La vita sulla USS Protostar NX-76884 si rivela meno facile del previsto quando l'equipaggio di fuggitivi si trova a dover fronteggiare una serie di pericolose manovre di navigazione.
Nella sala macchine della nave si nascondono interessanti soluzioni tecniche.
Janeway Olografica: I'm Kathryn Janeway, your training advisor. I'm a hologram based on one of the most decorated captains in Starfleet history, programmed to assist the "Protostar's" crew on their journey back to Federation space. Jankom Pog: Ugh. She's hideous. Why is her forehead so smooth? Ugh! Janeway Olografica: You're no summer peach either, Tellarite. Jankom Pog: Jankom Pog likes her! Rok-Tahk: What's a Freder… Fred Erasion? Janeway Olografica: What Starfleet crew doesn't know the Federation? Where's your captain?
Janeway Olografica: The United Federation of Planets. An interstellar union of different worlds and species, with shared principles of universal liberty, rights, and equality. Rok-Tahk: Equality? That sounds nice. Janeway Olografica: Starfleet is the Federation's representatives for deep space exploration, on a mission to maintain peace and freedom, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.
Janeway Olografica: I must say, when the Federation first formed, it wasn't pretty. A collection of species, entirely unfamiliar to each other, different languages, different cultures, but with one shared aspiration: to be better. I've seen my share of wayward crews, and I can tell you this– you've got potential.