♪ ♪
Looking out at the cosmos,
you may wonder how a star is born.
Usually, swirling hydrogen is compressed
by gravity over time until it ignites.
But if you want to make a special star,
say, to power our Protostar Drive
to get us back to "Voyager,"
you need a special kind of matter,
the perfect matter: Bosonite,
with all the exotic properties we need.
Now that the protostar's fixed up,
Janeway found an M-Class planet
with a natural supply.
All we need is to pick some up and make our own perfect star
to get us home.
♪ ♪
Oh, great. Look at this mess.
Can't we go to a nice planet for a change?
Something is wrong here.
Nature is out of balance.
I'm detecting only a trace amount
of Bosonite in the soil.
To beam back what we require for the Proto-Drive,
the transporter enhancers would need
to cover, say, from here to the horizon.
They can do that?
Not quite.
Uh, guys, I'm picking up a large deposit
over that mountain range.
Mm, how'd you figure that out?
I just tweaked the sensor emission limiter.
- Thought it might help. - Great idea, Dal.
Nice work.
Well, hello, friend.
Was that you who devoured this entire world?
It's a Tribleustes ventricosus!
Aww, it's a perfect specimen.
- A Tribleustes "da bu-burr." - A tribble.
Rok studied 'em for her Starfleet admission thesis.
Whoa. Hey!
Whoa, there's two now!
They multiply rapidly and have a voracious appetite,
an invasive species capable
of consuming planets to the brink of starvation.
A tribble outbreak once brought the Klingon Empire
to its knees.
Look at all my cute babies.
You're not voracious, are you?
Ow!
It bit me!
But tribbles don't have teeth.
I think these do. Run!
Tribbles aren't supposed to get this big!
And my legs aren't meant to move this fast!
And yet they do!
Follow Murf!
♪ ♪
Oh, whoa! Aah!
Where is Zero?
The tumble was exhilarating,
but the end result... not optimal.
We need to get you to sickbay.
Can we all go?
Jankom doesn't wanna be
on some giant furball's buffet.
We still need that Bosonite.
Why don't you escort Zero back to the "Protostar"?
The rest of us will press ahead
and figure out what's going on here.
Come on, Z. Let's get you outta here.
Good luck, friends. Oh!
Oh, my.
Pain is such a horribly novel sensation.
Janeway.
SuyInmeH!
Whoa! Whoa now. Take it easy.
What? Where did he come from?
- SuyInmeH! YuQvam yImej!
Did anyone's universal translator understand that?
It's a nuanced Klingon dialect,
but I believe he said,
"Leave this planet or you will die."
Well, at least he's direct.
Maybe he knows what happened here.
So, uh, what's a Klingon like you doing
way out at the edge of the quadrant?
Seems you've been here a while.
Because I cannot leave!
Not yet!
Can't leave?
Your Bird-of-Prey seems
to be working just fine.
Even if it's been turned into a very unsanitary lab.
Genetic manipulation, hormonal retroviruses.
You're a scientist, like me!
These experiments are why those tribbles have gotten so huge!
Watch your words, child, or they may be your last!
Whoa. Back up.
A Klingon scientist?
Don't run into many of those.
I am Dr. K'Ruvang,
house geneticist for the Empire,
sent by Chancellor Martok
to find a way to defeat our ancient blood enemy:
the tribbles.
I found a weakness in their DNA
to slow their reproduction, but something went wrong.
Now they are stronger, and I have lost my honor!
The solution has eluded me for years.
I believe it is impossible.
Oh, here's the problem.
You were on the right track with their metabolism,
but the chromatin kept remodeling
because of this protein.
How does a mere child know this?
I studied. A lot.
Starfleet's made tons of breakthroughs
since you came here.
She's sorta an expert
on all things cute and cuddly.
Mm, wait a second!
If we make a small adjustment to your serum,
we could tailor the retrovirus
to the indigenous tribble DNA.
And if it spreads through the population...
It could reduce their reproduction
and their size.
Qu'vatlh.
An interesting thought experiment,
but it has little to do with our objective.
We are here to extract the Bosonite deposit
for our ship.
I fail to see the humor in this.
That deposit is in the heart
of the Omega Tribble nest.
As you've seen, they are very hostile to outsiders.
Ooh, sounds like a problem-tunity!
If we release the retrovirus to a sample that large,
the entire population will shrink in no time.
"Problem-tunity."
We can help everybody!
And my honor would be restored.
Rok seems smart.
Before I put us in danger, I need to know how smart.
Once, over the course of, mm, ten minutes,
she fixed a core breach with enough time
to rebuild Hologram Janeway from scratch.
We'll have to clear the nest either way
to get back to "Voyager."
And if a tribble this size ever got off the planet,
it'll be a probably for more than just the Klingons.
All right, Rok. Try to have that retrovirus
synthesized by morning.
How does anyone work like this?
Ugh, where did I put my notes?
- Your injuries aren't responding
to the bioregenerative field.
I don't know why your leg won't heal.
Because it can't.
I've known this body wouldn't last forever.
I just thought...
♪ ♪
I'd have more time.
- I'd advise you to stay off it as much as possible.
I'm sorry, Zero.
Uh, could be worse.
Meh, probably not.
Tellarites don't have the best bedside manner.
Aah!
Jankom should probably go.
No, stay.
I rather like the company.
Uh, if it makes you feel any better,
whenever Jankom finds something he can't fix,
Jankom builds himself something even better.
Huh.
Perhaps we shall.
♪ ♪
Is it all right if I join you?
Please. Couldn't sleep either?
I was unaware Klingons could snore so loudly.
This broken world.
Places like these never get any easier to see.
You fear the same will happen to Solum in your absence.
How'd you know that?
Though Vulcans do not express emotion,
we do feel, and I, too, have felt displaced,
guilty over what I left behind.
There was a time when I didn't fit in
with this group either.
I am not concerned about being liked as you are.
But my thoughts dwell on why I am here.
I left a promising future on "Voyager"
because Wesley said I am essential to yours.
But what is his logic?
Life's not always logical.
But neither is hope.
And just because the path isn't clear now
doesn't mean you'll never find your purpose
or I'll never go back to my home world
to fix what I abandoned.
Perhaps such things are only impossible
until they are not.
- -
Aah!
Something's in here. Where did it go?
My lab!
- There's been a security breach. - There!
It went into that corner!
Now it's over here!
Uh, what's going on?
A tribble got in!
The doors were sealed.
I got it!
Uh, but it's not a tribble.
What have I done?
That's the last of the quadrotriticale grain.
There should be enough of Rok's serum in it
to shrink those tribbles down to size.
If it works.
Considering the abomination she has created,
my faith in her abilities is limited.
Who would've thought a contaminated cell culture
could be so cute?
Cute?
It's living proof I made a mistake!
What if I got the retrovirus wrong too?
What if there was an error in my calculations?
What--what if I...
Make them even bigger?
You're just as smart as you were yesterday.
You got this.
I could also be just as dumb.
Just because an unexpected variable occurred,
it does not mean your abilities are flawed.
Unexpected variable?
That?
Well, what else would you call it?
An abomination!
We don't have to call it anything!
Can we please move on and test the grain
to make sure it works?
It is a fascinating error--
various DNA strands hybridized into an unknown species.
Hey. I'm one of those too.
This one is just a little baby tribble.
Uh, wha--Bribble.
Huh, Bribble. I like it.
Now it has a name?
I thought you liked cute animals.
I do!
I just don't like my scientific mistakes...
staring at me.
Let's hope there's no more unexpected variables.
♪ ♪
Ooh, no! Not for you!
Aww.
- We can't beam anything in or out
until those transporter enhancers are in place,
so stand by until it's clear of hostiles.
Here they come.
♪ ♪
About those unexpected variables,
I do not think we replicated enough food
to keep them occupied.
Gwyn and Dal need more time!
They're not done yet!
Extraction team, tribbles inbound,
and a lot of them.
Uh, sounds like our time's up.
Almost got the alignment.
Uh, there!
Janeway, we're all set.
Beam it up.
Acknowledged. Stand clear.
And got it.
Bosonite secure in the Proto-Core.
- She's chock-full of rock! - Good.
Recalibrate and get into position
so I can lock on to you.
Already on it!
Janeway, two to beam up!
♪ ♪
- What's going on? I've lost signal.
We got a bunch of hungry tribbles.
A pylon's been destroyed.
We can't triangulate and beam them out.
Science team, new orders:
go in and extract the extraction team,
or else they won't make it.
I'll ground the Bird-of-Prey
and meet you inside.
This is foolish!
If we die now, we will jeopardize the experiment.
My crew comes first.
We'll deal with my mistakes later.
There, get to the opening!
Gwyn!
Dal! Gwyn!
Thanks for the distraction,
but I think ya need to take off the stun setting
for them to feel it.
That was not a stun setting.
♪ ♪
Enough!
What are you doing?
Do not disrupt that Bosonite vein.
The chain reaction could destroy this entire region!
And I shall take my enemies with em!
Qapla'!
Unhand me, child!
I will not perish with my mission incomplete!
I will reclaim honor!
Stop. There's always another way!
And if your serum fails?
No, no.
I must be certain!
♪ ♪
They're communicating.
Wow.
Looks like your little miscalculation
just saved us all.
Huh, unexpected variables.
Huh.
♪ Yaya'a' qu' 'o ♪
♪ Yaya'a' qu' 'o, yaya'a' qu' 'o ♪
♪ Yaya'a' qu' 'o... ♪
♪ ♪
Science log, supplemental.
No one said making a star was easy.
It may not have gone perfectly,
but it made the experience special.
I was super relieved
to hear my retrovirus worked after all.
It just needed a little time...
Which means Dr. K'Ruvang was finally able to go home, too,
with his reputation mostly intact.
You have to expect the unexpected in my field...
Because before the right answer,
we often find the wrong one.
But the wrong one can lead us to entirely new discoveries.
That's why it's important we don't hang our heads
when we make a mistake.
Instead, we should wear them like a badge of honor.
- Protostar Drive online.
- I'll chart a course for "Voyager."
Are you ready to see the admiral?
I am now.
Crew, let's set a course for home.
♪ ♪