| |
SUMMARY: Chakotay and Seven are stranded with a tribe of primitives, but their presence accidentally exposes the tribe to modern influence.
Chakotay and Seven travel in a shuttlecraft to the planet Ledos for a conference on Warp Field Dynamics. While doing so, at Chakotay's insistence, they detour from the flight plan given them by the Ledosians in order to admire the natural landscape of one of the planet's subcontinents. Suddenly they scrape a mysterious energy barrier which starts to break the shuttlecraft apart. Seven uses the shuttlecraft's phasers to open a rift in the barrier, and they beam to the surface before the shuttlecraft explodes.
Chakotay and Seven in the shuttlecraft. The shuttlecraft encounters the energy barrier.
Seven assists the limping Chakotay |
They find themselves stranded in dense woodland, with Chakotay suffering a leg injury from the accident. They set out to find the shuttlecraft debris, hoping to salvage parts to construct a beacon to send Voyager a distress signal. As they journey, they find the tricorder indicates lifesigns whereas previously no lifesigns had registered - the energy barrier had masked them. |
| Meanwhile, Paris flies the Delta Flyer somewhat recklessly through the large bustling Ledosian spaceport. He is informed by the Port Authority that he has committed a piloting violation. His penalty, under local law, is to take a three-day course in flight safety which concludes with an test. Since Janeway has decided to grant the crew shore leave on Ledos, she tells him he will have time to complete it - much to his chagrin. |
|
On the planet surface, Chakotay and Seven discover a tribe of primitive humanoids. Agreeing that they should avoid contact with them, Chakotay, who is developing an infection as the result of his injury, rests while Seven continues searching for shuttlecraft debris. While she is away, three native men find Chakotay.
curious natives startle Chakotay, and he throws up his arm ready to defend himself
| Just then Seven finds a working piece of the shuttlecraft and summons Chakotay. The natives, startled by her apparently disembodied voice, seize his combadge and destroy it. Concerned by Chakotay's lack of response to her com. signal, Seven returns. That night, believing that he has been captured, she tracks him inside a cave where she finds several native men with him. But the natives are friendly, and they are treating his wound. |
Seven discovers the natives tending Chakotay's leg injury |
Chakotay talks Seven into staying the night, but she is uncomfortable with the degree of fascination which the unspeaking natives have for them.
the girl puts out her hand to investigate Seven's ocular implant but pulls back when Seven draws back, startled |
In particular, one young girl is intrigued by her Borg ocular implant. |
the Ventu girl |
Kleg transports aboard Voyager to meet Paris |
As Kim, Neelix and Torres prepare to beam down to the planet for shore leave, they tease Paris for having to attend "pilot school", but Paris is confident that he can skip right to the test and join them in a couple of hours. However, when the Ledosian flying instructor, Mr Kleg, beams aboard, he makes it clear that he intends to take as much time with Paris as he deems necessary. |
The next morning, Chakotay begins to learn the natives' sign language as he draws a map in the ground to get his bearings. He learns their way of expressing "river", "mountain" and, on agreeing to barter his uniform's Maquis rank pin, "thank you".Seven tells him she can construct a beacon by connecting the components she found with the shuttlecraft's deflector, which she has detected six kilometres away. Because he is still incapacitated, Chakotay suggests letting one of the locals guide her, but she prefers not to do that because she is still trying to limit contact with them.
the Ventu healer and Chakotay
communicate using a drawing on the ground |
as Seven talks with Chakotay
she notices the Ventu's girl's curiosity |
 |
As she makes her way through the dense woodland, she trips and the tricorder falls into a crevice, and she is unable to retrieve it. She decides to proceed without it.
Meanwhile, Chakotay makes a startling discovery: the native men have started painting tattoos on their foreheads which look like his. |
That night, Seven has to endure cold and a rainy storm. But the young girl arrives, bringing her a blanket. The girl builds a fire and offers Seven food, which she declines. The next morning, Seven finally accepts the food, and allows the girl to guide her. Along the way, the girl insists they stop and admire the view of spectacular triple waterfall.
The Ventu girl makes a fire. A cold and wet
Seven huddles inside the blanket the girl has brought her |
The Ventu girl shares with Seven a beautiful sight of nature. |
 |
Back at the Ventu encampment, Chakotay is worried about Seven. When he tries to communicate, using a drawing on the ground, that he needs help to find his friend, a native man misunderstands him and brings out a woman who has strapped a small piece of shuttlecraft debris to her forehead in an attempt to emulate Seven's appearance. Chakotay discovers that the natives have retrieved several pieces of technology from the shuttlecraft, and asks them to lead him to where they found the wreckage. |
| Meanwhile, Seven finds the shuttlecraft's deflector with the girl's help. |
 |
On Voyager, Tuvok reports to Janeway that Chakotay and Seven have failed to report in, and that they never turned up at the conference. Tuvok and Kim have located a wing from their shuttle resting on top of the energy barrier surrounding the southern subcontinent, which means the missing crewmen are probably there, but they cannot be sure of this because the barrier is deflecting all their scans. Janeway contacts the Ledosian Ambassador, who informs her that the barrier shields the territory of the indigenous Ventu people. The barrier was erected centuries ago by aliens to protect the Ventu from having their culture destroyed by the Ledosians' own unenlightened ancestors. But the technology is a mystery to them, so the Ledosians are unable to lower the barrier. Since the barrier is generated from the inside, the Ambassador holds no hope that the Voyager crewmembers, if alive, can ever get out.
the Ledosian ambassador converses with Janeway
On the planet surface, Chakotay, with native guidance, meets up with Seven. They recruit help from the Ventu men to move the deflector to a place several kilometres away where Seven believes she can generate a deflector beam to neutralise the barrier temporarily. This would allow Chakotay and Seven to beam up to Voyager and enable Voyager to beam away all their technology, thereby leaving no trace of their visit.
the dampening field is generated, allowing communication
between Voyager and Chakotay and Seven;
Chakotay is keeping the natives well back |
Voyager attempts to penetrate the energy barrier with phasers, but feedback from the barrier is interfering with the ship's systems, forcing them to cease. They believe this effect is what destroyed Chakotay's and Seven's shuttlecraft. A short time later, however, the crew find the barrier is being deactivated from the inside, for Seven has successfully generated a dampening field. |
| But the Ventu girl, moved by curiosity, gets too close to the deflector and receives a serious electrical shock. When Janeway's voice comes through telling the crewmen to stand by for transport, Seven reports that she needs to remain behind to treat an injury. |
Chakotay and Seven with the injured Ventu girl |
After Seven successfully treats the Ventu girl and the Ventu return to their encampment where Seven says goodbye and accepts the girl's blanket as a gift. At that moment, a Ledosian expedition arrives to conduct scans and evaluate the habitat for development. Barus, the expedition leader, tells Seven that she did the Ventu a great favour by lowering the barrier because now they can benefit from education and technology supplied by the Ledosians.
The Ventu girl gives Seven the blanket as a memento. |
Seven talks to Barus, leader of the Ledosian expedition to bring education and technology to the Ventu. |
| On board Voyager, Seven, Chakotay and Janeway debate whether or not the Ventu would be better off losing their isolation, but decide that their unique way of life is worth preserving. When Janeway announces to the Ledosian Ambassador her intention to restore the barrier, he protests but says he will remove his people from the territory before the hour's deadline which she imposes. However, when Voyager tries to beam up the deflector assembly, a Ledosian vessel approaches and opens fire, targetting and knocking out their transporters. |
a Ledosian ship attacks Voyager |
Kleg objects in vain when Paris suddenly veers away from the Ledosian flight test |
When Janeway protests to the Ledosian ambassador at what he calls "restrained" and he says Voyager should leave, she contacts Paris, who is still in the Delta Flyer maneuvering through a training course under Kleg's supervision. Paris is disliking every moment of his enforced test and is rather pleased when she gives him encrypted orders. They are encrypted so that Kleg will not understand them. Over Kleg's objections, Paris suddenly takes the Delta Flyer away from Kleg's prescribed course and rushes to the planet. |
Paris beams up the expedition team, so that they will not be trapped in Ventu land when the energy barrier is restored. Instead he traps for them for the time being behind a forcefield in the Delta Flyer pending delivery to Ledosian territory. Then Paris locates the deflector, vaporises it with phaser fire, and hurtles away a split second before the energy barrier goes back up. Kleg informs Paris that he has failed the course and will thus not be allowed to fly in Ledosian space, but he replies that he can live with that.
Paris beams the Ledosian expedition onto the Delta Flyer and destroys the shuttlecraft's deflector.
 |
Back on board Voyager, Seven tells Chakotay she is concerned that the Ledosians may have scanned her deflector modifications and could find a way to remove the barrier themselves. She realises that if she had not made those modifications, the Ventu people would be safe, but she and Chakotay would still be stranded with them. All she and Chakotay are sure of is that they are glad to be back on Voyager. Seven offers Chakotay the blanket which the Ventu girl gave her, as Seven does not need it, but Chakotay declines. As he leaves the room, Seven touches the blanket, remembering her time with the Ventu. |
 | | CHAKOTAY TO SEVEN (as they fly over a planet): There's always time for Warp Field Dynamics, but you don't see natural beauty like this every day. |
|
