SCORPION
Episodes 68 and 69
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SUMMARY: Voyager enters the heart of the Borg's vast territory, and the crew find themselves caught up in the fiercesome war between the Borg and a terrifying new species.
Telemetry from a Voyager probe shows the probe being captured by the Borg, so the Borg now know Voyager is in their territory and the Voyager crew now know they are entering the heart of the Borg's vast space. The crew prepare for possible engagement with the Borg. They plan to travel through Borg territory along a safe route they nickname the Northwest Passage, which is devoid of Borg activity. The Doctor's analysis of the Borg corpse brought on board not long before (in [Unity]) is enabling him to understand the Borg assimilation process more, and leads him to decide to recode Borg nanoprobes to counter Borg assimilation at the cellular level. While assisting the Doctor, Kes suffers mental flashes of the death of Borg and, later, of Voyager's destruction.
A Borg armada of fifteen cubes rush past Voyager without stopping to assimilate the crew. Curious as to the reason for their haste, Janeway has sensors maintain contact with the armada. When it is found that the Borg armada has been destroyed, Janeway sets course to investigate.
After exhaustive examination of Starfleet records on the Borg to try and understand the Hive mind, Janeway confides to Chakotay that there might be a point when the crew have to settle in friendly territory and give up hope of reaching home, and that despite the records she feels alone. Chakotay reassures her that he will stand by her at the crucial time, and she appreciates his close friendship and support. Voyager enters the graveyard of destroyed Borg cubes and detects a mysterious bio-mass attached to the hull of one cube. It seems this is the source of what destroyed the Borg cubes. Kim is optimistic that they have found a powerful ally against the Borg and thus Voyager's ticket home. Janeway orders Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim to the cube to scan the bio-mass.
The away team find one of Kes' visions has come true when they find a pile of dead Borg, exactly as she 'saw' it. Chakotay and Tuvok find and analyse the bio-mass, which is an alien starship composed of organic matter. But Kes suddenly has a vision of Kim screaming and tells Janeway to bring the away team back. On the cube, Kim, as he downloads the cube's database, hears noises and realises there is someone or something on board that is not the Borg. Torres experiences difficulty beaming the away team back, due to interference from whatever is approaching them, whom they guess is the pilot of the alien ship. Accordingly, the away team flee the mysterious alien. However, the alien catches up with them. It is a huge, vaguely humanoid creature, which destroys two Borg with a single swipe. It then lunges at Kim, flinging him backwards. As he lies screaming in agony, exactly the way Kes 'saw' him, he and the rest of the away team are successfully beamed back to Voyager. Torres achieved the transport using a skeletal lock.
The alien pilot starts up its bio-ship and Voyager flees the Borg graveyard. As Voyager leaves, the bio-ship fires a powerful tendril of energy which causes Voyager to spin wildly out of control for a moment before it can jump to warp and escape. Kim's optimism has proved to be definitely unfounded, and Kes confirms this after being in telepathic contact with the alien pilot. She tells Janeway that it is not the Borg they should be worried about, but the new aliens. Kim is in Sickbay, dying from being consumed alive by the alien tissue covering his body which transferred itself to him when the alien made physical contact with him. The Doctor plans to recode Borg nanoprobes to denature the alien tissue but it will take him several days to reprogram enough nanoprobes. They can only hope Kim can survive long enough to receive the treatment.
The Borg database which Kim downloaded from the visited cube reveals that the Borg designate the alien species as Species 8472. Otherwise, the Borg have scant information about the species. With under a day to go before arriving at the Northwest Passage, the crew learn that Species 8472 originates from the Northwest Passage, ruling it out as a route through Borg space. Janeway and Chakotay confer. She can visualise no option but for the crew to settle in the Delta Quadrant. She is most unwilling to have to tell the crew that. He persuades her to postpone the decision and to sleep on it as she has had no sleep for two days. But she is unable to sleep as she is still wrestling with the dilemma. She visits the hologram of Leonardo da Vinci and asks his advice. He suggests that she "appeal to God". This makes her see the apparent impasse differently, and she decides to "appeal to the Devil" instead.
Next morning, Janeway explains her strategy to the senior staff: they will offer the Doctor's nanoprobe information to the Borg ("the Devil") to help them defeat Species 8472 provided the Borg agree to give them safe passage through Borg space. The Doctor will be the guarantee that the Borg will not simply try to assimilate the Voyager crew to obtain the data, for Janeway orders him to transfer all data on the nanoprobes into his holo-matrix so that, if necessary, they can erase his program and, with it, the data. After the meeting, Chakotay and Janeway argue, with Chakotay believing the Borg cannot be trusted. He reminds her that he was once connected by a Borg neuro-transceiver to a collective (in [Unity]). To illustrate his point he tells her the parable of the scorpion, who wanted to cross the river and got a ride on the back of a fox after persuading the fox that it would not sting, that it would be against the scorpion's own interest to sting as the scorpion would drown too. The fox duly gave the scorpion a ride, but halfway across the river the scorpion stung it. As the poison filled the fox's veins he asked why the scorpion had done it, as now they would both drown. The scorpion replied that it could not help it, as it was in its nature. The message of the parable is that one cannot change the nature of the beast. Janeway argues she is not trying to change the Borg. Their friendship becomes strained as the result of the argument, and Janeway claims that she is alone after all.
End of Part One/Season 3 as aired on television. Start of Part Two/Season 4 as aired on television. As Chakotay tries to transport Janeway back to Voyager and escape the Borg's tractor pulse, Janeway contacts him to report that she has reached agreement with the Borg Collective. She tells a still doubting Chakotay the terms of the alliance she has agreed with the Borg. It is intended that Janeway and Tuvok will work on the cube to help design a weapon to deliver the nanoprobes. Voyager matches the Borg cube's course and speed as it heads for the Alpha Quadrant and out of Borg space. The Doctor injects reprogrammed Borg nanoprobes into Kim's bloodstream, and they successfully cure him. Kim later returns to duty on the Bridge. Kes experiences stronger and more menacing visions of Species 8472.
On the Borg cube, Janeway and Tuvok are taken to a dedicated workspace near the centre of the cube. There the Borg want to assimilate Janeway and Tuvok to facilitate efficient communication but Janeway insists the Borg choose a single representative to speak for the Borg. The Borg choose a female drone, formerly a human, whose (abbreviated) designation is Seven of Nine. In an uneasy working atmosphere, they start work designing weapons. Janeway's strategy prevails, namely to create small-scale weapons carried by photon torpedoes, intended to deter Species 8472, rather than weapons of mass destruction which would imperil innocent worlds.
The Doctor and Kes determine that Species 8472 are doing more than just trying to communicate telepathically with Kes. Chakotay reports to Janeway that Species 8472 is accessing Kes' memory, so Species 8472 might be aware of their plans. The Borg cube and Voyager change course to try and throw them off. Soon afterwards Voyager is attacked by a Species 8472 bio-ship. Voyager suffers damage, with transporters offline, and shields and weapons down. The Borg cube fires at the bio-ship to protect the vulnerable Voyager and the nanoprobes. During an attack, Janeway is badly injured. When the bio-ship pursues Voyager, the Borg cube deliberately collides with the bio-ship, destroying itself but taking the bio-ship with it.
Chakotay visits a still unconscious Janeway and tells her his decision, expressing the hope that she will understand. The Borg suffer huge losses following another penetration into Borg space by Species 8472. The Borg Collective orders Seven of Nine to take Voyager into the realm of Species 8472, which she does, by using Voyager's deflector to create a quantum singularity or interdimensional rift.
As she does so, Chakotay, realising the Borg are accessing the deflector and Voyager's systems, depressurises the cargo bay. All the Borg are sent into space except Seven of Nine who manages to survive. Voyager is pulled into fluidic space, the realm of Species 8472. Seven of Nine informs him that their arrival in fluidic space has caused a compression wave, so Species 8472 know they are here, and bio-ships are converging to intercept in a bit over three hours' time. Chakotay demands Seven of Nine return Voyager to normal space. He surmises the Borg have been in fluidic space before, and that the Borg started the war.
Seven of Nine is brought to the Bridge, to find Janeway back in command. Janeway tells her that Chakotay has been relieved of his duties and is in the Brig. Janeway then orders the crew to co-operate fully with Seven of Nine in order that Voyager can fight Species 8472. Accordingly, the weapons and defence modifications are completed and brought online.
Species 8472's attack is repulsed, with the nanoprobe weapon proving effective.
Having made their point to Species 8472, Janeway gets Seven of Nine to open a singularity back to normal space. Bio-ships pursue Voyager into normal space, forcing Voyager to use its high-yield weapon to destroy thirteen of them, making the rest retreat. As a result, Species 8472 withdraws from the Delta Quadrant - the war is over.
Janeway calls on the Borg to fulfil their part of the agreement with Voyager and provide safe passage through Borg space. But Seven of Nine is ordered by the Borg Collective to assimilate ship and crew. As Seven of Nine starts to assimilate Voyager's systems, Janeway gives Chakotay a codeword: "Scorpion."
Chakotay is hooked up to a Borg alcove in Cargo Bay 2 and wears a Borg neuro-transceiver to link himself telepathically with Seven of Nine's mind. He distracts her by reminding her of her humanity and human childhood while Torres initiates a power surge in the Borg systems. This severs Seven of Nine from the Borg Collective. Voyager resumes a course for home.
As Voyager travels onward, with no sign of Borg, Janeway tries to relax in the calm candlelight of the holographic workshop where she writes her captain's log. Chakotay arrives with an engineering report and they end up in conversation. Janeway indicates that she plans to offer Seven of Nine a place on Voyager - after all, they severed her from the Borg Collective and are somewhat responsible for her. She wonders how much humanity is left beneath Seven of Nine's Borg technology. Chakotay says that Seven of Nine was assimilated at a very young age (eighteen years previously) and might not want to stay as the Borg are all she knows. Janeway says they have something to offer the Borg cannot - friendship. The word 'friendship' hangs significantly in the air between them after the adventure strained their own friendship. Chakotay tells her that disobeying her orders was the hardest thing he has ever had to do. Janeway and Chakotay start making more progress on restoring their closeness.
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Somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, Borg cubes are destroyed by a devastating weapon.
Janeway spends time in a new holoprogram. It is a holographic simulation of Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, complete with the maestro himself. She gives him a design tip for his flying machine which convinces him of the worth of her mind so that he agrees to her proposal to rent space in his workshop. She and Da Vinci start a friendship.
T H E E N D
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