“Alliances” is episode fourteen of season two of Star Trek: Voyager.
The episode opens with Voyager under attack by two Kazon ships. It’s in bad shape but the Kazon retreat. Voyager‘s engines are offline, shields and weapons arrays are down, B’Elanna has to shut down the warp engines to avoid a breach and impulse engines are gone as well. They have thrusters and a lot of casualties in engineering. B’Elanna contacts sickbay and the Doctor hopes it’s urgent. Sickbay is already full of casualties. There’s a hull breach and many casualties, but no fatalities. Tom heads to engineering to help B’Elanna. Tuvok informs Captain Janeway that the navigational deflector has suffered massive damage. It needs repair if they want to travel using more than thrusters. In sickbay, a man B’Elanna beamed directly from engineering is dead.
Chakotay comes into the captain’s ready room and informs her of his death. He also wants to discuss something else. The rules have changed and if they want to survive, they may need to change too. When Voyager first started home, they made a conscious decision to have it be a Starfleet ship with a Starfleet crew following Starfleet rules. But what works well in the Alpha Quadrant may not work out here. They perhaps should think more like the Maquis. Who had to survive on their own against insurmountable odds with no-one willing to help. Janeway doesn’t want to abandon their principles. Chakotay states that this is the fourth attack in two weeks, three crew are dead and many more are injured. The engines have suffered so much damage they may not be fixable and the Kazon will be back.
After the memorial service for the dead crewman, another wants to ask something. After the recent attacks, some think they won’t make it out alive. So, why not give them what they want, transporter and replicator technology. Captain Janeway would rather destroy the ship than turn any part of it over to the Kazon.
Chakotay speaks to the captain privately. A lot of crew shares similar opinions. Janeway states that Voyager isn’t a democracy. Chakotay asks if there isn’t something between the crewman’s position and hers. Room for flexibility in interpreting protocols. He’s pretty sure they weren’t intended for situations like this. Chakotay has a specific suggestion. Make a deal, an alliance, with one or two Kazon factions. The captain doesn’t believe the Kazon are trustworthy. Chakotay asks her if she’s doing the best for the crew.
Janeway heads to see Tuvok in his quarters. Apparently, she only does that when feeling particularly troubled. He thinks Chakotay has a point. Don’t exchange weapons or technology, though, just agreements to support and defend against attack. Janeway doesn’t want to deal with outlaws. Tuvok states that a visionary named Spock suggested an alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Many spoke out against dealing with such outlaws, including Tuvok, but the alliance was forged – referring to the events of Star Trek VI – and brought stability the quadrant hadn’t seen in 200 years. An agreement here may only be temporary, since they are heading home, but even temporary stability can bring an appreciation for peace.
The captain briefs the senior staff. They are going to seek an alliance with the Kazon factions. The meeting is not to debate it, but to consider how to pursue it. Neelix knows of a Kazon settlement nearby, with someone there who owes him a favour. He has his Maje’s ear. Harry suggests contacting Seska and the Nistron. Chakotay doesn’t like how his suggestion is heading, but B’Elanna thinks it’s a good idea. Seska and Culluh are willing to meet.
Neelix heads to the planet and speaks to his contact, Tersa, who is trying to solve a puzzle. The dancer on the stage promised to spend the night with the man who could solve it. Neelix may be able to help, if Tersa hears him out first. However, before Neelix can go into many details, guards come and drag him off.
The meeting with Culluh and Seska does not go well. Culluh wants to exchange crew members, something Janeway will never agree to. Seska isn’t happy about Culluh’s position, and tries to alter it, but he won’t have a woman dictate terms. Not the best attitude when dealing with a woman. On the planet, Neelix is taken through some tunnels and put into a cave with some others. Trabe. The Trabe have been mentioned before; they shared a homeworld with the Kazon, and the Kazon attacked them. With good reason, as it happens.
Not everyone in the crew is happy about how things are going. Could this attempt to form alliances also turn out to be a mistake? Seska is telling Culluh that she is carrying his child, even though, in “Maneuvers”, she told Chakotay she had made herself pregnant with his genetic material. There’s a definite sense that Culluh and Seska may regret working together – and that regret may be fatal. Given Culluh’s opinion of women, it seems rather more likely he will underestimate Seska and she will kill him.