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After Janeway and Paris leave on
an away mission, Chakotay leads a Maquis takeover of Voyager.
With Torres' help, he seizes control of the ship and vows that
Federation principles will no longer stand in the way of getting
the crew home. Just then, Paris walks in and asks Torres what's
going on. Annoyed, Torres freezes the holodeck program she's
been running — the whole mutiny scenario was part of a holo-novel
she's just discovered.
The identity of the holo-novel's
author is unknown, but Paris is fascinated by the subject
matter. He resets the program and replays the mutiny with
slightly different plot twists. Just as the holo-novel appears
headed for an explosive climax, the program abruptly stops and
Paris learns that the writer never completed the story.
The program is soon the talk of the ship, and Tuvok finally
admits he's the author. He wrote it as a tactical training
exercise when the Maquis and Federation crews first merged.
Since the union went smoothly, Tuvok didn't bother finishing the
program. After Paris volunteers to complete the tale, Tuvok
decides to collaborate with him. But when they re-open the
narrative parameters file to write the final chapter, a
holographic version of Seska appears; the real Seska discovered
Tuvok's program before she left the ship and decided to finish
it the way she thought it should play out. She tells Tuvok that
she's sealed the holodeck and deactivated the safety protocols;
if she shoots them, they'll die.
Although she gives them a brief head start, Tuvok and Paris find
that Seska's scenario is deadly. What's more, Seska has laid
booby-trapped subroutines, which means that one wrong move could
destroy the ship. Outside the holodeck, the crew discovers
Seska's schemes and tries to find a way to help Paris and Tuvok.
As Seska prepares to execute Tuvok and Paris, the real Janeway
works furiously to rewrite the program. Her efforts throw Seska
off just enough that Tuvok is able to rig a phaser malfunction,
which kills Seska, ending the program. Safely back from their
ordeal, Tuvok and Paris congratulate Janeway on her literary
skills and the crew begins planning a new holo-adventure. |
