(Tessa starts to put on a thermal suit.)
TESSA: Hello, Doctor.
EMH: Do I know you?
TESSA: No, but I feel like we're old friends. Tessa Omond.
EMH: Hello.
TESSA: It's an honour to finally meet Voyager's infamous EMH.
EMH: Infamous?
KIM: I've told her a few horror stories.
TESSA: Actually, they've always spoken very highly of you.
EMH: Ah ha. And how did you get involved with Bonnie and Clyde here?
TESSA: Oh, I've had an interest in Voyager for a long time.
KIM: They're having sex.
EMH: Pardon?
KIM: Chakotay and Tess. They're a couple, joined at the hip.
TESSA: The truth is, Doctor, I didn't want Chakotay or Harry to have to face this alone. I thought I could help.
CHAKOTAY: Ready?
KIM: Stay warm.
[2390 Frozen Bridge]
TESSA: These controls are a little clumsy. I thought you said this ship was state of the art.
CHAKOTAY: It was, at the time.
TESSA: I've located the sensor logs but, the computer is denying me access.
CHAKOTAY: My command codes should still carry some weight.
(He sits in his old chair, and pauses for a while.)
CHAKOTAY: Looks like there's an active file here.
JANEWAY [OC]: But should our luck run out, I'd like to say for the record that the crew Voyager acted distinction and valour.
TESSA: You okay?
CHAKOTAY: Yes. It's just the last time I was in this chair, they were all here. Alive.
TESSA: We're here to get them back.
CHAKOTAY: Can I see that tricorder?
(He puts it on the pop-up screen between the two chairs.)
CHAKOTAY: It's downloading. Give it a minute.
TESSA: I don't supposed we have time for a tour.
CHAKOTAY: Afraid not. Besides, I left my quarters a mess. In just a few hours, if all goes as planned, we'll have changed history. The past fifteen years erased. We don't have to do this.
TESSA: Now you tell me.
CHAKOTAY: I'm serious.
TESSA: So am I, and I have no intentions of backing out. Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY: Look at me. Last minute jitters, cold feet, I don't know what to call it. Ridiculous, isn't it? After all these years working toward this moment, and when it finally comes, all I can think about is losing you.
TESSA: Your heart has always been here, on Voyager. That'll never change. This is where you belong. And who knows, maybe we'll meet someday.
CHAKOTAY: But if we don't.
TESSA: Then I'll miss you all the same.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
(Kim is dictating a message.)
KIM: It means all of that has changed. You owe me one.
EMH: Mister Kim, your assistance please.
KIM: Got to go.
EMH: What was that all about?
KIM: Oh, nothing. Letter to a friend. How's it look?
EMH: No damage to the infrastructure, but I'll need an isoprobe.
KIM: Way ahead of you, Doc.
EMH: So what was it like, your homecoming?
KIM: Antimatter fireworks, long-winded dignitaries, a Vulcan children's choir. Oh, we got medals pinned to our tunics. Chakotay gave a speech commemorating the Voyager crew. Brought a tear to everyone's eye. Admiral McIntyre even wanted me to marry his daughter.
EMH: At least you weren't buried under twenty metres of ice.
KIM: You don't know how many times I wished I was.
EMH: I suppose it must have been difficult, with all your friends and colleagues left behind.
KIM: Survivor guilt. Yeah, I heard a lot about that from the counsellors back at Headquarters. You must learn to accept the fact that you lived. Embrace life, move forward. I signed on at the first deep space vessel I could find. We tried to calculate where Voyager might have fallen out of the slipstream. Four years of searching. We were close, I could feel it! Then Starfleet Command said it was time to end the search. Low probability of success. All those admirals who shook my hand at the homecoming. I went to see every last one of them, begged them to keep the search alive. Pretty soon even Admiral McIntyre stopped returning my calls. So I resigned from Starfleet.
EMH: For the record, Seven's translink frequency is one zero eight point four four two three six zero zero zero.
KIM: Could be our lucky number. I'm encoding it now.
EMH: When did you embark on your life of crime?
KIM: The second I heard about this little gem.
(The temporal transmitter.)
EMH: Mister Kim, did you ever stop to think about what you're trying to do here? Altering the timeline may make things worse. At least you and Chakotay survived. Why tempt fate?
KIM: This timeline only exists because I made a mistake fifteen years ago. The crew trusted in me and I let them down.
COMPUTER: Tactical alert. Vessel approaching, bearing one eight four mark seven.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
KIM: They've found us. Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Go ahead.
KIM: Starfleet's on an intercept course. It's now or never.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: We're on our way.
KIM: If you're having doubts let me know. I'll take your programme offline. But if you're with us, we tempt fate together.
EMH: To aid an honourable thief, or to spend eternity in cybernetic oblivion. Let's tempt fate.
Captain's log, stardate 52143.6. With any luck, my next log entry will be made in the Alpha quadrant. But should our luck run out, I'd like to say for the record that the crew of Voyager acted with distinction and valour.
[2375 Delta Flyer]
(Chakotay is at the helm.)
CHAKOTAY: Shield generators?
KIM: Online.
CHAKOTAY: Plasma flow?
KIM: Stable.
CHAKOTAY: Comm. link?
KIM: Secure.
CHAKOTAY: Lunch.
KIM: Salami sandwiches.
CHAKOTAY: Feel up to this, Ensign?
KIM: Yes, sir.
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Voyager. We're ready.
[2375 Bridge]
JANEWAY: All hands, this is the Captain. Take your stations, secure all systems, and stand by for the jump to Slipstream.
SEVEN: I've established a telemetry link with the shuttle.
JANEWAY: Match their course and speed.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
TESSA: They're gaining on us. Two hundred thousand kilometres and closing. You call these evasive manoeuvres?
(Chakotay is the pilot here, too.)
CHAKOTAY: I'm doing my best. Harry, status!
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
KIM: The Borg transmitter's online but I'm still waiting for the Doctor to give me the temporal coordinates.
EMH: Just a few more minutes.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Speed it up. We've got a Galaxy class starship on our tail.
EMH: I'm working as fast as I can.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
TESSA: They're hailing us. You want to talk to them?
CHAKOTAY: Could buy us some time. Open a channel.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: This is Captain La Forge of the Starship Challenger. You seem to be in quite a hurry.
(Geordi is in a DS9 style uniform with an All Good Things comm.badge. He doesn't wear the VISOR any more, either.)
CHAKOTAY: You could say that.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: Why don't you shut down those impulse engines, drop your shields. Let's talk about this face-to-face.
CHAKOTAY: Mind if I take a rain check?
LAFORGE [on monitor]: As a matter of fact, I do. We know what you're about to attempt and we can't let that happen, so the Federation Council is willing to make you an offer. Hand over the Borg transmitter, stand down your vessel, and the charges of conspiracy will be dropped.
TESSA: That's not much of an offer. If we succeed, those charges will never have existed in the first place.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: If you succeed, countless lives will be affected.
CHAKOTAY: We're here to save one hundred and fifty lives. Our crew.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: I understand and I might be doing the same thing if I were in your position, but I've got my own crew to protect, not to mention fifteen years of history. So, I'm asking you again. Stand down, and return the transmitter.
CHAKOTAY: You know I can't do that.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: And you know I have to try to stop you.
CHAKOTAY: Yes, I know. Good luck.
LAFORGE [on monitor]: Same to you.
(Transmission ends. Whumph!)
TESSA: They're targeting our engines.
CHAKOTAY: Shields to full. Stand by weapons.
[2375 Bridge]
JANEWAY: Voyager to Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Yes, ma'am.
JANEWAY: Prepare to enter the Slipstream.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Acknowledged.
JANEWAY: Engage.
PARIS: Slipstream velocity in four, three, two.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
TESSA: Shields down to sixty two percent.
CHAKOTAY: Return fire.
TESSA: Direct hit. No effect on their shields. We're no match for them, Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY: Keep trying.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
KIM: I don't mean to be a pest, but we're losing power back here!
TESSA [OC]: Hold on.
[2390 Delta Flyer - bridge]
TESSA: We're switching to emergency back-up.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
KIM: Thank you. Doc, I need those temporal coordinates now!
EMH: Badgering me won't help.
[2375 Bridge]
SEVEN: I'm detecting a phase variance. Point one, point two.
JANEWAY: Helm?
PARIS: Still waiting for Harry.
SEVEN: Point three.
JANEWAY: Voyager to Delta Flyer. We need those corrections or we'll have to
[2375 Delta Flyer]
JANEWAY [OC]: Shut down the drive.
KIM: We're on it, Captain.
CHAKOTAY: The threshold is fluctuating.
KIM: Okay, I can do this. I'm compensating for the spatial gradients. Deflector geometry stable. Got it!
[2375 Bridge]
PARIS: I'm receiving the phase corrections.
SEVEN: The phase variance is decreasing.
TUVOK: Shields are holding
JANEWAY: Looks like we're on our way.
SEVEN: Phase variance is increasing. Point three. Point four.
JANEWAY: Harry, what's happening?
[2375 Delta Flyer]
JANEWAY [OC]: The phase variance is still increasing.
KIM: I'm not sure, Captain. It should be working.
JANEWAY [OC]: I need an answer, Harry. We're running out of time.
KIM: Let me try recalibrating the sensors.
[2375 Bridge]
KIM [OC]: I might be overcompensating for the variance in the
TUVOK: We've lost our comm. link.
PARIS: Telemetry's down too. The Slipstream's destabilising.
JANEWAY: Shut down the drive!
PARIS: I can't. There's some kind of overload in the Quantum Matrix. I've lost helm control.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
EMH: I have it. Her cybernetic systems were terminated on Stardate 52164.3. Borg time index: 9.43852. You're encoding the transmitter for time index 9.40? That's less than four minutes before Voyager was destroyed! Cutting it a little close, aren't we?
KIM: This is no ordinary phone call, Doc, We're talking to yesterday. Timing is everything. I want to make sure Seven of Nine gets the information at just the right moment. There. I'm bringing up the new phase corrections. This was where I failed fifteen years ago, Doc. This time will be different.
[2375 Bridge]
SEVEN: Captain, I am receiving a transmission.
JANEWAY: I thought you said the comm. link was down.
TUVOK: It is.
SEVEN: The signal is being routed through one of my cranial implants. It contains a new set of phase corrections.
JANEWAY: Does Harry know how to access your Borg systems?
SEVEN: No.
JANEWAY: He must have figured out a way. Enter the corrections.
SEVEN: They're not compensating for the phase variance. The Slipstream is collapsing.
JANEWAY: Full power to the deflector.
TUVOK: No effect.
PARIS: Our hull is buckling!
JANEWAY: Shields at maximum. Hold her steady, Tom.
PARIS: It's no use, we're losing attitude control. Inertial dampers offline!
JANEWAY: What about the Delta Flyer?
SEVEN: There is no sign of them. They must have remained in the Slipstream.
[2375 Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: Voyager's been thrown into normal space.
KIM: Alter our Slipstream course. We've got to go back.
CHAKOTAY: We can't. Even if they survived re-entry at this velocity, we wouldn't.
KIM: What are you saying? We've got to find them!
CHAKOTAY: Ensign, there's no choice.
(Kim slumps to the deck.)
[2375 Bridge]
PARIS: Captain, we're just a few parsecs from the Alpha quadrant.
JANEWAY: Not exactly how I wanted to cross the finish line.
TUVOK: Hull breach on decks five through ten. We're losing life support. If we don't land the ship, we're risking structural collapse.
PARIS: I'm reading a planet nine million kilometres ahead. It's class L.
JANEWAY: Do it. We're coming in too fast! Reverse thrusters. All hands, brace for impact!
(Voyager clips a mountain, then slams into the snow over the glacier. The hull digs in as they slide along.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
KIM: We're still here. Why are we still here?
EMH: Mister Kim?
KIM: The new phase corrections didn't work.
EMH: Are you certain?
KIM: If Voyager had gotten through safely, we wouldn't still be here trying to save them. The transmitter's functioning. Seven must have received our message. Chakotay, problems.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: I can see that.
TESSA: Our engines are down. They're locking onto us with a tractor beam.
CHAKOTAY: Full thrusters.
TESSA: No effect.
CHAKOTAY: Do we have enough power to send a plasma surge through their tractor beam, break ourselves free?
TESSA: I think so, but the EPS relays have taken heavy damage. It could destabilise the warp core.
CHAKOTAY: If you want to beam over to that ship, I'll understand.
TESSA: And let you have all the fun?
CHAKOTAY: Harry, we just bought you a few more minutes.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
KIM: Acknowledged.
EMH: I'm no time travel expert, but can't we just call Voyager again? The past isn't going anywhere.
KIM: That's not going to help if we don't know what to tell them. The Slipstream kinetics look right. Hyperdimensional progressions, perfect. Maybe it's the deflector geometry.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
TESSA: We're free.
CHAKOTAY: The EPS relays are overloading. Harry, we're looking at a possible core breach in less than three minutes. How's it
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Coming back there?
KIM: Great, just great! It took me ten years to make these corrections. I can't fix it in three minutes!
EMH: You've got to try.
KIM: I can't! It's not working. Why won't it work? I killed them!
EMH: Control yourself!
KIM: They trusted me, and I killed them!
EMH: Mister Kim! I didn't spend all those years in an ice bucket so I could listen to you berate yourself. If you want to wallow in self-pity, fine! Do it on your own time.
KIM: Don't you see? History's repeating itself! I destroyed Voyager once, and I'm doing it again!
EMH: Somebody has got to knuckle down and change history, and that somebody is you.
KIM: It can't be done, Doc. I told you.
EMH: No, you told me you can't correct their phase variance. All right, we have to accept that. But what about sending Voyager a warning? Is there a way to get them to abort the Slipstream flight?
KIM: Yes. Yes! I could send a phase correction which would disperse the Slipstream entirely.
EMH: If we can't get the crew home, at least we can save their lives.
[2390 Delta Flyer]
COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core breach in sixty seconds.
CHAKOTAY: Can you eject the core?
TESSA: No. Emergency systems are offline.
LAFORGE [OC]: La Forge to Delta Flyer. Our sensors are reading an overload in your warp matrix. Lower your shields. We'll beam you out of there.
CHAKOTAY: I appreciate the offer, Captain, but the answer's no. I suggest you get to a safe distance.
COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core breach in forty five seconds.
CHAKOTAY: Harry, now would be a good time.
[2390 Delta Flyer - lab]
EMH: Mister Kim.
KIM: It's losing power.
COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core breach in thirty seconds.
KIM: Your emitter. It's got its own power source.
EMH: Will it be enough?
KIM: It's our only chance. Glad you could join us, Doc.
EMH: It's been a pleasure.
(The EMH vanishes.)
COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core breach in fifteen seconds.
KIM: Chakotay, I'm giving this one more try.
COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core breach in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two.
(Chakotay and Tessa hold hands.)
KIM: Yes!
(The Delta Flyer goes KaBOOM!)
[Bridge]
SEVEN: Captain, I am receiving a transmission.
JANEWAY: I thought you said the comm. link was down.
TUVOK: It is.
SEVEN: The signal is being routed through one of my cranial implants. It contains a new set of phase corrections.
JANEWAY: Does Harry know how to access your Borg systems?
SEVEN: No.
JANEWAY: He must have figured out a way. Enter the corrections.
PARIS: Captain, the Quantum drive just went offline! We're dropping to impulse.
TUVOK: Captain, we've lost the Slipstream.
[Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: The Slipstream collapsed. We were thrown out right along with Voyager.
KIM: Our comm. system's back up.
[Bridge]
KIM [OC]: Delta Flyer to Voyager. What happened?
JANEWAY: You miscalculated, Harry. We entered the exact phase corrections you sent to Seven of Nine. They shut down the Quantum drive.
[Delta Flyer]
KIM: Captain, I didn't send any corrections to Seven of Nine.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: She received a message through one of her cranial implants. It wasn't you?
[Delta Flyer]
KIM: No, ma'am.
Captain's log, supplemental. Our Slipstream flight may have been brief, but it took nearly ten years off our journey. I've given the order to dismantle the Quantum Drive until the technology can be perfected. Despite the setback, we have a renewed sense of momentum. It no longer seems a question of if we get home, but when.
[Mess hall]
(Night. Kim is working at a desk computer when Janeway enters.)
JANEWAY: At ease. Am I interrupting?
KIM: No. I just came here to try to figure things out.
JANEWAY: Phase corrections.
KIM: The corrections I sent you were wrong. If you had used them, Voyager would have been heavily damaged, maybe even destroyed. What I can't figure out is who sent the other phase corrections to Seven of Nine.
JANEWAY: Looks like we've got a guardian angel.
KIM: Oh, I wish I could believe that.
JANEWAY: Believe it. His name is Harry Kim.
KIM: Captain?
JANEWAY: Seven found a Starfleet security code embedded in the transmission. Yours.
KIM: I'm telling you, I didn't send it.
JANEWAY: Not yet. The transmission had a temporal displacement. We believe it originated from the future. Ten, twenty years from now. We can't be sure.
KIM: Wait a second. If I sent a message from the future and changed the past, then that future would no longer exist, right? So, how could I have sent the message in the first place? Am I making any sense?
JANEWAY: My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple. Don't even try. To me, all that matters is that somewhere, somehow, sometime, you come through for us. And if you won't take it from me, take it from you. Seven found a log entry encoded in the telemetry. From Harry Kim, to Harry Kim.
(Janeway leaves.)
KIM [on monitor]: Hello, Harry. I don't have much time, so listen to me. Fifteen years ago, I made a mistake and one hundred and fifty people died. I've spent every day since then regretting that mistake, but if you're watching this right now, that means all of that has changed. You owe me one.
EMH [OC]: Mister Kim, your assistance please.
KIM [on monitor]: Got to go.
2024-09-13 17:56:54 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
