THE VOYAGER CONSPIRACY
Season 6 : Episode 129
Part A

Flashbacks are given in this style.

 

Naomi Wildman is standing in Seven's Borg regeneration alcove in Cargo Bay 2. Her eyes are closed - has she become a drone?! Is she regenerating?!

Seven enters.

Naomi opens her eyes - she is just waiting for her friend! Seven acknowledges her: "Naomi Wildman." She continues: "State your purpose here." Naomi: "I was waiting for you. Kadiskot, remember? Our weekly game?"

Seven, working at her computer console: "Reschedule for tomorrow. I'm working now." Naomi, referring to the new piece of equipment on Seven's alcove: "Redecorating isn't work." Seven: "Aesthetics are irrelevant. I'm modifying the alcove to function as a cortical processing subunit." Naomi pretends: "That was my next guess." Seven is not fooled. "Then I won't need to explain its purpose." Naomi: "OK, you win. What do you do with a cortical processing er...?" Seven: "Subunit. On Borg vessels, there's one in each unimatrix. It downloads newly assimilated data to the drones." Naomi: "But Voyager isn't a Borg vessel, and you're not a drone any more." Seven: "Voyager collects a great deal of information - sensor scans, navigational projections, engineering updates, away team reports, scientific analyses." Naomi: "The results of our kadiskot tournament?" Seven: "That, too. The crew must read and study this information, an inefficient procedure. These data nodes are downloading the information into the alcove." Naomi understands: "Which is going to download it into you." Seven: "Precisely. In a matter of hours, I will assimilate several months' worth of data." Naomi: "Can I try it sometime?" Seven: "Your physiology is different from mine." Naomi: "Guess I'll stick to reading my lessons and listening to Neelix tell stories." Seven: "I will see you tomorrow." Naomi: "Can I watch?" At Seven's quizzical look: "OK, tomorrow." Naomi leaves.

Seven activates the cortical processing subunit.

She stands in the alcove. She shuts her eyes and the regeneration process begins.

In her quarters, Janeway goes to pick up the serving dish produced by the replicator. Computer: "Warning. Plate is hot." But as she speaks, she touches the dish, burns herself and at once lifts her hands up as a result. Janeway: "Now you tell me."

She fetches an oven mitt and carries the serving dish over to the table. To Chakotay: "You go for authenticity and what do you get? Second-degree burns. I've been slaving over that replicator program for hours." She serves his plate. "What was this bizarre rumour I heard about half the crew on deck 5 getting pregnant?"

Chakotay: "Oh, that. The Doctor was running generational projections on the Sickbay computer. Tom Paris happened to glance at the monitor and jumped to conclusions. Wasn't long before Neelix was asking me if he could turn Cargo Bay 1 into a nursery." Janeway: "Word travels fast on this ship, hmm?" Chakotay: "Warp ten. Oh, by the way, I meant to tell you. There's a Class K nebula 25 light years off starboard. We should take a look."

Janeway: "A major detour for a minor nebula." Chakotay: "We are explorers, remember?" Janeway: "Permission granted. Main course - a recipe I've never tried." She jokes: "But we are explorers, remember."

In Cargo Bay 2 the alcove switches off and the computer reports: "Regeneration cycle complete."

Seven steps off the dais. She taps her combadge. "Seven of Nine to Lieutenant Torres. Lieutenant Torres, respond."

Torres, via comms, sleepily and rather grumpily: "Good morning, Seven. This better be important." Seven, via comms: "I must speak with you at once."

Janeway, looking at the monitor read-out at the mission ops II station at the rear of the Bridge: "I'm picking up some interesting graviton fluctuations about ten light years away."

Tuvok: "Can you be more specific?" Janeway: "Not at this distance."

Janeway: "Tom, alter course. I want to take a closer look." Paris: "Chakotay had his heart set on that nebula we're headed for." Janeway: "He'll have to wait."

Torres and Seven enter from the turbolift. Torres: "Captain, I need permission to shut down the sensor grid. Seven thinks a couple of insects are disrupting the power flow."

Seven: "A mating pair of photonic fleas, to be more accurate, and possibly their offspring."

Janeway is amused. "And how did you arrive at this theory?"

Seven: "Last night, I downloaded six months' of ship status reports into my new cortical subunit while I was regenerating." Paris: "Learn while you sleep. I tried that once, gave me a headache." Janeway to Seven: "Go on."

flashback

Seven: "Eight weeks ago, an away team encountered a Kartelan freighter carrying supplies from sector 492, a territory that included a former Talaxian colony. Mr Neelix used the opportunity to acquire 12 kilograms of amber spice, a delicacy among his people." A crewmember carries the container of precious cargo and Neelix clears a place for it to stand on.

flashback

Torres: "What does that have to do with the sensor grid?" Seven: "On the same day Ensign Kim was repairing a replicator in the mess hall." Kim is repairing the port-side replicator.

Kim: "I remember that. Neelix told me to stick around and try something he was cooking."

flashback

Seven: "No doubt made with the amber spice which contained the larvae of the photonic fleas." Kim is none too happy at that thought. Neelix adds a pinch of amber spice to the dish he is cooking and has a taste.

flashback

Torres to Seven: "How could you possibly know that?" Seven: "Because I also downloaded data regarding their life cycles. The larvae flew out of the spice jar in search of their primary source of nourishment - plasma particles." The larvae fly across the Messhall, past the crewmembers dining there.

flashback

Seven: "The conduits within the nearby sensor grid contain an unlimited supply of these particles."

flashback - part of the inside of the replicator

Seven: "Ensign Kim had unwittingly given the creatures access by exposing the grid. The now mature creatures periodically tap into the conduit for nourishment. When they do, the sensor emitters momentarily lose their resolution."

Tuvok: "A logical, though highly speculative, analysis."

Janeway gives a crooked smile to Torres and they head for the turbolift.

Torres is the last to reach the relevant location in the Jefferies tube. She finishes climbing the ladder. The hatch below her closes.

Seven watches as she removes and lowers the access panel.

Torres and Janeway peer inside, watched by Seven.

There are the photonic fleas - minute things flying inside and around the circuitry. Janeway smiles. "Let's find a more suitable home for them."