“Nightingale” is episode eight of season seven of Star Trek: Voyager.
Voyager has landed on an uninhabited planet, B’Elanna having convinced the captain to land for a major maintenance overhaul whilst shuttles search for supplies. The captain is quizzing B’Elanna as to the state of the repairs; they’re going to be without warp drive for six days as B’Elanna has discovered more problems. Whilst they are talking there’s a power drain which Icheb fixes – even though he was just delivering a PADD from Tuvok. B’Elanna thinks Icheb is capable of more than PADD deliver; the captain agrees and assigns him to B’Elanna’s team.
Harry, Seven and Neelix are on the Delta Flyer looking for dilithium. They’re going to scan a nebula – again – because Harry is convinced there’s dilithium in there somewhere. Weapons fire is detected as one ship opens up on a second, cloaked ship.
The second ship’s captain, a Kraylor, calls for aid – they are a humanitarian mission carrying medical supplies – as the cloak drops. Harry says interfering in alien conflicts is against Starfleet protocol. Seven reports the cloaked ship has lost its shield and life support is failing. Harry contacts the attacker, who opens fire on the Flyer and demands they depart immediately. The ship charges weapons and Harry plans to deliver an overload, which knocks weapons and shields down and the ship retreats.
Harry and Neelix beam aboard the other ship. On the bridge, only one junior officer, Terek, is alive. Two passengers, Loken and Dayla arrive on the bridge. They lack the knowledge to pilot the ship. They also say the cloak is the most important thing to bring back online; the Annari have better weapons and the cloak is their best defence. Harry contacts Seven and says her help is needed.
As the ship is fixed, Terek is quizzing Harry, who explains he isn’t the captain but an ensign. The lowest ranked officer. Terek says this was his first deep space assignment and it hasn’t gone well. Understatement. Harry replies that his first week didn’t go well either. Massive understatement. He reassures Terek it will get better.
B’Elanna finds Icheb in the cargo bay eating nutritional supplements and congratulates him on his work. She suggests he eat in the mess hall. Icheb prefers to work whilst he eats; it’s more efficient. B’Elanna also wants to know what Icheb does for fun and ends up inviting him rock climbing on the holodeck.
The Kraylor ship is operational and, eventually, the Kraylor manage to convince Harry to take command. He agrees to take them to Voyager, then to speak to his captain about it. As they approach the planet, three Annari vessels are detected in orbit.
On Voyager‘s bridge Captain Janeway and Chakotay are talking to an Annari about getting parts. Harry hails, audio only, and asks about the aliens. The captain explains and asks when he will be back. Shortly; there was a slight delay. Loken tells Harry the Annari come as friends then declare you subjects of their empire. Once the Annari ships leave, Harry hails Voyager again.
Once they are on Voyager, Loken explains their situation to the captain. Afterwards, she talks to Harry. She’s not totally happy, but admits she would probably have done the same thing he did. Captain Janeway offers to send Tuvok and Chakotay with him. Harry wants to do this alone. After seven years, he’s still an ensign, and wants a real command. No, he isn’t bucking for promotion and understands why, but in the Alpha Quadrant he’d be at least a lieutenant by now. The captain doesn’t want him to go alone. Take Seven. She has no rank.
Icheb seems to have massively misinterpreted B’Elanna’s friendliness and asks the Doctor for advice on how you can tell if someone has romantic feelings for you. Which leads him into concluding B’Elanna has them for him. More likely, it’s the other way around. Harry first tour as a captain doesn’t go that well, especially as he starts micromanaging things. Even Seven can see what he’s doing wrong. Then, there are problems with his actual mission.