Lineage (episode)

Torres discovers that she is pregnant, and faces a private fear that she has had to deal with since her childhood.

Teaser
In 2377, B'Elanna Torres opens the morning on the USS Voyager by acting uncharacteristically pleasant to everyone, including her engineering staff and her husband, Tom Paris. She then makes her way up to the second level of engineering, where she finds Icheb and Seven of Nine working. She then begins to get angry that Icheb is in engineering without her permission, but then she starts to fall down in dizziness. Icheb grabs a medical tricorder and scans Torres. He detects a lifeform inside her, which he believes to be a parasite. Seven takes a look at the readings, then activates her combadge to contact sickbay as Torres is pregnant.

Act One
In sickbay, The Doctor confirms that Torres is indeed pregnant, and the reason that she almost fainted was because of the clash between Human and Klingon metabolism which sometimes can converge violently. The Doctor later explains that the fetus is healthy, but tells Torres that she can expect some mood swings. Paris and Torres are both nervous and excited to be parents, but both agree to keep Torres' pregnancy a secret for the time being. However, Paris goes to the mess hall and is greeted by Voyager crewmen and Neelix applauding. Paris asks how they found out, and Neelix replies that Icheb told them. Neelix then asks Paris if he can become his child's godfather, given that he has experience with Naomi Wildman. Paris promises to take Neelix under consideration. Torres goes back to work in engineering, where she is greeted by Chakotay. He notices that she has a certain "glow" to her this morning. Then, Captain Janeway comes out from behind an engineering console and congratulates Torres on her pregnancy. She asks Torres to take as much time off as possible, but Torres insists that she can still carry out her duties.

Paris later runs into Tuvok in a Jefferies tube and asks if he needs his help. Tuvok replies that this may be the first time that Paris has asked to help Tuvok in six years. Then, Paris reveals his true reason for talking to Tuvok is to get advice from him, since Tuvok has four children. Tuvok tells Paris that being a parent is an enormous responsibility, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Later that night, Paris sets a candlelight dinner for him and his wife. However, when Torres arrives at their quarters, she is beginning to have mood swings, and starts complaining of Captain Janeway practically relieving her of duty and crewmen offering their advice. Paris then brings up the fact that Torres will become a Klingon mother, which angers her for some unknown reason, but then she begins to calm down, when she realizes that she is in a mood swing. Just then, The Doctor asks Paris and Torres to come to sickbay.

The Doctor announces that Paris and Torres' child will have a deviated spine, but The Doctor says that a genetic modification will be able to correct it. Also, The Doctor accidentally reveals that the Paris' child will be a girl. At Paris' request, The Doctor projects a holographic image of Paris and Torres' daughter. Paris thinks that she is beautiful, but Torres wonders why she has Klingon ridges. The Doctor says that Klingon traits are dominant in a few generations. Then Torres suddenly remembers when she went on a camping trip with her father, John Torres, her uncle Carl Torres, and her cousins Dean, Elizabeth, and Michael. She also remembers when her father told her that she looked so much like her mother.

Act Two
Torres and Paris later go to bed in their quarters, and Torres remembers more of the camping trip. She was to go hiking with her cousins, but did not want to since she believed that they did not like her. Her father assured her that this was not the case.

The next morning, Torres arrives in sickbay to have the genetic treatment to correct the spine deviation. She has another flashback to the camping trip. She remembered the one time when her cousin, Dean, put a worm in her sandwich when she wasn't looking. When Torres saw the worm, she screamed. Dean replied that he thought that Klingons liked their food live, in reference to gagh. Elizabeth tried to defuse the situation by calming young Torres down, which was unsuccessful, since Torres ran away from her cousins. After this memory flashback, Torres wakes up from the treatment. Soon after, Torres makes her way to Voyager's holodeck, where she projects what her daughter will look like at twelve years of age. Torres sees her child's cranial ridges, then begins to delete certain genetic sequences, one which turns her hair from brown to blonde. Torres deletes more sequences, and the cranial ridges are gone. With that, Torres saves the holo-image and restricts access to the file to herself only.

Act Three
Torres returns to sickbay and asks The Doctor to make more genetic alterations. The Doctor stresses that if he attempts to make more alterations, it may cause problems in her unborn daughter's health. He asks her to discuss the matter with her husband. In the Delta Flyer II, Paris says absolutely no to the changes and then realizes that Torres wants to make the changes because the girl is part Klingon. He assures her that she will not be treated as an outcast, given the Voyager has a diverse crew of Bajorans, Bolians, and others. However, Paris and Torres cannot come to an agreement and come to Captain Janeway. Torres asks for Janeway to do the same thing that she did for Seven of Nine to do for her child, in that when she freed her from the Borg Collective and made alterations to her, when she removed her implants and other physiological changes. Paris and Torres openly argue in front of the captain, until Janeway stops their bickering. She comes to the conclusion that the problem is not ethical, it is marital. She also says that while she is willing to give advice as a friend, she will not overrule The Doctor on his warnings. This sends Paris and Torres into marital problems, to the point that Paris asks to share Harry Kim's quarters.

Sleeping alone, Torres again recalls the camping trip, when she finally returned after running away from her cousins. Her father was extremely worried about her and sat her down to talk to her. Torres stated that she wished that she wasn't Klingon, since her schoolmates and everyone else made fun of her. Young Torres asked to be left alone to read. John Torres left his daughter alone and talked around the campfire about their fishing stories.

Act Four
Later, Torres remembers when she was in her camping tent and overheard her father talking to his brother about how moody and angry B'Elanna had become, like his wife, Miral. Carl was somewhat surprised; he thought John truly loved Miral. John agreed that he did, but remembered when their mother warned him to not marry her, but he did not listen and now he had to live with two Klingons. Then, Torres is in the present, when Chakotay comes up and makes a request that Torres name her child the feminine version of Chakotay and asks to be godfather to the child. Torres promises to take him under consideration. He asks her to come with him to the mess hall and have a drink. She agrees and while walking down the corridor, they both run into Paris. Chakotay remembers that he forgot something, and leaves the two alone to talk. They both reconcile, when they are summoned to sickbay again.

The Doctor explains that he has reviewed the data on their child and has come to the conclusion that the genetic alterations that Torres proposed may, in fact, be necessary, given the fact that Human and Klingon metabolism clash and that the child may undergo metabolic failure. The Doctor schedules a procedure for the next morning. Paris is a little disturbed by The Doctor's recommendation and takes the data to Icheb and Seven, asking Icheb to use his genetics background to review it. Icheb finds the alterations to very sloppy, which is unlike The Doctor's usual work. They also discover that The Doctor's program has been tampered with. Paris tries to contact Torres, but she does not answer. He asks the computer where she is and it states that she is in sickbay.

Act Five
Paris asks Tuvok to come down to sickbay, with a security team. Tuvok arrives with a security officer and Lieutenant Ayala. They cannot open the doors to sickbay, so Tuvok opens the doors manually, and they enter sickbay. There is a force field erected around the surgical bay. Tuvok contacts the bridge and asks Kim to cut power to the surgical bay. He is successful in doing so. The Doctor asks what is going on, and Paris replies that his program has been tampered with. Torres asks him to ignore Paris. Tuvok asks The Doctor to deactivate himself until they can determine the extent of the tampering to his program. The Doctor agrees and deactivates himself.

Paris asks Tuvok and his security force to leave sickbay so he can talk to his wife. Torres explains that she and her father were inseparable, until she began to grow older. Later, during the camping trip, she was going to run away again, after she heard her father and her uncle Carl talking about her and her mother. She told him that if he couldn't stand living with two Klingons that he should just leave. Then, twelve days later, he did just that. Paris realizes that Torres has blamed herself for her father leaving and is afraid that Paris will do the same someday. Tom assures her that he will never leave her or their unborn child and hopes to have more Klingon children with her.

A few days later, Torres reverses the changes she made to The Doctor and comes to sickbay and apologizes in person for changing his program. The Doctor accepts her apology, and Torres feels the baby kick. The Doctor asks if he may feel the baby kick too. Torres places his hand on her abdomen, just as the baby kicks again. Then, Torres asks The Doctor to become her child's godfather, given that Neelix has Naomi Wildman and that Chakotay knows less about kids than Harry Kim. The Doctor accepts elatedly. Torres asks to see her daughter again in the holographic projection. The Doctor activates the projection and Torres sees her daughter with her Klingon ridges and admits that she looks kind of cute.

Memorable Quotes
"You're in a good mood."

"It's another beautiful day in the Delta Quadrant."

"What did you have for breakfast?"
 * - Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres

"I'm detecting another lifesign!"

"Where?"

"Inside Lieutenant Torres. It could be a parasite."
 * - Icheb and Seven of Nine, discovering Torres' pregnancy

"Have you checked the warp core for radiation leaks today?"

"No. Why?"

"You have a certain... glow about you."
 * - Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres, after Chakotay discovers Torres' pregnancy

"It's all over now. No more late nights on the Holodeck, no more racing the Delta Flyer."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating just a little?"

"I've seen it happen. The new dad gets tied down with family, old friends drop away."

"It's fatherhood, Harry, not exile."
 * - Harry Kim and Tom Paris

"Maybe that's what pregnancy's for, time to let reality sink in... before your life spins out of control."
 * - Harry Kim, to Tom Paris

"Offspring can be disturbingly illogical, yet profoundly fulfilling. You should anticipate paradox."
 * - Tuvok, to Tom Paris

"As they say on Talax, 'Omara S'alas', 'Good news has no clothes'."
 * - Neelix, congratulating Lieutenant Paris

"Mom warned me not to marry Miral." "Mom loved Miral." "Sure she did, but she never thought I had the constitution to live with a Klingon and now I'm living with two of them."
 * - B'Elanna's father John and uncle Carl about B'Elanna's mother

"I heard what you said to Uncle Carl." "You shouldn't be listening to private conversations." "And you shouldn't have said what you did about Mommy!"
 * - Young B'Elanna and her father, John after she over hears his conversation with Uncle Carl.

"If you can't stand living with us, then why don't you just leave?"
 * - Young B'Elanna to her father

"Look, whatever the reason was, I'm sure it was a horrible thing for you to live with. Wait a minute, you don't think? B'Elanna, I am never going to leave you." "You say that now but think about how hard it is to live with one Klingon. Pretty soon it'll be two." "Someday I hope it's three or four. I mean it, and I hope that every one of them is just like you. B'Elanna, I am not your father and you are not your mother, and our daughter is going to be perfect just the way she is."
 * - Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres

"She is cute, isn't she?"
 * - B'Elanna upon seeing the holographic projection of her baby one more time.

Log Entries

 * Medical officer's log, USS Voyager

Background Information

 * This episode's working title was "Inner Child".
 * According to B'Elanna Torres, there were 140 Humans on board.
 * A script from this episode was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay.

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 7.6,
 * As part of the VOY Season 7 DVD 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 star

 * Manu Intiraymi as Icheb

Co-stars

 * Juan Garcia as John Torres
 * Jessica Gaona as young B'Elanna
 * Javier Grajeda as Carl
 * Paul Robert Langdon as Dean
 * Nicole Sarah Fellows as Elizabeth
 * Gilbert R. Leal as Michael
 * Majel Barrett as the Computer Voice

Uncredited co-stars

 * Tarik Ergin as Ayala

External link


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