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During the night shift, (as Paris tries to talk Kim into a double date with him and the Delaney sisters), Voyager encounters a huge shock wave in space that awakens Kes and leaves a terrible image in her mind's eye. While investigating, the crew stumbles upon a planet capable of supporting humanoid life, yet mysteriously laid waste by an explosion that instantaneously wiped out all life there. After finding a timepiece in the debris that had stopped at the moment of the explosion, Paris discovers a subspace fracture that allows a glimpse of life on the planet beforehand. Minutes later, both Janeway and Paris are caught in another, larger fracture that actually transports them back in time to the planet right before the explosion. Knowing they are trapped, Paris locates the timepiece he'd already found in its store display and realizes the cataclysmic disaster will occur a day later.

During the search for Janeway and Paris, Kes realizes she is able to sense both the planet's destruction and the trail of the missing officers. Neelix suggests that she see the Doctor, who is none too pleased that he wasn't even told about new arrivals aboard Voyager -- much less that Captain Janeway is missing.

Despite apparent violation of the Federation'sPrime Directive, Janeway and Paris warn a group of polaric ion power protesters that their actions could be the trigger for the planet's death-knell. However, the dissenters are determined to proceed with a protest at the power station, and some decide to sabotage the facility to illustrate how dangerous the planet's new technology can be. Janeway tries to warn a guard at the station of what is about to happen, and Paris is shot and severely wounded during the ensuing scuffle. Eventually Captain Janeway realizes that their own rescuers' use of a polaric beam caused the catastrophe, and she convinces a protester to let her use her own phaser to fire back and blunt the impact of the beam breaking through the time distortion.

The plan works: the planet is spared annihilation, and Voyager's crew is returned aboard at the moment just before the shock wave is encountered: Paris and Kim hotly debating the Delaney sisters' date. This time, Kes senses a serenity about the planet, which Voyager bypasses as its people are not advanced enough to warrant a contact visit.