[Planet surface]

POG: Oh, great. Look at this mess. Can't we go to a nice planet for a change?
CHAKOTAY: Something is wrong here. Nature is out of balance.
MAJ'EL: I'm detecting only a trace amount of bosonite in the soil.
ZERO: To beam back what we require for the Proto-drive, the transporter enhancers would need to cover, say, from here to the horizon.
ROK: They can do that?
ZERO: Not quite.
DAL: Er, guys, I'm picking up a large deposit over that mountain range.
GWYN: How'd you figure that out?
DAL: I just tweaked the sensor emission limiter. Thought it might help.
CHAKOTAY: Great idea, Del. Nice work.
ZERO: Well, hello, friend. Was that you who devoured this entire world?
ROK: It's a Tribleustes ventricosus! Aw, it's a perfect specimen!
POG: A Tribleustes da-bu-brr.
DAL: A tribble. Rock studied them for her Starfleet admission thesis.
POG: Whoa, there's two now.
ROK: They multiply rapidly and have a voracious appetite. An invasive species capable of consuming planets to the brink of starvation.
CHAKOTAY: A tribble outbreak once brought the Klingon Empire to its knees.
ROK: Look at all my cute babies. You're not voracious, are you? Ow! It bit me! But tribbles don't have teeth.
(A tribble the size of a boulder casts a shadow.)
CHAKOTAY: I think these do. Run! Tribbles aren't supposed to get this big!
ZERO: And my legs aren't meant to move this fast. And yet they do.
ROK: Follow Murf!
(Murf jumps off a cliff down to a ledge, then stretches its arms up for the others to slide down. Zero gets run down and Dal goes flying over the edge. Murf grabs him. The giant tribbles crash down into the chasm.)
MAJ'EL: Where is Zero?
(They climb back up.)
ZERO: The tumble was exhilarating. But the end result, not optimal.
CHAKOTAY: We need to get you to sickbay.
POG: Oh, can we all go? Jankom doesn't want to be on some giant furball's buffet.
GWYN: We still need that bosonite. Why don't you escort Zero back to the Protostar?
CHAKOTAY: The rest of us will press ahead and figure out what's going on here.
POG: Come on, Zee, let's get you out of here.
ZERO: Good luck, friends. Oh! Oh, my. Pain is such a horribly novel sensation.
POG: Janeway.
(Pog and Zero are beamed away.)
K'RUVANG: SuInmeH!
CHAKOTAY: Whoa. Whoa now. Take it easy.
DAL: What? Where did he come from?
K'RUVANG: SuyInmeH! YuQvam ylmej!
MAJ'EL: Did anyone's universal translator understand that?
GWYN: It's a nuanced Klingon dialect, but I believe he said, leave this planet or you will die.
CHAKOTAY: Well, at least he's direct. Maybe he knows what happened here.
DAL: So, er, what's a Klingon like you doing way out at the edge of the quadrant? Seems you've been here a while.
K'RUVANG: Because I cannot leave. Not yet.
(Uncloaks his ship.)

[Bird-of-Prey]

CHAKOTAY: Can't leave? Your Bird-of-Prey seems to be working just fine.
ROK: Even if it's been turned into a very unsanitary lab. Genetic manipulation, hormonal retroviruses. You're a scientist, like me! These experiments are why those tribbles have gotten so huge.
K'RUVANG: Watch your words, child, or they may be your last.
CHAKOTAY: Whoa, back up. A Klingon scientist. Don't run into many of those.
K'RUVANG: I am Doctor K'ruvang, house geneticist for the Empire, sent by Chancellor Martok to find a way to defeat her ancient blood enemy, the tribbles. I found a weakness in their DNA to slow their reproduction, but something went wrong. Now they are stronger, and I have lost my honour! The solution has eluded me for years. I believe it is impossible.
ROK: Oh, here's the problem. You were on the right track with their metabolism, but the chromatin kept remodelling because of this protein.
K'RUVANG: How does a mere child know this?
ROK: I studied. A lot. Starfleet's made tons of breakthroughs since you came here.
DAL: She's sorta an expert on all things cute and cuddly.
ROK: Wait a second. If we make a small adjustment to your serum, we could tailor the retrovirus to the indigenous tribble DNA. And if it spreads through the population...
K'RUVANG: It could reduce their reproduction and their size. Qu'vatlh.
MAJ'EL: An interesting thought experiment, but it has little to do with our objective. We are here to extract the bosonite deposit for our ship. I fail to see the humour in this.
K'RUVANG: That deposit is in the heart of the Omega Tribble nest. As you've seen, they're very hostile to outsiders.
ROK: Ooo, sounds like a problem-tunity. If we release the retrovirus to a sample that large, the entire tribal population will shrink in no time. Problem-tunity. We can help everybody.
K'RUVANG: And my honour would be restored.
CHAKOTAY: Rok seems smart. Before I put us in danger, I need to know how smart.
DAL: Once, over the course of ten minutes, she fixed a core breach with enough time to rebuild hologram Janeway from scratch.
CHAKOTAY: Hmm.
GWYN: We'll have to clear the nest either way to get back to Voyager. And if a tribble this size ever got off the planet, it'll be a problem for more than just the Klingons.
CHAKOTAY: All right, Rok. Try to have that retrovirus synthesised by morning.
(Later.)
ROK: How does anyone work like this? (sneezes) Oh, where did I put my notes?
(Her sneezes migrate from the cloth to a petrie dish...)

[Sickbay]

HOLO-JANEWAY: Your injuries aren't responding to the bio-regenerative field. I don't know why your leg won't heal.
ZERO: Because it can't. I've known this body wouldn't last forever. I just thought... I'd have more time.
HOLO-JANEWAY: I'd advise you to stay off at as much as possible. I'm sorry, Zero.
POG: Ah, could be worse. Eh, probably not. Tellarites don't have the best bedside manner. Jankum should probably go.
ZERO: No, stay. I rather like the company.
POG: If it makes you feel any better, whenever Jankum finds something he can't fix, Jankum builds himself something even better.
ZERO: Huh. Perhaps we shall.

[Bird-of-Prey hull]

GWYN: Huh?
MAJ'EL: Is it all right if I join you?
GWYN: Please. Couldn't sleep either?
MAJ'EL: I was unaware Klingons could snore so loudly.
GWYN: This broken world. Places like these never get any easier to see.
MAJ'EL: You fear the same will happen to Solum in your absence.
GWYN: How'd you know that?
MAJ'EL: Though Vulcans do not express emotion, we do feel, and I too have felt displaced, guilty over what I left behind.
GWYN: There was a time when I didn't fit in with this group either.
MAJ'EL: I am not concerned about being liked as you are. But my thoughts dwell on why I am here. I left a promising future on Voyager because Wesley said I am essential to yours. But what is his logic?
GWYN: not always logical. But neither is hope. Just because the path isn't clear now doesn't mean you'll never find your purpose, o I'll never go back to my home world to fix what I abandoned.
MAJ'EL: such things are only impossible util they are not.
(Cries and breaking glass from inside.)

[Bird-of-Prey]

DAL: Something's in here. Where did it go?
K'RUVANG: My lab! There's been a security breach.
DAL: There! It went into that corner!
(Jars fly off a shelf.)
CHAKOTAY: Now it's over here!
GWYN: Er, what's going on?
ROK: A trouble got in.
K'RUVANG: The doors were sealed.
(The intruder is under a bowl, and skittering across the floor.)
DAL: I got it! Erm but it's not a tribble.
(Rok spots the petrie dish.)
ROK: What have I done?
(Later.)
CHAKOTAY: That's the last of the quadrotriticale grain. There should be enough of Rox's serum in it to shrink those tribbles down to size.
K'RUVANG: If it works. Considering the abomination she has created, my faith in her abilities is limited.
GWYN: Who'd have thought a contaminated cell culture could be so cute?
ROK: Cute? It's living proof I made a mistake. What if I got the retrovirus wrong too? What if there was an error in my calculations? What if I... make them even bigger?
DAL: You're just as smart as you were yesterday. You got this.
ROK: I can also be just as dumb.
MAJ'EL: Just because an unexpected variable occurred, it does not mean your abilities are flawed.
ROK: Unexpected a variable? That?
GWYN: Well, what else would you call it?
K'RUVANG: An abomination!
ROK: We don't have to call it anything! Can we please move on and test the grain to make sure it works?
MAJ'EL: It is a fascinating error. Various DNA strands hybridised into an unknown species.
DAL: Hey, I'm one of those too. This one is just a little baby tribble. Er... Bribble.
GWYN: Huh. Bribble. I like it.
ROK: Now it has a name?
DAL: I thought you liked cute animals.
ROK: I do! I just don't like my scientific mistakes... staring at me.
CHAKOTAY: Let's hope there's no more unexpected variables.

[Planet surface]

(Spreading the grain.)
ROK: No! Not for you!
(The Bird-of-Prey is in the air.)

[Ship's ramp]

CHAKOTAY: We can't beam anything in or out until those transporter enhancers are in place, so stand by until it's clear of hostiles.

[Planet surface]

ROK: Here they come.
(Dal and Gwyn are lowered into a cavern with the enhancers.)
MAJ'EL: About those unexpected variables. I do not think we replicated enough food to keep them occupied.
ROK: Gwyn and Dal need more time. They're not done yet.

[Ship's ramp]

CHAKOTAY: Extraction team. Tribbles inbound, and a lot of them.

[Cavern]

DAL: Er, sounds like our time's up.
GWYN: Almost got the alignment. There! Janeway, we're all set. Beam it up.
HOLO-JANEWAY: Acknowledged. Stand clear.

[Protostar]

HOLO-JANEWAY: And... got it. Bosonite secure in the Proto-core.
POG: She's chock full of rock!
HOLO-JANEWAY: Good. Recalibrate and get into position so I can lock on to you.

[Cavern]

DAL: Already on it! Janeway! Two to beam up!
(Enter the tribbles. They leap out of the way as a pattern enhancer gets knocked over.)
HOLO-JANEWAY [OC]: What's going on? I've lost signal.
DAL: We got a bunch of hungry tribbles.

[Bird-of-Prey]

CHAKOTAY: A pylon's been destroyed. We can't triangulate and beam them out. Science team, new orders.

[Planet surface]

CHAKOTAY [OC]: Go in and extract the extraction team, or else they won't make it. I'll ground the Bird-of-Prey and meet you inside.
K'RUVANG: This is foolish! If we die now, we will jeopardise the experiment.
ROK: My crew comes first. We'll deal with my mistakes later.

[Cavern]

(Climbing up.)
GWYN: There. Get to the opening.
(A falling rock knocks her off.)
DAL: Gwyn!
(Dal grabs her. The team enter, firing phasers. The pair fall to the floor.)
ROK: Dal! Gwyn!
DAL: Thanks for the distraction, but I think you need to take off the stun setting for them to feel it.
K'RUVANG: That was not the stun setting.
(Tribbles approach menacingly.)
K'RUVANG: Enough!
ROK: What are you doing?
MAJ'EL: Do not disrupt that bosonite vein. The chain reaction could destroy this entire region.
K'RUVANG: And I shall take my enemies with me. Q'apla!
(Rok grabs his arm.)
K'RUVANG: Unhand me, child. I will not perish with my mission incomplete. I will reclaim honour!
ROK: Stop! There's always another way!
K'RUVANG: And if your serum fails? No, no. I must be certain!
(He knocks Rok down, Murf lassoes him. The biggest tribble enters, and Rok's little Bribble starts screeching at it.)
GWYN: They're communicating.
(The tribbles roll away.)
CHAKOTAY: Wow. Looks like your little miscalculation just saved us all.
ROK: Unexpected variables.
K'RUVANG: (sings) Yaya'a' qu' 'o. Yaya'a' qu' 'o, yaya'a' au' 'o. Yaya'a' qu' 'o, yaya'a' qu' 'o. Yaya'a' qu' 'o.

[Protostar]

ROK [OC]: Science log, supplemental. No one said making a star was easy. It may not have gone perfectly, but it made the experience special. I was super relieved to hear my retrovirus worked after all. It just needed a little time. Which means Doctor K'Ruvang was finally able to go home too, with his reputation mostly intact. You have to expect the unexpected in my field. Because before the right answer, we often find the wrong one. But the wrong one can lead us to entirely new discoveries. That's why it's important we don't hang our heads when we make a mistake. Instead, we should wear them like a badge of honour.
COMPUTER: Protostar drive online.
HOLO-JANEWAY: I'll chart a course for Voyager. Are you ready to see the admiral?
CHAKOTAY: I am now. Crew, let's set a course for home.