Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Scorpion (1997)

Robert Beltran: Cmdr. Chakotay

Photos 

Quotes 

• Commander Chakotay : There's a story I heard as a child, a parable, and I never forgot it: A scorpion was walking along the bank of a river, wondering how to get to the other side. Suddenly he saw a fox. He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river. The fox said, "No. If I do that, you'll sting me, and I'll drown." The scorpion assured him, "If I did that, we'd both drown." So the fox thought about it, finally agreed. So the scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim, but halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him. As the poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, "Why did you do that? Now you'll drown too." "I couldn't help it," said the scorpion. "It's my nature."

• Captain Kathryn Janeway : This day was inevitable. We all knew it, and we've all tried to prepare ourselves for the challenge ahead, but at what point is the risk too great? At what point do we come about and retreat to friendly territory? Could the crew accept living out the rest of their lives in the Delta Quadrant? I keep looking to all these captains, my comrades in arms, but the truth is... I'm alone.

  Commander Chakotay : If that moment comes, we'll face it together, and we'll make the right decision. You're not alone, Kathryn.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : [smiles]  Three years ago I didn't even know your name. Today I can't imagine a day without you.

• [while Janeway is reading the log entries of Picard and Amasov, Chakotay smiles] 

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : What's so funny?

  Commander Chakotay : Eh, nothing.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You're smiling; obviously I've said something amusing.

  Commander Chakotay : You sounded just like Amasov.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : What?

  Commander Chakotay : Just now, while you were reading his log, you were using his inflections.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : I did not.

  Commander Chakotay : Yes, you were, and before that, you were doing a pretty good Picard.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Was I?

  Commander Chakotay : It's nothing to be ashamed about, echoing the greats. Ensign Hickman in Astrophysics does a passable Janeway.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : [ironic]  If we manage to survive the next few days, I'm gonna have a little chat with Ensign Hickman. Imitating the Captain, huh? Surely that violates some kind of Starfleet protocol.

• [Tuvok, Kim and Chakotay encounter a pile made out of Borg body parts] 

  Tuvok : Curious.

  Chakotay : That's not the word I had in mind.

• [Chakotay has reservations about Janeway's plan] 

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Do you trust me, Chakotay?

  Commander Chakotay : That isn't the issue.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Oh, but it is. Only yesterday you were saying that we'd face this together, that you'd be at my side.

  Commander Chakotay : I still have to tell you what I believe. I'm no good to you if I don't do that.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : I appreciate your insights, but the time for debate is over. I've made my decision. Now... do I have your support?

  Commander Chakotay : You're the Captain; I'm the First Officer. I'll follow your orders, but that doesn't change my belief that we're making a fatal mistake.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : [dejected]  Then I guess I am alone after all. Dismissed.

• Commander Chakotay : Not every problem has an immediate solution.

• [coming upon the remains of fifteen Borg ships] 

  Chakotay : Life signs?

  Ensign Harry Kim : A few but they're erratic.

  Lieutenant Tuvok : Captain, I am detecting two residual weapons signatures in the debris. One is Borg. The other is of unknown origin.

  Lieutenant Tom Paris : Who could do this to the Borg?

• Captain Kathryn Janeway : The Northwest Passage.

  Chakotay : It's clear of Borg activity for a very good reason.

  Tuvok : I'm detecting 133 bioships. More are approaching.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : From where?

  Tuvok : They seem to be coming from a quantum singularity.

• Captain Kathryn Janeway : Maybe helping to assimilate them isn't such a bad idea.

  Chakotay : I don't think you really believe that. I think you're struggling to justify your plan because your desire to get this crew home is blinding you to other options.

• Commander Chakotay : We should get out of harm's way. Let them fight it out. In the meantime, there's still plenty of Delta Quadrant left to explore. We may find another way home.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Or we may find something else. Six months, a year down the road, after Species 8472 gets through with the Borg, we could find ourselves right back in the line of fire. And we'll have missed the window of opportunity that exists right here, right now.

• Kes : Yes, I can hear them. They're in a place where they're all alone. Nothing else lives there.

  Chakotay : Some kind of parallel universe?

  Kes : I don't know. I feel malevolence... a cold hatred. "The weak will perish." It's an invasion. They intend on destroying everything.