“Course: Oblivion” is episode eighteen of season five of Star Trek: Voyager.
The episode opens in the mess hall, where there is a gathering involving a wedding cake. Neelix is checking on the use of the rice with the Doctor, that it isn’t supposed to be cooked. Chakotay enters with B’Elanna and Harry and the other musicians start playing the Bridal Chorus. Captain Janeway is with Tom and says his bachelor days are over. Has he had second thoughts? Second, third, fourth. The Doctor thought they’d never see this day; Seven of Nine would have predicted homicide rather than matrimony, given the volatile nature of their relationship. Tuvok states that, in affairs of the human heart, it’s wise to look beyond logic.
B’Elanna apparently asked to forgo the rigours of Klingon painsticks. The two have prepared their own vows, and exchange them and rings. Tom goes to kiss B’Elanna and the captain tells him not so fast. Then addresses B’Elanna and Tom, calling them both lieutenant – when did Tom get back the rank he lost in “Thirty Days”? Janeway pronounces them husband and wife. Now kiss her. B’Elanna throws her bouquet and Seven catches it. The Doctor congratulates her. For what? Tuvok states she may not want to know. Tom and B’Elanna are leaving, with rice being thrown over them. Which slips through the slightly rippling floor into the definitely rippling Jefferies tube below.
The captain, in her log, states they have much to celebrate. The marriage, Ensign Harper’s new baby and the continued health of their enhanced warp drive – what enhanced warp drive? – means they are in striking distance of home. Chakotay states the shortest path is the straightest line, through the centre of the Milky Way. Only two years to Sector 001. Janeway suggests they stop at a few places along the way for exploration. Chakotay thinks only Seven of Nine will have a problem with that, but Chakotay will deal with her.
Neelix has prepared holoprograms for Tom and B’Elanna’s honeymoon. Tom wants somewhere a bit more down to earth. As in Earth. Chicago in the 1920s. B’Elanna is with Seven in engineering, telling her what to look out for whilst B’Elanna is away. She’s telling Seven a lot of stuff Seven knows. There’s a warning of a minor fluctuation and both head to deal with it.
In the Jefferies tube the two discuss the bouquet and marriage. Seven is not in favour of monogamy and marriage; it means you can’t have relationships with a wide variety of individuals. They have to manually open a hatch and see the rippling tube beyond. The tube is losing molecular cohesion. At a briefing of the senior staff, B’Elanna tells them it is being caused by subspace radiation from the warp drive.
In her quarters, B’Elanna is narrating her log when she suddenly becomes cold, though the room hasn’t become colder. She heads to a mirror and sees a ripple on her cheek. Tom arrives back and finds B’Elanna on the floor, shivering. He takes her to sickbay; she’s not the only one. The Doctor tells the captain that their chromosomes are breaking down at a genetic level. All the patients are from engineering, but everyone else is affected too. The warp drive has been shut down but the ship and crew are still deteriorating.
Tuvok, Neelix and Chakotay are in the mess hall. Most things are affected by the deterioration, but that which was brought onboard in the last few months haven’t. Anything from the last 30-40 weeks is immune. Chakotay and Tuvok head to astrometrics to check on Voyager‘s encounters in that time period. Tom is with B’Elanna in sickbay, but she dies and the Doctor is unable to revive her. Tuvok and Chakotay have got to the events of “Demon” when duplicates of the ship and crew were made… oh dear. They talk about the duplicates and wonder what… happened… to them. Coming to a dreadful conclusion. Which explains the discrepancies earlier.
The ship and crew are falling apart and they are a long way from anywhere. This is not a remotely cheerful episode.