abstract
| - Kathryn Janeway and a group of other cadets - Blinar, Timothy Wang, Mari Lakoo and L'as'wa Ranna - are assigned to accompany the USS Tsiolkovsky on a mission to deliver medical supplies to Chatoob. There are two races co-existing on the planet but the Chats are presently in control. The inhabitants live in domed cities because of the poisoned atmosphere, but Janeway's first scan indicates the atmosphere is breathable. On the surface, the cadets are separated from the main away team and end up locked in a quarantine room with a group of Obers, who have the plague. The Ober leader, the Zan, tells them that the planet's leader, Nema, deliberately infected them with a plague cured years previous and left them to die without treatment. He has also hid the truth about the surface to keep control. He now hopes to use the cadets to trick the Federation into giving him more technology. With Wang suffering from the plague, Janeway, who has taken charge, has him sent onto the surface via a disposal chute with a makeshift communicator to contact the ship, but they lose touch with him. Janeway and the others follow, along with the Zan's aide Lane, but Lane betrays them and they are recaptured by government forces. Janeway convinces the Obers to follow her in a mass breakout, overpowering the guards. They capture Nema, shortly before the Zan and Lane arrive with reinforcements: Lane only betrayed them in order to get access to a communicator and call the Tsiolkovsky. L'as'wa deactivates the planetary shield, allowing an away team to beam down, including a cured Wang. The Zan takes charge with Nema placed under arrest, vowing to cure the plague with Federation help and then lead the people back onto the surface.
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