DIRECTED BY
AIRED ON
November 17, 1999
RUNTIME
44 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
192
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-13 18:18:13
PAGE VERSION
Version 1
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SUMMARY
Stardate: Unknown. Voyager searches for a long-lost Mars spacecraft.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
No trivia yet.
QUOTES
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TOPICS
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REVIEWS
Very good season finale
Written by
Pike on 2018-03-28
★
★
★
WEDDING
The episode is very good. At first, I thought that it was a horrible idea to have Carol's groom cancelling the wedding - the scene was really cliché. But the resolution of the friends eating and having fun was... well... fun!
SEASON RECAP
At the end of the first season, I can only say that this was clearly a very compelling start. While of course it is a soap opera, it is an interesting one.
SUMMARY
A very good season finale, except for the infamous wedding scene. I give it 6 out of 10.
TRANSCRIPT
October 19, 2032. Mars.
[Ares IV Command module]
KELLY: Ares Four to Kumagawa. How was the sunrise from down there?
(Kumagawa is a woman, Kelly is a negroid man. He is watching a monitor showing a couple in spacesuits with a rover down on the surface.)
KUMAGAWA [OC]: Beautiful. There was a little green mixed in today. It was really quite spectacular.
KELLY: Sorry I missed it.
KUMAGAWA [OC]: Next time, Lieutenant.
KELLY: Any luck drilling through that lava plain?
KUMAGAWA [OC]: Roger that. We broke through the iron oxide barrier and we're down to eight metres.
(Another man joins the conversation.)
NOVAKOVICH [OC]: We should have some samples by the end of the day if all goes well.
KELLY: On to more important matters. Received an uplink from Houston. The Yankees won game five of the World Series.
KUMAGAWA: You owe me twenty bucks.
KELLY: It's not over yet. There's still game six. We won't be the only ones making history today. Bokai just broke DiMaggio's record.
NOVAKOVICH [OC]: I don't believe it.
KELLY: If you ask me, Houston's been manipulating the stats.
KUMAGAWA [OC]: They do have a few too many Kings fans at mission control.
KELLY: Well, how else do you explain Bokai beating out the Yankee Clipper?
KUMAGAWA [OC]: Commander? We lost you for a second there.
KELLY: The ride got a little bumpy. Stand by. Picking up some turbulence.
NOVAKOVICH [OC]: At your altitude?
KELLY: Checking LIDAR. What the hell?
KUMAGAWA [OC]: John, what's going on?
KELLY: There's an object closing on my position, azimuth one twenty one point six. Whatever it is, it's huge. It's over a thousand metres across.
NOVAKOVICH [OC]: How could something that big appear out of nowhere?
KELLY: I don't know, but I'm getting out of its way. Firing thrusters.
KUMAGAWA [OC]: It's probably just a solar flare.
KELLY: Let's hope so.
(The object gets bigger.)
KELLY: It's no solar flare.
Stardate 53292.7.
[Chakotay's quarters]
(Chakotay is sitting reading a book when his doorbell chimes.)
CHAKOTAY: Come in. Come in!
(Chimes again and again. He looks out into the corridor. There is no one there.)
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to the bridge.
CREWMAN [OC]: This is transporter room two.
CHAKOTAY: I'm trying to reach the bridge.
CREWMAN [OC]: Your comm. signal was routed here, sir.
CHAKOTAY: Can you patch me through?
NEELIX [OC]: Pardon me. Where? Patch you through where?
(Various voices overlap.)
CHAKOTAY: Neelix?
NEELIX [OC]: Commander?
CREW [OC]: Check on the field generators.
WOMAN [OC]: Control seven, return to base at once.
JANEWAY [OC]: Computer, locate Neelix.
MAN [OC]: I can't get through to Engineering.
(It becomes incoherent babble. Chakotay goes to his door but they don't open. He steps back, and they do. After a couple of attemps, he picks his moment and jumps through before they shut again.)
[Engineering]
CHAKOTAY: I see you're making some changes to the computer core.
SEVEN: I have enhanced the command sequencers with Borg algorithms.
CHAKOTAY: Well, your enhancements are wreaking havoc with our secondary systems.
SEVEN: Insignificant malfunctions. I will correct them.
CHAKOTAY: I don't recall authorising any modifications.
SEVEN: The computer core is inefficient. It needed to be improved.
CHAKOTAY: I appreciate your initiative, but that's not up to you.
SEVEN: I've explained the value of these enhancements on several occasions, but Lieutenant Torres chose to ignore me. I thought a demonstration would be more persuasive.
CHAKOTAY: Well, I doubt this one's going to change her mind.
SEVEN: Clearly Voyager is not yet ready for assimilation. A joke. The doctor suggested that I defuse tense situations with humour.
CHAKOTAY: Good idea. Now how about getting these systems back up again so I can get back to my book.
SEVEN: We are experiencing a ship-wide power drain. This is unrelated to my modifications.
KIM [OC]: Senior officers to the bridge.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: It's two in the morning, Ensign. This better be more than a little turbulence.
KIM: You won't be disappointed. We've got level nine gravimetric distortions closing on our position.
TUVOK: They're emanating from subspace.
JANEWAY: On screen. Shields.
(The alien object from the teaser appears.)
PARIS: It's heading right toward us.
JANEWAY: Evasive manoeuvres.
CHAKOTAY: Captain.
JANEWAY: Say good morning to thirty million terajoules of subspace energy.
PARIS: This thing is following us. I can't outrun it at impulse.
JANEWAY: Go to warp.
PARIS: It's disrupting our warp field.
KIM: If it gets any closer the gravimetric stresses are going to rip the plating off our hull.
SEVEN: Captain, I recognise this phenomenon. It's Borg designation is spatial anomaly five two one. It's attracted to objects that emit electromagnetic energy. We have to cut power and reverse our shield polarity.
JANEWAY: Do it. (The object glides past Voyager.)
PARIS: That was close.
JANEWAY: I recognise this anomaly too. It's called a graviton ellipse. According to the Federation Database it travels through subspace, emerging occasionally without warning. Ellipses have only been observed a handful of times.
CHAKOTAY: Ares Four.
TUVOK: Commander?
CHAKOTAY: One of the early Mars missions. The Command module and its pilot were engulfed by a similar phenomenon back in 2032.
PARIS: I remember reading about that. Two astronauts were stranded on the surface for weeks before a rescue ship arrived.
CHAKOTAY: No one's gotten this close to a graviton ellipse and lived to tell about it. This could be a remarkable opportunity.
JANEWAY: Go to yellow alert. Keep our power output at minimum levels. Match it's course and speed but maintain a safe distance.
PARIS: Aye, Captain.
CHAKOTAY: I suggest we launch a probe. See if we can find out what makes this thing tick.
JANEWAY: Make it fast. There's no telling when our visitor's going to burrow back into subspace.
[Astrometrics lab]
SEVEN: I'm receiving telemetry from the probe. It appears to have entered a stable core within the anomaly. The gravimetric forces are negligible.
TUVOK: The eye of the storm.
SEVEN: An apt metaphor.
TUVOK: Computer, run a multispectral analysis of the anomaly's core.
COMPUTER: Analysis in progress.
SEVEN: The Borg developed shields to get through the gravimetric currents. They intended to dissipate the anomaly from within. Perhaps we should continue their efforts.
TUVOK: It would be short-sighted to destroy it. We should study the phenomenon.
SEVEN: I didn't realise you shared this crew's penchant for exploration.
TUVOK: I am a Starfleet officer.
SEVEN: When the risks outweigh the potential gain, exploration is illogical.
TUVOK: We can't predict what we might find here, Seven. One must allow for the unexpected discovery.
COMPUTER: Core analysis complete.
SEVEN: There are more that two point eight billion compounds in the core.
TUVOK: Fascinating.
SEVEN: The computer has isolated several synthetic compounds native to sector zero zero one.
TUVOK: Titanium and polymer composites. These materials date back to the twenty first century. They were used in the construction of Earth's early spacecraft.
SEVEN: Commander Chakotay mentioned a space capsule that was consumed by a graviton ellipse.
TUVOK: These alloys are consistent with the hull of that capsule. An unexpected discovery indeed.
[Briefing room]
TORRES: She was forty six metres, ninety two metric tons, powered by a third generation ion drive, and equipped with a transpectral imager.
CHAKOTAY: Ares Four was piloted by Lieutenant John Kelly. His ground team, astronauts Rose Kumagawa and Andrei Novakovich, were close to completing their survey mission when Kelly reported an object closing on his position. Then he and the command module disappeared off NASA's LIDAR scopes.
PARIS: And into the history books. That incident almost derailed the Mars programme.
TUVOK: Mankind's first encounter with a spatial anomaly.
CHAKOTAY: Seven, you said the Borg were working on a way to get inside a graviton ellipse.
SEVEN: Shield enhancements.
PARIS: Well, maybe we could apply the same enhancements to the Flyer.
SEVEN: Captain, do you intend to try to find the command module?
JANEWAY: Or what's left of it.
TUVOK: By my calculations, we have less than sixteen hours before the anomaly goes back into subspace.
JANEWAY: Then we have to work quickly. Harry, B'Elanna, help Seven modify the Flyer's shields. Tom, review the database from the Ares Four mission. It might tell us something about this anomaly we've missed. We're going to need a mission leader.
CHAKOTAY: I volunteer.
JANEWAY: I thought you might. Let's do it.
(Everyone gets up and leaves, except Seven.)
JANEWAY: Something on your mind, Seven?
SEVEN: The anomaly is as dangerous and unpredictable now as it was three hundred years ago.
JANEWAY: But the Delta Flyer's a little more advanced than the Ares Four was. We'll be taking every precaution.
SEVEN: That may not be enough.
JANEWAY: I appreciate your concern but, this is my call.
SEVEN: Searching for the command module seems more sentimental than scientific.
JANEWAY: I can't argue with that. If scientific knowledge was all we were after, then the Federation would have built a fleet of probes, not starships. Exploration is about seeing things with your own eyes. In this case, we're exploring the past.
SEVEN: How will retrieving this artefact enhance your appreciation of history?
JANEWAY: By making us part of it. In the same way that excavating the obelisks of ancient Vulcan, or finding the shroud of Kahless made those explorers a part of their history. Here's the crux of it. As a Borg, you didn't study the past, you ingested it. You've never really developed an appreciation for humanity's history. Maybe this is an opportunity to do some exploring of your own.
SEVEN: Are you ordering me to join this mission?
JANEWAY: Let's just say I'm encouraging you to volunteer.
[Astrometrics lab]
KELLY [on screen]: It's no solar flare. Wow!
KUMAGAWA [OC]: John, can you describe it?
KELLY [on screen]: It's at least a thousand metres wide. Bright.
NOVAKOVICH [OC]: Your transmission's breaking up.
KELLY [on screen]: It's generating an electromagnetic radiation, interfering with primary systems. I can't get away from it. Activating the transpectral imager. I'll record as much data as I can. It's right on top of me. I'll transmit as much as I can.
PARIS: That's all she wrote.
CHAKOTAY: NASA received Kelly's last telemetry at oh nine twenty two hours, October 19th, 2032.
PARIS: I thought I was the Mars buff. You seem to know more about the Ares Four than I do.
CHAKOTAY: The Mars missions paved the way for the exploration of space. Kelly was one of my childhood heroes.
PARIS: Mine too.
CHAKOTAY: That's dedication. The man's life is about to end, but he won't stop taking readings.
PARIS: Makes you wonder if those old-timers were made of sterner stuff than we are.
CHAKOTAY: You think we have it easy?
PARIS: You kidding? Warp drive, shields, transporters. We're travelling in the lap of luxury.
CHAKOTAY: Kelly and Kumagawa, Armstrong and Glenn, they were the real pioneers.
SEVEN: Am I interrupting?
PARIS: We were just admiring someone. Fellow explorer.
SEVEN: Hero worship. The glorification of an individual's accomplishment.
CHAKOTAY: I guess you didn't have many role models growing up.
SEVEN: In the Collective, personal accomplishments are irrelevant. The shield modifications to the Flyer are complete. We're ready for launch.
CHAKOTAY: We?
SEVEN: You'll need someone familiar with Borg technology to monitor the shields. I'm volunteering.
PARIS: You don't sound too happy about it.
SEVEN: I'm not, but this mission can benefit from my expertise.
CHAKOTAY: In that case, welcome aboard.
[Sickbay]
EMH: I'm preparing an inoculant to counter the effects of gravimetric radiation. Of course, if you were a hologram, you'd simply adjust your mobile emitter. That's what I did on Arakis Prime, one of my first away missions.
SEVEN: I don't recall that.
EMH: This was before you came aboard. Such an enchanting planet. Crystalline glaciers, magnesium vapour atmosphere. I had to stop my metallurgical scans just to admire the sheer beauty of it. To smell the roses, to coin a phrase.
SEVEN: An inefficient use of your time.
EMH: Perhaps. We're all finished here, except for one thing. Would you record some images when you're inside the ellipse, for those of us not lucky enough to make the trip?
(He hands her his holo-imager.)
SEVEN: You envy my participation in this mission?
EMH: There isn't a crewman aboard who doesn't.
SEVEN: Why?
EMH: I can only tell you how I felt that morning when I materialised on Arakis Prime. I left my footprints in the magnesite dust and thought, one small step for a hologram, one giant leap for mankind.
SEVEN: To coin a phrase.
EMH: Well, I know the sentiment isn't exactly original, but the fact is, I was exhilarated.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Chakotay to Seven of Nine. Report to Shuttlebay two.
EMH: Good luck.
[Delta Flyer]
PARIS: We're approaching the perimeter in five, four, three, two, one.
[Bridge]
TUVOK: We're within two thousand kilometres. Gravimetric interference is increasing.
TORRES: It's nothing compared to what they're going through. They're really getting knocked around in there.
KIM: Their shields have weakened but they're still holding.
JANEWAY: Harry, keep your finger on that tractor beam in case we have to pull them out.
TORRES: They're approaching the anomaly's core. We've lost sensor contact.
JANEWAY: Harry.
KIM: The comm. link is still active.
[Delta Flyer]
PARIS: The gravimetric shear is increasing.
SEVEN: I'm reading diminished turbulence directly ahead.
CHAKOTAY: Full thrusters, Tom. Punch us through. Chakotay to Voyager. We're in.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY [OC]: I wish you could see this, Captain, it's incredible.
JANEWAY: We're all ears.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: It's very calm. No gravimetric distortions. The EM activity is creating a natural luminescence. Tom called it mood lighting.
PARIS [OC]: Hey B'Elanna, it's the perfect romantic getaway.
TORRES: I'll take your word for it.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: We've detected asteroid fragments, pieces of vessels, matter from every quadrant of the galaxy. Next time I lose something I'll know where to look. Instead of a graviton ellipse we should call it the kitchen sink anomaly. The chemical interactions have even created a primitive atmosphere.
PARIS [OC]: Nothing you'd want to breathe, of course.
JANEWAY: What do you make of it, Seven?
SEVEN [OC]: Well, I suppose it's intriguing. Some of the matter appears to be extra-dimensional in origin.
KIM: Sounds like this anomaly's gotten around.
JANEWAY: Any sign of the Ares command module?
PARIS [OC]: We're picking up traces of the hull, but our sensor readings are being refracted by all the debris in here.
(Whumph.)
TUVOK: That was a gravimetric surge caused by the anomaly changing course by point zero zero six degrees.
JANEWAY: We just had a big jolt out here.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: We didn't feel a thing.
JANEWAY: By our estimate you have five hours thirty six minutes before the anomaly returns to subspace.
[Delta Flyer]
JANEWAY [OC]: You'd better get a move on.
CHAKOTAY: Understood.
SEVEN: I'm having difficulty isolating the debris from the command module.
PARIS: I'll lay in a search pattern. It may take a couple of hours to cover an area this large.
CHAKOTAY: Seven and I can use the time to take some samples, get a better idea of where this anomaly's been.
SEVEN: We should focus on achieving our objective and returning to Voyager.
CHAKOTAY: We're not here just to find a module. We've got an opportunity to
SEVEN: Explore. I am familiar with our mission.
CHAKOTAY: In that case, let's get started.
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
SEVEN: The fossilised microbes in this ore appear to have had metallic membranes.
CHAKOTAY: We've speculated about the possibility of metallic lifeforms, but we've never discovered one.
SEVEN: You're excited by this discovery?
CHAKOTAY: This piece of rock is billions of years older than Earth, from a time when the galaxy was still forming. Here.
SEVEN: Commander?
CHAKOTAY: Take it. You're holding a piece of history. Maybe even the beginnings of life itself.
SEVEN: Unlikely.
CHAKOTAY: It's more likely than you think. This anomaly is as old as anything we've ever encountered. I could spend a lifetime studying the things it's collected.
SEVEN: And leave Voyager without a First Officer?
CHAKOTAY: They'd manage. Palaeontology was always my first love. It's the reason I joined Starfleet.
SEVEN: Why didn't you pursue it?
CHAKOTAY: My sense of responsibility got in the way. First the Maquis, then Voyager. What I wanted to be always seemed to take a back seat. Do you remember what you wanted to be before you were assimilated?
SEVEN: I was assimilated when I was a child.
CHAKOTAY: I knew I wanted to be a palaeontologist when I was six.
SEVEN: A ballerina.
CHAKOTAY: Maybe it's not too late.
SEVEN: It was a juvenile fantasy.
CHAKOTAY: Those are the ones that stick with you.
PARIS [OC]: Heads up, folks. I think we're getting close.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: I've isolated the module, bearing thirty nine mark one five. There.
SEVEN: It appears to be intact.
CHAKOTAY: I'm reading hull breaches and corrosion, but all things considered it's pretty well preserved.
PARIS: We weren't expecting to find a fragment this big. Can't just stow it in the aft section.
CHAKOTAY: We'll use a tractor beam to tow it back to Voyager.
[Bridge]
KIM: Captain, the anomaly just made another course change, point zero zero three degrees.
JANEWAY: That's the third one in an hour. Something has to be attracting it.
TORRES: There's nothing on the sensors.
JANEWAY: I think it enjoys being unpredictable.
KIM: We know it has a taste for electromagnetic energy.
JANEWAY: So what could generate an EM field large enough to get it's attention, but still not show up on sensors?
KIM: An energy burst from a pulsar, a neutrino cloud.
TORRES: Dark matter.
JANEWAY: Realign the sensor array to scan for EM fluctuations.
TORRES: I've got a spatial disturbance three million kilometres away. It's a dark matter asteroid.
JANEWAY: Bingo.
KIM: The anomaly's heading right for it.
JANEWAY: Time to impact?
TUVOK: Four minutes. Captain, we can't predict how the impact will affect the anomaly.
TORRES: But it's a safe bet it won't be a gentle nudge.
JANEWAY: Janeway to Delta Flyer, we've
[Delta Flyer]
JANEWAY [OC]: got a problem. The anomaly is on a collision course with a dark matter asteroid.
CHAKOTAY: We've located the Mars orbiter. We're adapting a tractor beam.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Give us a minute.
JANEWAY: You don't have it. Get out of there.
[Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: Captain?
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Now.
[Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: Is the tractor beam ready?
PARIS: Just about, sir.
CHAKOTAY: Lock onto the module and take us out.
SEVEN: We don't have time.
CHAKOTAY: I gave you an order.
SEVEN: Commander.
CHAKOTAY: We're not leaving without that module. Tom!
[Bridge]
TUVOK: Captain, both the anomaly and the asteroid are accelerating.
JANEWAY: They're attracting each other like a pair of magnets.
TORRES: At this rate it'll impact in fifty six seconds.
JANEWAY: Chakotay, you've got less than a minute.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Acknowledged.
[Delta Flyer]
PARIS: The module is slowing us down.
CHAKOTAY: Maintain tractor lock. How long until we clear the anomaly?
SEVEN: At our current speed, forty seconds.
CHAKOTAY: We can do it.
[Bridge]
TORRES: Thirty seconds to impact. They're still not clear.
JANEWAY: Chakotay, status.
[Delta Flyer]
CHAKOTAY: We're on our way.
[Bridge]
TORRES: Twenty seconds.
(The asteroid his the anomoly, sending ripples through it. One of them disconnects the Flyer from the Ares IV and sends it tumbling backwards. Chakotay gets an electric shock from his console.)
TUVOK: Gravimetric distortions are increasing.
JANEWAY: The Flyer?
KIM: I've lost the signal.
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
SEVEN: How badly is he damaged?
PARIS: He's got a severe concussion and internal injuries. We need to get him back to Voyager.
SEVEN: That may not be possible. Communications, shields and propulsion are still offline.
PARIS: He's stable for now. I'll give you a hand.
SEVEN: We can repair the shields, but the engines are unsalvageable.
PARIS: It can't be that bad.
SEVEN: It's worse. The ellipse showing signs of returning to subspace. We have less than two hours.
(Later -)
PARIS: He's regaining consciousness. Easy, easy. Lie still.
CHAKOTAY: It feels like I just went ten rounds with an Andorian.
PARIS: More like twenty. You were hit with a plasma discharge. The gravimetric surge from the asteroid caught us at the edge of the anomaly and tossed us back inside.
CHAKOTAY: The command module?
PARIS: It's adrift, three hundred metres off our port bow.
CHAKOTAY: Then we can still salvage it.
PARIS: Not so fast. We can't get engines or shields back online, not to mention a tractor beam. We'll be lucky to get out of this in one piece.
CHAKOTAY: I can help.
PARIS: You're in worse shape than this ship. You want to help? Lie in the bed, doctor's orders.
SEVEN: Another gravimetric surge.
PARIS: I'll see if I can reinforce the structural integrity field.
(Paris goes to the cockpit.)
CHAKOTAY: You might try drawing power from auxiliary life support.
SEVEN: That system was damaged as well.
CHAKOTAY: What about the secondary relays?
SEVEN: They're offline.
CHAKOTAY: That doesn't leave us many choices. Try rerouting the phaser couplings.
SEVEN: We explored that option while you were unconscious.
CHAKOTAY: Then maybe you can bring me up to date.
SEVEN: There's no time. I suggest you recuperate. We have the situation under control.
CHAKOTAY: It doesn't look that way from here. I'm still in command of this mission. I want to know what's going on.
SEVEN: Very well. We were ordered by the Captain to leave this anomaly, but you chose to disobey that command. As a result of your obsession with the module, we are now trapped along with it. In all probability we won't survive without
CHAKOTAY: Point taken. Now why don't you continue, without the attitude.
SEVEN: An inventory of the damaged systems. Read it for yourself.
CHAKOTAY: I made a mistake. I put the mission at risk.
SEVEN: You put our lives at risk.
CHAKOTAY: Well, if we don't make it out, someone's bound to come looking for us in a few hundred years. Defusing a tense situation with humour, remember?
JANEWAY [OC]: Voyager to Delta Flyer.
SEVEN: They're using a probe as a transmission relay.
JANEWAY [OC]: Voyager to Chakotay, please respond. We can't detect you.
CHAKOTAY: Captain, we can hear you.
SEVEN: I'm matching their frequency. Voyager, this is the Delta Flyer. Respond.
JANEWAY [OC]: Are you all right? What's your status?
CHAKOTAY: We've sustained heavy damage, Captain, but we're alive. It's good to hear your voice.
[Briefing room]
KIM: We could install the same shielding on a class two shuttle and take it in.
PARIS [OC]: It took us hours to make the modifications
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: To the Flyer. We've only got eighty two minutes before this thing disappears into subspace.
[Briefing room]
TUVOK: It may be possible to modify a tractor beam to cut through the gravimetric interference.
KIM: You'll never be able to get it all the way through to the core.
JANEWAY: Start working on it anyway.
TORRES: You said all the energy conduits are fused?
SEVEN [OC]: Correct.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
SEVEN: We can't get power to any of the primary systems.
PARIS: If the replicators were working we could whip up a new plasma manifold
[Briefing room]
PARIS [OC]: And be on our way.
TORRES: What if I could get you an old manifold?
PARIS [OC]: Excuse me?
TORRES: The command module may be three centuries old, but the power distribution system isn't that different from the Flyer's. Right here. This control panel in the main cockpit. It was called an ion distributor. With a few tweaks it could be modified to channel warp plasma.
SEVEN [OC]: Even if it were possible, we have to obtain the object
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
SEVEN: Before we can adapt it.
JANEWAY [OC]: Do you have enough
[Briefing room]
JANEWAY: Power to beam one of you to the module?
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: Yes, ma'am. I'll go.
JANEWAY: Not so fast, Tom. If another gravimetric surge hits, we'll need you at the helm. Seven.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
SEVEN: Are you encouraging me to volunteer again, Captain?
[Briefing room]
JANEWAY: You read my mind.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: Come on, just a little closer. That's it for thrusters
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
PARIS [OC]: But I got us within transporter range. Ready?
(Seven is in a spacesuit.)
SEVEN: Stand by.
CHAKOTAY: Ironic. You're doing what I've always dreamt of. Remember, when you set foot in that module, you'll be stepping into history.
SEVEN: History is irrelevant.
CHAKOTAY: Irrelevant? Do me a favour. When you're over there, download whatever you can from their database. And also take a minute to look around, so you can tell us what it was like.
SEVEN: There may not be time, but I'll try.
CHAKOTAY: Good luck.
[Ares Four Command Module]
(No artificial gravity here. Seven wears magnetic boots.)
PARIS [OC]: What's it like in there?
SEVEN: Dark. The ambient temperature is minus two hundred sixty degrees. There appear to be fractures in the aft bulkheads.
PARIS [OC]: Is the cockpit intact?
SEVEN: Yes.
(So is Kelly's body.)
SEVEN: I've brought the main computer online.
KELLY [OC]: I've lost contact with the team on the surface, and I can't get a fix on my position.
PARIS [OC]: What was that?
SEVEN: There's an active data file.
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
SEVEN [OC]: It appears to contain log entries.
CHAKOTAY: Can you play them for us?
[Ares Four Command Module]
SEVEN: I believe so.
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
CHAKOTAY: Consider it my last request.
[Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY [on monitor]: And I can't get a fix on my position. But I'm alive and the CM seems to be intact. I'm inside this
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
KELLY [OC]: Whatever it is.
PARIS: Could you hear that, Chakotay?
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
CHAKOTAY: It's amazing. Everyone assumed he was killed instantly.
[Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY [on monitor]: What I've gotten myself into. It's very calm, like I'm in the eye of a hurricane. It's a little spooky but the way I figure it.
[2032 - Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY: If there's a way in, there's got to be a way out. I'm gonna fire up the spectral imager before I initiate another engine burn, collect as much data as I can. Jeannie, I may not be bringing you back the Mars rock, but I promise you, I'm going to do everything I can to get home.
(Later.)
KELLY: Ares Four, mission record, October 23rd. I'm starting to feel like Jonah. How long was he in the belly of that whale? Three days? I got him beat by a day or two already. The EM interference is disrupting communications and LIDAR, and I can't see the stars. There's no way I can get a fix on my position. If this thing's moving as fast as it was when it pulled me in, I could be a long way from Mars by now. The imager's been working overtime cataloguing all the matter in here, but a lot of it defies analysis. I think we're going to need to make room on the periodic table. Where the hell am I? Power levels have dropped another fifteen percent since my last systems check.
(The module appears to hit something. A piece of another spaceship drifts past the porthole.)
KELLY: I think I just saw another spacecraft. Either that, or all this dehydrated food has gone to my head. I've got it. The hull's made of some kind of alloy. I can't make heads or tails of it. I shouldn't have been so dismissive.
[Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY [on monitor]: I remember giving Kumagawa a hard time when she claimed she saw a UFO over the Gulf. I told her it was a meteor or another piece of MIR. I guess I owe you an apology, Rose. Ares Four, mission record, October 25th. It's been a nice place to visit
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
KELLY [OC]: But I'm ready to come home. I've prepped the ion drive, channeled all the thruster reserves into the main tank.
[2032 - Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY: I have enough fuel for one last engine burn. Wish me luck.
(He puts a photograph of himself and his wife on the control panel.)
KELLY: Ignition sequence. Five, four, three, two. I'm losing pitch control. Gyros aren't responding. Power failure. I've got to abort. I'm not going to make it.
[Ares Four Command Module]
(Seven looks at the photograph.)
KELLY [on monitor]: All systems go. Watch me, Dad, I'm flying. Boom. Bad landing. Call the MedEvac team. Ha.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS : Paris to Seven. Status?
[Ares Four Command Module]
SEVEN: I've located the device, but it's fused to the hull. Stand by.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: Make it quick. We've got less than fifteen minutes.
[Ares Four Command Module]
SEVEN: Understood.
[2032. Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY: All systems go. Watch me Dad, I'm flying. Boom. Bad landing. Call the MedEvac team. Ha. John Kelly's first flight, not exactly A-OK. Remember that, Dad? I jumped off the roof with a parachute made of blankets. I guess I didn't calculate the aerodynamics. Of course, I was only six. I guess
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
KELLY [OC]: This is John Kelly's last flight. This time, I can't blame it on pilot error. This time, no regrets.
[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]
KELLY [OC]: Oh, what I've seen proves we were right to come out here.
[Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY [on monitor]: We're not alone, I know that now. The module's losing power. I'm taking life support offline.
[2032 - Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY: Rerouting whatever's left to the imager. Keep it running as long as possible. Mission Control, Dad, whoever finds this, do me a favour. Take all the data I've collected. Put it to good use. I hope you don't look at this as a failure. I don't.
[Ares Four Command Module]
KELLY [on monitor]: Actually, I do have one regret. I never found out who won the World Series. I'm tired, and I can't
(Entry 435 ends. Seven pulls the distributor out of its assembly, then gets out her tricorder and sets it recording.)
PARIS [OC]: Paris to Seven. how's it going over there?
SEVEN: I have the distributor. I'm downloading Lieutenant Kelly's database.
PARIS [OC]: Hurry. we're running out of time.
(The download is complete. She puts her comm. badge on a cloth sleeve with an Ares IV misson badge sewn onto it.)
SEVEN: Lock onto my bio-signature and my comm. badge.
PARIS [OC]: Seven?
SEVEN: Energise.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Delta Flyer, report.
PARIS [OC]: We're trying to integrate the distributor. Stand by, Captain.
JANEWAY: How long do they have?
TUVOK: Four minutes.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: Try bypassing the power couplings.
SEVEN: No effect.
PARIS: Resequence the ion modulators, see if that does it.
SEVEN: Power conversion in process.
PARIS: We have propulsion, shields.
SEVEN: The plasma flow is still fluctuating.
PARIS: Stay on top of it. Paris to Voyager.
JANEWAY [OC]: Go ahead.
PARIS: Open the shuttlebay doors. We're coming home.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Acknowledged.
[Delta Flyer - cockpit]
PARIS: Laying in an escape trajectory.
[Bridge]
TUVOK: The ellipse is returning to subspace.
JANEWAY: The Flyer?
KIM: They're approaching the perimeter. Two thousand metres, eighteen hundred.
TORRES: The anomaly's submerging.
(Things on the Flyer are going bang.)
JANEWAY: Are we in tractor range?
TUVOK: Not yet.
JANEWAY: Take us closer.
(Torres is at the helm.)
TORRES: Captain?
JANEWAY: Do it.
TUVOK: They're still out of reach. Another three hundred metres.
JANEWAY: Closer.
TORRES: We'll be pulled right in with them.
JANEWAY: Just a few more metres.
TORRES: We're too close.
TUVOK: I've got a lock.
JANEWAY: Reverse thrusters, full impulse.
(The Delta Flyer is pulled out of the anomaly as it goes into subspace.)
Captain's log, stardate 53301.2. The away team collected over sixty teraquads of data on the anomaly. Before we begin to analyse them, we've decided to pay our respects to an old colleague.
[Bridge]
(A torpedo casing is covered with a UFP flag. The officers are in dress uniform.)
JANEWAY: Space. Literally it means nothing, a vacuum between stars and planets, but by the same token it means everything. It's what connects all our worlds, Vulcan, Kronos, Talax, Earth. Centuries ago, mankind sent its first wave of explorers into that void. Astronauts like Mister Kelly. They paved the way for the first colonies, the first starships, for those of us who've made space our home. We commend the spirit and the bravery of Lieutenant John Mark Kelly as we commit his body to space. He will not be forgotten.
SEVEN: Captain. I did not know this individual. Had I encountered him while I was a Borg I would have found his technology unworthy of assimilation. But we are more alike than one might think. In a sense, his desire to explore was not unlike a quest for perfection.
[Sickbay]
(Chakotay is on a biobed listening, along with the EMH.)
SEVEN [OC]: His contribution helped secure humanity's future, and in some ways, my own.
[Bridge]
SEVEN: (sotto) The Yankees, in six games.
(She looks over at Janeway, who nods.)
TUVOK: All hands, attention. Honour guard.
(The guard step forward at the bosun's whistle. Moments later, the torpedo casing is fired into space.)
2024-09-13 18:18:13 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
