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During a surprise birthday party
for Kes at Sandrine's Bar in the holodeck, the U.S.S. Voyager
encounters a peculiar spatial distortion wave in space, which
surrounds the ship. The phenomenon disables the vessel's main
systems, including communications and the warp drive, and also
seems to change Voyager's structural layout. As a result,
Janeway can't find her way to the Bridge, Torres can't locate
Engineering, and everyone in the crew is confused and
frustrated.
Finding a small group of her
staff near Sandrine's, Janeway calls an impromptu meeting to
discuss their situation. Then Paris and Torres team up to find
Engineering; Chakotay, Neelix, Janeway and Kim pair off to
locate the Bridge; and Kes and the Doctor await word in
Sandrine's. Paris and Torres manage to reach their goal but the
others aren't as lucky. Chakotay finds Tuvok but loses Neelix,
and Janeway is nearly dragged into an internal distortion by an
unseen electromagnetic force.
Kim rescues Janeway and he gets her back to Sandrine's, where
she loses consciousness. The spatial distortion continues to
squeeze the ship, and Tuvok estimates that the unstoppable ring
will crush the vessel in little more than an hour.
With Janeway still unconscious, Chakotay takes command. Torres
attempts to trigger a warp shock pulse to save the ship, but
instead of dispersing the spatial ring, it pulls it in even
faster, surrounding Engineering and even the sanctuary in
Sandrine's Bar.
Lacking any other options, Tuvok advises the crew to do nothing
and allow the anomaly to twist its way through the bar. After it
does, Janeway regains consciousness and explains that the
distortion was trying to communicate with them. The ring leaves
the ship as it originally found it, with no damage, then moves
out into space. In its wake, the crew discovers that it left 20
million gigaquads of new information in the ship's computer.
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