When their plan goes awry, the crew must improvise. Meanwhile, Gwyn discovers a dark secret that will forever jeopardize the team’s journey towards salvation.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: The Caitian is able to slice through solid metal (Drednok's head) with one swipe of her claws.
- Badass Adorable: Bet you weren't expecting Drednok to meet his end at the claws of the little Caitian kitten!
- Big Damn Heroes: Rok and Jankom are saved from Drednok at the last minute by the rioting miners.
- Bittersweet Ending: Drednok has been destroyed, the Diviner has been driven mad by Zero’s true form and left marooned on Tars Lamora, while the miners have been given control of his ship and the crew resume their quest to reach the Federation. However, there is still the matter of the program in the Protostar that will destroy Starfleet should they ever make contact with the Protostar. And Gwyn, the only one who knew about it, had her memory of it erased when she briefly glimpsed a reflection of Zero’s true form. Now Admiral Janeway is coming, a reunion likely to end in disaster.
- Continuity Nod: Admiral Janeway's ship (revealed at the end) is the USS Dauntless, which has the same name and basic shape as Arturis' fake Starfleet ship from the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Hope and Fear".
- Defiant to the End: Pinned and about to die, Drednok spends his last words boasting that the Diviner will succeed.
- The Dog Bites Back:
- Finally able to communicate and organize, the miners immediately turn their attention to giving Drednok some long overdue comeuppance.Caitian: Yeah, we now have a voice. Good for us. Bad for you.
- Zero, having been used by the Diviner to Mind Rape his subjects, inflicts the same upon him.Zero: You used me to hurt others! It's time I showed you who I truly am, so you cannot hurt anyone else!
- Finally able to communicate and organize, the miners immediately turn their attention to giving Drednok some long overdue comeuppance.
- Fake Arm Disarm: Zero loses a limb to one of the security drones, which is treated flippantly.
- Fantastic Racism: The Diviner's comments about Gwyn choosing to save the Federation suggest his unnecessarily malicious actions in his crusade are due to the belief that the Vau N'Akat are a superior species who don't have to consider the well-being of others. His description of the civil war on their home planet of Solum suggests that this attitude was common enough that his people went to war over it.
- The Final Temptation: The Diviner gets Gwyn to hear him out by revealing his mission and what happened/will happen to their people if he doesn't succeed. Gwyn listens but refuses to support his plan because his idea of trading one tragedy for another is abhorrent, especially when he refuses any sort of peaceful overture.
- Foreshadowing: When discussing the empty protostar containment, Holo-Janeway says the protostar isn't on the ship and quickly darts her gaze to Gwyn. Since Janeway should know exactly where the protostar is, both serve as hints that Janeway isn't as loyal to the Diviner as he thinks.
- Good Costume Switch: Holo-Janeway reveals she was never under the Diviner's control by swapping back to her regular appearance.
- Held Gaze: Between Dal and Gwyn, though in this case Dal is trying to prevent her from looking away and at Zero's true form. Her gaze wanders to his commbadge in spite of his warning, causing her to see Zero in its reflection.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Gwyn holds her Morph Weapon at the Diviner's throat, only for him to remind her that it was his gift to her, at which point he takes control of it and makes it bind her arms.
- The ankle monitors that kept the slaves on Tars Lamora in line become their salvation when Dal wires his commbadge into one, turning the entire network into a universal translator.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Diviner, having previously forced others to look upon Zero's form, is himself given visual exposure to Zero's true appearance to drive him mad so he can't hurt anyone else. On top of that, he's marooned on the same asteroid where he condemned hundreds of people to slavery.
- Madness Mantra: Gwyn keeps repeating "We can't go." after seeing a reflection of Zero's true form, unable to coherently explain the danger the Protostar poses to Starfleet.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: The Diviner plans to destroy the Federation to prevent the disastrous first contact which will result in the Vau N'Akat destroying themselves in a civil war. When Gwyn points out that he could simply try talking to the Federation (after all, they probably won't try and make contact with the Vau N'Akat if they know what the consequences will be) he angrily rebuffs this, insisting that the time for talking is over — despite the fact that it hasn't even actually begun yet.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Zero is horrified when Gwyn glimpsed their true form through the reflection in Dal's commbadge.Zero: I-I didn't mean to! Not Gwyn!
- Mythology Gag: In the classic sense: when the Medusan Zero shows itself to the Diviner, its reflection is caught in Dal's comm badge and Gwyn is partially affected (loss of short-term memory being the worst). Similar to how in the classic Medusa myth where it was safe (or at least, safer) to see Medusa's reflection, without turning to stone.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Dal busts into the holodeck dual-wielding phasers, only to be rather quickly subdued by the Diviner's own Morph Weapon. He lampshades that the idea went different in his head.Dal: Okay, I was really hoping that would go a different way.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Diviner seeks to avert his homeworld's self-destruction from a civil war sparked by first contact. As noble as this goal on its own is, it's clear his actions are tainted by utter contempt for any form of life that isn't Vau N'Akat, either from spitefully trying to kill everyone on his slave colony or his complete eschewing of any diplomatic communication with Starfleet to instead commit a mad act of terrorism that would disrupt lines of support for countless worlds.
- Off with His Head!: The Caitian child decapitates Drednok.
- Oh, Crap!: The Diviner's eyes widen in shock when he realizes that Zero is about to remove their containment suit.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The generally curious and upbeat Zero is furious when given the chance to confront the Diviner and deliberately does to him what he forced Zero to do to others.
- The Reveal: The Diviner is from the future. Fifty years after his planet’s first contact, the world was torn apart by a civil war between those who sided with the Federation and those who preferred isolationism. The Diviner seeks to prevent his world’s destruction by destroying Starfleet before they make contact. His method? Use the Protostar to smuggle in a virus that will turn Starfleet’s systems against them.
- Scenery Porn: The Solum capital is a beautiful, futuristic city with shiny spires. Turns into Scenery Gorn when the Diviner shows what it became after the civil war.
- Shout-Out: Dal warning Gwyn to keep from looking at something that can melt her brain (while it's doing just that to a villain who wanted its powers for evil) is a lot like the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Skewed Priorities: The first pair of miners Dal tries to talk to are so overjoyed at being able to finally understand each other that Dal has to remind them several times to get to safety.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Gwyn points out that the Diviner could just talk to the Federation to avoid the civil war First Contact would bring to the Vau N'Akat, the Diviner rejects it, instead preferring to go with his plan to trade the tragedy on Solum for the destruction of the Federation.
- Teleport Spam: Holo-Janeway evades the Diviner by disappearing and reappearing a number of times on the bridge.
- Title Drop: Holo-Janeway says of the crew, "each of them a prodigy in the making."
- Took a Level in Badass: Holo-Janeway has been upgraded so she can now make her avatar solid, a feature she previously lacked. She uses it to easily smack the Diviner around before pulling one of his life support tubes.
- Trojan Horse: The Diviner has hidden a weapon on the Protostar that will corrupt the systems of any Starfleet vessel it comes into contact with, turning Starfleet against itself.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While the details aren't really explained, it can be assumed that Starfleet's first contact with Solum was/will be as peaceful and well-intentioned as is usual for Starfleet. It's not like they knew that it would lead to a civil war that would annihilate the Vau N'Akat.
- Wham Shot: The episode ends with the real Janeway flying off to locate the Protostar and hopefully Chakotay.
- The Worf Effect: Drednok tosses Rok around as easily as anyone else, despite her previously being nearly unstoppable in combat.
- Zerg Rush: The miners overwhelm Drednok with sheer force of numbers, pinning him and his Combat Tentacles with their weight so the Caitian child can decapitate him.
