TrekGeeks’ Star Trek Voyager Challenge

One Geek’s quest to reintegrate his Klingon and Human sides while en route to the Alpha Quadrant.

OVERVIEW

The episode opens in an unfamiliar location. We see an unconscious long haired figure who has been restrained and a male voice off-screen orders something called the “Genotron” to be deactivated and a bio-matrix to be shut down.  The restrained person is slowly coming around. The voice off-screen calls, “B’Elanna…B’Elanna Torres. Wake up.”  Slowly, the face of the person comes into view–and it’s a Klingon female.  It’s not the B’Elanna we’ve come to know–her more human features appear to be gone.

Cue the opening credits.

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 48784.2. We have completed our survey of the Avery system and are returning to retrieve Lieutenants Paris, Torres and Durst. By now, they should have concluded their inspection of the magnesite formations on the third planet.”

We open in the Voyager Mess Hall where Neelix is serving Tuvok a bowl of “authentic plomeek soup.” Tuvok would be happy to have a whatever the rest of the crew eats, but Neelix thinks it’s important for the crew to have dishes from their home worlds. Tuvok tries it and thinks it tastes rather…piquant…and immediately reaches for a glass of water. Of course, Neelix thought it tasted a little bland, so he spiced it up a bit. Suffice it to say, it didn’t really taste like plomeek soup. Chakotay summons the Senior Officers to the Bridge and Tuvok departs.

Chakotay informes Captain Janeway that the Away Team is overdue and they’re not responding to hails. They can’t locate their combadges on the surface, so they must be underground but Harry Kim can’t locate them there, either. The magnesite deposits are more than likely blocking the sensors from picking them up.

Kim observes that the tunnel which the Away Team beamed nearest to has shifted 75 degrees in direction in the last two days. They weren’t aware of any geological shifts, but this adds a layer of complexity. Chakotay requests to lead another Away Team down to look for them because they may have been trapped by the geological shifts. Tuvok questions what is to prevent them from losing Chakotay and that Away Team as well.  Kim pipes up with two words: Bread crumbs.

Kim means that he could modify some subspace transponders along Chakotay’s path which could be used like bread crumbs. Placed at regular intervals, they could be able to maintain a signal link with the ship in the event they need an emergency beam out. Janeway greenlights the Away Team and she wants a transporter lock at all times. Chakotay tabs Tuvok and Kim to come along.

Back on the planet, the Klingon called B’Elanna Torres is restrained on some kind of examination table. The voice apologizes for the restraints, but says that her presence there is very important to him.  His face comes in to view and we finally get a sense of who we are dealing with: The Vidiians.

B’Elanna asks who her captor is, and he tells her he is Sulan, Chief Surgeon of the Vidiian Sodality. She demands to know what is happening. He holds up a mirror and she says that they must have surgically altered her face. Torres asks Sulan what he’s done with Durst and Paris. He just wants to ask her questions like what her age is. She tells him that if he wants answers, he’ll answer her questions.

She asks what he did to her. Sulan tells her that he reconstituted her genome and that now she is 100% Klingon. Her human half is gone. Sulan developed a process to stimulate cell division. Her Klingon genetic material was extracted and converted from matter to energy by their genotron and she was re-materialized as the purified Klingon specimen.

B’Elanna asks why he did this to her. He says that for generations the Vidiians have been searching for a species immune to their phage in the hopes that it could lead them to a cure. He believes that the Klingons are but he needed a pure specimen to be certain which is why he extracted B’Elanna’s human half. She could be their greatest hope. She yells that she will never help him. He hopes that she can be resistant to the phage because…well…he’s infected her with the disease.

We then see Paris and Durst (the guy from the last episode) being led with what looks like a line of prisoners down a corridor. Durst is bringing up the rear when he is shoved by one of the Vidiian guards. Paris reminds Durst that the Vidiians are the ones with the guns. The Vidiians conduct them to what looks like a cell block of sorts with barracks. Durst says to Paris that they’ve got to find a way out of there (Jeez…YA THINK?!). Paris agrees but he doesn’t want to do anything until they know what happened to Torres. In the meantime, he says they should keep track of the movements of the guards. When the time is right, they’ll make their move.

They hear someone laughing at them. It’s a Talaxian on the bunk above Paris. Tom asks him what’s funny and the Talaxian says that he is. No one ever escapes from the Vidiians. Paris observes that the Talaxian seems to know the place pretty well and he says he should–he’s been there six years. Paris asks if the Vidiians are the business of harvesting organs, why are they all still hanging around there? The Talaxian says that they need someone to dig the tunnels—manual labor.  Their disease leaves them weak, so the best way to remain around and not have your organs harvested is to stay strong. The Talaxian says that there were 23 on his ship and he’s the only one left.  Paris asks if the Talaxian saw B’Elanna. He says that if she isn’t here, she must have been taken to Organ Processing. That doesn’t leave Paris with a good feeling and Durst is shaking his head.

Chakotay, Tuvok, and Kim are searching the tunnels. Kim has deployed the subspace transponders and the signal is getting through clearly. Kim says that according to his tricorder readings, they definitely came that way but he can’t really tell where they went. Tuvok finds a smashed tricorder and detects evidence of five life signs…but there were only three on the Away Team. Clearly, they weren’t alone.

Back on the examination table, B’Elanna is in obvious pain, but she won’t let Sulan know that. One of the early symptoms of the phage is excruciating joint pain.  (Check!) He’s stunned that she can endure it–some Vidiians have died from the agony of the pain alone. B’Elanna says it will take more than an infection to kill her and Sulan agrees. He says that her body is successfully fighting off the phage. He tells her that soon he will begin to replicate her genetic code and attempting various methods of integrating her Klingon DNA with theirs. In time, he says they’ll be successful and she’ll be a hero to the Vidiian people. Torres tells him that Klingons find honor on the battlefield and not as guinea pigs in a laboratory.

Back in the barracks, Paris is asleep when a door opens. We see a Vidiian bring another Starfleet officer down the hallway–one in a gold uniform with long dark hair. The Vidiian throws her down toward the bunks and walks off. She steps into the light and closer to Tom Paris and calls him by first name to wake him.  Tom wakes up and does a double take–the person crouched next to him is B’Elanna Torres.  A very human B’Elanna Torres. Tom asks what they’ve done to her.

Human-B’Elanna says that she remembers the Vidiians grabbing them outside the caves and then she blacked out. Next thing she knew, she woke up in a laboratory. She asked them what they did to her and, as she rubs her forehead sans ridges, she remembers that they extracted her Klingon DNA. As a child, B’Elanna did everything she could to hide her forehead ridges and, now, she seems to feel naked without them. Tom tries to put her at ease by listening and empathizing, but Human-B’Elanna is still scared.

She grew up on Kessik IV, where she and her mother were the only Klingons. It was a time when relations between the Klingon Homeworld and the Federation weren’t exactly cordial. She remembers feeling different then, even though no one said anything. Then, her father left when she was five years old and she cried herself to sleep every night for months. She told herself that he left because she looked like a Klingon and so she tried to look human. Paris jokingly tells her that she finally got what she wanted as a lone tear streams down her cheek.

Chakotay, Tuvok, and Kim are still searching the caverns when Tuvok notices something strange. According to the last geological scan, the cavern they’re searching should extend for another eight kilometers. Instead, it’s now at least 50 meters of solid granite before them. They would have sensed any reconfiguration of the caves or tectonic activity, so Tuvok believes the wall is an illusion–a disguised force field. Chakotay updates the Voyager and tells Janeway they’ve encountered a force field. Then, Tuvok breaks the news: the energy configuration of the force field matrix is identical to that of the Vidiians they encountered.

Janeway reminds the Away Team that their phasers can disrupt the Vidiian force field. She definitely wants to know what lies beyond the force field…but she doesn’t want them taking any unnecessary risks.  (Seriously?!) She’s ready to get them out of there by emergency beam out if it comes to it. Chakotay draws his phaser and fires at the wall. Nothing happens. Janeway suggests modulating the frequency of the phaser when Kim notices two Vidiians watching them. Chakotay calls for an emergency beam out.

Back in the lab, Klingon-B’Elanna is trying to break free from her restraints on the examination table. She almost frees herself when Sulan comes back to see how she’s doing. She says she feels strong and that it’s frustrating to be restrained. She doesn’t like being treated like an animal. He apologizes and Klingon-B’Elanna interrupts him to say that she’s been thinking about what Sulan said. It’s because of him that she is Klingon and she likes it. In a way, she supposes she is grateful. She then asks him if he was aware that, in the Alpha Quadrant, Klingon females were renowned for their physical prowess as well as their…uh…voracious sexual appetites. She suggests that Sulan let her out of her harness so he can study her in action. (As George Takei might say… “Ohhh myyyyyyyy!)

Sulan wishes (does he EVER!) but says that he can’t risk releasing her just yet. He touches her face and then backs away, asking for forgiveness. He requests that she not condescend.  While he maybe grotesque in appearance, his instincts are “finely honed” and he does have feelings. Perhaps, someday when his species has cured the phage, she won’t find him as grotesque.

Back in the barracks, two Vidiian guards are coming to take the prisoners to work detail. Paris tells Human-B’Elanna that she can’t let them see how sick she is. B’Elanna wonders if she tells them she’s sick, she might be able to stay behind and access the console in the barracks. Paris tells her that, or maybe the’ll skip the formalities and take her straight to Organ Processing. The guards, however, head straight for Durst and tell him to come with them. He wanted to try and contact the ship and the Prefect wants to discuss his request. Paris interrupts and says he’s the senior officer–if the Prefect wants to talk to someone, it should be him. The Vidiian guard pulls his weapon and backs Paris off. Human-B’Elanna cowers in the corner and Durst reminds Paris that the Vidiians are the ones with the guns.  Sounds familiar. Durst goes with the Vidiians and they leave the barracks. Human-B’Elanna is sniffling back tears. Paris asks her what’s wrong and she looks to be in the middle of a panic attack and can’t get any words out.

Back aboard the Voyager, Janeway says that now the Vidiians know they’re there, they have to be prepared for the possibility that they’ll bring in reinforcements. Kim says that long range sensors aren’t picking any additional vessels up. Tuvok says that it’s possible that the same technology that disguises their force fields also cloaks their ships. Chakotay also suggests that the captured Away Team might be at greater risk now that they know the Voyager is trying to rescue them.

Kim summons Janeway over to the Ops Console. Using the tricorder data they collected, he was able to scan the entire planet for the force field’s signature. It appears that the force field covers an area of approximately 600 kilometers in circumference. The only problem is he can’t scan inside that area to locate the Away Team.  Janeway wonders why their phasers were unable to breach the force field since, last time they encountered the Vidiians, it wasn’t a problem. Tuvok concludes that the force fields have been modified to repulse phaser fire. Janeway orders the crew to set up simulations and find a way to breach that force field. If the Vidiians can get through it, they should be able to find a way themselves.

Meanwhile, back in the Lab, Klingon-B’Elanna is on the slab–and trying to get out of her restraints again. Sulan enters the lab and has something he wants to show her. (Seriously? This guy has the worst timing, EVER.) He comes around to the side of the examination table to show Klingon-B’Elanna his new face…

…which, unfortunately, is the face of Lieutenant Durst…who is seems was actually on his way to Organ Processing and not to contact his ship.

He thought that this new face would make her more comfortable with him. Klingon-B’Elanna says that Sulan has killed Durst…which he admits is true, but his organs would save at least a dozen lives. This angers Klingon-B’Elanna who is able to bust out of her metal restraints and go after Sulan. She corners him against a wall and begins to choke him, lifting him off the ground. A door opens and she hears footsteps approaching.  She drops Sulan and attempts to make her escape.

Meanwhile, back aboard the ship, Kim tells Janeway that deep level scans have revealed a network of microfissures in the force field which open briefly each time the force field remodulates. The microfissures are only about a micron in size and close up after a few seconds. The y can’t use the phasers to expand the fissures because they’d have to be at an extremely close range and it could potentially alert the Vidiians to their presence. However, they could possibly transport through the microfissure if they could tighten the transport beam. (Huh?!) If they could get someone inside, they might be able to locate the Away Team and disable the force field.

Tuvok then points out that even if they can get someone inside, they’d be unable to communicate back through the force field nor will they be able to verify the transport was successful. (Man, what a killjoy.) Janeway wonders what’s to prevent whomever transports in from being captured by the Vidiians themselves and Chakotay has an idea about that.

We next see Chakotay in Sick Bay. He has been surgically altered by The Doctor to look like a Vidiian. Looks like he’ll be the one to transport in through the microfissure. (Ahkoocheemoya, help us.)

Paris and Human-B’Elanna are on work detail in the caverns and they’re hauling large rocks with their bare hands. She’s still not feeling well and Paris assists her in sitting down. The Talaxian captive offers them some water and they gladly accept. Human-B’Elanna tells Tom that she thinks that the Vidiian DNA extraction process did more than just change her appearance. She admits to Paris that she was terrified when they took Durst away. Paris tells her that no one could blame her for that, but Human-B’Elanna says he doesn’t understand–she’s been in worse situtations and never felt that kind of terror before. On the verge of tears, she tells Tom that her heart was pounding, her hands were shaking, and she didn’t even try to help.

Paris admits he’s no doctor (PHEW! I’m glad we cleared that up. I was starting to get confused!), but he thinks that whatever the Vidiians did seriously depleted her strength–there was nothing she could have done. She tells him that’s not it.  When the Vidiians extracted her Klingon DNA, she thinks they turned her into some kind of coward. Paris tries to tell her that, sometimes, fear can be a good thing because it can keep you from taking unnecessary chances. He goes on to say that courage doesn’t mean that you don’t have fear–it just means you’ve learned to overcome it.

Just then a Vidiian guard comes back and asks what’s going on. Paris jumps up and tells the guard that Human-B’Elanna was ill and needed a rest. (Way to go, genius!) The guard says that, if she’s ill, he’ll take her back to the barracks. Paris begins to protest, but Human-B’Elanna says that it’s OK–maybe she can find a way to make contact with the ship from there. One guard takes Human-B’Elanna back to the barracks and a second takes Paris back to work.

Chakotay is preparing to transport through the microfissure. Janeway asks him if he’s ready and he nods. Tuvok detects an opening in the microfissure and they initiate transport. Janeway observes that all they can do now is wait.

The Talaxian is moving through the caverns when he is ambushed and overpowered by Klingon-B’Elanna. She tells him to be quiet or she’ll break his neck and he agrees to keep the noise down. She asks where him where she can find Tom Paris. He directs her to the tunnel he was working in and says there was another human with him, but they took her to the barracks. Klingon-B’Elanna is confused by the fact that there was a human female.

Back in the barracks, Human-B’Elanna is lying down. She is being observed by a Vidiian who is in close proximity to her when a door opens and that Vidiian is summoned away. Human-B’Elanna gets up from her bunk and makes her way to the control console to try and find a way to contact the Voyager. She’s surprised by two Vidiian guards who subdue her and attempt to take her away–presumably to Organ Processing. Just then, Klingon-B’Elanna bursts in and knocks the Vidiians out in hand-to-hand combat. Human-B’Elanna can’t see the face of the person who beat up the Vidiians, but they are extending their hand to help her off the floor. She takes it and, when she rises, she comes face-to-face with her Klingon self and promptely faints. Klingon-B’Elanna throws her over her shoulder and they make their way out of the barracks.

Klingon-B’Elanna has built a fire in part of the caverns and is roasting something over it while Human-B’Elanna is still unconscious. Klingon-B’Elanna slaps Human-B’Elanna to wake her up and offers her some food. Human-B’Elanna asks what it is and her Klingon half says that it’s some rodent that she killed. Human-B’Elanna declines. Klingon-B’Elanna picks her up and apologizes that she couldn’t replicate her a soufflé but Human-B’Elanna is going to need nourishment because she can’t carry her all the way out of there. Human-B’Elanna takes the flame-cooked rodent.

She then asks Klingon-B’Elanna how they’re supposed to get out of there with Vidiian guards everywhere. Klingon-B’Elanna shrugs her off and says they’ll fight their way out. Human-B’Elanna says she’s not exactly in fighting form. Klingon-B’Elanna tells her that’s why she needs to eat and Human-B’Elanna partakes.

Klingon and Human Torres then spend a little time making small talk. Klingon B’Elanna asks if Human-B’Elanna was just going to waste away in the prison camp until the Vidiians killed her for body parts. She asks Human-B’Elanna if she was too frightened to act. Human-B’Elanna tells her that she was looking for a way to escape. Klingon-B’Elanna shows her how she should have escaped and holds up a fist and a weapon.

Human-B’Elanna lashes back and tells Klingon her that’s the way she tries to get out of every situation–by hitting things if they don’t work. She then tells Klingon-B’Elanna that it’s no wonder she was kicked out of Starfleet Academy. Klingon-B’Elanna thinks she should be grateful for that. She’s not, and Human-B’Elanna tells her that her Klingon temper has gotten her into trouble more times than she can remember.

She then realizes what they’re doing–they’re each fighting with their self. Klingon-B’Elanna reminds her that she’s the one who rescued her and she’s not fighting at all. In fact, Klingon-B’Elanna would like her Human half to be a little grateful that she busted her out of the prison camp. She’d like Human-B’Elanna to admit that she couldn’t have gotten out of there without her, to which Human-B’Elanna replies that she doesn’t know if she can get out of there with her–that brute force won’t accomplish it. Klingon-B’Elanna says perhaps not, but they’ll die in the attempt. That seems better to her than sitting around and being frightened.

Human-B’Elanna tells the Klingon half that there she goes again–leaping into action without thinking things through. Klingon-B’Elanna tells her she’s leaving and Human-B’Elanna tells her that’s not what she meant and apologizes. She tells Klingon-B’Elanna that before she rescued her, she logged into the Vidiians computer system and accessed the system that controls the force field. With a few minutes more, she could deactivate it–but she can’t do it without Klingon-B’Elanna’s help. She can’t make it back there alone and she’ll need Klingon-B’Elanna to cover her while she works.

Klingon-B’Elanna says that they can’t go back to the prison barracks–there are too many guards there. They can, however, go to the laboratory where Klingon-B’Elanna was being held. That’s the last place they’d expect them to be. Human-B’Elanna agrees and they set off.

Back in the barracks, Paris is talking with the Talaxian and they figure that Human-B’Elanna must have been taken to Organ Processing. Paris wants to find her and asks the Talaxian how to get there. A Vidiian puts his hand on Paris’ shoulder and he swings around, telling the Vidiian to keep his hands off. The Vidiian uses his name and suddenly Paris recognizes that it’s Chakotay. The undercover First Officer asks Paris where Durst and Torres are, and Paris tells him he thinks they’ve been taken to Organ Processing.

One of the Vidiian guards interrupts and asks Chakotay why he’s talking to the prisoners. Chakotay says that he was ordered to take Paris to Organ Processing–something which the Vidiian guard has no orders for. The Vidiian guard grows suspicious and says that he hasn’t seen Chakotay before and Chakotay tells him that he just had that face grafted. The Vidiian quickly inspects his face and allows Chakotay to take Paris to Organ Processing.

The two B’Elannas enter the laboratory and Human gets to work while Klingon covers the entrances. Human-B’Elanna attempts to shut down the force field and an alarm sounds through the Vidiian complex. A Vidiian guard comes rushing in and exchanges weapons fire with Klingon-B’Elanna. She stuns him (presumably), although she’s suffered an injury to her hand in the exchange. At that point, Sulan–still with Durst’s face–comes in with a weapon trained on Klingon-B’Elanna. She tells him that he won’t hurt her because he needs her. He admits that’s correct, but he will kill Human-B’Elanna if she doesn’t cooperate.

It’s then that Chakotay and Paris come through the door to create a standoff with Sulan. Human-B’Elanna is able to bring down the force field and Janeway hails Chakotay. He indicates that he’s found the Away Team. Sulan draws a hidden weapon and prepares to fire on Human-B’Elanna when Klingon-B’Elanna jumps in the way of the weapons discharge and is struck by the full force of the beam. Chakotay orders three Humans and one Klingon to beam up and they dematerialize as Sulan is horrified by having shot the Vidiians only shot at a cure for the phage.

Janeway enters the Transporter Room and is surprised to see two very different looking B’Elannas. Human-B’Elanna says they need to get her Klingon half to Sick Bay, and Klingon-B’Elanna says that there’s no time. She’s taken a shot directly to the chest and she’s going to make it. She takes the hand of Human-B’Elanna and tells her that she showed true courage and that it makes her death an honorable one. Klingon-B’Elanna dies in Human-B’Elanna’s arms.

Human-B’Elanna is in Sick Bay being tended to by The Doctor. He says that using tissue samples from Klingon-B’Elanna, he can replicate the Klingon DNA for reintegration back into Human-B’Elanna over the course of several days. B’Elanna is surprised that he is going to change her back. The Doctor tells her that has to because her ability of her cells to synthesize proteins has been severely compromised. Without her Klingon genes, she’ll die, too.  B’Elanna observes that her Klingon half is saving her yet again.

Chakotay is there and he asks B’Elanna how she is doing. She says she’s not sure–it’s been a pretty strange existence. She tells Chakotay that the way she is now, she’s more at peace with herself than she’s ever been before and that it’s a good feeling. She also feels incomplete and it doesn’t feel like her. Chakotay tells her that the two of them made quite a team down there. A teary-eyed B’Elanna says she knows and that she came to admire a lot of things about her Klingon self. She guesses she’ll have to spend the rest of her life fighting with her.

Chakotay’s at a loss for words. He goes to leave and turns back to say something to B’Elanna and doesn’t. B’Elanna sits alone in Sick Bay, rubbing the forehead where her ridges used to be one last time to remember the feeling one last time as a tear runs down her cheek and the episode draws to a close.

WHAT WORKED FOR ME

• This episode has shades of TOS’ “The Enemy Within.”
• The Vidiians are back! I love this race of villains and how they are a great threat to the safety of the Voyager crew.
• Roxann Dawson. She does an outstanding job in this episode playing two clearly distinctive characters at a time when she hadn’t been inhabiting the amalgamated B’Elanna for very long. We see the fragility of Human-B’Elanna and the strength of Klingon-B’Elanna and a glimpse of what that internal struggle might be like for her on another level. Plus, it’s nice to see her without the Klingon “turtlehead” on.
• The examination of B’Elanna’s human side gives us so much information about her backstory and tells us a great deal about what motivates Torres.
• Tom Paris is used incredibly well in this episode and the character is so much more likeable when he’s not trying to be the sarcastic wiseguy aboard ship.
• The use of Durst’s face by Sulan is particularly chilling. You saw his death coming form a mile away, but the way the development was sprung on the audience was great.
• The final scene where Torres is alone in Sick Bay touching her forehead is perfectly played and you truly get the sense of what Torres feels. It’s top-notch.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME

• Roxann Dawson’s first few scenes as Klingon-B’Elanna were almost painful in the way the dialog was delivered. There…were…so…many…pauses…that it was distracting at times. It was like a William Shatner impersonation gone wrong.
• Of course, Starfleet doctors must be taught how to surgically alter people as Vidiians in a flawless manner.
• B’Elanna’s sense of loss when her Klingon half dies almost isn’t pronounced enough. I’d have liked to have seen that impact her more there on the Transporter pad.

PHOTON TORPEDO COUNT

The Voyager didn’t fire any photon torpedoes this episode, so the count still stands at 37.

TUVOK’S MIND GAMES

The Mind Games Tracker stands at .500 this week with no additional Vulcan Mind Melds in this episode.

THE TREKGEEKS OFFICIAL ENSIGN HARRY KIM SUFFERING TRACKER

There are no additions to the Harry Kim Tracker this episode.

VERDICT

“Faces” is an outstanding episode of Star Trek. It’s an original story that couldn’t have been done by any other Star Trek series and it’s executed extremely well. I really love this episode and I enjoy it more every time I see it. There was the danger for this to be a really bad take on “The Enemy Within,” but I find it a tremendous compliment to that episode in the Star Trek universe–and I think that says a great deal.

Roxann Dawson really shines in this episode as the two distinct halves of her character. It’s a look at B’Elanna that we’d never be able to see any other way. The story is compelling and entertaining while not being overworked. The resolution is satisfying to the point where we empathize greatly with Torres and really feel as though we understand her internal conflict. You like B’Elanna Torres more after this episode–and that wasn’t necessarily true in previous installments.

If I were introducing someone to Star Trek: Voyager, this is one of the episodes I’d show them. “Faces” receives 4 out of a possible 5 Deltas for being an original story told in excellent fashion, as well as for it being a terrific examination of the Torres character.

WATCH IT

(If you are unable to see the video player for the embedded episode above from Hulu.com, please click here.)

NEXT TIME

Neelix encounters a scientist responsible for developing a weapon that caused a Talaxian genocide–and he claims Neelix is terminally ill in “Jetrel.”

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