COUNTERPOINT
Episode 104
Part A

 

Two warships of the Devore Imperium take up position by USS Voyager.

USS Voyager: Bridge. The ship is at red alert status. A klaxon is sounding and the lights are dim. Chakotay: "The Devore ships are assuming a tactical formation." Janeway, via comms: "Bridge to Transporter room. Status."

USS Voyager: Transporter Room. Kim, via comms: "All set here, Captain. Pattern cohesion looks stable."

USS Voyager: Cargo Bay 1. Janeway, via comms: "Cargo Bay 1, report." Seven, via comms: "The bay is clear."

USS Voyager: Bridge. Chakotay: "They're powering weapons." Paris: "Why do they bother? They know we won't resist." Janeway: "Protocol, Mr Paris."

Chakotay: "They're hailing." Devore officer Prax, on viewscreen: "Gaharay vessel, prepare to be inspected. Crewmembers are instructed to step away from their stations." Janeway: "We know the drill." Prax, on viewscreen, ignoring her: "Side-arms and scanning equipment are to be set aside. Deviation from this or any other inspection protocol will not be tolerated." Contact ends.

Janeway makes a shipwide broadcast: "All hands, this is the Captain. Prepare to be boarded by Devore inspection teams. Give them your full co-operation. Let's get this over with." Chakotay: "Their soldiers have materialised on Decks 15, 11, 4 and 1." A com. signal sounds. Kashyk, via comms: "Captain Janeway, report to your Ready Room."

USS Voyager: Captain's Ready Room. Janeway enters. She sees Kashyk, commander of the Devore inspection teams, sitting at her desk. Kashyk: "Good morning, Captain." As Mahler's 1st Symphony, 2nd movement, plays: "I took the liberty of playing this music throughout your ship. I thought it might help your crew relax. Sometimes these inspections can be stressful." Janeway: "How thoughtful." Kashyk, indicating his second-in-command named Prax who is at the replicator: "I've replicated some coffee. Black, as usual?"

Janeway, accepting the drink: "Black."

Kashyk: "Prax here still refuses to try it, but then he's a man of few pleasures. Captain, Please, make yourself at home."

Devore soldiers search the ship. excerpt from Mahler's First Symphony, taken from [Counterpoint]

Devore soldiers open maintenance access panels and scan the circuitry.

Two Devore soldiers open a Jefferies tube hatch.

Devore soldiers enter the Transporter Room. Kim opens up access to the circuitry for them to scan.

The Devore scan transporter circuits.

Kim looks on.

In Sickbay, a Devore soldier is pushing messily through the ordered piles of PADDs and equipment on a trolley.

One officer holds up a glass vial. Doctor: "Those cell cultures are extremely fragile. Please-" Contemptuously, the officer deliberately drops it and moves away.

The Devore scan the crewmembers in Engineering.

Prax: "You've been routing power through your transporter system. Why?" Torres: "It's a routine diagnostic. We've been having trouble with our imaging scanners." Prax: "The problem is in the primary energising coils. Focus your efforts there."

Torres, as Prax leaves, sarcastically: "Thanks for the tip."

A Devore soldier scans Neelix.....

.....and the other crewmembers in the Messhall.

USS Voyager: Cargo Bay 1. Prax: "Contaminated anti-matter. This material could interfere with our readings." He scans Seven: "A bionetic implant?"

Seven: "An interlink node. It permits communication with other Borg drones." Prax: "You are not a telepath?" Seven: "No."

USS Voyager: Captain's Ready Room. Kashyk has his hand on an old telescope. Kashyk: "Remarkable. How old is this?" Janeway: "About six hundred years. My grandfather gave it to me when I was a child."

Kashyk: "It seems you have a long-standing obsession with exploration, Captain. I, on the other hand," holding a 5th century BC marble head, have much more in common with this ancient soldier." Janeway: "He's from Earth's Classical period. It produced some of our greatest artists as well." Kashyk: "Your culture has many contradictions: violence and beauty, science and faith, all somehow mingled harmoniously. Like the counterpoint of this music. Mahler. Symphony Number 1, am I correct?"

Janeway: "You're getting to know my musical database better than I do." Kashyk: "I've had time to review it since our last encounter." Janeway: "Tell me, are all of your inspections this personal?" Kashyk: "I'm just trying to get to know you, Captain. There's no reason for us to be adversaries. I could be your friend, and right now you could certainly use one." Janeway: "Really? Why is that?"

Kashyk: "Your predicament? I don't expect it's been easy. Thousands of light-years from home, navigating by strange stars, trespassing in other people's space, ignoring their laws." Janeway: "We're just trying to get back to Earth, Inspector." Kashyk: "Through the Devore Imperium?" Janeway: "It's tough to avoid." Kashyk: "Still, most people make the effort. We don't exactly embrace outsiders." Janeway: "'Gaharay'?"

Kashyk: "It means strangers. Which brings me to a matter," calling up the crew manifest on her personal computer, "that could threaten our friendship. I've examined your crew manifest from our last inspection. Commander Tuvok, Ensign Vorik - Vulcans; Ensigns Suder and Jurot - Betazoids. All telepaths, and yet for some reason you neglected to mention them."

Janeway: "For a very simple reason. They're dead. Tuvok, Vorik and Jurot died in a shuttle crash about two months ago. Suder was killed in a conflict with a species called the Kazon." Kashyk: "That's fortunate, for you I mean. If I'd found you were harbouring telepaths I would have had to arrest you for breaking our cardinal protocol." Janeway: "They were valued members of my crew, Inspector, not criminals."

Kashyk: "Perhaps. Captain do you trust me?" Janeway: "Not for a second." Kashyk: "Exactly! And why should you? Trust has to be earned. It's gradual, and yet it's the foundation of every relationship, professional and personal. It's also a concept alien to the telepathic races. Why take someone at their word when you can simply read their mind?"

Prax enters.
Prax: "We've completed our inspection. There are no telepaths aboard. However, their sensor logs indicate they deviated from their assigned course on two occasions."
Janeway, rising: "In both cases, to avoid ion storms."
Prax: "Imperative 32, codicil 6-26. All gaharay vehicles that deviate from prescribed flight vectors will be impounded, their crews detained and relocated."
Kashyk: "Prax, it's clear the Captain didn't intend to break protocol. I expect we can overlook these infractions."
Prax: "Sir? Yes, sir."

Kashyk: "Captain, I'm a reasonable man, and you've been co-operative, but consider this a reminder. You have a long trip through Devore space and good friends can be an asset." Janeway: "I'll keep it in mind."