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Nemesis

( foliage rustling )

( insects chirping )

( bird calling )

MALE: Don't move!

What's this?

We found him in the trunks a hundred footfalls past Grove Yellow.

Arms?

None, sir.

These colors?

We didn't ask.

He's no Krady beast, is he?

No, sir, but he doesn't bear Vori colors, either.

Hmm... his glimpse is too tame to be a Kradin.

I hadn't fathomed that, sir.

Well, fathom it now.

He's no nemesis, is he?

I'm not certain what he is, sir.

Weren't you drilled to fathom the nemesis?

Yes, sir.

And we abhor none but the nemesis, do we?

No, sir. None but the nemesis.

Then set him loose.

Didn't you hear, novice?

Thanks.

Go take provisions.

I'm sorry, sir...

Go.

I take it you're in charge here.

Team Leader Brone, Fourth Vori Defense Contingent.

Commander Chakotay of the Starship Voyager.

Very sorry for my defenders.

They're new to the clash and glimpse the nemesis all around them.

The clash?

You're at war.

You've strayed into the fullness of it.

That explains why my shuttle came under fire.

One of my defenders glimpsed a vessel falling in Grove Yellow.

Must've been yours.

Why fly so close to this sphere?

I was on a survey mission.

I picked up traces of omicron radiation in your atmosphere, so I slowed down to take a look.

As soon as I did that, I came under attack.

I lost helm control and had to make an emergency transport to the surface.

It'll be the Kradin who fired at you.

The Kradin?

Our nemesis.

I see.

Well, I tried to explain that I had no hostile intentions, but they just kept shooting.

The nemesis crave supremacy in the air.

They fire on any craft that doesn't show Kradin colors.

I tried to contact my ship, but my communicator's not working.

All dispatching in the clash zone has been suppressed.

I have to find my vessel.

Maybe it's salvageable.

That's little likely.

We're ordered to cluster with the Seventh Contingent two new lights from now.

They'll have means to signal your people.

You can make the walk with us to meet them.

I appreciate the offer, but I can't wait two days.

I have to find my vessel now.

It wouldn't be sharp to return to the trunks.

The nemesis is everywhere there.

Then I'll have to do my best to steer clear of them.

If your tactic won't change...

It won't.

It's sharper to wait for the new light.

Then I'll take your advice and wait.

( quiet conversations )

Well done.

( sighs )

Provisions?

It's not so savory.

Thanks. I'm sure it'll be fine.

They call me Rafin.

Chakotay.

Pleased to meet you.

In the trunks, di... did you glimpse any?

Any what?

Krady beasts.

No, I didn't.

Rafin's never glimpsed the face of the nemesis, either.

Have you, Rafin?

No.

It's my first walk in the clash zone.

You'll glimpse them in the Soonafter.

When you do, you'll fathom there's no heart thumping beneath their flesh.

How many beasts will you send to the Wayafter, Rafin?

I... I couldn't say.

Me, I'll nullify one for each brother and cousin that I've lost.

And then one more after.

True or not, my allies?

SOLDIERS: True.

True.

So I ask you again, Rafin.

How many will you nullify?

As man... as many as I'm able.

You've got the trembles.

If you don't wrestle your trembles to rages, ally, the nemesis will nullify you.

This nemesis of yours-- why do you call them beasts?

It's told they all wear the same horrid face.

Their flesh... is gnarled and blistery like the rotting trunks.

Their glimpses flame like fire.

And if you dare near enough, their breath stinks of muck.

You know, sometimes people say terrible things about their enemies, to make them seem worse than they really are.

There might be some young Kradin soldier out there who's more afraid of you than you are of him.

Nemesis wasn't scared to fume my village... nor scared to nullify my cousins and brothers in their sleep.

And my old mother's mother, too... who never told an unkind word, nor nullified an insect in all her days and nights on this sphere.

That's pretty rough.

And who but a Krady beast would leave the nullified bodies of mine and ours upturned... so they'll never descend to the gloried Wayafter.

What do you mean by "upturned"?

Which of you will walk with Chakotay to find his craft when the new light comes?

I appreciate the offer, but I'll be fine on my own.

You don't fathom the trunks and you don't carry arms.

One of my defenders will walk with you.

Which will it be?

You, Rafin?

S-Sir, I... I...

NAMON: I'll walk with the stranger, sir.

If any beast comes to clash,

I'll nullify the beast.

Well told, Namon.

Now close your glimpses, Defenders... and dream of your sisters and mothers.

Have you never nullified another, stranger?

Killing's the worst thing I've ever had to do.

Then the nemesis you nullified wasn't half so beastly as the Kradin.

Maybe not.

In their glimpses, we're less than nothing.

They flame our homes, take our plantings... make playthings of our sisters.

If you were a Vori, you'd crave to drive them from this sphere just as I do.

Maybe I would if they did things like that to the people I loved.

But on the sphere I come from, we try to find other ways to resolve differences-- peaceful solutions, negotiations.

You don't fathom the nemesis.

No. I suppose I don't.

Beg the Power you believe in that you never will.

The light will be old soon.

We'd be sharp to cluster with the others.

In a few minutes.

We should be getting close.

You'd be sharp to do my tellings.

Go back if you want to.

I've got to keep looking.

No, wait.

I pledged to walk with you.

Glimpse there.

Doesn't look like there's much left of my shuttle.

You'll have to make the walk with us to the Seventh Contingent.

( brush rustling )

( gasps )

Don't make me kill you!

( gunshots )

How is he?

Nullified.

BRONE: We beg peace from the Power who made us Vori and we commend our brother, Namon, to the gloried Wayafter.

What's this?

Namon's coverings.

Shouldn't they go to his family or someone he was close to?

It's a long walk to the clustermark.

It's sharper to blend with the trunks.

Your fleet colors will get us all nullified.

I'm sorry about what happened to Namon.

The nemesis has nullified mine and ours in the before and will in the now.

But in the Soonafter... we'll send them flying from this sphere and go back to our sisters and mothers.

Take it.

This isn't my war.

I'm not planning to shoot anybody.

If we greet the nemesis in the trunks, you'll fire like the rest.

As long as you're with us, you do my tellings, fathom?

Fathom.

Rafin.

Yes, sir?

Drill Chakotay to fire Vori arms.

( gunshot )

Now you.

Your glimpse is too low.

With these arms, it's sharper to aim higher than the mark.

You're good.

Don't mock me.

I was paying you a compliment.

It is one matter to fire at clay marks, but much another to nullify the nemesis.

That's what Namon told, and he told the truth before he went to the gloried Wayafter.

He was right.

Killing's not easy.

Risking my own days and nights to drive the nemesis from our sphere... that should be as easy as a long sleep.

Who taught you that?

My brothers and uncles who were in the clash...

Brone, my driller... and Namon, my ally... who was nullified because of me.

You think it's your fault that Namon died?

If I didn't have the coward's trembles,

I would have walked with you in the trunks... and it would be me and not he who went to the Wayafter.

You weren't the one who pulled the trigger, Rafin, and there's no shame in being afraid of fighting.

Having the trembles is natural.

How do you fathom that?

Because I've been in battle before, fighting to free my people from a nemesis called the Cardassians.

These Cardassians... were they beasts?

Let's just say they weren't very friendly.

The point is, even though I believed in what we were doing,

I always felt fear before a fight.

But you wrestled your trembles to rages, didn't you?

I guess I did, but that doesn't mean...

I was told to drill you, Chakotay, but it's you who've drilled me-- drilled me to fathom the rages.

Brone.

What is it?

I don't know.

Neck-strapped and upturned.

Left to be cooked by the glare.

He's one of yours?

By his coverings, he's of the Seventh Contingent.

Likely a scoutwalker.

Desecrated by the Kradin.

He'll never turn his face to the Wayafter.

We're 300 footfalls from the clustermark.

Signal the Seventh.

Again.

Why don't they answer?

Is it possible they moved their camp for some reason?

Little likely.

You two fastwalk to the clustermark and glimpse what you can.

Sir.

What?

Let me go.

Well told, novice.

Keep your top low and your glimpse wide.

( footsteps approaching )

Sir!

What have you glimpsed?

The Seventh Contingent, sir, nullified.

What? All of them?

At least 20 defenders and that's not the whole terrible of it.

They're all... they're all...

Tell it, Rafin. They're all how?

Like him, sir.

Upturned.

Staked to the dirt and upturned.

Those motherless Krady beasts.

Do you glimpse the fullness of it now, stranger?

Yes. I think I do.

Now you fathom why we name them beasts and not men.

I'm sorry.

We're much more than sorry... aren't we, Defenders?

SOLDIERS: Yes, sir!

The nemesis wants your plantings.

SOLDIERS: True.

He wants your homes.

He wants your sisters, but does it suffice him to nullify you?

SOLDIERS: No!

No. He craves to shame you, mock you, keep you from the gloried Wayafter!

We're wearied of it, aren't we?

SOLDIERS: Yes, sir!

We're wrestled to the rages for it, aren't we?!

SOLDIERS: Yes, sir!

And we're not going to swallow it-- not in the now, or in the Soonafter!

( gunshots )

Assault!

Sly yourselves and fire back!

( groans )

Motherless beasts!

Rafin, no! Stay down!

I'll nullify you all!

( grunts )

( gunfire continues )

Hold on.

I'm going to get you out of here.

( cries out )

Please... turn my face to the... Wayafter.

( breathing stops )

( gunshots, soldiers yelling)

( panting )

( distant voices )

A defender.

Mark, neighbors.

A defender!

( all talking )

Welcome to Larhana settlement, gloried defender.

You're brightly greeted.

Captain's Log, stardate 51082.4.

After searching for more than two days,

we've finally located what's left

of Commander Chakotay's shuttle.

I can only hope the Commander

has fared better than his vessel.

According to the Ambassador,

Commander Chakotay's shuttle was hit by enemy fire and crash-landed somewhere on the southernmost continent.

Right in the middle of the war zone.

I'm afraid so. Can we get a lock on him?

Too much radiation from weapons. We can't scan the surface.

Which means, we don't know if he's still alive.

Why don't we assume that he still is?

I should have gone with him.

It's not your fault, Tom.

We couldn't have anticipated this.

What we've got to do now is figure out how to deal with it.

B'Elanna, try to modify the scanners, cut through the interference.

Aye, Captain.

Neelix, what do you know about this war?

It's vicious.

Ambassador Treen's people have been defending themselves against a particularly savage aggressor for more than a decade.

Is the Ambassador willing to help us find Chakotay?

He's willing, but he may not be able.

His resources are extremely limited and the situation on the surface is chaotic.

NEELIX: But he's assured me that if his troops do find Chakotay, he'll receive medical attention and be transported to the nearest command post.

Let's hope he doesn't meet up with these "savage aggressors" first.

Captain, let me lead a team down there and bring him back.

I understand how you feel, Tom, but let's take it one step at a time.

Tuvok, recontact Ambassador Treen.

Ask for any tactical support he's willing to provide-- maps, weapons analyses, intelligence reports.

Before I risk anyone else's life,

I want to know exactly what we're getting ourselves into.

By your coverings, you're a novice defender.

Do I tell the truth?

Listen, there's been a misunderstanding.

I'm not a defender.

My shuttle was shot down by the Kradin and I landed in the clash zone.

I met up with one of your patrols.

They gave me this uniform.

Which Contingent?

The Fourth.

The Fourth?

They're sturdy clashers.

Tell us-- did you and your allies drive the nemesis from the trunks?

We put up a brave fight.

FEMALE: Then you're a gloried defender even if you claim not to be.

Marna tells the truth, Chakotay.

You are welcome among my neighbors.

Thank you.

That's very kind.

Do you crave anything more?

Drink? Warm coverings?

What I really need is some communications equipment to contact my crew.

We have no means to signal your people.

MARNA: The Kradin drove us from our homes and plantings and took all the machinery we had.

Do you know where I might find someplace with communications equipment?

The re-stock unit.

Can you tell me how to get there?

It's not very near-- at least 10,000 footfalls through the thick of the trunks.

Then I'd better get started.

The new light is coming.

Rest till then.

Yes, please, Chakotay.

Rest until the new light.

I think I will.

Come, neighbors.

Let's give Defender Chakotay some quiet.

I wanted to know if you crave more.

No, thank you.

Oh.

But it was delicious.

And the blossoms?

Do you like them?

I planted them myself.

They're very pretty.

I've heard tellings that the Kradin leave our nullied defenders upturned.

Is it true?

You can tell me.

Penno says I'm too small to be told, but I'm not.

It's true the Kradin don't respect your beliefs.

The Kradin are beasty.

I don't fathom why they flamed our homes nor why they crave to nully us all.

I don't, either.

We never took their plantings.

We never nullied their brothers.

So why do they hate us?

I wish I could tell you.

Hate's not something I understand very well.

My brother's a defender, too.

Really?

He left for the clash two plantings before.

I was much smaller then.

He was sturdy and pleasing to glimpse in his colors.

Like you.

Maybe you've glimpsed him.

He's called Daryo.

There are a lot of soldiers in the war.

I only met a few of them.

He's a team leader of the Seventh Defense Contingent.

The Seventh?

Are you sure he was with the Seventh?

They're very sturdy in the clash.

Have you heard of them?

The patrol I was with was supposed to rendezvous with them.

Why didn't you?

You would have glimpsed him.

We were ambushed before we had the chance.

But when you go back to the clash likely you'll glimpse Daryo then.

You could take a letter to him.

I'm not going back to the clash zone.

I've got to get to the re-stock unit so I can contact my ship.

Then you can bring my letter to the re-stock unit.

Likely some defender there can take it to Daryo.

Will you do it?

Please?

I'll go write it now before the new light comes.

( sighing )

CHAKOTAY: I wish you a good day.

Thank you.

Provisions for your long walk.

Walk well, Defender Chakotay.

Thank you both.

You've all been very kind.

Writings for my brother.

You'll be sure he gets them?

I'll do my best.

Your best will be enough.

The pretty smell of the blossoms will hold the nemesis far away.

Then you'd better keep one for yourself.

( aircraft overhead )

( explosions )

( people yelling, children crying )

FEMALE: Father!

( crying, yelling continue )

Offer no opposition or you'll be nullified.

No evidence of cellular residue on the shuttle wreckage, so there's a chance Chakotay survived the crash.

Well, unfortunately, the wreckage was found inside enemy territory.

So there is also a chance he's been captured or killed by the nemesis.

There you go looking on the bright side again, Tuvok.

What's this "nemesis"?

It is the term Ambassador Treen's people use to identify their enemy.

Apparently, they're vicious.

They shoot without warning, use biochemical weapons, routinely massacre civilians.

If we run into them, it's safe to say they won't be hanging out a welcome sign.

I want a team on the surface as soon as possible.

I was hoping you'd say that. Tuvok, let's get moving.

I must caution you both.

My tactical analysis does not bode well for the success of such a mission.

Given the situation in the battle zone, there is a very high probability that an away team will sustain heavy casualties.

Are you saying we should just abandon Chakotay?

On the contrary.

I suppose you've come up with an alternative plan?

Indeed.

I have concluded that the least risky course of action is for a single crew member to make the infiltration, accompanied by a commando unit that Ambassador Treen has agreed to provide.

Fine with me. When do I leave?

Something tells me that's not what Tuvok has in mind.

Naturally, I am the logical person to carry out this mission.

Naturally.

Get down there!

Chakotay!

I heard the explosions.

I came back to help.

What did the Kradin do to you?

They interrogated me.

Where's your grandfather?

I don't know.

He's very gray, and his heart's not sturdy.

He needs me to tend him.

You!

You! I want to talk to your superior!

Hey! I'm talking to you. I want to know what you've done with this girl's grandfather.

He's old and needs medical...

( grunts )

Chakotay!

Penno always tells it'll be brighter when the new light comes.

Your grandfather is a wise man.

That's right.

Now get some sleep.

You'll tend me, won't you?

No matter what comes in the Soonafter?

Close your glimpses... and dream of your gloried brother.

( two gunshots )

KRADIN: Move along, Vori.

VORI: Don't shoot.

( babies crying )

( worried voices )

OLD VORI: We're coming.

KRADIN: Move along!

Where are they taking them?

I don't know.

They'll be fastwalked to the extermination facility.

Why?

Because they're gray and too long-lived and the Kradin think them unfit for toiling.

They won't make good servers, like us.

Penno!

Penno!

Karya!

Where are they taking you?

Be sturdy, my daughter's daughter.

Who's going to tend you?

We'll glimpse each other again in the Wayafter.

Set him loose! Karya!

Set him loose!

KRADIN: Be still.

Keep your hands off her!

Don't touch her!

Halt!

What's the matter, pretty one?

Set my mother's father loose!

Is that the man you mean?

No! Karya!

Please!

Set him loose!

You don't want to see him suffer, do you, pretty one?

No.

Don't worry.

The old Vori's suffering'll be over soon enough.

No!

Penno!

Take this screeching waif to the extermination facility.

No. Chakotay. Set me loose!

Chakotay, help me!

You motherless beast!

Are Ambassador Treen and his soldiers ready to beam aboard?

Aye, Captain. Energize.

Welcome aboard, Ambassador.

Thank you for agreeing to help us find our crewman.

Your thanks are unnecessary, Captain.

Any victim of our bloodthirsty nemesis the Vori will always find friends among the Kradin people.

( panting )

Chakotay... calm now.

I'll set you loose.

Sorry to leave you upturned so long... but I had to shroud myself in the trunks till the Kradin walked on.

The villagers from Larhana settlement?

They were fastwalked through the trunks.

And your defenders?

All nullified.

Thank you for coming back for me.

You put yourself at risk.

And you, Chakotay, clashed beside us against the Kradin though you're a stranger to this sphere.

I glimpsed you chancing your days and nights to save Rafin from our nemesis.

You tell the truth when you name them beasts.

What will you do now that your men are gone?

Join with the Fifth Contingent.

They're trying to free the villagers.

It doesn't go brightly for them.

I'll come with you.

No. I'll bring you to command.

You can signal your people.

That can wait till the Soonafter.

In the now... you need my help to nullify the nemesis.

Backwalk!

Backwalk!

The nemesis is nearing!

It's sharper to backwalk!

( explosion )

( Brone groaning )

( gunfire continues )

Brone!

AMPLIFIED VOICE: Vori soldiers!

You are surrounded.

Lay down your arms and surrender.

Hold your fire!

You'll have to nullify me first!

Hold your fire, Commander Chakotay.

Do not fire, Commander.

How do you know my name?

I am Lieutenant Tuvok.

Tuvok? Don't walk any closer.

I've come to bring you back to Voyager.

Nullify him, Chakotay!

It's a Kradin tactic.

I assure you, Commander, this is no ruse.

It is Lieutenant Tuvok.

Don't you recognize me?

He's the nemesis!

You're a Kradin beast.

You destroyed that village, nullified Penno; took away Karya.

She was only a child!

They've brainwashed you, Commander.

Look closer.

Try to recall.

Your shuttle was shot down.

These people-- the Vori-- they captured you.

No. They rescued me.

That is what they want you to believe.

But they have been indoctrinating you, training you to fight their war.

Take one more step and I'll nullify you.

You are Commander Chakotay of the Starship Voyager.

You are a scientist, an explorer.

You are not a killer.

Tuvok.

Yes, Commander.

How can you wear those colors?

The Kradin... they're beasts, murderers.

On the contrary-- they are the ones who helped us locate you.

We tracked you to a Vori training camp.

We infiltrated the facility, but you were gone.

They had already brought you here to fight this battle.

Before today, nothing you experienced here was real.

It is the method the Vori use to conscript and train soldiers.

I don't believe you!

I will prove it to you if you will lower your weapon.

( distant voices )

Do you recognize this place?

It's Larhana settlement.

A defender.

Mark, neighbors! A defender.

( all talking )

Defender.

Karya.

Welcome to Larhana settlement, gloried defender.

You're brightly greeted.

Captain's Log, stardate 51096.5.

Although Lieutenant Tuvok has managed

to bring Commander Chakotay safely back to the ship,

it may be some time

before his psychological wounds are fully healed.

My guess is the Vori used a combination of mind control techniques, including photometric projections, heightened emotional stimuli and highly sophisticated psychotropic manipulation.

From the condition of your hypothalamus,

I'd say they had you so mixed up they could have convinced you your own mother was a turnip.

Everything I experienced was some sort of simulation?

Except for the battle you were fighting when Tuvok found you.

Apparently, attacking the simulated commandant marked your graduation from basic training.

And the men I fought beside-- none of them was real?

Namon and Rafin weren't killed in front of me?

As far as we can tell, they were part of the simulation.

The idea was to make you bond with your fellow soldiers as well as the villagers, so their deaths would enrage you.

Why me?

Luck of the draw.

You happened to be passing through their space and you were as promising a recruit as anyone else.

We've been told the Vori have dozens of these training facilities where they conscript their own people and any aliens they're able to capture.

DOCTOR: In short, Commander, you've been subjected to a highly sophisticated form of propaganda.

Then the Kradin don't kill innocent civilians?

They don't desecrate the Vori's dead?

I don't know.

But the Kradin accuse the Vori of the same kinds of atrocities.

I cared about the Vori, but I hated the Kradin.

I wanted to kill every one of them.

Evidently, that was the point.

( door opens )

NEELIX: Captain.

Ambassador Treen would like to have a word with the Commander.

I wish to tell you how pleased our people are to hear of your recovery.

I'm only sorry we weren't able to rescue you sooner from our nemesis.

Have I said something wrong?

I don't know.

If you'll excuse me, Captain.

Chakotay?

I wish it were as easy to stop hating as it was to start.