Episode Title
"Scorpion" gets its name from a parable Chakotay shares with Janeway in Part 1. After briefing the crew on her plan to form a temporary alliance with the Borg, Janeway asks Chakotay his personal opinion and he relates a story from his childhood:
- A scorpion was wandering along the bank of the 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 and 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."
This parable, many centuries old, is based on a fable mis-attributed to Aesop, The Scorpion and the Frog, in which the role of the fox is taken by a frog; in other respects the plot and moral are identical.
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