WARNING: Spoilers ahead!
Teaser:
Picking up from the cliffhanger where an alien was rushing at Janeway...
Janeway's knocked down. Chakotay knocked down. [Rick omits some details in which they take Chakotay to sickbay]. Janeway gets to her chair, injured. As she orders that they look for the Equinox (which has gone to warp, but not yet engaged their "enhanced warp drive"), more alien shrieks are heard. Cut to Equinox bridge. Ransom asks for detection of Voyager. They're under attack. Ransom considers for a moment and then, "Maintain course."
Act 1:
Red alert on Voyager. Janeway walking through a corridor. The sight of an alien carcass stirs her anger at Ransom. Neelix brings her the Doc's mobile-emitter, which he found on deck nine. They get to sickbay. Paris is attending to the wounded. They plug in the Doc (note: The Voyager crew doesn't know that this is the Equinox doctor). Chakotay is OK. He suggests trying to communicate with the aliens. Janeway disregards the idea, saying they should focus their efforts on finding the Equinox. Chakotay argues Voyager's safety is top priority, but Janeway affirms that the "humans" on the ship are the enemy. Suddenly the alien noise starts up and everyone braces. Cut to an alien coastline, day. We are looking through someone else's eyes, it's Ransom. He's watching the beach, lost in thought and troubled by recent events. Burke interrupts Ransom's virtual reality retreat with a door chime. He has brought Seven of Nine with him. Ransom tries to convince Seven to join him, that he could also help her with humanity. She says she'd prefer the brig and that he'd be an inferior role model. Cut to research lab, Burke is tending to Seven's injuries. He finds the Voyager EMH in their database and activates him. Seven informs the Doctor of their situation. The Equinox tries to initiate their enhanced warp drive but it malfunctions. Cut to lab, where Seven and the Doctor have encrypted the computer. Ransom demands the codes, Seven refuses. The Doctor refuses to help purge the information from Seven's brain, he is willing to be deleted. But then Ransom deletes his ethical subroutines and orders him to get to work on Seven. Cut to Voyager where Chakotay has prepared an attempt at communication. Chakotay wants to lower weapons but Janeway belays that order. They drop the shields on the bridge only and attempt to communicate. They fail. Chakotay offers to try another message, but Janeway insists they track Ransom. Chakotay confronts Janeway in the ready room. He says she's acting on a personal vendetta against Ransom. She admits it and fiercely declares that Ransom betrayed her, Starfleet, the Federation and she'll hunt him down no matter what the cost. He can call it a "vendetta" if he likes.
Act 2:
The Equinox has entered orbit of a lush green planet. Ransom orders Lessing to take an away team to investigate deuterium deposits. In the research lab, the Doctor hums "Dem Bones" while he works on Seven, whose ocular implant circuitry is exposed. The ocular node's connected to the sensory node... the sensory node's connected to the cortical node.. etc. The Doctor says he's more efficient when unfettered by ethical subroutines. Ransom demands progress. The Doc says he can extract her memory engrams but it will leave Seven's brain damaged. Ransom is uneasy, asks for an alternative. Not if time is important. Seven says that Ransom kills lifeforms for his own benefit and then rationalizes that "he had no choice." Ransom asks her to give the codes, she says he'll have to destroy her to get them. Cut to Voyager, where Chakotay has submitted a plan to reach the Ankari and hope they can help communicate the aliens. Janeway is not receptive. She tells Chakotay that she's been studying Ransom, and it seems his particular style is to hide until assailants give up. She orders Chakotay to find where Ransom's hiding. Cut to Equinox, where Ransom, troubled by this conversation with Seven retreats again into his virtual reality device. Shortly before he is abruptly awakened again, he sees a female figure approaching him on the beach (unbeknownst to him, Seven of Nine). On the planet, the Equinox team scans for deuterium ore and the surroundings remind them of McKinley park on Earth, they reminisce. Suddenly Chakotay and Paris incapacitate them and beam them off the surface. The Equinox Doctor communicates with Ransom, telling him that Voyager has masked their approach and has taken the away team hostage. The Equinox prepares for battle.
Act 3:
Voyager targets their engines, direct hit. Voyager is rocked by return fire. Torres tries to locate their shield power grid as a target. The Equinox damages Voyager's deflector, any more and they could become vulnerable to alien attacks. Janeway orders the Equinox's weapons targeted. Torres tries to bypass the Equinox's security protocols but Burke prevents her. Janeway orders Ransom to surrender but Ransom orders his ship into the planet's atmosphere at a steep sixty-degree vector. Janeway orders pursuit. The two ships plummet through the planet's ionosphere. Tuvok warns that shields are weakening but Janeway orders to fire one more torpedo: the Equinox's weapons are knocked out. Voyager is forced to pull up. The Equinox also pulls up and escapes into warp. Voyager is damaged and cannot pursue for hours. At least they captured some of the Equinox crew. Cut to Janeway punching Lessing out of a chair where they are holding him captive in the cargo bay. She demands that he reveal Ransom's tactical status. He refuses. She warns him that she'll drop the shields around the room and allow the aliens to attack him. He does not waver. Janeway goes outside and begins disengaging the shields around the cargo bay. Chakotay thinks she's crazy. The alien shriek can be heard inside the bay. Chakotay pleads with her to stop, she will not. Finally, Chakotay cannot bear it and he rushes into the bay in time to phaser shut the fissure and rescue Lessing. Chakotay forces Janeway to try his Ankari plan. Lessing helped them locate an Ankari vessel nearby and they set course for it. After the briefing, Chakotay warns Janeway that she almost killed Lessing and that it was a mistake in judgment. He says he will not allow her to cross that line again. Janeway relieves him of his post. Chakotay asks what's happened to you, Kathryn. She asks the same of him.
Act 4:
They meet up with the Ankari and Janeway orders the tractor beam. Tuvok objects, is overruled. Janeway compels the Ankari, who are aware of the alien experiments, to summon them and help her communicate with them. They are brought onboard and in the cargo bay they summon two of the aliens. Janeway communicates with them through the Ankari, making it clear that the Equinox is responsible and she wants them just as bad. They deliver the ultimatum that they want the Equinox. Tuvok objects, saying they will be dealt with according to their laws. Janeway doesn't care, she agrees to turn the Equinox over to the aliens if they stop the attacks. Tuvok challenges her, saying Starfleet will hold her accountable. But they're a long way from Starfleet headquarters and Janeway threatens to relieve Tuvok as well. The aliens agree to Janeway's terms. On the Equinox, Ransom is informed they'll need to kill several more aliens, he is becoming increasingly disturbed about it. Ransom checks on The Doctor's progress in the lab. The Doctor is now singing "Clementine" while he dissects Seven, who is now barely conscious. Seven begins to sing along with The Doctor, but Ransom is spooked by the "duet" and tells them to stop. The Doctor asks why he's so apprehensive, after all, they'll soon be at Earth and Seven was only in the way. That is little comfort as Ransom returns to his quarters to retreat into the virtual reality. On the alien beach, Seven confronts Ransom about how he hides in this simulation from the crimes he's committed. She urges him to stop. The bridge calls Ransom away.
Act 5:
Voyager is approaching at high warp. Burke recommends they hide in a nebula nearby but Ransom demands a full stop and an open channel. Ransom announces it's time to work with Janeway and stop this. Burke takes command and orders Ransom taken to the brig by Gilmore. Burke readies weapons and opens a channel to Voyager's sickbay. He tells their EMH to provide the Equinox with Voyager's shield frequencies during the battle. Voyager arrives and is hit with torpedoes. Voyager returns fire. Gilmore takes Ransom to engineering instead of the brig and declares her loyalty. Janeway orders a tractor beam on the Equinox. Voyager's shields are penetrated by a torpedo and forced to disengage the tractor beam. Burke orders a pursuit course and open fire. Ransom hails Voyager and informs them of the mutiny and his intent to join Voyager. Ransom and Gilmore try to beam the bridge Equinox crew to Voyager, but a force-field is erected. Ransom orders everyone else beamed off while he will stay to take care of Max. Seven and the others are beamed to Voyager. In Voyager's sickbay, Voyager's EMH confronts the evil Doctor and deletes him before he can do the same. The Equinox loses the transmissions from their Doctor and Voyager's EMH contacts them saying their physician is no longer "on call." Ransom lowers the shields around the Equinox except the bridge and engineering. He tells Burke to give up. Burke convinces the remaining bridge crew they can make it to a shuttle, despite the aliens along the route. Burke and the others exit the bridge and make a run for the shuttle bay. The aliens converge on them and Burke is killed. Voyager tries to beam Ransom over, but he refuses, saying he'll move the Equinox away before its core explodes. He makes Janeway promise she'll get both crews home: she does. The Equinox explodes. The Equinox survivors are stripped of rank down to crewmen. They will be monitored and will have to earn the trust of Voyager's family. Janeway suggests that Chakotay could've staged his own mutiny. He says he thought about it, but "that would be crossing the line." Janeway and Chakotay find Voyager's dedication plaque on the floor of the bridge and together reaffix it in its place.
