What REALLY happened after Year of Hell... three s4 episodes

[janeways_gecko]

I've been posting my own version of events in the Delta Quadrant, but because I'm a spaz I'm writing it all out of order.

See this post to get the events on Tuvok from Season Two: http://www.startrekvoyager.com/viewtopic.php?p=694043#694043

THE END OF �YEAR OF HELL PART 1�

As Janeway sends her crew away from their destroyed ship, she tells them all that they have equipped all the shuttlecraft and escape pods with low-grade temporal shielding, but it might not be enough to protect them. Band together, she says, find allies, etc.


THE END OF �YEAR OF HELL PART 2�

Janeway tells all the other ships to take their temporal shielding offline, but is unable to do the same. Still, she thinks that destroying the Time Ship by wrecking Voyager into it is the only way. When the rest of the crew, on the other ships, realize what she is up to, they all demand to be beamed back to Voyager at once. Janeway�s already laid in the collision course, but has failed to activate it, when her crew beams onto her Bridge. She demands to know what the hell they are doing, and Tuvok says, �We can�t lose our ship and you at the same time. Besides, our crew is still out there, in temporal-shielded shuttles and escape pods. If we bring the crew home, we bring them all home.�

Seven of Nine says that if the ship is destroyed, all the species it has erased will be returned to the timeline, but with Voyager unable to disable their own temporal shielding they will still be there. Paris mentions to Janeway what he found out about how a photon grenade could destroy the temporal core, and Janeway uses what is left of the ship�s power to beam one in there. The Time Ship rocks and explodes, then disappears. A time-shift wave washes over Voyager, and the battle vanishes from around them. We see this time-wave wash over several escape pods and Voyager shuttles, the crew looking at each other with worried expressions. Then we see the original ending, with Annorax agreeing to spend the day with his wife.

[janeways_gecko]

LOST AND FOUND

ACT I/TEASER

We see a single escape pod floating in the blackness of space, and we hear the voice of Samantha Wildman telling the story of Odysseus, who was lost for years trying to find his way home. Inside the escape pod, which is very small, we see her and her daughter, Naomi, huddled together with a blanket over them, trying to stay warm. Naomi asks if they can have something else to eat now, and Samantha says no, we have to save our rations. But Naomi can have some water if she wants. The escape pod recycles all of that for them. Naomi takes a drink of water and shivers a bit, and Samantha gives her the entire blanket to keep her warm. The little girl asks when they will get to go back home to Voyager, and we hear Samantha say, �Soon, sweetie. We�ll go home soon,� as we see the escape pod floating in the blackness of the Delta Quadrant.

ACT II

In another escape pod we see crewmen Dalby and Henley (see �Learning Curve�) as they try to get their escape pod�s propulsion working again. They�ve detected another pod less than a light-year away, and they want to find them before they get away. Henley says she is about to go completely insane in this cramped space, and Dalby offers her another injection to help her calm down. She says no, that stuff clouds her brain, and besides, it�s only meant to be used in emergencies. Her irritability is hardly an emergency.

As we hear her say this, we see an unknown ship pass by the escape pod. Dalby detects it using the pod�s sensor array, but he cannot identify its origin. Henley is hopeful that it will prove to be their crew coming to find them, but it doesn�t have a Starfleet signature. �Maybe some of the crew found an ally,� she says.

Dalby tries to hail the ship but it will not respond. Finally they both begin getting a bit nervous and decide to try to slowly maneuver away from the ship � after all, how interesting could two people in a tiny little pod be to an alien ship? Henley says not very, unless the alien ship is Borg. Dalby says unlikely. The computer would�ve told them if that was the case. Henley says that she wishes they�d respond, she needs to get out of this cramped little space. Dalby says he is noting an energy buildup in the ship; it could be a weapon. They exchange terrified glances.

Suddenly the ship fires on the pod, destroying it.

Back on Voyager, the crew is trying to rebuild their ship. But, as Janeway says, it�s like sticking your finger in a dam. As soon as you think you�ve got one leak plugged, four more pop up in its place. She is still suffering the medical effects of the past year, and cannot stop coughing. Also, her burns are irritating her. The Doctor is quick to offer her a quick remedy to her symptoms. When she asks him why the sudden change of heart, he says that they�ve got to get this ship up and running again, and they�re nowhere without their Captain. She smiles at the compliment � reconciliation.

Seven of Nine calls over the Comm system to say that she thinks she can have Astrometrics up and running again. The Captain perks up at this, until Seven finishes the sentence, ��within six weeks.� Janeway is defeated, �Hell.�

Suddenly Tuvok has an idea. He says that he has been using his expanded mental abilities to find his way around the ship, in essence, to �see� while he cannot actually see. He knows exactly where they are all in the room at that moment. Maybe by attempting a Kes-like self-transcendence, he can find some of the crew psychically. Janeway says she doesn�t know, it�s very dangerous and unprecedented. The Doctor agrees, saying that whatever the medical side effects of such a procedure, he wouldn�t have the resources to treat them. They barely have enough supplies to keep mending their own minor wounds. Janeway thanks Tuvok for the effort, but it�s best if they stick to getting the ship repaired and finding allies. Tuvok seems defeated but agrees.

Paris says that he for one is glad to be back on Voyager, mess though she may be. When the entire crew simply stares at him, he says that while he was well-fed and taken care of on the Time Ship, being locked up with an insane crew was no kind of fun. �Right,� says B�Elanna, �because living out your days on the Broken-Down-Ship-of-Death is a laugh a minute.� Paris flinches at the biting comment but says nothing. Chakotay watches their interaction, silently.

Later that night, in the quarters they all share, Tuvok and Seven discuss their predicament. Tuvok tells her that the Doctor said if they could get to a decent stash of medical supplies soon, they might be able to restore his eyesight. Seven tries to sympathize with his blindness but is unable to. In the Borg, she says, they regenerated within seconds. Pain and disability were irrelevant.

Tuvok tells her it would be less irrelevant if it were her eyesight that was gone. Suddenly, in his mind, he hears the screaming voices of Dalby and Hensley, and sees them looking at one another just before their deaths. He falls out of his bunk, convulsing on the floor.

ACT III

Tuvok nurses a bleeding wound on the back of his head, which the Doctor does his best to patch up. However, his equipment isn�t working fully and he says Tuvok will be experiencing some headaches for quite awhile. Nothing new there, says Tuvok. Ever since he lost his eyesight it�s been painful to be in his head.

Janeway helps her friend to stand then asks him what he saw. He says that he felt Dalby and Hensley die, that they had detected a ship and they just died. They were so cramped and frightened, he wonders if that�s how the whole crew feels. He becomes too emotional at the thought of it and cannot continue. Janeway tells Seven and Neelix to watch him, then strides off to the bridge.

Chakotay, Harry, and B�Elanna are all there working through the night, trying to get something � anything � back online. So far they�ve got the thrusters, aft phasers, and, Harry says, they just got air conditioning. Janeway says great, it�s roasting in here, turn it on. But when he does he cannot control its strength and it sends a violent burst of freezing air through the bridge. Harry quickly shuts it off and they all sit in the center of the Bridge, looking at each other.

Back on the escape pod, Naomi and Samantha Wildman are shivering, but they�ve finally broken into some more of their rations to avoid hunger. Samantha�s telling Naomi about her father, about how they�ll all get back to Earth and she�ll get to see him. Naomi seems enthralled but fear still haunts her eyes: what if they are stuck in this escape pod? How much longer can they survive?

Instead of voicing these concerns, however, Naomi begins telling her mother a story. It�s one Neelix told her, about a great war hero of his people, and how he had to climb the tallest mountain on Talax to avoid his enemies. He had to live through great hardship, including attacks by ferocious beasts and terrible snowstorms, but he survived because he knew he was the only one who could defend his village. Samantha listens to her daughter, looking at her with the kind of admiration only a mother can have for her child.

On a Voyager shuttlecraft, Lieutenant Carey, Crewman Chel, and Ensigns Vorik and Ayala all try to contain a plasma leak. They are successful but Ayala is badly burned and on the verge of unconsciousness. Carey tries to keep him awake while Vorik steers the shuttlecraft out of the nebula that they had entered. Chel asks if �that ship� is still out there, and Vorik says there are no signs of it. As they emerge from the nebula we see a ship just like the one that destroyed Dalby and Hensley�s pod following them. It begins firing, and Vorik turns the shuttle around and heads back into the cloud. Chel wonders if this is a good idea, given that this nebula is unstable and they could hit another plasma discharge. Carey says they don�t have a choice.

Vorik starts evasive maneuvers to get away from the attacking ship, steering them around dust nodes the size of small planets and using their gravity to mask the shuttle�s signal. The larger ship follows them deftly, however, and the shuttle takes a couple hits from their phasers. Carey says that these people must be crazy, phaser fire in this nebula could start a chain reaction. This gives Vorik an idea, and he takes the shuttle toward the protostar at the center of the nebula. The ship chases them across an open expanse with no dust nodes or protection of any kind, and Carey wonders what the hell Vorik is up to. When the enemy ship fires, it causes a discharge in the nebula which overloads the ship and destroys it. Vorik says it was a matter of seeing the logic in the nebula�s chaos: that it was an instability in the nebula�s energy that caused the discharges, whether their shuttle�s warp core problems or the enemy ship�s phasers. As he says this, however, the disruption caused by the ship�s destruction causes an �instability� that begins to consume the whole nebula. Carey and Vorik manage to pilot the shuttle out of the cloud just before the whole thing is consumed by a plasma reaction.

As they celebrate their escape from their enemy, Chel administers first aid to Ayala, who seems to be stabilizing. Then Vorik notes that he has a Voyager escape pod on long-range sensors.

On their escape pod, Samantha detects a Starfleet signature but does not wake Naomi from a sound sleep. She shivers, her lips almost blue, and tries to steer the pod into the shuttle�s sensor range.

Next, we see Samantha and Naomi beamed aboard Carey�s shuttle, and the two crewmates embrace while Chel offers Naomi something to eat. Naomi helps Chel care for Ayala, while Samantha, Carey, and Vorik decide to begin looking for the rest of the crew.

ACT IV

On Voyager, Tuvok says he�s still getting psychic impressions here and there from the crew, although they�re not strong enough to pinpoint their locations. Janeway and the Doctor tell him to try to block them out, he doesn�t need to injure himself again. Tuvok says he will try, but when they are gone he closes his eyes and tries to meditate again. When he reaches out with his mind, he feels two more crewmembers die at the hands of their mysterious new enemy, and he tries to find a place where his friends won�t find him for awhile.

Chakotay and Torres have finally made it into Engineering, and are trying to get some kind of engines up and running again. Chakotay mentions to her that she was very cold with Tom earlier. She says that after not seeing him for almost a year, it�s been difficult to be back together. Chakotay wants to know why.

B�Elanna replies that for the past year of their lives, they�ve concentrated on nothing but surviving. The crew is lost and alone somewhere, the ship is on the verge of falling apart, and all she can think most of the time is how relieved she is to have Tom back. The guilt is enormous, she says, and she doesn�t know what�s wrong with her. Chakotay says nothing, they�re all happy to be back together, even if it�s just a small portion of the family.

At the same time, Janeway, Seven, and Harry are desperately trying to get Astrometrics active again. Seven suggests that they use some of the technology the Borg left behind on the ship to get the lab, which is built mostly of Borg parts, to regenerate itself. Janeway is afraid that the introduction of Borg technology will somehow send a signal to the Collective, the way Seven�s implants did just after she came on board (see �The Raven�). Harry is wary as well, but Seven says that despite what Tuvok tells her she must vehemently disagree with the Captain. They cannot stake the lives of their crew on what may or may not happen when a solution has presented itself. Janeway is impressed by Seven�s candor and instructs her to get started, but to take every precaution to ensure that the regeneration process does not involve the creation of any signal-sending Borg technology. Harry offers to help Seven out, and the two begin to carve a path through the debris to get to the salvaged Borg components in the Cargo Bay.

Neelix, Paris, and the Doctor are making their way along the outer hull of the ship to fix the deflector. Neelix and Paris are in space suits, while the Doctor happily trots along, noting that the deflector looks less like a deflector and more like some of Neelix�s cooking. �Not helping,� says Paris as they begin work. Neelix wonders out loud how the rest of the crew is faring, if they�ve managed to stick together through all of this. The Doctor says that a trauma as great as this can either destroy a crew or force it into creative new ways of surviving. �Survival of the fittest,� Neelix says.

�Survival of the most determined,� says the Doctor. �And after what this crew�s been through the past few years, I�d say they�re more determined than any crew in the galaxy.�

Back on the shuttlecraft, we find that they have located many more escape pods, and have joined them together in a tight ring around the shuttle and joined their temporal shielding together to make themselves stronger. They�re trying to build an interplexing beacon to contact Voyager, but it�s proving difficult with their limited manpower. One crewman gets frustrated and begins to lose it, and Carey must knock him unconscious.

�You don�t keep it together out here, you don�t survive,� he says to the gathered crew, all of whom looked horribly ragged, hungry, cold, and worn. They huddle together under blankets and pass small thermoses of water around. Their uniforms are torn or altogether discarded in favor of more movable clothing.

Suddenly Vorik detects a ship, and they bring their experimental new shields online. As the ship approaches, Carey tells them to be ready to beam over there and fight this new enemy hand-to-hand if they need to. The crew, tired and downtrodden, stand firm. Samantha tries to comfort a worried Naomi. The ship enters weapons range, but does not power its phasers.

�They�re hailing,� says Paris. A ship has approached them as well. He turns to Janeway, who huddles with her crew inside a halfway-regenerated Astrometrics.

�On screen.�

ACT V

Carey steps up to the small screen, the frightened crew behind him. �Who are you?�

�We found something you lost,� says a friendly female face on the screen. Janeway is speechless as the view pans around to at least twenty members of her lost crew in a Cargo Bay on the alien ship.

�We found them floating in space,� says the female voice, �lost in tiny vessels we could only assume were escape pods.�

Carey seems as amazed as Janeway, although he is still extremely cautious. He is speaking to a male captain on another ship, who has rescued about fifteen of the Voyager crew. �What will you do with them?� he asks.

�We thought we might return them to you,� says the alien captain. �We figured you�d probably want them back.�

Janeway is still speaking to the female captain, who tells them their race are known as the Akora, and that she is Denar, the Captain of her vessel. �As you can see, our ship is quite crippled. The more of our crew we have here to help us, the more quickly we can make repairs.�

�We will be glad to help you repair your vessel,� says Denar. She goes on to explain, however, that they discovered several of their escape pods destroyed by an unknown assailant, and that they must get the entire Voyager crew together in one place to ensure their safety. The pain of this registers on Janeway�s face but she keeps listening.

Carey is still incredulous. �Why do you want to help us?� The male captain, Sanaa, laughs and says, �It�s the right thing to do.� Carey smiles weakly, saying they�ve spent so much time trying to survive they�d almost forgot about doing the right thing. Sanaa assures him that the Akora will be glad to help them find their missing crew, and to supply them with extra food and medical supplies. Samantha fights back tears and hugs Naomi fiercely, while Chel grips Ayala�s hand and several of the gathered crew sigh in relief for the first time in over a year.

Janeway gathers her crew from Denar�s ship, and Denar herself, in the Mess Hall to discuss repair strategy. Torres says that the warp core is still weeks away from being online, and Denar offers them the services of a nearby outpost to help them speed things up. Suddenly Janeway notices Tuvok�s conspicuous absence, and sends Neelix to find him. Seven says that the Borg regeneration of Astrometrics is going as planned, and Denar seems uneasy at the mention of Borg, but says nothing.

In a final montage we see Carey passing out food to the crew crowded onto his shuttle. Chel wraps Naomi in another blanket as she holds Ayala�s hand, and Samantha watches with a smile as she eats a bowl of soup. B�Elanna goes to find Tom, who is working on the Bridge, and Tuvok and Neelix climb out of a particularly ruined section of the ship, Tuvok clutching his meditation lamp in hand. Voyager and Akora crewmen climb all over the outside of the ship in space suits, restoring Voyager to even the slightest operational capacity. The ring of escape pods, with the shuttle at its center, begins moving along with Sanaa�s ship, back toward home. On Voyager, Denar scans some of the salvaged Borg components and makes a private call to her ship, telling them to keep a close eye on the Starfleet ship.

[janeways_gecko]

SEARCHLIGHT

ACT I/TEASER

Janeway walks with Denar, the Akora captain, through a particularly ruined section of Voyager�s lower deck. They climb over collapsed sections of bulkheads as Janeway briefly explains to Denar what she and her crew have been through the past year. Denar is amazed that this one ship, tens of thousands of light years from home, was able to save hundreds of species across the galaxy and restore the timeline to what it should have been, and that they were willing to pay such a high cost to do so. Janeway stops digging for a second and looks at Denar. �I�ll tell you something. My crew, they saved my life when I was ready to sacrifice myself and my ship to destroy that weapon. But the cost, it�s been so high. I�d never have wanted to put my people through this.� She wonders if her stubborn insistence on plowing through Krenim space was asking too much of her crew. Denar tries to comfort Janeway as she goes back to working with a console, but it shorts out and Janeway punches it, then leans on the bulkhead and fights back tears, saying, �I asked them to pay such a high price��

CREDITS
ACT II

Tuvok uses his enhanced psychic abilities to find his way to the bridge to try to restore the ship�s full tactical capacity. Assisting him is an Akora engineer named Serem. The two men get to work under the tactical console, to try to bring it back to life, but can�t seem to get it to work. Finally Tuvok tells Serem to stop, be quiet, and he concentrates, and is able to see the problem. He causes a small shifting of the subatomic particles in the circuitry and the console flares to life. �Thank you, Kes,� he says happily, and hops up. Serem is looking at him with admiration. �How did you do that?� he asks.

Tuvok says that he had a friend who gave him a gift, shared some of her power with him, and most of the time it�s horrible, because he can�t control it. He�s been changed so much over the past few years and sometimes it feels like he doesn�t know who he is. But thanks to Kes, he feels much more stable and in control than before. Serem is looking at him with pure attraction, and is about to say something else when the ship is rocked by weapons fire.

Janeway and Denar emerge from the ruined section of the ship, and Janeway tries to use the Comm to contact Tuvok. She only gets a partial signal, so Denar quickly flips open her Akora tricorder to speak to Serem. He tells them that they are under attack. The two women take off running.

In Engineering, Chakotay, B�Elanna, Tom, and Harry are rocked by another round of weapons fire. A small plasma leak starts off to one side of Engineering and seems to be coming right toward them, and the warp core. B�Elanna says it�s getting bigger, but she can repair it. Chakotay, Harry, and Tom all urge her to get out of there, or she�ll be vaporized. Suddenly the plasma leak seems to repair itself, and as they are all standing there in shock, Seven of Nine walks in to say she applied a bit of Borg regeneration technology to the plasma conduit. Everyone else looks grateful but a bit unnerved at the idea of more Borg technology taking over their ship. Seven assures them that it�s simply a temporary solution until they can get to the Akora outpost. Just then, they are rocked by more weapons fire and Chakotay, Harry, and Tom run to the Bridge.

The Doctor and Neelix watch out the windows of the Mess Hall as two large ships pass by, firing at Voyager and the Akora vessel. They are the same ships that destroyed the escape pods and attacked Carey�s shuttle. Neelix tells the Doctor to come with him, they have to help. �What are you going to do, throw some of your bad cooking at them?� The Doctor asks snidely.

�You�ve never even tasted my cooking,� Neelix says.

On the Bridge, Tuvok and Serem are working together to try to fight off the ships. Serem, at the con, says that they won�t respond to hails. Tuvok�s got the phasers working but he�d really like a photon torpedo. Jus then Janeway and Denar emerge from the Jeffries tube. Janeway asks who these people are. Denar goes to the Ops station and notes that the weapons signature is the same as the one they found in the wreckage of Voyager�s escape pods.

A volley of torpedoes from the enemy ship hits Denar�s ship, and one connects with Voyager�s shuttlebay door. The force field holds, but Tuvok suddenly says to take it offline. Janeway asks him if that bump on his head is making him crazy, and he says no, just to trust him. �We�ve come this far and sacrificed everything. I�m damned if we�re going to be beaten by some anonymous attacker.� Then he beams a shuttlecraft into space and orders its self-destruct activated. This action kills the ship�s transporters but destroys one of the ships and disables the other, which limps away, leaking plasma.

�One more sacrifice,� Janeway says, and looks to Tuvok. He smiles at her, but they know: the victories are coming at a higher and higher price these days.

ACT III

On his shuttlecraft, Carey is working with Ensign Wildman to strengthen their group�s shielding. Sanaa has given them some equipment that will help bring the entire pod ring under one shield. Samantha notes that the only shields they have are temporal shielding, and since they have seen neither hide nor hair of the Krenim, they probably don�t need it anymore.

Carey wonders if Voyager managed to defeat the Time Ship, and Ensign Ayala, who still seems to be recovering from his burns but is up and around, says that ship was huge, and powerful, and impossible to dent. All are silent. �I�m sure they were no match for Voyager,� he says, smiling.

Naomi is nearby, drinking from a bottle of water, and she walks up to her mother and the other crewmen, asking if she can help them. At first Samantha tells her to go sit down, but Carey takes her in his arms and says they could use all the able-bodied Starfleet crewmen they can find. He tells her to take his tricorder and scan up inside the circuitry there and read off what it says. Samantha smiles at him gratefully for giving her daughter something to do.

Sanaa and two of his crewmen beam onto the shuttle to see how repairs are going. Carey gets up to greet them, and says that the replacement parts he gave them are integrating perfectly with their systems. Sanaa is glad to hear it. He�s heard rumors of a strange race of predatory aliens attacking people in this sector and he�d like to get the Voyager crewmembers back to his home planet as soon as possible, so that they will be safe.

Carey wonders if they shouldn�t be out looking for Voyager. Sanaa tells him that their shuttle craft and escape pods aren�t anywhere near fast enough to search just this one sector, much less half the Quadrant. He asks Carey if he�d had time to consider his �offer,� and Carey says it�s just too much to ask. �We�ve lost too much of our crew. I don�t want to lose the only connection we have to our ship as well.�

Turns out Sanaa�s offer was to take the entire refugee group onto his ship and straight back to the Akora homeworld, leaving the shuttle craft and pods behind. Carey says he doesn�t want to do it, but maybe there is another option. Sanaa eyes him curiously.

In the back of the shuttle, in the sleeping quarters, Vorik is lying down, trying to rest. Suddenly, he hears Tuvok�s voice in his head calling to him, and he sits bolt upright.

On Voyager, Denar meets with the senior staff about how they are going to find the rest of the Voyager crew. Now that this mysterious alien race have stepped up their attacks, none of the crew are safe from being picked off. Janeway is frustrated and wants to know who these people are, but Denar seems to have no information. She says their number one priority now needs to be getting the rest of the Voyager crew back on to Voyager. Janeway agrees, but wonders, how?

Seven of Nine mentions that all of the shuttles and escape pods that were sent out were equipped with temporal shielding to protect them from the Krenim and the time ship. Perhaps they could use Astrometrics to locate the temporal signatures from the crew�s shielding and locate them that way.

Janeway says that is a great idea, but wonders how far along the regeneration of the Borg technology is. Denar bristles at the idea that the Voyager crew are using evil Borg technology to repair their ship, and insists that her crew be allowed to look the technology over.

Janeway tells Denar that her crew is more than welcome to look over the technology, but that Seven and Harry have assured her that there is no danger in using Borg regeneration nodes to fix certain problems on the ship. Denar reminds Janeway that the Borg destroy people�s lives � how can she just forget that in order to repair her ship? �Any port in a storm,� Janeway reminds her. Denar smiles but doesn�t seem satisfied. Still, the Captain tells Seven, Harry, and B�Elanna to get on it � that Astrometrics is now top priority. The crew all leaves the briefing.

As Tuvok is making his way back to the Mess Hall, he runs into Serem, who seems to want to stop and chat. Tuvok tells him that he is very tired, and Serem offers to take him back to the Mess Hall. Tuvok assures him that he can find his own way, but Serem continues to tag along. When they make it to the Mess Hall, the Doctor greets them and asks how Tuvok is feeling. He says the headaches are getting worse, and the Doctor scans him.

He tells Tuvok that the telepathic centers of his brain are unusually active and asks him what�s going on. Confronted by Serem and the Doctor, Tuvok admits that he�s been sneaking away to try to find various members of the crew by practicing the psychic transcendence that Kes was so good at. The Doctor chides him, but Tuvok says that he has already made contact with several of the telepathic members of the crew. The Doctor seems unexcited by this good news, and insists that Tuvok stop his telepathic exercises immediately. Tuvok says he can�t, and begs them to let him rest for awhile. They relent and he goes to lay down. As he closes his eyes he hears Vorik: �Tuvok? Are you there?� He opens his eyes but doesn�t move.

ACT IV

Vorik has Carey and Samantha sequestered in the back of the shuttle craft, explaining about how Tuvok reached out and made contact with his mind. They are overjoyed to learn that the senior officers � and a great number of the crew � are alive. Samantha wonders why Sanaa never mentioned that another Akora ship had come to assist Voyager, and Carey begins to wonder if the Akora have some kind of ulterior motive.

Vorik reminds them that they have no way of knowing anything about the Akora�s methods of communication, and that Sanaa may simply be unaware of Denar�s contact with Voyager. They decide to confront him about it.

Sanaa is unsurprised that he hadn�t heard of Captain Denar�s contact with the Voyager crew. Communications among his people are usually very good, but they are actually outside of Akora space right now, in a highly contested region of the sector. Carey wonders if that was why they were attacked, but Sanaa tells him that the people with whom they have the dispute, the Nemitra, are not the type to shoot and run. Sanaa promises to keep them all safe from the attackers and to find Denar�s ship right now, but they really should consider leaving their vessels behind and joining him.

Ayala walks up and tells them that he�s figured out a way for them to have their cake and eat it too: they will gather the ring around Sanaa�s ship and extend his warp field to propel them all through space at high warp. Sanaa is doubtful, but Carey says they can�t afford to wait here any longer. Sanaa agrees and they begin work.

On Voyager, Janeway walks Denar through the regeneration process in Astrometrics, assuring her that Seven and Harry have set up failsafe devices to keep the Collective unaware of Voyager�s presence. Denar tells Janeway that when she was a child, her uncle�s ship was attacked by the Borg and he barely escaped with his life. Janeway knows the feeling: she�s had quite enough run-ins with the Borg for the time being.

They enter Astrometrics and find it almost exactly as it was before. Seven and Harry greet them, and Harry tells the Captain that they are almost ready to bring the temporal sensors online. Janeway is ecstatic and tells him to do it. Immediately they power them up, and the deflector dish begins to glow. B�Elanna is monitoring its performance from Engineering, and tells them all is going according to plan. On the screen in Astrometrics, tiny dots begin to show up all over the sector, then all over the map as the sensors detect the crew�s temporal shielding. Denar sees the ring formation from Carey�s group and notes that another Akora ship has been helping the crew. She and Janeway beam over to her ship and contact Sanaa.

Janeway speaks with Sanaa, who tells them that their people are safe, and she extends him their warmest greetings. They transmit Sanaa the coordinates of the shuttlepods nearest them, and Sanaa calls Carey to speak with his captain. The two converse warmly and Janeway tells him she is proud of him.

Back on Voyager, Denar says she has called in additional Akora ships to retrieve the remaining Starfleet crew. Janeway says she would rather do it herself, and that they could be getting their warp engines back online and getting to the Akora outpost. Denar reminds her that even if they did that, Voyager is structurally unsound and cannot travel even at low warp. Janeway is nervous but must trust her new ally. They get back to work.

ACT V

Tuvok sits, meditating, and we see that he has made contact with Vorik and two other Vulcans from the ship, as well as a Betazoid crewman. The Vulcans do not appreciate Tuvok invading their minds � he is polluted and mustn�t be allowed to tamper with their minds. They break the psychic link almost immediately, and Tuvok falls to the floor, nearly unconscious and defeated. The Betazoid crewman, Lmara, tries to reassure him but he won�t listen. He breaks the connection and goes back to the Bridge.

Later, Denar tells Janeway that many of her escape pods and shuttle craft have been recovered, and that her crew is in a bad state and need immediate medical attention. Also, the Akora government is very uneasy about Voyager�s use of Borg technology and is reluctant to allow them to take leave on their homeworld. Janeway seems defeated and lashes out at Denar, telling her that she doesn�t understand, that her crew has never been through the things that Voyager�s has.

Denar is hurt by this but tries to understand. She says she will speak with her government and try to get them to rule in Voyager�s favor. Janeway says she would like the opportunity to speak to the governing council, to try to convince them to help.

In Astrometrics, Janeway and the senior officers are assembled before the screen, which still displays the location of the rest of the crew. Tuvok walks in slowly, tired, and Janeway goes to him. He tells her he�s sorry, he tried to find them all but he couldn�t. She looks to the Doctor, confused, and he tells her he�ll explain later. Tuvok looks to Janeway: �They�re all so scared and confused.� He stumbles and Seven holds him up while Janeway approaches the screen.

Denar is working the console in Astrometrics, and says she�s made the connection with the governing council. Janeway looks to Chakotay, who brushes a bit of dust from her cheek and gives her a �give �em hell� look. Janeway nods and the council appears on the screen.

They express to Janeway their reticence to helping Voyager, who have willingly used Borg technology in a reckless and desperate attempt to repair their own ship. Janeway tells them that she was doing what she had to do to keep her people alive, and certainly they must understand that. They do, but are still wary about helping someone who was willing to strike a deal with the devil in that way.

Janeway steps up to them and shows them her gathered officers. She mentions Tuvok, who has endangered his own health in an attempt to telepathically locate their scattered family. She points to their collective scars and to her ruined ship as evidence that you do what you must to rescue those who care about you. The council accuses her of abandoning her principles.

�These people are my principles,� she says sternly. �I took an oath as a Starfleet Captain that I would protect these people with my life. They are what I believe in. My mission is to get them home, and I would do whatever is necessary to do that.� She goes on to say that it was her principles that stranded this crew 75 years away from their families, and while she doesn�t regret that decision, she must now put their lives above her own safety in order to look herself in the mirror each morning.

The council speak among one another for a moment, then agree to allow Voyager and her crew to come to the Akora homeworld, where their ship will be repaired and their crew cared for. The senior officers embrace on another in excitement and Janeway thanks the council and Denar.

Sanaa gives the order to extend his ship�s warp field around the pod ring, and soon they are setting course for the closest members of the crew and the Akora�s planet. As Voyager limps into port above the planet, we see Janeway embracing lost members of her crew. The ships sits in Space Dock and repairs begin.

Somewhere in space, one of the enemy ships floats, damaged. Unseen, two aliens converse over a computer readout of Voyager. �The prey have been reunited on their ship,� one alien says to another.

�We will hunt them all. Their skins will be our trophies.�

Blackout.

[janeways_gecko]

SHORE LEAVE

ACT I/TEASER

Janeway sits in an observation deck in the space dock above the Akoran homeworld. She�s sipping a cup of coffee, looking at some readouts on a Padd. She�s obviously been up for quite awhile, and she rubs her temples in exhaustion. She stands and goes to look out the window at Voyager, which is parked below her getting repaired. The massive hole in the side of the saucer section is still there but there is a framework in place and she can see work crews rebuilding her vessel.

Neelix comes from behind her, and she doesn�t see him. �Captain,� he says, and she jumps into a defensive posture, but quickly relaxes and smiles weakly. �Did I scare you?� he asks. �No, I�m sorry Neelix, I�ve just been so on edge for so long, it�s difficult to relax.� Neelix tells her she has been up in this Space Dock for two weeks straight, she hasn�t even seen the planet. Janeway says she can�t leave her ship. Neelix notes that she�s not actually on her ship. She says she knows, but she can�t leave it. It�s her ship, their home, and she wants to make sure she�s in on all the repairs.

Neelix picks up one of the many Padds that are scattered around the table where she was sitting. He notes that it seems the Akora are doing more than just repairing Voyager, they�re upgrading it: a couple new weapons and defensive systems. Janeway seems to light up, and begins describing in detail some of the technology the Akora have been willing to share with them. A photonic cannon, multiphasic shields, a new navigational array, and � she seems almost giddy at this part � new interfaces for their bioneural circuitry.

Neelix watches her watch the ship for a moment, letting her be excited about getting her crew and her vessel back. Finally he comes to stand next to her at the window, noting that the rest of the crew are enjoying their time off. She seems genuinely happy at this but insists that helping with the repairs is restful for her, because she knows that she doesn�t have to worry like she�s been doing for the past year.

�That�s great,� Neelix says, �but you need to relax. Why they have these places on Akora where you can go, and they make this drink that�� he picks up her coffee mug, noticing that it�s real, Earth-style coffee. She hasn�t had this since the replicators went down on Voyager, and he wonders where she got it. In a tired tone she tells him that they managed to download the entire Voyager computer � including the replicator files � into the Akora�s computer systems and she�s finally able to really enjoy coffee once again. Neelix laughs a little, but tells her that her crew misses her and wishes that she would come join them for some rest and relaxation.

She tells him to tell the crew to have a good time on shore leave, and that she�ll try to get down when they�ve hammered out a few more problems on Voyager. He turns to leave, saying that her dedication is admirable, but the ship is going to be fine now, it�s the crew that needs her care. �Soon,� she says to him, and he goes. She turns back to the window and we pan down on her view of Voyager, still badly damaged but finally getting fixed.

CREDITS
ACT II

On Akora, Harry and Seven are sitting at a resort-type area. Harry is dressed in casual clothes, sitting in the sun enjoying his time off. Seven is still in her normal uniform, poring over readouts much like Janeway. Harry brings her a rainbow-colored drink, urging her to loosen up and have some fun. She reminds him that fun is irrelevant, that in the Collective she was never introduced to the idea of relaxation; when she was a drone, she regenerated, she performed her duties until they were finished, and she regenerated once more.

Harry reminds her that she never had a childhood, and that time off can be good for the imagination, that it can lead one to new realizations and solutions. She says that Captain Janeway once told her much the same thing. Harry wonders how the Captain is doing, and Seven says that she is working very hard making sure that all the repairs are going as planned and scheduled.

Harry nabs the Padd out of her hand and holds it behind his back, demanding that she at least try the drink and take a moment to relax in the sun. She reminds him that she could overpower him in a matter of seconds, but he knows that she won�t. The two have a standoff for a few minutes but she finally relents, reaching down and picking up the drink. She looks suspiciously at the straw for a few moments, not quite knowing what to make of it. Harry puts his own drink to his lips and sips, showing her how it�s done. She suspiciously tries the same thing and notes, grudgingly, that the taste is pleasurable.

�Okay,� he says, �now come over here and enjoy the sun for a minute.� He lays on a lounge-type chair and closes his eyes. She sits nervously on the chair next to him, then slowly tries to recline � something to which she is obviously unaccustomed. She tries to close her eyes and enjoy the sun, but she is suddenly struck by an inspiration. She stands quickly and snatches the Padd, which is now resting on Harry�s stomach.

He sits up quickly and protests, calling her �sneaky.� She simply points out that he is right, that a bit of relaxation can lead one to new revelations. Harry notes that she even has fun efficiently. She looks back at him with her most self-satisfied expression � the closest thing he�s seen to a smile from her in a long time, if ever. He sips his drink and she goes back to work. After a moment, she looks back at him and sees that he seems to have fallen asleep. She looks for a moment at her drink, then takes another sip while she works on the Padd.

Elsewhere on Akora, the Doctor takes a tour of one of their medical facilities, noting that their medical technology has a lot to teach him. They assure him that they are upgrading Voyager�s sickbay with some of their own technology, and he seems excited. Still, he wonders if it will interface with their own Starfleet technology. The Akora doctor, Sanela, assures him that they are adjusting their technology to be compatible with Federation standards. She also notes that her brother is a holographic engineer and could probably help the Doctor to upgrade his emitter.

The Doctor is incredulous at first, assuring her that his emitter is far too advanced to be upgraded � it came from 500 years in the future. Sanela tries to suppress a smile at his arrogance and tells him that it couldn�t hurt to let someone else take a look. Maybe they could change his physical appearance or upgrade his tactical sensors. The Doctor admits that would be nice, and perhaps she should get in touch with this brother of hers. Sanela says that they should continue their tour, but before they do there is a moment of attraction between the two of them.

At the same time B�Elanna and Tom are enjoying a romantic dinner by an ocean on the night side of Akora. She tells him that she�s so relieved to be able to spend some more time with him after they were apart for so long. Tom only halfheartedly agrees and sips his glass of Akoran wine. B�Elanna notes this and they share a moment of awkward silence. Finally B�Elanna curtly says that she�s pretty tired, and that she should get some rest. Tom agrees and they rise from their dinner, walking in separate directions to their own quarters.

ACT II

Chakotay and Janeway meet with Denar about the repairs to their ship. Janeway is talking about the repairs to the Astrometrics lab, and wonders if the Borg technology could be used to regenerate some of the more critical systems.

Denar once again expresses hesitation at this plan, saying that the governing council allowed them to bring Voyager to Akora�s space dock partially on the condition that they would use as little Borg technology as possible.

Janeway knows that this is the case but she wants to get her ship and crew back on their way home to try to make up for some of the time they�ve lost over their recent trials. Denar wonders why she doesn�t try to enjoy some of this time to rest and relax, and Janeway reiterates that they�ve got a long journey ahead and she is ready to resume it. Denar suddenly receives a call from one of her crew and leaves the observation deck to respond to it.

Janeway goes to the replicator to order another pot of coffee, but Chakotay tells the computer to belay that order. Janeway gives him a perplexed look, and he tells her that Denar is right � the repairs are proceeding ahead of schedule and she really should get some rest. She hasn�t even had one of the Akora medics look at the burns on her face and arms.

Janeway looks at her forearm, at the �battle scars,� and says that they�ve given her analgesics to lessen the pain but that she�s mostly okay. Chakotay says yes, the pain may not be there, but they have the technology to heal them altogether. Janeway says she needs the reminder of the high price they pay on their way home.

Chakotay seems irritated. �You don�t need scars to remind you of our situation, Kathryn. You have a crew and a ship who are committed to this mission, and every day we all get up and give everything we�ve got to get home.�

Janeway says that he doesn�t understand, not really. She�s the captain, and he�s not, and the responsibility for getting this crew home rests squarely on her shoulders. He reminds her that when she was unconscious during the battle with Species 8472 that he was in command and he knows that feeling. She told him that it was on him to get the crew home and that is not a burden that one person can share alone. She starts to say something but he tells her to shut up and listen for a second. �Yes, you have scars, but guess what? We all do. Just not the kind you can see. We all bear the burden of this mission. You talk about the price we pay? We all pay it every day. But the past year proves nothing if it doesn�t prove that we need one another, that we can�t any of us do this alone.� He tells her that the scars she has prove that she is dedicated not only to this mission, but to her principles. She risked everything to save hundreds of species.

She seems on the verge of tears, and he lifts her chin up to look him in the eyes. �You don�t have this load to carry alone. Not the load of this crew, or this mission, or of the things you believe in. We all believe in what we�re doing � not just trying to get home but the whole thing. There�s not a person on this crew who wouldn�t take on these scars and more to save one tenth of the people we saved when we destroyed that time ship.�

Janeway says she knows, she might actually have the best crew in the history of Starfleet. �So, what�s the problem?� Chakotay asks. She says that the past year showed her that she can�t protect them all. She can�t even protect her technologically advanced ship. Chakotay goes to the replicator and orders her some coffee ice cream. He takes the bowl and sets it in front of her. �You can do both, you know. You can give everything you have to get this crew home and do what you believe in and be a real person for them at the same time.� He pushes the bowl a little closer to her, then says good night and turns to leave.

�Chakotay?� she says as he walks away. He turns to look at her. She takes a bite of the ice cream, then spoons another bite and holds it out to him. He joins her at the table and they share the bowl.

Later, both are at the table, the bowl is empty, and Janeway is telling him about her childhood, and about why she is so excited about the new technology with which Voyager is getting equipped.

ACT III

Seven of Nine walks through one of Voyager�s destroyed corridors, which finally has its old lighting back. She climbs over a fallen piece of bulkhead and rounds a corner to find Janeway kneeling, working with a tool on one of the bioneural gel packs.
�Captain,� Seven says quietly, and Janeway looks up and smiles at her. She asks Seven how she�s enjoying shore leave, and Seven responds that she has spent most of the time trying to come up with new ways to upgrade Voyager�s defenses. Janeway says that she�s spent the whole time up in space dock, overseeing the repairs. �You haven�t taken even a little time for yourself?� she then asks Seven.

�Ensign Kim took me to an Akoran resort and forced me to drink brightly colored beverages and lie in the sun,� Seven responds.

�Must�ve been hell,� Janeway says with a smile. Seven smiles back, only a little, and then tells Janeway that she has come up with a way to use Borg technology to upgrade the ship�s warp core. Janeway is excited and takes the Padd from Seven, looks over it, and looks back up at Seven, suddenly excited.

Tuvok is on the planet at a monestary, meditating with his lamp. At first he is sitting straight up in meditation pose, but the sun comes through some trees under which he is sitting and lights his face, and he falls backward to recline in the fresh air.

Neelix approaches. �Beautiful weather here on Akora, isn�t it?� Tuvok sits up again and greets him, then says he was just trying some new meditation techniques he learned from the Akoran spiritual men. Neelix says he knows, they told him where he could find him. �Is there something going on with the ship? Does Captain Janeway need my help?�

Neelix sits with him and takes his meditation lamp in his hands. �No, I just wanted to see how you are.�

Tuvok is taken aback at first and then smiles a bit, saying he�s fine, the Akoran doctors managed to repair his eyes, although they still hurt from time to time and he finds it hard to keep them open in direct sunlight. Neelix says he knew this as well, he actually wanted to see how Tuvok is emotionally.

Tuvok says that emotions are still new to him, he cannot always name what he is feeling. This is funny, because he can name what the rest of the crew � or anyone else around him � is feeling because other species seem to need names for every feeling they have. He has not yet understood this yearning, and Neelix explains that emotions can be so overwhelming and confusing that it often helps to have names for them. �It�s like anything else we don�t understand, Tuvok. Naming it helps us to comprehend it and keep it from controlling us.�

Tuvok says that Kes once told him something similar. Neelix smiles at the memory of his lost love, then wonders aloud how Kes is doing. Tuvok imagines that she is exploring the galaxy or another plane of existence, but he has no worries about her.

�But you do have worries about something else,� Neelix observes. Tuvok says that even though the crew is enjoying the rest and some time away from all the drama of the past year, there is still an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and oppressive fear among them. Neelix wonders if this is why Tuvok has come here, so far away from any of his shipmates. Tuvok says that�s part of it, and also he�s still reeling a bit from his recent telepathic experience with the other Vulcans on the ship. They called him polluted, and it gave him a feeling that he cannot name.

�You�re hurt,� Neelix says. �You wonder how you will discover your place in this life if your species has abandoned you. You�re wondering what will happen when we get home.�

Tuvok observes with a laugh that the idea of �when we get home� is something that hasn�t been voiced among this crew in a long time. Then it occurs to him that when Voyager gets home, that Neelix will be a long way from his own. Neelix says that Voyager is his home. These people, his friends, are home to him. He rises, saying he�ll leave Tuvok to his meditation, but reminds him that even if the Vulcans on the ship don�t accept him, that there are people who do, and when he is ready they would love to see him and treat him to a drink. He walks away, and Tuvok goes back to his meditation posture. It only lasts a second, however, and soon he is on his back, the sun on his face, smiling, just a bit.

Janeway and Seven are speaking with Reean, a member of the Akora ruling council, about Seven�s plan to upgrade Voyager�s warp core using Borg technology. She says it could shave years off their journey and there is no risk of alerting the Collective to Voyager�s location. Reean refuses, saying that Janeway knows the deal they had and cannot go back on it now with any hope of the Akora�s continued assistance. Janeway reminds her that they�ve lost over a year on this journey and begs her to go to the council and present their idea. She hands her the Padd with the data, and she and Seven depart.

After they�ve gone, Reean deletes the data from the Padd.

ACT IV

Tom is sitting on some rocks by an Akoran ocean, breathing in the sea air. B�Elanna comes to sit with him and there is a long, awkward silence between them.

�Have I done something wrong?� B�Elanna finally asks in an uncharacteristic moment of vulnerability.

�No�� Tom answers, trailing off into uncertainty.

�So, what then? Was there some Krenim woman on the time ship who��

Tom tells her emphatically no, that there was no one else. It�s just that the past year, he spent all his time on that ship wondering how to get back to her, and now that they�re together again, it seems their lives have been so different.

B�Elanna wonders how they�ve been that different; they�ve both been fighting in their own way to save Voyager and see one another again. He says it�s not that simple. He spent a lot of time on Annorax�s ship living a good, luxurious life, eating well and making friends among the Krenim crew. He wonders what has happened to them now that the timeline has been restored.

�What about your friends on Voyager?� B�Elanna asks. �Do you wonder what�s happening to them?�

Tom looks at her, not knowing what to say. They stare at one another for a moment, the breeze kicking their hair up. She puts her hand on his shoulder and tells him that she stayed alive knowing he was out there somewhere, that they were all out there and she had to get them back.

Tom knows the feeling, but he says that they�re all back together physically, but everyone seems so distant now. �We�re all on this planet, but we�re scattered around again trying to forget about what happened.�

B�Elanna says she will never forget, that the feeling of being away from him made her certain that she never wanted them to be apart again. Tom looks at her, not so conflicted this time, and they kiss. The kiss grows more passionate, and they begin to make love on the rocks. Just as things are reaching a fever pitch, some Akoran children walk by and stare at them, and they compose themselves and walk away, hand in hand.

Janeway walks through the space dock and into Reean�s office, right into the middle of a meeting. She wants to know what the hell Reean is playing at. The councilwoman dismisses the meeting and chides Janeway sharply for interrupting her business. Janeway says that the council never received any plans from Reean about Voyager�s warp core. Reean freely admits that she looked over the plan and decided it was scientifically unviable. Janeway is livid, and promises to take it to the council. Reean lets her know that the council has already been informed that there was a plan to use Borg technology to speed up the repairs and rejected it out of hand.

Janeway begins to storm out, but Reean reminds her that they are at her space dock and they will abide by her rules. Surely as a �ruler� of her own ship she can understand that the Akora cannot be partner to a plan which they feel is against their own principles.

Janeway understands this but reiterates that there is no danger in using the Borg technology to speed up the repairs. In fact, it would help them make up their lost time and then some, and help them get home much faster. Reean wonders why Janeway is in such a hurry to leave Akora, especially since she has yet to even visit the planet.

Janeway says that someone else tried that same line on her one time (see �Prime Factors�) � that �our planet is so wonderful, why not give up your mission and stay?� thing. Janeway says that getting home is their mission. Reean respects this but cannot allow Borg technology to �run rampant� in Akora space. The two have a silent standoff, and Janeway finally leaves.

Neelix and Harry are at the resort, and they run into Carey and Samantha Wildman, who are flying a kite with Naomi. They greet them and the four crewmen talk, but it is awkward. As Carey and Samantha prepare to go, Naomi says that she wants to go with Harry and Neelix. Samantha doesn�t want her to, but Naomi asks where the two men are headed. They say they were just about to go down to a place by the shore where Akoran folk musicians are going to be playing some music. Naomi begs her mother to let them go, and finally she relents, and the five walk down the beach together. Harry asks Naomi about her kite, and she explains to him the science of it.

Janeway is fuming to Chakotay and Seven about Reean�s refusal to cooperate. The two are sympathetic but remind Janeway that they cannot ask the Akora to compromise their own values. �You�re not helping,� Janeway says sternly, and wonders how they can get them to comply.

Suddenly the Comm beeps, and Harry says that there is an emergency on the planet and that the Captain is needed right away. He is sending the coordinates to her tricorder. Janeway asks if Chakotay can handle it, she�s got a lot of work to do. Harry says it�s big, they�re going to need the both of them. They take off with Seven to the transporter room.

ACT V

Janeway, Chakotay, and Seven beam down to the coordinates, which are on the beach near the resort. Harry is there, and says that there is a problem with several of the crew. They�ve come down with some strange illness and the Captain needs to see it. Janeway drills him about symptoms, diagnoses, but Harry is not certain. He leads them up the beach.

�It�s in here,� we hear Harry say, and he opens a door. Inside, the entire crew is gathered, along with many of the Akora, including the folk band. It�s a party. Neelix and Tuvok approach the Captain, who seems righteously pissed off to be dragged away from her work.

Tuvok reminds Janeway that he can feel what the crew is feeling, and he knows now that he�s been feeling it too. They�ve been mourning for so long � first being trapped in the Delta Quadrant, having their ship stolen from them, being betrayed by many of their own, fighting the Borg, and being scattered. They�ve been anxious and on edge, fighting to survive not just physically but emotionally.

Janeway angrily reminds him that she knows, she feels it every day and knows that it is because of her that the crew is feeling like this. Neelix tells her that if the crew felt that way about her, they wouldn�t need her so badly. They�ve been suffering this month, in spite of all the rest and fun they�ve been having, because their leader doesn�t seem to be doing well. B�Elanna, Tom, Harry, Samantha, Carey, and Naomi all come to her and ask her to enjoy this night, this time with them and believe that they will accomplish their mission. They draw Janeway into the crowd with the rest of the crew, and her eyes water.

The Doctor is wearing a beach-style outfit, and he tells Seven that she looks tanned. Seven reminds him that complexion is irrelevant, and he says no, that if she�s going to be spending so much time in the sun that she should use a topical cream to prevent ultraviolet damage. He introduces her to Sanela, who, it turns out, is a hologram as well. Her "brother" is a fellow hologram who is a holographic engineer and has upgraded his emitter so that he can change his appearance at will and make it less vulnerable to attack.

Tom and B�Elanna cuddle in the corner, reconciled. Harry and Neelix treat Seven to another drink, and the band plays. Janeway watches all of this, her crew celebrating for the first time that they are all back together. Chakotay watches her and smiles, then approaches her.

�You can�t help these people if you don�t connect with them,� he tells her. She looks at him weakly but smiles. He smiles back, wryly, and hands her a drink. Neelix approaches with Naomi. �What are you two doing way over here in the corner? Come on, celebrate with us!� He drags them into the party, and the pain fades from Janeway�s face as she greets her crew, some of whom she has barely seen since they were all reunited. The music plays, and Janeway and crew celebrate one another and their fortune with the Akora.