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As the U.S.S. Voyager readies for
a potentially dangerous encounter with the Botha, the Doctor
orders an exhausted Captain Janeway to take some "R&R" in the
holodeck. Janeway tries to get into her favorite holonovel, but
before long, she is called back to the Bridge for first contact
with the Botha. The Bothan representative gives the crew a
chilly reception, but sets up a rendezvous to determine whether
or not they will allow Voyager to pass through their space.
Later, Janeway thinks she sees
Beatrice, the little girl from her holonovel, in one of the
ship's corridors. Unable to attribute Beatrice's appearance to
experiments the crew is performing on Voyager's imaging systems,
Janeway wonders if she's seeing things. But then Kes sees
Beatrice, too. Later, after Janeway hears the voice of her
fiance Mark, she's attacked with a knife by Mrs. Templeton,
another holonovel character. Again, Kes confirms the event.
Janeway puts Chakotay in charge of meeting with the Botha while
she undergoes medical testing. Once again, the alien
representative is hostile and this time, his ship engages the
crew in a battle, leaving Voyager damaged. Leaving Sickbay,
Janeway races to the Bridge, where the Bothan is on the
viewscreen. She's stunned to see it's Mark.
At least, that's how it looks to her. But on the same viewscreen,
Paris sees his disparaging father, Admiral Paris; Kim sees his
girlfriend Libby; and Tuvok sees his wife T'Pel. Torres contacts
Janeway from Engineering and reports that the crew seems to have
fallen under some kind of psychoactive trance, the result of a
bio-electric field emanating from the Bothan ship. But even as
she begins working on a way to block the field, she falls prey
to its spell.
It's up to Kes, whose telepathic abilities allow her to resist
the field, and the Doctor to block the mysterious force that's
disabling the ship. Kes manages to complete Torres' work and
restore the crew to normal. A telepathic Bothan confesses to
having caused the disturbance, but he disappears before they can
learn any more from him. As they continue on their way, the crew
reflects uneasily about what's lurking in the subconscious
corridors of their minds.
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