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Synopsis:
A message from Starfleet brings the crew letters from home.
When Starfleet Command sends a transmission to the U.S.S. Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, the bulk of it gets lodged in one of the Hirogen relay stations. Janeway immediately sets a course for it, and the Hirogens prepare to intercept them. Along the way, Voyager finds a ship adrift in space with one dead humanoid aboard. They beam the body to Sickbay and discover that it's been gutted. As they near the relay station, sensors begin to pick up increasing gravimetric forces. Apparently, the Hirogen station is using a quantum singularity — a black hole — as its power source!
Downloading more of the Starfleet transmission, Janeway realizes it contains letters from home. The letters bring both good and bad news: Tuvok finds he has become a grandfather, but Chakotay learns that all of Maquis back home have either been killed or imprisoned. When the transmission begins degrading, Tuvok and Seven of Nine try to stabilize the signal by taking a shuttle closer to the relay station. But after they carry out their assignment, they are captured by the Hirogen and taken to their ship.
Back on Voyager, Janeway struggles to accept the news that her fiancé has married another woman. Suddenly, Kim receives an automated distress signal from the shuttle, and sensors reveal that no one is on board. The Hirogen leader plans to remove Tuvok and Seven's skeletons and keep them as relics. Kim locates the enemy ship on Voyager's sensors. Janeway refuses to heed the Hirogen leader's warning to disconnect her link to the module and leave without Tuvok and Seven, despite the fact that more Hirogen ships are on the way. Instead, her crew prepares for battle.
Janeway realizes if they boost the effect of the singularity, they can increase its gravitational pull and trap the enemy ships. When the aliens begin firing on Voyager, the containment field around the station is destabilized. Once the singularity is exposed, everything around it is sucked into the black hole. Kim manages to beam Tuvok and Seven safely aboard just before Janeway orders a dangerous maneuver to free Voyager from the grip of the singularity. Unfortunately, the entire network of relay stations is disabled, leaving the crew once again without a link to home.
| Cast: |
| Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway |
| Robert Beltran as Chakotay |
| Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres |
| Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris |
| Ethan Phillips as Neelix |
| Robert Picardo as The Doctor |
| Tim Russ as Tuvok |
| Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine |
| Garrett Wang as Harry Kim |
| Guest Cast: |
| Tiny Ron as Alpha-Hirogen |
| Roger Morrissey as Beta-Hirogen |
| Creative staff: |
| Director: David Livingston |
| Teleplay By: Jeri Taylor |
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