Line #41 Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E10StateOfFlux


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voy_state_of_flux_292.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:How can you not trust that face?]]
3	While Chakotay leads a foraging effort on an alien planet, Paris on ''Voyager'' notices what appears to be a camouflaged Kazon ship from the violent Nistrim sect. Janeway calls up the away team, but Seska has not returned from the caves she was inspecting, so Chakotay heads out to find her. Inside, he discovers Seska with a basket of mushrooms, hiding from a squad of Kazon. They get into a shootout, and the pair flee back to the rendezvous to beam back aboard the ship.
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5	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.
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7	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 if 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.
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9	Janeway interrogates Carey but does not reach any conclusion. Afterward, another Kazon ship arrives to answer the distress call. The captain, Culluh, demands that ''Voyager'' leave the area. Janeway refuses until she has retrieved the console, but she does permit Culluh to visit his injured comrade. In sick bay, Culluh [[SickbedSlaying kills the patient]] before anyone can stop him, so Janeway kicks him back to his ship and threatens harsh retribution if he should try to stop her from retrieving the console.
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11	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 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.
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13	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 traced 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 water, something only a doctor with an encyclopedic database of Bajoran medicine would know. It was Seska all along!
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15	She drops the act and says she did it all to save Chakotay, accusing Janeway of being too principled to get anything accomplished. Then she beams herself aboard the Kazon ship using a secret subroutine. Later, Chakotay laments being fooled by Seska, but Tuvok admits that he was fooled as well, so Chakotay shouldn't feel as bad.
16	-----
17	!!This episode contains the following tropes:
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19	* AlienBlood: A non-visual version; Seska's blood doesn't have Bajoran blood factors.
20	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Everyone takes it as a universal fact when Neelix states that some fruit they find is deadly poisonous. No one considers that what is poisonous to one species could be perfectly palatable to another.
21	* BadassBoast: Maje Culluh threatens to fire on Voyager if their investigation team doesn't get off the damaged Kazon vessel. Janeway isn't impressed.
22	-->'''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.
23	-->'''Tuvok:''' Their weapon systems are standing down. They do not appear to be posing a threat to us at this time.
24	* BeneathTheMask: Seska's mannerisms and way of speaking all change once she is exposed as a Cardassian spy.
25	* CallBack:
26	** A motive for Carey is suggested, given that he was [[TheResenter passed over for promotion]] by B'Elanna Torres in "Parallax".
27	** B'Elanna refusing to use ScottyTime is a call-back to the TropeNamer; Scotty from the Original Series admitted he doubled his repair estimates so he'd appear to be a miracle worker.
28	** Seska tells Chakotay to talk to [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E5TheCloud his animal guide]] to allay his uncertainties.
29	** Cardassian {{Deep Cover Agent}}s who have been surgically altered to appear to be other species have been depicted in ''Series/DeepSpaceNine''.
30	* ChekhovsGun:
31	** Seska's initial transmission to the Kazon was done via a console in Engineering, which anyone could have used as it's so busy. She gives herself away when she's forced to use the console in Sickbay.
32	** The Doctor was complaining in "Time and Again" of the confusion created by the loss of the Chief Medical Officer and how no one had informed him of the Maquis crewmembers. This explains how Seska was able to dodge her medical checkup.
33	* ChekhovsGunman: First Maje Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim will become a [[BigBad recurring villain till the end of Season 2]], working in league with Seska.
34	* ClarkesThirdLaw: Janeway is amazed that the stolen technology turns out to be an [[MatterReplicator ordinary food replicator]].
35	* ClearMyName: Played with but ultimately subverted, as Seska really is guilty.
36	* ClockworkPrediction: Seska figures Neelix will find out about the stolen supplies about…''(cue an angry Neelix on the comm)''
37	* 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.
38	* CordonBleughChef: The RunningGag of Neelix mixing human food with the [[IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou nutritious but awful-tasting]] leola root starts here.
39	* CrazyPrepared: When Seska is caught red-handed, her response is to beam straight off the ship to a nearby Kazon vessel using a single security-locked command code, having prepared her escape well in advance.
40	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: An attempt to build a food replicator causes an explosion and the crew of the Kazon vessel gets melded halfway into the bulkheads. Talk about a VengefulVendingMachine!
41	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When the crew first detect the Kazon ship in orbit, Tuvok identifies it as Kazon-Nistrim based on the silhouette of its hull design, not any distinctive colors or markings. 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.
42	* FeedTheMole: Seska and Carey are told that Tuvok is trying to find out where the stolen replicator came from. Actually, he already knows and is monitoring the computer inventory to see if anyone tampers with the evidence.
43	* FlockOfWolves: When the suggestion is raised that Seska is a DoubleAgent, Chakotay bemoans that, with Tuvok having been an undercover agent of the Federation, and Seska working for the Cardassians, no one seems to have been working for ''him''.
44	-->'''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?
45	* {{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, and his hypothesis is wrong, they do encounter such a vessel in "Equinox".
46	* 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.
47	* FrameUp: Seska frames herself to make it look like Carey is doing so. But Chakotay isn't fooled, having tracked the hack back to a Sickbay console.
48	* GetOut: Off-screen -- Neelix throws Seska out of the kitchen after an argument over putting ''leola'' root in Chakotay's mushroom soup.
49	* HesDeadJim: The Kazon patient gets murdered by his fellows.
50	* HumanOutsideAlienInside: Seska 'forgot' to go for a routine medical examination upon joining Voyager's crew.
51	* 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 Culluh'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.
52	* IronicEcho:
53	** Seska describes her theft from the food locker as "strictly a Maquis operation". Later Chakotay says re her skillful attempt to frame Carey, "I'd almost say it was a Maquis operation, if I didn't already know you were a Cardassian."
54	** Culluh 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 Culluh to back down.
55	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: After Seska escapes to the nearest Kazon vessel, Janeway orders a tractor beam locked on to prevent a HyperspeedEscape. Then she's informed that two more Kazon vessels are on their way. Rather than take their chances against three warships, Janeway elects to leave instead of fighting.
56	* ManipulativeBitch: In the first few minutes Seska saves Chakotay from the Kazon (IOweYouMyLife), brings him mushroom stew (TastesLikeFriendship), flirts with him (FemmeFataleSpy) then when he refuses her, jokes about being interested in Harry Kim (OperationJealousy).
57	* MetaphoricallyTrue:
58	-->'''Chakotay:''' Can I ask you to be honest with me, Lieutenant?\
59	'''Tuvok:''' As a Vulcan, I am at all times honest, Commander.\
60	'''Chakotay:''' That's not exactly true. You lied to me when you passed yourself off as a Maquis to get on my crew.\
61	'''Tuvok:''' I was honest to my own convictions within the defined parameters of my mission.
62	* TheMole: Seska is a Cardassian spy sent to infiltrate the Maquis.
63	* MoodWhiplash:
64	** Chakotay is enjoying his soup and laughing over Seska's antics with Neelix, until she reveals that they stole the mushrooms from the kitchen.
65	** Seska creepily shifts from Chakotay's dewy-eyed and wrongfully accused Maquis ex-lover, to a ruthless Cardassian spy within a single MotiveRant.
66	* MostCommonCardGame: Or second-most common -- Chakotay and Tuvok play a few hands of gin while on stakeout.
67	* MotiveRant: Before beaming off the ship, Seska tells Janeway and Chakotay [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech exactly what she thinks of them]].
68	-->'''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.
69	-->'''Janeway:''' Minor technology that could change the balance of power in this quadrant.
70	-->'''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.]]
71	* NewOldFlame: Seska has appeared in previous episodes, but this is the first mention that she was a former lover of Chakotay.
72	* OhMyGods: Seska exclaims "Thank the Prophets!" after nearly shooting Chakotay, as per the Bajoran belief system.
73	* PoisonRing: Culluh uses one for the SickbedSlaying.
74	* RedHerring: Lt. Carey as the other suspect.
75	* RevealingCoverup: Seska gets injured trying to retrieve (or likely destroy) the replicator. The Doctor runs a full blood scan and discovers that she is Cardassian. Later her attempt to frame Carey as TheMole only exposes her.
76	* ScottyTime: {{Defied\|Trope}}; 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.
77	* SequentialSymptomSyndrome: Neelix demonstrates the terrible effects of eating Kaylos fruit with LargeHam body language.
78	-->'''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--
79	-->''(Chakotay [[TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed stops Neelix's finger as it reaches the groin]])''
80	-->'''Chakotay:''' I think we get the picture.
81	* SeriousBusiness: When Chakotay realizes Seska and several other Maquis stole the mushrooms for his stew, he docks them two days of replicator rations, including himself (for eating the stew).
82	* ShootTheShaggyDog: The Doctor works so hard to save the Kazon's life -- just for Culluh to kill him.
83	* ShoutOut: To [[Film/StarWarsANewHope Obi-Wan Kenobi]]'s "Who's the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?"
84	* SickbedSlaying: Culluh murdered the injured Kazon patient aboard ''Voyager'', most likely because HeKnowsTooMuch. All Janeway can do is throw Culluh off the ship.
85	* StealthInSpace: Tom Paris realizes there's a Kazon vessel in orbit that is screened from their sensors (due to information provided by TheMole) when he sees an InvisibilityFlicker with his Mark One Eyeball.
86	* SwissCheeseSecurity: Justified for once; as a Cardassian agent, Seska is ''very'' good at working her way around Voyager's computers.
87	* VillainHasAPoint: Janeway has already grappled with her conflicting imperatives of getting her crew home and staying true to Federation principles, so when Seska calls her out on it, it's nothing that Janeway hasn't said before.
88	* WhamLine:
89	--> '''Doctor:''' My suspicion is that Seska was born Cardassian.
90	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last thing we see of Carey is when he's confined to quarters for the duration of the investigation.
91	* WoundedGazelleGambit: Although her injuries are genuine, Seska doesn't hesitate to play on them to get Chakotay's sympathy.
92	* YourFavorite: Seska brings Chakotay mushroom soup.
93	* TheXOfY

Context Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E10StateOfFlux