06x20 - Good Shepherd

[bunniefuu]

Come in.

Seven's
shipwide efficiency analysis.

- Did we get a passing grade?
- Barely.

- She wants to present it to us.
- Put her on the schedule.

We're passing a Class-T cluster soon -
gas giants, radiogenic sources.

I'm not sure it's worth altering course.

We should at least send
the Delta Flyer for a look.

Let's get a full range of sensor scans
as we get closer.

Level-3 analysis of the cluster. Tom,
prepare the Flyer and an away team.

Harry, start continuous scans.

- Kim to Seven of Nine.
- Proceed, Ensign.

Can you increase radiogenic
resolution in the sensors?

The captain wants to get
a cleaner look at that cluster.

Acknowledged.

Take these specifications
to Lieutenant Torres.

Deck 11.

What does our Borg Queen want now?

We need to route at least another
five terawatts to the sensor array.

Deck 15.

Hello.

Sorry to interrupt.

I'm about to disprove Schlezholt's
theory of multiple big bangs.

I had to demolish Wang's
second postulate to do it.

Power transfer requisition.

You're standing in the way
of cosmological history.

The cosmos is 16 billion years old.
It can wait another few minutes.

Schlezholt would thank you
for the reprieve.

Captain's log,
stardate 53753.2.

Long-range scans of the T cluster

show some curious anomalies.

The away team should have a field day.

I may even join them myself.

Billy.

Billy, wake up.

What do you want?

- I need help.
- Good night.

Billy, don't you dare go back to sleep.

- What's the problem?
- I'm in trouble.

- Go to sleep.
- Help me first.

- With what?
- This Level-3 sensor analysis.

I've got four hours
of infrared to interpret.

- Scans on that cluster ahead?
- Yes.

It's too complex to do over the com.
We meet now or wait until tomorrow.

I don't want to get dressed
and it can't wait.

Your only options.

- I gave operations a rating of 76%.
- Not exactly flying colours.

The crew you assign to the night shift

frequently have nothing to do.

The devil finds work for idle hands.

Religious metaphors are irrelevant.

You should assign them more tasks.

What's this? "Failure to use expertise.”

Crewman Mortimer Harren.

He has five degrees in cosmology,

but is assigned
to the plasma relay room.

His talents could be put to better use.

I've tried. I give him more responsibility,

but he doesn't do the work.

Harren wants to be on deck 15.
It gives him more time

to repostulate
the origins of the universe.

Security is at near perfect efficiency.

However, if you put the phasers
in the weapons locker

with the smaller r*fles in front,
they could be more easily removed.

I'll look into it.

- Crewman William Telfer.
- Billy. He certainly ruined my score.

He visits sickbay almost
once a week complaining of illness.

- Invariably, you find nothing wrong.
- Mr Telfer is a hypochondriac.

I'd treat him for it
but he's afraid of medication.

- Have you tried counselling?
- He's afraid of that, too.

All I can do is scan him
and reassure him.

Wasting your time
and medical resources.

What about astrometrics? You could
use some improvements, Seven.

You're correct, unfortunately.

Tal Celes, sensor analyst, grade three.
Her work must be constantly checked.

She should be reassigned elsewhere.
Perhaps to engineering.

Forget it.
I've got my own problems, remember?

That'll be all, Seven. Thank you.

Dismissed.

Captain?

They've never been
on an away mission.

Mortimer Harren, William Telfer,
Tal Celes. None of them.

- They get off the ship to go on leave.
- I mean a working away mission.

Harren never volunteers. Celes can't
meet the proficiency requirements.

- And Telfer always gets a doctor's note.
- Something's got to be done.

There are always a few who don't
make it past a year on a starship.

Normally they're reassigned.
But in our case...

Maybe we should relieve them of duty.
It wouldn't hurt efficiency.

They aren't drones, Chakotay.
We can't just deactivate them.

- Is the Delta Flyer ready?
- Flight-checked for a 72-hour mission.

What have you got in mind, Captain?

Three people have slipped
through the cracks on my ship.

That makes it my problem.

The aspects of the subspace
infrared algorithm are four-fold.

- Unfortunately, I have a three-fold brain.
- You just have to break it down.

- It's like four smaller algorithms.
- OK, but what's the sequence?

It's "Zero G Is Fun". As you were.

Zeta particle derivation,
gamma wave frequency,

ion distribution, flow rate of positrons.

ZGIF. Zero G Is Fun.
That's how you remember the sequence.

- Thank you, Captain. I'll try.
- Good, because you're going to need it.

I'll be briefing you this afternoon in
astrometrics. We leave in the morning.

Deck 15.

- Captain on the deck!
- At ease.

- Junction room 167
- Over there, Captain.

Crewman Mitchell, how have you been?

- Never better, ma'am. Yourself?
- Not bad. Not bad at all.

- To the left, ma'am.
- Thank you.

Crewman Harren.

- Captain Janeway. Are you lost?
- I was, for a minute.

- I'll be briefing you this afternoon.
- There's been a mistake.

- Excuse me?
- You've put me on an away mission.

I have my duties here.

Ensign Culhane will cover for you.
The pre-flight schedule is all there.

If this is charity,
Captain, I don't want it.

I didn't ask you what you want.

I'm going on an astronomical survey
mission and your expertise is needed.

What do you know
about my expertise?

As much as I need to.

Well, I'm about to disprove
Schlezholt's theory of multiple big bangs.

Really? Wang's second postulate
has more lives than a cat, doesn't it?

Once you think you've eliminated it,
it pops up again.

I'll give you a hand if you'd like,
when the away mission is over.

Once we've reached the cluster,
we'll maintain one quarter impulse

on the sweep through the protostars.

I'll be piloting the Delta Flyer.

Celes, you'll run a sensor analysis,
providing data for your colleagues.

Mr Harren, you'll be looking
at subspace particle decay

for anything new we might learn
about star formation.

And Mr Telfer, your job
will be to look for signs of life.

A long sh*t in this environment. But
if it's out there, I'm sure you'll find it.

You'll have the evening to familiarise
yourselves with the mission.

Excuse me, Captain. If we find a planet,
we won't explore the surface, will we?

That's a stellar nursery.
Planets will be gas giants.

- They may have moons.
- Don't worry.

We'll scan for pathogens
before we set foot anywhere.

And the Delta Flyer can deal
with medical emergencies.

We'll be fine.

Shuttlebay 1, 0600 hours.

Dismissed.

Celes is unreliable.
Her sensor analyses will be full of errors.

- You could be putting your lives at risk.
- Don't worry, Seven. I'll check her work.

This mission needs
a more experienced crew.

No. Not this mission.

Ever hear the tale
of the Good Shepherd?

If even one sheep
strayed into the wilderness,

the shepherd left the safety
of the flock and went after it.

- So, you intend to rescue them?
- In a manner of speaking.

Maybe all it will take will be some
personal attention from their captain.

Maybe something more.

But I won't abandon
a member of this crew...

no matter what
their problems might be.

Poor guy.
Rotting away down on deck 15.

Counting the years
till we get out of this quadrant.

It's a shame he doesn't have
a superior officer who cares.

It's not my job to make
everybody who works for me happy.

Some people just don't want to fit in.

I'll bet you haven't said two words to him.

Two words exactly. We collided
in the corridor during a Borg att*ck.

I said, "Excuse me." Since we were
at Red Alert and about to be destroyed,

I think it was very considerate of me.

Well, Mr Considerate, why don't you go
and offer him some encouragement?

His first away mission.
I'm sure he could use it.

Brushing up on the Delta Flyer specs?

- I'm not a mechanic.
- Oh.

Then, what are you doing?

Very interesting.

What do you find
most interesting about it?

Your creative use of the minus sign.

I see you have an appreciation
for multi-variate analysis.

Maybe you missed your calling.

It's a shame.
I imagine it gets tedious up at the helm.

I enjoy the view.

Well?

I invited him over to watch
our television set tonight.

You don't mind, do you?

Celes? Celes. Respond.

Celes, Respond.

- You're not sick.
- Yes, I am.

- No, you're not.
- Really, I am.

- We have to sleep.
- I can't go on this mission.

- Yes, you can.
- No, I can't.

- Bye.
- Wait!

See?

- It's nothing.
- It's a fever.

Your temperature
is 0.2 degrees above normal.

A typical deviation prompted by stress.

- Or a multiphasic prion.
- You have not been infected by a prion.

- They attach themselves...
- I've already scanned you.

- You can barely see them.
- They aren't there.

If they migrate to my cell membranes
while I'm on the away mission...

I am not giving you a medical excuse.
Not this time.

Try to get some sleep.

You shouldn't even have
a medical tricorder.

Believe me, you'll be so caught up
in the excitement of exploration

there won't be any time
for worrying about infections.

There's nothing like an away mission to
remind a person of why we're out here.

I'm going to one quarter impulse.

- Should I start the sensor sweeps?
- We don't want to miss anything.

- Engine status?
- Within parameters. That wasn't us.

Anything on sensors?

0.005 fluctuation
in the spatial continuum.

It looks like simple background noise.

- I agree.
- Anybody for lunch?

- Are you volunteering?
- Yes, ma'am.

- I'll help. What would you like, Captain?
- Mortimer?

Even my mother didn't call me that.

- Well then, Mr Harren, are you hungry?
- No... thank you.

I'll have the pasta soup.
It should be listed under Neelix 651.

- I'll try that, too.
- I'm sure you'll like it.

I'm sure I will.
Thanks for the suggestion.

I'd better get back there.

Neelix 651, two servings.

Neelix 651, two servings.

What's wrong?

- The captain checks everything I do.
- That's just standard procedure.

Then why isn't it standard
procedure for you or Harren?

Maybe she's giving you
special attention.

Because she's knows I need it.

- I wish I could go back to Voyager.
- Me, too.

- There's always the escape pods.
- Can you imagine?

I understand you grew up on Vico V.
No wonder you became a cosmologist.

- Wildest sky in the Alpha Quadrant.
- So they say. I've never been there.

You think a child's environment is
more important than genetic behaviour?

I'm just making conversation.

Conversation filled with assumptions,
which I don't agree with.

I'm a product of my nucleic acids.
How I was raised is beside the point.

If you're trying to understand me better,
questions about my home are irrelevant.

All right, then.
How's your thirteenth chromosome?

Missing a couple
of base pairs in gene 178?

I signed on to Voyager because
I needed a year of hands-on experience.

It was required to get into
the Institute of Cosmology on Orion I.

If we hadn't gotten lost in the
Delta Quadrant, I'd be there right now.

Sorry to have delayed
your career plans,

but all our lives have been interrupted.

The nature of space exploration
is unpredictable.

Which is why I don't like
space exploration.

Stumbling from star to star like
a drunken insect towards a light source

is not my idea of a dignified existence.

- Pure theory is all that concerns me.
- Well, I'm not trying to change that.

I'm simply trying to get my crew working
to their full capacity, including you.

You don't feel responsible, Captain,
for having three misfits on your ship?

Well, if there's anything I can do
to relieve your guilt, please let me know.

I'll keep that in mind.

Maybe I will join my colleagues for lunch.

All of this exploration
has given me an appetite.

Computer, identify the source
of that spatial fluctuation.

Source unknown.

Red Alert!
Aft section, report. Report!

Captain, are you all right?

We need to get propulsion on-line and
figure out what hit us. What's out there?

I don't know.
But it tore a section off the hull.

90% of our antimatter
has been neutralised.

So much for warp drive.

I'm bringing impulse engines on-line,
but they've been damaged.

We can do one eighth impulse, no more.

We'll get to the rendezvous point
with Voyager in ten years.

- Think they'll wait for us?
- Is the subspace transmitter on-line?

Voyager, this is the Delta Flyer.

We've been hit by an unknown
phenomenon and are damaged.

We require immediate assistance.

Transmit that
on all subspace frequencies.

- Anything on scans?
- Not yet.

- It was a proto-comet.
- I read a paper on that.

- Written by me.
- Well, enlighten us.

I hypothesised about a comet-like
assemblage of dark-matter.

It would be attracted
to antimatter and neutralise it.

So it detected the antimatter
in our warp core?

That suggests a consciousness. This is
a mindless astrophysical phenomenon.

We should eject our antimatter
or we'll suffer another impact.

I can't do that on the basis
of an unproven hypothesis.

If we're hit again,
we could lose our entire outer hull.

Eject the warp core
and we won't get warp drive back.

I need evidence
and sensors aren't talking.

Maybe they are talking but someone
doesn't know how to listen to them.

- You're out of line.
- Forget her feelings. We're in trouble.

That hull plate is less
than ten kilometres away.

A dark-matter impact
might have left a quantum signature.

There's the evidence.
Do we have transporters?

- Yes, I've locked onto it.
- Beam it to the aft section.

Celes, you're with me.
Continue the repairs.

No sign of burns... or plasma residue.

It seems to have been sheared off.
Download this into the main computer.

- Captain, I'm sorry.
- For what?

I thought that spatial fluctuation we ran
into was background noise. Some noise.

I saw the same sensor readings
and came to the same conclusion.

You don't have to doubt
yourself all the time.

Yes, I do. And you should too.

- You're right to look over my shoulder.
- We all make mistakes. Even me.

Every day?
Every time you report for duty?

On Voyager it doesn't matter.
Nothing I do is critical.

Seven doesn't give me
anything important.

The crew is protected from my mistakes
by the people around me,

but out here I could get us k*lled.

- You went through Starfleet training.
- I had to cram for every exam.

At the Academy
I was infamous for my all-nighters.

Every night? That's what it took.
That's the only way I made it through.

Plus the sympathy votes. The conflict
on Bajor worked in my favour.

The Federation
was eager for Bajorans in Starfleet,

so I was given the benefit of the doubt.

You did the same
when you accepted my application.

You showed unconventional thinking.

Not everybody would have retrieved
that hull plating.

Just don't trust me with the analysis.
I'll get it wrong.

- Well, with that attitude, you will.
- This has nothing to do with attitude.

You and I are wired differently.

To you this is nothing but data.

To me it's a monster
with fangs and claws.

In my nightmares
I am chased by algorithms.

My brain just wasn't built
to understand this.

We can find you
another post on Voyager.

There's isn't another post
on Voyager, not for me.

Unless you need a waitress
in the mess hall.

You know... there's more to duty
than the ability to manipulate algorithms.

Everybody has showed courage beyond
what I expected. So have you.

If we were in the Alpha Quadrant, would
that be enough to keep me on board?

I can't answer that.

I don't deserve to be
on your ship, Captain.

And I'm not really a part of Voyager.
I just live there.

Pressure's increasing. The EPS
relays are fused. Cut the plasma flow.

Cut the plasma!

I could have been k*lled.
What's wrong with you?

Everything.

If you want something to fantasise
about, imagine our hull is breached.

Our blood with vaporise
and our cell membranes will rupture.

- Surely you know the symptoms.
- Let's not talk about it, all right?

I don't want to put theories into practice,
but there's no choice. So, pay attention.

You can go to sickbay when we return.

- And you can go to deck 15.
- That's right.

Where I don't have to rely on you
or your intellectually deficient friend.

At least I have a friend.

Don't you ever get lonely down there?

In the company of my own thoughts?
Never.

I don't believe that.

Spend some time with us when we
get back. You might enjoy yourself.

A hypothesis that would require testing.
I'm a theoretician, remember?

Captain's log,
Delta Flyer, stardate 53764.3.

We're on minimal power.

Still no response to our distress call
and no answers on what hit us.

For now, we're on our own.

Our scans of the hull fragment
were inconclusive.

Positrons could indicate
a dark-matter impact.

- But could be something else.
- Proof enough.

Not enough for me. Not enough
to jettison the remaining antimatter.

There's a gas giant a few hours
from our current position.

T-Class, surrounded by orbital rings,
including one that's radiogenic.

We could use the particles
to reinitialise our warp reaction.

With 10% of our antimatter left

we'd only make warp 2,
but it would get us back on the road.

Set a course.

- A spatial fluctuation.
- Can you localise it?

It's somewhere within the distance
of 10,000 kilometres.

Another one.
About 7,000 kilometres.

It's drawn to our antimatter.
Eject the core.

Open a channel, all hailing frequencies.

This is Captain Janeway
of the Federation vessel Delta Flyer.

We're on a mission of peaceful
exploration. Please identify yourself.

- No response.
- Of course not.

It's a natural phenomenon.
We only have a few seconds.

I'm f*ring a photon torpedo.

There's enough antimatter inside to draw
that proto-comet if that's what it is.

The torpedo's away.
Distance, 1,000 kilometres... 1,500.

No spatial disruptions.

Find the source of that sound.

Oh, no.

- That's not possible.
- Where is he?

- I can't locate his bio-signature.
- He's not out there.

He's not in space or subspace.
Doesn't make sense.

Inside... me.

Activate the transporter. Try to get
a lock on whatever's inside him.

- I'm not picking up anything.
- I feel it.

I can't get a lock.
It's like it's there, but it's not there.

It's there.

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

It wasn't a proto-comet that hit us.
I was wrong.

Maybe you weren't, not entirely.

Sensors can't scan it or lock onto it.
Maybe it's a dark-matter life-form.

That's impossible. Molecules
that complex could never support life.

It might be time to revise your theory.

- Where did they take you?
- I don't know. It was dark.

- I could feel breathing.
- Did anyone communicate with you?

I couldn't see. I tried to speak,
but there wasn't enough air.

I tried to move but something
was pressing down on me.

Hypospray. Tetrovalaine. I'll put me out.

Sedating you could lower your immune
response. You need to stay conscious.

Do you understand?

Billy, if it wanted to k*ll you
it would have done it by now.

It would never have sent you back.
Maybe it was trying to scan you.

If it wanted to get to know me better,
it should have asked me out for a drink.

Celes...

Keep an eye on him. Harren.

I'm going to those rings.
Shunt power to the impulse engines.

- We never should have left Voyager.
- Voyager isn't exactly a safe haven.

We've been chased by far worse
than whatever's out there -

the Vidiians, Species 8472, the Borg.

I guess if somebody's hiding down
on deck 15 they may not be aware of it.

- I wasn't meant to be an explorer.
- I wasn't meant to guide a ship here.

We're both victims of circumstance.

I've seen things I've never imagined
and grown closer to people.

I'm not a victim and I wouldn't trade
the last six years for anything.

Then you've been deluded by
the human capacity to avoid the truth.

You're the one hiding, not me.

- I've got you 3% more impulse.
- I'll take it.

Setting a course.

Isn't there any part of you
that feels a bond with the rest of us?

When we escape from the Borg
or discover a new star,

don't you feel some pride
of accomplishment?

When you're alone in the mess hall,
don't you see the friendships around you

and wish, even for a microsecond,
you were a part of them?

You don't know me at all.

No, but I'd like to.
That was the whole point of this mission.

But I guess it hasn't
worked out like I planned.

- Incoming transmission.
- Source?

It's a Starfleet frequency.
Must be Voyager.

Unknown phenomenon...
Heavy damage...

Repeat, require immediate...
Immediate... This is... Flyer...

- Subspace echo.
- Maybe not.

There's a 0.005 deviation
in the carrier wave.

That's the same degree of spatial
fluctuation left by our pursuers.

- They've sent our distress signal back.
- They might be trying to communicate.

- They're taunting us.
- Not necessarily.

- Adjust the universal translator.
- Captain!

- He went right through the force field.
- Billy, what are you doing?

It's activating my motor neurons.
I can't make it stop.

I'm sorry, Captain. You've got to stop it.

It's OK. Billy, it's OK.

It's in here.

- It's tapping into our systems.
- Wait. It may be trying to communicate.

- It's into our environmental controls.
- Hold your fire!

- What's wrong with you?
- It would k*ll us.

You don't know that.
I gave you an order.

- What if you were wrong?
- I could hear its thoughts.

- Explain.
- I could hear what it was thinking.

"Do not belong."
That's what it said. "Do not belong."

- We don't belong here.
- Or it didn't belong in the Delta Flyer.

Maybe that's why it tapped
into the environmental controls -

to survive in a place it didn't belong.

- That's speculation.
- Based on direct observation.

You m*rder*d an alien and destroyed
the chance to make first contact.

We've lost another section of the hull.

- How far is the gas giant?
- 200,000 kilometres.

I'm taking us into the radiogenic ring.

- They may not follow.
- We'll only survive for a few minutes.

That should be enough
to reinitialise the warp core.

Start transport of radiogenic particles
into the reaction chamber.

When it's approaching critical mass, let
me know. Watch for any sign of pursuit.

How are you doing?

I always had this alarm in my head,
sort of an internal Red Alert.

It was like a warning system that would
tell me I was sick or dying or something.

Mitochondrial prions,
food poisoning, a head cold.

- It was always there.
- And now it's not?

It's gone. I don't understand.

Maybe I do. When I was girl,
I was afraid of the ocean.

I liked to swim, but in a pool or a pond,
where I knew what was beneath me.

But in the open water, with no way
to know what was down there,

it scared me to death.

It wasn't until my first year
at the Academy,

after I went through zero-G training in the
Coral Sea... that I finally got over it.

I think you just came up
from your first deep dive.

They're in pursuit.

Three minutes to intercept.

We need more
to reinitialise warp reaction.

- Get into the escape pods.
- Captain...

Plot a course away from the planet.

I'll fire phasers and set off
a reaction of radiogenic particles.

- It might disable them.
- You'll be disabled too.

Not if I go to full thrusters
and keep in front of the shock wave.

If I don't make it,
head for the L-Class moon nearby.

You could survive there for weeks.
Voyager will find you.

- Now get moving.
- No.

- You'll have a better if we're with you.
- Go!

We didn't do much on Voyager,
but what we do here matters.

We're the crew here and the crew
does not abandon its captain.

All right. It's your choice.

- Then I'll be going alone.
- Good luck.

Charge phaser banks.
Stand by to divert all power to thrusters.

Escape pod 1 is occupied and ready.

- Launch pod 1.
- Escape pod away.

- How close are our pursuers?
- 65 seconds to intercept.

Stand by to fire.

The pod is altering course.
It's heading for the aliens.

Janeway to Harren.
What are you doing?

If they have to deal with me, it should
give you more time to get away.

That's my theory anyway.

- Resume your escape course now!
- It's too late.

- Don't make another mistake.
- I'm done hiding.

With some exposure to real life, maybe
I'll understand what I've been missing.

- He closed the channel.
- Get a transporter lock on that pod.

- I can't. We're out of range.
- More power to the thrusters.

- Celes.
- We're still not close enough.

Thrusters at maximum.

- Got him.
- Fire!

Shock wave approaching.
Contact in four... three... two... one...

More or less.

- My crew...
- Easy.

They're sleeping.
No serious injuries. Everyone's all right.

Though you gave us a good scare for
a while. We received your distress call.

We found the Flyer drifting above
a gas giant. You were all unconscious.

Any sign of... another vessel
or some kind of entity?

No.

What happened?

The "good shepherd"
went after some lost sheep...

and ran into a wolf.

Did she find them?

I think she did.