History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E10StateOfFlux

* IdiotBall: Seska betting it all on her alliance with the Kazon was a pretty terrible decision if her end goal actually was to return home quicker. They are at best a localised power of relatively primitive and politically fractured warmongers whose territory is in the exact opposite direction of where she wants to go. They are also a Ferengi-level patriarchy that actively hates women. If things didn't work out how she hoped the most she could ever have hoped for out of the rest of her life was to be Cullah's wife. A much better play in retrospect would have been to cut her losses when the net was starting to tighten and tried again with another candidate once the heat died down.

-->'''Chakotay:''' Can I ask you to be honest with me, Lieutenant?
-->'''Tuvok:''' As a Vulcan, I am at all times honest, Commander.
-->'''Chakotay:''' That's not exactly true. You lied to me when you passed yourself off as a Maquis to get on my crew.
-->'''Tuvok:''' I was honest to my own convictions within the defined parameters of my mission.

* SeriousBusiness: When Chakotay realizes Seska and several other Maquis stole the mushrooms for his stew, he docks them two days replicator rations, including himself (for eating the stew).

* BadassBoast: Maje Cullah threatens to fire on Voyager if their investigation team doesn't get off the damaged Kazon vessel. Janeway isn't impressed.

** Cullah suggests that Janeway wouldn't be so bold if she didn't have her unique Federation technology to back her up. Later Janeway uses the threat of her unique technology to get Cullah to back down.

* ChekhovsGun

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Tuvok suggests that the stolen technology could have come from another Starfleet vessel brought to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Although Janeway says there aren't any disappearances that she knows of, they do encounter such a vessel in "Equinox".

* FromACertainPointOfView
-->'''Chakotay:''' Can I ask you to be honest with me, Lieutenant?
-->'''Tuvok:''' As a Vulcan, I am at all times honest, Commander.
-->'''Chakotay:''' That's not exactly true. You lied to me when you passed yourself off as a Maquis to get on my crew.
-->'''Tuvok:''' I was honest to my own convictions within the defined parameters of my mission.

* IronicEcho

-->'''Janeway:''' You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don't like bullies, and I don't like threats, and I don't like ''you'', Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth, but I promise you, if you do, I will respond with all the unique technologies at my command. Janeway out.

-->'''JANEWAY:''' You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don't like bullies, and I don't like threats, and I don't like you, Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth, but I promise you, if you do, I will respond with all the unique technologies at my command. Janeway out.
-->'''TUVOK:''' Their weapon systems are standing down. They do not appear to be posing a threat to us at this time.

-->'''CHAKOTAY:''' Can I ask you to be honest with me, Lieutenant?
-->'''TUVOK:''' As a Vulcan, I am at all times honest, Commander.
-->'''CHAKOTAY:''' That's not exactly true. You lied to me when you passed yourself off as a Maquis to get on my crew.
-->'''TUVOK:''' I was honest to my own convictions within the defined parameters of my mission.

-->'''SESKA:''' I did it for you. I did it for this crew. We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens, because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation captain. A Federation captain who destroyed our only chance to get home. [[GoodIsDumb Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion?]] Do you understand, if this had been a Cardassian ship, we would be home now. We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we must have powerful friends. The Kazon-Nistrim were willing to be our protectors in return for some minor technology.
-->'''JANEWAY:''' Minor technology that could change the balance of power in this quadrant.
-->'''SESKA:''' Change it in our favor! [[PragmaticVillainy That is all that matters at this point.]] Building a base of power in this quadrant. [[YouFool You are a fool]], Captain. ''(to Chakotay)'' And you're a fool to follow her. [[KickTheDog I can't imagine how I ever loved you]]. [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Computer, Command XJL.]]

-->'''NEELIX:''' First your windpipe ''sweeells'', and just when you think you're going to ''die of suffocation OWW!'' You get a sharp pain in your knees ''(points at Carey's knees)'' which begins to work its way right up to--

-->'''CHAKOTAY:''' I think we get the picture.

-->'''Chakotay:''' ''(to Tuvok)'' You were working for her[[labelnote:*]]Janeway[[labelnote]]. Seska was working for them[[labelnote:*]]the Cardassians[[labelnote]]. Was anyone on board that ship working for me?

* AlienLunch: Neelix introduces the crew to [[FantasticFruitsAndVegetables leola root]], which is as nutritious as it is disgusting.

After the ship departs without further incident, Seska gifts Chakotay some contraband mushroom soup, but Chakotay is infuriated by her illegal activities and punishes all those involved, Janeway calls him back to the bridge, where he discovers that they've intercepted a Kazon distress call from another Kazon-Nistrim ship. They find and board it, where they discover the crew has been mysteriously merged into the metal bulkhead. One Kazon survivor barely clinging to life is beamed to sick bay. Whatever did this, it's now a blasted-out console and used nucleonic radiation, something only found in Federation technology. Tuvok theorizes that someone from ''Voyager'' leaked Federation technology to the Kazon. Suspicion immediately falls on Seska and Lieutenant Carey.

Janeway interrogates Carey but does not reach any conclusion. Afterward, another Kazon ship arrives to answer the distress call. Janeway refuses to leave the area until she has retrieved the console but does permit the captain, Culluh, to visit his injured comrade. In sick back, Culluh [[SickbedSlaying kills the patient]] before anyone can stop him, so Janeway kicks him back to his ship and threatens harsh retribution if they should try to stop her from retrieving the console.

The Doctor's blood analysis has revealed some some big news: Seska is actually a Cardassian spy. Meanwhile, Torres is finally able to beam the console aboard, decontaminate it, and identify it as a food replicator using bio-neural technology, revealing that it could only have come from ''Voyager''. Chakotay confronts Seska with all this new information. She claims that her blood disease removes all hallmark traces of her Bajoran ancestry, while a bone marrow transplant from a Cardassian is what is supplying the Cardassian blood factors. Chakotay and Tuvok each tell their two suspects, Seska and Carey, about their plan to use security logs to find the culprit, but this is really just bait to get the perpetrator to expose themself.

After the ship departs without further incident, Seska gifts Chakotay some contraband mushroom soup, but Chakotay is infuriated by her illegal activities and punishes all those involved, Janeway calls him back to the bridge, where he discovers that they've intercepted a Kazon distress call from the Kazon-Nistrim. They find and board the ship, where they discover the crew has been mysteriously merged into the metal walls and decks of the ship. One Kazon survivor barely clinging to life is beamed to sick bay. Whatever did this, now a blasted-out console, used nucleonic radiation, something only found in Federation technology. Tuvok theorizes that someone from ''Voyager'' leaked Federation technology to the Kazon. Suspicion immediately falls on Seska.

Torres comes up with a plan to safely retrieve the console, but it will take some time. Chakotay orders Seska to stay on the bridge. Though she accuses him of suspecting her, Chakotay insists that he's just trying to protect her from blame in something goes wrong. It becomes apparent that the pair are former lovers. When the Doctor requests blood samples to save the Kazon patient, Seska claims that she has a blood disease that prevents her from donating. Later, Seska beams aboard the Kazon ship to try getting the console her own way, but burns herself and needs to be taken to sick bay. Tuvok suggests that she was actually trying to destroy evidence.

Janeway interrogates Lieutenant Carey, the other suspect, but does not reach any conclusion. Afterward, another Kazon ship arrives to answer the distress call. Janeway refuses to leave the area until she has retrieved the console but does permit the captain, Culluh, to visit their injured comrade. In sick back, Culluh kills the prisoner before anyone can stop him, so Janeway kicks him back to his ship and threatens harsh retribution if they should try to stop her from retrieving the console.

The Doctor's blood analysis has revealed some some big news: Seska's blood reveals that she's actually a Cardassian spy surgically modified to look Bajoran. Meanwhile, Torres is finally able to beam the console aboard, decontaminate it, and identify it as a food replicator using bio-neural technology, revealing that it could only have come from ''Voyager''. Chakotay confronts Seska with all this new information, and she claims that her blood disease removes all hallmark traces of her Bajoran ancestry, while a bone marrow transplant from a Cardassian is what is supplying the Cardassian genes. Chakotay and Tuvok each tell their two suspects, Seska and Carey, about their plan to use security logs to find the culprit, but this is really just bait to get the perpetrator to expose themself.

Chakotay and Tuvok detect a data breach and see that Seska's authorization codes were used. This seems to point to Carey trying to frame Seska. However, Chakotay goes to Seska to accuse ''her'' of being the culprit, reasoning that she is clever enough to "frame" herself to put the suspicion on Carey. Further, they traces the origin of the security breach, and it came from Seska's own terminal. Lastly, the Doctor is summoned to testify that Seska's medical excuses for her unusual blood sample hold no scientific water, something only a doctor with an encyclopedic database of Bajoran medicine would know. It was Seska all along.

* AlienLunch: Neelix introduces the crew to the soon-to-be notorious [[FantasticFruitsAndVegetables leola root]].

* ContinuityNod: Tuvok notes that Starfleet Security has documented incidents of Cardassian cosmetic alteration for espionage. Two such incidents had occurred the previous year over on ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'''s "Tribunal" and "Second Skin".
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Seska has a ready explanation for not having any Bajoran blood factors--she had Orkett's disease as a child in the labour camps, but was saved by a bone-marrow transplant from a sympathetic Cardassian, who of course isn't there to confirm this. But the Doctor had already ruled out Seska's story before she mentioned it. He states that the complete medical text on Orkett's disease is in his database, and this explanation doesn't match the anomalies.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When the crew first detect the Kazon ship in orbit, Tuvok identifies it as Kazon-Nistrim based on the hull design specifications[[labelnote:*]] and note that all he can see of it is a ''silhouette'', not any distinctive colors or markings which might be associated with the Nistrim[[/labelnote]]. It would later be revealed that the Kazon neither designed nor built their own ships -- they ''stole'' them from the Trabe -- so there's no way the design specs could be specific to any one sect.

* FlockOfWolves: When the suggestion is raised that Seska is a DoubleAgent, Chakotay bemoans the apparent prevalence of these in his crew.
-->'''Chakotay:''' You were working for her[[note]]Tuvok being undercover on behalf of Janeway and Starfleet[[/note]], Seska was working for ''them''[[note]]The Cardassians, an enemy to both the Maquis ''and'' the Federation[[/note]]. Was anyone on board that ship working for ''me?''

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Considering how much information you can get out of a tricorder reading, you'd think the Federation would just use those to check for toxins in newly-discovered fruits instead of relying on the word of Neelix, who had not only been mostly an incompetent, selfish nuisance up to that point, but also knows nothing about the biology of humans or any other Alpha Quadrant races anyway.

* HesDeadJim
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: Seska 'forgot' to go for a routine medical examination on joining Voyager's crew.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Averted; Seska was written into earlier episodes to [[WhamEpisode increase the impact of her betrayal in this one]].

* SickbedSlaying / HeKnowsTooMuch: There's an unconscious Kazon survivor who may know the identity of TheMole. Maje Culluh comes on board Voyager to see this injured man. Janeway is just having a quiet word with the Doctor, hoping for an excuse not to let Cullah take him before he's woken up, when the injured Kazon is jabbed with a needle-ring containing a fatal nerve toxin. All Janeway can do is throw Culluh off the ship.

* VillainHasAPoint: It's hard not to sympathize with Seska's rant that Janeway isn't prepared to do what it takes to get her crew home, or even keep them safe. Ironically, when Janeway actually does this in later seasons, the fans condemned her for it, despite sympathizing with Seska's point in the first place.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last thing we see of Carey is when he's confined to quarters for the duration of the investigation. In later seasons the writers would use Carey for WholeEpisodeFlashback scenes as they wrongly assumed he'd been killed. They realised otherwise when they needed a MauveShirt for Season 7's "Friendship One," creating the [[CharacterStatusInertia inadvertent impression]] that Carey had been locked up in his cabin all that time!

After an accident cripples a Kazon vessel, the crew of Voyager beam on board the vessel and find out that it is Federation technology, a replicator, that has caused the accident, and that somebody is in league with the Kazon. Although a Starfleet member has been implicated and put into custody for possible collaboration, it turns out to be a person Chakotay has trusted among the Maquis -- Seska, who secretly was a Cardassian mole infiltrating the Maquis.

-->'''JANEWAY:''' You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time. But I don't like bullies, and I don't like threats, and I don't like you, Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth, but I promise you, if you do I will respond with all the unique technologies at my command. Janeway out.

* ScottyTime: Averted; B'Elanna tells Janeway she won't be ready to retrieve the stolen technology before tomorrow. Janeway says she wants it done by the end of the day and starts to walk off, this being how the conversation would end in any other Trek series. B'Elanna however stops her. "No, Captain. When I say tomorrow, I mean tomorrow. I don't exaggerate. Tomorrow is the best I can do." The next day when B'Elanna's team beam over to the Kazon vessel, Janeway calls to tell them to hurry up, and is surprised to find they've already completed the job quickly and efficiently.

* IAteWhat: Chakotay takes one bite of the leola root and spits it out in disgust. "You expect us to [[IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou eat this?!]]"

* IAteWhat: Chakotay takes one bite of the leola root and spits it out in disgust. "You expect us to eat this?!"

* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Seska has a ready explanation for not having any Bajoran blood factors: she had
Orkett's disease as a child in the labour camps, but was saved by a bone-marrow transplant from a sympathetic Cardassian, who of course isn't there to confirm this. But the Doctor had already ruled out Seska's story before she mentioned it. He states that the complete medical text on Orkett's disease is in his database, and this explanation doesn't match the anomalies.