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SUMMARY: A macrovirus lays low the Voyager crew.
Returning from a trade mission with the Tak Tak (a species which communicates with ritual body gestures and sign language alongside words), Janeway and Neelix are surprised to find Voyager adrift in space with a bio-electric field blocking their scans. After landing their craft in the shuttlebay, the pair notes there are no crew members in sight and that many of the ship's systems are offline. While they are investigating the seemingly empty ship, they spot signs of an intrusion of some kind when they find a hole in the transporter pad. Their turbolift is halted by several lifeforms, one of which pokes a hole in the door with a large stinger on the end of a long tentacle-like appendage. The stinger sprays Neelix with a mucilaginous compound and Janeway leaves him to fetch a medkit. En route, she hears a noise and returns hurriedly only to find Neelix mysteriously gone.
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| in the turbolift Neelix is sprayed by an alien appendage which Janeway opens fire upon and drives it back |
Janeway heads determinedly for Engineering where she tools up for what seems like an alien intrusion of Voyager. From a weapons store on the upper level of Engineering she adds to her phaser more substantial and numerous weapons - a phaser rifle and a knife - and packs a kitbag with an emergency manual door actuator. She then goes warily to the Bridge, scans for lifeforms and discovers the crew in the Messhall, and sends a distress call. While she is doing so, she is stung by what seems to be a small insect.
in Engineering, Janeway - heavily armed and ready for action |
on the Bridge, Janeway transmits a distress signal |
She goes to the Messhall and discovers a number of the crew, comatose. Suddenly she is attacked by what look like alien flying creatures which have stingers like the one that attacked Neelix. She destroys her attackers but in the fight ruptures a muscle and bruises two ribs.
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| Janeway finds the unconscious crew in the Messhall, and sees a strange wound on Chakotay's neck (from where the "insects" first appear from within their host) |
Next Janeway goes to Sickbay where she finds the Doctor ready to defend the place against the hostile creatures. He carries out minor surgery to treat her injuries, and briefs her on events during her absence.
The Doctor reports that the ship is infected by an unknown alien macrovirus. He explains that while Janeway and Neelix were away from the ship, Voyager responded to a medical distress call from the Garan mining colony. The Doctor, who has been studying Starfleet guidelines for away team members, went on his first real away mission, thanks to his recently acquired mobile (holo-)emitter. He visited the colony and discovered the miners stricken by a virus.
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| the Doctor with an infected miner |
When he returned to Voyager, the virus migrated to the ship along with him and was not neutralised by the transporter's biofilters. One of the bio-neural gel packs in a replicator in the Messhall ruptured due to the virus and the virus spread to Torres who was investigating the faulty replicator. Chakotay initiated a level-4 quarantine on deck 2 (where the Messhall is). Since then, the virus has spread throughout the ship's systems to all the crew. At the microscopic level, the virus uses a needlelike projection to penetrate a cell membrane. On the larger scale, it impales its victim in much the same way, infusing her/him with its own genetic code. Each virus emits a mucilaginous compound with high concentrations of amino acids, proteins and fragments of non-humanoid DNA. The virus absorbs growth hormones into its protein structure, and uses them to increase its own mass and dimensions which it achieves at phenomenal speed. The larger macroviruses assemble their host population - in this case, the crew - into groups for unknown reasons but likely hoarding of a "food" supply.
the Doctor scans Torres when she feels unwell |
the Doctor collects a sample of the
mucilaginous compound and he and Kes study it |
a macrovirus under the microscope, but it grows quickly and leaves the slide |
meanwhile, small macroviruses exit through Torres' neck |
the Doctor tackles the fully-grown macrovirus |
one dead macrovirus - see QUOTE below |
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The Doctor has developed an antigen but had the chance to test it on the crew because the macroviruses drove him from the Messhall and are preventing him from leaving Sickbay.
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| the Doctor is attacked by macroviruses in the Messhall, and the stinger of one hits his mobile emitter |
Janeway has the virus, from being bitten on the Bridge - her glandular system is already being infected and she has a high fever. She volunteers to test the antigen and is cured. She decides to distribute the antigen cure in gaseous form through the ship's environmental system.
the Doctor injects Janeway with the antigen which cures her |
the Doctor makes up a batch of the tested antigen |
She and the Doctor try to reach environmental control on deck 12 by crawling through the Jefferies tubes.
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| Janeway and the Doctor crawl through the Jefferies tubes |
But after they split up the Doctor is attacked and forced to take refuge in a shuttlecraft on the hangar deck. Janeway sets a tricorder to emit a thermal scattering signal to throw off the viruses and, using the arsenal she obtained from Engineering, blasts any macrovirus she encounters until she reaches environmental control. But before she can disperse the antigen, Voyager is fired upon by the Tak Tak who want to eliminate the virus by destroying the ship; they have already destroyed the Garan mining colony for the same reason. The Tak Tak assault takes the environmental controls offline. Janeway obtains a reprieve from destruction of an hour. With the environmental controls damaged by the attack, Janeway revises her plan. Since the virus is attracted to infrared radiation, she calls up Neelix's Paxau Resort program in Holodeck 2 to set up the holocharacters as bait. The macroviruses are attracted to the holocharacters and attack them.
the Tak Tak consul threatens to destroy Voyager |
the macroviruses attack the holograms on the holodeck |
In the meantime, Janeway puts together a makeshift antigen bomb and sets the timer. She is attacked by a microvirus and the bomb rolls out of reach. A desperate battle ensues. Janeway manages to kill the macrovirus with her knife. In the nick of time she lobs the antigen bomb into the holodeck where it explodes and destroys the macroviruses.
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| Janeway fights a macrovirus while the antigen bomb counts down to detonation |
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| Janeway takes cover as the antigen bomb explodes inside the holodeck |
 | | DOCTOR, AFTER TESTING THE ANTIGEN SUCCESSFULLY ON A MACROVIRUS: Well, one down, ten billion to go. |
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