Synopsis: Voyager enters Borg space and Captain Janeway tries to create an alliance to allow the ship safe passage through it.
This episode illustrates what may happen when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego believes that it can control bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious that come to its awareness.
In “Scorpion, Part I” Voyager enters space controlled by the Borg and the senior officers discover that there is a corridor in the space where the Borg do not go. Captain Kathryn Janeway orders Voyager to take that route, and along the way they are passed by fifteen Borg ships that ignore her. When Voyager happens across them again, the Borg cubes are dead in the water. An away team is sent aboard one of the cubes to investigate and another alien, identified by the Borg as Species 8472, is still aboard. Ensign Harry Kim is attacked by one of them, and The Doctor is able to devise a cure for how Species 8472 kills other species. Janeway believes that she can create an alliance with the Borg by sharing this information, but Commander Chakotay cautions her about this, telling her the fable of the scorpion. The scorpion that killed another who was helping it, in spite of it leading to its own death, because it was its nature.
In this episode, Janeway’s thought process can be compared to the conscious ego, when it believes that it can handle anything, even bits of material from the unconscious. Chakotay, who normally embodies knowledge that is more instinctual, or soma based, cautions Janeway, telling her that it is unlikely that an alliance with the Borg will bring the results that she envisions. He tells Janeway that her reasoning is blinded by her desire to safely get the crew home. This can be analogized to the rational ego thinking only about its own wants and needs and not acknowledging that the unconscious has other wants and needs that may not be the same.
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