Summary for Star Trek: Voyager episode
Timeless
Season 5, Episode 6
Stardate: 52143.6
Guest Stars:
Christine Harnos as "Tessa O'Mahn"
Special Appearance by:
Levar Burton as "Captain Geordi LaForge"
Story by: Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky
Teleplay by: Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky
Directed by Levar Burton
Events:
The episode opens on a glaciated planet. Two people beam onto the surface wearing arctic survival gear and begin looking about. One of them crouches over and wipes the snow from the ice, revealing something underneath the ice. He taps his comm badge and announces "We're here." The camera pulls away from the two figures, looking down, and we see Voyager embedded within the ice.
The show cuts to opening credits and commercials.
When the show returns we are once again looking down on Voyager, covered by the ice of a glacier. One of the two figures announces the glacial fractures are stable and the other figure communicates with a woman in orbit, announcing it's safe to beam inside.
The scene cuts to the interior of a frozen Voyager. The moisture in the air has frozen, leaving a thick frost on everything. The two figures wander the halls and remove their protective head gear. We can see it is Harry and Chakotay, both looking somewhat aged.
Using wrist lights they examine the ship. They come across a wall display and connect a power cell to it and discover the power grid is destroyed, the "neuro-gel packs" are frozen, and that decks 9 through 14 have been compacted into deck 10. They try to access the Emergency Medical Hologram (ie the Doctor) but the display fails and Harry pounds the wall in frustration.
They continue to explore the ship. Chakotay goes to the bridge, finding a dead crew frozen solid and covered in frost. Harry crawls along a Jeffries Tube and finds a dead and frozen crewman. As Chakotay continues to examine the bridge he finds Kathryn, dead and frozen like all the rest.
Meanwhile Harry has reached Sick Bay and plants a power cell on a display while Chakotay has located Seven of Nine on the bridge. He communicates with the ship in orbit, the Delta Flyer, and talks to a woman named Tessa. He orders her to beam Seven's body to the "lab". He places a transponder beacon on Seven's neck and she's beamed out.
Meanwhile, Harry is able to restore the Doctor and asks for the portable emitter. The Doctor addresses Harry as "Ensign" and Harry corrects him by saying "I go by Harry now."
The Doctor wants to know what has happened to the ship and crew and Harry rushes him along, claiming, "There's no time." The Doctor demands an explanation and Chakotay, just arriving in Sick Bay, explains that "We're here to change history.".
The scene cuts to commercials.
When the show returns we find ourselves in the Engine Room of Voyager. This isn't the Voyager we just saw. This is a Voyager we are familiar with: lit, warm, full of people dropping confetti. People smiling, happy, cheering. Kathryn stands on the upper gantry as B'Elanna brings a bottle of champagne through the crowd on the main Engineering deck. She smashes the bottle against the railing, a christening.
Kathryn announces the "next generation of inter-stellar propulsion, the quantum/slip stream drive". She then announces they've been in the Delta Quadrant for 4 years, 2 months, and 11 days, and that "it's time to go home". She tells the crew to celebrate, but not too much since they have to prepare for their flight home the next day.
Away from the crowd, she talks with Chakotay, explaining the drive as a combination of "quantum matrix, bedemite crystals, and Borg technology" (those of you who recall last week's episode, "Once Upon a Time", might recall that the Delta Flyer was buried under bedemite).
Chakotay suggests that delivering to the Federation its first slip stream drive might see them nominated for the Cochrane Medal of Honour. Kathryn says she'll start preparing her acceptance speech.
Best line of the scene: Chakotay: "I'd like to thank the Borg Collective..."
Kathryn asks if Chakotay has dinner plans and when it turns out he'll be eating from the replimat she orders him to join her for dinner. He happily accepts.
Neelix contributes his Talaxian Fur Fly (a rather large, fur-covered insect about six inches long, prized amongst Neelix's people as a good luck charm) to B'Elanna. Neelix explains this one was kept in his engine room for six years and he wants to donate it to the cause. Tuvok, who stands beside B'Elanna, provides us with another great line:
Tuvok: "Mr. Neelix, you are an unending source of astonishment."
Neelix: "Why, thank you Mr. Vulcan."
Around the perimeter of the warp core, Seven is examining her hand. The Doctor asks if she is well and she claims she is not. She is having trouble processing her visual input and her motor coordination is malfunctioning. The Doctor starts scanning her with a medical tricorder and she is unable to stand still. The Doctor diagnoses her as "drunk", which she claims is impossible. He points out her "blood/synthehol level" is 0.5%. He asks her how many glasses of champagne she drank and she responds "One." We get another series of great lines from this scene:
Doc: "Obviously the Borg can't hold their liquor."
Seven: "I was simply trying to perfect my social skills as you instructed me to do."
Doc: "And you are doing a fine job."
Seven: "You have always been of enormous assistance to me, Doctor. You...you are my mentor."
Doc: "Yes."
Seven: "We are as one." <to Harry, indicating the Doctor> "We are as one."
An amused Harry relays this to Tom, who is running a warp core diagnostic. The previous night Tom ran a simulation and found a .42 phase variation in the slipstream threshold. Tom is worried it could knock Voyager out of the slipstream with catastrophic consequences.
Harry thinks Tom is making too much of the variance, but agrees to run a few simulations on the holodeck with Tom to be sure.
The scene cuts to the holodeck where Tom and Harry have recreated the Voyager bridge. The simulation proceeds until they reach the .42 variation at which time the slipstream destabilizes and the simulation reports a hull breach and the loss of structural integrity. Tom freezes the program. Harry is determined to try another simulation with a different strategy for dealing with the problem but Tom stops him. Tom points out that 23 of the 23 simulations all ended with disaster and finally admits they have to tell the Captain.
The scene cuts to the Engine room where the senior staff, including Seven, are discussing these findings. Chakotay has confirmed their findings and explains if they run the slipstream drive in the morning they'll be in escape pods by afternoon.
Harry has an idea. He suggests that a shuttle riding the slipstream ahead of Voyager could map the variances and pass them on to Voyager, thus allowing Voyager to compensate.
Harry takes this setback personally, claiming they have no choice but to follow his plan or dismantle the slipstream drive. He points out that the bedemite crystals are already starting to decay and it could take years to synthesize more.
Harry's impassioned plea for the chance convinces Kathryn and she orders him to prepare a flight plan for her consideration.
The scene cuts to Kathryn's quarters, where a candle-lit dinner for two awaits Chakotay. He arrives thinking they would discuss Harry's plan but Kathryn has already made up her mind to give Harry the chance to lead them home.
Chakotay admits the crew will be happy to hear the news and she allows him to give that news "after dessert". Then she asks him what he thinks of her decision. He's reviewed Harry's plan and agrees the theory is sound but points out there are a lot of variables that could lead to disaster. He points out they could look for another way home, since they've waited so long to get home. Kathryn interrupts him by pointing out they've waited long enough, repeating this for emphasis.
She admits the risks but is determined to try, and asks Chakotay to agree with her. He claims "Always," and she rises from the table and announces another risk, her cooking. Chakotay states "I'll alert Sick Bay." and Kathryn delivers an affectionate touch of her hand to his ear.
The camera focuses on the padd containing Harry's flight plan, sitting on the dinner table. We are then shown the same padd covered in frost from the Voyager we saw at the beginning of the show.
The scene cuts to a commercial.
The show returns to the Delta Flyer orbiting the glaciated planet. On board Harry and Chakotay remove their arctic gear while the Doctor exclaims: "Fifteen years ?!"
The glaciated planet is in the Takara sector, just a few parsecs from the Alpha Quadrant. Aside from Harry and Chakotay, the crew of Voyager died. They believe Kathryn tried an emergency landing but the ship was too badly damaged and crashed.
Harry and Chakotay made it back as far as Earth. They were received as heroes. Star Fleet launched a search and rescue mission for Voyager but gave up the search after four years. Harry and Chakotay found Voyager on their own.
Harry explains that when they entered the slipstream, he had sent the wrong phase variance corrections and thus caused the disaster. He'd worked out the correct corrections and wanted to send a message back in time to Voyager to prevent the catastrophe.
The Doctor is a little confused, believing communications back in time to be impossible.
Harry opens a mortuary bed where Seven's corpse resides. Chakotay explains that like all Borg, Seven has a communication implant. The Doctor calls it an "inter-plexing beacon". They want her frequency, to be obtained through an autopsy. Then he asks the Doctor whether he can determine Seven's time of death (I'll spare you the technobabble. It involves her "chronological node"), down to the millisecond. The Doctor agrees to try.
Then the Doctor recalls his question, How will they communicate with Seven in the past? Harry pulls out a red luggage container and within is a Borg temporal transmitter. Star Fleet found it in the wreckage of a Borg cube in the Beta Quadrant. Harry and Chakotay stole it.
Tessa interrupts the discussion to announce a Star Fleet ship approaching, currently six hours away. Tessa has adjusted the orbit and the shields to try and avoid detection.
The Doctor finally realizes Chakotay and Harry are "fugitives". Harry admits they are the galaxy's "most wanted"; having stolen the Borg temporal transmitter and the Delta Flyer they are charged with two counts of Treason and Conspiracy to breach the Temporal Prime Directive. Chakotay points out they are running out of time and the Doctor begins his work.
Chakotay then explains that he and Tessa need to retrieve the sensor logs of Voyager's last few moments in the slipstream. He leaves the lab and Tessa introduces herself to the Doctor, calling him the "infamous EMH". The Doctor isn't sure how he earned the appellation "infamous" and Harry explains he'd told her "a few horror stories". Tessa clarifies by telling the Doctor both Harry and Chakotay think very highly of him.
Best line of the scene: Doc: "So how did you get involved with 'Bonnie' and 'Clyde', here ?"
Tessa starts claiming she's had an interest in Voyager for a long time, but Harry interrupts to explain she and Chakotay are "having sex". Apparently, Tessa and Chakotay are lovers "joined at the hip, according to Harry. Tessa adds that she didn't want to be left out while Harry and Chakotay try to save Voyager.
Chakotay returns to get Tessa and she leaves with him for Voyager.
On Voyager's bridge Tessa locates the logs but can't access them, due to security. Chakotay sits in the first officer's chair to use his access code and finds an active file waiting for him. Kathryn recorded her last log entry thus:
"...but should our luck run out I'd like to say for the record that the crew of Voyager acted with distinction and valour."
This is a poignant moment for Chakotay. Tessa reassures him they are there to save the crew. Chakotay asks for a tricorder and starts downloading the sensor logs.
To lighten the mood Tessa asks for a tour but Chakotay declines, pointing out he left his quarters "a mess". Then the seriousness of the moment returns as he points out that if they are successful they will re-write the history of the last fifteen years. Chakotay points out she doesn't have to help, and Tessa reassures him she won't.
Chakotay thinks a moment and then talks about how nervous he is because he realizes how much he feels for Tessa. She points out that his heart has always been with Voyager. That this is where he belongs. Then she hopes they might meet someday. When he asks her what if they don't she answers, "Then I'll miss you all the same."
Up on the DF Harry is talking to the wall:
"...means all of that has changed. You owe me one."
The Doctor calls to him for assistance and Harry looks back, then looks again at the wall and says "Gotta go," and presses a button on the panel before him and gives the Doctor his attention.
The Doctor asks him what he was doing and Harry explains he was dictating a letter to a friend.
The Doctor is holding the left hemisphere of Seven's skull. This hemisphere includes her eye and considerable Borg machinery. He asks for a piece of equipment and Harry digs it out of a briefcase.
The Doctor asks Harry about his homecoming. Harry tells him of dignitaries and medals. Of anti-matter fireworks and a Vulcan Children's Choir. Chakotay gave a fitting memorial to Voyager's crew and Admiral MacIntyre wanted Harry to marry his daughter.
The Doctor quips, "At least you weren't buried under 20 metres of ice." But Harry doesn't find this funny, saying "You don't know how many times I wished I was."
The Doctor becomes more sensitive, and Harry admits he was diagnosed with Survivor's Guilt. Harry signed onto the first deep space mission he could find and calculated where Voyager might have gone down. After four years of searching, Star Fleet had given up, so Harry had quit Star Fleet and he and Chakotay went looking alone.
The Doctor determines Seven's translink frequency (a long string of numbers). Then he asks if Harry has thought this through, suggesting that tampering with the time-line might make things worse. Harry points out that the only reason this time-line exists at all is because he made a mistake that destroyed Voyager and her crew.
Their conversation is interrupted by the computer announcing a "Tactical Alert" and dimming the lights. The computer announces a vessel approaching. They exit the lab and enter the command area of the DF. Harry calls down to Chakotay about the problem and Chakotay announces they're on their way.
Harry turns to the Doctor and explains that if he is having a problem with their plan Harry will take him offline. Between "aiding an honourable thief or face cybernetic oblivion", the Doctor agrees to assist them in their efforts.
The scene cuts to commercials.
When the show returns we are on Voyager as it is led by the DF in preparation for their use of the slipstream propulsion system. Kathryn records her log entry (the last one we heard from her that awaited Chakotay). The scene cuts to the DF where Chakotay runs down the checklist (including lunch). Back on Voyager Kathryn hails the crew and warns them they are about to enter slipstream. Seven has taken the Ops position (Harry's usual station).
Back on the DF of the future, Tessa reports their pursuers are gaining. She criticizes Chakotay's evasive maneuvers. Chakotay calls back to Harry who is awaiting the temporal coordinates. Chakotay reports a Galaxy-class starship is pursuing them. The pursuer hails them and Chakotay agrees to talk in the hope it will buy them time.
Captain Geordi LaForge of the USS Challenger appears on the view screen. Geordi tries to talk them into giving up. He explains his mission is to stop them to prevent them from changing the last fifteen years for countless lives. He tells them the Federation Council has agreed to drop the conspiracy charges if they surrender the temporal transmitter. Chakotay points out that he and his friends are only concerned with saving the 150 people on Voyager. Geordi is very understanding, almost sympathetic, but he has to stop them. He and Chakotay wish each other luck and Geordi signs off. Immediately the weapons fire starts. Tessa claims they're targeting the DF's weapons.
Back on the old Voyager, Kathryn gives the order to engage the slipstream.
Back on the future DF Tessa is hitting the Challenger with weapons fire but having no effect. The DF takes a hit to the engines and switches to emergency back-up to keep the lab powered. Harry is impatient for the temporal coordinates and the Doctor keeps working.
Back on the old Voyager Seven starts picking up phase variances, steadily climbing towards .42.
Harry is slow in sending the corrections and Kathryn calls him. Harry calculates the variance and sends the information to Voyager, thus decreasing the stress to Voyager. But only for a few seconds before the variance increases to .4 again.
Harry can't figure out what's wrong. He tries to recalibrate the sensors but his signal is lost on Voyager as well as telemetry. Kathryn orders the ship out of slipstream but Tom has lost helm control due to an overload in the quantum matrix.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has the temporal coordinates and passes them on to Harry. Seven died on Stardate 52164.3. Harry calibrates his temporal transmitter to four minutes earlier to make sure she gets the new phase variance corrections at "just the right minute".
Back on the old Voyager, Seven starts receiving the information through her Borg implant and Kathryn, figuring the young Harry has found a way of communicating with them, orders the corrections implemented. The corrections do not solve the problem and Voyager falls out of slipstream with catastrophic results. The hull starts to buckle.
On the old DF the young Chakotay tells the young Harry they've lost Voyager. Harry wants to alter their course but Chakotay points out they couldn't survive the re-entry into normal space at their velocity.
Back on Voyager. Tuvok reports hull breaches from decks five through ten. He warns that if they don't land they risk structural collapse. Tom locates a planet ahead of them and they try to make a landing there. Voyager glides in much too fast and hits hard, sliding along the surface of a glacier.
The scene cuts to commercials.
Back on the future DF, Harry wants to know why they're still there, trying to save Voyager. He realizes his corrections didn't work. The Challenger hits the engines again, taking them offline. The DF is placed in a tractor beam. Chakotay and Tessa come up with a stratagem to bust out of the tractor beam. Meanwhile, in the lab, the Doctor suggests they simply try again since the past can be contacted again. But Harry doesn't know what to tell Seven now that his corrections failed.
Meanwhile, Chakotay and Tessa have succeeded in breaking free but have caused a problem in the warp core that could lead to a breach in three minutes.
Meanwhile, poor Harry starts losing it, claiming that he's killed the crew twice, and prepares to give up. But the Doctor bolsters his confidence and suggests they send a message to abort the mission. Harry jumps at the chance.
Meanwhile, Chakotay asks Tessa if they can eject the core, but apparently the system is offline. Geordi is reading the build-up and asks that they lower their shields so he can save them. Chakotay declines and warns Geordi off to a safe distance.
With 45 seconds to go the Borg temporal transmitter loses power, requiring Harry to use the portable holo-emitter to keep it powered.
Harry: "Glad you could join us, Doc."
Doc: "It's been a pleasure."
Harry tries again at the ten second mark. As the last second ticks off he gets the signal away.
Back in the past, Seven receives the transmission. Her discussion with Kathryn repeats itself and she inputs the new correction. Voyager's Quantum drive is taken offline and Voyager and the DF are thrown out of slipstream.
There is some discussion over where the message to Seven originated.
As the captain updates her log, she claims they've taken "nearly" ten years off their trip home. The quantum drive is dismantled until they can make it safe to use.
Kathryn walks into the mess hall where Harry sits, working on the phase variances. Harry realizes his mistake and the potential damage it could have caused Voyager. He wonders who sent the other corrections. Kathryn suggests they have a "guardian angel".
Seven had found Harry's security code in the message, along with a temporal displacement signal indicating the message came from the future. She also found a personal message, from Harry Kim to Harry Kim.
She leaves the tricorder with the message for Harry to watch. But reassures him that he didn't let them down.
Here's Harry's message to himself:
Harry: "Hello Harry. I don't have much time, so listen to me. Fifteen years ago I made a mistake and 150 people died. I've spent every day since then regretting that mistake. But if you are watching this right now, that means all of that has changed. You owe me one. Gotta go."
End of episode.
Personal reflections:
This was a very interesting episode, with a very short appearance by Levar Burton.
It was certainly a Harry Kim story. Driven to take the risk that plunged Voyager to its death and driven again to save the ship and its crew. Garrett's portrayal of the driven older Harry was convincing and dramatic.
The special effects were a treat, especially viewing Voyager through 20 metres of ice. The crash was spectacular.
If there was a message to the episode it is the lengths desperation will drive us to. It was also about friendship and loyalty to one's friends. Both Harry and Chakotay feel these qualities are so important as to change history for their universe, their timeline, to save the 150 people on Voyager.
Levar gave us a convincing appearance as Captain Geordi LaForge. Very much in character for the Geordi we knew. Still amicable, understanding, even sympathetic. But just as devoted to his crew and the Federation as his unfortunate opponents are to their mission to save Voyager. Nice to see at least one timeline where he commands, even if it is a Galaxy-class fifteen years into the future (what design will be state-of-the-art by that time, I wonder).
One more thing. Nice to see a side of Seven we haven't seen before ;-)
Thanks for your attention.
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