“Prey” is episode sixteen of season four of Star Trek: Voyager.
Two ships are heading to a large group of asteroids. The rear one is Hirogen and the Alpha (Tony Todd) says that the prey’s course is erratic. The other wants to intercept and kill. The Alpha demurs; the prey is injured, let him bleed. The other ship opens fire but does no damage. The Alpha says the prey hasn’t come to the asteroids to hide but to make its final stand. They follow their prey down onto an asteroid, but can’t find it with scanners. The Alpha says to disengage scanners; they will use their own eyes. The prey, when they find it, is Species 8472. The Hirogen take it down in what the Alpha says is a flawless kill.
Seven of Nine is reading a list of responses out in sickbay. She considers it to be absurd. The Doctor disagrees. She doesn’t see how it’s applicable to her duties in Voyager. The vocabulary can be tailored to specific situations. The Doctor is teaching Seven how to deal with others; he created it himself three years ago to familiarise himself with the social graces, practicing several times a day. Seven reads the instructions as well as the dialogue. She decides the lesson is terminated. The Doctor knows it is awkward; for him it was painful. But putting others at ease is worth it. She is like the Doctor when he was first activated. He’s willing to share – if she wants. She does.
A Hirogen vessel is approaching. Captain Janeway doesn’t want to leave but to settle the differences – in the previous episode, “Hunters”, they accidentally took down the entire relay network. The ship doesn’t respond and stops. Only one lifesign onboard and that erratic. There are no other Hirogen ships in range. The captain wants to board the ship; Seven of Nine would rather destroy it. Janeway sees this as an opportunity to learn more – and show compassion.
Chakotay, Tuvok and Tom beam across to the ship, which has been heavily trashed on the inside. They are looking for the lifesigns. Tom finds a Hirogen helmet and says someone has lost their helmet. Not true; they are still wearing it. It’s the body that’s not attached. The Hirogen is not the Alpha and has been torn apart physically. They find the Alpha, badly injured.
Downloading the records from the Hirogen ship allows them to find out more about the species. They travel all over the place, hunting species and displaying trophies. And possibly eating their prey. Nomadic, with no evidence of a home planet. They hunt alone or in small groups. Both Seven of Nine and Captain Janeway say the other was correct. Janeway wonders who was hunting the hunters. Species 8472 is currently on Voyager‘s hull.
The Doctor is having problems treating the Alpha. The Alpha is told his crew is dead and his ship damaged beyond repair. The Alpha explains they captured the alien two days ago but it broke free. He wants to be released to continue the hunt. He’s told he’ll die without treatment. The Alpha agrees to treatment and the Doctor tells him, before passing through the forcefield, that he’s a hologram and can’t be bent, spindled or mutilated.
Six more Hirogen ships are approaching, the closest four hours away. Hopefully, they will treat the hunter who will then speak on their behalf. Chakotay says the Hirogen look on other races as game. Then there’s a hull rupture, followed by a bulkhead collapse. Harry and Tuvok head to check it out. In the Jeffries Tube, they discover a residue on the floor. Tuvok contacts the bridge. He’s analysing what he thinks is a sample of blood. It’s consistent with Species 8472. That worries everyone.
B’Elanna and Seven of Nine are securing engineering. Too late. Four crewmen are wounded, two seriously. Seven says their phasor fire was insufficient; the creature attacked and escaped. The captain wants to know anything that could be useful for fighting Species 8472 from Seven.
The captain wants to know more from the Hirogen. She explains about the invasion by Species 8472 and how if they’re back, everyone has a problem. Seven of Nine is going to modify the phasors to fire Borg nanoprobes. The captain wants to capture, not kill. Seven disagrees. So does the Alpha. He also wants to be part of the hunt. He’s allowed to join.
The Alpha just wants to kill Species 8472. For that matter, Seven of Nine does as well. The creature rattles her; they were the only ones able to stand up to the Borg. And by ‘stand up’ that means ‘destroy hundreds of Borg worlds.’ The captain would rather talk. That’s going to cause a problem.