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An unidentified object closely
follows Voyager. Seven of Nine identifies the phenomenon as a
huge mass of subspace energy that is attracted to objects that
emit electromagnetic energy. In order to avert the graviton
ellipse, which travels through subspace, Voyager must cut power
and reverse their shield polarity.
After a successful aversion,
Chakotay and Paris remind Captain Janeway of a similar
phenomenon back in 2032, in which a command module from one of
the early Mars missions was consumed by a rolling ball of deadly
energy.
Captain Janeway decides to launch a search for the missing U.S.
spacecraft trapped inside the energy field. She instructs Seven
to join both Chakotay and Paris, as they hunt for the legendary
Ares IV, the command module from the first manned mission to
Mars. Janeway hopes that Seven will develop an appreciation for
studying the past.
Before they leave on the Delta Flyer, Chakotay and Paris view
NASA's footage, which recorded the last seconds of Lieutenant
John Kelly's life within Ares IV. The Delta Flyer finally enters
the mass of energy, but not before encountering excessive
turbulence. Once inside, asteroid fragments and pieces of
captured vessels come into its view.
The exploratory crew has approximately five hours before the
energy ball heads to another subspace. However, back on Voyager,
Torres discovers that a dark matter asteroid is heading straight
for the mass of energy. With only minutes to spare, Captain
Janeway immediately instructs the Delta Flyer to break out.
Chakotay goes against the Captain's orders and decides to try to
bring the module back with them. Unfortunately, the weight of
the Ares IV inhibits their swift escape, and the Delta Flyer is
unable to make it out in time without being affected by the
meteroid's impact.
Chakotay has been knocked unconscious and the Delta Flyer is
badly damaged. With their engines down and their shields
off-line, Chakotay, Seven, and Paris now only have two hours
before the mass of energy returns to subspace.
Finally, Voyager is able to re-establish contact with the Delta
Flyer. Seven is clearly dissatisfied with Chakotay and his
decision to disobey the Captain's orders. After discussion with
the Voyager crew, their only hope is to beam Seven over to the
Ares IV to obtain its ion distributor in order to supply power
for the Delta Flyer. Before Seven is beamed over to Ares IV,
Chakotay asks her to download whatever she can from the module's
database.
Once inside the Ares IV, Seven enters the cockpit where she sees
the body of John Kelly still strapped in his chair. Seven brings
the main computer online, and a monitor immediately comes on
which contains an active datafile. Chakotay asks Seven if she
could playback the video log entries for them.
The video entries reveal that John Kelly was not killed on
impact with the mass of energy. Instead, he lived for many more
days until his life support system ran out. Due to power
failure, the module was unable to escape. John Kelly saw other
spacecraft within the mass and discovered before his death that
the human race was not alone.
Seven is successfully able to obtain the distributor. She also
decides that she will beam John Kelly's body with her back to
the Delta Flyer. With only minutes to spare, the power
conversion is activated. Voyager gets as close as it can to the
mass to help rescue the Delta Flyer as the ball begins to
retreat into subspace.
Luckily, the Delta Flyer makes it out just in time. Back on
Voyager, Captain Janeway and the rest of the crew pay their
respects to Lt. John Kelly and they release his body into space.
Seven is able to acknowledge that John Kelly's contribution
helped secure humanity's future. |
