Stardate not given: The Janeway hologram teaches the crew the basic operations of the USS Protostar. When the ship approaches an unexplored Class-M planet in the Hirogen system, Dal just wants to pass by in order not to lose the head start. But Janeway insists that the "cadets" carry out an investigation, as Starfleet protocols would require. So the ship lands on the planet. Janeway introduces the crew to the runaway, a wheeled vehicle. Dal takes the runaway for a joy ride, leaving Rok-Tahk, Pog and Zero to explore the planet on their own. In the meantime Gwyn telepathically manipulates her weapon to break her out of the brig. She overrides the security protocols that have locked her out of all control functions and reboots the Janeway hologram to support her theft of the Protostar, leaving the away team behind. In the meantime, everyone who gets in contact with planet's plant life experiences illusions that are aimed at making them stay (and be devoured). Zero runs into a mysterious copy of the engine core that puzzles him. Pog follows a smell that reminds him of a Tellar sleeper ship. Rok-Tahk discovers cuddly animals to play with. Dal perceives two humanoid shapes that Janeway claims are his parents. Gwyn contacts her father, the Diviner, but when he appears in person on the planet she realizes that he is just an illusion and prepares to lift off. Dal recognizes the deception as well and uses the runaway to collect the away team, who are already entangled in plants without being aware of it. In the meantime the Protostar too is engulfed in vines. Gwyn sees no other chance but to escape from the ship with the unfinished shuttle from the vehicle replicator, taking Murf with her. The Protostar breaks free and crashes somewhere else on the planet...

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