The Fight (episode)

When Voyager is caught in "chaotic space," an area where the laws of physics are in a state of flux, Chakotay begins hearing and seeing things, apparently caused by the aliens living inside it who are trying to contact the ship.

Teaser
On USS Voyager, Chakotay is lying on a biobed in sickbay, shouting and thrashing about. Also present are The Doctor, Seven of Nine and Tom Paris. Paris asks The Doctor to give Chakotay something for the pain, but The Doctor refuses, saying that they could lose the chance to make contact with the aliens. Suddenly, the ship shudders.

Captain Janeway calls from the bridge, asking if they've made any progress. The Doctor replies that they haven't. B'Elanna Torres tells Janeway that if Voyager doesn't find a way out of chaotic space soon, they are all going to die here.

Act One
Chakotay calls The Doctor. He's tired, he wants to sleep. However, The Doctor again won't let him. If he loses consciousness, he could sever the link to the aliens who live in chaotic space, and who may know a way out. Chakotay doesn't want to talk to them, as he's afraid he may end up like his grandfather, a "crazy old man". The Doctor tells him the aliens are reconfiguring his neural pathways, in an attempt to communicate with him. He makes Chakotay concentrate, and remember when he came into sickbay after he had been injured in a boxing simulation on the holodeck.

In a flashback, Chakotay is in a holodeck simulation of a boxing ring. Chakotay is in the ring, fighting a Terrellian. Boothby, who used to coach him as a cadet, is in his corner. At the end of the third round, Chakotay returns to his corner where he is chastised by Boothby for not allowing his opponent to land some punches and tire himself out, saying that boxing is as much about heart as technique. Round four begins, and Chakotay sees a disturbance forming in the corner of the ring, right before he is knocked out.

Chakotay wakes up in sickbay, where he argues with The Doctor over the merits of boxing, which The Doctor describes as "pointless violence". The Doctor nicknames him "The Maquis Mauler" to further his point. Chakotay complains of a headache, and tells The Doctor about the disturbance he saw before he was hit. The Doctor initially dismisses this as hallucinations, but further examination shows that the ganglia in Chakotay's visual cortex are highly active. The ship shudders, and Chakotay is called to the bridge as the doctor instructs him to return for further tests.

Chakotay arrives on the bridge, where a spatial phenomenon is interfering with the ship's sensors. Apparently, it shifts position every few minutes. Then the ship shudders again, and a distortion similar to the one seen by Chakotay in the boxing ring envelops Voyager. Seven of Nine calls Janeway to astrometrics, where she informs her that the Borg have been aware of this phenomenon for many years. It is called chaotic space, a zone where the laws of physics are in a constant state of flux. Changes in the gravitational coefficient cause shear forces along the hull, shields offering only temporary protection. Due to the shifting of the physical constants, sensors can't function. Janeway orders the sensors to be reconfigured.

Chakotay, while alone in his quarters, hears noises, such as Boothby shouting and the end of round bell. He sees a pair of boxing gloves on a chair, which disappear when he looks away. Tuvok calls him to the bridge. With the sensors useless, Voyager can't move safely. While Tuvok and Paris argue about what to do, Chakotay starts to hallucinate again. He hears crowd noises, and sees a pair of boxing gloves at the sensor station. Tuvok asks him if he is all right, at which Chakotay swings at Tuvok. Tuvok uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to render him unconscious.

Act Two
In sickbay, The Doctor has discovered that Chakotay's hallucinations are due to a genetic marker for a cognitive disorder being switched on. Symptoms include auditory and visual hallucinations. The gene was suppressed before Chakotay was born, but now it has been switched on, possibly due to chaotic space. The Doctor orders Chakotay to remain in sickbay, where Chakotay tells him his grandfather suffered from similar hallucinations, but he refused treatment.

Meanwhile on the bridge, Harry Kim has managed to reconfigure the sensors, and Voyager starts to move forward slowly. However, before the ship moves very far, a starship appears on sensors. The log from the damaged ship reveals that the captain and an engineer both suffered from hallucinations. The ship was trapped in chaotic space for almost a year before the hull was breached. Janeway notes that it is no coincidence that both the aliens and Chakotay suffered similar hallucinations. The dead captain's body is beamed over for an autopsy.

Scans of the alien's brain reveal that optical and auditory neurons have been partially stripped of their protein insulation, leading to hallucinations. The Doctor concludes that the gene responsible for producing protein insulation was shut down – something in chaotic space altered the DNA. The Doctor discovers that he can control the hallucinations using a neural suppressant.

Chakotay wants to go on a vision quest, to find out more about the hallucinations. The Doctor disapproves, but relents when Janeway gives the go ahead. In the vision quest, Chakotay sees a forest, and then his grandfather walking among the trees. He tells him to take his medicine, but his grandfather refuses. He goes in to a cave, where he hears boxing noises again. Suddenly, he is in a boxing ring, a strange ring that has only three sides.

He wakes up, and tells The Doctor that the aliens were watching him, trying to tell him something, but he's afraid to listen to them, afraid he'll lose his mind. The Doctor encourages him, and suddenly Chakotay starts to speak, saying "chaotic space intersects ours, and Voyager must escape by altering the warp field to a rentrillic trajectory". However, Chakotay refuses to listen to "them" anymore.

Act Three
The Doctor tells Janeway that Chakotay definitely made contact with the aliens, but Janeway says they need more information. She convinces Chakotay to try again. Chakotay is back in the ring with his opponent "Kid Chaos", who has his back turned. Also there is Tuvok and a security detail, with phasers. Tuvok wants to fire on Kid Chaos, but Boothby warns Chakotay not to let him, that it won't work. Chakotay orders Tuvok to stand down. Then Chakotay is in the ring, dressed in boxing gear. Paris tries to stop the fight citing the odds, and then Neelix enters the ring and leads Chakotay out. He says that Chakotay isn't ready for the fight.

Chakotay is then on the bridge, punching a punching bag, where Kim, Janeway and B'Elanna Torres all try to stop his fighting. They all act as if he will not return, he claims he is only doing it for them. Finally, The Doctor tries to scare him into not fighting by telling him the fight will cause him to lose his mind. Chakotay and his trainer, Neelix, run through engineering where Torres glares at them.

Chakotay is then back in the cave from the vision quest, where he sees his grandfather again. He tells him they'll get in trouble if they don't go home. His grandfather refuses. He says "this is a nice place to call home". He tells Chakotay there is a lot of "them" out there, and that "they" are coming for Chakotay. When the sounds of the boxing ring return, Chakotay's grandfather hears them too. Then he's back in the ring. He tells Boothby he's afraid, before The Doctor steps into the ring, and says the fight has been canceled on medical grounds.

Chakotay comes out of the vision quest, which he was stuck in. He wants to get back in the ring, and accuses The Doctor of stopping the fight. He becomes hysterical, yelling for them to let him back in the ring. In order to stop him, The Doctor is forced to sedate him.

Act Four
On the bridge, Kim is trying to navigate the ship by dropping stationary beacons, but Voyager ends up going around in circles.

In astrometrics, Seven has found an isolinear frequency in the energy signature of chaotic space. It does not respond to any of the standard language decryption routines. The source is unknown, but Janeway recognizes the frequency as the nucleotide resonance frequency from an examination question she answered incorrectly during her time at Starfleet Academy. The signal was designed to activate DNA, and realigned Chakotay's molecular bonds.

Meanwhile, Chakotay is in an altered state of reality. He recognizes the captain, but is still angry at The Doctor for ending his fight and "ruining his career." Chakotay describes the alien he saw in his vision. However, he is thinking of them in terms of the prize fight. The Doctor explains that the holodeck simulation is still fresh in his memory, so it is the primary source of imagery for his hallucinations. Aliens that the sensors can't detect are inducing the hallucinations. Their only means to communicate with Voyager is by altering people's senses, as they did with the people on the damaged ship. Chakotay reminds Janeway that Voyager does not frequently avoid making first contact with newly discovered life forms and hull pressure is increasing, so despite The Doctor's warning, Janeway tells The Doctor to send Chakotay "back in the ring".

Act Five
On the bridge, it is obvious that Voyager cannot survive for much longer inside chaotic space. Janeway orders The Doctor to begin. The Doctor fully activates the gene, and Chakotay is back in the ring. He tells Boothby he's worried, but Boothby reassures him and gives him advice. Chakotay removes his robe adorned with The Doctor's nickname, "The Maquis Mauler", and turns to Kid Chaos. Kid Chaos turns to face Chakotay. He has no face, just a starfield. The aliens speak using a montage of words said by the crew up to this point. They tell Chakotay they live in chaotic space, and that Voyager must escape by realigning its sensors.

Back in sickbay, Chakotay wants to stop, but The Doctor pushes him, until Chakotay starts to understand what the aliens want him to do. He runs to the bridge and pushes Kim out of the way. He has to make the modifications himself; he can't explain how to do it. He reroutes the deflector through the sensors, and then puts the deflector on line, at full amplitude. Kim says the sensors have found a course through chaotic space. Voyager flies out of chaotic space at full impulse. Janeway orders Paris to resume course for the Alpha Quadrant, before Chakotay collapses.

Janeway gives Chakotay a few days off, which he uses to get in some boxing practice on the holodeck.

Log Entries

 * Chief medical officer's log, supplemental. Despite my efforts, Chakotay's condition continues to deteriorate.

Memorable Quotes
"Tuvok tells me you've got a mean left jab."

"Never spar with a Vulcan."
 * - Janeway and Chakotay

"Begin round one."
 * - Voyagers computer', several times

"He said his spirit was in pain, but that the wound must be honored."
 * - Chakotay, about his grandfather

"Pick 'em up, son. It's the fight you've been waiting for!"
 * - Boothby, when Chakotay sees boxing gloves in his quarters

"Victory, defeat, knockout, TKO, it's all beside the point. We know how it really ends: a crazy old man..."
 * - The Doctor, in Chakotay's vision quest

"Your opponent wasn't firing on you with an energy weapon, was he?"

"Just his gloves."
 * - The Doctor and Chakotay, after Chakotay is injured in a holographic boxing match

"In this corner representing the Alpha Quadrant, Earth and Humanity, the challenger Chakotay!"
 * - The Announcer

"You haven't had the time to train, you're not ready! If you fight now, you'll be destroyed!"
 * - Neelix, in the vision quest

"Why are they after me?"

"Because you have the gene!"

"The crazy gene?!"

"Yes, the 'crazy gene'."


 * - Chakotay and The Doctor, talking about the chaotic space aliens

"Who am I to dispute logic?"
 * - Captain Janeway

Story Development

 * This episode evolved from the first Star Trek story that Michael Taylor contributed after joining Star Trek: Voyager's writing staff. Scripter Joe Menosky recalled, "There was a guy living in the 21st century, and feeling himself becoming unhinged, because there are aliens trying to make contact. We were telling the story with Chakotay suffering a mental breakdown as a result of a first contact happening in our Voyager time. That was the story that Michael Taylor wrote." The outline of the plot was overly thorough, however. "It was an extremely well-written document," Menosky remarked. "I don't know if he actually put footnotes in it, but he might have, it was so detailed, and so intellectual. [Executive Producer] Rick Berman read the story, and he could not believe it. He just went off on, 'These god damn people like Mike Taylor, you need a subscription to the 'Journal of the ' to understand his god damn story.' Rick just threw it out." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 50)
 * Subsequently, Executive Producer Brannon Braga replotted the story and Chakotay actor Robert Beltran posited the idea about his character boxing. It was at about this point that Joe Menosky wrote the episode's script, which incorporated both Beltran's plot point as well as the concept of first contact requiring a mental breakdown. After filming the installment, it was discovered that the story was too short, so the sickbay was added to the episode's narrative. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 50)

Cast and Characters

 * According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (pp. 299-300), Robert Beltran requested several weeks' notice to prepare for this episode, so that he had time to work himself into good shape for the installment. Due to a fire earlier in the fifth season, however, Beltran was not alloted the three weeks' advance warning, only being notified the usual ten days before the outing entered production.
 * In this episode, Ray Walston makes his last appearance as the recurring character Boothby.

Production, Music and Effects

 * The scenes showing the aliens communicating with Chakotay was shot much like the Orb experiences in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (Delta Quadrant, p. 300)
 * The last day of production on this episode was . (Star Trek Magazine issue 132, p. 53)
 * The music for this episode makes use of some thematic, Chakotay-centric musical content from . (Delta Quadrant, p. 300)
 * According to the book Delta Quadrant (p. 302), the vessel encountered by Voyager in chaotic space was designed to resemble a giant flea.

Continuity and Trivia

 * For this episode alone, Chakotay has a new hairstyle, similar to the one that the evil Chakotay hologram has in . (Delta Quadrant, p. 300)
 * Chakotay's boxing pseudonym, "The Maquis Mauler," was changed to "The Tattooed Terror" in the Season 6 episode.
 * During Chakotay's vision quest, his grandfather bears the tattoo of the ancient Rubber Tree People. He apparently took the mark late in life, after his son (Kolopak) returned from his expedition. Chakotay himself didn't take the mark until about the time he joined the Maquis.
 * Ensign Paris, at the end of this episode, refers to Captain Janeway as "sir." The pilot episode establishes that Janeway prefers to be called "captain," or "ma'am" in a crunch.
 * This is the second of two Star Trek: Voyager episodes that feature the character of Boothby, the other being the earlier fifth season outing . In their unauthorized reference book Beyond the Final Frontier, Mark Jones and Lance Parkin wonder whether this episode originated as a sequel to "In The Flesh", with chaotic space having once been fluidic space. (Beyond the Final Frontier, p. 328)

Reception and Aftermath

 * Joe Menosky ultimately found this episode to be very muddled but liked one specific sequence. "I'm confused when I watch it, so I can't imagine the audience not being confused," Menosky admitted. "There is one thing that I am very proud of in this episode, and that is the actual first contact sequence. The result is truly hallucinogenic." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 31, No. 11, pp. 50-51)
 * The model used for the chaotic space hulk was later reused as both an unidentified craft at a Ledosian spaceport in the seventh season episode, and (much more prominently) as the Romulan drone-ship in three episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5.10,
 * As part of the VOY Season 5 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 Ensign 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

 * Carlos Palomino as Terrellian boxer / Kid Chaos
 * Ned Romero as Chakotay's grandfather

Special guest star

 * Ray Walston as Boothby

Co-star

 * Majel Barrett as the computer voice

Uncredited co-stars

 * Tarik Ergin as Ayala
 * Michael Muñoz as an alien boxing trainer
 * Erin Price as Renlay Sharr
 * Unknown performers as
 * Thompson
 * MacAlister
 * the boxing ring announcer (voice)