“Counterpoint” is episode ten of season five of Star Trek: Voyager.
Voyager is with two much larger ships and they first check with Harry in the transporter room and Seven of Nine in the cargo bay. The two ships are powering weapons and Tom asks why they are bothering; they know they won’t resist. The ships hail and someone starts going through the drill for an inspection. Not for the first time either. Devore inspection teams beam over, and Chakotay reports where they have materialised. Which includes Captain Janeway’s ready room.
The captain is summoned to her own ready room as music plays throughout the ship. The man sitting in her chair says he is playing the music to help the crew relax. He’s replicated coffee. The man tells the other two to leave and invites Janeway to make herself at home. In her own ready room.
Soldiers check all over the ship and the person who hailed them, Prax, queries B’Elanna on why power is routing through the transporter system. She explains and Prax tells her where to look for the problem. There’s contaminated antimatter in the cargo bay that might interfere with their readings and Seven of Nine is examined. No, she isn’t a telepath. An interesting question; Tuvok appears to be missing.
The inspector, Kashyk, is chatting with the captain about her culture. He’s just trying to get to know her; she could use a friend right now. Because of her predicament; he doesn’t expect it’s been easy, travelling through the territories of other species, trying to get home. Going through the Devore Imperium. The captain says it’s hard to avoid. Most other species make the effort; the Devore are not welcoming to stranger.
Inspector Kashyk has been going through the crew manifest. He wants to know where the Vulcans, Tuvok and Vorik, and the Betazoids, Suder and Jurot. They are telepaths. Why were they not mentioned? Suder died back in “Basics” and the other three were killed in a shuttle crash a couple of months ago. All three remaining telepaths killed at the same time? Kashyk says this is fortunate; they would be breaking protocol if they were to be found harbouring telepaths.
Janeway says they were valued crew, not criminals. Kashyk asks if she trusts him. Not for a second. Exactly; trust must be earned, it’s a gradual process. Something alien to the telepathic races who can simply look inside your head. Prax returns; no telepaths have been found. The ship did deviate from its path – to avoid ion storms, according to Janeway – and Prax wants to impound the ship for breaking protocol. Kashyk is willing to overlook this.
Once the Devore leave, pattern enhancers are set up in the cargo bay. Harry starts performing the rematerialisation sequence, but there are some problems. Then people materialise. Far more than just the missing three crew.
Voyager has refugees – telepaths – they are escorting to a transport that will take them outside hostile territory. Janeway arrives in sickbay and talks to their leader, Kir. The transport vessel has changed its location again. Tuvok says there’s another problem; the Doctor tells her that he’s treated Tuvok and two others for cellular degradation. He’s repaired most of the damage, but it’s cumulative. If they continue with transporter suspensions, some may not survive.
Then Chakotay contact Janeway. The transport ship has sent new coordinates. That’s two days away and Tuvok says there’s likely to be at least one more inspection en route.
Another Devore vessel is detected, but this is a scout ship. One pilot, no crew, no shields or weapons up. It contains Kashyk and he’s not in uniform. He wants to speak.
On Voyager, Kashyk explains that he’s defecting and he needs their help. Why should they risk their safety by harbouring a defector? Because if they continue on their present course, they will be intercepted by a squadron of warships. Voyager impounded, the crew imprisoned or worse. The nebula to which they are heading is a trap, designed to catch vessels smuggling telepaths. The captain points out that Voyager has been searched three times without finding any. Kashyk not only knows they are smuggling refugees; he knows how and how many. He wants to go with them. The Devore know about the wormhole and it’s only a matter of time until they find it.
There are, indeed, Devore warships in the nebula, hidden until the data Kashyk provides is used to detect them. Kashyk is on two weeks leave and can help. According to Kir, sympathisers aren’t unknown, but Kashyk soldiers undergo years of training to be able to hide their thoughts from telepaths. So, is Kashyk telling the truth and honestly trying to help them? Or is he playing a game?