Year of Hell (episode)

Krenim temporal weapon ship exloding
Series:	VOY
Season:	4
Original Airdate:	1997-11-05
Production Number:	176
Year:	2374
Stardate:	51268.4
Story by:	Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
Directed by:	Allan Kroeker

An obsessed Krenim commander alters history to restore the Krenim Imperium at any cost; Voyager comes under constant attack by Krenim warships while trying to pass through their space, receiving major damage.

Summary

A calm, apparently harmless city is suddenly vaporized out of existence by a huge vessel above it. A temporal shockwave is created, completely obliterating the species and all of their history.

Light years away, the crew of the starship Voyager are just bringing their new Astrometrics Lab online when a small vessel starts firing on them for no reason. The pilot identifies himself as a member of the Krenim Imperium, and states that they control this area of space. Under the impression that the Zahl were the primary species in the sector, Captain Janeway proceeds forward and meets with a Zahl starship.

When again encountered by the Krenim ship, Janeway hardly has time to ask what was so wrong when another temporal shockwave hits the ship. The Zahl and all the crews memories of them vanish, the Krenim vessel is transformed into a much larger Krenim warship, and Voyager is suddenly suffering critical damage. Captain Janeway tries to reason with the man, but he fires on Voyager anyway with chroniton torpedoes, which exist outside the space-time continuum and therefore pass right through Voyager's shields.

Several weeks pass in which Voyager is continually attacked by the Krenim. Seven of Nine discovers an undetonated torpedo lodged in the hull, and tries to find the temporal variance so she can perfect temporal shielding against the torpedoes. Although she does make the correct determination, Commander Tuvok is blinded when the torpedo detonates.

During one attack, the Captain finally manages to destroy the Krenim vessel, but half of Deck 5 blows out and two crewmen are killed in the explosion. Meanwhile, Weapon ship arrives in another system and temporally exterminates another race, causing another temporal shockwave. 20 light years away, Voyager encounters the wave, but their temporal shielding protects them from the changes in the timeline. In Astrometrics, Janeway and Seven study the changed make up of the sector. The Krenim Imperium seems to have vanished down to a few colonies and smattering of pre-warp ships.

Annorax, captain of the weapon ship, wonders why his temporal calculations were thrown off and realizing Voyager is the culprit, he sets a course for them. When he arrives, he apologizes for the damage done to their ship, but then fires a beam at them that will push them out of the space-time continuum. Due to the weapon ship's huge mass it cannot exceed warp 6, but as Voyager escapes at warp 7, parts of the outer hull come apart. Sufficiently distant, Captain Janeway reluctantly orders all but the senior staff to abandon ship, and the remaining crew try to find a place to hide while Voyager's escape pods head for the Alpha Quadrant.

Background Information

• Kurtwood Smith previously played the Efrosian Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Thrax in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Things Past".

• In this episode we get to see what happens to a Starship when it goes to warp with its structural integrity field down.

• This episode marks the first appearance of Voyager's escape pods.

• * This episode, along with TNG's "Cause and Effect" and Enterprise's "Twilight", form a genre of episode that some fans called the "Bad Dream." In each of these episodes, the worst possible events occur, and then a time-change returns everything back to normal.

Links and References

Guest Stars

• Kurtwood Smith as Annorax
• John Loprieno as Obrist
• Peter Slutsker as Krenim commandant
• Rick Fitts as Zahl official
• Deborah Levin as Lang
• Sue Henley as Brooks
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited)

References

47; antibody; astrometrics; Borg; Chakotay; chroniton; chroniton torpedo; Cochrane, Zefram; Cray; crew quarters; The Doctor; emergency hand actuator; emergency rations; Emmanuel; escape pod; First Contact; force field; Garenor; Grid 005; hull breach; Kim, Harry; Intrepid class; intruder alert; Janeway, Kathryn; Krenim; Krenim Imperium; Krenim patrol ship; Krenim temporal weapon ship; Krenim warship; Kyana Prime; mess hall; Neelix; Paris, Tom; parrises squares; Phoenix; R'Cho, M'Kota; Rilnar; Seven of Nine; sickbay; spacetime continuum; Strickler; structural integrity field; tactile interface; temporal incursion; temporal shield; Titanic, RMS; transverse bulkheads; tricorder; turbolift; Tuvok; Vassbinder; Voyager, USS; Zahl; Zahl starship

Previous Episode: Scientific Method

Episodes of Star Trek: Voyager

Next Episode: Year of Hell, Part II