Gäst skådisar:
Ray Wise som Arturis
Jack Shearer som Starfleet Admiral Hayes

Janeway försöker fortfarande att deschiffra det krypterade meddelandet dom fick från Starfleet tidigare i år ("Hunters"), men det krävs en
hjälpsam utomstående, Arturius, för att avkoda det. Och han är ganska hjälpsam, men har reservationer mot f.d Borgen eftersom dom försökt assimilera hans ras, ett försök som dragit ut på tiden med tanke på deras låga index nummer - "ras 116". Och den misstron går åt båda hållen.
Allas hopp om att komma hem tar över allas logiska tänkande. Utom Sevens, som inte har något hopp.
I meddelandet finns koordinater, 10 ljusår därifrån. Och Voyager åker dit asap och finner ett Starfleet skepp. USS Dauntless, ett
experimentellt skepp med en helt nya motor, en s.k "quantum slipstream drive". Och det var denna som gjorde det möjligt för skeppet att åka över 60 000 ljusår på några månader. Så nu är planen att Voyagers besättningen överger Voyager och tar Dauntless hem.
Men Janeway ser att det är något för perfekt, men har inget konkret att gå på. När Kim undersöker en panel i engineering kortsluts den
nästan och byter skepnad i en millisekund. Något mysko så han och Tuvok undersöker vidare, medan 7 börjar mer och mer tvivla på att hon vill åka med Voyager till jorden. Janeway jobbar på att dekryptera resten av meddelandet, den delen som Arturius inte "kunde" fixa. Men hon lyckas, och det är ett annat meddelande från Admiral Hayes, där han ber om ursäkt att Starfleet inte kan hjälpa dom med något
kreativt. Och dom inser nu att Arturius kanske inte var så hjälpsam.
När dom konforonterar honom skyller han på Seven, för han såg henne mecka med algoritmer. Naturligtvis tror dom inte på honom och när dom skall arrestera honom lyckas han aktivera slipstream motorn. Voyager hinner beama alla därifrån, utom 7 och Janeway som är fångade bakom ett kraftfält. Som vilken bra bad-guy som helst avslöjar han hela planen. Hans ras, som lyckats undvika Borgerna i århundraden, blev tillslut invaderade och deras sista hopp var kriget mellan Borgerna och Species 8472, ett krig som Janeway klampade in och fixade, till Borgernas favör. Och som tack för detta lurade han deras besättning till sitt skepp, som han maskerat som ett Starfleet skepp, för att sen leverera dom till kollektivet för att bli assimilerade.
Chakotay ger dock inte upp så lätt utan drar igång Voyagers prototyp version av slipstream motorn och ger sig av för att rädda sin kapten
och Seven. Arturius har spärrat in Seven och Janeway i sin arrest, med vanliga kraftfält. Men eftersom Borgerna inte har några problem att gå rakt igenom kraftfält borde ju Seven och klara det. Och efter lite meckande med hennes Borg inplantat lyckas hon klämma sig igenom och fria sig själv och Janeway som sedan lyckas beama sig till Voyager och lämnar Arturis åt sitt öde med Borgerna

Joe Menosky, om varför dom hellre gjorde ett "vanligt" avsnitt än en cliffhanger:
"The two-parters have been very successful over the last season, in terms of ratings and publicity opportunities. But we didn't want to go
to that well too often. The studio called and said 'If you don't want to do a cliffhanger, we don't mind'. They weren't pushing for a big
two-parter and a big cliffhanger. [..] Brannon had an image of Seven at the helm of one ship, Janeway at the helm of the other, and them
heading toward each other at breakneck speed, as if we were going to bring to a culmination the character arc that had been established
between them in 'The Gift' - the struggle, and Seven finding her identity, but it not being at all the identity that Janeway would have
preferred. This was supposed to be an exploration of that. It ended up being something that was more of a recap of that, and a summing-up of the season in a strange sort of way, revisiting that dynamic between them but not forcing it so dramatically and obviously out into the
open."
"This episode really does take some crazy turns. If you didn't see the promo, and somebody hadn't leaked the script onto the Net, you'd
probably be surprised by the twists and turns in it, because you think it's going one way, and then it's really going another way entirely.
I'm not completely satisfied with it. Rick Berman likes it alot, and thinks it works pretty well as a season-ender. I'm not sure if the
strange twists and turns make up a satisfying whole, but they might. I'm still a little too close to it to see it that way."

Brannon Braga :
"It revisits Janeway and Seven's relationship one final time in the season, and the dynamic that they have evolved. It's a good story in
its own right, but it's a nice retrospecitve on where we stand as a series. The villain, played by Way Wise, is an alien whose species was
assimilated by the Borg as a result of Janeway's deal with the devil back in 'Scorpion'. He is seeking revenge in Janeway. So it's got a
great villain, with those classic TREK larger-than-life themes."

Ron Moore, om att skapa Dauntless:
"Since this was going to be a Federation ship, or at least the illusion of a Federation ship, it had to be something that was
consistent with the Star Trek universe. For a Federation ship, that's something with a lot of rules, and I don't really know all of them. So
we got Rick Sternbach (who else!? stoffs anm) involved, and went through a number of drawings before Rich Berman and Peter Lauritson
and the powers that be selected one. Foundation [Imaging] modeled it out. I asked them to show me the model first as just a rough, so we
could see it from the various angles. A lot of times you love a drawing, but when you see it in 3-D, it doesn't work as well. I wanted
them to rotate it around and let us get a feel for the shape. Once we had that, we wanted to see surface textures. And Mojo and John Teska out at Foundation spent a lot of time texturing. The first time we saw the texture it looked very similar to the Voyager. Sternbach said that he wanted something that made it look more futuristic, like it was made out of copper, some kind of a color that's a little bit
different. I loved that, so we set out to do that. Foundation would send over two or three tests, and we'd look at them until we fianlly got what we wanted."

[om hur skeppets brygga ändrades från good-bridge till bad-bridge]
"There were shots where we discover that the Dauntless is in fact an alien ship. The Dauntless bridge was a really huge set. The idea of
being able to go in and change this set over from Federation to alien, or the other way, was a big job. It would take a day to go in and
redress everything, all the graphics had to change. For an optical, to see a change, we need to lock a camera down, shoot it one way, say
Federation, then make sure nobody touches the camera, go in and change everything, and then shoot the B side. They just couldn't afford to do that. So we had to pick angles that would allow us to see it start to change in a close up, and then back up for a wide shot and see it finish. We were able to pick a part of the bridg set where we saw some of the background but not all all of it. We're looking down at the big long control panel. We see it start to change. Then we come to the back of the bridge and we see a graphic there change, and then the camera pans around and you see the very tail-end of the change as the whole bridge is revealed as an alien bridge. It worked out pretty
good, and we were able to just have to shoot one shot second-unit."
"There's another shot where Ensign Kim is in the back of engineering, and he's fooling around with his tricorder and something shorts-out,
and he sees that there is alien technology there. They didn't want to make a set. I took some still photos of alien technology, I used some
graphics, that sort of thing, and built a virtual set in the edit bay to match, just moving things around."

[om nästa problem - slipstream drive. Eller snarare, hur kan Voyager
svänga i den hastigheten, ett problem som skulle skapa friktion mellan producenter och effekt-folket]
"It's described that the Voyager would make a U-turn. I just couldn't see that. We're going a ludicrous speed (hur många har sett
Spaceballs/Det Våras för Rymden ? :)). It would take a really wide turn at this speed to make a U-turn. I tried to tell them that we'll
cut to normal space, we'll see the Voyager pop out, and then we'll go back to the slipstream and see that the Dauntless is still continuing,
so we have a direct cut between what the two ships are doing. Brannon didn't care for that, because we've got to get the ship back. If we're
heading at ludicrous speed back toward Borg space, then we're going backwards, and the idea of turning around while we are traveling at
this high speed meant that we'll get back where we started, or perhaps further."
"I suggested, why don't we have it pop into normal space, make its U-turn, then zoom away, and have it go back into slipstream? We all
agreed on it because that's cheaper, because we're going to do that same effect a couple of other times in the show. Then Rick Berman saw it, and he felt differently. He wanted to see it inside [the slipstream]. Dan Curry and I said 'We don't want to do it. It will
look cheesy'. Well, that's just the way it is. We need to see the turn. So we talked to Mojo, and I told him what I wanted to see
happen. He ran a test, sent it to me, and I wasn't quite there, but immediately I saw this is going to work. So I talked to Mojo and I
also talked to John Teska about how I could get what I wanted based on what they had already shown me. John gave us the shot, and it's really cool. It's another of those times where Rick was right. I hate it when that happens. But the show is better for it."

Här dyker mycket kontinuitets grejer upp, allt från kända raser (Bolians, Ktarians etc) men det mest förvånansvärda är Jack
Shearer som här spelar Admiral Hayes. Inget ont om honom, men han förmodades ha omkommit när hans flagskepp förstördes i "First
Contact". Men dom rapporterna var visst överdrivna. (lixom stoffs försök till att vara rolig) Kan oxå nämna att Species 116 är det lägsta indexet vi hört, spöar den medicinskt avancerade rasen #149.

Än en gång skall det skapas en futuristisk sport, och även om phaser-skjutningen mellan Worf och Guinan var bra då krävdes det något
mer action i denna sport för att sätta upp dynamiken i första scene.
Rick Sternbach kom upp med principerna, och Winrich Kolbe (regisörren) anpassade idéerna till något konkret. När det filmades had dom bara en disk på en stång som dom använde som referens, men Ronald D. Moore och Dan Curry slog sina effektfulla huvuden ihop, och tillsammans med f/x koordinator Elizabeth Castro fixade dom datoranimerade disken med phaser skott och allt.
Dom generella reglerna, enligt Moore, i sporten är - Person A skjuter sin phaser på en disk, som reflekteras beroende på vinkel av phaser
strålen. Den ändrar då färg till rött och ger sig av mot Person B. Person B skall då undvika den och skjuta den med sin phaser. Då ändrar
den till blått och ger sig av mot Person A igen. Träffas Person A får Person B poäng. CGI animeringen gjordes sen av Foundation Imaging.
Vart namnet Dauntless kommer ifrån har jag gått bet på. Det översätts till svenska som "oförfärad"/"orädd" (översättningar som f.ö passar in på Voyagers klass, Intrepid), men någon djupare innebörd har jag inte funnit.
Ray Wise gör sitt andra Star Trek framträdande, första var i TNG:"Who Watches the Watchers". Han är dock mest känd från sin roll som stygg pappa i Twin Peaks.
Det skulle vara intressant att träffa på den rasen som Neelix och Paris träffade som visst skulle vara xenon baserade. Dom skulle i så
fall bara kunna existera i ett 3.8 gradigt intervall, mellan -111.9 grader då dom skulle smälta och -108.1 då dom skulle koka.

Av dom manus som jag läst i samband med avsnittet har dom oftast bara skiljt sig på något ord eller något, i det mest extrema fallet när
Jeri Ryan sade fel Stardate. Men i detta är det en hel del ord som inte stämmer, en hel mening som är "fel" (Janeway säger "Let's get
weapons" fast det enligt manuset borde varit "Grab a phaser"). Den mest uppenbara är scenen när Janeway konfronterar Artirius och han
skyller på 7. I manuset skulle hon då i ett tvivelaktigt ögonblick titta på 7. Och sen när Tuvok skjuter honom sker saker i "fel" ordning
jämfört med manuset. En återkommande avvikelse är Seven, som vanligtvis i manuset använder "don't", "we're" och såna förkortningar,
men i själv avsnittet säger "do not" och "we are", lite Data över det hela. En sak som har tycks var en "miss" är att efter Arturius
avaktiverar all illusion på bryggan om att detta skulle vara ett Starfleet skepp, med LCARS systemm. Men i Engineering synd fortfarande
LCARS och verkar vara Starfleet issue. Men i manuset står det specifikt att dom skall vara det. Om det nu var så från början, eller ett "tänkte inte på det" grej vet jag inte.

Janeway: "You won 4 out of 10 rounds, nothing to be ashamed of."
7: "On the contrary, I have superior visual acuity and stamina, I
should have won every round."

7: "You're fatigued and concerned I will defeat you."
Janeway: "Tired, yes. Concerned, no."

"She should have som Borg algorithms up her sleeve."
- Janeway om 7

Arturius: "Are you Borg?"
7: "Yes."
Arturius: "You're much more attractive than the average drone."

"Species 116. [..] The Borg have never been able to assimilate them.
Not yet."
- 7

Paris: "Wow..."
Tuvok: "'Wow' indeed."

"I'm kidding, 7, it's a joke. Work on that sense of humor, it will
help to make friends on Earth."
- B'Elanna

"For what it's worth, it won't be the same without you :)"
- Kim

7: "I may have come a long way. But not in the direction you think. You've attempted to influence my development. You've exposed me to
your culture and ideals. You hoped to shape me in your own image. But you have failed. You may have noticed our tendancy to disagree?"
Janeway: "Oh, I've noticed."
7: "Then you must also recognize that I don't share your values. Your desire to explore space is inefficient... your need for familial connections is a weakness. Your infatuation with this planet is irrational."
Janeway: "I won't argue that you've turned out ... differently that I expected... and that we often have conflicting points of view. But right now, the stakes are higher. This crew needs your expertise. Abandon them and you diminish their chances of getting home."
7 : "Irrelevant."
Janeway: "No, it's not. We've given you a lot, Seven... it's time you gave something in return."
7: "I have... on many occasions. Now, I refuse."
[för nitpickers kan jag avslöja att enligt manuset skall det vara "Then you SHOULD also recognize", och Janeways kommentar borde vara
"There's more at stake"]

7: "Perhaps it's an addendum from the Admiral. You did designate him a 'windbag'"

Janeway: "We'd better think of something. We come face-to-face with your former family in less than an hour... and that's one reunion I'd like to miss. Unless you're looking forward to rejoining the Collective?"
7: "I do not believe I am."
Janeway: "Not the ringing opposition I was hoping for, but I'll take it."

Janeway: "I'm your Captain. That means I cant always be your friend. Understand?"
7: "No. However, if we are assimilated, our thought will become one and I'm sire I'll understand perfectly. :)"

Janeway: "I thought that was impossible."
7: "Impossible is a word that humans use far too often."
[..]
Janeway: "Sounds to me like you're starting to embrace your humanity?"
7: "No. But as I said, nothing is impossible."