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During the night shift, as Paris
presses Kim to join him on a double date, the ship is shaken by
a huge shockwave. Investigating its origins, the crew finds a
nearby planet where a cataclysmic explosion recently wiped out
all life. Beaming down, the Away Team discovers that the
detonation has actually fractured subspace. But before they can
react to this dangerous revelation, Paris and Janeway find
themselves transported back in time to the day before the
explosion.
While the crew tries to figure
out how to retrieve the missing officers, Janeway orders Paris
not to warn the residents of the planet about the approaching
disaster, since that would violate the Federation's Prime
Directive. Seeking their own way back to Voyager, the pair head
for a polaric ion power station, the site of the future
explosion. There, they inadvertently become caught up in a clash
between the authorities and a group of protesters who later
accuse them of being government infiltrators. Disbelieving
Janeway's claim that they are about to trigger a major accident,
they continue to move forward with their plan to sabotage the
power station.
In the meantime, a troubled Kes reveals that her latent Ocampan
psychic abilities seem to have been sensitized by the accident.
She accompanies the Away Team as they attempt to track Janeway
and Chakotay's movements being made in the past.
The protesters force Janeway and Paris to accompany them to the
plant, where they shoot their way in. Paris is wounded during
the scuffle, but Janeway leaves him to follow the protesters,
hoping to stop the devastating explosion.
On Kes' recommendation, Chakotay's crew goes to the flashpoint
of the blast and uses a polaric beam to "cut through" subspace
and find the missing crewmembers. When Janeway sees their
polaric beam, she realizes that it wasn't the protesters who
caused the accident — it was the Away Team's attempt to rescue
her! Janeway uses her phaser to blunt the impact of the beam. At
the instant she succeeds in sealing the opening, time is
"reset," and the crew finds itself back on Voyager, a few
seconds before the shockwave first hit the ship. None the wiser
for their experience, Paris urges Kim to join him on a double
date, and Kes finds herself strangely relieved that a nearby
planet is teeming with life.
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