Friendship One (Star Trek: Voyager)

"Friendship One" is the 167th episode of the science fiction television series, Star Trek: Voyager, the 21st episode of the seventh season.

Plot

An old Earth probe, Friendship 1, approaches a Delta Quadrant planet, to the puzzlement of that planet's astronomers.

USS Voyager is assigned its first mission by Starfleet since becoming stranded in the Delta quadrant in the year 2371. Captain Janeway informs the crew that they have been assigned to find an ancient Earth probe launched several years after Earth's first warp flight. The probe, named Friendship 1, carried information on technology, such as antimatter reactors and communication transceivers. After doing calculations to avoid such things as stellar drift, Harry Kim suggests skipping to the most likely place. They discover the probe is presently on a planet undergoing a nuclear winter.

The Delta Flyer is sent down to investigate and retrieve the probe; however, after searching and finding a part of the probe, several humanoids ambush and kidnap Tom Paris, Neelix, and Lt. Joe Carey.

Chakotay and Harry return to the Delta Flyer, where Chakotay discovers that someone has tampered with the systems. Harry is attacked in the cargo bay, but Chakotay enters and stuns the humanoid assailant with his phaser. As the Delta Flyer shakes, Harry and Chakotay return to the cockpit and discover they are being attacked with anti-matter weapons. Chakotay takes the Delta Flyer up, stating that they will have to return for Tom, Neelix, and Carey.

The planet hails the starship Voyager, and Janeway and a man named Verin communicate. Verin demands that Voyager move his people to a safe planet (a process that will take nearly three years). Back on Voyager, Janeway and Chakotay talk and enter the sickbay where the Doctor awakens Otrin, the attacker they stunned on the planet. Otrin explains to Janeway that the technology brought by Friendship 1 was improperly used by the people of the planet, with a containment failure in a power grid releasing anti-matter into the atmosphere and creating the nuclear winter on his planet. This also explains why Verin and all his people despise humans, rather than themselves, for their current dilemma. They believe Voyager is there to conquer the planet now that they have destroyed themselves with the antimatter technology.

Using her nanoprobes, Seven of Nine begins to heal Otrin. Meanwhile, Janeway attempts to negotiate with Verin, offering some food and medicine in exchange for one of the three hostages; however, moments before he is beamed away, Verin kills Carey, sending a corpse to Voyager. Carey, who first appeared in the pilot episode, is the final explicit crew fatality of the series.

Janeway tells Verin that killing Carey won't change her mind about the futile evacuation rather than nanoprobe plan, but after he threatens the rest of the prisoners, she appears to agree to his demands. Meanwhile, they come up with another strategy. Seven continues to help Otrin recover and suggests that a different outlook may be needed than that of their current leader.

Voyager sends down the Delta Flyer with several officers. Tuvok is captured by the planet's natives and is brought to the caves, where the others are being held. Upon entering, one of the captors fires his weapon and renders the other captors unconscious - Tuvok's escort removes his head cover, revealing himself to be the Doctor. As Tom Paris, Neelix, Tuvok and the Doctor prepare to beam out, Tom decides to bring along the child they helped save to Voyager, where he can receive medical care from their Doctor.

Otrin along with Seven show their invention to Janeway, a solution to correcting the planet's atmosphere. They consider using photon torpedoes to cause a chain reaction, applying their idea on a planetary scale.

As Voyager hails Otrin, notifying him that they are ready to begin, he wishes them good luck. When Voyager begins firing the modified photon torpedoes, the shockwaves of the explosions cause Verin to become paranoid, and proceeds to activate the planet's defenses; however, the people of the planet stop him.

A young child enters the caves telling everybody to hurry outside. Once outside, they discover that winter has disappeared. The sun has come out and the young girl says it’s beautiful.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Friendship One

• "Friendship One" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Friendship One" at TV.com
• Friendship One at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Friendship One at StarTrek.com