Episode Synopsis : Season 7
Workforce
Episodes 162 & 163

 

SUMMARY: The crew start new jobs on an alien planet with no memory of Voyager. In a vast metropolis on the planet Quarra, Janeway enters a power distribution plant, reporting to the Supervisor for her new job on a multi-species workforce. Although she does recall some inconsequential portions of her identity, she has no recollection of her previous life as Captain of U.S.S. Voyager and as a result gladly welcomes the employment. Her job is not complex or challenging compared to that of commanding a Starship but she seems glad that it is straightfoward - she has the task of monitoring the primary reactor coils. Kathryn Janeway, Lydia Anderson and McKenzie head for work at the Quarra power distribution plant A male co-worker named Jaffen starts befriending her but they are chastised for fraternising by Seven, who only knows herself as Annika Hansen, the new efficiency monitor at the plant. That night Jaffen is in Umali's tavern where Paris has successfully obtained employment. Paris had left the power distribution plant after only half a day following a disagreement with Seven/Annika about his efficiency, and secured his job at the bar after charming Umali the proprietress. Jaffen tells an anecdote to some friends that elicits an uproarious laugh from Tuvok, who is employed at the same power distribution plant as Jaffen and Janeway. Tuvok's sense of humour does not go down well with either Jaffen or those around him when he notes that Jaffen is Norvalen race, a species that does not have fathers, and thus the Vulcan is given a wide berth by everyone. When Torres, a single mother-to-be, enters the bar, only to leave it without stopping, it appears that most of the Voyager crew has found work on this alien planet, although none of them realise that they have forgotten everything about their ship and their lives. Even so, they exhibit aspects of their true characters, as with Tuvok's social isolation and Seven's obsession with efficiency, and Janeway lacks talent as a cook. Tom Paris charms Umali into giving him a job Tuvok finds Jaffen's joke overly funny Janeway also comes in to dine. Jaffen joins her and ends up walking her home. She tells him she is from Earth, but all she can remember (incorrectly) is that Earth is overpopulated, polluted and offers very little employment. The city has a night-time curfew for all workers. She lives in a large skyscraper apartment block. There is a growing attraction between them both. Torres briefly looks in at Umali's bar Jaffen walks Janeway home Tuvok's seeming flashback memory The next day, Janeway learns that all the workers must periodically receive inoculations to protect them against radiation. As a squeamish Tuvok gets injected, he flashes back to a memory of himself in Starfleet uniform, struggling against a Quarran doctor performing a similar procedure. Meanwhile, Chakotay, Neelix, and Kim are returning in the Delta Flyer from a successful five-day trade mission to the Nar Shaddan. The cargo hold is crammed with valuable supplies; although Kim is suffering a queasy stomach from a consuming falah nectar. They find Voyager adrift and disabled inside a nebula instead of at the rendezvous point. The three have to don environmental suits in order to board as life support is down. The Doctor is the only remaining crewmember on board. the Doctor at first thinks the away team are hostiles trying to capture the ship He explains that the ship hit a subspace mine that deluged it with poisonous tetryon radiation. Sickbay was inundated with casualties suffering from tetryon radiation poisoning. Because of the health threat, Janeway ordered the crew into escape pods, leaving the Doctor in charge as the Emergency Command Hologram (ECH), which means that he is the replacement captain (complete with a change of visual parameters to his uniform to the scarlet colour indicating command). As there was much damage to the ship as a result of the mine's impact, the Doctor has spent his time carrying out repairs. The main computer began to fail but the Doctor switched to backup processors. In addition, the Doctor then had to fend off three scavenger ships trying to claim the abandoned vessel. He hid the ship inside a nebula. on the viewscreen of Voyager's Bridge, the commander of the attacking ships the Doctor has to defend Voyager from attempted seizure Tuvok suffers more visions, this time of the plant employee Kathryn Janeway being restrained and medically treated against her will. In the vision she and he are wearing uniforms of some kind, indicating a life other than on Quarra. Tuvok attempts to speak to Janeway but she is confused. When he tries to press her, Jaffen intervenes. when Torres gets up and he sees her full length, Paris realises she is pregnant Meanwhile, Paris is drawn to Torres when she revisits Umali's bar. He is disappointed when he sees she is pregnant and asks if she is married. When she says she is not married, his interest grows. They start to become friends first rather than rush into a full-on romance. As on Voyager when they first ventured towards courting, Torres is wary of letting him get too close emotionally but gradually warms to him. Chakotay assumes command of Voyager, and they track the missing crew to Quarra. Chakotay speaks to an ambassador via audio-visual link but is not allowed to communicate with his crewmates. Neelix learns there is a severe labour shortage in the system. That explains the ambassador's reluctance to let workers be possibly enticed away by Voyager. It also provides an opportunity for infiltration. Accordingly, Chakotay suggests they apply for jobs themselves, in order to infiltrate the plant where their people are working. The Doctor disguises Chakotay by altering his facial features to look non-human. The Doctor equips him and Neelix with subdermal transponders that will allow Voyager to contact them secretly and transport them through the Quarran shield grid. To avoid detection, Chakotay and Neelix take Baxial, Neelix's shuttle. Kim and the Doctor rub up against each other from time to time since Kim believes that he, rather than the Doctor, should be in command of Voyager in Chakotay's absence. Voyager arrives at Quarra Chakotay in disguise At the power plant, Annika Hansen orders Tuvok to get the inoculations that he has been neglecting. Tuvok, suffering from flashback visions that he cannot make full sense of, calls her Seven of Nine and tries to mind-meld with her to make her remember herself, but security guards grab him and takes the confused but desperate Vulcan away. Tuvok is taken away after attempting to mind-meld with the efficiency monitor Annika Hansen Chakotay secures a job at the plant using the alias Amal-Kotay. He immediately approaches Janeway, who does not recognise him. Janeway does not recognise the name "Chakotay" Neelix introduces Amal-Koty to his "new friend, Tom Paris" That night Neelix runs into Paris at the Umali's bar, but finds himself equally unable to jar his friend's memory. Chakotay meets him there. Neelix reports that he met Tal Celes and Mulchaey at the power plant but they did not recognise him. Although Paris does not recall his life on Voyager he still exhibits feelings for Torres, and is concerned when she leaves the bar alone. Chakotay and Neelix follow Torres through the streets and abduct her. Kim beams Neelix and the struggling Torres to Voyager's Sickbay. Neelix seizes Torres and they are both beamed to Voyager Meanwhile, Jaffen and Janeway are growing closer, and agree to move in together. Chakotay is pursued by Quarran security guards. Kim is unable to beam him up because the ship is under attack from Quarran patrol ships. The guards chase Chakotay through the streets up to a precipice. As he looks out over the city and with security guards close behind him, he realises he is trapped. Chakotay is trapped with a forcefield in front of him and pursuing Quarran security guards closing in behind him End of Part One (Episode 162) as aired on television, and the start of Part Two (Episode 163). Chakotay manages to evade the Quarran security guards by disabling the forcefield and felling the pursuing guards, but is shot in the arm as he does so. Voyager is under attack by Quarran patrol ships and is forced to flee, still unable to beam Chakotay to safety. Chakotay returns to Umali's bar and attempts to speak to Janeway again, but in such public surroundings and Jaffen nearby he is unable to broach the subject of Voyager. She tells him that she and Jaffen are moving in together. Then Yerid arrives and orders his accompanying security guards to look amongst the customers. Yerid informs Paris that he is looking for two people who disappeared after leaving here earlier in the evening including a young pregnant woman. At this, Paris becomes worried. He reports that a worker named Neelix had seemed interested in Torres, and that he had a friend called Amal-something. Paris goes to point out Chakotay to Yerid, but Chakotay has slipped away. injured Chakotay in Umali's bar Yerid questions Paris In the Quarran hospital, the senior doctor Dr Kadan orders Dr Ravoc to perform engramatic resequencing on Tuvok, who is exhibiting what seem like symptoms of dysphoria syndrome such as acute anxiety. This syndrome is Kadan's field of expertise, and so Ravoc starts to treat Tuvok despite his concern that the syndrome is rare and for the radical nature of the memory resequencing. At the same time, Seven/Annika grows suspicious of recent events. She meets Investigator Yerid, who is looking into the disappearances of the workers named Torres and Neelix. Making the personnel files available to him, she tells him that both of them failed to report for work today. Yerid believes that the new employee Amal-Kotay is responsible for their disappearance. Dr Kadan instructs Dr Ravoc about patient Tuvok Dr Kadan Following the brief mental contact with Tuvok earlier, Annika Hansen has a sudden flashback vision of the inside of a Borg cube. Although she cannot make sense of it, she begins to wonder if Tuvok's claims have some truth. Janeway is in the process of moving her possessions from her apartment into Jaffen's. She returns to her apartment to fetch something and is startled to find Amal-Kotay hiding there. He tells her that he is trying to help numerous people brought to the planet against their will. He promises the sceptical Janeway that he can prove his story to her. Voyager meanwhile, under the Doctor's command in Chakotay's absence, lies hidden in the crater of a moon with a para-magnetic core that masks the ship's energy signature. The hiding place provides a place of safety while they make repairs and treat Torres for her altered memory. The Doctor determines that her brain has been radically altered in a very sophisticated technique capable of selectively manipulating memory engrams through suppression and alteration, while leaving some intact. Her memory starts to return when Neelix takes her on a whirlwind tour of her past life. She is surprised to find that she is married to Paris whom she knows only as the waiter at Umali's bar. He shows her the married quarters she shares with Paris and a honeymoon picture of them in the Delta Flyer. Later she reads Paris' personal logs and is moved by the way he talks about her in them. on Voyager and away from the booster injections, Torres begins to recall her past life employee records At the plant, Annika/Seven catches Janeway taking a medkit, ostensibly to treat a cut that Jaffen has sustained but in reality to use on Amal-Kotay. But Annika/Seven permits her to take it and leave after she promises to return it first thing next morning. Seven/Annika is sidetracked when she sees the Supervisor leave his office and she has an opportunity to enter it without his knowledge. There she learns that Tuvok had accessed numerous employee files, including her own. Chakotay reveals his Human features Janeway returns to Chakotay, who is contacted by Voyager and told that they need the planet's shield grid disabled so they can transport the crewmembers back. Chakotay informs Janeway that she is the captain of that ship, but she has a hard time believing him. He then takes the dermal regenerator and undoes the alterations made to his face, revealing that they are of the same race. Chakotay tells her not only are they of the same race, they are friends. Janeway tells Jaffen the story, but he thinks Chakotay is trying to manipulate her with promises of a better life and her loyalties are torn. Chakotay is found at her apartment by Yerid, and forcibly taken in for questioning. Chakotay resists arrest As Chakotay lies on a hospital bed awaiting medical treatment, Yerid questions him. A nurse finds and removes his subdermal transponder. Chakotay decides to trust Yerid and tells him that they both have something in common - they are both investigating disappearances. He is willing to answer Yerid's questions if Yerid will answer his. At this point a security officer arrives to remove the prisoner to the department of Neuropathology because the patient is considered to be mentally ill. The logic of Chakotay's challenge that they cannot possibly know he is mentally ill as they have never examined him scores with Yerid. Accordingly Yerid tries to retain custody of the prisoner. But the security officer produces an order from Yerid's superior, the Director of Investigations, which orders the transfer. Chakotay realises that he is doomed to have his memory altered if he is taken to Neuropathology. Yerid questions Chakotay; the nurse finds and removes the patient's subdermal transponder guards arrive to take Chakotay to Neuropathology As he is removed, Chakotay calls rapidly out to Yerid until he is out of earshot that he his real name is Chakotay, he is an officer aboard the Federation Starship Voyager, members of his crew were abducted and their memories were altered, then they were put to work here, and he can give Yerid names and descriptions. This leaves Yerid feeling troubled and curious. In Neuropathology, under Kadan's mind control, Chakotay contacts Voyager, claims to be ready to shut down the planet's shield grid and lures the ship into a trap. Kadan's minion, Coyote (name is from the script only), has three ships ready to attack Voyager. From their conversation, it is clear that Kadan orchestrated the initial attack on Voyager, and Coyote carried it out and abducted the crew. Furthermore, it was Coyote and his three ships that attacked the Doctor shortly afterwards in an attempt to salvage Voyager which they thought had been fully abandoned. In the office with him and Coyote is the power distribution plant's Supervisor - he too is in on the conspiracy. left to right: Kadan, Coyote, the Supervisor prisoner Chakotay Seven/Annika meets discreetly with Yerid at Umali's bar to discuss her findings. Although Yerid has been relieved of duty by the Director of Investigations, he feels obliged to pursue the case albeit unofficially. They find it suspicious that Tuvok, Torres, Seven and 135 others all began working at the power distribution plant on the same day, during a labour shortage, and that every one of those workers was processed through Neuropathology at the Central Hospital when they arrived, but Seven cannot remember being there. Paris joins in, due to his concern about the missing Torres. Seven/Annika suggests Yerid commences by interviewing Tuvok who, by collecting information about his co-workers, also seems to have been investigating the mystery. She says that Tuvok is also at the Central Hospital. Because Yerid has no official standing, Seven/Annika comes up with a way in. Seven/Annika goes to the Central Hospital and procures an interview with Dr Ravoc who notes that she was treated for dysphoria syndrone. She claims that she has been having disturbing thoughts, hallucinations. Ravoc leaves her in his office while he goes to find Kadan, the expert on dysphoria syndrome. She takes the opportunity to use Ravoc's computer to access restricted files. Meanwhile Yerid contacts Janeway and asks to know everything Chakotay told her. Annika Hansen and Dr Ravoc at the Central Hospital Yerid visits Jaffen's apartment and questions Janeway Kadan is furious with Ravoc that he Seven/Annika leave, as Kadan would have captured her, and that Ravoc gave her the chance to access restricted files. However, Ravoc is suspicious of the apparent outbreak of dysphoria syndrome which occurred under Kadan's watch. Ravoc realises the illness was used as a cover story to explain the memory resequencing performed on the Voyager crew to make them forget their past lives. Based on his hypothesis, Ravoc threatens to report Kaden for subjugating unwilling aliens. Kadan declares that his methods improve the lives of the brainwashed people, makes them better workers, in turn Quarra's economy benefits, and Kadan makes a personal profit. Ravoc realises he cannot report Kadan to the Ministry of Health as the Ministry funds Kadan's research. Nor can he report him to Criminal Investigations as the Director of Investigations is an accomplice of Kadan's, and although not everyone knows about it Kadan has a number of trusted associates. Kadan then challenges Ravoc - will Ravoc become one of them? Paris harbours Seven, Janeway, Jaffen and Yerid at Umali's bar, deflecting questions about them when Quarran security visits. Janeway and Jaffen go to the power plant to use a subspace transponder to contact, Voyager while Seven and Yerid return to the hospital to help Chakotay and Tuvok. Janeway succeeds in hailing Voyager, and recognises Torres as one of her co-workers, but now Torres is in Starfleet uniform and addresses her as the Captain. As Voyager comes under attack by three ships that spring the trap set earlier by mind-controlled Chakotay, Janeway is surrounded by security guards. However, Jaffen helps her evade them, and they manage to get the computer to shut down main power and, with it, the shield grid. the Supervisor and plant security attempt to apprehend Janeway Janeway about to shut main power Seven and Yerid visit the Central Hospital and by a ruse they capture Kadan. They force him to take them to Chakotay and Tuvok and release them from the mind control devices. There they also find Ravoc also undergoing forced treatment for apparent dysphoria syndrome. Ravoc had chosen to oppose Kadan and is suffering for it. They release Ravoc too. Seven and Yerid capture Kadan Dr Ravoc Jaffen puts out a hand for Janeway as she is beamed to Voyager At the same time, the Doctor and Kim work together and overcome Coyote's assault, prompting both to re-evaluate the other's worth as a command officer. With the shield grid down, Voyager is able to use its transporters to beam all the crew to safety aboard. The crewmembers are treated and regain their memories. Kadan and his associates have now been overcome both on Quarra and in space. At a meeting in Voyager's Briefing Room, Yerid, now re-instated in his job, and the Quarran Ambassador promise to undo the conspiracy that was headed by Kadan. All of the several thousand of Kadan's victims will be treated and repatriated. the Quarran Ambassador, accompanied by the reinstated Yerid, promises the authorities will deal with the aftermath of Kadan's crimes Jaffen visits Janeway in her quarters on Voyager. He tells her that, unlike her and the members of her crew, medical records show that his memory was not tampered with and he really did come to Quarra in search of a better life. It seems he has succeeded as he has gained promotion. It turns out that the power distribution plant's Supervisor was one of the conspirators, and with him in custody, Jaffen is his replacement. It is a wrench for Jaffen and Janeway to say farewell, but do so they must. Jaffen returns to Quarra. Janeway then resumes her role as Captain, and Voyager heads for home once more. Janeway and Jaffen say farewell      DOCTOR: We're trying to find our friends. QUARRAN AMBASSADOR: Most of your friends have excellent positions in the Central Power Facility in the capital. Why would any of them want to travel thousands of light years to a planet on the other side of the galaxy when they have safe, comfortable lives right here? CHAKOTAY: Because it isn't their home.    Jaffen is about to find out that Janeway is not a good cook. JAFFEN: I'm a perfectionist. I'm going to keep trying until I make you the perfect meal. JANEWAY: And then we stop eating together? I'll have dinner with you on one condition - I make it.    JANEWAY: It may not have been real, Chakotay, but it felt like home. If you hadn't come after me, I never would've known that I had another life. CHAKOTAY: Are you sorry I showed up? JANEWAY: Not for a second.