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Recap / Star Trek: Voyager S2 E26, S3 E1: "Basics"

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Aren't you guys supposed to be on that?
Seska and the Kazon-Nistrim finally make their move, seizing Voyager and marooning its crew on a primitive planet. While they struggle to survive without their technology, it's up to the Doctor, Tom Paris, and reformed killer Lon Suder to take back the ship.

This episode contains the following tropes:

  • Achilles' Heel: Paris knows Voyager forwards and backwards but is still at a disadvantage in a shuttle and a couple of Talaxian scout ships. He comes up with targeting phaser relays from sensor blind spots knowing there were backup systems, but if someone disabled the back-up systems it would cause an overload when the bridge crew attempt to switch to them. It required a number of things to go right, which worked thanks to everyone involved.
  • Action Survivor: The first (but not the last) time the Doctor will have to protect Voyager when the crew are otherwise disposed.
  • Air Vent Escape: Suder does a lot of crawling through Jeffries tubes.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Suder was a sociopath who literally killed a guy for looking at him wrong, but with Tuvok's help, he'd all but mastered his violent tendencies and even tells The Doctor that he "could see the day" when he'd be totally free of them. He then has to abandon all that progress and become a killer again to save the crew, and though The Doctor assured Suder he would help afterwards, Suder ends up dying.
  • All Up to You: The Doctor leaves a pre-recorded Rousing Speech for Suder after Seska shuts down his program.
    EMH: Mister Suder. If you are hearing this, you have just unsuccessfully attempted to access the Emergency Medical Programme. I have programmed this message to play in the event that I have been disabled. This means, of course, that the fate of Voyager now depends solely on you. I can imagine how you must feel at this moment. I want you to know, you have my full confidence. You have already shown great courage and dedication to your crew. I have left an additional message for Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Tuvok noting your heroism, in case I am irretrievable. You know what you have to do and when to do it, and I know with our fate in your hands, we will prevail. Good luck, Mister Suder.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The image of Seska and Culluh strutting onto the Bridge as Janeway and her crew are held at gunpoint is a worthy successor to "Best of Both Worlds", also written by Piller. Alas it gets resolved about as elegantly as BOBW did next season.
  • And Another Thing...: It looks like the Doctor has a reprieve when Seska and the Kazon rush out of Sickbay to deal with the Talaxian attack, but Seska stops and fires into the Doctor's database to shut him down.
  • And the Adventure Continues
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Even after everything that happened between them, Seska's death still clearly upsets Chakotay.
  • Attack Pattern Alpha
    • "Ready photons, dispersal pattern Sierra."
    • "Evasive manoeuvres, Mister Paris. Gamma sequence. "
    • "Full starboard roll, evasive manoeuvres Lambda sequence."
    • "We'll spread the teams out in a standard Alpha search pattern."
  • The Baby Trap: Used for a literal trap. Seska sends a Distress Call to Chakotay showing their child that's interrupted by Maje Culluh, apparently furious the child is not his. Teirna later reports the child will be Made a Slave. Chakotay argues that he has no obligation to do anything as the child was taken from him by force, but his father convinces him otherwise in a Vision Quest.
  • Backup Bluff: Voyager uses some holo-trickery to make it look like they have a Talaxian fleet supporting them.
  • Batman Gambit
    • Seska knows Voyager will come after Chakotay's child, especially if they think she's dead (meaning the baby has no one to protect it, and Chakotay avoids the awkward issue of having to rescue her as well).
    • Teirna gets confined in a standard room instead of thrown into the brig once Voyager realises they've been Lured into a Trap. This puts him in just the right place where an explosion will destroy a plasma conduit, doing even more damage.
    • Seska leaves an obvious escape route in the approaching Kazon warships, knowing Janeway will be suspicious and try to blast her way out instead. This leaves Voyager surrounded by warships when the suicide bomb goes off, enabling the Kazon to board while they're still reeling from the damage.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Suder, who's going a bit stir-crazy from his confinement, asks Tuvok and Janeway to let him work on modifying the plants in the airponics bay to increase their yield, saying he just wants to help Voyager. When the Kazon take over and maroon the crew, he ends up being able to help by assisting Tom and The Doctor in retaking the ship, though this also leads to him falling back into his violent ways and ultimately dying.
  • Big Badass Battle Sequence: Kazon vs. Voyager in Part One.
  • Bitch Slap: When Janeway tries to negotiate with Maje Culluh he cuffs her to the ground, following this up with a Straw Misogynist rant about how the Federation allows their women too much freedom.
  • Bizarre Alien Locomotion: Rather than four legs, the cave-lizard has four limbs spaced around its circumference, so it can pull itself along the cave roof as well as the ground.
  • Bond One-Liner: Paris gets one off when the shuttlecraft he escaped in uses its phasers to destroy a Kazon patrol ship.
    Tom: I told you, I don't have time for this!
  • Bring Help Back: With Voyager suffering under a Curb-Stomp Battle, Paris takes a shuttle to the Talaxians to enlist their aid.
  • Call-Back: Most of the dialog on Voyager during the battle against the Kazon carrier ships in Part 1 is recycled or derived from Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E15 "Yesterday's Enterprise" when the Enterprise-D fought the Klingon K'Vort class battlecruisers (e.g. "(Photon torpedoes) Dispersal Pattern Sierra", "The containment field generator has been damaged, I am attempting to bypass.", Navigational array offline/inoperative, shields buckling, forward phaser banks lost power).
  • Captured by Cannibals: Lampshaded, but fortunately averted.
    Neelix: The other two seem to be trying to figure out what to make of us... in a manner of speaking, not in a culinary sense, I hope.
  • Character Development: The Doctor's proves a significant plot point when Seska underestimates him, not realising he's no longer Just a Machine.
  • Chased by Angry Natives: Chakotay, Neelix and Kes try to slowly walk out of the native camp. It doesn't work.
  • Chiaroscuro
    • Suder in his cabin.
    • Maje Culluh doesn't like the effect when he takes the Bridge though, so orders all the lights turned up.
  • Chekhov's Gun
    • Teirna's unusual blood readings.
    • The secondary command processors are repeatedly targeted and ultimately rendered inoperative — so Janeway can't use the Self-Destruct Mechanism.
    • The Talaxian colony Voyager contacts for aid off-screen in Part One, comes to help in Part Two.
    • Hogan's bones (ah, the irony...) are discovered by alien scientists in "Distant Origin".
    • The fake holographic vessel trick was first suggested in "Prototype", though not used.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Lon Suder, the Sociopathic Soldier from "Meld", is confined to his locked quarters, studying orchids and working on his emotional control under the study of Tuvok.
  • Chekhov's Volcano: Which displays Convection, Schmonvection when it erupts.
  • The Chessmaster: Seska plans the seizure of Voyager brilliantly. Unfortunately for her, Paris escapes to bring in The Cavalry, and one of her former Maquis cohorts (Suder) is mistakenly left onboard to conduct a guerilla campaign against the Kazon.
  • Children Are Innocent: In his vision, Chakotay's father urges him not to hold his child responsible for the crimes of the mother.
  • Cliffhanger: The Kazon-Nistrim take Voyager, nearly all the crew are stranded on a geologically active world with literally only the clothes on their backs, and oh yeah, there's a primitive native tribe who aren't happy about it.
  • Consummate Liar: The Doctor manages to fool Seska, a professionally trained Cardassian agent.
  • Continuity Nod: The Autonomic Response Analysis was used in "Ex Post Facto", when Tom Paris was accused of murder. This time, however, the Doctor tells Chakotay that it won't work on the unfamiliar physiology of a Kazon, because he has no baseline reading to use as a comparison.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: The "as long as you don't touch the lava you're alright" rule is very much in effect when, during an evacuation from a volcanic eruption, Chakotay rescues an alien girl who's somehow gotten herself stranded on a piece of rock.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Teirna's body swells and distorts as he screams in agony, then explodes.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: Chakotay assumes that his baby will be at risk from Culluh, given that Seska claims that he's the real father. However, Culluh announces that he'll adopt the child as his own, implying that Kazon don't seem to have the same views about blood lineage and inheritance as humans. Ultimately, this makes no difference, as it's revealed Culluh really is the boy's father.
  • The Determinator
    Janeway: I will not let this planet kill my crew!
  • "Die Hard" On Voyager: With Suder crawling through the Jeffries Tubes by himself, since the Doctor doesn't have his mobile emitter yet.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Invoked Trope by Chakotay, who calmly walks into the midst of the tribe to persuade them to release Kes and Neelix.
    Chakotay: Listen to the sound of my voice, and you'll know that I mean you no harm. I come without weapons. But I must have my people back.
  • Distress Ball: Neelix wanders off in the dark. Kes is alarmed and goes after him to warn him against wandering off in the dark. Both are snatched by tribesmen.
  • Dodge by Braking: Tom uses this maneuver against a Kazon raider.
  • Double-Meaning Title: While the episode's title work on a surface level, Michael Piller stated in multiple interviews that it doubled as a pointed warning to his successors in Voyager's writing room.
    [...] It wasn't by chance that it was named, 'Basics'. And it wasn't by chance that it was about some fundamental issues confronting this Starfleet crew, because it was my message to the franchise to say… the key for success, the way to make this show work, the way to make this franchise fresh, is to stay with the basics that [Gene] Roddenberry set forth to us to begin with "
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Seska dies anticlimactically by exploding console.
  • Due to the Dead: Tuvok and the Doctor pay homage to Suder's bravery. Chakotay strokes Seska's hair and gently pulls a blanket up over her face.
  • Eat That: When the search parties can't find any plants of nutritional value, Janeway turns over a rock and orders everyone to eat the larvae underneath. Subverted when B'Elanna and Harry find some eggs and cucumber-like vegetables, at which point Janeway orders someone to "tell Neelix to hold off on the beetle stew".
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Seska's dying act is to crawl to her son to try and comfort him. Maje Culluh is genuinely upset by her death, and his final scene involves him gently picking up their son after ordering his men to Abandon Ship. Chakotay too is shown mourning Seska's death, along with Tuvok and The Doctor paying their respects to Suder.
  • Even Evil Has Standards
    • Seska looks uncomfortable when Maje Culluh repeats her Blatant Lies about Chakotay to his face.
    • Culluh is willing to raise Seska's child as a Kazon warrior even before he finds out it's his.
  • Evil Is Not Well-Lit:
    • Inverted — when Culluh walks onto The Bridge, he orders someone to turn the lights back up to full from their Red Alert lowered setting.
    • Played with when we see Suder sitting in the dark, making it look like he's going to fall back into his previous sociopathic nature. However Suder turns out to be a good guy after all.
  • Evil Laugh: Maje Culluh, once Voyager is safely down on Hanon IV.
  • Explosive Instrumentation: A couple of nameless ensigns in Part One, and Seska and a buncha Kazon in Part Two when Tom Paris and Lon Suder deliberately set up an overload.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: The Hanon IV natives are initially hostile to the strangers who have suddenly shown up out of nowhere. However, after Chakotay rescues one who had been trapped by a lava flow, they become far more friendly, even providing an herbal remedy for Wildman's ailing baby.
  • Half-Truth: Teirna's story is plausible because he really was beaten, fired upon, and forced to breathe poisoned air for hours. It's just that he volunteered for this, as a way to finally let the Kazon-Nistrim capture Voyager.
  • Hard-to-Light Fire: A frustrated Chakotay says "You're stuck with the only Indian who can't light a fire by rubbing two sticks together!" Then he has a "Eureka!" Moment of using Janeway's hair as kindling (making the captain a literal Fiery Redhead).
  • Hard Light: The fake Talaxian ships absorb energy blasts.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?: When Tuvok makes himself a bow to use (being an expert in the weapon who used to teach it) Chakotay feels the need to point out that his tribe never developed them. He also frustratedly calls himself "the only Indian who can't start a fire by rubbing two sticks together" after failing at said task.
  • Heroic BSoD: Suder, poor guy, gets two of these: he collapses on the floor in Sickbay the first time he's forced to kill, then when he takes out the multiple Kazon in Engineering, he stands listlessly with a vacant expression for several seconds before shaking himself out of it and completing his assignment.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Suder in two senses; first he has to abandon every gain he's made in therapy and return to violence in order to save the ship. Then he's shot in the back by one of the Kazon he had mortally wounded - both end up dying.
  • Hollywood Prehistory: Hanon IV has primitives, volcanoes, and giant lizards.
  • Idiot Ball: Neelix firmly holds onto it this episode. Aside from the incident mentioned under Red Shirt, he also leaves the camp in the middle of the night, alone, and without a torch. Sure enough, he's quickly captured by the natives.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: Seska believes she can disable the Doctor by computer command because that was the original design. In the meantime, The Doctor was updated to allow direct control over his program, so Seska believes she had turned him off and he turns himself back on as soon as she had left sickbay.
  • I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder
    EMH: What am I supposed to do? Lead a revolt with a gang from Sandrine's? Conjure up holograms of Nathan Hale and Che Guevara? I'm a doctor, not a counterinsurgent.
  • Impending Doom P.O.V.: Hogan is killed by a rampaging camera dolly that moves a lot faster than the cave-lizard that later tries to eat Chakotay and Tuvok.
  • Improvised Weapon: Under Tuvok's guidance, Voyager's crew make bows and arrows, spears and clubs.
  • Indy Ploy: When the Talaxians are reluctant to help, Tom gives a Badass Boast that he knows Voyager inside-and-out, and has a cunning plan for taking back the ship. The Talaxian commander agrees to rendezvous in an hour. Which gives Tom that long to think up a plan.
  • Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: The Kazon rip off the crew's commbadges before marooning them, so they have no technology whatsoever.
  • Intimate Healing: Janeway advises her crew huddle together for warmth, but we don't see her cuddle with anyone.
  • Invisibility Cloak: When the internal sensors go mysteriously off-line, Seska realises they have an intruder and orders a deck-by-deck search with tricorders. Suder uses a thoron generator to mask his signal, "an old Maquis trick".
  • It's All My Fault: Well yes, Neelix; it is.
  • Jitter Cam: Of the crew as they're herded off the ship by the Kazon.
  • Just Between You and Me: An Invoked Trope by the Doctor. When Seska realises he is behind the sabotage, the Doctor boasts of how he did it all by himself so she won't go looking for Suder, and his explanation is plausible enough that she believes him.
  • Just Eat Neelix: Pretty much everything that goes wrong on the planet — particularly Hogan dying and Neelix and Kes getting captured by the natives (which led to a blue shirt dying in the cave) — is a direct result of Neelix’s poor decision making, despite bragging in previous episodes that he’s a “survival expert”. Adding in the fact that his team found nothing of use and that he didn’t even consider food sources aside from plants, and you start to wonder if Voyager would be better off making him their food source!
  • Karma Houdini: Given his Straw Misogynist tendencies, fans were expecting Maje Culluh to get a well-deserved comeuppance from either Seska or Janeway, but he gets away clean after abandoning ship. Presumably the need for someone to look after the baby had a lot to do with it.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The Kazon abandon Voyager's crew on a primitive planet without resources, in punishment for refusing to share their technology.
  • Last Breath Bullet: One of the Kazon shot by Suder turns out to be Not Quite Dead, and shoots Suder In the Back.
  • Lie Detector: Chakotay requests the Doctor do an "Autonomic Response Analysis" to see if Teirna is lying. The Doctor points out that they don't have enough baseline information on the Kazon to give an accurate result.
  • Little "No": Maje Culluh lets one out upon finding Seska's dead body.
  • MacGyvering: Neelix tells Hogan to gather the bones to make improvised tools or weapons. After he gets eaten, Chakotay uses his torn uniform to make a solar still. Some people get no respect.
  • Magical Native American: Averted; Chakotay can't shoot a bow or light a fire by rubbing sticks, and fails to make a spiritual connection with the tribal shaman. Where he does prove himself is by risking his life to save a woman of their tribe, earning their friendship by example.
  • The Main Characters Do Everything: Janeway sees fit to put Neelix in charge of one of the four foraging parties. Sure, his guidance might be useful in identifying edible plants, but that doesn't mean he's qualified to command Starfleet officers.
  • Mauve Shirt: Hogan did have speaking parts in previous episodes, though likely only a Trekkie could have picked him out from the other white male Maquis-turned-Starfleet-Engineering-Crew-types like Kurt and Jonas.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Suder, who has been desperately trying to overcome his violent tendencies, knows only too well the risk that fighting the Kazon could drive him back into old habits. The first time he is forced to kill one, he collapses to the floor and starts muttering a Vulcan mantra in an effort to steady himself. After he retakes Engineering, he is left looking around in despair at the room full of corpses. Sadly, this, combined with the task at hand, distracts him from noticing that one of them is Not Quite Dead, resulting in him taking a phaser blast In the Back.
  • Noble Savage: Janeway points out they're stuck on Hanon IV with its natives, so they need to learn to co-exist.
    Chakotay: I agree with the Captain. We have to find a way to share this world with them.
    Tuvok: You may find nobility in the savage, Commander, but he is only interested in killing you.
    Chakotay: I don't believe that.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: The Doctor adopts his Dr. Jerk persona of Season One to convince Seska that he doesn't care about the Kazon taking over the ship.
  • One-Man Army: Suder kills eight or nine Kazon in a single rampage through Engineering, a call-back to Chakotay's saying he was ruthless in battle when they were with the Maquis.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Once again, Maje Culluh's misogyny is out in full force, verbally running down Seska, and backhanding Janeway.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Suder pays for his crimes with his noble sacririce, getting shot In the Back by a dying Kazon and pushing the button that will save the ship with his dying breath.
  • Red Shirt: Though technically they're two gold shirts and a blue shirt.
    • A classic! Neelix and Ensign Hogan discover a pile of humanoid bones in front of a dark cave mouth. Neelix, who notes they're just like a Keep Out sign, orders Hogan to gather them all up, then gets called away by someone else. Hogan gets an Oh, Crap! look, and sure enough is killed seconds later by the cave-lizard.
    • And the poor schmuck who gets eaten by the cave lizard later on.
    • And then there's the security guard who gets caught in the explosion when Teirna suicide-bombs himself.
  • Robinsonade
  • Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Lampshaded when Seska is grateful her baby isn't too human. "You all have such weak foreheads."
  • Schmuck Bait:
    • Come on people, it's Seska. Trap Is the Only Option!
    • When the Kazon warships close in on Voyager, they leave a very obvious escape path. The crew decide its an obvious trap and don't take it. However, it's entirely possible that staying is exactly what Seska wanted and taking it really would've worked.
  • Scream Discretion Shot
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Janeway decides to turn the ship around when it's obvious they've walked into a trap, but it's too late.
    • When the crew create false sensor readings to make it look like they have help, half of the Kazon ships take off.
  • Self-Destruct Mechanism: Kazon ships repeatedly hit one specific spot on Voyager in hit-and-run raids, damaging the secondary command processors. The reason becomes apparent when Voyager falls into a massive ambush, and Janeway tries to activate the autodestruct to prevent capture. Turns out the secondary command processors are vital to the job.
  • Season Finale / Two-Part Episode
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: All the focus on Chakotay's feelings about being a father turns out to be meaningless, as the child isn't actually his.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat
    Chakotay: You still have pride in the Nistrim, don't you, Teirna? Even after what they did to you. I remember that pride in your eyes when you pounded me with your fists while I was tied to a chair. And I can see it in your eyes now, and that scares the hell out of me.
    Teirna: You must scare easily, Federation.
  • Soft Reboot: This episode serves as a blunt conclusion to most of the major plotlines of the first two seasons, from them moving past Kazon space to Suder's death. Season three would be Lighter and Softer as well as more episodic than the first two seasons.
  • So Much for Stealth: While sneaking past the giant sleeping lizard, a Red Shirt slips off the ledge, wakes it up and gets swallowed as the others try to pull him up.
  • Space Is Noisy: The Doctor proves this when he's accidentally projected outside Voyager.
    Doctor: HELLLLLLP! MAN OVERBOOOOOOARD!
  • Spanner in the Works: Three things scupper Seska's perfect plan — Tom survives the attack on his shuttle and makes contact with Talaxian forces. The Doctor has changed significantly since Seska knew him in Season One. Lon Suder is broken out of his cell by the blast from the suicide bomber.
  • Status Quo Is God: It was originally intended that the baby would die while Seska would survive the episode. It was soon decided this wasn't a suitable ending so instead Seska died while the baby lived... this however caused another problem; the baby would be left on the ship and the writers had no interest in giving Chakotay a child to raise. As a result, it is suddenly revealed in Part II that the baby was never Chakotay's son, despite Seska's intentions.
  • Stiff Upper Lip: After they're marooned on the planet, Janeway immediately organises her crew into groups to search for food, water and shelter, and tells her officers to reassure everyone that help is on the way, even though they can't be sure that Tom escaped.
  • Suicide Attack: Teirna was actually a suicide bomber meant to disrupt critical parts of Voyager at a crucial point in the battle. His unusual blood referred to the chemical changes that turned him into a walking bomb.
  • Suspiciously Small Army: The episode generally does a good job of hiding the numbers of the crew as they wander the planet, but one ill-advised wide shot reveals that there's only about 30 extras representing Voyager's entire crew.
  • Talking to the Dead: Tuvok saying goodbye to the deceased Suder.
    Tuvok: I offer you a Vulcan prayer, Mister Suder. May your death bring you the peace you never found in life.
  • That's No Moon: While creeping through the cave, Kes senses a breeze from a tunnel and thinks it's a way out. It turns out to be the breath of the sleeping cave-lizard.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Having struggled to control his homicidal urges and learned empathy through his mind meld, Suder is reluctant to take up killing again.
  • Throw-Away Guns: Suder tosses aside his disrupter in disgust after his kill spree in Engineering. Unfortunately one Kazon is Not Quite Dead.
  • Tonight, Someone Dies: The usual trailer hype. Which of these characters will die tonight — Janeway? Tuvok? Chakotay? Torres? Or that one murderous guy played by Brad Dourif who was only in one episode prior to this one? Stay tuned to find out!
  • Trap Is the Only Option: Everyone knows that Seska's call to Chakotay is probably the bait for a trap, but they still feel obligated to fly in to rescue Chakotay's (supposed; in fact not really) son. They do fly in with a battle plan, though.
  • Trojan Prisoner: Teirna is found clinging to life in a damaged shuttle. He claims Seska was killed after Maje Culluh found the child was not his. His medical injuries back up his story, but Chakotay is suspicious and orders him confined to quarters, where Teirna is able to activate a suicide bomb out of sight of everyone.
  • Troll: Neelix picks up a bone, tells Hogan to gather them all up, then drops the bone he picked up and walks away.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee:
    • In Part I, the crew discuss their battle plan against the Kazon thoroughly and it almost works — except for the Trojan Prisoner on Voyager blowing himself up and damaging the ship.
    • In Part II, Paris transmits his attack plan to the Doctor. It almost fails when the Doctor is disabled, but The Doctor, knowing he might be found out, leaves a message telling Suder the plan, and he carries it out before he's killed.
      Paris: Doc, I hope you're receiving this because if you're not, I'm a dead duck. I'm piggybacking this message on a fake Kazon signal I'm sending to the Bridge. I'm betting they won't be monitoring your Emergency Medical channel. I'm bringing help, but you have to do something for us. When the attack begins, I need you to get the computer to block the discharge from the backup phaser power couplings. You got that? The backup couplings. I'm taking out the primary couplings myself, but I need those backups to overload when they switch to them. Don't do anything until the attack begins or they might notice. That's it for now. I'll be seeing you soon. I hope.
  • Violence is the Only Option: As much as Suder acknowledges this, it still scares him as he is on his way to becoming an Actual Pacifist. When he's forced to kill the Kazon, he looks like he's about to throw up.
  • Video Will: Knowing that Seska will soon be onto him and his program will be shut down, the Doctor leaves a message for Suder, to play when Suder tries to activate him.
  • Vision Quest: Chakotay consults his father on whether to rescue Seska's baby.
  • We Need a Distraction: Holographic ships and fake sensor readings are used to divert Kazon fire in Part One. In Part Two, several crewmembers volunteer to draw the tribemen away from the cave where Chakotay et al are hiding. The Talaxians attack Voyager to draw it into the Space Clouds where Tom is lurking, hidden from their targeting sensors.
  • Why Am I Ticking?: The crew pick up a dying Kazon in an escape pod with failing life support. The Doctor mentions that his injuries back up his story, though he has an unusually high red blood cell count. Still suspicious they confine him in a random room, and at a crucial point in the battle his chemically-altered body explodes, rupturing a nearby plasma conduit and knocking out Voyager's defenses.

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