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	The original pitch for this episode – written by Gregory L. Norris and Laura Van Vleet, based on a screenplay of Van Vleet's, and entitled "The Hiding" – was focused on Seven of Nine. The refugees were hiding in Voyager's landing struts and, when Voyager was forced to land, Seven risked her life to take the refugees into neutral space in a shuttlecraft, against Janeway's orders. The two pitchers were delighted with the changes made to their pitch by Michael Taylor, in particular the focus on a love story for Janeway. Janeway's romantic stirrings, however, were originally to have been with someone quite different from Kashyk. "The original 'love interest' was one of the people who were being victimized," offered Joe Menosky. "We just turned it on its head."
	Story editor Nick Sagan was involved in the pitching of the original plot concept, which he referred to as "one of the pitches I took for Voyager." He went on to say, "The writers pitched it to me as this story about aliens hiding on Voyager. The big part I think [was] trying to find the hook of it, so I pitched it to [executive producer] Brannon [Braga] as 'The Diary of Anne Frank on Voyager'. I could see at least six different ways of that playing out, and I think creating those tantalizing possibilities is a huge part of pitching for Star Trek."
	Both Kate Mulgrew and Michael Taylor were of the opinion that this point in the series seemed a fitting time for Janeway to have a romantic liaison. Taylor offered, "It's about time Janeway had a romance, and a romantic partner worthy of her [....] [Kate Mulgrew] had been asking for some sort of romance, and when it came along, she saw that it was right for her character."
	Janeway's list of telepaths on Voyager includes only Tuvok, Vorik, Jarot, and Lon Suder. This confirms that Tuvok and Vorik are the only Vulcans aboard, although Janeway does mention that there are Vulcans (plural) other than Tuvok aboard in VOY: "Endgame" which appears to be a continuity error on that episode's part. Lt. Stadi, the Betazoid helmsman who is killed in Voyager's pilot episode, "Caretaker", and Kes, who was a crewmember until "The Gift", are also not listed here.
	Joe Menosky was delighted with the writing of this episode and the change of Janeway's romantic interest to Kashyk. "How much interesting, if the 'romantic sparks' are between two enemies," Menosky commented. "It was one of those shows where you finish with the break and you just think, this is going to be great. This is where we found out what a good writer [Michael] Taylor is."

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