Copyright 2000, Susan S. McCrackin  Reprinted with permission of the author.

Kahkar studied his screens carefully. He was finishing the last of his tests on the transwarp coil. Nothing he could find indicated that the coil was anything other than a perfectly customized piece of equipment that would work efficiently with Voyager’s systems. He thought it would be even more efficient than his own transwarp coil. 

Instead of years, Voyager could be home in a few months.

Kahkar closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He knew how badly the crew of Voyager wanted to get back to Earth, but he was not convinced that getting to Earth would be the best thing for Seven. 

"There are more enemies than just those in the Delta Quadrant. Be careful who you trust."

Exactly what had the Borg queen meant when she said that? He could only guess, but he suspected he knew.

Supala walked into his lab carrying a tray. "You are not going to skip another meal, Kahkar. You will stop to eat." She put the tray down on his desk and gave him a stern look.

He chuckled, closing his computer and pushing away from his desk "Did Ketaria put you in charge of my care?"

"Actually," Supala’s cheeks twinged pink, "she did tell me to make certain you ate. So," she pointed to the tray in front of him, "eat, or you will get me into trouble with Ketaria."

He shook out the napkin and placed it on his lap, "Well, I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble." He picked up his eating utensil and took a bite. As soon as he closed his mouth around the morsel of food, he closed his eyes, "Ummm." He chewed slowly, enjoying the flavor, "This is delicious. Did you replicate this?"

"No," she responded, pleased that he seemed to like it. "Actually, I cooked it."

He looked at her with genuine surprise, "Supala, this is wonderful. Did you really cook this yourself?"

She beamed at him, nodding her head, "Yes, I found a recipe in the computer’s logs and decided to try it. I had a little taste and thought it was good enough to serve you."

"I should say it is good enough to serve me." He looked at her with pride in his eyes, "This rivals some of the best dishes Ketaria has served me."

Her red eyes sparkled as she watched him eat the rest of his meal. After a few minutes, she allowed herself to look at the transwarp coil sitting in the middle of the lab. "I can’t believe the Borg queen just gave you a transwarp coil."

"A customized transwarp coil," corrected Kahkar. "Customized to work efficiently with Voyager systems. A coil that is guaranteed to speed Voyager’s trip back to Earth."

"Why would she just give that to you?"

"That is a good question," he pulled the desert dish to him and cut a piece, sniffing it slightly before putting it into his mouth. "Oh, this, too, is delicious. Did you cook this also?"

She nodded, her pleasure obvious.

He concentrated on his desert before he tried to answer her questions, "I am not certain we know exactly why she gave us the coil. I have my suspicions, but I do not know anything."

"What do you suspect?"

"That my dear, is not something I think I can talk about right now." He looked at her kindly, "It involves issues that I must discuss privately with the Doctor and Seven before I am free to talk to other people about it." He gave her a gentle smile, "I hope you understand."

"Of course," she quickly responded, trying to cover her disappointment. She concentrated on the coil, allowing Kahkar to finish his meal in peace. She did not want him to know, but she was jealous of his relationship with Seven. She knew he loved her like his own child. She knew Kahkar and Ketaria cared for her and for the twins, but their bond with Seven was different. It had been so since the beginning. Supala was not certain what it was that drew them together, but even she could recognize that it existed. She wanted to be angry, to hate Seven for taking the love of the Omarahn’s away from her, but even she did not really think that Seven had taken anything from her. The Omarahns had given it freely. 

Their love had grown naturally, and anyone who saw them together could recognize it. At least, it had until Seven’s memories had been repressed by her implant replacement. Then, she had not known either Kahkar or Ketaria. It was the first time since she had known him that she saw Kahkar exhibit true pain and hurt. He had not been able to even see Seven at first. And it had taken him days to even be able to talk about her. Supala wondered if her dying would have been any less painful to him than seeing her emerge empty of spirit and memory and unable to react to the people around her.

When she remembered that time, she wanted to destroy the Borg.

She stood and walked over to the coil, looking at it carefully, keeping her arms crossed in front of her so she would not reach out and touch it as she was tempted to do. She knew that would not make Kahkar happy. She thought about what the successful installation and use of the coil would mean. 

Voyager would return to Earth, and they would follow. That meant she, also, would travel to Earth. It was a planet that meant nothing to her. As a matter of fact, the Alpha Quadrant meant nothing to her. The only thing that really meant anything to her was this ship and the people on it.

Well, not exactly. There was always him. But he did not even know she was alive, and he certainly did not know about her feelings for him. She was not sure he would even care if he did find out. He was too interested in Seven. Everyone was interested in Seven. She wished she could understand why. Supala shook herself. Her jealousy bug was starting to rise again, and she fought to push it back. Being jealous would not do anyone any good. 

She squatted down to look at the coil from a different angle. It looked like such a simple piece of machinery, but she knew it was anything but. The technology behind this was incredibly complex. She had no doubt it would function perfectly. The technology was Borg, after all.

Suddenly, she saw something, and she moved to look at it closer. "Kahkar?"

He swallowed the final bite of his meal and washed it down with the last of his coffee, "Yes, Supala?"

She turned to look at him, "What is this?"

He frowned slightly, rising to join her and looking at the object she was pointing to. It seemed to be attached to the coil but did not appear to belong to it. He reached out and gently touched it, then grasped it in his fingers and gave it a slight pull. It came off in his hand.

"What is it?" Supala was looking at it carefully.

"I don’t know," Kahkar answered with a question in his voice, turning the object over in his hand. Then, he looked at Supala, "I’ll run some diagnostics on it and see what I can find." He grinned and pushed himself off the floor. "The more we can learn about this coil, the better. I am glad you saw it."

Her face lit up, and she followed him to his desk to take his tray, "I’ll leave you to your work, Kahkar. Can I bring you anything else?"

"No, thank you," he was already turning his attention back to his work.

Supala’s lips tightened slightly, and she picked up the tray from his desk, knocking over the glass as she did so, sending the utensils clattering onto his desk. Kahkar jumped back, slightly surprised.

"Oh, Kahkar! I’m so sorry!" She was scrambling to pick things up from his desk and clean up the mess she had made.

"Don’t worry about it," he chuckled as he tried to help, "it was an accident."

Flustered, she tried to move things out of his way, managing to make an even bigger mess as she did so. Finally, Kahkar put the tray in her hand and slowly put things back on the tray, wiping up the mess she had created, talking to her as he did so to try to put her at ease. She always tried so hard, but her efforts usually ended in some kind of disaster. It was…endearing. And frustrating. But it was hard not to love her, just the same.

Once the mess was cleaned up, he walked her to the door, thanked her for the meal and turned his attention back to his work. Checking the status of their journey toward Voyager, he realized it would not be long before they would be able to send a subspace message to the ship. The thought gave him a charge of excitement. Soon, he would make contact with his wife.

Then, he sighed. And soon, he would find out if his Seven was still there. He suspected not, and he felt a pain inside. He sat down at his desk and went back to work.

Harry Kim looked at the screen in front of him, hesitating to lift his hand to his combadge to contact the Captain. What he was looking at on the screen would not make her happy. It was not making him very happy. 

Long-range scans had just found a huge gassy nebula directly in their path. The bad news was it was long and going around it would take weeks. The good news was it was not deep and going through it would only take a day or so. The question was whether if was safe to go through it. 

He debated whether to alert the Captain now or to wait until she came on duty. Waiting meant he risked running into Seven. That was not something he wanted to do. He laughed to himself. The irony of it was that she would not even know who he was if they did run into each other. 

He had seen her a few times since she had recovered from the removal of the destroyed implant. Each time, he had had to turn away from her and leave. She looked so lost. He knew from Tom that she remembered practically nothing about her life. She did not even remember much of her life with the Borg.

At least she had fallen in love with the Doctor again.

He could be happy for her that they were together. However much he loved her, he knew that her life with the Doctor was the thing that made her the happiest. In the meantime, he was miserable. And he still had the dreams.

He did not ever think he would be able to get the pictures of her implant replacements out of his head. He was sleeping only when his body would not allow him to keep going. As a result, he looked awful, and he knew it. He had managed to avoid seeing the Captain. Calling her in because of this nebula would mean she would see him, and he knew she would send him to the sickbay immediately. Also, he knew she would probably call in Seven to help him determine the safety of traversing the nebula.

Still, he did not have a choice. He had to call the Captain.

He reluctantly reached up to his combadge, "Ensign Kim to the Captain."

It took a few minutes for her to answer. When she did, her voice was gravely with sleep, "Go ahead, Mr. Kim."

"Captain, long range scans indicate a huge nebula directly in front of us. I thought you would want to know about it as soon as possible."

"Yes, Mr. Kim. Are you in astrometrics?"

"Yes, Captain."

"I am on my way. Janeway out."

He concentrated on fine-tuning the picture on the screen, knowing the Captain would not take long. In a matter of minutes, she walked through the doors, coffee cup in hand. He didn’t turn to look at her, but lowered his head, trying to appear involved in his work.

Her eyes were focused on the screen in front of her as she approached. "You were not exaggerating, Mr. Kim. That nebula is huge."

"Yes, long and wide," he hesitated, adjusting the screen, "but not deep. It would take us weeks to go around, over or under it, but only a few days to go through it." He took a breath and looked up at the screen, adding, "If it is safe to do so."

Without taking her eyes off of the screen in front of her, she replied, "We’d better send a couple of probes through to see what we are dealing with. How soon before we can do that?"

"Probably within a couple of days."

"Good." She was still staring at the screen. "Mr. Kim," she paused, fully aware of what her next words would mean to the young man standing next to her, "I would like for you to work with Seven to study this nebula more carefully." She turned her head to look at him, her eyes widening as she did so.

He looked awful. He had lost quite a bit of weight, and his face was drawn with deep, dark circles under his eyes. If she had not known it was him, she was not certain she would have recognized him.

"Mr. Kim!" She stopped, almost not knowing what to say to him. She took a deep breath, knowing that she had to be careful about what she said to him. She gathered herself and reached to put a hand on his arm, working hard to give him a smile, "Harry, you do not look good. I think you need to report to sickbay."

"I’m fine, Captain." He replied, making his voice as strong as he could, "I don’t need to see the Doctor right now."

She heard the double meaning in his words. She looked away to give herself a moment to think. Then, she turned back to him, "I’m sorry, Harry, but I have to disagree with you. We are going to the sickbay together, and we are going now." Before he could protest, she tapped her combadge, "Janeway to the Doctor."

The response was immediate, "Yes, Captain."

"I am on my way to the sickbay with…a sick crewmember," she gave Harry a firm look.

"I will meet you there."

She glanced at the screen, "We will talk about this after the Doctor has checked you." She tightened the grip she had on his arm, "Let’s go." He looked at her, and she could see it in his eyes, "I’ll order you to accompany me if I have to, but I would rather not."

He closed his eyes, then slowly, allowed her to pull him toward the doors of astrometrics. If nothing else, maybe the Doctor would give him something to sleep.

By the time they walked into the sickbay, the Doctor was already there, preparing a tray. He looked up immediately when he heard the doors opened and his automatic response kicked in, "Please state the…." 

Then, he stopped in shock. His emotions crossed quickly across his face and the Captain prepared herself to stop a fight if necessary. She knew the Doctor was still angry with Harry over his involvement with Seven when she came back from the Borg. She was relieved when she heard him speak.

"Please, Mr. Kim, lie down on this biobed. I want to do a full diagnostic exam on you."

She knew that Harry could hear the concern in his voice, just as she could. Breathing easier, she assisted Harry as he stretched out on the biobed, keeping her hand on his arm as the Doctor started his diagnostic scans. The Doctor worked silently, and Harry lay with his eyes closed. Janeway knew he was doing so to avoid looking at either her or the Doctor. The Doctor took his time with his exam, and Janeway watched him carefully, noting the growing concern on his face. Finally, he deactivated the biobed’s extension and moved to stand beside Harry, opposite the Captain.

"Mr. Kim, you are suffering from exhaustion and slight malnutrition. I want to keep you in the sickbay for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours to monitor you. I also want to make certain you not only eat, but receive additional nutritional supplements."

"Thank you, Doctor," Harry started to sit up, "but I will be fine. I don’t need to stay here."

The Doctor reached up to put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, gently pushing him back on the bed, "Mr. Kim, I’m sorry, but I must insist on you staying here."

"But…."

Janeway stopped him before he could protest, "The Doctor is the Chief Medical Officer. What he says goes." She tightened her grip on Harry’s arm, "You stay here and get the care you need. I’ll work with Seven on the nebula." She smiled at him, "And, I will keep you informed as to what we find."

He looked at her, then reluctantly nodded his head in agreement and rested back onto the biobed, closing his eyes. The Captain indicated with her head to the Doctor to follow her. They moved into his office, and she turned to him.

"He won’t be happy about being here, and I think you understand why."

He looked her directly in the eye when he responded, "Yes, Captain, I do."

"Will it be a problem?"

"No, Captain." He assured her, "There will not be a problem. I will make certain of that."

She gave him a grateful smile, "I realize it will not be easy for either of you."

"He is my patient, and I am his doctor. Personal feelings aside, he needs my care, and I am fully capable of providing it to him."

"Thank you, Doctor."

He gave her a slight bow of his head, "No thanks necessary." He glanced back at Harry, now resting on the biobed, "Regardless of what happened, he did put himself at risk to help Seven. And he did help her through a very difficult time. I will always be grateful to him for that."

"Good. I will leave him in your capable hands." She checked the time, "Well, I guess I can get some breakfast and get to work. Is Seven up?"

"Yes, Captain. Kathryn B’Elanna had her up most of the night. She is cutting another tooth." He was grinning proudly.

The Captain laughed, "Well, guess I’ll go by there on my way to the bridge. Maybe we can share breakfast, and I’ll bring her up to date on the task we have ahead of us today."

"She would enjoy that," he replied, "and the opportunity to be useful."

"Oh, I think she will have the chance to be useful," she looked absently away from the Doctor, "I think she will get the chance to be very useful."

Janeway was surprised when the door opened to admit her into the living quarters. She walked in slowly, softly calling to Seven as she did so. She did not want to wake Kathryn B’Elanna if Seven had gotten her back to sleep, but she also did not want to scare Seven by walking in on her. She heard a sound coming from Kathryn B’Elanna’s bedroom, and she walked quietly toward the open door, peeking in. The scene inside brought a smile to her face.

Seven was still in her gown, sitting back in the small bed with a whimpering Kathryn B’Elanna wrapped in her arms. Seven was rocking her child back and forth, singing softly to her. Janeway could not make out the words, but she recognized the tune as one she had heard Kathryn B’Elanna sing after coming back from Flotter’s Forest. She watched as Kathryn B’Elanna reached up to put her hand on her mother’s face and then saw as Seven leaned over to kiss her child’s forehead, then to rest her cheek against Kathryn B’Elanna’s head. She listened as the child cried and watched as she kicked her legs slightly, indicating her discomfort.

Janeway lightly knocked on the door, and Seven looked up in surprise. "Captain," she said, somewhat flustered, "I did not hear you come in."

"The door opened for me, so I just came in." She walked in and sat on the end of the bed, "I hope that’s okay."

"Yes, that was fine." She looked down at the child in her arms, her expression unsettled, "The Doctor says she is cutting a tooth. She has been…." She could not find the word she was looking for.

"Fussy?"

Seven looked at her and nodded, "Yes, fussy." Seven looked at Janeway a little helplessly, "I am afraid I do not know what to do to help her."

Janeway smiled, "I think you are doing the best thing you can do for her." When Seven looked at her questioningly, she continued, "You are loving her. That is what she needs from you right now. What is happening to her is normal." Janeway laughed lightly, "That is how she got those other teeth."

Seven rocked the child in her arms a few minutes, then looked up at Janeway, "Her pain is causing me pain."

"That, too, is normal, Seven," Janeway’s voice was soothing, "You empathize with her. As her mother, you feel her pain in a special way." She reached down and patted Seven on the leg, "You are just being a good mother."

Janeway was surprised to see Seven’s eyes tear slightly. She waited for Seven to speak. It only took a moment, "I do not have any idea how to be a mother to her."

"Seven, you are a good mother to Kathryn B’Elanna. You have been from the beginning, and you are today. You just have to relax and quit worrying about it."

"B’Elanna is a better mother to her than I am. She would know what to do to help her."

Janeway moved closer to her, "No. B’Elanna is very special to her, but only because you made their relationship possible. But you are her mother, and she loves you dearly." She looked into the distraught face and asked, "What is really wrong, Seven? You aren’t upset because Kathryn B’Elanna is cutting a tooth."

Seven looked at her and sighed. Janeway could see she was fighting with herself over whether to answer or not. Finally, she raised her head, "I do not remember when she cut her first tooth." She dropped her head down to look at her child, "The Doctor had to teach me how to change her diaper. How to fix her meals. Everything. Nothing has come naturally to me." She looked back at Janeway, "Nothing."

"I think you are trying too hard." She leaned forward and pushed a stray strand of hair back from Kathryn B’Elanna’s face. The child pushed her hand away and pressed harder against her mother’s body. Janeway laughed, "Well, Seven, if you were looking for an answer, I think you just got one."

"I do not understand."

"The only person Kathryn B’Elanna wants touching her right now is her mother," she looked into Seven’s face, "And that person is you."

Seven pulled her daughter closer to her, giving Janeway an appreciative look. The Captain stood up, "When you get her settled down, I would appreciate your help in astrometrics. Will you let me know when you plan to be there?

Seven nodded to her absentmindedly, her attention focused on giving her child comfort. Janeway turned and left. She would work on studying the nebula by herself for a while. Right now, Kathryn B’Elanna needed her mother.

And Kathryn B’Elanna’s mother needed to be a mother.

Kahkar frowned as he studied the object on the diagnostic pad of his computer console. So far, nothing he had tried had given him any indication of the purpose of the object. The doors of his lab opened, and Eloca and Rowin walked through, each with a troubled look.

"Thank you both for coming."

"Kahkar…." They both started to speak. They stopped, looked at each other, then started again, "Kahkar…." This time, they turned to face each other. "I’ll start." Again in unison.

Kahkar sighed and stood, gaining their attention, "No, I’ll start. Please, both of you listen." He came around his desk, "I know both of you are upset about leaving Supala on the bridge by herself. I assure you, it will be all right. She has strict orders to notify me if anything changes." He drew himself up, "You should learn to trust her a little more. You both might be surprised."

They glared at each other briefly, opened their mouths to speak, realizing the other was going to say something and closed their mouths, turning to look at Kahkar.

He tried to hide his impatience with them. It was always like this where these two were concerned. He was glad they showed their talents in different areas of the ship. At least that allowed him to be able to deal with them on an individual basis most of the time. This, however, was not going to be one of those times.

"I need your help." He noted the surprised and pleased look that came over their faces, and he hid his own smile from them, "You have both shown a remarkable talent for solving problems, and I have one I cannot seem to solve. I am hoping you two can do a better job."

He turned from them, but he could feel their chests swell. He walked back to his desk and picked up the object he had been studying. "Supala found this," he was careful to give her the credit, "on the transwarp coil the Borg queen gave us, and I think it is a data node of some type. But, I cannot seem to decipher the encryption. The two of you have exhibited a talent for…puzzles, so I would like for you to try to do so." He looked at the two young men in front of him and thought they looked as if they would burst from pride. "I wish I could just give this to you now and put you to work on it but, unfortunately, I cannot afford to turn you loose from the rest of your duties. I must ask you to work on this in what little spare time you have. That is," he paused, "if you are willing."

"Yes, sir, I am willing." They answered in stereo, then gave each other a competitive and disgusted look, then quickly turned their attention back to Kahkar before he could rebuke them.

Kahkar closed his eyes momentarily, but simply replied, "Thank you. I know you will both do a good job. Now, you may return to your duties. This," he held up the object, "will be here waiting on you when you have the time to work on it."

"Yes, sir," they answered, then turned as if choreographed and walked out of his lab.

Kahkar just sat down at his desk and shook his head, allowing himself a soft chuckle and turned his attention back to his work.

The doors opened, and Janeway turned to see Seven of Nine walk into astrometrics.

"Is Kathryn B’Elanna feeling better?"

"I do not know that she is feeling better, but she did go back to sleep. Ensign Wildman is staying with her." Seven moved to stand next to Janeway, "She will call me when Kathryn B’Elanna wakes up."

"Good. Hopefully, we will have most of our work done by then." She looked at Seven closely, "You look tired."

Seven answered reluctantly, "It was a long night."

"Were you and the Doctor up with her all night?"

"No," Seven’s hands started to work the console in front of her, "I did not wake the Doctor."

Janeway dropped her head to hide her smile, "You did not wake the Doctor?"

"No. He needed to sleep. I got up with Kathryn B’Elanna."

Now, Janeway could not hide the humorous look on her face. Seven looked at her, puzzled.

"What?"

"Seven," Janeway reached out and put her hand on Seven’s arm, "that was the act of a typical mother."

Seven’s face went from puzzled to blank to slightly pleased. "Oh, I did not realize that."

Janeway turned from Seven, looking up at the screen in front of them, "I told you you only had to relax."

Seven gave her a sideways glance, and Janeway saw the slight smile coming to her face. After a moment, she said, "Yes, you did."

Janeway gave her a big grin, then nodded her head toward the screen, "What do you make of that?"

Seven studies the screen displaying the nebula, then looked down at the information on the console before her, "It appears to simply be a gassy nebula. Diagnostics do not indicate anything unusual about it."

"I know. I haven’t been able to turn up anything unusual about it or any reason to be concerned about it."

Seven heard it in her voice, "But?"

"But, I don’t know. Something about it makes me uneasy."

Seven studied the scans a few more minutes, then, she keyed in a series of commands and the image on the screen in front of them changed slightly, showing patches of color and density that had not been apparent before.

"What is that?" Janeway walked up on the platform to look closer at the image.

"Those are areas of unusually high electrical activity."

"Can you tell why?"

"In those areas, it appears as if there are unstable elements there that have reversed ionic structures."

"Can you plot a path through those areas that will allow us to navigate safely through the nebula?"

Seven frowned and examined her work carefully. Janeway watched her and noticed that she took longer than she would have in the past to respond. When she answered, her voice was not as certain as Janeway hoped it might be, "I can try, Captain. But the areas of electrical activity do not appear to be static." She looked up at the screen, and Janeway followed her line of vision, "The areas seem to ebb and flow in a random occurrence. Trying to navigate through the nebula could be problematic."

"Yes, but trying to go around it in any fashion will take weeks."

"It might be a more prudent approach."

Janeway looked carefully at Seven, knowing that the woman in front of her had no idea that she was the main reason they were now trying so desperately to get out of the Delta Quadrant. A delay of weeks would be just another delay to the crew of Voyager, but staying in the Delta Quadrant any longer than they had to could be dangerous for Seven. The most frustrating thing was Janeway did not even know why. She just knew that Kahkar and Ketaria had been very clear that nothing should delay their journey home. She trusted them enough to believe that they were right. She stood, thinking, her arms crossed with one hand reaching up, rubbing her fingers across her lips.

"You are probably right, but see what you can come up with. Maybe there is a pattern you can determine that will allow us to slip through."

Seven nodded her head and started to work. Janeway watched her a few minutes, seeing the frown that would cross her face from time to time, knowing that some of this work was harder for her now that is used to be. So many of her memories had been lost, she had to relearn some of her methods as she struggled through her work. Janeway did not doubt Seven would find a way to finish her work, but she hurt for how hard it was for Seven to do so.

Just like a mother’s empathy, she thought and laughed silently at herself .

"I’ll be on the bridge when you have something to report."

"Yes, Captain." Seven barely lifted her head as she responded.

Janeway smiled and walked out of astrometrics, leaving Seven to her work.

Meloka was studying the scans and analyzing the diagnostics. She was finally finding what she had been looking for. She lifted her head and spoke, "Lieutenant Torres-Paris."

B’Elanna turned to her, "Please, Meloka, call me B’Elanna."

Meloka blinked, "B’Elanna seems strange."

"Maybe, but don’t you think it is easier to say than Lieutenant Torres-Paris all the time?"

Meloka stopped to think about her words carefully, "Yes, you are correct. B’Elanna."

B’Elanna tried not to smile at her, "Yes, Meloka."

"I have finished the work the Doctor asked you to do."

B’Elanna frowned, "What work did the Doctor ask me to do?"

"It is the analysis on Seven’s medical scan."

It took a moment for her to remember what Meloka was talking about, "That? I had completely forgotten about that."

"The Doctor did ask you to analyze it."

"Yes, but that was before that implant self-destructed. I didn’t think there was a reason to analyze the scans after the implant was removed."

"You did not instruct me not to analyze it, therefore I have continued to work on it."

"Right." B’Elanna lowered her head, partially in frustration. Then, she raised her head to look at the hologram standing patiently in front of her. Working with Meloka had been an enjoyable experience. She had proven herself helpful since she had come on board, and B’Elanna was happy she had taken an interest in engineering. Still, dealing with her could require a rather simplistic approach at times. This appeared to be one of those times. "So, tell me. What did you find?"

Meloka turned to the console and brought up the results of her scans, "I found a communication wave signature."

"What?"

"A communication wave signature."

B’Elanna waited. When no explanation came, she said, "Okay, exactly what do you mean by a communication wave signature?"

"The medical scan picked up a communication of some kind."

B’Elanna stopped to think about her words, remembering something, "Do you mean like a subspace signal?" 

"Possibly."

The Lieutenant turned to the console and brought up a signal pattern, "Was it like this?"

Meloka studied the pattern, "No. It is not like that."

"Oh." Her voice was disappointed.

"What is that?"

B’Elanna looked away before replying, "That was a signal that the Borg used to secretly communicate with Seven of Nine at one point. It suddenly occurred to me that they might have done the same thing again."

"I did not imply they did not."

"What?"

"It was a communication signal. It just did not look like that."

"Are you saying it was from the Borg?"

"I did not say that either." Meloka looked down at her scans, "I am only saying it was different from the one you showed me."

B’Elanna started rubbing her head, "I think I am getting a headache."

"Do you need to go to the sickbay?"

"No, I don’t need to go to the sickbay." She sighed, "Let’s start this conversation over again." She looked at Meloka, forcing a grin on her face, "Meloka, exactly what did you find?"

"I have discovered a communication wave signature."

"Right. Can you determine the source?"

"No. I cannot determine that at this time."

"Do you have enough information from the diagnostic to make a determination?"

"No, I do not."

"Okay. Can you refine the signal so we can identify it in the future?"

"Yes. I believe I can."

"Good," this conversation was tiring B’Elanna out, "why don’t you do that and feed the data into the computer?"

"Of course." Meloka turned her attention back to her work, and B’Elanna turned away sighing.

This was turning out to be a very long day, thought B’Elanna.