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A Nezu planet of five colonies has been suffering a mysterious asteroid bombardment for three weeks, terrorising the population and causing widespread damage. Voyager has agreed to help destroy the asteroids. Voyager destroys one but unexpectedly it is not vaporised but breaks into large fragments and the debris continues toward the planet surface.
A message from the planet surface, distorted by heavy interference, is addressed to the Nezu Ambassador who is on board Voyager accompanied by a Nezu exo-geology expert called Sklar. It comes from Dr Vatm, a prominent Nezu astrophysicist, who claims he has important information about the asteroids, that they are composed of artificial materials, and asking for an urgent meeting.
As Voyager's sensors are unable to locate Dr Vatm due to the interference in the ionosphere, three shuttlecraft are sent to search for him. As part of his Starfleet training, Neelix is assigned to one team to observe and learn. He is particularly apprehensive because he is assigned to Tuvok's team and has never been able to impress him. Atmospheric interference causes the shuttlecraft conveying Tuvok, Neelix and Sklar, to crash.
Tuvok, Neelix and Sklar are temporarily knocked out but unharmed. They are found by Dr Vatm who introduces Hanjuan, a gallicite miner, who heard the shuttlecraft crashing. When Sklar demands Vatm's asteroid information, Vatm refuses to tell him or even Tuvok, saying the data is classified and only for the Ambassador.
The shuttlecraft's warp drive and impulse systems are beyond repair. Tuvok plans to repair the com. system, send a distress call and wait for rescue. But Neelix spots an orbital tether and persuades him and the others to let him try to repair the damaged carriage, as it uses magnetic leverage to ascend the tether, on account of Neelix's experience working with the same technology. They have only to break through the ionosphere and get above the atmospheric turbulence, not go as far as the orbital station, so that Voyager can be contacted and beam them aboard.
The group arrive at the tether ground station. They discover Lillias, a foundry worker, who has taken refuge there. Neelix repairs the offline induction coils using the shuttle's attitude control thrusters. During the repairs, he and Lillias become friends. He names the mag-lev carriage Alixia, after his favourite sister who, along with the rest of his family, were killed by enemy attack years before. She tells him her home was destroyed by an asteroid bombardment and she and her sister Halla were separated. Tuvok tells off Neelix for engaging in what Tuvok sees as idle conversation when Neelix should instead be concentrating wholly upon the work.
But repairs are left incomplete. Dr Vatm tries to launch the mag-lev carriage without them. Tuvok stops him and, as all the group manage to get into the carriage, the ground station starts to destabilise so they have no choice but to launch ahead of schedule.
Neelix admits to Tuvok that his experience with mag-lev carriages was actually with scale models, but he insists the principles and mechanical components are identical. He was unable to familiarise himself with the real mag-lev systems due to their premature departure.
Lillias tries to throw Vatm out of the carriage as revenge for his trying to launch without them, and she is supported by an angry Hanjuan. Tuvok is forced to assert authority. He has to do so again later when Vatm tries to open the carriage door, despite the fatal danger. Vatm gasps that there is something on the roof that he needs. But suddenly he collapses and dies, not from oxygen shortage which is being suffered by everyone (except Tuvok whose Vulcan physiology is different), but from poison deliberately introduced into his drinking water. Tuvok announces after scanning him that Vatm was murdered. Hanjuan and Lillias apparently have motives - revenge. Hanjuan accuses Tuvok of having the same motive.
Neelix's instincts tell him that Vatm was not merely delirious and he insists Tuvok stop the carriage so that the roof can be searched. When Tuvok refuses, Neelix halts the carriage and his pent-up frustration over Tuvok's dismissive and condescending treatment of him spills out. As Neelix is the only one who can pilot it Tuvok has to agree that the roof be searched. He elects to go himself as, being Vulcan, he can breathe the thin air without difficulty unlike the others even though he has recently injected them with a tri-ox compound to help them.
On the roof Tuvok discovers a hidden data storage device. He informs Neelix by combadge, telling him it seems to contain the specifications of an alien starship. At this point Neelix notices that Sklar is heading for the roof. When he tries to stop him, Sklar kicks him off the ladder and he is injured and knocked out by the fall. Sklar goes onto the roof, takes Tuvok by surprise, and throws him off the roof! Sklar retrieves Tuvok's phaser, and finds and takes the data storage device.
When Sklar returns inside the carriage, Neelix is still unconscious and unable to operate it. The carriage needs to start moving soon otherwise mag-lev cohesion will be lost and they will plummet to the surface, to their deaths. While Sklar, Hanjuan and Lillias argue, Neelix sees Tuvok signalling him from outside the door. Neelix opens it. The interior depressurises. Sklar drops the data storage device. Tuvok grapples with Sklar and in the struggle Sklar is sucked out of the cabin.
Tuvok tells Neelix he survived being thrown off the roof by clinging onto an induction coil. As he scans Neelix, to report he has concussion, he thanks Neelix. Neelix feels too ill to operate the carriage's controls. But Tuvok bonds with him as he uses the best motivation possible - he tells him to do it for the sake of his sister Alixia, who would be proud of him. Neelix gains strength from this and starts the carriage moving again. At long last they break through the ionosphere and are beamed aboard Voyager.
But during the adventures on the mag-lev carriage, Voyager has discovered that the asteroids are artifical and contain what looks like control nodes for a guidance system. In addition, an invasion force of 2,000 is aboard an Etanian Order starship heading for the Nezu planet. Voyager tries to defend the colonists but the Etanian Order's weapons are battering the shields. However, Tuvok, examining Vatm's data, realises that it comprises the specifications of the enemy ship including its shield modulations. Voyager uses the information to disable the Etanian Order ship and destroy its weapons. The invasion has been averted.
Afterwards Neelix passes on findings to Lillias, namely that the Etanian Order invades other worlds by creating apparently natural disasters in order to drive out a planet's population so that they can then stake a claim. Dr Vatm had learned of this, collected data, but knew there was a Nezu traitor though not his identity. Tuvok arrives and informs Lillias that her sister has been found.
After she leaves, Tuvok tells Neelix that in his report to the Captain he has given him a special commendation for his endurance and bravery. The two begin what could be described as bantering, with Tuvok insisting that although Neelix's instincts were correct this time he will eventually learn that logic is primary above all else. Neelix, however, insists that one day he will get Tuvok to trust his gut instinct. Moreover, Neelix observes that Tuvok always like to have the last word, something that Tuvok denies, though in denying it, Tuvok has the last word and proves Neelix's point.
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asteroid approaching Nezu planet
Neelix, Tuvok and Sklar in the shuttlecraft that then crashes
Neelix proposes they escape in a mag-lev carriage. Present: Sklar, Vatm, Hanjuan, Neelix, Tuvok
first meeting with Lillias
the "asteroid" contains machinery, what Torres thinks is a control node for a guidance system
the mag-lev carriage hurtles skywards
Tuvok announces Vatm was murdered
Neelix insists the roof be searched
Tuvok up on the carriage roof
Tuvok finds Vatm's hidden data storage device
Sklar throws Tuvok off the roof
Tuvok fights Sklar
Mr Sklar returns to the surface
the Etanian Order lays claim to the Nezu planet
Tuvok examines Neelix's head wound and urges him to operate the carriage for Alixia's sake
Tuvok tells Neelix to operate the carriage for Alixia's sake
Voyager battered by Etanian Order weapons fire
the mag-lev carriage successfully reaches above the atmospheric interference
Voyager uses Vatm's data to disable the Etanian Order's ship
Neelix observes that Tuvok always has to have the last word
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