Ships take up their positions. Spectating vessels such as USS Voyager line the starting lane which is marked by beacons.
The twelve competitors take their positions at the starting line.
From Voyager's bridge Ambassador O'Zaal makes a speech.
O'Zaal's historic speech: "Welcome to the first running of the Antarian Trans-stellar Rally. This moment marks a hopeful point in our shared history, a chance to put aside all animosity, and come together in a spirit of peace and friendly competition. Good luck to all of you."
Voyager starts the race by firing a photon torpedo.
As the explosion of the photon torpedo dies away the competitors leap away from the starting line.
The racing ships stream past the spectators.
The rally course has three segments over 2.3 billion kilometres long. It includes various obstacles such as K-class anomalies and dwarf star clusters.
The view from the Delta Flyer as Assan's ship grazes the Flyer's shields and knocks out the port thrusters in doing so.
Assan's ship zooms off into the distance after the deliberate "scraping" tactic. Thanks to his tactic he rounds the 3rd marker before the Delta Flyer, but due to the new field converter the Delta Flyer compensates for the its damage.
Neelix: "Attention all hands! Stand by for a race update! With only 58 million kilometres left in the first segment, the Aksani, Imhotep and Terellian ships are still battling for the lead! Wait, the number 8 ship just cut off the number 3 in the Darla system, now 3's changing course using the gravity from a gas giant to boost its speed, it's making up for lost ground!"
Above picture comprises parts of 2 screenshots.
The Delta Flyer is in third place, chasing Irina's ship and Assan's.
Aboard USS Voyager, the race's progress is displayed on the main viewscreen in Voyager's astrometrics lab.
Voyager's crew turn up, watch the race and enthusiastically support their team.
The Mobius Inversion, comprising the final third of the race.
It is a wormhole which contains level 6 subspace distortions and gravimetric shears.
In the Mobius Inversion, a view of Assan's and Irina's ships from within the Delta Flyer.
Aboard the Delta Flyer B'Elanna Torres takes action to enable the Delta Flyer to squeeze through the small gap between Irina's ship and Assan'.
Torres: "50 metres, 40. We can get through."
Paris: "No, they're too close to each other."
Torres: "I'm reversing our deflector polarity. It'll repel their shields. Why wait for an opening when you can make one?"
Paris: "No, it's too risky."
Torres: "Too risky? That doesn't sound like the Tom Paris I know."
Paris: "What are you doing?"
Torres: "Deploying auxiliary thrusters. We'll need the extra maneuvering power to get through the gap."
Paris: "B'Elanna-"
Torres: "Just steer the ship."
It works and the Delta Flyer flies through the gap between Assan's and Irina's ship, repelling their shields to force enough space.
During the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally the Delta Flyer squeezes through between Irina's ship and Assan's and touches their shields in doing so. (pop-up window)
But the race is suspended. After a system's overload Joxum's console explodes and he is caught in the blast. He is treated in Voyager's sickbay for severe burns.
Irina: "This was Assan's fault. ... He collided with me so many times my shield generator overloaded. Joxum's console exploded. He's lucky to be alive."
O'Zaal discusses Irina's accusation at a meeting aboard Voyager.
Assan: "If I'm guilty of anything it's of coming in second, a situation I'll remedy in the next leg."
O'Zaal: "You do a poor job of defending yourself."
Torres: "We may have had something to do with this too. We grazed both of their shields while in the anomaly."
Janeway: "Intentionally?"
Paris: "It was a tight course. Everyone was flying very aggressively."
Irina: "Your team is not responsible, Captain. My generators were already overloading when they made contact."
Tuvok enters, carrying something which he hands to Janeway. "Perhaps none of you is to blame. I found this interfaced with her ship's shield generator. I ran an analysis. It's a phase inverter, designed to cause a system overload."
Janeway: "It's hard to believe someone would go this far just to knock a competitor out of the race."
O'Zaal: "This may be more than a simple case of cheating, Captain. I think someone's trying to end the peace."
Janeway: "Maybe I'm missing something, but we're talking about a single act of sabotage. How does that threaten your treaty?"
O'Zaal: "By itself it wouldn't. But we received several threats of a more serious nature."
Tuvok: "From whom?"
O'Zaal: "Groups opposed to the alliance: arms dealers, isolationists, political extremists. Up until now I didn't know how seriously to take them."
Tuvok: "Clearly they pose a security threat."
O'Zaal: "Yes, yes. We've done everything we could to protect the racers but that may not be enough. I don't want to risk any more lives. We should cancel the race or at least postpone it until we can guarantee everyone's safety."
Irina: "No, if we stop now we'll be letting these extremists win."
Assan: "She's right."
O'Zaal: "Very well. If that's the consensus, we'll resume tomorrow as scheduled. Of course, Captain, if you decide to withdraw, we'd understand."
Janeway: "Well, the last time I checked I believe we were winning."
Kim surprises Paris, Torres and even Irina when he announces that he will be Irina's replacement co-pilot. He has checked it with the race officials and it is legal. Irina is not keen to accept Kim's offer, but eventually accepts. Now she is back in the race.
Neelix's commentary for Voyager's crew: "Attention all hands! Stand by for another race update! After fighting off a formidable challenge from the Tarellian team, the Delta Flyer has managed to hold onto its lead going into the third and final segment."
Kim detects malfunctions in the EPS systems. They will be out of the race in a few minutes at this rate. Kim suggests rerouting power through the impulse manifolds but she says no. He notes that whenever he suggests how to repair a fault Irina finds a reason to reject it. Irina's look shows that she is up to something. An alert sounds and Irina leaves her pilot's seat. Kim realises it is an overload in his console and gets out of the chair only just in time to avoid being seriously injured.
Kim: "That's the second time your co-pilot's console exploded. Quite a coincidence."
As he looks up, Kim suddenly sees...
...Irina is pointing a gun at him. He realises she sabotaged her own ship, twice - she wants to get out of the race.
Kim tries to contact Antarian Security but she has disabled the communications system. Kim decides they will just wait as someone will come along eventually."
Aboard the Delta Flyer, Torres and Paris stop to talk about their relationship, sacrificing the lead position. Assan's ship flies past them - he will win. As the Delta Flyer stop less than a million kilometres from the finish line, Irina shows concern which sets Kim thinking: "You've done everything possible to take herself out of the race and now she seems worried that the Delta Flyer won't reach the finish line. .... The Delta Flyer wouldn't even be in this race if you hadn't told us about it. You gave us the fuel converter so that we could qualify." Suddenly he pieces the puzzle together: there are more than a dozen ships there, spectators officials, hundreds of innocent people waiting at the finish line. Irina gave the Delta Flyer a sabotaged fuel converter. Her plan is that the massacre caused by the explosion will destroy the peace. Irina explains: "Not everyone is as comfortable mixing with other species as you are, Harry. Some of us believe it was better when we were separate."
Kim sends the Delta Flyer an alert signal - they are being scanned by Kim's and Irina's ship, by some kind of modulating pulse but there is something odd about the amplitude. Suddenly Paris, who has just proposed to Torres, recognises it as morse code - he and Kim use it in the Captain Proton holoprogram. It reads: "Fuel converter rigged. Eject."
Paris: "What does he mean by rigged?"
Torres: "The converter's leaking veridium isotopes."
Paris: "Why didn't the computer warn us?"
Torres: "The online sensors have been tampered with."
Paris: "Can you contain the leak?"
Torres: "Too late. The veridium's already reacting with the warp plasma."
Paris: "That'll cause a warp breach."
Torres: "In less than a minute."
Paris: "Then do what Harry said, eject."
Torres: "Too late. I have to eject the core!"
Paris: "Here? We'll never survive the blast. Neither will anyone else within a million kilometres."
Paris moves the Delta Flyer away from the finish line. Kim, watching the monitor on Irina's ship, reports this to Irina.
Computer: "Warp core breach in 30 seconds."
Torres: "Where are we going?"
Paris: "A J-class nebula filled with ionised gas. Should contain the explosion."
Torres: "I can't get the ejection subroutines online."
Computer: "Warp core breach in 20 seconds."
Paris: "So what's your answer?"
Torres: "My answer?"
Paris: "Will you marry me?"
Computer: "Warp core breach in 15 seconds."
Torres: "You're proposing NOW?!"
Paris: "It's a good a time as any."
Torres: "Ejection subroutines back online." They eject the warp core inside the nebula. "Clear! Go!"
The Delta Flyer speeds away from the explosion but is caught by the outer edges of it and comes to a stop. At the same time, about 1.2 million kilometres away Assan crosses the finish line, the winner, and Voyager is slightly rocked as the anti-matter explosion is felt. Aboard the damaged Delta Flyer, Paris and Torres pick themselves up.
Paris: "B'Elanna-"
Torres: "Guess we lost."
Paris: "That depends."
Torres: "On what?"
Paris: "On how you answer my question."
Torres: "I thought you only asked it because we were about to explode."
Paris: "Well, we're still alive and I'm still asking."
Torres: "How come you never asked me before?"
Paris: "How come you're avoiding the question?"
Torres: "I'm thinking."
Paris: "Think faster."
Torres: "Why, are you going to withdraw the question?"
Paris: "No, I might start to beg. Could get embarrassing."
With the plot by Irina and her cohorts thwarted, no one is killed and the Rally is a success. The winner of the race itself is Assan, but the overall winner is peace. And Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres get married!
THE RACE
