Ep 4: Time And Again
Production 104
Stardate: Unknown
Airdate: 1/30/1995
Guest Stars: Brady Bluhm (Latika),
Ryan McDonald (Shopkeeper),
Bob Rudd (Brell), Jerry Spicer (Guard),
Nicholas Surovy (Makull), Steve Vaught (Officer)
Written By: David Kemper
Directed By: Les Landau
Teleplay By: David Kemper
and Michael Piller
Synopsis:
When Paris and Janeway are sent
back in time, they must decide whether to violate the Prime Directive by
warning residents of a planet facing annihilation.
During the night shift, as Paris
presses Kim to join him on a double date, the ship is shaken by a huge
shockwave. Investigating its origins, the crew finds a nearby planet where
a cataclysmic explosion recently wiped out all life. Beaming down, the
Away Team discovers that the detonation has actually fractured subspace.
But before they can react to this dangerous revelation, Paris and Janeway
find themselves transported back in time to the day before the explosion.
While the crew tries to figure out
how to retrieve the missing officers, Janeway orders Paris not to warn
the residents of the planet about the approaching disaster, since that
would violate the Federation's Prime Directive. Seeking their own way back
to Voyager, the pair head for a polaric ion power station, the site of
the future explosion. There, they inadvertently become caught up in a clash
between the authorities and a group of protesters who later accuse them
of being government infiltrators. Disbelieving Janeway's claim that they
are about to trigger a major accident, they continue to move forward with
their plan to sabotage the power station.
In the meantime, a troubled Kes reveals
that her latent Ocampan psychic abilities seem to have been sensitized
by the accident. She accompanies the Away Team as they attempt to track
Janeway and Chakotay's movements being made in the past.
The protesters force Janeway and
Paris to accompany them to the plant, where they shoot their way in. Paris
is wounded during the scuffle, but Janeway leaves him to follow the protesters,
hoping to stop the devastating explosion.
On Kes' recommendation, Chakotay's
crew goes to the flashpoint of the blast and uses a polaric beam to "cut
through" subspace and find the missing crewmembers. When Janeway sees their
polaric beam, she realizes that it wasn't the protesters who caused the
accident — it was the Away Team's attempt to rescue her! Janeway uses her
phaser to blunt the impact of the beam. At the instant she succeeds in
sealing the opening, time is "reset," and the crew finds itself back on
Voyager, a few seconds before the shockwave first hit the ship. None the
wiser for their experience, Paris urges Kim to join him on a double date,
and Kes finds herself strangely relieved that a nearby planet is teeming
with life.