Stardate not given: Janeway and Seven of Nine attempt in vain to decrypt a garbled message from Starfleet. They receive help from a well-versed alien named Arturis. The message he extracts contains a set of coordinates to which Voyager proceeds. The crew finds an unmanned Starfleet vessel, the USS Dauntless NX-01-A, a prototype equipped with quantum slipstream drive that was sent for their rescue. As an away team investigates the ship, the drive is activated and the Dauntless enters the slipstream until Paris can finally stop it. Janeway decides to use the ship to return home, but not before trying to equip Voyager with the same technology, and only if a safe way is available to disable the slipstream drive. When Janeway sets out to decrypt the rest of the message on her own, using her intuition, she discovers that it really says that Starfleet is sorry not to be able to send a ship. Meanwhile aboard the Dauntless, Kim and Tuvok detect alien technology. Janeway beams over with a security team to apprehend Arturis, but he still manages to activate the slipstream auto pilot that would take the ship back to his homeworld, in Borg space. The rest of the away team can be beamed out, leaving Janeway and Seven trapped on the Dauntless. Arturis seeks revenge. He accuses Janeway of being responsible for his people's assimilation because she forged an alliance with the Borg against Species 8472, an enemy that would otherwise have been able to destroy the Borg. Voyager, meanwhile equipped with slipstream propulsion too, is in pursuit, so Janeway and Seven can be beamed out in the nick of time while Arturis is facing his assimilation.

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