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The U.S.S. Voyager is pulled into
a void with no apparent way out. Neelix presents an exotic
dinner to Janeway, Chakotay, Paris and Torres, a meal prepared
by Seven of Nine who is trying her hand at being a gourmet chef.
Suddenly the ship jolts and a graviton surge pulls them toward a
swirling funnel, and they wind up in a realm of complete
blackness. Then, an alien ship begins firing upon them. As
Voyager fires back, a larger ship swoops by and fires at the
other ship. Then the second ship fires at Voyager, penetrating
their shields, and transports several cargo containers, food,
deuterium and other supplies from Voyager to their ship.
Another ship approaches Voyager
and an Annarian named General Valen appears on Voyager's
viewscreen, welcoming Captain Janeway to "the Void." Coming
aboard, Valen tells Janeway that Voyager was sucked into an
inert layer of subspace, nine light-years wide, through one of
its "funnels." Valen and his ship have been in the Void for five
years, and no one has ever found a way to escape from it. In
order to survive, the trapped ships compete for resources from
new ships that are drawn in.
Torres reports that the anomaly's graviton forces are draining
the warp core, and they will run out of power in 10 days. Seven,
Tuvok, Paris and Janeway come up with a plan to enter a funnel
and jump to warp at exactly the right moment to escape.
Implementing their plan, they peer through the eye of a funnel
and prepare to jump warp. However, the eye suddenly closes and
the funnel shoots Voyager back into the Void. Torres reports
that the warp core is now off-line.
Torres thinks she can fix the warp core, but they need the
deuterium that was stolen from them or basic systems won't last
more than a week. Janeway gives orders to track down the ship
that raided them and get back their supplies. They find that
ship, but detect no lifesigns on it — apparently it was raided
as well. However, one piece left behind — the ship's warp core
casing — is composed of tricesium, which can be converted into a
power source. Voyager beams the casing over, and when Seven and
Torres scan it they find a small alien inside. The timid
creature does not speak, and has a leg injury. In Sickbay, the
alien won't let the Doctor close enough to treat him, and he
eats voraciously. Janeway and Seven wonder why they didn't
detect the mysterious being, but decide to make him comfortable
until they can find a safe place for him.
 Meanwhile, Tuvok and Harry Kim discover that General Valen
raided the lifeless ship and now has Voyager's supplies. Janeway
contacts Valen and demands the supplies back, but he refuses and
the two ships exchange fire. Voyager manages to transport back
about half of their stolen resources, and an opportunity
presents itself to raid Valen's ship for additional food, but
Janeway declines to do that. Later, Tuvok and Chakotay approach
Janeway and suggest that the crew may need to be more
opportunistic in order to survive in the Void. Janeway points to
the Federation Charter as a statement of principles that they
should not abandon. Using the Federation model of mutual
cooperation, Janeway proposes forming an alliance with other
ships to pool resources and devise a way to escape, on the
condition that members of the alliance not resort to killing or
stealing.
Janeway's first prospective ally is a Jelinian survey ship with
a captain named Garon. Skeptical, Garon says he will consider
her proposal. Janeway continues to make overtures to a ship of
Nygeans and other potential alliance members. Meanwhile, the
Doctor realizes the mute creature in his Sickbay loves music,
and has named him "Fantome" after "The Phantom of the Opera."
Seven gets the idea of trying to communicate with the alien by
way of computer-generated tones, and Fantome responds
enthusiastically.
A funnel opens in the Void and another ship is pulled in. Two
warships approach, including Valen's, and try to attack, but
Voyager defends the newcomer. About to lose the battle, Voyager
is joined by Garon's ship and forces the raiding vessels to
retreat. Garon hails Janeway to accept her offer of an alliance.
With Garon on board, finding new allies becomes easier. Janeway
hosts a visit by Commander Bosaal whose ship has technology that
could aid in an escape. But he reacts adversely upon seeing
Fantome in the Mess Hall, accusing his species of being vermin.
Janeway tells Bosaal that they've figured out how to detect the
creature's lifesigns and can transport those of his kind off his
ship. With that, Bosaal agrees to be an ally.
 Torres works with Garon to build a polaron modulator that will
help the alliance ships escape the Void, but so far they have
failed. Janeway hopes to trade with another ship for a polaron
modulator. Meanwhile, Fantome joins others of his kind in
learning how to communicate through tones generated by PADDs,
creating a musical "conversation" that amazes Janeway. Later,
Janeway learns that Bosaal has provided a fully compatible
polaron modulator, but pressing him on how he got it, she
realizes he stole it from another ship and killed its crew.
Enraged, Janeway orders Bosaal off the ship along with the
modulator — although the technology would help them escape, she
refuses to be accessory to murder. As a result, some of the
other ships drop out of the alliance, and Torres has to continue
trying to build a modulator from scratch.
Later, one of the remaining allies spies on Bosaal and discovers
that he is attempting to form an alliance of his own with Valen
and other adversaries, with a plan to attack Voyager. Without
the resources to defend themselves, Janeway realizes they need
to make an escape attempt right away, even though Torres hasn't
had time to test her new modulator. The ship readies its plan
with its allies, and Fantome's people — who are native to the
Void and live as nomads on ships — want to help out. When a
funnel is detected, the alliance ships prepare to go in. Bosaal
and his fleet approach and begin firing. Firing back, Voyager
manages to penetrate shields on two of the ships and transports
Fantome and his friends over. Seconds later Fantome hails
Voyager that they have sabotaged Valen's ship; Bosaal's vessel
has also been disabled. That gives the four alliances ships time
to enter the funnel in a "shield bubble" and jump to warp to
enter normal space. The successful allies then wish each other
well and go their separate ways. |
