STATE OF FLUX
Episode 11

 

A large away team visits a new planet for foodstuffs, in particular leola root of which Neelix says there is no better source of vitamins and minerals in the Quadrant. Unfortunately Chakotay discovers, as will the rest of the crew later, that leola root tastes really horrible. Meanwhile, on the orbiting Voyager, Paris detects a masked Kazon-Nistrim ship, also in orbit. Janeway recalls the away team but Ensign Seska, a Bajoran crewmember, is missing. Chakotay finds her in a nearby cave. She tells him she went there to gather mushrooms to make his favourite soup. In an encounter with two Kazon soldiers, Chakotay is hit by phaser fire, and is helped away by Seska. Having been successfully treated for his wound, Chakotay is in his quarters when Seska arrives and presents him with a bowl of mushroom soup. While he enjoys eating it, she regales him with the amusing tale of how she rejected Neelix's advice to stretch the soup with leola root and instead, with the help of fellow-Maquis crewmen, she broke into the Galley and raided the ship's food reserves to make the soup. Chakotay is appalled at the theft. He reprimands her and disciplines everyone involved, including himself as an accessory. Seska is taken aback by his reaction, but makes up with him. He reminds her that their past romantic association is over, although she teasingly warns him that there are few potential mates around. At that moment Chakotay is summoned to the Bridge where he learns that Voyager has received a distress call from a Kazon warship - the one they encountered at the planet. Despite Neelix warning that it could be a trap, and that the Kazon-Nistrim is the most violent of the sects in the Kazon Collective, Janeway decides to go to their aid, not only because they should but also hoping to make friends thereby. The Voyager away team, however, discovers a devastated ship, and that the crew have become partly fused with the fabric of the ship! Seska, a member of the away team, finds the sole survivor who is critically ill. Narrowing down the origin of the devastation to a particular bridge console, Torres realises that the presence of neosorium indicates that the accident was caused by Federation technology. The console cannot be reached for closer examination, nor can it be transported away, because it is surrounded by a containment forcefield, within which is highly toxic radiation. above: the sole surviving Kazon, critically ill in Sickbay left: a dead Kazon soldier, fused into the fabric of his ship Back on Voyager, Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay come to the conclusion that the most likely explanation is that someone on Voyager has illicitly given Federation technology to the Kazon. Seska falls under suspicion, since she has recently been very near the Kazon, and Chakotay is advised to treat her with caution. Torres makes preparations to put into action Lt. Joe Carey's proposed method of retrieving the damaged Kazon console. Seska's alternative suggestion, that of using a subspace bubble, is rejected as being too risky. Chakotay takes Seska off the active part of the project and re-assigns her to a passive role, but she is offended by the clearly implicit accusation. Against orders, Seska beams aboard the Kazon warship and, working within a subspace bubble, she tries to retrieve the Federation equipment and is injured. Chakotay rushes to Sickbay, concerned about her. Carey becomes a suspect in the espionage because a communication was transmitted to the Kazon from Carey's work station during a test of the ship's dorsal emitter the previous week. Janeway notes that Carey might resent the promotion to Chief Engineer of Torres, a Maquis, over himself. Carey denies this and implies that anyone could have accessed his work station during the dorsal emitter test. He is suspended from duty and confined to quarters. left and above: Carey is interrogated Another Kazon ship responds to the original distress call. Janeway allows Culluh, leader of the Kazon-Nistrim and titled First Maje, to visit the ailing Kazon soldier in Sickbay. There she tells him that everyone on Voyager has donated blood to replace that of the patient. But Culluh then has his aide murder the patient. A furious Janeway orders them off Voyager and ignores Culluh's claims to the damaged ship. Culluh (next to Janeway) and an aide attend the patient the murder Seska is still unconscious in Sickbay. The Doctor informs Janeway and Tuvok that a routine blood test on Seska reveals racial factors of Cardassian origin, not Bajoran. Torres retrieves the damaged console device from the wrecked vessel. It turns out to be a simple food replicator which proved to be technologically incompatible with the Kazon interface. Chakotay visits Seska, who is convalescing in Sickbay, and updates her on the developments in the investigation. She explains the Cardassian factors in her blood as resulting from receiving a bone marrow transplant from a Cardassian woman when she (Seska) suffered a childhood case of Orkett's Disease. Seska assures Chakotay they can question the Cardassian woman concerned when they return to the Alpha Quadrant. After Chakotay's visit ends, he reports to Tuvok that he has told Seska everything she needs to know - the pair have set a trap to discover if it is Seska or Carey who is the traitor. Chakotay and Tuvok wait in Engineering. They and Torres notice that someone is altering data records to implicate Seska! Chakotay then informs Seska that they have found the traitor - it is her. He explains that her being Cardassian was no proof of treachery, but that she fell into their trap. She tried to double-bluff by implicating herself but they managed to track down her machinations. At this point Janeway, Tuvok and security guards arrive. The Doctor is brought online and, thanks to his detailed medical knowledge, he discounts her story of Orkett's Disease. Seska's guilt is proved Seska admits her guilt but unrepentantly proclaims her reasons Seska realises there is no reason to dissemble any more. She admits she is a Cardassian agent sent to infiltrate the Maquis, who was surgically altered to look Bajoran. She rails against Chakotay for following Janeway, and derides the Starfleet ideals of compassion and nobility, saying that if Voyager had been a Cardassian ship they would all be home now. She insists that Voyager should be obtaining strong allies, such as the Kazon-Nistrim. Before she can be properly apprehended, Seska beams herself aboard Culluh's departing ship. With Kazon reinforcements imminent, Janeway realises that Seska should not be pursued and reluctantly orders Voyager to leave the area. Later, still shaken by the turn of events, Chakotay talks to Tuvok in the Messhall. Ruefully Chakotay asks: "I'd just like to know from someone else who pulled the wool over my eyes: Was I particularly naive? Was I not paying enough attention? What the hell was it that let all you spies get by me?" Tuvok replies: "Like all humans, you depend on feelings and instincts to guide you, and they invariably let you down. But 'particularly naive'? No, Commander, and I've always considered your attention span to be adequate. ... She quite expertly pulled the wool over my eyes as well.""    JANEWAY TO FIRST MAJE CULLUH: You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time, but I don't like bullies and I don't like threats. And I don't like you, Culluh.    SESKA TO CHAKOTAY (AND JANEWAY): 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.