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Janeway's attempts to beam up
20th-century computer mogul Henry Starling and the timeship in
his possession are stymied because Voyager's long-range
transporters aren't working. As a result, brilliant astronomer
Rain Robinson lures Starling to a meeting where the crew hopes
to hijack him. Starling shows up with the Doctor, whom he's
supplied with a 29th-century portable holo-emitter that allows
him to exist in environments without standard holographic
emitters.
Having reconfigured the shields
on a shuttlecraft to disguise it from 20th-century radar,
Chakotay and Torres try to beam up Starling from the rendezvous.
Starling has a device that interferes with the attempt, but
Voyager is able to redirect the transporter signal to beam him
directly to the starship. Unfortunately, Starling's attempt to
disrupt the beam-out damages the shuttle's controls. It goes
down in the desert, where Chakotay and Torres are taken hostage
by a paramilitary group. Voyager traces the crash site to
Arizona, and the Doctor and Tuvok travel there to find them.
On Voyager, Starling admits to Janeway that he wants to travel
into the future to steal more advanced technology. Although
Janeway thinks she's put an end to those plans, one of
Starling's henchmen uses his scavenged 29th-century technology
to transport Starling back to his office. Outside Starling's
headquarters, Paris spots a truck that appears to be moving the
timeship to another location. In Arizona, Tuvok and the Doctor
manage to free Chakotay and Torres. Torres repairs the damaged
shuttle, which they use to track the truck and destroy it.
However, they discover the truck was a ruse; the timeship is
back in Starling's office, and he's just launched it.
Retrieving Paris and Tuvok, the shuttle returns to Voyager,
where Janeway hails Starling, who refuses to abort his mission.
She has no choice but to destroy the timeship. Seconds later, a
time rift opens and Braxton appears in his timeship. With his
previous timeline altered by the destruction of Starling, this
Braxton has come from the future to lead Voyager back to the
24th century, where it belongs. Janeway implores Braxton to
place them at Earth, but Braxton cites the Temporal Prime
Directive, which Janeway cannot argue with. Back in the Delta
Quadrant, the crew finds that they've gained one particular
advantage from their journey: the Doctor has retained the
29th-century mobile holo-emitter, freeing him from the confines
of Sickbay. |
