DIRECTED BY
AIRED ON
November 10, 1999
RUNTIME
44 minutes
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193
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2024-09-13 18:17:56
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SUMMARY
Stardate: Unknown. The ship is placed in danger when it comes under attack from a territorial race of aliens known as the Turei. While sheltering on a planet, Captain Janeway tries to make an alliance with its inhabitants, the Vaadwaur. However, she soon begins to think that the Vaadwaur may pose a bigger threat than the enemy above.
STORY
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REVIEWS
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Written by
Pike on 2018-03-28
★
★
★
★
This episode was directed by Quentin Tarantino. The result is not as extreme as you would imagine, knowing the director's filmography. This is still ER, with the characters acting the same way and the cinematography being the same. The changes are subtle. For instance, there are a couple of nice close-ups, some characters are wearing shades, etc. But overall, he didn't take huge risks with the series, which is something I would have hoped, knowing he would direct an episode.
SUMMARY
An excellent episode, directed by Quentin Tarantino himself. I give it 7 out of 10. Excellent.
TRANSCRIPT
[Vaadwaur cave - stasis chamber]
(A city is under aerial bombardment. Below ground, a female with a tall ridge along the top of her head and a very pointed chin is dodging falling rocks.)
JISA: Gedrin! Gedrin! What happened? I lost you.
(She finally runs into a male.)
GEDRIN: Thirty seven bio-pods were damaged. I had to disconnect them from the reactor.
JISA: Were they dead?
GEDRIN: I had no choice. The main power's holding. The rest of the bio-pods are secure. That leaves us. Don't look so worried. It'll be like a simple night's sleep. We're out of time.
(Jisa gets into a bio-pod.)
JISA: Do you think we'll dream?
GEDRIN: I don't know. We'll get through this.
JISA: What if there's nothing left?
GEDRIN: We'll start again. Five years.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Report.
KIM: We've entered some kind of a subspace corridor.
PARIS: We were cruising at warp six then, wham, this thing pulled at our warp field like a magnet.
JANEWAY: Where did that debris come from?
TUVOK: Unknown, but the corridor is filled with it. Metal fragments, plasma exhaust, organic residue.
SEVEN: Some of the debris is over eight hundred years old, Captain.
JANEWAY: I'd like to avoid becoming part of this garbage stream. Can you find a way out?
PARIS: I don't now. There's hundreds of corridors. It's like a maze.
JANEWAY: Well, be a good rat and find us the cheese, hmm?
PARIS: I'll do my best, Captain.
(An object with two glowing points of light is also travelling in the corridor. They overtake it very rapidly.)
CHAKOTAY: Tuvok?
TUVOK: It was a vessel, sir. They are hailing us.
JANEWAY: Put it through.
(It is a pale alien with lots of elaborate bony bits around its face.)
TUREI [on viewscreen]: Who are you?
JANEWAY: I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager. And you are?
TUREI [on viewscreen]: This underspace belongs to us.
JANEWAY: We're here by accident. We're trying to find a way out. Can you help us?
TUREI [on viewscreen]: Help you? Yes, we'll help you.
TUVOK: They are targeting our shields with a resonance pulse. It's altering the harmonics. We're being pushed out of the corridor.
PARIS: We're clear.
TUVOK: The vessel has exited the corridor as well.
PARIS: Captain, we're over two hundred light years from where we entered the corridor.
KIM: Two hundred light years in five minutes?
JANEWAY: Hail them. Thank you for your help. There's something I'd like to ask you. We've got a long journey ahead of us and I was wondering if we could negotiate passage through this underspace of yours.
TUREI [on viewscreen]: Lower your shields. Prepare to be boarded.
CHAKOTAY: Boarded? For what reason?
TUREI [on viewscreen]: We must purge your computer. Remove all readings you've gathered in our territory.
JANEWAY: We pose no threat to you. We're simply trying
TUREI [on viewscreen]: We're going to destroy that information, one way or another. Lower your shields.
JANEWAY: I won't do that.
(Transmission ends, and Turei starts firing at Voyager.)
JANEWAY: Evasive manoeuvres. Try to disable them.
TUVOK: Their vessel is highly manoeuvrable. It's difficult to get a phaser lock.
KIM: Picking up two more ships heading our way .
PARIS: Direct hit. Our warp drive is offline.
TUVOK: Shields down to eighty two percent. Sixty percent.
PARIS: They're closing.
CHAKOTAY: We could use some clever suggestions about now.
SEVEN: There's a planet eight million kilometres ahead, uninhabited. But the atmosphere is charged with radiogenic particles.
CHAKOTAY: How radiogenic?
SEVEN: Three thousand isorems.
CHAKOTAY: If we route enough power to the shields we can survive in that, but maybe our friends can't.
TUVOK: Shields at fifty three percent.
JANEWAY: Do it.
PARIS: Entering the thermosphere.
KIM: Radiation levels at three thousand isorems and climbing.
CHAKOTAY: The alien ships?
TUVOK: In pursuit and charging weapons.
JANEWAY: Increase our descent vector.
PARIS: They're still closing.
TUVOK: Direct hit to our aft shields.
JANEWAY: Find the highest concentration of radiation, and take us through it.
KIM: Proximity radiation at four thousand isorems. Five thousand. Six.
TUVOK: Their shields are weakening. They're breaking off.
JANEWAY: Now, all we need is a place to set down and make repairs. Tom?
PARIS: We're clearing the lower stratosphere.
JANEWAY: On screen.
(They see the ruined city.)
CHAKOTAY: I thought you said this planet was uninhabited.
KIM: Radiation must have interfered with my scans.
PARIS: I doubt it's inhabited anymore. Looks like this planet's in the middle of a nuclear winter.
TUVOK: Agreed. Gamma radiation levels are highly toxic. The impact crater suggests an orbital bombardment.
JANEWAY: How long ago?
KIM: From the rate of radiogenic decay, eight hundred ninety two years.
JANEWAY: This must have been a city of millions. Set us down.
(Paris obeys. Voyager lands in the middle of the ruins.)
PARIS: Disengaging engines.
JANEWAY: Stand down red alert. Assign damage repair teams, And Tom, make sure B'Elanna has enough help in Engineering. I want those warp engines back online.
PARIS: Yes, ma'am.
TUVOK: Our friends are still in orbit.
CHAKOTAY: Circling like vultures.
JANEWAY: Well, they're going to go hungry.
CHAKOTAY: Not if they find a way to adapt their shields and come down after us.
KIM: Captain, I'm detecting faint life signs coming from a chamber several hundred metres beneath the surface.
JANEWAY: Survivors?
CHAKOTAY: After nine hundred years?
JANEWAY: Oversee the repair teams.
CHAKOTAY: You're going down there?
JANEWAY: If somebody survived this catastrophe they might need our help. Get a good fix on those coordinates. I don't want to beam into solid rock. Seven, Tuvok, You're with me.
[Vaadwaur cave - stasis chamber]
JANEWAY: These walls have been reinforced with tritonium. They built this place to last.
TUVOK: Most of the power relays are still active.
JANEWAY: Not bad after nine centuries.
SEVEN: The main reactor is drawing energy from the planet's geothermal core. Efficient.
TUVOK: Some kind of stasis pod.
SEVEN: This display indicates that there are more chambers behind these walls. Some of them have failed.
JANEWAY: It's amazing they survived at all. Let's see what else we can find.
(Seven looks at Gedrin asleep in his bio-pod, then goes to its controls. She taps at the alien symbols, and the pod opens.)
JANEWAY: Seven, what are you doing?
SEVEN: I've activated the reanimation sequence. He may be able to provide us with answers.
TUVOK: We don't know anything about this species. They could be hostile.
SEVEN: Most humanoid cultures are.
JANEWAY: Remind me to reacquaint you with away mission protocols.
(Gedrin wakes as Janeway is scanning him. She puts her tricorder away and gets out her phaser.)
GEDRIN: Who
JANEWAY: It's all right. We're not your enemy. We're from a starship. We discovered this chamber and revived you.
GEDRIN: How long was I
JANEWAY: In stasis? Close to nine hundred years.
GEDRIN: Nine hundred? Jisa. Help her, please.
(Seven goes to the other bio-pod and activates it. Gedrin totters over and gazes at a dessicated corpse.)
GEDRIN: No, Jisa. She was my wife.
[Sickbay]
(Gedrin sits up suddenly on a biobed.)
EMH: I won't hurt you.
GEDRIN: I was drifting in and out of consciousness when they brought me here, but I thought I saw you appear out of thin air.
EMH: I'm a computer programme. A hologram.
GEDRIN: And the others?
(Janeway and Seven enter.)
EMH: Flesh and blood, like yourself.
GEDRIN: You're the ones that took me out of stasis. I don't recognise your species.
JANEWAY: Human. Our home planet is halfway across the galaxy.
GEDRIN: And you've expanded your territory into this space?
JANEWAY: Our ship was brought here by accident. We're trying to get home.
GEDRIN: You're Borg.
SEVEN: How do you know that?
GEDRIN: Don't you recognise my people? The Vaadwaur?
SEVEN: The Collective's memory from nine hundred years ago is fragmentary.
GEDRIN: I've had many encounters with your kind.
EMH: And lived to tell about them? Impressive.
GEDRIN: How did you find us?
JANEWAY: We needed someplace to hide from the Turei after they found us in one of their subspace corridors.
GEDRIN: Their corridors?
JANEWAY: So they claimed.
GEDRIN: The corridors were ours. It took centuries to map them. We were the envy of a hundred species, including the Turei.
JANEWAY: Are they responsible for what happened to your planet?
GEDRIN: The Turei, and a dozen others. What one couldn't accomplish the others finally did. I would like to look at what's left of my world.
[Mess hall]
GEDRIN: We made our final stand there.
JANEWAY: I've scanned the cavern. You've got a thousand more stasis pods down there, most of them still active. Hundreds of ships, land vehicles, weapons.
GEDRIN: A single battalion, and their families. We had planned to come out of stasis after five years. We believed that by then, the Alliance would have been at each other's throats.
JANEWAY: You were going to rebuild?
GEDRIN: No, not here. We knew this planet would be poisoned for centuries. We were planning to go to another world, start a colony, hope to find new allies, learn from them.
JANEWAY: Your power core is still functioning. It was the controls that were damaged in the attack. That's why you never came out of stasis.
GEDRIN: Jisa and I lived there in the old quarter. We had a garden overlooking the street below. It's a shame she didn't show more courage at the end.
JANEWAY: Given the circumstances
GEDRIN: That's no excuse.
JANEWAY: Pardon me for saying this, but that seems a bit heartless.
GEDRIN: When it rains, do you run from doorway to doorway trying to stay dry, getting wet all the while. Or do you just accept the fact that it's raining, and walk with dignity?
JANEWAY: Rain's one thing. Plasma bombs are something else.
GEDRIN: But the principle is the same.
JANEWAY: I'd bring an umbrella.
GEDRIN: Maybe it's not too late to meet a new ally and learn from her.
NEELIX: I took the liberty of preparing a large assortment of Delta Quadrant dishes. Hopefully, there's something here that you'll like.
GEDRIN: You're Talax-ilzay.
NEELIX: Talaxian, but you're right. My ancestors referred to themselves as Talax-ilzay in the old tongue.
GEDRIN: The old tongue was new when I met your race.
JANEWAY: You travelled all the way to Talaxia?
GEDRIN: And farther. Our corridors took us to many worlds. I'm curious. Have you heard of us, the Vaadwaur?
NEELIX: Oh, I'm afraid there aren't many records from that period, but vaadwaur is a word in the old tongue. It means foolish.
I'm sure that it's just a coincidence, of course. I didn't mean to be rude.
GEDRIN: Your ancestors were wise. Only fools would let this happen to them.
(A missile hits the surface and explodes.)
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Chakotay to Captain Janeway.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Looks like our friends in orbit have found us.
JANEWAY: We're on our way.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Report.
CHAKOTAY: Six Turei vessels are in orbit, all firing plasma charges.
TUVOK: That was two thousand metres to starboard.
KIM: Looks like they can't get an exact fix on our position. The radiogenic atmosphere must be disrupting their targeting.
TUVOK: Nine hundred metres.
PARIS: They're getting closer.
CHAKOTAY: We have the same problem. Our torpedoes won't lock on.
TUVOK: Direct hit. Aft shields down to eighteen percent.
GEDRIN: Captain? Can you transmit a signal through this atmosphere?
JANEWAY: We've already tried talking to them.
GEDRIN: I have no intention of speaking with the Turei. We put a sentry satellite in orbit directly above the city. You could use its sensors to help guide your torpedoes.
TUVOK: It's there. Intact and functional.
GEDRIN: Open a channel. I'll give you the activation code.
(Gedrin does not understand Starfleet consoles.)
GEDRIN: I'm a few centuries out of date.
KIM: You can enter the activation code here. It's processing our telemetry.
JANEWAY: Triangulate. Fire.
TUVOK: Direct hit. The lead ship has lost shields. Its propulsion is down.
GEDRIN: One more torpedo will finish them.
CHAKOTAY: The other ships are retreating.
GEDRIN: Captain, why don't you keep firing?
JANEWAY: We scared them off. That's enough for now.
GEDRIN: But they'll come back with twice as many ships.
JANEWAY: With any luck, our warp drive will be back online by then.
GEDRIN: The Turei may be cowards, but their technology has become much more advanced than ours. If you leave us, we will be slaughtered again.
CHAKOTAY: What do you propose?
GEDRIN: Help us off this planet, and we will show you subspace corridors known to nobody else. You will be free from the Turei, and you will be a thousand light years closer to your home.
JANEWAY: Let's wake up your battalion.
[Vaadwaur cave - central chamber]
(They look down at the ships in the chamber as the lights go on.)
CHAKOTAY: Dragon's teeth.
JANEWAY: Dragon's teeth?
CHAKOTAY: An old Greek myth. After a dragon was killed in a war, its teeth were spread out over the battlefield. They took root and warriors sprung from the ground to continue the fighting.
Captain's log, supplemental. We've revived nearly two hundred of the Vaadwaur and we're moving forward with our unexpected alliance.
[Astrometrics lab]
TUVOK: Voyager was pulled into the corridor two hundred light years from here.
GAUL: Pulled in?
MORIN: There must have been a break along the radial wall.
GEDRIN: The corridors occur naturally, but they're very unstable. They're damaged by use.
GAUL: Obviously the Turei don't have the wisdom to maintain them properly. They'll be very difficult to navigate after centuries of neglect.
TUVOK: We've only been able to chart a few of the corridors. Can you provide us with a more complete map?
MORIN: We've never kept written records, for security reasons. Of course, we've committed all the corridors to memory. Every multifold, every spatial intersect.
GAUL: We'd be happy to plot a course for you but first, we'll need to get past the Turei, How many vessels are in orbit?
SEVEN: Eleven.
JANEWAY: Mister Gaul, Tuvok, start working on a tactical plan.
GEDRIN: If we do manage to escape, we'll need to locate a habitable world.
JANEWAY: Seven, scan the Astrometric database. See what you can find. Someplace out of the way.
GEDRIN: Morin, take charge of reviving the rest of our battalion.
MORIN: Many of our bio-pods have been damaged. I could use some assistance.
JANEWAY: Our Chief Engineer will be glad to give you a hand.
MORIN: Thank you.
JANEWAY: Well, let's get started. We've got a civilisation to rebuild.
[Naomi's bedroom]
(Naomi is playing with a hand puppet.)
NEELIX: No story tonight, Naomi. I had to cook for two hundred people today.
NAOMI: That's okay. I'm tired, too.
NEELIX: Did you get a chance to meet any of the children?
NAOMI: I don't like them.
NEELIX: Why not?
NAOMI: I just don't.
NEELIX: Well, that's not good enough. I'm the ship's ambassador, you're the Captain's assistant. We have to make a good impression on our new friends.
NAOMI: They're not my friends.
NEELIX: Well, not yet. Listen. First thing tomorrow, you and I will get together with a couple of the children.
NAOMI: No.
NEELIX: Naomi, what's wrong?
NAOMI: Nothing. I don't like them and I don't want to play with them.
NEELIX: That doesn't sound like you. Tell me what happened.
NAOMI: They called you names.
NEELIX: Names?
NAOMI: They said everybody from your planet was stupid. They said your ears were funny. They said just looking at you made them laugh. They said
NEELIX: I, I, I get the idea. Children can be a little cruel sometimes, but there's no need to take it personally. Besides, my ears are kind of funny.
NAOMI: I don't want to play with them.
NEELIX: No. And you don't have to.
NAOMI: Okay.
NEELIX: Come on.
(Naomi gets into bed.)
NEELIX: Goodnight. I'll tell you a story tomorrow, I promise.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
TORRES: I'm not happy with these fluctuations. We may be trying to reactivate too many ships at once.
MORIN: I suggest we focus on the assault fighters. Qual tel k'pok.
TORRES: Thanks. When did you learn Klingon?
MORIN: Just a few phrases. I was studying your database. The Klingons are a noble race.
TORRES: They have their moments.
MORIN: Today is a good day to die.
TORRES: Pardon?
MORIN: Kahless, your greatest warrior. That was his battle cry.
TORRES: You seem to have taken an interest in Klingon history.
MORIN: There are many parallels between our cultures. The Vaadwaur have also learned to embrace death without fear. As children, we're taught to fall asleep each night imagining a different way to die.
TORRES: I prefer curling up with a good book.
[Mess hall]
NEELIX: Computer, access my personal database.
COMPUTER: Access established.
NEELIX: Go into the Talaxian linguistic files, Old Tongue dialect. Find and define the word Vaadwaur.
COMPUTER: Vaadwaur. Archaic adjective. Primary meaning, Foolish. Additional meanings, Weak-minded, reckless, blind.
NEELIX: What's the first known usage?
COMPUTER: First written example appears in Eldaxon's Collected Folklore, second edition. Year of publication, 5012, new calendar.
NEELIX: Computer, name the specific folktales that use the word vaadwaur.
COMPUTER: The Demon with the Golden Voice. The Tale of the Deadly Stranger. The Tale of the Boy who Lost his Head. The Tale of the Bloody Hand.
NEELIX: Not exactly Mother Goose. Computer, transfer the text of those stories to my quarters.
COMPUTER: Transfer complete.
[Astrometrics lab]
GEDRIN: That star cluster in grid fourteen twenty one? Nearly half the planets are inhabitable.
SEVEN: Unfortunately they are already occupied. By the Borg.
GEDRIN: The Borg? In my century they'd only assimilated a handful of systems. It looks like they've spread through the quadrant like a plague. No offence.
SEVEN: None taken.
GEDRIN: We had a colony near the twin star in grid three one five.
SEVEN: That is part of the Devore Imperium now.
GEDRIN: And who are they?
SEVEN: An authoritarian regime. They claim eleven systems across three sectors.
GEDRIN: I don't suppose they'd be willing to negotiate for a continent or two.
SEVEN: The Devore are intolerant of outsiders.
GEDRIN: It doesn't matter. We have nothing to negotiate with. Our technology is nine hundred years out of date.
SEVEN: Your pessimism is irrelevant. We will find a home for you.
GEDRIN: I hope you're right.
[Briefing room]
TUVOK: Sixteen Turei vessels are now in orbit. Long range sensors indicate five more on the way.
JANEWAY: I can understand that they want the odds in their favour, but isn't that overkill?
GAUL: They may have detected us. If they know their history, they'll come prepared.
JANEWAY: Nine hundred years is a long time to hold a grudge.
GAUL: The Turei would like nothing more than to find the rest of our subspace corridors. We can't allow that to happen.
TUVOK: Then I suggest we use the element of surprise. At oh six hundred, Voyager will leave the surface and engage the Turei ships in orbit. As we draw their fire, the more powerful Vaadwaur vessels will attack from multiple vectors. The rest of the Vaadwaur will break orbit from the opposite side of the planet and proceed to the subspace corridors. We'll rendezvous with them afterwards.
GAUL: What if Voyager is disabled? We'll be defenceless. If we armed my ships with your photon torpedoes
JANEWAY: I can't authorise that.
GAUL: Why?
JANEWAY: Starfleet protocols are very strict about the transfer of weapons.
GAUL: I'm not used to putting my life in someone else's hands.
JANEWAY: There are a lot of things you're going to have to get used to. We've faced enemies worse than the Turei. I'm confident we can handle them.
GAUL: I need those weapons.
JANEWAY: I'm sorry. The answer's no.
GAUL: If you want access to our corridors.
JANEWAY: We'll continue home through open space if we have to.
GAUL: All right, our lives are in your hands.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
(The leading Vaadwaur hold a secret meeting.)
GEDRIN: We found a planet in a nebula near the junction of corridors three nine and eight seven five. We'd be isolated and relatively safe.
GAUL: Relatively?
GEDRIN: I'm afraid the planet is somewhat harsh. There are no large bodies of water and the vegetation is sparse.
GAUL: This is absurd.
CREWMAN: Ensign, we need a power coupling over here, on the double.
(The Vaadwaur move away.)
GAUL: Our plan was to reoccupy one of our former colonies, gain allies, rebuild our forces, take back what was ours.
GEDRIN: Our former colonies are destroyed or occupied by species that are far more advanced than we are.
MORIN: Then we'll find a way to take them back.
GEDRIN: With what, a battalion of obsolete ships and outdated weapons?
GAUL: No, with Voyager. I've been studying their technology, the control systems, propulsion, weaponry. We could learn to operate the vessel ourselves.
GEDRIN: What are you saying?
GAUL: After they engage the Turei, they'll expect us to assist them. Instead, we'll attack. We'll put as many soldiers as we can onto Voyager and take it into the corridors.
GEDRIN: This is a mistake. If we fail, we'll lose everything.
GAUL: If you like, I can return you to your stasis pod. Inform the others.
[Astrometrics lab]
SEVEN: This is an M class planet in orbit of a type G star. We've located a subcontinent with edible vegetation and an underground water supply. Unfortunately, the region is subject to windstorms.
GEDRIN: Not exactly paradise.
SEVEN: You will adapt.
GEDRIN: Practical and to the point, just like my wife. She had a knack for cutting to the truth.
SEVEN: She must have been an efficient individual.
GEDRIN: To say the least. You would have enjoyed her company. You are not at all like the Borg I knew.
SEVEN: As a drone, I helped assimilate many civilisations. Now I have the opportunity to help reconstruct one. I find the experience gratifying.
GEDRIN: So do I. I'm curious. Has your crew ever considered finding a planet of their own? A place to settle down?
SEVEN: Captain Janeway is committed to getting Voyager back to Earth.
GEDRIN: That could take decades, and there are many dangers ahead.
SEVEN: We will adapt.
GEDRIN: I suppose you will.
NEELIX [OC]: Neelix to Seven of Nine.
SEVEN: Yes?
NEELIX [OC]: Could I see you in Cargo Bay two? It's important.
SEVEN: Acknowledged.
GEDRIN: I'm due for a final briefing with your Mister Tuvok.
SEVEN: I'll accompany you to the bridge.
[Cargo Bay two]
NEELIX: I'm sorry to bother you, but I've been doing some research on our new allies and I have found something very interesting. In dozens of the ancient folktales of my people, there's a common theme. They describe a phantom army that appears out of thin air, destroys entire colonies, and vanishes in the blink of an eye. Sound familiar?
SEVEN: The subspace corridors.
NEELIX: Exactly. Gedrin claims they've been using them as trade routes but I'm starting to wonder.
SEVEN: Your source material is folktales, Mister Neelix.
NEELIX: But many fables have a basis in reality. You've got the collective knowledge of thousands of species. You could cross-reference my findings. It'll only take a few minutes.
[Ready room]
(Janeway sips her coffee and the doorbell chimes.)
JANEWAY: Come in.
GEDRIN: You wanted to see me, Captain?
JANEWAY: Yes. I need a little history lesson.
GEDRIN: Can't it wait until after we've reached the corridors?
JANEWAY: I'm afraid not. I've just had a conversation with Mister Neelix and Seven of Nine. They've been poring through various databases and ha've come up with some surprising findings.
GEDRIN: Surprising?
JANEWAY: You told me the Vaadwaur were a culture of merchants and scientists who expanded their knowledge by using subspace corridors to travel to other worlds. You were the envy of hundreds of species, some of whom eventually wanted the corridors for themselves.
GEDRIN: Your point?
JANEWAY: Let me give you another version of events. The Vaadwaur were an aggressive culture who expanded their territory by using the corridors to attack other worlds, until some of those worlds banded together to defend themselves and put an end to the Vaadwaur threat once and for all. Would you care to set the record straight?
GEDRIN: That was nine hundred years ago.
JANEWAY: If we're going to be fighting side by side, I have to trust you. I need to be certain you don't have any ulterior motives.
GEDRIN: Our only motive is survival.
JANEWAY: If I were to take you at your word, the ancient Talaxians might call me vaadwaur. Foolish. That's what they came to call anyone who allowed themselves to be deceived by an enemy. There are hundreds of other references just like it.
GEDRIN: Both versions of our history are true. We did use the corridors to explore and, on occasion, expand our territory. But Captain, we have gone from a population of six billion to six hundred. Our weapons are archaic. Do you really think that we are prepared to declare war on the Delta Quadrant?
JANEWAY: Not yet, but right now it's Voyager I'm worried about. The Turei are going to be firing everything they've got at my ship. You might try to take advantage of that.
GEDRIN: What are you going to do, put us all back into stasis?
JANEWAY: We said we'd try to help you make a new start, and I want to keep that promise. But I can't ignore history, Mister Gedrin.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Make yourself comfortable, Mister Gedrin. Chakotay, I don't know whether to believe him or not. What I wouldn't give for a Betazoid about now.
CHAKOTAY: If Mister Neelix is right, we should be ready for anything. Their technology may be outdated, but it can still do a lot of damage.
JANEWAY: Agreed. Maintain a full security alert and have Tuvok keep a weapons lock on their primary reactor.
CHAKOTAY: Are we still proceeding at oh six hundred hours?
JANEWAY: Yes, but with a few modifications. What's Mister Gaul's location?
KIM: He's in the central chamber.
JANEWAY: Hail him.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: Captain, we've reactivated seventy three assault vessels. Our pilots are standing by.
JANEWAY: I need to inform you about a change of plan. I want you to deactivate the particle cannons on all but ten of your assault vessels. Then we'll proceed on schedule.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: I don't understand.
JANEWAY: Only ten of your ships are going to engage the Turei. The others will head directly for the subspace corridors. I see no reason for those to be armed.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: Something could go wrong. Why leave them defenceless?
JANEWAY: Voyager will defend them.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: What prompted this change?
JANEWAY: You haven't been completely honest about your past, and that makes me a little uncertain about the present.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: Gedrin.
GEDRIN: I suggest you listen to her.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: Request denied, Captain.
JANEWAY: It's not a request. You can call it an ultimatum if you like.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: Unacceptable.
JANEWAY: I'm going to leave this planet in one hour, with or without you.
GAUL [on viewscreen]: We did not spend nine hundred years in stasis to take orders from you.
[Vaadwaur cave - central chamber]
GAUL: Contact the battalion. Tell them to prepare for the attack.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: I don't know about the rest of you but I'm ready to get moving. What's our status?
PARIS: Impulse engines are online.
TUVOK: Shields at maximum. Weapons standing by.
JANEWAY: Tom, prepare to initiate the ascent sequence in
(The ground shakes.)
CHAKOTAY: Report!
KIM: Massive energy readings coming from the central chamber.
TUVOK: It's the Vaadwaur. They're launching the first wave of ships. Seventeen vessels have broken through the surface. They're at an altitude of two thousand metres and charging weapons.
PARIS: Ma'am, they're not ascending into orbit. They're heading straight for Voyager.
JANEWAY: Tom?
PARIS: Engaging thrusters. Initiating ascent sequence.
TUVOK: Vaadwaur ships approaching off our starboard bow.
JANEWAY: Target phasers, full spread.
PARIS: We're airborne.
CHAKOTAY: What altitude do we need on this planet, Tom, before we can go to warp?
PARIS: We'll have to clear the thermosphere. Two hundred and eighty kilometres at least.
TUVOK: Shields at ninety two percent.
JANEWAY: Phasers.
TUVOK: We've disabled four of their ships.
CHAKOTAY: They've launched another thirty nine vessels.
JANEWAY: Evasive manoeuvres.
PARIS: It's no use. They're closing on all sides.
KIM: Direct hit to the port thrusters.
PARIS: We're losing altitude.
JANEWAY: Reroute emergency power. We need to get into orbit.
TUVOK: Targeting sensors offline. Switching to manual.
JANEWAY: Harry, can you open a secure channel to the Turei ships in orbit?
KIM: Yes, ma'am, but that would give away our position. They could lock on with plasma charges.
JANEWAY: I think it's time we reacquaint a couple of old friends. Hail them.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
MORIN: Voyager's shields are weakening but they're gaining altitude again. They're approaching the thermosphere.
GAUL: Launch another squadron.
[Bridge]
PARIS: We've got nine more fighters on our tail.
TUVOK: Aft shields down to twenty percent.
KIM: Captain, the Turei are responding.
JANEWAY: Put them through.
TUREI [on viewscreen]: What do you want?
JANEWAY: I've got a proposition for you.
TUREI [on viewscreen]: No more talk. Prepare to be bordered.
JANEWAY: Tell me, have you been picking up weapons fire?
TUREI [on viewscreen]: We have detected some unusual energy signatures, yes.
JANEWAY: That's because we're under attack by the Vaadwaur.
TUREI [on viewscreen]: Impossible. They were destroyed centuries ago.
GEDRIN: Some of us have survived.
JANEWAY: They've got over two hundred ships. They said something about wanting their subspace corridors back. I suggest we join forces and try to neutralise the threat here and now. What's more important to you? Deleting the records of a Federation ship that means you no harm, or defending yourselves against hundreds of Vaadwaur fighters who are determined to invade your underspace? I suggest you pick your enemy.
TUREI: Our sensors can't penetrate the atmosphere. How can we fight an enemy we can't see?
CHAKOTAY: We have access to one of their surveillance satellites. We could use it to transmit their vital coordinates to you.
TUREI [on viewscreen]: If this is a deception
KIM: I'm having trouble establishing a link with the satellite. Our sensor array took heavy damage.
GEDRIN: I could access it from the underground control chamber. Transport me there. Not all of my people are stuck in the past, Captain.
JANEWAY: Tuvok, go with him.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
MORIN: We've impacted their hull. There are breaches in progress on two decks.
GAUL: They'll have to reroute power from their shields to seal them. They'll have no choice but to put down. Have our ground forces ready.
(Tuvok stuns a Vaadwaur in the control chamber, and Gedrin works a console.)
[Bridge]
KIM: We've lost impulse engines and navigation.
PARIS: Thrusters are failing. We're losing altitude.
JANEWAY: Tuvok, status. Tuvok?
KIM: I've lost the signal.
JANEWAY: All hands, this is the Captain. Initiate emergency landing procedures, and arm yourselves. If the Vaadwaur board this ship, we'll fight them hand to hand if we have to.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
MORIN: Once we've secured Voyager, execute the crew.
GAUL: Wait. We have hundreds of bio-pods still intact. Put them into stasis. In a few hundred years, maybe someone will be kind enough to revive them.
(Debris falls from the ceiling.)
GAUL: What is that?
MORIN: It's a plasma charge. It came from orbit. It's the Turei. They've isolated our location.
GAUL: How?
MORIN: One of the surveillances satellite has been activated.
GAUL: Shut it down.
[Vaadwaur caves - control chamber]
GEDRIN: They're blocking my commands. I'm rotating the carrier frequencies.
TUVOK: The chamber is destabilising. We must evacuate.
GEDRIN: Not yet. If we're going to succeed, I need to transmit the signatures of our fighters to the Turei. You go.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY: Six Vaadwaur ships were just destroyed by the Turei. The others are breaking off their attack.
JANEWAY: Impulse engines?
PARIS: Still offline.
JANEWAY: How about emergency power?
KIM: Barely enough for life support, Captain.
JANEWAY: Harry, the radiogenic particles in the atmosphere. Could we use them as a power source?
KIM: We'd have to modify the warp core's conversion matrix. It could take hours.
JANEWAY: What if we drew the particles directly into our plasma manifold?
PARIS: That would give us one hell of a boost.
KIM: It could also blow out every power relay on the ship.
JANEWAY: Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Open the forward nacelle ports and reverse the pressure gradient. Take in six hundred kilograms.
[Vaadwaur caves - central chamber]
(What is left of the ruined city is collapsing under the bombardment.)
VAADWAUR: The chamber's collapsing, sir.
GAUL: We'll take as many ships as we can. Try to reach the subspace corridor.
(Gedrin is crushed by falling rocks.)
[Bridge]
KIM: Particle concentration at three thousand parts per million.
JANEWAY: Release the manifold.
PARIS: Rerouting plasma to the power conduits. We have impulse.
JANEWAY: Take us up.
KIM: Thirteen power relays just blew out on deck six.
JANEWAY: Steady.
PARIS: We're crossing the thermosphere.
JANEWAY: Any sign of pursuit?
CHAKOTAY: None. Looks like the Vaadwaur have their hands full.
JANEWAY: Altitude?
PARIS: Two hundred and sixty kilometres, two hundred and seventy. We've cleared the thermosphere.
JANEWAY: Go to warp, Mister Paris.
PARIS: Yes, ma'am.
Captain's log, stardate 53167.9. After two days, there's been no sign of the Vaadwaur or the Turei. However, Seven of Nine has made an unsettling discovery.
[Ready room]
JANEWAY: How many ships?
SEVEN: Astrometrics scans detected fifty three ion signatures entering the corridors. All Vaadwaur.
JANEWAY: The underground chambers?
SEVEN: They were destroyed by the Turei bombardment. Captain, I believe I made an error in judgment.
JANEWAY: Oh?
SEVEN: By awakening Gedrin, I initiated a chain of events that nearly led to our destruction. I wanted to help revive a civilisation, not start a war.
JANEWAY: You thought you were acting out of compassion. I might have done the same thing. But that doesn't make it right, Seven. The repercussions of this could be catastrophic.
SEVEN: Their technology is nine centuries out of date. Their plans for conquest are irrelevant.
JANEWAY: They're a resourceful species, determined. They'll adapt. I doubt we've seen the last of them.
2024-09-13 18:17:56 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
