Summary[]
- Historians note: This story takes place right before Coda. For reference, Coda is between "Alter Ego" and "Blood Fever" in the series.
It’s staff meeting time, and after all the official business is taken care of, Captain Janeway has one last item on the agenda. Voyager will be entering the Nekrit Expanse, and in order to avoid the crew getting bored, she is taking Neelix up on his suggestion of putting on a Talent Night. Since Janeway wants the crew to really get into the spirt, the senior staff is being volunteered to participate, much to Tom and B’Elanna’s horror.
Evidently a step ahead, Tom has volunteered to help Neelix coordinate things. B’Elanna and Harry are working in engineering, lamenting that they hadn’t thought of it first. However Harry reports that Tom’s actually been rather busy, as it turns out that Talent Night is getting a bit out of hand.
A few day later, Chakotay comes up to B’Elanna on the bridge, saying that he’s heard that she’s going to help Tom out with the holodeck programming for the show. This is the first B’Elanna’s heard of it, but she plays along, realizing this is better than her original plan (saying she was going to do baton twirling and then causing a minor emergency in engineering during the show, so she would ‘unfortunately’ not be able to go on).
B’Elanna tracks down Tom, to ask him why he told Chakotay that she be helping him. He responds that he saw she hadn’t signed up for anything, and that he needed help setting up the lighting (things have gotten so out of control that they relied on the holodeck for everything, they’d cause an overload).
Later, B’Elanna is with Neelix, surprised at how nice it was for Tom to get her out of performing at Talent Night. Neelix responds that he’s not sure why B’Elanna’s surprised, Tom’s a nice guy. B’Elanna doesn’t know what to make of that, as she knows there was something of a love triangle between Neelix, Tom, and Kes and that Kes and Neelix are no longer an item. While B’Elanna mulls with over, Neelix points out how much help Tom has been, especially encouraging some more shy people to perform… for example, the rather beautiful ensign he’s currently talking with, Lauren MacTaggart. A rush of anger flows through B’Elanna as she watches them.
In the mess hall with Harry, B’Elanna discusses what a pig Tom is. Harry doesn’t really want to hear it, and B’Elanna argues that Harry and Tom wouldn’t be friends if they were all stuck out here. Harry argues that the same goes for himself and B’Elanna, which she has to concede. B’Elanna then contemplates why, although she gets along with Harry rather well, she doesn’t have any romantic feelings towards him. After realizing that kissing him would be like kissing her brother, B’Elanna sees Tom and Lauren come in. Not wanting to deal with them, B’Elanna leaves.
Tom is not happy that Lauren is still with him, complaining about her boyfriend. Lauren’s been practicing her piece a lot and Michael, her boyfriend, is not terribly understanding. Lauren asks Tom if he wants to come by her quarters tonight to give her notes on her piece, and Tom hesitates. Does he want to go to her quarters? He hesitates to the point that is becomes awkward, so he agrees.
Neelix shows up in sickbay, wanting to ask Kes if she’d like to sing the Starlight Song with him in the show. He’s feeling awkward because of the breakup (and he wonders if she’s with Tom) but Kes shoots that down, saying Tom has his interests set elsewhere. However, she has to decline singing because she may need to cover sickbay that night for the Doc, who is in the show.
After leaving Lauren’s quarters (who was slightly more flirtatious with him than a person in a relationship really should be…), Tom runs into B’Elanna. She’s had a pretty bad day, the matter-antimatter intermix chamber is acting up, and she’s been up half the night trying to fix it. As they talk, Tom wonders what it is about B’Elanna that gets to him so easily; why he’s so affected by her moods. They part ways, shortly after Tom tells B’Elanna that he’s been with Lauren all evening.
Two hours before the show is about to start, Tom get a call from Joe Carey in engineering. They’ve found what was causing the problem with the intermix chamber, but because of it, they are going to have to cut most of the power to the holodeck, and it’s going to take a week to fix. Tom knows he can’t push talent night for a week…can they do it without power?
After consulting with the Captain, it’s decided the show must go on. Some acts are scraped, others modified. The Delaney sisters preform a violin/viola duet; the Doctor an aria from Othello. Harry plays his clarinet, and an encore is requested, so he plays Pop Goes the Weasel. During a delay in the show, Kes takes Neelix up on stage and they sing the Starlight Song. Then on to Tuvok’s reading of Vulcan poetry… which is as interesting as it sounds. Finally, it’s the Captain’s turn, and she gracefully performs the dance of The Dying Swan.
This whole time B’Elanna has been controlling the spot light, and as the Captain’s performance comes to a close, she goes to turn it off and bring up the house lights, but Tom comes on the stage. He presents Lauren, who plays the bagpipes and sings Keep Right on to the End of the Road. Everyone one is touched, and the show ends on a sentimental note.
After everyone had left, Tom comes out of from where he ducked away while Lauren played. However, turns out one person is left: B’Elanna. She congratulates him on a show well done, the two tease each other a bit. The Lauren situation gets cleared up, and Tom and B’Elanna to retire to Sandrine’s, so that B’Elanna can beat Tom at a game of pool.
References[]
Characters[]
- Joe Carey • Chakotay • Chell • The Doctor • Garber • Girroux • Kathryn Janeway • Kes • Harry Kim • Lauren MacTaggart • Michael • Neelix • Tom Paris • B'Elanna Torres • Tuvok
- Referenced only
- Jenny Delaney • Megan Delaney • Desdemona • Dan Fisher • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Princess Odette • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky • Theoden • Libby Webber
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Voyager
- Referenced only
- Baxial
Locations[]
- Delta Quadrant • Nekrit Expanse •
- Referenced only
- Highlands • Marseilles (Chez Sandrine) • Nekrit supply depot • Scotland
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Starfleet • United Federation of Planets
- Referenced only
- Juilliard • Kazon Collective • Maquis • Riders of Rohan • Starfleet Academy
Science and technology[]
- exhaust manifold • holodeck • holomatrix • holonovel • intermix chamber • padd • power grid • repair drone • replicator • tricorder • warp core
Other references[]
- actor • airponics bay • bagpipes • ballet • baton twirling • biologist • captain • citrus • clarinet • clarinetist • commander • dance instructor • dancer • delta watch • The Dying Swan • ensign • first officer • fish sandwich • fruit • gaffer • gamma shift • geek • horse • horseman • juggling • Keep Right on to the End of the Road • The Lord of the Rings • mess hall • Morgul • Mozart's Clarinet concerto in A Major • movie • octopus • Othello • poetry • pool • Pop Goes the Weasel • prop • sandwich • sickbay • singer • Starlight Song • soup • talent show • tripod • vanilla • vegetable • viola • violin • work light
Appendices[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Winds of Change |
Distant Shores
|
Next story: Letting Go |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: The Mist (Chapters 2-20) |
Next Adventure: Coda | |
| Previous Adventure: Alter Ego |
Journey of the USS Voyager | Next Adventure: Coda |