[Dauntless Sickbay]

JANEWAY: While you were delirious, you muttered a word. Protostar. Tell me everything you can.
DIVINER: The ship, they took it. Stole my daughter from me.
TYSESS: That doesn't sound like Captain Chakotay.
NOUM: Mmm, memory loss. Must be a side effect of whatever trauma he experienced.
JANEWAY: Tell us, have you seen this man?
DIVINER: Yes. He was taken prisoner, but... but my mind is in pieces. I... I can't remember. The mission! I have to save them! The atrocities!
NOUM: He's going into post-neural shock.
DIVINER: The intrusion!
JANEWAY: What is it? What's wrong?
NOUM: Enough questions. He needs rest.
ASENCIA: Admiral, we found an empty escape pod from the destroyed relay station. Its log shows it was launched by Barniss Frex.
TYSESS: Where is he?
ASENCIA: Rescued by an unidentified vessel. We're tracking its warp signature.
JANEWAY: Find him. Whomever stole the Protostar did this to our guest and destroyed that station. This is no longer a rescue mission. It's a manhunt.

[Protostar]

DAL [OC]: Captain's Log. Stardate 61296.9. One minute, we were full of hope to join Starfleet.
ZERO: We're ready?
DAL [OC] Then poof... that dream is dead...
ZERO: Yeah. Let's go.
DAL [OC]: Because our ship has a weapon that'll wipe the Federation off the galactic map. Pog's not used to a problem he can't fix. We tried phasers, transporters. We can't get rid of it. It just adapts.
POG: Stupid futuristic weaponry. Ahh! Ahh!
DAL [OC]: Thanks to Zero, we know even opening a hail to Starfleet could infect their systems. Despite this... setback, we decided as long as we have the Protostar, we can still help others, which has led us to a mysterious M-Class planet in need of help.

[Bridge]

ZERO: Any updates on why the distress signal was sent, Janeway?
JANEWAY: I'm in the dark. There's a subspace distortion field interfering with our systems. But I do detect life signs.
GWYN: Then we should beam down and see if we...
POG: Who wants help from a bunch of losers who can't even help themselves?
DAL: As long as we keep that thing below deck far from Starfleet, we're good. Now where's Rok?

[Quarters]

ROK: Come on, Murf. I know you're feeling bad, but you gotta eat something. I wish I knew what's wrong.
JANEWAY: He's probably just under the weather. I'd venture more than anything, he needs rest.
GWYN: Why don't you stay here with Murf? We'll call if we need you.
ROK: Thanks, guys.
POG: Jankom's feeling a tiny tickle in his throat. Cough, cough, cough. Maybe Pog will sit this one out too.
DAL: Nice try. You're coming with us.
POG: Uh-oh.

[Transporter room]

DAL: Okay then, four to beam down.
JANEWAY: Be careful down there.

[Planet surface]

POG: Oh, oh! Well, everything looks good. No distress here, so beam us back up, baby.
DAL: Was it just me, or did the beamy part take longer than usual?
ZERO: Must be the interference. I can barely get a reading. Hmm, two bio-signatures. Hmm.
POG: Ahh!
ZERO: Just ahead.
(Foliage parts, two people in green, Pog gets thrown backwards by a weapon blast.)
SOOL'U: Look out!
DAL: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we come in peace!
JAMES'T: Stand down, Sool'U. Stand down. It's a Star-Flight landing party. They've finally arrived. I am James'T. This is Sool'U.
GWYN: Star-Flight?
DAL: Er...
POG: Jankom knew this was a bad idea.
DAL: Excuse us a second. Janeway. I thought we were supposed to keep our ship away from Starfleet.

[Bridge]

DAL [OC]: So why am I looking at them?
JANEWAY: That's impossible. While Captains James T. Kirk and Hikaru Sulu are Starfleet legends, no Federation ship's been near this sector in over 100 years.

[Planet surface]

JANEWAY [OC]: And there's no record of First Contact. They're not Starfleet.
JAMES'T: You have answered The Call.
GWYN: Oh, you mean the distress call.
JAMES'T: The Call of En Son. A day we feared would never come, but you're here. Here at last.
SOOL'U: Indeed. We must inform the Star-Flight Command. Live Logs and Proper.
JAMES'T: Star-Flight. Come in, Star-Flight. Fed'ration has arrived.
POG: Hmm.
(Cliff edge, looking down on a crashed ship.)
JAMES'T: Welcome, my Fed'ration brethren, to New Enda-Prize.

[New Enda-Prize]

MAN: Whoa, it's incredible. It's them. Look.
MAN 2: Captain.
MAN: Look, look!
MAN 2: I... I... I can't believe it. Is it them?
MAN 3: The prophecies were true.
SPROK: Live Logs and Proper. Sir. Sir?
POG: Is this place for real?
GWYN: Real? It's like they're playing make-believe.
(Mock fights.)
ZERO: Actually, I sense no deception from them. Though a bit unorthodox, they truly believe themselves to be Starfleet.
POG: Can you believe these dum-dums? Playing dress up, pretending to be Federation?
DAL: Yeah, who are they fooling?
BOONS: Did you find our missing cadet?
JAMES'T: No, my good Doctor Boons. But look. Star-Flight has come to aid us.
BOONS: They are Star-Flight?
JAMES'T: Well, they answered The Call. You must hear the Logs. We've stayed prepared and kept them word-for-word, just as our forefathers did. Sool'U, we must play the Logs! Everyone, to the Bridge!
ALL: Aye, aye, sir. Aye.

[Theatre]

ENDERPRIZIANS: Heroes of legend.
JAMES'T: Among them, James'T, the Warrior for whom I was named, and Sprok, well-known for his words so wise.
SPROK: Most illogical. - But then... they found...our world.
SCOTT'EE: There are people below who need us, but we canna intervene. They would need a hero.
ENDERPRIZIANS: Me! Me! Me! Me!
SCOTT'EE: A miracle worker.
(James'T holds up an actual TOS-era communicator.)
JAMES'T: I am En Son of Star-Flight Enda-Prize, Wearer of Crimson, bravest among us. I will go to save them.
POG: What now? Who's this guy?
SOOL'U: En Son fell from the stars, bringing gifts of knowledge and wonder with him. He offered a way of peace. The way of Star-Flight. But he also brought a warning.
JAMES'T: A great evil has followed me here. Do not enter the woods where it lurks or your land will be cursed by The Gallows!
ENDAPRIZIANS: The Gallows! The Gallows.
POG: The Gallows?
SOOL'U: A few foolish warriors doubted En Son's warning and went to face The Gallows... but no one ever returned.
ENDAPRIZIANS: Oh, no!
SOOL'U: A sickness came to our village. Proof we should have listened. En Son spent his final months here teaching us what he could so we might survive the curse when he was gone. And with his final breath, En Son promised that one day...
JAMES'T: Star-Flight will come and rid us of the evil. These are my dying words.
SOOL'U: For generations, we've waited. But now the day has come. You have arrived!
POG: Er...

[New Enda-Prize]

GWYN: Dal, where are you going? If these people sent a distress signal, they obviously need our help. DAL Do they? Clearly, some Starfleet guy landed here a hundred years ago and they weren't ready for First Contact. These people are living a lie and don't even know it. Just like us.
(A woman staggers into the city.)
HUUR'A: The Gallows.
SOOL'U: Cadet Huur'A.
HUUR'A: I saw it.
ZERO: This is not part of the play.

[Hospital]

HUUR'A: I saw it. I saw The Gallows. It had two glowing eyes, roaring smoke, breathing fire and death.
POG: Okay, Pog's heard enough. Adventure's over. Back to the ship we go.
GWYN: We're not going anywhere.
ZERO: May I ask what is afflicting her?
JAMES'T: Didn't you hear, man? The Gallows! The curse that poisons our land.
DAL: But... curses aren't real.
POG: That looks real to me.
DAL: (blotches on his arm) What... what is that? Oh, no. What? It can't be real. Get it off of me.
ZERO: I'm afraid it's quite real. But with all this interference, I cannot determine the cause.
POG: 'Cause it's evil, that's why. 'Cause it's evil!
ZERO: I could synthesize a cure, but not without knowing the illness I'm curing. We must go to the source.
GWYN: We need to find The Gallows.

[Quarters]

ROK: This won't hurt. I just need one little sample. Ew! Now what's happening? What's wrong, Murf? What's happening to you?
GWYN [OC]: Gwyn to Rok-Tahk and Janeway. We have a dire situation.
JANEWAY: We're here. Report. We need you, Rok, to bring down EV suits and medical supplies STAT.
ROK: What's wrong?
GWYN [OC]: It's Dal. Hurry!
ROK: Now Dal is sick? I'm on my way. Janeway, take good care of Murf.
JANEWAY: Of course. I'll do what I can.

[Planet surface - night]

ROK: There must be a scientific explanation, right?
GWYN: That's what we're here to find out. POG Stay close, kid. There's curses.

[Hospital]

BOONS: Why didn't you heed En Son's warnings?
HUUR'A: I believe in Star-Flight. En Son told us to bravely explore, to help the helpless.
BOONS: I know. You made Star-Flight proud.
DAL: (itching) Ugh. Z, have you ever synthesized an antidote?
ZERO: No, but I've skimmed the manual.
DAL: Great, my survival's riding on chasing down a curse, and my doctor's making it up on the fly.
ZERO: I sense you are afraid, but I am doing everything in my power. Lashing out will not improve your situation. Try to relax.
DAL: Relax? My skin's itching like...
(Spits out a stick Boons puts in his mouth.)
DAL: What are we doing here?! None of us are Starfleet and people are really sick. Why did we think we could help? We're just as crazy as... Ah! That feels nice.
BOONS: Wood Leech. When the sickness began, we found their secretions reduce the angiodemic immune response. I know what you must think of us... our facility's poor, our knowledge woefully incomplete. En Son told my ancestors of your Prime Directive, how we weren't ready for your technology or ideas. We know we're not Star-Flight, but you don't need a real ship to believe in what it stands for. What about you? Do you believe, Dal R'El?

[Forest]

ROK: Look at the dead trees. Whatever's poisoning the land, it's close.
POG: What's that?
ROK: Even I'm beginning to worry.
POG: Oh, so... so... so this is where she saw the... Oh, no! Er, why are we walking towards it? Jankom Pog is afraid!
GWYN: I've learned never to fear the truth.
(A small eruption, then two glowing red lights can be seen.)
ALL: Ahh! Ahh, ahh...ahh?
POG: It's The Gallows!
GWYN: Not Gallows. Galileo. It's not just a legend.
POG: What's a 23rd century class F shuttlecraft doing down here?
ROK: I can't get a reading. There's too much subspatial interference. Like the kind you get from a broken warp engine.
POG: Oh! It's leaking plasma? Great!
ALL: Ahh, ahh!
POG: This thing's been leaking for a hundred years.
ROK: These are dilithium crystals. The shuttle plasma must be chain-reacting with explosive minerals in the rock.
GWYN: That's what's poisoning the land. Gwyn to Zero. We found the cause of the sickness. Hello? Do you read me?
ROK: We won't be able to get through. This is what's causing the subspatial interference.
GWYN: We have to get through. Zero can't make an antidote unless they know what's making them sick.
POG: Jankom's been studying his share of 23rd century Starfleet ships, and that tin can is equipped with a duotronic comm relay.
GWYN: If anyone steps foot on this shuttle and it falls, this entire place blows.
POG: And honestly, if we come across one more thing Pog can't fix, then Pog can't call himself an engineer.
ROK: Jankom, what are you doing?
POG: If this thing goes sideways, promise me a Royal... Tellarite... funeral!
(Anchors the shuttle to a large crystal.)
ROK: But what about your tools?
POG: They're all up here.

[Hospital]

BOONS: Stay with me, Dal. Zero, we're losing them.
POG [OC]: Jankom to Protostar. Zero? Anybody? Am I holding the right button?
ZERO: Mister Pog? Is that you?
POG [OC]: We're trapped in a cave... surrounded by dilithium. We have toxic runoff! We don't have much time. There's plasma everywhere.
ZERO: Dilithium reaction. Toxic runoff from shuttle plasma. That should be enough to synthesize an antidote. The antidote's ready. Quickly!
(The hyposprays revive the patients.)
DAL: I don't know what I'm doing! I mean, I'm alive!
POG [OC]: Dal!
DAL: What's going on? Are you okay?
POG [OC]: The roof's coming down. Oh, we won't last much longer! Get us outta here!
DAL: Janeway! Beam them out of there now!

[Transporter room]

JANEWAY: Can't get a lock from here. We need to be closer to get a read on them, but being that close to the distortion radius will knock out our autopilot and yours truly.

[Hospital]

DAL: So we'd have to fly in manually? We're down three crew members. Hmm, maybe not.

[Bridge]

HOOR'A: Wow.
SOOL'U: My, my.
DAL: Welcome to the USS Protostar.
JANEWAY: Are you sure about this? They want to be Starfleet, but can they command a starship?
DAL: Trust me. You just have to believe. They're a bit retro. Got anything more old school?
JANEWAY: Computer, load Constitution class holo-console, mid-23rd century. Translate command inputs to the Protostar's helm.
SOOL'U: Ho, ho.
HOOR'A: Whoa.
JAMES'T: Incredible.
HOOR'A: This I know.
SOOL'U: Amazing. I can work with this.
DAL: Let's go get our friends out of that cave. Impulse power.
HOOR'A: Aye, aye, Captain. Pulse power.

[Crash site]

ROK: It's starting to collapse! Get into the shuttle!

[Galileo]

GARROVICK [OC]: This is Ensign Garrovick of the USS Enterprise. This'll be my final call to Starfleet... hoping you'll come, though I've long given up that anyone'll hear it. Heh. Hope's a funny thing, isn't it? I tried to do my duty, salvaged what I could from the wreck, went to save the locals from the danger.

[Bridge]

DAL: Shields up.
GARROVICK [OC]: Before I fell to my injuries. But then, they welcomed me, healed me, gave me hope when I had none. In the end, they were the ones who saved me.
(The shuttle falls.)
POG [OC]: Whoa!
DAL: Beam them up.
HOOR'A: Locking on.
ROK: Whoa!
POG: Ahh!
(The Galileo sinks into a green lake.)
DAL: Get us outta here.

[Planet surface]

(There is an explosion in the mountain. Protostar lands.)
DAL [OC]: Captain's Log, Supplemental. People can surprise you sometimes. It seems we met a new chapter of Starfleet after all. Sure, they got a few things wrong, but they got a few things right. Janeway says the rules about Second Contact are a bit fuzzy, so it's up to them on how they wanna evolve. If these Enderprizians can do so much without even a ship to call their own, maybe we can too.

[Theatre]

(After being given some handy supplies, they add the latest adventure to their repertoire.)
SOOL'U: Look out!
DAL [OC]: If we can't take the ship to Starfleet, we'll find another way without the Protostar.

[Quarters]

ROK: Murf? Feeling better, buddy? Murf? Whoa. Murf? What's happening to you?
(Murf is changing shape and stuck on the wall.)