Killing for sport becomes Seven’s only means of survival when she is abducted into a ring of fisticuffs.
While the rest of the Voyager crew enjoys shore leave, Seven and Tuvok request a shuttle to study a nearby micro-nebula on the verge of collapsing. En route, they come across a vessel emitting a dampening field. The shuttle loses its shields, and an explosive device is beamed aboard. Suddenly, it detonates, and Seven finds herself aboard a Tsunkatse ship. Her alien captor recruits her to the martial art, which is a test of strength and agility.
Seven refuses to participate in the barbaric sport, which pits one fighter against another in hand-to-hand combat. Each wears a polaron disruptor on the hands and feet that emits a bio-plasmic charge when it comes in contact with the rival’s sensor. However, Tuvok was badly injured in the explosion, and the only way to insure he gets medical treatment is for Seven to enter the ring. As Chakotay and other Voyager crew attend the next Tsunkatse match, they are shocked to see Seven up against one of the meanest fighters in the sport.
While Seven does her best against the brutal kicks and punches of her opponent, Chakotay alerts B’Elanna to lock a transporter beam onto Seven. All she can get are photonic readings, however, because the match is being transmitted from another location. Once Seven has been defeated, the Voyager crew gets to work trying to trace the transmission. Meanwhile, Seven is ordered to prepare for a red match, which is over only when one fighter is dead.
A Hirogen aboard the Tsunkatse ship offers to train Seven. She takes to the textbook movements of the sport, but her instructor teaches that it must become instinct. He was abducted 19 years ago and taken from his son, and the only reason he has survived is killer instinct. He urges her to never let down her guard or allow herself to feel sorry for her opponent. Soon it is time for the match, and Seven enters the ring to find her Hirogen trainer.
The Hirogen has trained Seven to kill him and urges her to put an end to his years of misery. If she will not, he will be forced to make her his prey. As the two spar, Voyager targets the Tsunkatse ship’s signal generators. When the ship compensates by diverting power from its shields, Tuvok, Seven and the Hirogen are beamed to Voyager. The Hirogen is returned to his people, and Seven realizes that in her distaste for the hunting and killing of prey, she has reaffirmed the humanity she has been trying so hard to gain.
CAST
CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY
KATE MULGREW
CHAKOTAY
ROBERT BELTRAN
B'ELANNA TORRES
ROXANN DAWSON
TOM PARIS
ROBERT DUNCAN MCNEILL
NEELIX
ETHAN PHILLIPS
THE DOCTOR
ROBERT PICARDO
TUVOK
TIM RUSS
SEVEN OF NINE
JERI RYAN
HARRY KIM
GARRETT WANG
GUEST STARRING
Penk
Jeffrey Combs
Hirogen Hunter
J.G. Hertzler
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
Champion
The Rock
Teleplay by: Robert Doherty
Story by: Gannon Kenney
Directed by: Mike Vejar
HIGHLIGHT LISTING
STAR TREK: VOYAGER: “Tsunkatse” —Killing for sport becomes Seven’s only means of survival when she is abducted into a ring of fisticuffs.
