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Sacred Ground (episode)

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"Sacred Ground"
VOY, Episode 3x07
Production number: 143
First aired: 30 October 1996
← 42nd of 168 produced in VOY →
← 48th of 168 released in VOY →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 168 released in VOY Remastered  
← 434th of 727 released in all →
Teleplay By
Lisa Klink

Story By
Geo Cameron

Directed By
Robert Duncan McNeill
50063.2 (2373)
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Kes is injured when she accidentally commits sacrilege on an alien planet; in order to save her life, Janeway goes through a mysterious ritual.

Contents

[edit] Summary

"Captain's log, stardate 50063.2. We've accepted an invitation from the Nechani to take a few days shore leave on their world. We're enjoying the opportunity to learn about their culture."

The crew of Voyager accepts an invitation from a humanoid race called the Nechani to take shore leave on their planet. To learn more about the Nechani culture, several of the crew members take a tour of some of the Nechani religious sites. Curious about a particular shrine, Kes attempts to enter it and is knocked unconscious by a biogenic field at the entrance. The crew is anxious to remain on the planet to analyze the field and gather information that may be able to revive Kes from her "curious comatose state." However, the Nechani feel that Kes is being punished by the "ancestral spirits" for inappropriate behavior and should be allowed to die. They state that there is simply nothing that can be done about it.

Captain Janeway, who is unable to accept such a response, works with The Doctor and other crew members to find a solution. Her pleas to the Magistrate to let them back to the surface so that they can take some scans of the shrine in order to find answers to Kes’ condition are rejected. While working on the ship with the Doctor and others on a way to try to restore Kes, Janeway sends Neelix back to the planet in order to gather scientific data about the shrine. He returns with a story about a king whose son made the same error as Kes: To save his son, this king decided to undergo the ritual that the monks endure in order to enter the shrine without harm. He was successful with his plea and able to see his son awaken from his "death sleep." Janeway decides to try this approach in order to covertly gather scientific data with a subdermal probe. She expects that she will be facing endurance tests that create within her body biochemical changes, which will in turn protect her from the energy field that struck down Kes.

A guide meets Janeway at the entrance to the cave at sunset and guides her to a room full of elderly people who squabble and bicker amongs themselves, saying that they are waiting and have been for as long as they can remember. Janeway grows impatient, however, as she does not plan to sit around waiting half an eternity. She leaves the room – eager to begin the challenges that might lead to a cure for Kes. Her guide informs her that everything she does during this ritual will be meaningless, and that the only thing that matters is finding her connection to the spirits. Yet Janeway is eager to go through each of the physical challenges imposed on her. The guide asks her to hold a rock and tell her what she sees. Next, Janeway is asked to finger-paint freely and then rock-climb. She then sees the stone glowing in her hands. Finally, she is asked to place her hand inside a container that houses a hissing creature called a nesset; it bites her. Janeway finds herself on a seashore, where her guide ostensibly acts as the voice of the spirits, who tell her that her request to have them reawaken Kes is inconsequential and that Janeway possess all the information she needs to help Kes.

Janeway returns to Voyager confident that she finally got all she needs to help Kes. The Doctor seems equally confident, for the immense amount of data gathered can be utilized to find a cure. He states that the toxin from the creature's bite appears to have been the key, for it built a biochemical immunity to the energy burst that hit Kes. He eagerly begins developing a treatment regimen for Kes.

When much to his surprise his "cure" doesn't work, Janeway returns to the planet to question her guide; after all, she did everything that the guide told her. But the guide tells her that she didn't lead Janeway anywhere, for this was Kathryn’s ritual: she herself set these challenges, the guide simply fulfilled Janeway's expectations for Janeway would have simply settled for nothing else. But Janeway tells her that she is not ready to give up. The guide tells her that now she is finally ready to begin.

Janeway returns to the room, where the elderly people derisively banter about her reliance on reason. They know that she is the kind of person who believes that she will eventually find the answers to Kes' situation with enough time, study and the right sort of tools. After all, that is what she believes as a scientist, even when her science fails right in front of her eyes. Janeway acknowledges that she is willing to try another path if science doesn't work, so they tell her to take Kes through the energy field again. They can't tell her what it will do because the biogenic field, according to Voyager's scans, is lethal. They ask her, however, to let go of all her beliefs about the facts and simply trust the spirits to return her soul. If she believes she is ready, she is. But if she goes in with any doubt, with any hesitation, they will both be dead.

Janeway persuades Chakotay and Neelix to allow her to take Kes back through the field, in the belief that it will awaken her, even if no one can explain how that might work scientifically. So she carries Kes through the field, where a burst of energy hits them. However, they remain unharmed and Kes finally awakens.

Later in sickbay, The Doctor gives a plausible scientific explanation for why taking Kes through the biogenic field again, combined with the ritual Janeway went through and the toxin released into her body saved Kes' life. Janeway is listens to The Doctor's explanation, stating that it is indeed very plausible and scientific. Yet she walks out of sickbay unsure really whether it was the science or her faith that was at work here.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"We aren't going to stand by and do nothing.
There's nothing you can do, she's been punished by the spirits, she's going to die."

- B'Ellana Torres and the Magistrate


"I don't suppose you know anything about chromodynamic light, do you?
No, not really. I suppose I could look at it.
... That device you've got, what is that?
 It's called a tricorder. ... it's a scanning device.
 Aah, atmospheric readings, energy field analysis, full technical data base. This is certainly a convenient thing to have.
 I'll need that back.
 No, you won't.
You're my guide.

- Captain Janeway and The Guide


"I'm sure there is spiritual significance behind the challenges involved.
 Challenges? That's what you expect.
 I don't have any idea what to expect.
 ...I'm willing to do whatever is necessary.
 I don't doubt that. But do you realize that all of this is meaningless?

- Captain Janeway and The Guide


"Your request is inconsequential. You have what you need to save her yourself.

- The Guide to Captain Janeway


"I haven't led you anywhere, Katherine. You've taken me along wherever you wanted to go. This was your ritual. You set these challenges for yourself.
 It's true that I came here with certain expectations. Are you saying that you simply fulfilled my expectations?
 You'd have settled for nothing else.

- Captain Janeway and The Guide


"A test! She thinks we're a test! She must like tests!"

- The Spirits


"Even when her science fails right before her eyes she still has full confidence in it. Now that's a leap of faith."

- The Spirits


"Let all of that go, Katherine. Take Kes back into the shrine and trust the spirits to return her soul.
The ritual I went through was meaningelss. And Kes has done nothing to prepare herself. How could either of us be ready to go through the field.?
If you believe you are ready, then you are. There's no more to it than that. But if you go in with any doubt, with any hesitation, then you're both dead.

- The Spirits and Captain Janeway

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Main cast

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Uncredited co-stars

[edit] Stunt double

[edit] References

adenosine triphosphate; Ancestral Spirits; artist; biogenic field; bio-scanner; chromodynamic light; cortical stimulator; Delios VII; dielectric effect; electrolyte; extensor muscle; iridium ion; Karis Tribe; king; lactic acid; lectrazine; magistrate; Nechani; Nechisti Council; Nechisti shrine; Nechisti Order; neodyne light; nesset; neuroleptic shock; neuropeptide; neurotransmitter; Nevad; psychoactive drug; plasma discharge; subdermal bioprobe; synaptic pathway; tarchee cat; thoron radiation


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