NIGHTINGALE : Episode 154

Kim goes to where Seven is lying down, recovering from her injury. Kim: "Seven. Feeling better?" Seven sits up: "Well enough to return to duty." She gets up. Kim: "You won't be returning to duty, not on this ship anyway. Loken lied to us. There's no vaccine. The cloak is the real cargo. I ordered the crew to take us back to Voyager but they refused." Seven: "They mutinied." Kim: "Guess that's what you'd call it. I've packed some supplies. We'll take an escape pod. I'm hoping the Annari will leave us alone, treat us as neutral parties." Seven: "We are not neutral parties." Kim: "This is a military mission. We can't get involved." Seven: "We've been involved since you first fired on that Annari ship." Kim: "I thought I was helping people in distress." Seven: "They still need your help. Are you abandoning this ship because the mission wasn't what you expected or because being captain wasn't what you expected?" Kim: "I am perfectly capable of commanding a starship!" Seven: "Are you? Clearly you're uncomfortable with the role: delegating tasks, giving orders." Kim: "Someone died following my orders." Seven: "You can't blame yourself for that." Kim: "A captain's responsible for the lives of his crew." Seven: "People sometimes die on missions, despite the captain's best efforts." Kim: "I should've stuck to playing Buster Kincaid." Seven: "A holodeck program can be turned off when it no longer suits you. Reality can't. If you really feel responsible for this crew, you'll help them get home, because they won't survive without you."

Nightingale approaches the Kraylor homeworld. Terek asks about the sweeping 'ripples' of blue energy generated over and above the planet: "Is that some new kind of weapon?" Loken: "They're scanning pulses designed to illuminate cloaked ships. If we hit one we'll be exposed."

	Terek: "How're we going to get through?" Suddenly Kim and Seven enter the Bridge. Kim answers Terek: "We'll find a way."
	Loken: "I thought you were leaving." Kim: "I get claustrophobic in escape pods." To Terek: "Switch to manual helm control. Full power to shields." Terek looks at Loken, who nods. Terek is pleased to be able to turn to Kim and tell him: "Aye, Captain."

As Seven takes her station at the rear of the Bridge, Kim takes his place in the captain's chair, back in command again.

Harry Kim, captain of the Nightingale, sits in the captain's chair. At the same time, in the background Seven takes up her workstation. (pop-up window)

On Voyager's bridge, Tuvok reports: "Two Annari ships have entered orbit. They are hailing."

Janeway: "On screen. Captain Geral, we've twelve isotons of ore for you." Geral: "I'm under orders to escort you out of Annari space immediately. You've been supporting our enemy."

Janeway: "You must be mistaken."
Geral: "A shuttlecraft matching your hull composition fired at one of our ships several days ago, and we recently detected two human bio-signatures on a Kraylor warship."
Janeway: "I can explain-"
Geral: "If you don't leave immediately, we'll be forced to fire on you."
Janeway: "Our warp drive is still being repaired."
Geral: "Then we'll escort you at impulse. You have five minutes to lift off." The contact ends. viewscreen off

Chakotay: "So much for our new deuterium injectors." Paris: "What about Harry and Seven?" Janeway: "We'll go looking for them, as soon as get rid of our escort."

Kim brings Nightingale closer in to the final approach to the Kraylor homeworld. The scanning pulses prove difficult to avoid. Kim: "Evasive maneuvers." Terek: "They're too many of them!" Kim: "You're doing fine. Just try to stay at least one hundred metres ahead of the closest pulse." Terek: "Yes, sir."

	Loken: "We should return fire." Kim: "No. That would only give them another way to triangulate our position."
	Loken: "Our shields are failing." Seven: "We're losing structural integrity on the lower decks." Kim: "Re-route emergency power." Seven: "It's insufficient."

Kim: "Open a channel to the lead Annari ship." Terek: "Sir?" Kim: "Do it." Terek: "Aye, sir." Kim to Annari captain: "This is Captain Kim of the Kraylor vessel Nightingale. I'm prepared to discuss terms for our surrender. End transmission." Loken: "We trusted you." Kim: "And you still should." Terek: "They're responding!" Kim: "I don't have time to explain. On screen."

Annari captain: "Your surrender will be unconditional." Kim: "No it won't. Either you allow my crew to evacuate to the surface or I'll put this ship on self-destruct. You'll never get the cloaking technology. Something tells me your superiors won't be happy about that." Annari captain: "Your crew will be taken aboard my vessel and brought to an Annari detention centre." Kim: "My crew's going to the surface in escape pods. Once they're clear, you can lock onto this ship with a tractor beam." Annari captain: "Agreed. You've two minutes to evacuate."

Terek: "I will not abandon this ship!" Kim: "I'm glad to hear that, because I'm going to need you here." To Loken: "Get your people into the pods, quickly." Loken: "But the cloak!" Kim: "I've got a plan to save it. If I fail, at least the scientist who designed it will be alive to create another one." Loken nods, looks at Kim with increased respect, then hurries away to carry out Kim's instructions.

Kim: "Seven, scan the Annari's tractor emitters. I need to know the exact beam polarity." Terek: "What're we going to do?" Kim: "Once they lock onto us, they're going to come about and pull us away from the planet. As soon as they do, we're going to reverse our shield polarity. If we time it right, it should give us enough momentum to outrun them to the defence perimeter. Terek surmises: "We're going to use their own weapons against them." This echoes what Kim told him about how the Delta Flyer escaped an Annari ship.

Seven: "Escape pods are away." Kim: "Disengage the cloak. As Nightingale becomes visible and thus an open target for the Annari ship's tractor beam, Seven reports: "They've locked on." Terek: "Sir?" Kim: "Not yet. Steady. Now!" Nightingale reverses shield polarity which severs the Annari's tractor beam. The momentum seems to push Nightingale away from the Annari ship.

Kim: "Status?" Seven: "Shields are failing." Terek: "Four Annari vessels are in pursuit. They're closing." Kim: "Full thrusters." Seven: "Shields are down." Kim: "Get us through that defence perimeter, Mr Terek." Terek: "Yes, sir!" Nightingale hurtles towards the defence perimeter, and then it goes through - Nightingale is safe! Terek: "We're inside." Seven: "The Annari have broken off their pursuit." Kim: "Take us to the surface, Mr Terek." He cannot avoid giving a small smile, now that he has completed his mission.

Later, the two Annari ships escorting Voyager veer away from it.

	Paris reports: "We've just crossed out of Annari space." Chakotay: "Our escorts have broken off. They're going to warp."
	Janeway: "Bring the long-range sensors online." To Chakotay: "You and Tom take the Flyer. Start your search at Harry's last known position." She goes over to Tuvok's station: "Tuvok, send an encrypted message to the Kraylor homeworld. See if they know where Harry and Seven are."
	Tuvok: "That won't be necessary, Captain. Ensign Kim is hailing us." Janeway: "From where?" Tuvok: "A cloaked vessel. It's directly astern."

Kim: "Acting captain's personal log, stardate 54282.5, final entry. New cloaking systems are being installed in other Kraylor ships so I guess the mission was a success. Still, I wish I felt better about it."

	Kim enters the Messhall. Neelix: "Welcome home." Kim: "It's good to be back." Neelix: "So, what'll it be tonight? I have a light tula cheese soufflé or a zesty lasagne." Kim: "You know, Neelix, the truth is: I'm not sure."
	Neelix: "I thought we talked about this. A captain has to be dec-" Kim: "I'm not a captain, Neelix." He smiles: "Not yet anyway."

 

 

Thanks to Feeble Minds for the animated star background (tweaked by me). Thanks to Icon Bazaar for the animated letter titles.

 

TOP

BACK

PREVIOUS

EPISODE INDEX

SEASON INDEX

BRIDGE