As Voyager approaches a strange planetoid and scans it, Kim reports "some kind of resonance wave" which Janeway does not think is a coincidence immediately after scanning it. Only just in time, Voyager's shields are raised to protect her as the planetoid explodes. See DAMAGE REPORT. A Hazari vessel appears and demands their surrender. Janeway threatens to ignite the metreon gas. The Hazari captain says they would be destroyed. She warns him to back off to a safe distance. But the Hazari calls her bluff and he locks on a tractor beam. Voyager still has warp power but cannot use it while within the metreon cloud. They re-route every spare gigawatt to the shields, then fire phasers to ignite the metreon gas - the impact of the explosion blows the ship clear, and once Voyager is clear of the cloud they jump to warp.

Voyager caught in the metreon cloud

There is no sign of pursuit, but the Hazari ship was not heavily damaged and Janeway wonders why they do not pursue. They learn the reason from data displayed in the Astrometrics Lab - the Hazari have reinforcements on the way, with 23 ships throughout the sector. An alien called Kurros, in the form of a sophisticated isomorphic projection, visits Janeway representing a group she terms a think tank. Kurros promises to solve Voyager's Hazari problem in return for payment yet to be determined. After visiting the think tank's vessel and "meeting" its crew, Janeway decides to accept Kurros' offer only to refuse it when as payment Kurros demands Seven join the think tank. The Voyager crew discover that the think tank is the Hazari paymaster, meaning that the think tank are perpetrating an elaborate deception in order to obtain Seven.

To contact the Hazari, Voyager lures a Hazari ship into a debris field which the Hazari are meant to think is debris from a destroyed Voyager. The Voyager crew then detonate spatial charges and disable the Hazari ship.

Voyager ambushes a Hazari ship with spatial charges

The think tank deception is explained to the Hazari prisoners, who agree to join Voyager in tricking the think tank in return. To locate the think tank vessel, which is hiding in subspace, Seven pretends to join the group but Kurros senses a trap. He forces Seven to link with his telepathic technology so he can read her mind and discover the plan, only to find that was actually Voyager's plan - Voyager transmits a carrier wave via her cortical implant which creates interference and blocks the think tank's communications system. With the think tank's ship forced to come out of subspace, the Hazari converge on it. Seven is beamed back to Voyager and the ship leaves at warp speed.

the think tank vessel, forced from hiding, is attacked by the vengeful Hazari

Spatial charges. See STATUS REPORT.

After the planetoid explodes, Voyager is trapped in a cloud of metreon gas which collapses Voyager's warp field and knocks the impulse engines offline. The crew re-route every spare gigawatt of power to the shields and fires phasers at the gas cloud. The impact of the explosion throws them clear.

Hull integrity is compromised on Decks 7 and 12 during an attack by the Hazari.