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SUMMARY: Voyager is trapped in a resource-poor region where the inhabitants prey on each other to survive.
In Voyager's Messhall, Neelix presents an gourmet dinner to Janeway, Chakotay, Paris and Torres.
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But he has not prepared it. Instead the chef is Seven who is experimenting in culinary science. She says that preparing meals herself ensures quality. The fine-dining consists of cream of leola soup, fettran risotto, and for the third course Luhvian quail in truffle sauce with roasted chadre'kab, accompanied by Pinot Noir, with Chardonnay served earlier. Seven's perfectionist approach means that she has designed each course to be paired with a specific wine, and sternly she does not encourage substitutions are not recommended, nor even the addition of additional seasoning to the food. |
Suddenly the ship jolts and a graviton surge pulls them toward a swirling funnel. The crew reroute all available power to the thrusters, but cannot break free. Reversing the shield polarity is also ineffective, and they wind up in a realm of complete blackness. Sensors do not detect any gases, stellar bodies, or matter of any kind here. An alien ship fires on them, its weapons signature indicating it is Vaadwaur but it possesses technology from several different species.
Voyager is pulled in toward a 'funnel' |
Voyager's shields glow as the ship defends against an attacker |
As Voyager defends itself by returning fire, a second ship joins in the fray, penetrating Voyager's shields and transporting numerous supplies from the ship, namely over 90% of the food stores, including almost everything in the Airponics bay, plus a computer console from engineering, and emptied three deuterium tanks. They detect 150 ships within scanning range but there are lifesigns on only 29 of them, the rest presumably being victims of raiders.
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| Voyager is raided e.g. the Airponics Bay |
Then a third ship approaches. An Annarian named General Valen makes audio-visual contact. Despite having shield strength at only 28%, Janeway warns that they will defend Voyager. But Valen is not there to attack them. Instead he welcomes them to "the Void".
Valen |
Coming aboard, Valen tells Janeway that Voyager was sucked into an inert layer of subspace, 9 light-years wide, through one of its "funnels." Valen and his ship have been in the Void for five years, and no one has ever found a way to escape from it. In order to survive, the trapped ships compete with each other to prey on resources from new ships that are drawn in. Valen offers to trade his scans on some of the more predatory alien ships, in return for some of Voyager's photon torpedoes. |
Janeway refuses, saying she has no way of knowing what the torpedoes will be used for.....plundering innocent ships, for example. Valen retorts that morality will not keep their life support systems running.
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Torres reports that the anomaly's graviton forces are draining the warp core, and they will run out of power in 10 days. Seven, Tuvok, Paris and Janeway come up with a plan to enter a funnel and jump to warp at exactly the right moment to escape. Implementing their plan, they peer through the eye of a funnel and prepare to jump warp. However, the eye suddenly closes and the funnel shoots Voyager back into the Void. The attempt damages Voyager, reducing structural integrity drops to 20%, there are hull breaches on Decks 5 and 6, and the warp core goes offline. |
schematic of the anomaly on the viewscreen of the Astrometrics Lab |
attempt to escape the anomaly |
Torres thinks she can fix the warp core, but they need the deuterium that was stolen from them otherwise basic systems will not last more than a week. Janeway gives orders to track down the ship that raided them so that they can recover their supplies. They find that ship, but detect no lifesigns on it. Apparently it was raided as well. However, one piece left behind, the ship's warp core casing, is composed of tricesium, which can be converted into a power source. Voyager beams the casing over. When Seven and Torres scan it they find a humanoid hiding inside. The timid creature does not speak, and has a leg injury. In Sickbay, the alien will not let the Doctor close enough to treat him, but he is very hungry and eats voraciously. Janeway and Seven wonder why they scans did not detect the mysterious being. They decide to make him comfortable until they can find a safe place for him.
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| Torres and Seven discover a humanoid native to the Void |
Meanwhile, Tuvok and Kim discover that General Valen raided the lifeless ship and now has Voyager's supplies - some of the food, one of the consoles and a large quantity of the deuterium. Janeway contacts Valen. At first Valen thinks Janeway has reconsidered his offer, but then she demands Voyager's supplies back. The two ships exchange fire. Voyager manages to transport back about half of their stolen resources. An opportunity presents itself to raid Valen's ship for additional food, but Janeway declines to do so. Afterwards Tuvok and Chakotay visit Janeway in her Ready Room. They suggest that the crew may need to be more opportunistic in order to survive in the Void. But the Captain prefers to use the Federation model of mutual co-operation, and she proposes forming an alliance with other ships to pool resources and devise a way to escape.
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| Janeway: "We may lose a little weight, gentlemen, but we won't lose who we are." |
For several days Janeway fails to convince any ships to join her. One captain, named Garon, a Nygean, is interested but says that good intentions are like deuterium reserves - they tend to get lost in the Void. As a gesture of good faith, she gives Garon food and medical supplies (and at least one tool, Seven's phase compensator) without asking for anything in return.
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| Janeway tries to persuade Garon to join her alliance |
Meanwhile, the Doctor realises that the silent lifeform in Sickbay loves music. He names him "Fantome" after a character in 'The Phantom of the Opera'. They are enjoying some music when Seven enters. She attempts to communicate with the alien using computer-generated tones, and Fantome responds enthusiastically. The Doctor also believes Fantome is quite intelligent, and his physiology is very sophisticated. He can conserve oxygen since he has an unusually large lung capacity. He also has the ability to refract his own lifesigns, which accounts for why Voyager's scans did not detect him. It means that he can move around anywhere, undetected. Fantome and his people are native to the Void. The Doctor and Fantome start to create a means of communication based on musical tones, although the system is rudimentary at first.
the alien mimes that he wants food |
the alien associates an object with a musical note |
When a funnel opens and a Hierarchy ship is pulled into the Void, Voyager and two ships commanded by Valen converge on it. Valen tells Janeway they can prey on the newcomer, who has impressive technology, and divide the spoils between them. She says she is there to defend the newcomer, but Valen tells her to spare the speeches - he has a crew to feed. Voyager sustains damage as it defends the vulnerable Hierarchy ship whose commander, Loquar, tells them his is a survey vessel not equipped to fight. Valen's shields have been upgraded since last they encountered him, doubtless due to stolen technology. Suddenly a ship arrives and opens fire on Valen' ships, forcing them to retreat. Thinking this is another raider intent on preying on the newcomer and Voyager, Janeway is pleasantly surprised to find it is Garon. He has come to join the alliance.
the vulnerable Hierarchy ship
as Bosaal looks on disapprovingly, the Doctor is pleased that Fantome is swiftly developing a musical language |
After that, finding new allies becomes easier. Janeway hosts a visit by Commander Bosaal, one of the captains of a ship trapped in the Void. But Bosaal reacts with hatred and prejudice when he sees Fantome the Messhall. Fantome is venturing out from Sickbay in the company of the Doctor, and both can now converse almost fluently using the new musical language. Janeway reins in the Doctor's indignation and Bosaal explains that Fantome's species are "vermin". Some of them have "infested" Bosaal's vessel. |
Bosaal airs his prejudices |
Janeway, whilst loathing Bosaal's attitude, tells Bosaal that they can transport Fantome's people to her ship and he agrees to join the alliance. |
Torres works with Garon to build a polaron modulator that will help the alliance ships escape the Void. A polaron modulator is a valuable and uncommon piece of technology. Meanwhile, Fantome is enjoying being with others of his kind and teaches them the new musical language, creating lively musical conversations between them.
work on the polaron modulator |
Fantome and some of his people |
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Later, Janeway learns that Bosaal is offering the alliance the use of a polaron modulator which he stole from a crew he murdered. Angrily she orders him off the ship, along with the modulator. Garon hesitates at first, but agrees with her actions, although he regrets the loss of the modulator. Torres has to continue building a modulator from scratch and as a result other ships abandon the alliance. |
The Hierarchy species are experts in surveillance technology. Loquar manages to spy on Bosaal and discovers that he is attempting to form an alliance of his own with Valen and others to attack Voyager and seize resources.
an image, obtained by Loquar, of Bosaal and Valen conspiring |
Loquar with his allies in the Astromatrics Lab |
Janeway realises they need to escape right away, even though Torres has not had time to test her new modulator. The alliance members lay plans. When a funnel into the Void is detected, the alliance ships prepare to go in. Under attack by Bosaal's forces, the alliance ships fire at pre-designated targets, penetrate shields on two of the ships and transport Fantome and his friends onto the enemy ships. Seconds later the enemy vessels have been disabled by their new stowaways shutting down power, giving the alliance ships time to escape the Void, which they do by establishing a shield bubble large enough to encompass all the ships.
Fantome and his friends beam to enemy ships to disable them |
the alliance ships about to escape the Void |
After Janeway and Chakotay say farewell to their allies, Garon and Loquar, she says wistfully that it was almost like being part of a federation again. Chakotay points out that the United Federation of Planets is only 30,000 light-years away, and Voyager resumes course for home.
farewell to Loquar and Garon
 | | JANEWAY: The Federation is based on mutual co-operation, the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Voyager can't survive here alone, but if we form a temporary alliance with other ships maybe we can pool our resources and escape.
CHAKOTAY: Then who are we going to form an alliance with?
JANEWAY: Anyone who agrees to play by our rules. No killing, no stealing, and no giving up. Maybe we'll only survive for two days instead of seven. On the other hand, if we share what we have instead of hoarding it, we might find other people willing to do the same. If we combine our technology, we can find ways of improving our situation and ultimately get the hell out of this place. We may lose a little weight, gentlemen, but we won't lose who we are. |
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