State of Flux
Stardate: 48658.2
Original Airdate: April 10, 1995
By Chakoteya
The Story
An away team is down on a planet, looking for food sources.
Lt. Carey comes over to Neelix and Chakotay with some sort
of apple
in his hand, which he found over the ridge. Neelix takes
one look and informs him that it is called kaylos and it
is deadly
poison, and proceeds to give a vivid description of it's
effects. Then he hands Chakotay a grubby root to sample.
Chakotay bites
off a piece and spits it straight out again. Clearly he doesn't
consider it very palatable, but Neelix is undeterred. It
is a leola root, packed with vitamins and minerals and once
it
has been stewed for a few hours you wouldn't even notice
the mildew.
On Voyager's bridge, Paris asks Tuvok to run a lateral EM scan
to confirm his suspicions that they are not alone. He is correct.
Tuvok confirms he has found an ionisation trail from another
ship that is concealing itself from the sensors. Janeway contacts
Chakotay to ask if they have encountered anyone down there, but
he tells her that, apart from some bloodworms that he's trying
to talk Neelix out of bringing back to make a tartar dish, they
seem to be alone. Just to be safe, Janeway orders the away team
back on board while they investigate the strangers. Tuvok uses
a polaron burst to reveal their companions. It is a Kazon-Nistrum
vessel.
Planet-side, Ensign Seska is missing from the group and the
transport chief cannot locate her comm-badge signal. Kim tells
Chakotay she was last seen picking berries near a group of caves.
The Commander heads over there and using his tricorder to track
her down goes inside a cave. There are voices ahead and he goes
carefully, phaser in hand, until he finds her hiding. She tells
him she was collecting mushrooms so she could teach Neelix how
to make his favourite soup. Suddenly two Kazon appear and start
firing at them. He takes down one but is hit by the other before
Seska deals with him.
'Captain's Log, Stardate 48658.2. We successfully left orbit
without further interference from the Kazon. Commander Chakotay
was injured, but is recovering from his wounds.'
Chakotay is pursing one of his hobbies in his quarters when
he gets a visit from Seska bearing a gift. A bowl of mushroom
soup. He is surprised and pleased that she got Neelix to make
it for him, and takes a few spoonfuls while she explains that
actually, the ship's chef had wanted to stretch it with leola
root. They'd got into an argument which had to be broken up by
Tuvok and Kes before she was thrown out of the kitchen. So she
resorted to Maquis tactics and had a couple of their people pretend
to be homesick so that Neelix would try to cheer them up. With
him out of the kitchen, Seska and Jackson broke in and took the
mushrooms. Chakotay is not pleased to hear this, and to be included
in their criminal conspiracy. So when Neelix's voice comes over
the communicator to report the theft, he promises that everyone
involved will be punished. Replicator privileges revoked for
two days, including himself. Seska is aghast and refuses to comply
only to be told the other option is the brig. How can he treat
her like this, she protests, after what they have been through
together? But he is undeterred, so she tries a different tack,
to sweet-talk him but he doesn't repond as she hoped. Throwing
him the line that if he's no longer interested in her, she's
got her eye on Ensign Kim, she leaves, and Captain Janeway orders
the senior officers to the bridge.
Voyager is receiving a distress signal from a Kazon vessel,
possibly the same one they encountered at the planet. Neelix
urges caution as it may be a trap, and Janeway orders scans.
Kim confirms that there might be a reactor breakdown on the ship,
and Paris reports no other ships in the area. Confiding to Neelix
that they can use all the friends they can get out here, Janeway
order an intercept course.
On the Kazon vessel the away team of Tuvok, Torres, Chakotay
and Seska discover a scene of devastation. Bodies are merged
with pieces of metal. They discover that there is a force field
in place protecting them from high levels of radiation. Seska
finds a survivor and they beam him to sickbay. TUvok and Torres
examine an out of place looking console that seems to be the
source of the explosion. It includes neosorium technology, which
is Federation technology, so how did it get on a Kazon ship,
wonders Torres.
In sickbay, the EMH gives the results of his examination of
the survivor to Janeway and Chakotay. His blood cells seem to
have bonded with metalic nuclei and he needs a complete pyrocyte
replacement to live. Kes starts screening the crew for donors.
Tuvok joins Chakotay and Janeway as they head to engineering.
He tells the Captain of the Federation element to the explosion
and offers three explanations. One, that is not actually Federation
technology but something similar. Two, that it came from another
Federation ship, but Janeway has no knowledge of any other ships
missing. Three, that someone on Voyager gave it to the Kazon.
Captain Janeway does not like that idea at all, but it is the
most likely one. The ship at the planet was able to conceal itself
from their sensors, which implies that someone told them how
to do it. She orders Tuvok to go through the transmission logs
to see if he can find evidence of contact with the Kazon, then
asks Chakotay who among the away team could have met up with
them. A dozen people, he tells her, as they were scattered all
over the area. Tuvok's suspicions fall on Seska, but Chakotay
defends her. The Captain tells them that they need the console
to find answers before the rumours spread.
Torres, Carey and Seska are working out ways to get at the console.
They cannot transport it because of the radiation levels, and
the force field cannot be removed for the same reason. Seska
suggests a localised subspace bubble as a protection to get past
the forcefield but that is pronounced too risky. Carey suggests
using an expander as a means of manipulating the containment
field to push the radiation out of the way and effectively 'move'
the console out of the forcefield so they could get to it. When
Janeway asks when it can be ready, Torres says tomorrow, but
the Captain wants it today. Her chief engineer politely explains
that she doesn't exaggerate her timescales, unlike some other
ships engineers. When she gives a time, that is the earliest
she can manage. Torres assembles her team to begin on the Kazon
bridge - Carey, Nicoletti and Seska, but Chakotay overrides her.
He wants Seska to coordinate things from Voyager's bridge. Henard
is drafted in her place.
Out in the corridor, Seska challenges Chakotay over this decision.
He admits that there is some concern over her because she was
near the Kazon on the planet, but says that he is just trying
to keep her out of harm's way and besides, you don't assign someone
you don't trust to the bridge. She is not convinced by his arguments
and storms off.
Seska pays a visit to sickbay and asks the EMH to let her know
when the Kazon regains consciousness as he is the only one who
can clear her of involvment in this affair. Kes approaches her
about giving a blood sample. It seems that her file never came
up in the compatability analysis. Seska brushes it off with a
comment that a childhood disease procludes her from ever donating
blood for transplant but that she has more important things to
do now.
Tuvok reports his findings from the transmission logs to Janeway
and Chakotay in the Captain's ready room. It was expertly concealed
by a test of the dorsal emitters a week ago. They are trying
to track the work station it came from, but whoever it was has
made it difficult for them. Right now it could be any of the
engineering crew. Tom Paris calls the Captain to the bridge.
There is another Kazon ship approaching and trying to hail the
disabled ship. It is four hours and twenty minutes away and out
of visual range. Then Kim reports that someone has just beamed
off Voyager. It is Seska, and Chakotay hails her for an explanation.
She says that as the Captain wants the console today, and Carey's
plan couldn't meet that deadline, she's doing it her way instead.
Tuvok is sceptical and suggests that she intends to destroy evidence.
Chakotay again defends his ex-lover and Maquis crewmate but then
there is a scream over the comm system and they beam her straight
to sickbay. Chakotay dashes in to see her unconscious and with
severe burns. Kes and the EMH begin to examine and treat her.
The Captain, Chakotay and Tuvok are interviewing Lt Carey in
the Ready Room. They ask him about his relationship with Torres
after she was promoted over him, and he assures them that he
has accepted it. Then Janeway asks him if he has had any contact
with the Kazon-Nistrum. After all, he was out of contact with
the rest of the away team for almost an hour, and it was his
console that was used to signal them the week before. He denies
it and suggests that they ask Seska, as she was found in the
cave with the Kazon. Unconvinced, Janeway confines him to quarters.
Carey leaves, and the Captain suggests that she might agree with
him. After all, Seska has been an enemy of the Federation for
most of the last two years. 'So have I', replies Chakotay.
The Kazon ship is just four minutes away, and hailing them.
A channel is opened and Culluh, First Maje of the Kazon-Nistrim
demands to know what they have done to his ship. Janeway invites
him on board to see the survivor, who is still unconscious. In
sickbay the EMH explains that the Kazon's life was saved by blood
transfusions from Voyager's crew after his own blood was changed
in some way by the accident. Cullah tells them that he will be
taking the damaged ship for inspection himself, but Janeway insists
that as there is a Federation compound in the remains, it is
her crew that will continue the investigation. He asks her and
the EMH to leave him with the patient. At a distance, the EMH
confirms that it would not be safe for the Kazon to be moved.
Then Tuvok notices Cullah's aide stab the patient with a needle
from his ring. He and Janeway draw phasers but it is too late.
The Kazon is dead of a nerve toxin and Janeway orders Cullah
off the ship. After he leaves, the EMH asks the Captain to come
to his office. Kes finally got a blood sample from Seska and
the results show that she is not Bajoran at all, but was born
a Cardassian.
Janeway and Tuvok break the news to Chakotay in her ready room.
It is not the first instance of Cardassians being cosmetically
altered to infiltrate alien groups. Chakotay cannot believe it,
and insists that he be the one to question her about it. The
Captain tells him to wait until after they get the console back.
Torres has completed her simulations and is ready to go. As Janeway
goes to the bridge, Chakotay turns to Tuvok and says 'You were
working for her. Seska was working for them. Was anyone on board
that ship working for me?'
Cullah has noticed that someone is on the damaged vessel, and
tells Janeway that if anything is removed, he will consider it
an act of war. She retorts that she doesn't take kindly to threats
and that she will respond with all the unique technologies at
her command. The Kazon stand down their weapons and Janeway calls
Torres to find out how she is getting on, only to be told that
they are finished and on their way back. The console is already
in Engineering.
The console was trying to be a food replicator, but the interior
shield casing wasn't thick enough and an explosion was inevitable,
reports Torres. The relays are made of bio-neural fibres, unique
to Voyager. Someone on board gave them what they needed, but
the Kazon didn't know what to do with it. Janeway wants a complete
report to share with Cullah.
Chakotay tells Seska the latest developments in sickbay, and
confesses his doubts about her. She mocks him, telling him to
go talk to his animal guide about it, but he lets it slide. Instead
he asks her about her Cardassian blood, and she tells him that
it is a side effect of Orkett's disease - a virus that went through
the camps when she was a child. A Cardassian woman called Kattell
donated her bone marrow to save her life. Did he think she gave
him her heart to get his Maquis secrets? Because if he did, she
could tell him that they wouldn't have been worth the trouble
for a spy. Seska is restless and wants to get back to duty, but
he tells her that she will have to stay confined to sickbay until
they track the source of the replicator components. Chief Inspector
Tuvok leaves no stone unturned, he says, and promises to tell
the Captain what she told him. In the corridor outside, he informs
Tuvok of her explanation. Tuvok has given Carey the same information
about their investigations. Now they wait to see if someone takes
the bait.
The waiting takes place in Engineering, where Chakotay is being
soundly beaten by Tuvok at cards. Torres tells them there are
two more Kazon warships on sensors, about six hours away. The
computer bleeps, alerting them that someone is accessing the
inventory database. Data is being entered into the materials
requisitions files using Seska's security code. Then it has to
be Carey, proclaims Torres.
Seska is sleeping in Sickbay when Chakotay arrives to tell her
that they know she gave the technology to the Kazon. They already
knew where the components had been taken from before he had told
her about their investigation. Then they watched to see who would
try to cover their tracks and found the evidence she had put
there for them to find - her own security code. She is scathing
about the evidence. Her own code? It must be a frame. That was
what you wanted us to believe, Chakotay counters, but we traced
the source back to the station in sickbay. Then he activates
the EMH to tell Seska that the Orkett's disease story does not
stand up to medical scrutiny, although it might have fooled a
less informed doctor than himself. Why did she do it, asks Chakotay
and Seska replies 'I did it for you. I did it for this crew.
We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens,
because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation captain.
A Federation captain who destroyed our only chance to get home.
Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion?
Do you understand, if this had been a Cardassian ship, we would
be home now. We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we
must have powerful friends. The Kazon-Nistrim were willing to
be our protectors in return for some minor technology.' Janeway
points out that even such minor technology could change the balance
of power in this quadrant. Change it in our favour!' counters
Seska. 'That is all that matters at this point. Building a base
of power in this quadrant. You are a fool, Captain. And you're
a fool to follow her. I can't imagine how I ever loved you. Computer,
command XJL.' And with that, she beams to Cullah's vessel fourteen
kilometres away. Janeway considers a tractor beam, but with two
more ships due to arrive, she decides to leave instead, warp
four.
Chakotay approaches Tuvok sitting alone in the mess hall and
ask him to be honest. Was he particularly naive, was he not paying
enough attention? What the hell was it that let all those spies
get by him? Tuvok puts the Commander's failure to spot them down
to his dependance on feelings and instincts,and reassures him
that Seska fooled him too. That makes Chakotay feel a little
better, and he leaves him to finish reading his padd.
Analysis
Seska is the prime mover in this story, as we learn more about
her, her relationship with Chakotay and her attitude towards
Voyager's situation. Or at least we think we do.
The only things that are certain are that she is a Cardassian,
that she resents Janeway's decision to destroy the array, and
that she had an affair with Chakotay early in their Maquis career,
which he then ended. The rest could just be a tale she is spinning
to try and keep his sympathy. Now the Kazon have her on their
side, who knows what is to come?
A great story, well told.
Grade: 9/10 (A)
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:
Martha Hackett as Seska
Josh Clark as Lt. Carey
Anthony De Longis as Culluh
Creative Staff:
Director: Robert Scheerer
Teleplay By: Chris Abbott
Story By: Paul Robert Coyle
