The Caretaker Part II

On route to the fifth planet of a neighboring system, Voyager runs across Neelix, a Talaxian scavenger. He explains to them that the Array has been bringing ships into this quadrant for many months. He offers the information that the "Caretaker", who controls the Array, may have sent the two missing crewmembers to the Ocampa, a race that lives two miles below the surface of the fifth planet. He offers to guide Janeway and the Maquis there.

Sure enough, Kim and Torres are being care for in the Ocampa medical facility. They find out that the Ocampa once inhabited the planet's surface until an environmental disaster 500 years ago forced them below. Since then their needs have been provided by the man they refer to as the Caretaker.

Arriving with Neelix on the planet's surface, Janeway meets the Kazon, a savage alien species that has taken control of the Ocampan world. The Kazon refuses any aid to find the missing crewmembers.

But Neelix had his own reasons for guiding Janeway to the Ocampan planet. He was hoping that Janeway would trade some of Voyager's water, a much in demand commodity by the Kazon, for Kes, an Ocampan woman that Jabin, the head Kazon, is holding captive. Instead of being interested in trade, Jabin tries to take the crew hostage but with the help of Neelix both the crew and Kes manage to escape.

Kes agrees to lead Janeway and others through the tunnels that lead to her underground home to search for the missing crewmembers. And at the same time Kim and Torres convince an Ocampan nurse to show them the route to that could lead to the surface.

In the meantime, the Array has been increasing the rate of the energy pulses that power they city. Tuvok theorizes that the increased activity may indicate that the Caretaker is dying; he is clearly attempting to give the Ocampans a surplus of power that will sustain them once he is gone.

The Caretakers impending death also complicates the search effort as the Array begins firing a weapon at the planet to seal up all of the energy conduits, the tunnels that provide the only access to the city. This will protect the Ocampans, but prevent the others from escaping. Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay split up from Paris, Neelix, and Kes in order to find Kim and Torres more quickly. Neelix's group finds them first and sends them to Voyager. Paris and Neelix return for Janeway's group and along the way Paris ends up saving Chakotay's life. This lessens the skepticism Chakotay harbored towards Paris' loyalty.

With their two crewmembers safely aboard, Janeway returns to the Array to confront the Caretaker. He explains that he was bringing ships into the Delta Quadrant in hopes of finding a compatible mate. It was his hope that his offspring would carry on the duty of caring for the Ocampans. So far he has been unsuccessful.

Janeway tries to convince him to send Voyager and the Maquis back home but he refuses. He cannot spare the power and wants to destroy the Array so it won't fall into the Kazon's hands after his death. But he dies before he can carry out his plans. Now Janeway is confronted with the dilemma to either use the Array to get home - which would leave it intact for the Kazon- or to destroy it and their passage way home and save Ocampa. She chooses the only option she feels as a Starfleet officer is right and makes a mortal enemy in the Kazon.

In the battle with the Kazon, Chakotay's ship is destroyed and Janeway asks the Maquis to become part of Voyager's crew. She also allows Neelix and Kes to stay aboard. Before joining the Maquis Chakotay had been a Starfleet officer so Janeway chooses him to replace her dead First Officer. Janeway also reinstates Paris as a Starfleet lieutenant, and the new crew sets course for the long trip home, 70,000 light-years away.

My Thoughts...

Well, like I mentioned earlier I had started watching Voyager and got turned off by the first few episodes. After watching The Caretaker again last night I decided that I still didn't like it. I'm glad the shows got better as the seasons went on. Janeway yet again pissed me off by deciding not only for her crew but also for the Maquis group to destroy the Array and their only way home. Granted I wouldn't want to let the Ocampa be destroyed but it still seems high handed. Although maybe that just comes along with being a Captain.

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