Flashback Ch. 22: Tuvok Returns to the Mess Hall and Befriends Neelix
Star Trek: Voyager - Flashback
By Diane Carey
ISBN 0671003836
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Chapter 22 is short. Quiet. And it might be the most important scene in the book for present-day Voyager.
No Khitomer. No virus. No Excelsior. Just Tuvok walking into the mess hall and deciding to change.
Back among the crew
Lieutenant Commander Tuvok enters the mess hall and pauses. He tells himself he has not been avoiding this place. He is bad at self-deception.
The crew glances at him but keeps their distance. Fair enough. The whole ship just went through hell for him.
Something feels different though. He is more comfortable than usual. Under the cautious looks he senses care. Warmth inside the disquiet.
He thinks about the Excelsior weeks. Back then he felt only disapproval and lack of understanding. Yet he had no right to judge. Jealousy, he decides. Humans accomplished so much in a few generations while Vulcans studied in isolation for centuries.
He would rather be part of the accomplishment now.
Janeway and Kes walked into the foreign territory of his mind. The crew held together without sacrificing him. They risked everything. All of them.
Neelix and the guilt
Neelix creeps out of the galley. Shoulders hunched. Eyes sorry.
Mr. Vulcan. I am so glad to see you.
Tuvok greets him immediately. He knows what happened. He understands Neelix’s position. Risking Kes along with the captain was inexcusable. He would have chosen termination had he known.
Neelix grabs his arm. Oh no. That is what we were all afraid you would do.
Tuvok sees the guilt on Neelix’s face. He knows that feeling now. The memory virus taught him. Neelix did the right thing with a logical argument and still carries guilt.
He tells Neelix he bears no ill will. There is something to learn from charging into new experiences. Emotional beings deal with feelings instead of running from them. That has advantages.
You all saved his life. Neelix made Tuvok’s comfort a personal mission for months. Tuvok resisted rudely. Now he realizes he should be more open. Janeway and the others strode into danger for him. Even into things that are not logical at all.
Emotional beings try newness for its own sake and get charged by the result.
Any culinary experiment
Neelix says quietly they would all do it again. He was just so worried about Kes.
Tuvok nods. After eighty years he finally understands why Sulu risked the ship and his career to save crewmen when logic said not to.
He asks Neelix for help. Start simply. Here. Today. He will try any culinary experiment Neelix wishes.
Neelix’s whole posture changes. Oh, Mr. Vulcan! He will experiment day and night to get Vulcan dishes right.
Tuvok adds he will also try any non-Vulcan dish. The goal is to widen his horizons. Perhaps with gradual conditioning he too can learn to risk everything for the right reason.
A small ending that lands big
The book opens with Tuvok resisting Neelix’s coffee experiments. It ends with Tuvok volunteering to eat anything Neelix cooks.
That is not a joke ending. It is character growth stated in Tuvok’s language. Risk. New experience. Connection.
Carey spent twenty-one chapters on Excelsior, Khitomer, and a centuries-old parasite. Chapter 22 says the point was always Voyager. Tuvok learning to live with this crew. Not just survive with them. Actually open up.
The meld is over. The memories are ordered. Now he has to walk back into the mess hall and mean it.
He does.
Previous: Khitomer Saved, Kirk Speaks, Spock Changes Tuvok’s Life
Next: Flashback Novel Series Finale