“Drone” is episode two of season five of Star Trek: Voyager.
Seven of Nine is in her cargo bay practicing smiling – with various degrees of success – when the Doctor enters. She’s annoyed because he didn’t announce his presence. The Doctor asks if she’s ready to leave; she is. A spontaneous proto nebula could emerge in the next 20 minutes. Tom is expecting them. The Doctor thinks this is exciting; Seven, not so much. Why is the Doctor along anyway? To study the effects of the nebula on the crew. He also plans to take some snapshots.
B’Elanna is in the shuttle as well, which is experiencing what Tom calls space turbulence. B’Elanna thinks she has class 2 claustrophobia. That’s what Starfleet cadets called Class 2 shuttles. Seven of Nine suggests they design a new shuttle; larger, more efficient. Tom and B’Elanna look at each other and B’Elanna says that’s not a bad idea. The nebula appears and the Doctor wants Seven to move to the others for a group shot. And smile; he knows she can. However, the shuttle experiences a massive plasma surge and loses propulsion.
On the bridge, Harry reports a distress call from the shuttle and Tuvok updates the current situation. Captain Janeway orders an emergency beam out. As the shuttle can’t clear the nebula, this is going to be a rough transport. Everyone beams in okay, then the Doctor starts to flicker. His mobile emitter has been damaged and B’Elanna transfers him back to sickbay. The emitter’s circuits look to have fused during transport. The Doctor asks if she can fix it. Most likely. She takes it to the science lab and places it on a console to run scans, and tells Ensign Mulcahey they will check it in the morning. The emitter, once left, extends probes into the console. Not a good sign.
The Doctor wakes B’Elanna at six o’clock in the morning, asking for an ETA on repairs. She is not happy. When she heads to get a sonic shower, the Doctor activates the communications panel in there to continue talking. She is definitely not happy. In her cargo bay, Seven of Nine leaves her alcove before the regeneration cycle was complete, having detected something. Chakotay is relieving Harry on the bridge when Seven arrives; the proximity transceiver in her cranial implant has activated. It could indicate a Borg presence nearby. Harry hasn’t detected anything and Chakotay, though he tells Seven to report to sickbay because her implant could be malfunctioning, wants the area checking again.
Mulcahey heads to the science lab, which is now emitting a green glow. He enters, which may not be a bright idea, and heads to the source, checking with his tricorder. And gets hit by Borg tubules. No, it wasn’t a good idea. Harry detects the power from the warp tubes being rerouted to the science lab. There’s a forcefield there with a Borg signature. Tuvok heads there with a security team and Seven of Nine is sent as well. The Doctor is concerned about his emitter.
According to Seven, what’s in the science lab resembles a Borg maturation chamber, but many components are unfamiliar. Mulcahey has had a tissue sample removed. There are residual nanoprobes there. Seven’s nanoprobes. Inside the maturation chamber is a Borg drone, though Seven has never seen one like it. Borg assimilate; they do not reproduce in this fashion. The captain is told that the transporter malfunction briefly merged their patterns and some of Seven of Nine’s nanoprobes infected the Doctor’s mobile emitter, then transformed the diagnostic station. The drone is maturing 25 times faster than normal. Janeway isn’t willing to pull the plug yet.
The Borg drone continues to mature rapidly and it’s plating is the same material as the mobile emitter’s Borg nanoprobes are designed to extrapolate technology. B’Elanna points out the emitter is from the 29th century. It’s 500 years more advanced. A 29th century Borg. The emitter is embedded in its cerebral cortex and can’t be removed without killing the drone. Seven has prevented the drone from contacting the Collective for now.
She tells the captain the drone has superior technology, but it’s shielding isn’t active yet. They can still terminate it. Janeway asks what normally happens. A drone would await instructions from the Collective. The captain wants to teach the drone their values; Seven is concerned what would happen if the Collective assimilated it. For now, Janeway isn’t prepared to murder the drone and wants Seven to teach it the ways of humanity.
With the Borg fully mature, it asks that its designation be stated. Designation is irrelevant, according to Seven of Nine. The drone is not part of the Collective; it will receive instructions from her. They are not Borg; they are individuals. Does it understand. No, it seems. Seven is going to have a direct neural interface; it’s the only way to communicate. The drone starts assimilating all of Seven’s knowledge, and doesn’t stop when she tells it to. Until she says it’s hurting her. That’s odd.
They now have a drone that they are trying to convince is an individual. It’s also unlikely that they will be able to terminate it now. And if the Borg get hold of the drone, it would be very bad.