(Lieutenant Carey sits up from the biobed, blood streaming from his nose.)
CAREY: She's not just out of control, she's out of her mind.
TUVOK: If you will explain what happened, Lieutenant.
CAREY: She hit me is what happened!
EMH: Your nose is broken in three places. I'll need to reset the ethmoid fossa. Try not to move.
CAREY: We were having a disagreement about the power grid. She wanted to realign the lateral plasma conduit. I told her that would cause an overload. As usual, she wouldn't listen. So I told her to step aside and let me handle it. She pushed me away from the console. I pushed back. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the deck with blood pouring down my face.
CHAKOTAY: Then what happened?
CAREY: She said, 'Sorry. Maybe you should go to Sickbay.'
EMH: At least she gave you some good advice. Now
CAREY: Ow!
EMH: Hold still.
CHAKOTAY: Don't worry, Lieutenant. I'll take care of this.
CAREY: You keep that woman out of my engine room and everything will be fine! Ow!

[Corridor]

TUVOK: Where is Miss Torres?
CHAKOTAY: I've confined her to quarters.
TUVOK: I would like her moved to the brig until formal charges can be filed.
CHAKOTAY: Formal charges? Come on, Tuvok. We're seventy five years away from the nearest court. Are you really going to hold her in the brig for that long?
TUVOK: The Captain has the authority to try Miss Torres here on the ship, considering the extenuating circumstances.
CHAKOTAY: Well, I'd like to settle this on my own without filing charges and without involving the Captain.
TUVOK: She struck a fellow officer. That is a court martial offence.
CHAKOTAY: She's a Maquis, and in the Maquis, sometimes you have to push people out of your way to get things done.
TUVOK: Miss Torres is no longer a member of the Maquis, and with all due respect, Commander, neither are you. Allowing Miss Torres to get away with a clear violation of regulations sets a bad example for the rest of the crew. It makes it appear as though you were showing favouritism toward the Maquis.
CHAKOTAY: Look, Lieutenant, I don't have to explain myself to you. I'll deal with B'Elanna personally, and then I'll inform the Captain. You're to drop this matter. That's an order.
TUVOK: I will yield my authority in this case to you. However, I will make a full report in my security log.
(Chakotay steps into the turbolift.)
CHAKOTAY: You do that.
(The doors close and Tuvok walks away.
Chakotay gets out on another floor and is joined by two of his Maquis crew.)
JARVIN: Sir, we heard what happened. What are they going to do with B'Elanna?
CHAKOTAY: I don't know yet but I'll handle it.
SESKA: We heard that Captain Janeway's going to put her in the brig for two months, and that all the Maquis are going to be restricted to quarters when they're not on duty.
CHAKOTAY: Not true.
SESKA: We just want you to know that if things do get our of hand, we're ready to back you.
CHAKOTAY: What does that mean?
JARVIN: In case you want to take control of the ship, you have our full support.
CHAKOTAY: If I ever hear you talk that way again, I'll personally throw you in the brig for mutiny.

[Torres's Quarters]

(B'Elanna is pacing like a caged tiger. The doorbell rings and she throws a bowl at it. The door opens and the bowl just misses Chakotay.)
TORRES: Argh!
CHAKOTAY: Here.
(Chakotay hands her a PADD.)
TORRES: What's this?
CHAKOTAY: The medical report on Lieutenant Carey.
TORRES: Lieutenant Carey is an idiot! When I tell you what happened
CHAKOTAY: I don't want to hear it! You might be interested to know that the impact fractures along his cranium were pretty severe. If you'd hit him just a little harder, you could have driven some of those bones into his cerebellum.
TORRES: I didn't even come close to hitting him that hard.
CHAKOTAY: So on the one side, I'm facing a Vulcan who wants court-martial you. And on the other, I'm facing all the Maquis who are ready to seize this ship over this. You've turned this into one lousy day for me, Torres.
TORRES: So how long do I have to stay in here?
CHAKOTAY: Rest of the trip. Seventy five years.
TORRES: I've never found your twisted sense of humour very funny, Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY: Or I could send you back to work with the understanding that you'll apologise to
TORRES: Apologise? He was the one who
CHAKOTAY: Not just a simple apology. A personal one, over a hot cup of pejuta. Bond with the man.
TORRES: I am not going to bond with him.
CHAKOTAY: You're going to need support from people like Carey.
TORRES: I don't need support from anybody.
CHAKOTAY: You are if you're going to be Chief Engineer of this ship.
TORRES: Huh. Right.
CHAKOTAY: This is not another example of my twisted sense of humour.
TORRES: But Carey is next in line.
CHAKOTAY: You're a better engineer than he is.
TORRES: What does the Captain have to say about this?
CHAKOTAY: She hasn't said a word, because I haven't told her yet.

Captain's log, Stardate 48439.7. As we maintain a course back to the Alpha Quadrant, we're conducting what would normally be routine maintenance to the ship. Routine, that is, if we had access to a starbase.

[Briefing Room]

PARIS: Engine efficiency's down another fourteen percent. If we don't get more power to the warp drive, we're all going to have to get out and push.
JANEWAY: What about alternative energy sources? Ensign Kim, have you had any luck getting power from the holodeck reactors?
KIM: Not yet. We tried hooking them to the power grid and we ended up blowing out half the relays. The holodeck's energy matrix, it just isn't compatible with the other power systems.
CHAKOTAY: Captain, if we relocate all security personnel to deck seven, we can shut down power on deck nine and reroute it to propulsion.
TUVOK: That would be inconvenient, but acceptable.
JANEWAY: Fine. Now let's move on to the personnel situation. We still have
(Neelix and Kes enter.)
NEELIX: Sorry we're late, but I wasn't informed there was a meeting this morning. Oh, there don't seem to be enough chairs.
JANEWAY: Neelix, this is a briefing for the senior officers.
NEELIX: I see. Well, I, I am the senior Talaxian on board. Kes is the senior Ocampa. And I do know more about this region of space than any other member of the crew.
KES: We have some excellent suggestions, Captain.
JANEWAY: Very well. You're welcome to join us, this time.
(Paris gives up his seat to Kes.)
PARIS: Here you are.
JANEWAY: To be honest, we could use some excellent suggestions right now.
KES: I've been thinking that you might be able to convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators are down and that the emergency rations won't hold out much longer.
KIM: What about Cargo Bay two? It was designed for organic storage and it already has adjustable environmental controls.
JANEWAY: When can you start?
KES: Me?
JANEWAY: It's your idea. It's your project.
KES: Right away.
NEELIX: I can do some wonderful things with vegetables, Captain. My feragoit goulash is known across twelve star systems.
JANEWAY: Okay. The personnel situation. We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel.
CHAKOTAY: I've made a list of several Maquis crew members who would make good officers.
(Chakotay passes her his PADD.)
JANEWAY: B'Elanna Torres? She was the one involved in that incident with Mister Carey.
CHAKOTAY: That's right.
JANEWAY: Just what job do you think she's suited for?
CHAKOTAY: Chief Engineer.
JANEWAY: You're serious.
CHAKOTAY: Very.
JANEWAY: Regarding Sickbay, we still need a Chief Medical Officer.
NEELIX: What about that electronic man down in Sickbay?
TUVOK: It is an Emergency Medical Hologram and its abilities are limited. It can only operate within the confines of Sickbay.
PARIS: Not to mention its lousy bedside manner.
CHAKOTAY: Perhaps we should assign somebody to train with the hologram as a field medic.
JANEWAY: Good idea. Lieutenant, I understand you studied biochemistry at the Academy.
PARIS: Er, only two semesters.
JANEWAY: Close enough. You just volunteered to become a field medic. Report to Sickbay as soon as we're finished here.
PARIS: But Captain
(Bang! The ship shakes.)
JANEWAY: Stations, everyone!

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Report!
SESKA: We're running into some kind of spatial distortion.
JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok!
TUVOK: The distortions are emanating from a highly localized disturbance in the space-time continuum. Distance, twenty thousand kilometres off the port bow.
JANEWAY: All stop. On screen. Gravimetric flux density is over two thousand percent. If I'm not mistaken, we're looking at a type four quantum singularity.
TUVOK: Captain, I am receiving an audio transmission from within the singularity.
JANEWAY: On speakers.
(A female sounding voice, but the words are garbled.)
KIM: I think I've found the source of the transmission.
(The distant image of a ship appears on the viewscreen against the black hole.)
JANEWAY: Does it look like any ship you're familiar with?
NEELIX: No, nothing I recognise. But then it's, it's so hard to make out.
JANEWAY: They may be trapped in the event horizon. Open a channel. This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?
KES: Event horizon?
NEELIX: A singularity is a star that's collapsed in on itself. The event horizon is a very powerful energy field surrounding it. Why, er, once on a particularly dangerous trade mission to the twin stars of Keloda, I myself was almost trapped inside
TUVOK: No response to our hail, Captain.
JANEWAY: Can we tractor the vessel out?
KIM: No. The subspace interference is too heavy.
NEELIX: Captain, we're less than three light years from Ilidaria. They have sophisticated technology. They might be able to help and they're quite friendly, most of the time.
JANEWAY: No. It looks like it's being pulled in toward the singularity. We have to get it out of the event horizon.
CHAKOTAY: Bridge to Torres. We need a way to get that ship out of there. Any ideas?
TORRES [OC]: I was thinking we could remodulate a tractor beam to match

[Engineering]

TORRES: The subspace interference. It might be enough to cut through the event horizon.

[Bridge]

CHAKOTAY: A subspace tractor beam?
TORRES [OC]: Exactly.
CHAKOTAY: When can you have it ready?
TORRES [OC]: Two hours, maybe three.
CHAKOTAY: Get right on it. Use as many people as you need.
JANEWAY: Mister Carey, what do you think?

[Engineering]

CAREY: With the right field modulation it might work, but we'll need more power to the emitter array.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Very well. You're in charge, Mister Carey. Report to me when the tractor beam is ready.

[Engineering]

CAREY: Aye, Captain.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Mister Paris? Hold our position here. (to Chakotay) I'd like to see you in private.

[Ready Room]

JANEWAY: We have a problem and I think it's time we discussed it.
CHAKOTAY: Captain, I appreciate your concerns about Torres, but I promise you
JANEWAY: You don't understand, Commander. This isn't about Torres. My problem is with you.
CHAKOTAY: Me?
JANEWAY: Let me be blunt. What you tried to do just now was out of line.
CHAKOTAY: In what way?
JANEWAY: When you decided to call Torres in Engineering.
CHAKOTAY: I've worked with her. I know what she's capable of. We needed an answer right away and I knew she could give us one.
JANEWAY: Carey is the senior officer in Engineering.
CHAKOTAY: If you look at it that way, none of my people will ever have seniority.
JANEWAY: That's the problem, right there. They're not your people. You're treating the Maquis on this ship like they're still your crew.
CHAKOTAY: I'm doing everything I can to integrate them into your crew, but frankly, you're not making it easy for me, Captain.
JANEWAY: I can't make it easy, Commander. Surely you can understand that. They don't have the discipline. They don't have the training.
CHAKOTAY: But some of them, like B'Elanna Torres have the ability.
JANEWAY: The Starfleet officers on this ship have worked all their lives to earn their commissions. How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?
CHAKOTAY: You're asking them to accept me.
JANEWAY: You're qualified. You're a graduate of the Academy, and you have Starfleet command experience.
CHAKOTAY: Permission to speak freely.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
CHAKOTAY: I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer.
JANEWAY: Show me another qualified Maquis candidate and I'll consider him.
CHAKOTAY: B'Elanna Torres.
JANEWAY: Who cannot control herself and who could not make it through the Academy.
CHAKOTAY: She's the best engineer I've ever known. She could teach at the Academy. You're right, Captain. I do consider these my people because nobody else on this ship will look out for them like I will. And I'm telling you, you're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty.
JANEWAY: Theirs or yours, Commander?
CHAKOTAY: I'm trying to help you. I'm sorry you don't see that. I strongly recommend you get to know Torres before you choose a new Chief Engineer. Permission to leave.
JANEWAY: Dismissed.

[EMH's office]

(Kes walks into Sickbay.)
KES: Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Holographic system.
EMH: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
KES: Actually, there is no emergency. I'm creating a hydroponics bay. I was told you could provide me with some nitrogenated soil samples.
EMH: That's it?
KES: I'm sorry if
EMH: So it begins. The trivia of medicine is my domain now. Every runny nose, stubbed toe, pimple on a cheek becomes my responsibility.
KES: You are the only doctor we have.
EMH: I am not just a doctor. I've been designed with the information from two thousand medical reference sources and the experience of forty seven individual medical officers. I am the embodiment of modern medicine. How much dirt do you need?
KES: Four samples will be enough.
EMH: Now I know how Hippocrates felt when the king needed him to trim a hangnail.
KES: You're very sensitive, aren't you?
EMH: As a medical practitioner, I require a certain sensitivity to properly address a patient.
KES: I'm talking about you as a person.
EMH: I am merely a hologram.
KES: Doctor, has your programme altered your appearance since I came to Sickbay?
EMH: No. Why?
KES: When I first came in, your head was at the same height as this cabinet. But now you look at least ten centimetres shorter.
(The EMH is slightly shorter than Kes. He goes to his desk and uses the computer.)
EMH: I've just run a diagnostic on my imaging processor. It shows that I've been reduced in height by ten point four centimetres. Sickbay to Operations.

[Bridge]

KIM: This is Kim.
EMH [OC]: The holographic projector in here is malfunctioning. Would you send a repair crew down right away?
KIM: We're little busy right now. We'll get to it

[Sickbay]

KIM [OC]: As soon as we can.
EMH: It's just that I
KIM [OC]: Kim out.
EMH: Well, seems like a very busy day in Operations.
KES: I'm sorry I bothered you with this.
EMH: No trouble at all. Just turn off the programme before you leave.
KES: What's your name?
EMH: What purpose would a name serve a hologram?
KES: I'd just like to know what to call you besides Doctor.
EMH: I guess they never thought I'd be around long enough to need one. What's your name?
KES: Kes.
EMH: Kes. I'm glad I could help you today.
KES: Computer, end programme.

[Bridge]

CAREY [OC]: Carey to Bridge. The subspace tractor beam is online and ready to go, Captain.
JANEWAY: Acknowledged. Mister Tuvok, lock onto that ship.
TUVOK: Engaging tractor beam. It's working. Beam is penetrating the event horizon.
KIM: Engineering, check your power levels. I'm showing

[Engineering]

KIM [OC]: Massive fluctuations.
TORRES: Damn it! The new relays on the power grid aren't holding.

[Bridge]

(Bang! The ship starts shaking.)
PARIS: We're being pulled toward the singularity.
CHAKOTAY: What's going on?
KIM: Power to the tractor beam is down eighty percent. The gravimetric force of the singularity is pulling us in!
JANEWAY: Impulse engines, full reverse!

[Engineering]

JANEWAY [OC]: Disengage the tractor beam.
TORRES: I can't shut it down. The emitter relays are locked.

[Bridge]

KIM: I'm picking up hull stress all over the ship. If we keep engines at full reverse while the tractor beam's engaged, it'll pull the ship apart.
JANEWAY: Cut the engines.
PARIS: We're moving forward again.
JANEWAY: Engineering, get that tractor beam offline.

[Engineering]

CAREY: Captain, I can shut it down but I'll have to get in there and physically cut the main power feed.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Do it.
(A few more seconds of shaking, then all is still.)
TUVOK: Tractor beam disengaged.
JANEWAY: Move us to a safe distance, Mister Paris.
CHAKOTAY: Are we abandoning the rescue attempt?
JANEWAY: No, but we are going to need some help. Lay in a course for the Ilidaria system, full impulse. Have Mister Neelix report to the Bridge. It looks like we're going to follow his suggestion after all.

[Ready room]

(Janeway is working with a PADD and computer when the doorbell rings.)
JANEWAY: Come in.
(Torres enters.)
TORRES: You asked to see me, Captain?
JANEWAY: Have a seat.
TORRES: I just want you to know that I have personally gone over every emitter relay again and refitted four of them myself.
JANEWAY: No one blames you for what happened. Commander Chakotay thinks very highly of you. He's recommended you for Chief Engineer.
TORRES: Well, er, we've, er, we've been through a few scrapes together.
JANEWAY: Do you think you're ready?
TORRES: Ready?
JANEWAY: Ready to be Chief Engineer on a starship.
TORRES: Well, I think I know my way around an engine room, if that's what you mean.
JANEWAY: It's part of what I mean. There's also the matter of your ability to command others. I'm not sure I'd be doing you a favour by putting you in charge down there. There'd be a lot of hard feelings toward you from many of the Starfleet people.
TORRES: I'm not bothered by what people think of me.
JANEWAY: And the job requires knowledge of Starfleet protocol, experience with Starfleet methodologies.
TORRES: Listen, Captain, if you don't think I'm right for this job, just say so.
JANEWAY: I'll be honest. I'm not sure whether you are or not. That's why I wanted to meet, try to get to know you a little better. I've been studying your Academy record.
TORRES: Where did you get that?
JANEWAY: Thanks to Tuvok, we had the names of your entire crew by the time we left DS9. Four disciplinary hearings, one suspension. You had quite a turbulent couple of years, didn't you.
TORRES: Yeah, I guess you could say that.
JANEWAY: What do you think the problem was?
TORRES: The problem? The problem was a system that didn't give anyone a chance to breathe.
JANEWAY: We work under that same system on this ship.
TORRES: Then I guess maybe this is just a bad idea.
JANEWAY: Why did you quit the Academy, B'Elanna?
TORRES: I didn't want to have anything to do with Starfleet then, and I'm sorry that I have to now.
(Torres leaves.)
EMH [OC]: Sickbay to Captain Janeway.
JANEWAY: Yes, Doctor?
EMH [OC]: May I request you activate monitor input forty seven, your Emergency Medical Holograph channel?
JANEWAY: Of course. I'm getting a distorted transmission.
EMH [on monitor]: No. In fact, that is how I appear at present. I'm shrinking.
JANEWAY: Shrinking?
EMH [on monitor]: There appears to be a malfunction in my imaging system. It's been reducing my height by five centimetres every hour. I've been waiting all day for repairs. That is not, however, what I'm calling about. Over the past three hours, nine crew members have reported unusual symptoms, severe headaches, muscle spasms and sudden waves of dizziness.
JANEWAY: All of this could be related to the quantum singularity.
EMH [on monitor]: Quantum singularity?
JANEWAY: It was sending out strong spatial distortions. They might have affected the crew, and your systems as well.
EMH [on monitor]: You know, Captain, if we were in the vicinity of a quantum singularity I should have been informed.
JANEWAY: You're right. I'll look into linking your programme into the ship's data.
(Bang! Janeway gets up from her desk and goes to the Bridge.)
EMH [on monitor]: Hello? Captain? Hello?

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Report.
CHAKOTAY: It looks like we're running into more spatial distortions.
KIM: I'm picking up a highly localised disturbance off the port bow.
JANEWAY: On screen. Mister Tuvok?
TUVOK: It is another type four quantum singularity. Physical and temporal dimensions are identical to the one we encountered earlier.
PARIS: Captain, according to these readings, we've returned to our previous co-ordinates. This isn't another singularity. It's the same one.
JANEWAY: Check the navigational logs. Confirm our position.
KIM: Well, they show we've travelled one point four light years away from the anomaly, but I've confirmed our position against the star chart. We're definitely back where we started. Doesn't make sense.
PARIS: They can't both be right. We're either still at the singularity or we're not.
JANEWAY: Well, we can see the singularity so I tend to believe that the external sensors are correct.
TUVOK: That would imply there was something wrong with the warp drive and the navigational logs.
JANEWAY: Mister Paris, lay in a course away from the singularity. This time at maximum warp. Ensign Kim, I want you to keep a sensor lock on the singularity. Verify that we're moving away from it. Engage.
KIM: Distance from the singularity is ten million kilometres and increasing.
PARIS: Warp engines holding steady. All systems report normal.
KIM: Eleven million. Twelve million. (beep beep) I don't get it. Mister Paris, have we altered course?
PARIS: No. We're still steady on three one zero mark two one five.
KIM: Then something's really wrong here. It's ahead of us again.
SESKA: Confirmed. We're back at the same co-ordinates.
JANEWAY: All stop. Ensign Kim, transfer all the data on spatial distortions we encountered to my ready room. I'm going to begin my own analysis. Commander, have all departments run complete system diagnostics. I'll expect a full report from all senior officers at fifteen hundred hours.
CHAKOTAY: Who will represent Engineering?
JANEWAY: Lieutenant Carey.
CHAKOTAY: You should invite B'Elanna Torres as well, unless you've removed her from consideration.
JANEWAY: Fine.

[Engineering]

CAREY: The Captain says she wants you to attend the staff meeting this afternoon.
TORRES: Oh. Well, I'll give you a full report on what happens.
CAREY: I'll be there too. Just remember, Torres, I'm the senior officer and I speak for Engineering. Try not to say anything unless someone asks you a question. Fifteen hundred hours, deck one. Don't be late.
(Carey walks away.)
SESKA: You should have broken more than his nose.

[Corridor]

KIM: I've taken a look at every major subsystem and there's no sign of any trouble.
TUVOK: What about the navigational array?
KIM: I'll have the results in about an hour. So, I hear there's been some trouble down in Engineering.
TUVOK: There was an altercation, but it has been resolved.
KIM: That's not what I hear. I hear that the whole department's up in arms, that the Maquis and Starfleet people are almost at each other's throats.
TUVOK: I will never cease to be amazed by the human capacity for hyperbole. The situation may be characterised as tense, but one could hardly say that they're about to become violent.
KIM: I just hope you're right. Things are bad enough around here without, ow!
TUVOK: Are you all right?
KIM: Yeah. I just have this splitting headache and
(Kim falls to his knees.)
TUVOK: I'd better get you to Sickbay.
KIM: Dizzy. Can't, can't focus.

[Briefing room]

EMH [on monitor]: Twenty seven other crew members have now reported the symptoms. And yet, when I examined each of them, I couldn't find anything wrong. I have no diagnosis, no prognosis, no recommended treatment. I'll contact you when I have something more to contribute. And by the way, I am now sixty eight centimetres shorter. I'd appreciated it if someone would repair my holographic projectors before I have trouble reaching my patients.
(Transmission ends.)
JANEWAY: I finished my study of the spatial distortions coming from the singularity. I can give you a long, boring analysis. Suffice it to say, I don't know what's going on. The readings are confused, the data is contradictory. None of it makes any sense. Anyone have anything more constructive?
TUVOK: Ship-wide diagnostics have revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
CAREY: I tried sending out a tachyon signal to scan the singularity but all I got back was static.
CHAKOTAY: B'Elanna, do you think you can work with Mister Carey to clean up that signal?
TORRES: Yes.
JANEWAY: Good.
TORRES: But it won't work. I mean, it was a good idea to try it but it won't work.
JANEWAY: You have another idea?
TORRES: I was just thinking about the problem with the Doctor's holographic projectors. It seems like the spatial distortions might be interfering with the projectors phase alignment.
JANEWAY: That was my guess too.
TORRES: If that's the case, I could screen out those distortions by setting up a localised dampening field around the projectors.
CAREY: Is our priority here really the Medical Holograph system?
TORRES: My point is, that if the spatial distortions are also interfering with the transmission we received from the other ship
JANEWAY: We could set up a similar field around our external sensors and communicate with them.
TORRES: Exactly. And they may know more about what's going on than we do.
JANEWAY: Let's give it a try. Dismissed.
(Chakotay turns back at the door, and Janeway gives a little smile and a nod.)

[Bridge]

TORRES: Emitters online. I'm rerouting the damping field through the deflector grid.
JANEWAY: Open a channel to the other ship.
(Still garbled words from the woman. Possibly the word singularity in there.)
TORRES: Ramping up field intensity.
KIM: It's working. We're cutting through the distortions.
VOICE [OC]: to the vessel near
JANEWAY: Remodulate the EM band. See if you can clear it up a little more.
KIM: Compensating for amplitude distortion.
JANEWAY [OC]: This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?
CHAKOTAY: That's your hail.
TORRES: I'm applying the damping field to our visual scanners. I'll see if I can clarify the image.
PARIS: It's the Voyager. It's us.
(Everyone stares at the viewscreen.)
PARIS: Sensors confirm it's definitely USS Voyager.
TUVOK: I've been hailing the ship on all frequencies. No response.
JANEWAY: I don't think you'll get a response, Lieutenant. That message we unscrambled is the same message I sent out nine hours ago.
KIM: Could we have travelled back in time and met ourselves?
TORRES: No, that's not it. I think I have an explanation.

[Briefing room]

TORRES: Think of it like this. You're sitting at the bottom of a pond, which is frozen over, and you look up at the surface and you see a reflection of yourself. Now, you might think you're looking at another person sitting at the bottom of another pond, looking back at you.
JANEWAY: And in this case, we'd be staring up at the surface of the event horizon and seeing a time-delayed reflection of ourselves.
CHAKOTAY: Are you saying we're the ones trapped in the singularity?
TORRES: Unfortunately, yes.
JANEWAY: You're right. It's the only theory that explains everything that's happened to us. We've probably been in this singularity since we felt the first jolt.
PARIS: Wait a minute. Wait. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. We were cruising along at warp seven, then we pick up a distress call and moved in to investigate. But now you're saying that the other ship is actually just a reflection of us and that the distress call is actually just the Captain's opening hail. But we picked up the distress call before she sent the hail. How could we have been seeing a reflection of something we hadn't even done yet? Am I making any sense here?
JANEWAY: No, but that's okay. One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in temporal mechanics is that sometimes effect can precede cause. A reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it.
KIM: So what do we do to get out?
TORRES: I'm not sure. But I do know one thing. That as we slide deeper into the singularity, the spatial distortions are increasing. According to my calculations, within nine hours, they'll crush the ship.
JANEWAY: If your analogy's correct, how do we get through that sheet of ice?
TORRES: Look for a crack.
JANEWAY: Or make a crack. Take something and smack it into the ice until it buckles.
TORRES: Wait a minute. What if we've already made a crack in the ice?
JANEWAY: When we first entered the event horizon.
(Er, how do you make a hole in gravity?)
TORRES: If we could find our entry point, we might be able to slip out the way we came in.
JANEWAY: So we'd be looking for a subspace instability in the event horizon. What would make it show up on our sensors?
TORRES + JANEWAY: Warp particles.
JANEWAY: If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles, we might be able to see the escaping through the rupture we made when we entered.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok, take the main deflector off-line. Mister Kim, reroute the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector. We can use it to generate a warp field.
TUVOK: Deflectors off-line.
KIM: Initialising plasma flow.
JANEWAY: Release the warp particles.
(An orange beam hits the black hole, lighting it up.)
PARIS: Scanning the singularity.
TORRES: Anything?
KIM: Not yet. Warp particles at full intensity.
PARIS: I'm picking up something. A slight irregularity. It could be a rupture in the event horizon.
JANEWAY: Put it on screen.
PARIS: It is a rupture, Captain. It's fifteen metres by ten metres.
TORRES: Oh, it's too small. It must have collapsed since we first passed through it.
JANEWAY: We found the crack. That's the important thing. Now, how do we make it bigger.
TORRES: Put a wedge in it and force it open. We could try a dekyon beam.
JANEWAY: All right, a dekyon beam. Mister Paris, bring us closer.
PARIS: Captain, if we get too close to the rupture our warp engines might make it collapse even further.
JANEWAY: Can we emit a beam from here?
KIM: The rupture's over fifty million kilometres away. We don't have enough power to project a dekyon beam that far.
JANEWAY: We'll have to take a shuttlecraft.
PARIS: You'll need the best pilot you've got in that shuttle, Captain. That'll be me.
JANEWAY: Getting there is the easy part, Mister Paris. We need someone who's familiar with the finer points of temporal mechanics, and unless you've been hiding your credentials, I don't think that's you. B'Elanna, you're with me. The Bridge is yours, Commander.

[Shuttlecraft]

JANEWAY: We've cleared Voyager.
TORRES: Shields at full strength.
JANEWAY: We'll reach the rupture in approximately four and a half minutes. Let's get that dekyon beam online.
TORRES: Remodulating emitters. Captain, I want to apologise for losing my temper in your Ready room. I think maybe you were hitting a little bit too close to home, you know? I respect Chakotay but he's wrong. I'm not officer material and we both know it. The truth is, I quit the Academy because I realised I couldn't make it in Starfleet, and believe me, no one was sorry to see me go.
JANEWAY: Professor Chapman was.
TORRES: What?
JANEWAY: He put a letter in your permanent file saying that should you ever re-apply, he would support you. He thought you were one of the most promising cadets he'd ever taught.
TORRES: I fought with him almost every day. I was always questioning his, his methods, his assumptions, and he was always slapping me down like some upstart kid. I was surprised he didn't help me pack my bags.
JANEWAY: Some professors like students who challenge their assumptions, B'Elanna. And so do some captains. Professor Chapman wasn't alone. Many of your teachers thought you had the potential to be an outstanding officer. You had more friends at the Academy than you realised. We're fifteen kilometres from the rupture. Start charging the dekyon beam.
TORRES: Dekyon beam online. (bang) Shields down to sixty two percent.
JANEWAY: Increase speed. We have to get to that rupture before these spatial distortions tear us apart. All right. Let's open this hole in the ice a little wider. Initiate the dekyon beam.

[Bridge]

KIM: They've widened the rupture by almost thirty five percent.
PARIS: They'll have to widen it twice that much before Voyager can make it through.
(Bang! Voyage starts shaking again.)
CHAKOTAY: Hold our position! Mister Tuvok, report.
TUVOK: The spatial distortions are increasing.
KIM: Hull integrity has dropped

[Shuttlecraft]

KIM [OC]: Eighteen percent.
JANEWAY: We've widened the opening by over sixty five percent. I'd like another five for safety.
TORRES: We're losing power. I don't think we're going to get any more, Captain.
(The shaking stops.)
JANEWAY: Let's get back to Voyager.

[Bridge]

(It is peaceful here, too.)
TUVOK: The shuttle is returning, Commander. It appears as though they've been damaged. Their comm. system's down. I am unable to raise them.
KIM: The rupture's now one hundred twenty metres in diameter. That leaves us with less than two metres clearance on either side.
CHAKOTAY: Mister Paris, as soon as we've recovered the shuttlecraft, lay in a course toward the rupture and take us out.
PARIS: Aye, sir.

[Shuttlecraft]

(The shuttlecraft is returning to two Voyagers, one coming towards them and one facing away.)
TORRES: Well, this is a problem.
JANEWAY: One of them is a temporal reflection, but which one? I'm getting identical readings from both ships.
TORRES: Captain, the rupture is starting to collapse again. If Voyager doesn't get through it within the next five minutes, they'll never get out.
JANEWAY: That means we have one chance to pick the correct ship.
TORRES: Simple choice. Port or starboard?
JANEWAY: Starboard.
TORRES: Port. The port ship is more likely to be the real one. It's closer to the rupture. That means,
(The shaking starts again.)
TORRES: That means they're holding position as close as they can to the rupture, waiting for us to dock before they head out.
JANEWAY: No. It may be closer to the rupture, but it's facing the wrong direction. The starboard ship is facing away from us. That means they're trying to give us easy access to the shuttlebay.
TORRES: There has to be some way to tell them apart besides which direction they're facing.
JANEWAY: The starboard ship's thrusters are at standby. They're holding position. But the port ship is moving toward the rupture.
TORRES: Then I was right. It's the port ship. They're heading out.
JANEWAY: Don't you see? Voyager did move toward the rupture twenty minutes ago when we first discovered it. That's why the port ship is moving toward it now. It's a time-delayed reflection of what we did before. The starboard ship's the real one. They're waiting for us.
TORRES: If you're wrong, we're going to have a long time to debate it.
(The shuttlecraft heads towards the visible hangar deck.)
TORRES: We're ready to dock.
JANEWAY: All right. Cut the thrusters. Let's see what happens. (Bump as they come to a halt on the deck.) Feels like a real ship to me. Let's get back to the Bridge.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Commander Chakotay, report.
CHAKOTAY: We're almost to the rupture. Mister Paris is about to impress us with his piloting skills.
KIM: The rupture's collapsing. It's down to one hundred ten metres wide.
TORRES: That's too narrow. We're not going to make it.
JANEWAY: In command school, they taught us to always remember that manoeuvring a starship is a very delicate process. But over the years I've learned that sometimes you just have to punch your way through. Mister Paris, full impulse power.
(As they approach the rift, the ship starts shaking again and people fall about.)
TUVOK: Shields are down.
PARIS: I'm losing power to the port impulse engine.
KIM: Switching to auxiliary power.
TUVOK: Hull integrity failing.
JANEWAY: Keep it together, Mister Paris.
(Voyager blasts through the remaining rift and out.)
TUVOK: We've cleared the event horizon, Captain. We've returned to normal space.
PARIS: Sometimes you just have to punch your way through. I'll have to remember that one.
JANEWAY: Set a course. I want to be at least one hundred million kilometres away from the singularity before we begin repairs.

[Engineering]

(Chakotay escorts Torres into main engineering.)
CHAKOTAY: There they are. Your staff.
TORRES: I'll try not to break any of their noses.
CHAKOTAY: First order of the day. The Captain wants the warp drive back online by thirteen hours.
TORRES: Thirteen hundred? That's impossible.
CHAKOTAY: Then maybe you need to go break a few noses, or at least bend a few. Lieutenant.
(Chakotay leaves.)
TORRES: All right. Get that isolinear bank up and running. And lock down those plasma relays. Please. I'm going to be counting on you, Lieutenant. I'm not up to date on the latest Starfleet protocols and I know that you're probably more familiar with the quirks of this warp engine than I am right now. I hope that I can depend on you.
CAREY: I assure you, you'll never get less than my best. Lieutenant, congratulations. Welcome aboard.
(Carey offers Torres his hand, and she shakes it.)

[Engineering upper level]

(Chakotay joins Janeway on the catwalk behind the warp core.)
CHAKOTAY: Are you checking up on your new Chief Engineer?
JANEWAY: Observing.
CHAKOTAY: And?
JANEWAY: Two crew members have already filed complaints about her promotion and she may be in for a tough period of adjustment, but I think B'Elanna's going to make a fine addition to this crew. Our crew.
CHAKOTAY: Can I ask you a question, off the record? If things had happened differently, and we were on the Maquis ship now instead of Voyager, would you have served under me?
(They walk down the steps to main engineering.)
JANEWAY: One of the nice things about being Captain is that you can keep some things to yourself.
EMH [OC]: Sickbay to Captain Janeway.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
EMH [OC]: Is someone ever going to come down here and fix my holographic projectors?
JANEWAY: We're little busy right now, Doctor.

[EMH's office]

JANEWAY [OC]: But I'll send a crew down as soon as I can.
(The EMH is standing on his chair. His shoulders barely clear the armrests. He also sounds rather like a Chipmunk.)
EMH: I would appreciate a certain expediency in the matter.
JANEWAY [OC]: Acknowledged. Janeway out.
(Paris enters.)
EMH: I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but whatever it is you're going to have to take care of it yourself.
PARIS: Oh, it's all right. It's just a scratch, really. You know, I like you better this way.