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Lieutenant Joe Carey, acting Chief Engineer, is treated in Sickbay for a broken nose, given him by Torres after a disagreement over an engineering matter. As Chakotay heads for the Torres' quarters, where she has been confined over the incident, two Maquis crewmembers named Jarvin and, Torres' and Chakotay's good friend Ensign Seska, accost him and declare the Maquis are ready to mutiny in support of Torres. He surprises them by threatening to throw them in the Brig personally if they dare such a thing.
Carey in Sickbay with a broken nose |
Jarvin and Seska promise Chakotay the support of the Maquis in the mutiny they expect him to lead |
Chakotay visits Torres in her quarters and roundly tells her off, adding that she must control her temper because she will need men like Carey if she is to be Chief Engineer. Torres at first thinks he is joking but he confirms that he intends to propose her for the job as she is the better engineer.
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| Chakotay chastises Torres and tells her to make friends with Carey |
Neelix and Kes interrupt a senior staff meeting where he makes the case that they are the senior Talaxian and senior Ocampa on board so that Janeway allows them to join the meeting for now. The staff discuss personnel shortages, as some of the crew are dead or still missing as a result of the Caretaker's action (in [#1 and #2 Caretaker]) - they are missing an astrogation plotter, chief engineer and medical support personnel. It is decided that the Emergency Medical Hologram should act as the ship's doctor, and Paris is assigned as a field medic to assist him, based on two semesters of biochemistry at Starfleet Academy. Kes' suggestion that they create an airponics bay to grow their own food is accepted, in order to supplement emergency rations as the replicators are down due to power shortages e.g. engine efficiency is down 14 per cent, and Janeway volunteers her to look after the airponics bay; Kim's suggestion that they modify Cargobay 2 as it has adjustable environmental controls. Kim reports that, to try to augment the decreasing power supplies, they tried hooking the holodeck reactors to the power grid, only to end up blowing out half the relays, and he notes that the holodeck's energy matrix is not compatible with other systems. (That problem will be overcome in future episodes.) Chakotay proposes Torres as chief engineer, to Janeway's surprise. Discussion is interrupted when they are called to the Bridge.
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| meeting in the Briefing Room |
They have detected a distant starship caught in the event horizon of a quantum singularity. Janeway hails the starship but receives no reply. Chakotay contacts Torres in Engineering and asks how they can best rescue the trapped starship. She suggests a specially adapted tractor beam. When Janeway asks Carey's opinion he concurs and Janeway pointedly places Carey in charge of the modification work.
the quantum singularity on the Bridge's main viewscreen |
as far as Janeway is concerned, Chakotay speaks out of turn |
Chakotay is called into the Captain's Ready Room by Janeway who is not at all pleased at his presumption for Lieutenant Carey, not Torres, is in charge of Engineering. Chakotay responds by telling her that he has no intention of being her "token Maquis". She points out that none of the Maquis except him are Starfleet-trained (meaning Starfleet graduates) and he counters by saying that would mean none of the Maquis would ever earn promotion by that standard. He ends by asking Janeway to get to know Torres first before deciding who is to be Chief Engineer.
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| altercation in the Captain's Ready Room |
Kes notices the Doctor is shrinking |
In the meantime, only Kes shows concern over that fact that the EMH's holoprojectors are malfunctioning. The tractor beam does not work, almost pulling Voyager into the singularity instead. At Neelix's suggestion, the ship heads for Ilidaria for aid and supplies. |
Torres does not readily open up to Janeway |
En route, Janeway decides to learn more about Torres, but the conversation between them does not go well - Torres says she left Starfleet Academy partway through the course because she did not want anything to do with Starfleet and does not want to do so now. |
After Torres leaves, the EMH (hereafter, and elsewhere on site, called "the Doctor") reports that various crewmembers have suddenly become ill. Janeway hardly has time to discuss the situation before the ship jolts once again. They are back at the singularity. Noting the peculiar effects of the singularity on the Doctor, Torres comes up with an idea that may allow them to contact the crew of the trapped ship which, in turn, may provide clues to their own predicament. Torres' plan works, but when they finally hear the message from the other ship, they discover that it is really a time-delayed reflection of their own hails. Torres and Janeway realise that Voyager must return to the rupture in the event horizon that was created when the ship travelled through it. Otherwise, the singularity will crush them.
in the shuttlecraft |
The pair set out in a shuttlecraft to fire a dekyon beam to force open the rupture wide enough for Voyager to escape. En route, Torres admits her diffidence to Janeway who confides that Professor Chapman, who once taught Torres during her brief time at Starfleet Academy, had commended her original thinking and said she should be re-admitted to the Academy if she ever re-applies. They reach the rupture and fire the dekyon beam. They manage to return to Voyager, narrowly avoiding heading for a reflection of the real Voyager thanks to Janeway's logic, and the ship manages to escape the rapidly closing rupture. |
Carey and Torres shake hands |
Because of her tempered initiative and creative approach to saving the ship, Torres is given the chief engineer's post, and a field commission of lieutenant. Chakotay and Janeway watch from a distance, unseen by Torres as she starts her new job, and as Carey approaches and congratulates her. Carey and Torres become reconciled when he offers his hand and she shakes it, telling him that she is going to depend on him, and he promises she will never get less than his best. |
 | | CHAKOTAY TO TORRES: So on the one side I'm facing a Vulcan who wants to court martial you, and on the other I'm facing all the Maquis who want me to seize the ship over this. You've turned this into one lousy day for me, Torres! |
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