“Equinox” is episode twenty-six of season five of Star Trek: Voyager and the season finale.
A Federation starship is under attack, its shields sparkling strangely. The captain orders the shields taken offline so that they can recharge. He’s told that they will be vulnerable for that time. If they don’t recharge the shields, they’re dead. The captain orders everyone to arm themselves and the shields are taken down. Some sort of portals appear on the bridge and things come flying out of them, attacking.
Seven of Nine, Chakotay and Captain Janeway are in astrometrics, listening to a distress call from Captain Ransom of the USS Equinox. The captain says Ransom is captain of a science vessel. The distress call was transmitted approximately 14 hours ago and the Equinox is 3.2 light years away. Chakotay asks what the Equinox is doing in the Delta Quadrant. Seven suggests searching for Voyager, but Janeway says the Equinox is designed for planetary research, not long-range tactical missions.
They are approaching the coordinates and detect the Equinox. It’s moving at low impulse and is heavily damaged with multiple hull beaches and its warp drive offline. The shield is being disrupted by energy surges. There are no other ships in the vicinity. The Equinox is contacted and they say Voyager must expand their shields around the ship and match their shield frequency. Tuvok is attempting to match the frequency when the Doctor hears something. Seven reports interspatial fissures opening on multiple decks. Shields are expanded and holding and the fissures are gone. The Equinox is no longer responding; rescue teams are sent across.
Chakotay, B’Elanna and Tom are in Equinox‘s engineering. There’s a body, with every cell desiccated. B’Elanna can’t work out what they’ve done to the engine core. Chakotay finds someone trapped beneath debris. She thought they were the only humans in the Delta Quadrant. That’s what Voyager used to think. Harry and Seven finds another crewman, Noah Lessing (Rick Worthy), alive but pinned. Neelix finds another in crew quarters, who has to be stunned. Tuvok and Janeway find Captain Ransom and his first officer, Burke, alive on the bridge.
Ransom says they were under attack for weeks and don’t know who by. He wants treating on the bridge. Janeway can’t pull rank but Ransom is in no condition to fight. No, they weren’t sent to find the Equinox; they’ve been here for five years. The Equinox was also pulled through by the Caretaker (which would suggest they’ve been in the Delta Quadrant even longer).
In Voyager‘s mess hall, Ransom commemorates his dead with his crew and Voyager‘s. The Equinox is secure and Captains Janeway and Ransom organise for repairs. Burke wants to speak to B’Elanna; they went to the Academy together. Afterwards, B’Elanna says she and Burke broke up over 10 years ago. But Tom’s cute when he’s jealous.
The ensign Chakotay rescued, Gilmore, would prefer to serve on one of the t4eams on Voyager. She’s not comfortable on the Equinox. Chakotay agrees. Gilmore is also uncertain about the turbolift and has to stop it. If a fissure opened up, there was nowhere to take cover.
In astrometrics, Seven has detected multiple stress points on the shields; she believes the aliens are attempting to infiltrate. Each time one opens, the shields are weakened slightly. They will fail in less than two days. The aliens can only survive for a few seconds in this reality, but can do a lot of damage in that time. If they could trap one, it might be a way to open talks. The Equinox did trap one for a few minutes in the research lab. That’s been flooded with thermionic radiation, so they can’t get the stasis chamber, but they still have the schematics.
Captain Janeway talks to Ransom on the bridge of the Equinox about what they’ve encountered. Equinox hasn’t encountered the Borg but did run into the Krowtonan Guard. Ransom lost half his crew. They never really recovered. They had originally decided that, as they were travelling for the rest of their lives, they should expand their knowledge and uphold their principles. After a couple of years, though, they started to forget they were explorers. Sometimes they forgot they were human beings. Janeway asks how a Nova-class vessel, not designed for this, coped. The Equinox stumbled across a wormhole and they made enhancements to their warp engines.
Ransom asks how many times Janeway has had to break the Prime Directive for the sake of protecting her crew. Janeway says broken, none. Skirted the line, yes. Ransom says something similar. Only by the way he asked the question it sounded as if the Equinox had done more than skirt the line. Later, in Voyager‘s mess hall, Ransom speaks to Burke. He doesn’t think Janeway or her people will understand. They mustn’t find out about the research lab and the warp core modifications. Equinox is definitely keeping secrets and this is going to cause problems. The story continues in season six and “Equinox, Part II”.