“Think Tank” is episode twenty of season five of Star Trek: Voyager.
An alien enters a place, looking for someone called Kurros. Another alien appears, but can’t be understood. Then Kurros enters and says that it’s a time for celebration, as the geostability of the first alien’s world has been restored and the people saved. The alien is happy; Kurros and the others have accomplished in days what would have taken their scientists decades. Kurros says that solving problems is what they do and the look of gratitude is almost reward enough. Almost.
The alien tells Kurros that the mines were buried in the last series of quakes and all the ore lost. They hoped Kurros’ group would accept a priceless geode instead. They will not. The geode is not the price agreed, and though the mines were collapsed, the ore was removed first. Kurros knows where it is. It doesn’t matter that the ore is needed to repair their replicators. If payment isn’t delivered, the containment will be deactivated and the world will experience a level 12 seismic event.
Seven of Nine enters the captain’s ready room. The captain is trying, and failing, to solve a puzzle Tom introduced to the crew. Seven says that long range scans have detected a planetoid with high concentrations of dilithium crystals. They enter the bridge and Harry says the deposits are 60km down. Then the asteroid starts destabilising; Voyager backs off as it explodes. Hardly a coincidence. Especially as the ship is trapped in a cloud of metrion gas, their warp field collapsed and impulse engines offline, as a heavily armed vessel appears.
The Hazari, according to Seven. Species 4228. Advanced and extremely violent, they make excellent tactical drones. They are hired to capture alien vessels. The Hazari ship hails Voyager and demands they surrender; their clients would prefer the ship intact. Captain Janeway isn’t going to give in that easily, and orders shields strengthened before phasors are fired, igniting the cloud and blowing them clear. Voyager escapes to warp but the Hazari don’t follow. Which seems odd. The reason being there are 23 Hazari vessels in the area and more on their way.
Janeway is trying to work on the problem in the mess hall; only Neelix is there. He suggests getting the Doctor to prefer a hypospray to absorb the caffeine more directly. According to the captain, the Hazari have anticipated almost every move, and the ones they haven’t, Janeway is sure are traps. Neelix leaves, then Kurros appears. He says he has a solution to their Hazari paradox. He’s not really there; an isomorphic projection. He is a member of a small group that seeks out challenges to solve. A think tank, the captain suggests. Kurros likes that name. They can help and their price tag is whatever the culture has to offer that is unique. He will need a closer look at the database to see what that is. The captain wants to meet in person and Kurros agrees. The coordinates have been downloaded. Bring only one other crewman and no scanning equipment.
Kurros’ ship appears out of subspace. Made of a neutronium based alloy that neither Starfleet nor the Borg have been able to create. Seven joins Janeway on the other ship; Kurros recognises her as a Borg but has never seen one outside the Collective before. Kurros introduces the other members of his group; the communicate telepathically. It was founded by one of their members, a bioplasmic lifeform, more than 100 years ago after wandering the galaxy on his own for a few millennia. The lifeform doesn’t want to share his age. There is also an AI. Kurros states they have helped hundreds of clients. Only recently, they found a cure for the Vidiian Phage. And helped another species resist the Borg. For a soup recipe.
Captain Janeway mentions their Prime Directive and asks if there is anything the think tank won’t do. Well, they won’t cooperate in the destruction of a species, nor will they design weapons of mass destruction. Other than that, no. The AI wants to speak to Seven of Nine, to inquire about her bionetic technology.
Kurros says they can solve the Hazari problem without firing a single weapon, something Janeway is in favour of. She gives him Voyager‘s specs and details of the database. Most of what Kurros wants is fine. However, one item is Seven of Nine. That is not fine. Though Seven can leave if she wants. But there’s one rather significant question: Who is paying the Hazari?