State of Flux (episode)
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
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| "State of Flux" | ||
|---|---|---|
| VOY, Episode 1x11 Production number: 111 First aired: 10 April 1995 | ||
| ← | 10th of 168 produced in VOY | → |
| ← | 10th of 168 released in VOY | → |
| ← | 357th of 726 released in all | → |
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| Teleplay By Chris Abbott Story By Paul Robert Coyle Directed By Robert Scheerer | ||
| 48658.2 (2371) | ||
| Arc: Seska (1 of 7) | → | |
An unknown Voyager crew member secretly sends information to the Kazon.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
[edit] Teaser
While on a scouting expedition with Commander Chakotay and an away team, Carey discovers a type of delicious-looking apple and happily announces that there are trees filled with them over a nearby ridge. However, Neelix points out that the apples (called Kaylos) are extremely poisonous and instead suggests something called a leola root. Though the Talaxian describes it as the best source of vitamins and minerals in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay is disgusted when he tries a bite and claims he would rather settle for the second-best source. As the away team go about their business, Tom Paris notices something that may be a cloaked ship, although he is unsure. Tuvok reveals it is a ship using some kind of masking circuitry with which they are unfamiliar but suggests using a polaron burst; when Captain Janeway gives him the go-ahead, the burst reveals the outline of a Kazon raider. Janeway immediately orders the away team back to USS Voyager.
On the surface, Chakotay assembles the away team, but there is no sign of Seska. He has the rest of the team beam back aboard Voyager while he looks for her in some nearby caves, which may be masking her combadge signal. He finds her picking mushrooms so she can teach Neelix how to make Chakotay's favorite soup, but when they move to leave the cave, they are surprised by a pair of Kazon soldiers. Chakotay is injured in the firefight, and Seska helps him out of the cave to the transport site.
[edit] Act One
- "Captain's log: Stardate 48658.2. We've successfully left orbit without further interference from the Kazon. Commander Chakotay is injured but is recovering from his wounds."
Seska comes to Chakotay's quarters with a welcome surprise: real mushroom soup. They savor it together as she describes how Neelix predictably wanted to stretch the mushrooms with leola root, but the taste of the soup turns bitter, so Seska describes how she and her fellow Maquis officers stole the mushrooms from the kitchen while Neelix was dealing with convenient case of homesickness that arose with several other officers. Revoking everyone's replicator rations for two days, Chakotay threatens to throw Seska and her co-conspirators in the brig next time, even if real soup was worth losing replicator rations. As Seska leaves, Janeway calls the senior staff to the bridge.
Voyager has received a distress call from a ship identical to the one seen at the previous planet, and while the call appears to be genuine based on sensor readings, Neelix advises caution; the ship hails from the Kazon-Nistrim, one of the most violent sects in the Kazon Collective. With no indications of other Kazon ships in the vicinity, Janeway plots a course to intercept the ship. After all, in addition to providing help, they may be able to make a friend.
When an away team beams aboard the Kazon ship, they find several bodies on the bridge, all dead from what appears to be a kind of subatomic manipulation that has melded them with pieces of metal. They detect nucleonic radiation emanating from an area of the bridge, contained automatically via force fields. One survivor is among the Kazon crew, so he is beamed aboard Voyager to be treated in sickbay, but the away team find something strange in the vicinity of the radiation: a composite unique to Federation technology.
The Doctor finds that the Kazon man's cells have been altered and somehow bonded with metallic substances, necessitating transplants from compatible donors on board. As Chakotay, Tuvok and Janeway discuss the situation on the Kazon ship, there seem to be three possibilities to explain the away team's findings; it is not Federation technology, another Federation ship has made it to the Delta Quadrant, or someone on Voyager has given technology to the Kazon. As the third option seems most likely, a search for the real truth now begins.
[edit] Act Two
The staff meets in engineering, where Torres brainstorms possible ways to retrieve the console. Although Seska thinks they can use force fields to "push back" the radiation, B'Elanna thinks it is too risky and instead opts for Carey's idea to manipulate it via subspace. The plan will take until the next day, so they get to work; however, when Torres assigns jobs to the engineering crew, Chakotay claims he wants Seska on the bridge.
Seska follows Chakotay out of the room to inquire what is wrong, able to see through Chakotay's act; he suspects she sold technology to the Kazon while on the surface. Although he personally does not believe it, he is trying to protect Seska; she on the other hand sees it as pointing the finger at her. Visiting sickbay, she asks The Doctor to inform her immediately if their Kazon guest wakes up, as he is the only one who can prove her innocence. While she is there, Kes notes that Seska never got around to giving a blood sample, but due to a childhood disease, her blood is not compatible with that of the Kazon.
Later, another Kazon ship approaches the damaged one, attempting to establish contact with it but taking no interest in Voyager. While Janeway and the others discuss what to do, Seska makes an unauthorized transport to the damaged Kazon vessel, where she implements her plan and tries to retrieve the console herself. An accident occurs in the process, and though she is safely beamed back to Voyager, she has suffered burns on half of her body. Her medical treatment required The Doctor to use kelotane, a dermal regenerator, and a full blood scan.
[edit] Act Three
Janeway calls Carey into her ready room, where Tuvok and Chakotay are waiting. They discuss how things have gone between him and Torres since she was promoted to chief engineer in his place, casually appearing more suspicious as the conversation continues. Janeway finally asks him outright if he has had personal communications with the Kazon since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, which he vehemently denies. Although he does mention Seska's name, he stops short of implicating her directly. Though Carey has more credibility in Janeway's opinion due to Seska's time in the Maquis, Chakotay points out that by this criterion he himself is no better than Seska.
When the Kazon ship arrives, it hails Voyager and First Maje Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim introduces himself. Like all Kazon, he is aggressive, but he is intent on protecting Kazon property. Janeway refuses to leave the ship alone until she has the console, using her superior technology as the stick. Culluh agrees to settle for visiting the still-unconscious survivor of the accident.
Culluh and his bodyguard arrive in sickbay, where The Doctor explains about the accident and the nucleonic radiation from the console. The Kazon want to be left alone with the man, so Janeway talks to The Doctor in private,not eager to release their patient into Kazon hands. As the man's health would genuinely be endangered by moving him, Janeway prepares to inform the Kazon of her intentions when Culluh's bodyguard takes out a small needle. Tuvok attempts to intervene, but he injects a neurotoxin into the patient's blood, killing the other Kazon. Disgusted, Janeway orders Culluh and the bodyguard off her ship.
Once the Kazon are gone, Kes and The Doctor have important news for Janeway: according to Seska's blood screening, she is not Bajoran but Cardassian.
[edit] Act Four
As an away team is preparing to beam over to the vessel to take back the console, the other Kazon ship threatens war if anything is removed. Janeway threatens a harsh tactical response if they interfere, and the Kazon back down.
An away team including Torres manages to successfully beam the console, decontaminate it, and begin analysis in Engineering. Torres identify the console as an attempted food replicator, however it lacked sufficient shielding to prevent nucleonic radiation from leaking and causing a cascade. It is also identified that the components in the console contain bio-neural circuitry, proving that those components could only have originated from Voyager.
Chakotay confronts Seska in sickbay with the evidence of the food replicator components and the diagnosis that she is believed to actually be Cardassian. Seska indicates that the reason for this is that she had suffered from Orkett's disease as a child and received an extensive bone marrow transfusion from a Cardassian to survive. Chakotay informs her that an extensive search of security logs is currently underway to identify the traitor.
Once Chakotay leaves sickbay, Tuvok informs him that Carey has also been told about the pending search and that the trap is now ready to catch the culprit.
[edit] Act Five
Chakotay and Tuvok play gin in engineering while monitoring the activity of the manifest logs. Upon detecting changes, they find that Seska's security codes are being clumsily planted into the logs. They reason that the evidence is intended to implicate Carey, so it must actually be Seska.
Chakotay enters sickbay to confront Seska with the evidence of the manifest logs. The Doctor also refutes her claim to be the victim of Orkett's disease. Upon realizing that she has no other option, Seska escapes Voyager using a voice-activated transporter program.
Later in the mess hall, Chakotay sits down with Tuvok to discuss Seska's betrayal; Chakotay is clearly feeling guilty, and ruefully asks Tuvok if the Vulcan saw any failings with him as a Maquis leader that could've lead to him missing so many double-agents, both Federation and Cardassian alike. Tuvok reassures him that he saw no such failings, and admits that he himself was deceived of Seska's true nature until then, as well. This makes Chakotay feel a bit better about himself, much to Tuvok's confusion.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"We should be able to make an attempt by tomorrow."
"I want it ready by the end of the day."
"No Captain. When I say 'tomorrow', I mean tomorrow. I don't exaggerate."
- - B'Elanna Torres and Kathryn Janeway in Engineering
"On the contrary, the demands on a Vulcan's character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure for ease. How may I be honest with you today?"
- - Tuvok to Chakotay
"You were working for her [Janeway], Seska was working for them [the Cardassians]... was anyone on that ship working for me?"
- - Chakotay to Tuvok, on finding out that Seska was a Cardassian spy
"Oh, thank the Prophets!"
- - Seska
"Get off this ship!"
- - Kathryn Janeway
"You know, I'm really easy to get along with most of the time, but I don't like bullies and I don't like threats, and I don't like 'you', Culluh. You can try and stop us from getting to the truth but I promise you that if you do I will respond with all the 'unique technologies' at my command."
- - Kathryn Janeway
[edit] Background Information
- This episode marks the first appearance of Anthony DeLongis as Maje Culluh of the Kazon-Nistrim. Seska's departure to join them begins a story arc that ends at the beginning of season three. ("Basics, Part II")
- The crew learns Seska is not a Bajoran, but actually a Cardassian spy who was surgically altered to infiltrate the Maquis.
- While discussing whether Seska could be a Cardassian agent, Tuvok mentions that Starfleet has documented several instances of Cardassians using cosmetic alterations for the purposes of infiltrating an enemy. This has been seen in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Tribunal" where the crew arrests an agent who has disguised himself as a former Starfleet officer as part of a plot to discredit the Federation, as well as when Gul Dukat disguised himself as a Bajoran to earn the trust of Kai Winn ("'Til Death Do Us Part"), not to mention an incident wherein Kira Nerys was surgically altered to become a Cardassian in a plot to convince her she was an Obsidian Order agent. ("Second Skin")
[edit] Props
- A dermal regenerator (item #0005) used in this episode, was auctioned off in week 1 of the It's A Wrap! sale and auction for $1275.
[edit] Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 1.6, catalogue number VHR 4006, 25 September 1995.
- As part of the VOY Season 1 DVD collection.
[edit] Links and References
[edit] Main Cast
- Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway
- Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
- Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
- Jennifer Lien as Kes
- Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris
- Ethan Phillips as Neelix
- Robert Picardo as The Doctor
- Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok
- Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim
[edit] Guest Stars
[edit] Co-Star
[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars
- Christine Delgado as Susan Nicoletti
- Tarik Ergin as Ayala
- Kerry Hoyt as Crewman Fitzpatrick
- Dennis Madalone as a Kazon-Nistrim guard
- Irving E. Lewis as a Kazon-Nistrim guard
- Richard Sarstedt as Henard
- Unknown performers as
[edit] References
axiom; Bajoran; blood chemistry; bloodworm; Cardassian; cloaking device; cytological screening; EM scan; gin rummy; herbal broth; Jackson; kaylo; Kattell; Kazon Collective; Kazon-Nistrim; Kazon raider; kelotane; leola root; low orbit; Maquis; masking circuitry; mildew; mineral; mushroom; mushroom soup; needle; neosorium; nucleonic radiation; Orkett's disease; poison; polaron; Prophets; Rakan folk song; replicator; ring; Starfleet Security; stealth; subspace bubble; vakol fish; vitamin; windpipe
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