Unimatrix Zero, Part II (episode)

Assimilated by the Borg, Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok plot to release a virus into the Borg Collective which will allow members of Unimatrix Zero to retain their individuality in the real world and resist the Borg Queen. (Season Premiere)

Teaser
Tuvok, B'Elanna Torres and Captain Kathryn Janeway have been assimilated as Borg drones, but their personalities remain intact thanks to a short-lived anti-assimilation inoculation developed by The Doctor.

Act One
The first order of business is to get the Unimatrix virus injected in to the Central plexus of their cube. During the time leading to the central plexus, Tuvok's mental faculties begin to degrade and submit to the Borg Collective. The Borg Queen can hear the Vulcan but not Torres or Janeway.

Act Two
Tuvok attempts to fight off the degradation by recalling facts about his individual life, but eventually loses the battle and becomes a full-fledged Borg drone, calling himself now Three Of Twelve. Through him, the Borg Queen discovers that the three officers are in the Central Plexus, but not before they manage to inject their virus into the Central Plexus. A short and futile fight ensues as Captain Janeway attempts to run from Tuvok. Voyager arrives just in time and attempts to retrieve the away team, but are unable to due to the shields that surround the Central Plexus. Chakotay then orders Paris to fly them closer to the Cube to get a stronger lock onto them. Back on the cube, Torres is able to evade capture from the other Borg drones, but Janeway is not so fortunate and is captured. The Queen watches Voyager on her viewscreen, proclaiming Back so soon?!.

Chakotay orders Harry to target the Cube's shield generators and set the phasers to stand-by mode. Just then, the Borg Cube fires a torpedo at Voyager. Harry informs Chakotay that the Borg somehow have access to Voyager's tactical controls (due to the Queen reading Tuvok's thoughts), which brings Voyager's shields down. Chakotay orders evasive manuevers, but it's too late - the torpedo hits Voyager's starboard side. Kim reports hull breaches on decks 5, 6 and 7. Chakotay calls for a retreat, but Paris protests that they can't just leave the away team behind. Chakotay tells him that there's very little they can do right now, especially since the Borg have their access codes.

Meanwhile, Janeway is taken to a hub and linked to it. A holographic representation of her normal, unassimilated self appears in front of the Borg Queen. As the Unimatrix Zero drones are becoming individuals, the Borg Queen discovers the virus almost immediately, but solving the virus still eludes her. One of the Borg adjuncts in the Queen's chamber is killed for not revealing facts about Unimatrix Zero. He is disassembled, and his cortical node is examined so that the frequency for Unimatrix Zero might be revealed.

Act Three
The Borg Queen exposes that she is fully aware of Unimatrix Zero, the virus and what was accomplished, but that she also cannot yet foil the virus either. She points out the deaths of drones as being Janeway's fault for freeing them and orders summary destruction of some cubes that also have infected drones. Janeway does not relent, but insists that the Borg Queen should visit Unimatrix Zero herself.

Seven of Nine meanwhile uses her alcove to continue to visit Unimatrix Zero. Borg Drones appear in the Unimatrix and begin assaulting the residents of Unimatrix Zero so that they can identify the occupants, expel them, and then use their Borg components to further research the interlink frequency of Unimatrix Zero.

Assimilated by the Borg, Janeway is brought face-to-face with the Borg Queen. Determined to eradicate the "individuality" virus that Janeway has injected into the Collective, the Queen gives Janeway an ultimatum: persuade the freed Borg to return to the Queen's control or see millions of innocent drones be put to death to cleanse the Collective of Janeway's actions...

Act Four
The Borg Queen decides to pay a visit to Unimatrix Zero and persuades a child there that being part of the collective is good because they are all friends and reading each other's thoughts are "fun". The child shows the Queen to a plateau so that she has a wide angle view of Unimatrix Zero.

Back in reality, the Queen tells Janeway that she has visited Unimatrix Zero and will be releasing a mutated virus of her own to kill those drones connected to Unimatrix Zero unless Janeway convinces the freed Borg to return to The Collective.

Janeway appears holographically on Voyager and issues an order that "Unimatrix Zero can no longer exist". While it seems that she is issuing a destruction order, as well as suggesting that the drones must return to the collective or be killed by the modified nanovirus, Chakotay realizes that Janeway has found a loophole that the Queen never considered and is a necessary step to protect and retain the individualities of the drones who have been freed, as well as cutting off the Queen's only hub to release the virus.

Act Five
Voyager receives surprise assistance from a Borg sphere, led by a recently-liberated drone and together, they mount an assault on the Borg Cube that is holding Tuvok, Torres and Janeway. Unable to penetrate the shields, they are not successful at beaming Janeway, Torres or Tuvok out, but continue their assault.

Meanwhile, Seven of Nine begins evacuating all drones from Unimatrix Zero as it is being destroyed by interrupting the interlink frequency; an effect that manifests itself in Unimatrix Zero as fire. Before it dissolves entirely, she has a brief sending off of her friend, who turned out to be more than simply a friend, but it is determined that they are doomed to not meet again as they are spread too far away across the galaxy. They both exit and then the destruction of Unimatrix Zero is complete.

The Borg Queen detects the assault on the Borg Cube bearing Tuvok, Torres and the Captain, and orders it to self destruct. At the last moment before destruction, the shields go down and Voyager is able to beam the Captain, Torres and Tuvok to sickbay, where the Doctor removes their Borg implants and starts their recovery process.


 * Chief medical officer's log, stardate 54014.4. It's been 48 hours since the away team returned to Voyager. Thanks to the neural suppressant, I've been able to extract most of their Borg technology. The captain and B'Elanna are on the mend. But Tuvok will need a little more time to recover. 

Elsewhere, the Borg Civil War has gone into full tilt.

Memorable Quotes
"Assimilation turns us all into friends."
 * - Borg Queen talking to a young boy within Unimatrix Zero.

"Yes, it's fun."
 * - Borg Queen, referring to the ability of listening to the Collective's thoughts after assimilation.

"I don't compromise with BORG."
 * - Captain Janeway to the Borg Queen, after deceiving her by pretending to comply to a compromise.

"Stay focused, stay Tuvok - that's an order."
 * - Captain Janeway to Tuvok, who is having difficulty fending off the influences of the Collective.

"My designation is Three of Twelve."
 * - Tuvok, to Captain Janeway after succumbing to the Borg Queen.

"Lieutenant. A First Officer could get in a lot of trouble for talking to his Captain that way."

"Well, I've learned from the best."
 * - Chakotay as acting captain and Paris as acting first officer

"Whenever you mention his name, your pupils dilate by nearly a millimeter, blood flow increases to your facial capillaries. Both are consistent with an emotional response."

"Axum and I apparently had a relationship."

"Oh. Romantic? (Seven hesitates) There go those pupils again."

"Your diagnosis is accurate."
 * - The Doctor and Seven of Nine

"Stardate 38774. Vulcanis Lunar Colony. The time and place of my birth."


 * - Tuvok

"My daughter's name is Asil. She was born in the city of...T'Paal."

"We share your memories. You're part of us now. Don't resist."
 * - Tuvok and Borg Queen

"The Borg have our access codes."


 * - Chakotay

"They developed a nanovirus that can kill every Borg with a mutation. They're prepared to release it inside Unimatrix Zero unless all the drones there return to the Collective for reassimilation."

"That is not compromise. That is surrender."

"I won't be responsible for any more deaths. At least they'll survive as drones. Tell them that Unimatrix Zero can no longer exist. That's an order. Have I made myself clear, Commander?"

"Yes, Captain."


 * - Janeway, Seven of Nine, Chakotay

"If I ever imply that it's been easy on you these last few years, remind me about today."


 * - Janeway, to Seven of Nine

"Spatial grid 94, cube 630, complement 64,000 drones. But I can no longer hear three of them. No doubt they've joined your resistance. Are they trying to sabotage the vessel and liberate others? I don't know. Because I can no longer hear them. - Initiate self-destruct!"

"An effective solution, don't you agree? Spatial grid 091, sphere 878, complement 11,000 drones. Only one is silent. But I have no choice. I must silence all of them."


 * - The Borg Queen to Janeway

Background Information

 * This episode was the first of the seventh and final season of Star Trek: Voyager.
 * The shot of Voyager near a sun at the end of this episode is reused from.
 * Tuvok reveals the time and place of his birth in this episode: "Stardate 38774, Vulcanis Lunar Colony." This would make him 113 years old. However, in "Fury" Janeway specifically stated in reference to Tuvok's age that it was "Not long until you hit the triple digits". Maybe she's counting in Vulcan years.

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 7.1,.
 * In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek: Voyager - Movies: Volume 4 (with ), release date unknown.
 * As part of the VOY Season 7 DVD collection.
 * As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg collection.

Starring

 * Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring

 * Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
 * Roxann Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
 * Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Junior Grade Tom Paris
 * Ethan Phillips as Neelix
 * Robert Picardo as The Doctor
 * Tim Russ as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok
 * Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
 * Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Guest Stars

 * Mark Deakins as Axum
 * Jerome Butler as Korok
 * Joanna Heimbold as Laura
 * And
 * Susanna Thompson as the "Borg Queen"

Co-Stars

 * Ryan Sparks as Alien Child
 * Andrew Palmer as Errant Drone
 * Clay Storseth as Alien Man
 * Majel Barrett as Narrator

Uncredited co-stars

 * Patrick Barnitt as a Borg drone
 * Tarik Ergin as Ayala
 * Sue Henley as a Borg drone
 * Dieter Hornemann as a Borg drone
 * Irving E. Lewis as a Borg drone
 * Tom Morga as a Borg drone
 * Louis Ortiz as Borg Queen's drone
 * Keith Rayve as
 * Borg drone
 * Borg Queen's drone
 * Pablo Soriano as a Borg drone
 * Unknown performers as
 * Assimilated Hirogen
 * Assimilated Peliar Zel native
 * Fourteen Unimatrix Zero members
 * Two Borg drones
 * Two invading Borg drones