Resolutions
StarDate: 49690.1
Original Airdate: May 13, 1996
By Christina Luckings
The Story
It’s a lovely day. The birds are singing, the grass is
green and the trees are in full leaf when Janeway and Chakotay’s
alarm clocks go off and they wake up in a pair of stasis pods
in the middle of a clearing. The EMH is calling to inform them
that after 17 days of trying, he has not been able to find a
cure for the virus they picked up on shore leave there. However,
something in the planet’s atmosphere is stopping the disease
from making them ill, so he has decided that there is the best
place for them, rather than in stasis aboard Voyager. His last
possible avenue for finding a treatment is to contact the Vidiians,
the local medical experts. After conferring with Chakotay, who
doesn’t think that it is a good idea to put the crew at
that sort of risk either, Janeway calls Tuvok to tell him that
he is now Voyager’s Captain, and that he has two standing
orders. Get the crew home and do not contact the Vidiians.
The rest of the senior staff don’t want to accept these
orders, and Paris actually challenges Tuvok to rescind them now
that he is Captain. Kes reminds them that the EMH has been online
for a month now trying to find a cure for this ‘insect
bite’, and Neelix simply comments that leaving Janeway
and Chakotay behind will cause morale to plummet to new depths.
Tuvok has made his first major command decision, and the two
castaways will be provided with a modular shelter, weapons, tricorders,
replicator, even a basic shuttlecraft with a top speed of warp
4, should the scientist Janeway be able to succeed where the
EMH has failed. As he points out to Paris, feeling rotten about
the situation will not change it, and as a Vulcan, he can’t
feel that emotion anyway.
Janeway and Chakotay take delivery of the supplies and check
that everything is there for the camping trip of a lifetime.
Tuvok will stay in orbit until they confirm that all is in order,
and they will continue to have communications for two days after
that. Janeway looks over the scientific equipment and pronounces
it all present. She is confident that all she has to do is trap
one of the insects that bit them in the first place, she can
then start to discover what it is about the planet’s environment
that is keeping them healthy and replicate it. Chakotay starts
to get the shelter put together. He wishes the colour choice
was more cheerful than grey or beige. A blue and green pinstripe
perhaps? Janeway considers that despite all the equipment at
their disposal, they will be ‘roughing it’ for a
while. There’s no bath tub, and this child of the twenty-fourth
century was never keen on camping trips and the great out doors.
She also suggests that he stops calling her Captain for the time
being. ‘Give me a few days on that’, he replies with
a grin.
In engineering, Torres is dispassionately tearing a strip off
Ensign Swinn for sloppy reporting, when Kim comes to ask her,
as senior rebel, how the Maquis crew are taking leaving their
Captain behind, when the Starfleet crew aren’t taking it
too well at all. Harry feels that they ought to do something,
anything, but B’Elanna tells him that unless he can come
up with something practical, he should just try to accept the
situation and move on.
Two days have passed, and Kathryn is trying to catch the insect
in a trap so that she can do her research. Chakotay has been
hiding out in the woods doing a project of his own, which she
will find out about in due course. As Captain, she is used to
being fully informed of everything going on, and to have something
kept secret from her is driving her crazy with curiosity. Tuvok
calls to tell them Voyager is just about to pass out of communications
range, and Janeway gives her farewell speech to the crew. Then
Tuvok says his farewell to Chakotay, and Voyager is gone.
Chakotay’s project was building a bathtub for Kathryn
to soak in outdoors, while she thinks of ways to move her research
forwards. On this evening, Chakotay is discreetly inside, doing
a sand painting, while she muses that maybe she should research
the planet’s biology in general instead. Suddenly there
is a rustle in the trees, and she calls for him from the shelter
while she grabs her bath towel and gets out of the tub. He dashes
out with a flashlight and a phaser to discover – it’s
one of the local inhabitants, a small primate. This is the first
time they’ve actually managed to see one although Chakotay
knew there were some around nearby. Kathryn goes into first contact
mode, holding out her hand and talking to it. It climbs the tree,
out of sight, and she points out that these creatures must have
to contend with insect bites too, so she needs to get hold of
one to find out how they cope. Ever the gentleman, Chakotay makes
his excuses and leaves her to her thoughts.
Kathryn comes into the shelter a few minutes later, wrapped
in her dressing gown and with a fresh impetus to her research.
Chakotay isn’t so sure. He points out that she is no further
forward now than the EMH was when they were left here, and maybe
it is time to accept what life has dealt them and move forward.
She is not ready to hear that yet, although maybe, eventually
she will be. Chakotay sighs and leaves her to her computer again.
‘Acting Captain’s log, supplemental. After six weeks,
the decision to leave Captain Janeway and the first officer behind
still seems to weigh heavily on the crew.’
Kim reports to Captain Tuvok (still in a yellow-shouldered uniform)
that he is picking up a Vidiian convoy on long range sensors.
Tuvok orders Paris to alter course to avoid detection. Kim suggests
that they hail them to find out if they do have a cure for Janeway’s
illness. After all, this is just an opportunity that presented
itself, it’s not as if they sought them out. Tuvok is not
convinced by this little nicety, and when Harry persists, trying
to appeal to a suddenly deaf and dumb bridge crew, he relieves
him of duty and threatens him with a stay in the brig. Beaten,
Harry leaves.
Work gets around quickly on such a small ship, and Harry is
approached in the mess hall by Hogan and Swinn who tell him that
they and lot of other crewmembers agree with what he is proposing.
The trio go over to where B’Elanna has just sat down with
a mug of drink and a PADD. It is now three weeks since she said
she’d listen to any practical suggestion he might come
up with, and here it is. Neelix overhears and stops to join the
discussion group, for what Harry calls the biggest morale booster
yet.
At 0100 hours Tuvok is in his quarters, steadily working his
way through reports when Ensign Kim calls to have a word. He
wisely opens by apologising for his earlier behaviour, then explains
that this idea is the fruit of many people’s input. The
points in their favour of contacting the Vidiians are Danara
Pel’s friendship with the EMH, and Torres’s phage-resistant
Klingon DNA. They could offer some in return for a treatment
for Janeway and Chakotay. Tuvok points out that they have also
recently killed 300 Vidiians, and the people Harry has talked
to have not been charged with the responsibility of safeguarding
the lives of the entire crew. Harry makes the mistake of raising
his voice when he says that the crew are willing to take the
risk, and Tuvok cuts him short, telling him that the next time
he questions orders he will be permanently relieved of duty.
Knowing he has lost this particular fight, Harry leaves.
On the planet, Chakotay is into his next home improvement project – headboards.
Kathryn sits up in bed to read, so she might as well have something
comfortable to rest against. She has also appreciated his taking
on the cooking, since she hates it. He notes that everything
he has done to add personal touches to the shelter or make things
more comfortable has made her uneasy. She admits that she feels
that he has decided that he is going to be here for the rest
of his life, instead of helping her find a cure so they can leave.
Yes, that’s true, he is trying to make a home here, because
he will not sacrifice the present for a speculative future. Kathryn
isn’t ready to make that judgement yet. She’s trying
a new bait in the traps, and is optimistic as she heads off into
the woods to see if anything has been caught in them today.
One of the traps has caught something, and she is just putting
it into a specimen jar when the primate appears again, standing
on it’s hind legs and shrieking, gesturing towards the
sky. Kathryn is so intent on trying to talk to it that she fails
to understand it’s message until the storm clouds are overhead
and the wind is whipping up to gale force. Chakotay finds her
stumbling about and gets her safely to the shelter, where they
take refuge from the storm under the table. As she watches her
precious scientific equipment fall and smash around them, Kathryn
cries. Nature is destroying her life.
Kes visits Tuvok in his ready room. She wants to talk about
her father. If it hadn’t been for him, she would never
have asked the questions that led her to exploring the tunnels
on Ocampa, meeting Neelix and joining the crew of Voyager. He
died when she was one, but working with Tuvok meant that she
didn’t miss him so much. He is honoured by the comparison.
Then she slides into the real reason for her visit. He is responsible
for the crews emotional as well as physical well-being, and this
situation is affecting them badly. Tuvok admits that Janeway’s
is affecting him as well, despite his lack of emotional response.
Kes tells him that a lot of the crew are on the bridge waiting
for him to talk to them. Backed into a corner, he cannot refuse.
He opens his address by reminding them of the burden of command,
Janeway’s direct order and the danger the Vidiians present
to the ship. However, he must be open to their sensitivities,
and so gives his order that on his responsibility alone, they
will contact the Vidiian convoy. A brighter mood lifts the bridge
crew as they carry out his commands.
After the storm has past, Kathryn and Chakotay go outside to
survey the damage. Broken branches are scattered around and none
of the equipment has survived. Finally she admits that now she
will have to let go of her belief that they will ever return
to Voyager.
‘Captain's Log, Stardate 49694.2. We have contacted the
Vidiian convoy with encouraging results. They have promised to
communicate with Dr. Danara Pel and ask if she will help us.’
Voyager is now 70 light years distant from their castaways when
Danara Pel appears on the viewscreen to ask about the disease
the Captain and first officer contracted. Tuvok explains the
circumstances and she says that they do have a cure for it. The
co-ordinates for a rendezvous are transmitted, and they can be
there in 20 hours. Until then, Tuvok orders a series of battle
drills. Danara may be trustworthy, but they cannot assume all
the Vidiians will behave themselves.
Kathryn is clearing the fallen brush while Chakotay makes repairs
to the roof. He is considering adding to the shelter by building
extra rooms, log-cabin style. His father taught him the techniques
because he considered such skills important. Kathryn on the other
hand hated the family camping trips to keep them connected to
their pioneer roots, but life here is better than that. This
is the first positive thing she has had to say about their situation,
and it pleases Chakotay to hear it. Then the primate turns up.
Well, they have the rest of their lives to see if he can be domesticated.
That’s a long time, muses Chakotay. At least, he hopes
it is!
After a day of unaccustomed physical exertion, Kathryn’s
shoulder muscles are tight and sore. Chakotay offers a massage
to help relieve the discomfort and it seems to work. He had a
lot of practice with his mother, he tells her. Suddenly, she
stands up and announces that she is going to bed, The physical
contact has made her uneasy and she needs some time to think
about the consequences. Through the frosted glass of the sleeping
compartments they observe each other for some time. Then Kathryn
comes back out and sits opposite Chakotay. They need to talk,
she needs to define some parameters and he doesn’t think
he can. What he can do is tell a tale of an angry warrior who
finally finds peace by helping the queen of another tribe, putting
her needs first. She recognises it for the metaphor it really
is and holds out her hand to him.
Three Vidiian ships are surrounding Voyager, and none are answering
their hails. A fire fight ensues, Voyager’s shields drop
to 47 percent and Tuvok orders torpedoes fired. Then he calls
engineering with a plan. Meanwhile, sickbay is coping with a
steady stream of injured crew when Kes notices an incoming message
on the monitor. It is Danara Pel, trying to contact Schmullus
secretly to tell him that she knew nothing of the plan to attack,
and offer the anti-viral serum as promised. To transport it across
would involve lowering the shields, so the EMH contacts the bridge
to inform Tuvok of the situation. Tuvok tells him to keep listening
for his command to drop shields and then do the transport himself.
B’Elanna is all set to eject the anti-matter container
as arranged. That will happen as the shields drop and the serum
is beamed aboard. The shields then go back up, Kim detonates
the antimatter with a photon torpedo and Paris jumps to warp
to avoid the consequences of the explosion. The well-oiled starfleet
machine performs perfectly, the Vidiians are disabled and Voyager
heads back to it’s Captain and first officer at warp 6.
Kathryn has taken up a new hobby – gardening, and her
first crop of Talaxian tomatoes are about 2 inches high. Chakotay
is also working on a new project and wants her opinion. He is
designing a boat so they can explore the river. She likes the
idea, but then they are interrupted by a strange staticy noise
coming from the top shelf. Tuvok’s voice is coming over
their com. badges. Chakotay puts them on the table and Kathryn
hesitates before picking one up and answering. The news that
he brings medicine and will be in orbit in 30 hours does not
have them leaping for joy,
Janeway and Chakotay are back in uniform, and the contents of
the shelter are packed and ready to be beamed back up to Voyager.
The primate comes to say goodbye, or so Janeway assumes, and
she tells it that it can have use of the shelter now. Then with
a stern face, she orders their transport.
The bridge crew stands to attention as the Captain and first
officer resume their posts. She challenges Tuvok on his decision
to contact the Vidiians, saying that it was almost emotional,
then orders Paris to go to warp 8. While they make up for lost
time on their journey, she orders Chakotay to prepare status
reports on ships systems. It is business as usual on the Federation
Starship Voyager.
Review:
It is this reviewer's opinion that two important questions were
resolved by this episode from co-creator Jeri Taylor. One is
that Vulcan officers taking command of a predominately human
crew invariably results in disaster that is only averted by an
almost emotional outburst. (See original series Galileo Seven
for the previous example). The second is that as far as Kathryn
Janeway is concerned, the Captain does not get emotionally involved
with any member of her crew. The difference in behaviours between
the scenes where she has left all that starfleet stuff behind
her finally, and relaxed into a relationship with Chakotay on
the planet, and back on board Voyager are very marked.
For a lot of J/C 'shippers the big question to come out of this
story is - 'Did they or didn’t they?' Well, there is a
strong body of fan fiction writers who say they did, and that
they continued to after their return. I’m not prepared
to go that far, the evidence is purely speculative in my opinion,
but I am willing to say that once they had that little talk there
was a big change in the relationship that was totally wrecked
by Tuvok’s return, and neither was pleased to hear his
voice again.
Having said that, as a whole the show lacks a certain oomph.
There was no real jeopardy, the outcome was never in doubt and
the two main characters, whilst getting a certain amount of mid-story
development, end up back where they started again. In it’s
favour are the emotional outburst of young Harry, who thinks
he has just lost his mother again, Tuvok’s emulation of
Spock once he was in command, and Janeway showing she can be
totally daft in thinking that planting all those tomatoes so
that they are ready to harvest at the same time is good gardening
practice. Unless Chakotay was planning to make lots of jars of
ketchup with the surplus.
This was the big Kathryn/Chakotay show, supposedly, and it does
it’s best. It’s a good one, but not great.
Grade: 6/10
Cast:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Roxanne Biggs-Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
Guest Cast:
Susan Diol as Danara Pel
Simon Billig as Hogan
Bahni Turpin as Swinn
Creative Staff:
Director: Alexander Singer
Written By: Jeri Taylor
