“Flesh and Blood” is episode nine of season seven of Star Trek: Voyager.
This was originally shown as a feature length episode.
Two Hirogen are in a forest, hunting prey. One appears to be training the other, who is younger. However, their prey ambushes them, shooting them from the water of a pool. When they emerge, they are wearing Starfleet uniforms.
In sickbay, the Doctor is trying to get Chakotay to allow him to attend a symposium. After all, B’Elanna went to one. That was different; they were in the same system. Where the Doctor wants to go is two weeks behind them. Chakotay isn’t going to ask the captain to turn the ship around and, if the Doctor took a shuttle, are they just supposed to sit around until he gets back? Then the captain contacts Chakotay; they’ve received a Hirogen distress call.
Voyager arrives at the coordinates to find a space station. It’s not responding to hails and Harry is getting strange readings that might be a lifeform. There are no Hirogen ships in the area and the captain tells Chakotay to take an away team.
They beam across into the same forest as the Hirogen hunters were in. Tuvok finds two Hirogen bodies; their injuries are consistent with a Type III phasor. Seven has found a bat’leth, with Hirogen blood on it. A Hirogen is detected and he starts shooting at them. Tuvok sneaks around behind and renders the Hirogen unconscious. Tom beams directly to sickbay with the Hirogen, who is wounded, and Seven finds a holodeck interface, a Starfleet one. The environment is simulated and their tricorders didn’t detect it. The holodeck is shut down, leaving only dead Hirogen behind.
Chakotay briefs the captain; 43 dead Hirogen, most killed with facsimiles of Alpha Quadrant weapons. This presumably came from the holodeck technology they gave the Hirogen in “The Killing Game, Part II”. In sickbay, the surviving Hirogen is cowering away from the dock. He doesn’t believe they’re not holograms. Especially as the Doctor is one. The captain asks the Doctor to deactivate and introduces herself and the ship. The Hirogen knows who they are. The facility is where Hirogen train to hunt. He’s a technician, though, not a student. The holograms started malfunctioning, deactivated the safety protocols and killed everyone. Tuvok reports a Hirogen ship is approaching.
The Hirogen immediately attack and are unwilling to talk until Voyager disables their weapons. The Alpha (Vaughn Armstrong) says they are also responding to the distress call. They don’t need assistance. He’s told there’s only one survivor and if he wants to talk to him, he’ll have to come across. The Hirogen blame the survivor, Donik, who explains that the holograms transferred themselves to another ship equipped with holoemitters. The Hirogen made prey that was interesting to hunt. The captain wants to help; they have more experience with holograms. The Alpha agrees that two vessels make a better hunt.
In astrometrics, the Alpha explains how to track the Hirogen ship stolen by the holograms. Tuvok and Chakotay are uncertain about allying with the Hirogen, but the captain feels partly responsible; they did trade the technology to the Hirogen. Both ships start closing on the stolen Hirogen craft, which is unarmed. And has nothing, according to Harry. It’s a trap, and the Hirogen are lured into it, their ship hit by an explosion. The survivors are beamed across.
Another Hirogen ship approaches, this one genuine and used by the holograms. They try to transfer the Doctor’s program off Voyager and succeed, warping out.
The Hirogen made holographic prey that was designed to be really good prey. However, tin the process they also made prey capable of being better hunters than the Hirogen, and prey that is really annoyed about being constantly hunted. The free holograms want the Doctor’s help. In their crusade against the organics. It does raise some questions about the morality of creating intelligent holographic life, something that has cropped up already.
The story continues in the next episode, “Flesh and Blood, Part II”.