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Preludes (episode)

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A Starfleet admiral digs into the past of the Protostar crew. Meanwhile, The Diviner recalls his life's mission.

Summary[]

Act One[]

On the USS Dauntless, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway is sitting in her ready room when Commander Tysess reports that the USS Protostar is still not responding to hails. When Janeway complains that they don't know about the kids who stole the Protostar, Tysess responds that that's not true and hands the admiral a PADD which displays bounty information – names and images – of the escaped prisoners.

Meanwhile, the Protostar crew continues to make repairs on the proto-drive so they can safely leave the Romulan Neutral Zone. Still smarting over the revelation that he's a hybrid – or as he calls it, a "failed experiment" – Dal lashes out at everyone. Jankom Pog, annoyed, reminds Dal that they all have a sob story. Though Dal sarcastically asks who can top his, he does concede that Gwyn – whose father The Diviner hunted them down – may have him beat. Zero points out that they all have things in their past they'd like to forget. Knowing that Rok-Tahk's past is something she'd particularly like to forget, Zero and the others coax the story out of her, believing it would make her feel better.

Rok tells the group that, early in her life, she performed as a stage fighter. Due to her physique, she portrayed The Monster and did "battle" against the Hero. Initially happy with her lot, she grew disenchanted with her role, especially when it became clear that members of the audience loved the Hero, but were afraid of her. One day, she sabotaged the show so that she would be the hero. Unfortunately, her patron was not amused and sold her to a Kazon slaver since "people didn't come to see a Monster be a Hero".

After her story, Rok tells everyone not to feel bad because if it hadn't happened, she never would have met the rest of the crew. Gwyn correctly guesses that Rok's past is the reason why she's reluctant to fight.

Zero says they should get back to work, but their arm falls off when they attempt to pick up a tool. As Jankom welds Zero's suit back together, Gwyn and Dal ask Zero how a Medusan ended up in the Delta Quadrant.

Zero states that they were part of a group of Medusans who left Medusan homeworld long before the 24th century to explore the galaxy. Zero says that they remembered feeling so free as the group explored a beautiful planet. Curious about a mysterious light, Zero went off alone to investigate its source. They came across an opaque box giving off the bright light, which turned out to be a trap used by a team of Kazons wearing protective visors. The rest of the Medusans fled aboard their ship as Zero was overtaken by the Kazon, who used energy weapons to incapacitate them. Imprisoned inside the box, the Kazon presented Zero to Drednok and Gwyn at Tars Lamora.

Act Two[]

Meanwhile, on the Dauntless, Asencia, who has just revealed her true form to The Diviner, tells him about their shared past. She and The Diviner were the same age and had both witnessed the first contact of the Federation with Solum. However, she didn't share his enthusiasm for the opportunities seemingly brought by Starfleet. Decades later, they were both among the few survivors of the Vau N'Akat civil war caused by their contact with the Federation. Despite all the conflict over that time, the Federation had completely stood by while Solum tore itself apart.

The two also witnessed the arrival of the Protostar on Solum through a temporal anomaly. The damaged ship was stormed by Drednoks, and Captain Chakotay was captured alongside his first officer, Adreek-Hu. The Vau N'Akat then installed their last Living Construct on the Protostar, hoping to send the ship to the past and destroy Starfleet before first contact could occur. However, on the eve of the launch, the two Starfleet officers escaped. Unable to disarm the Living Construct or board the ship, Chakotay remotely sent the crewless vessel back through the temporal anomaly to prevent the Vau N'Akat from using the weaponized Protostar.

Desperate to find the the ship so they could utilize their weapon, the surviving Vau N'Akat created The Order and sent one hundred agents through the temporal anomaly, including Asencia and The Diviner. Now known as The Vindicator, Asencia managed to survive the temporal anomaly's collapse, unlike the majority of the Order's agents. She arrived in Federation space in 2381, whereas The Diviner arrived in a different part of the galaxy in 2363.

Now that his memories have returned, Asencia understands why The Diviner disobeyed the rules of The Order and created a Progeny, but angrily questions why Gwyndala had betrayed them. The Diviner just resignedly states that "she met a boy."

Act Three[]

Back on the Protostar, the proto-drive is finally fixed and, as the crew waits for the system to reboot, Zero points out they haven't heard Pog's story.

Pog reveals that, as was the custom prior to the founding of the Federation, Pog, an orphan, was sent out on a deep space mission on a Tellar sleeper ship. However, his cryo-stasis chamber malfunctioned, and he woke up prematurely sometime before 2383. Upon awakening, he was approached by a floating robot that called itself a "Miner Transport Emergency Assistant" and demanded that Jankom state his "full name and query." Jankom introduced himself by his full name and asked to be put back into cryosleep. However, the MTEA, which Jankom ended up calling Boxy, refused the request and stated that an emergency was in progress. When Boxy denied the request to wake an engineer, Jankom, a trainee, decided to fix the ship himself by a process he called percussive maintenance. While conducting repairs, Jankom had to continually use his full name so that it'd register with Boxy, which resulted in him developing a habit of referring to himself in the third person.

When he finally finished, Boxy informed him that, due to Jankom's excess exertion while fixing the ship's problems, there was not enough oxygen left for the thirty crewmembers to reach their destination. So, Pog chose to sacrifice himself by leaving the ship aboard an escape pod. Before departing, he asked Boxy to tell the crew what he'd done, but Boxy responded by asking his name. Ticked off, Jankom hastily launched himself off the ship in the escape pod. Able to relax at last after fixing the ship's problems, his mood improved, but he was eventually captured by Kazon slavers.

Zero observes that Jankom saved all those Tellarites, but sadly they'd never know. Gwyn states that this classified him as "royalty," and Rok and Murf hug Jankom. Dal admits that it's not just him, they all have a past; Gwyn replies that together, they could have a brighter future.

Back on the Dauntless, Janeway laments to Tysess that the Protostar crew aren't criminals; they're just kids who got in over their heads. At Tysess' suggestion, Janeway looks into who asked for the bounty. When Janeway discovers that it was someone named "The Diviner", she expands the image of Gwyn and wonders if the images could jolt their amnesiac patient's memory. Learning that their patient is in Ensign Asencia's quarters, Janeway gives Tysess the conn and orders security to look up information on The Diviner.

Janeway walks into Asencia's quarters and finds her, undisguised, with Drednok. To preserve their mission, The Diviner suddenly hits Janeway from behind, knocking her unconscious.

Memorable quotes[]

"Perhaps we should get back to work. The ship isn't going to fix itself."

- Zero, moments before their containment suit's arm falls off


"I spent 20 years searching. I thought I wasn't going to live long enough to see it."
"So you defied the The Order and made a Progeny. You had to ensure the mission was completed. But tell me, why did she betray us?"
"She met a boy."

- The Diviner and Asencia


"We never heard from you, Jankom."
"You are the most miserable of the lot. I bet you have an interesting story."
"Oh, he has an especially good one!"
"Would you like to tell my story, or should Jankom?"

- Rok, Gwyn, Zero, and Jankom (frustrated about Zero reading his mind)


"All your stories, everything you shared, I guess we all have a past."
"And together, a brighter future."

- Dal and Gwyn


"We never asked Murf. Got anything to share?"

- Dal to Murf, who only responds with chittering and belching


"What about you, Janeway?"
"What about me?"
"What was Janeway like -- eh, before she was a hologram?"
"Yeah! We'd love to know."
"Well, now, have I ever told you about Mollie?"
"Who's Mollie?"
"She was the runt of the litter."
"Sounds like Jankom."
"Hang on!"

- Zero, Hologram Janeway, Dal, Jankom, Rok, and Gwyn


"Kidnapped, sold, traded -- They're not criminals, they're just some kids who found themselves way over their heads."

- Admiral Janeway, after reading the bounty on the Protostar crew

Background information[]

Title[]

Production[]

  • The episode aired on 21 November 2022 on Nickelodeon in Poland, ahead of US release.
  • Like "Masquerade", which was aired by Nickelodeon in some European countries such as Croatia and Hungary ahead of US release, this episode was originally scheduled to be aired there on 21 November 2022. However, other programming was aired instead on that day.

Continuity[]

Links and references[]

Cast[]

And

Uncredited co-stars[]

  • Brook Chalmers as Rok-Tahk (speaking the Brikar language)

Background characters[]

References[]

2363; 2381; 25th century; age; air; allegiance; Alpha Quadrant; anger; arboretum; armor; Augment; Aurelian; auxiliary warp drive; Bajoran; "bide our time"; Bolian; boulder; bounty; bowl; Brikar; Brikar language; Caitian; camouflaged predator; canyon; captain (title); cargo container; Chopin, Frédéric; combadge; communications; containment suit; crew; criminals; cryo-sleep chamber (aka cryopod); cyborg; DataPADD; daughter; Dauntless, USS; Dauntless-class; deep space mission; Delta Quadrant; Drednok; engine room; engineer; enlisted; ensign; escape pod; fan; fear; Federation; fighting; fire suppression system; first contact; fleet; food; funny; genetic experiment; grasshopper-like creature; hero; holodeck; hologram; hope; hybrid; identities; "[in] way over their heads"; individual; Kazon (Kazon-Relora); Kazon ship (unnamed (x2)); kid; Klingon; language; LCARS; litter; living construct; Medusan; Medusan homeworld; Medusan vessel (unnamed); Mellanoid slime worm; mind; Miner Transport Emergency Assistant; Mollie; money; monster; Monster, The; name; non-Federation; "nothing ventured, nothing gained"; nutri-goop (aka "goop"); Order, The; orphan; oxygen; percent; percussive maintenance; piece; Prelude No. 4; pressure gauge; primitive; prisoner; progeny; Prometheus-class (unnamed); promises; proto-core; proto-warp (aka proto-jump); Protostar, USS; Protostar-class; query; ramp; ravine; reboot; retribution; Rev-12; Rev-12-type (unnamed); Romulan Neutral Zone; runt; salvation; shackles; show; sky; sleep; sob story; soldier; Solum; spacecraft; spaceship; spear; Starfleet; Starfleet uniform (early 2380s); Starfleet uniform (late 2360s-early 2370s); story; subspace transmission; sword; Tal Shiar; Tars Lamora; Tellar Prime; Tellar sleeper ship (unnamed); Tellarite; Tellarite engineer; temporal anomaly (aka time anomaly); thief; thing; toilet; toilet plunger; tomato; tomato juice; trader; trainee; Unwanted, The; Vau N'Akat; Vau N'Akat civil war; Vindicator, The; violence; visor; warp core; warrior; Watcher; weapon; welding; word; world; wormhole; wrench; years

LCARS references[]

alignment target; carrier beam; channel selector; computer readout; coordinate selector; cross-section; heat exchange; pitch; power beam; roll; selector grid; velocity; ventilation

Meta references[]

flashback

External links[]

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