Janeway is at work in her Ready Room. The door signal sounds. 
door signal "Come in." standard doors Tuvok enters.
 | Tuvok: "Lieutenant Torres and I will be ready to initiate the magneton scan in approximately two hours. You should be aware that it will be a high intensity burst. It will cause dizziness and disorientation in all the crewmembers, including myself, for several seconds."
Janeway: "Make a shipwide announcement before you initiate the scan." Tuvok: "Aye, Captain. There is another matter of some concern. It appears that Kes' injuries were not caused by an energy discharge. The Doctor has found evidence that she was physically assaulted." Janeway: "Assaulted. But you weren't physically assaulted." Tuvok: "That is correct." Janeway: "Is it possible that you inflicted her wounds?" Tuvok: "Me?" Janeway: "Maybe you were inhabited by the alien at that point." Tuvok: "Maybe it's possible. Perhaps should have the Doctor run a neurological scan to see if I show a memory disruption." |
| Janeway: "Agreed." She taps her combadge. combadge "Janeway to Sickbay." But there is no response. "Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic system."
Computer: "Unable to comply. The EMH program has been disabled." Janeway: "Disabled? By whom?" Computer: "Unknown." Janeway taps controls on her panel. "The Doctor's initialisation routine has been locked out. It's encrypted. I can't reactivate the program." Tuvok: "It appears the lockout originated somewhere above deck 4." Janeway: "Why would someone deactivate the Doctor?" Tuvok: "The Doctor does hold the command codes to Voyager." Janeway: "Yes, but once he was deactivated the codes automatically reverted back to me." Tuvok: "If we assume the alien could not take over a holographic doctor, then logically it would try to force the command codes back into a humanoid host." Janeway: "Me. It's too dangerous for one person to retain the command codes at this point. I suggest we divide my command protocols into two code groupings." Tuvok: "A sensible precaution." Janeway: "You would be the reasonable choice to hold the second grouping, if there's any such thing as a reasonable choice right now. The alien could occupy either one of us at any time." Tuvok: "But presumably not both of us at the same time." 
Janeway: "I'll tell the Bridge crew the plan. We'll all have to act as checks and balances for each other." |
 1 |
 2 |
| She and Tuvok enter the Bridge, and she announces: "I want you all to be aware of something that's happened, something that I assume was due to alien." But, unknown to anyone there, the disembodied alien presence is right there on the Bridge! "The Doctor has been deactivated and we can't get him back online. I have decided to divide my command protocols-" | |
 3 |
 4 |
| Then suddenly Janeway looks distant, her mind taken over. Tuvok asks her uncertainly: "Captain." But she attacks him, knocking him flying. | |
 5 |
 6 |
| As he lands on the floor, he immediately draws his phaser and aims, but she quickly kicks the phaser out of his hand. | |
 7 Tuvok: "Stun her! She's the alien!" |
 8 Paris fires his phaser at Janeway. |
 9 The phaser beam hits Janeway... |
 10 ....and she falls unconscious to the deck. |
 11 |
 12 |
| But now the disembodied presence leaves Janeway's unconscious body and seeks other prey. It homes in on Kim! | |
 13 |
 14 |
| It takes over Kim, who starts to move forward, but a quick-thinking Paris notices and punches him out. Next the presence takes over Durst who fires a phaser... | |
 15 ...at Tuvok, who manages to duck the beam. |
 16 Lt. Ayala tackles Durst. |
| Meanwhile Tuvok scrambles to his feet and recovers his phaser. Now he aims it and, with it set to wide beam dispersal, fires a single wide shot, which stuns them all.
|
 |
 | In Sickbay, Janeway receives a hypospray injection from, in the Doctor's absence by Paris, the Doctor's field medic. hypospray injection
Paris: "That should do it, Captain." Janeway: "Thank you, Mr Paris. I feel better already." |
 | Going to stand by Kim at the control console, she looks at his progress so far. "Any luck getting the Doctor back online?"
Kim: "Not yet. Whoever did this put up one hell of a roadblock. I'm going to have to break through at least six levels of encryption to access the holo-emitters." Janeway: "How long is it going to take?" Kim: "Two maybe three hours." |
 | The com. signal sounds. comms. signal "Torres to Janeway."
Janeway, via comms: "Go ahead." Torres, via comms: "Captain, can you come down to Engineering? There's something here I think you should see." Janeway, via comms: "I'm on my way." With comms. contact ended, she says: "Mr Paris, you're our temporary medic until the Doctor returns." To Kim: "Ensign, I need you on the Bridge." |
 | She and Kim depart straightway, leaving Paris in Sickbay. |
| In engineering, Torres shows Janeway her findings at a console.
Torres: "I've been trying to reconstruct the damaged sensor logs from Tuvok's and Chakotay's shuttlecraft. I didn't have any luck until I ran a parity trace scan. Captain, the sensor logs weren't destroyed by an energy discharge. Someone erased them, and then overloaded the sensor matrix to make it look like they'd been damaged." Janeway is dismayed by the findings. "It gets worse. There was enough information in the backup logs for me to reconstruct what happened during the attack. They were near a dark matter nebula, and an energy discharge did breach the hull, but there was no other ship." Janeway: "No ship?!" Torres: "I'm certain of it. From what I can tell, the energy discharge came from the nebula itself." Janeway: "Why would Tuvok lie about an attack?" Torres: "He must've been under the alien's influence." The com. signal sounds. comms. signal "Bridge to Janeway," says Kim. "We're approaching the dark matter nebula."
Janeway, via comms: "Acknowledged." When comms. contact ends, she says to Torres: "How long before the magneton flash scan is ready to go?" Torres: "The sensor arrays are charging now. 15 maybe 20 minutes." Janeway: "When it's ready, transfer control of the scan to the Bridge. In the meantime, I think we should take a look at exactly what it is we're not supposed to see." |
 | Voyager on the edge of the nebula. |
| Durst is at the Engineering I station. Janeway passes him to address Tuvok.
Janeway: "Mr Tuvok, can you locate the ion trail of the alien ship that attacked you? Tuvok: "I believe so. Mr Kim, lay in that course." He works at the controls at his station and reports: "Shields are at maximum, Captain. All preparations for entering the nebula are complete." Paris enters the Bridge and approaches Janeway who is with Tuvok. He looks oddly at Tuvok as he reports: "Captain, I've finished the bio-analysis the Doctor was running on Kes before he was deactivated. I think he was on to something. If I'm interpreting his data correctly, the bruises on Kes' neck and shoulders were the result of a Vulcan neck pinch." Janeway to Tuvok: "Lieutenant?" Tuvok: "I have no memory of injuring Kes. Perhaps I was occupied by the alien at that time. Janeway: "Perhaps so. But then, why does it keep attacking you? In three separate instances now, it's assaulted you." Tuvok: "I am the chief of security. It may see me as a particular threat." Janeway: "So far you've posed no greater threat than anyone else, and yet it keeps going after you." Tuvok: "Captain, I believe you are having a typically human response in circumstances which are frightening and inexplicable, commonly known as paranoia." Janeway: "Maybe, but I don't think it's paranoia that keeps me from picking up this ion trail of yours. What bandwidth are you on?" Tuvok: "I'm using a multiphasic scan. If you examine the alpha-k band you will see it. Janeway works the controls: "Yes, here it is. A very interesting ion trail. There's no sign of any subspace distortions in its wake. According to these readings, it's a ship without engines. You're lying, Tuvok. There is no alien ship and there never was. We're not going inside that nebula until we get some answers." |
 | Janeway: "Mr Kim, reverse course and-"
Tuvok: "Belay that order!" He startles them by drawing a phaser and aiming it at them. "That is exactly what the alien has been trying to do - prevent us from entering the nebula. I suspect the Captain has been occupied. I am relieving her of command." He points the phaser at Kim: "Ensign, proceed into the nebula, one-half impulse." Janeway: "Don't do it, Harry!" Tuvok: "Now, Ensign!" Kim has to decide between them. He decides. "No, sir. I won't do it." |
 | Tuvok aims his phaser. "I must inform you: this phaser is on wide beam dispersal and set to kill. I am taking command of this bridge. I must ask you all to stand together where I can see you. Step away from the console, Ensign!" |
 | With Tuvok's phaser trained on them, the Bridge crew gather at the rear of the Bridge, facing the Ops console where Tuvok takes over. |
 | Durst notices the read-outs and says: "Captain, we're entering the nebula." |
 | Kim checks the monitor. "Captain, I'm picking up some kind of energy pulses in the nebula, highly coherent with a biomatrix." |
 | Janeway: "Lifeforms."
Kim: "And they're heading this way." Janeway: "Those beings out there - are they your people?" Tuvok: "We are the Komar. This is our domain." |  |
|
