Season 1 - Episode 9: Ex Post Facto (Part 1)
June 15, 2371 (3 Months, 0 Days in the Delta Quadrant)
"No, no, no," I muttered to myself, looking at the model on the screen. "That won't work. Not enough articulation of the spine."
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the wall of screens I'd mounted on the bulkheads and the smaller holographic model being projected up from the corner of my desk. In the last week and a half I'd made more modifications and upgrades to my personal computer, as much as I could without having to dip into my reserve of points for more knowledge, and it was definitely starting to show. I was proud of the work I'd put into it, and part of me was curious about sharing the design around to a few other people to see what they could do with it.
It certainly made designing training simulations easier to program without having to physically book time in the holodeck, which was always at a premium. Not to mention the fact that it helped to ease my current source of mental pain and frustration.
What I had on the screens were various points of view of a hard suit I was designing, schematics spread out, with stress-points highlighted. Or at least, trying to design. I was adamant about designing this damn thing, at least on the surface, without having to resort to using my ability for every little thing. The challenge was fun and something I relished, and besides that there was the worry in the back of my mind that if I kept using my powers for every little thing, my own ability to create instead of just modifying would atrophy.
Yet, to my ever increasing annoyance, the task I'd challenged myself with was quickly proving to be beyond my current ability to complete. Designing a hard suit is simple enough, and I could get the exterior to looking like anything I wanted to once the basic frame was in place, but getting all the components to play nice and work together was turning into a nightmare. The torso refused to seal with the shoulder pauldrons unless the user had perfect posture, the left knee actuator was impossible to make work at the size I needed despite the fact the right knee was showing it was fine for no discernible reason, and I had connectivity issues with each of the various pieces. Even when I ran a diagnostic program over it, I received the electronic equivalent of a shrug in return.
"I didn't expect this to be easy, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult either," I growled under my breath. It was a basic suit of armor, it shouldn't be this difficult to make!
My background knowledge from the Academy was proving its worth and allowed me to advance this design phase rapidly, or so I'd thought, but I was coming up short on answers to the many questions that kept popping up through all this. For every problem I solved, it created two more, a metaphorical hydra, but I refused to burn my planned design. Even when I gave in and allowed the ship's computer to scan it and suggest solutions, it couldn't, and when it tried to make larger changes more problems popped up then were present originally.
Looking to the upper left screen corner, I saw the time and let out a sigh of resignation. It was early Monday morning, very early, and I just knew that as the day drew on and got closer to midnight I was going to throw in the towel and do in an instant what a week of hard work hadn't been able to touch. As it stood, I was going to use my power to put a charge into Mass Effect hardsuits, Iron Man armor, Halo Spartan armor, or maybe just say screw it and buy all three. I did have seven points in my reserve, surely I could make life easier on myself and just used a few…
With an effort I wrenched my mind away from that line of thought.
The real issue though, with designing a suit of armor for Security, wasn't the equipment so much as the material. After all, why bother having a suit of armor if most energy weapons would punch through it?
At least on that problem I'd been having more success. Material sciences wasn't my speciality, but I did know that there were things out there that could ignore energy weapons. Neutronium was the first to come to mind, a rare, dense material found formed in the cores of neutron stars. The problem though was that, despite many examples to work from and theories surrounding it, the Federation was never able to produce it artificially.
And if I cheated and found a way, there'd be no way to explain it. If Janeway were as Federation minded as she claimed to be, I would likely end up being put under lock and key with an armed guard - for my protection of course - while making certain members of the crew very worried about me and who I was.
Besides, that knowledge would be better used to augment the hull of a ship, or at least parts of it. For space, the weight wouldn't be as much of an issue. For ground-side operations? It would make the material a non-starter.
So, turning from energy weapon proof to energy weapon resistant, I have more options. Chrondite was an uncommon mineral but not impossible to find in useful quantities in some asteroids. In fact, there was an infamous incident in 2368 where an asteroid made of the stuff threatened Tessen III. The strong, dense core of Chrondite rendered the asteroid almost invulnerable to phasers and photon torpedoes, and they had to use a particle beam instead to cut through it. Unfortunately, the mineral was very dense - meaning heavy - and it would need to be present in an unacceptable thickness to be practical.
My best bet might actually be to use the same material as our ship's hull. Tritanium is known to be twenty-one and a half times harder than diamond, and, once smelted, even Federation weapons technology couldn't melt it. Most weapons faced at least some kind of resistance when they impacted it, so glancing blows would be easy to survive and only direct shots would be cause for concern. Even then, most of the energy would be absorbed as heat. With a proper dispersion grid, anything smaller than a Type 4 phaser would be handled without much difficulty.
Even better, the material didn't need to be more than a quarter of a centimeter thick to provide protection. On the helmet, chest and shoulders, I could easily bring that thickness up as well to ensure vital organs were safe.
If nothing else, it would give people wearing a suit of tritanium at least some equal footing with the Borg. It was known that tactical drones possessed a tritanium infrastructure as armor as well as to argument their physical abilities. While the nano-probes could still punch through it, if you were in melee combat with the Borg, you'd already messed up.
"If I use tritanium as the armor, I would need to increase the suits ability to augment strength as well to handle the load." I mused. "Hell, at this point I might as well design it to be similar to Stark's suits." Iron Man armor were form fitting, environmentally sealed, and to an extent modular. I could just use Stark-tech for the undersuit and model the exterior off Cerberus armor.
I allowed myself a moment to imagine my own suit of Iron Man armor, specifically the War Machine armor, and laughed at the imagined reaction of Janeway to it, perma-scowl and all. They then brought to mind several other half-remembered suits I'd seen over the years.
Reaching for a cup of coffee next to the hologram, I told myself, "Maybe the Mark XXV Striker armor would be a good design." It was intended for both combat and construction, so it should cover everyone in Operations. "Then again, the XXXIX Starbooster was designed for space travel, and even had the clean lines look that Starfleet would approve of." Hell, it would be a good multi-use suit since it would be perfect for combat, honor guard duty, or just to protect yourself if you end up having to abandon ship. Either way, I'd need to cover up the obvious reactors in the chest. While it looked impressive, it was a giant 'weak point here' sign that I didn't need.
The question was how long would it take to get anything full designed, built, and implemented. After all, with people's lives on the line, I wouldn't want the final product to be shoddy or anything less than an excellent final product that I can worry about upgrading later. However, the longer it took to make, the more likely it was that someone would need it, only for it not to be ready. Following Voyager's footsteps exactly, we'd likely have a month or two, with Seska dead. The scuffle with the Vidiians, though, showed me just how narrow a path that was. If I was honest with myself, I'd likely need to put a dozen points into just the suit before I began to worry about add ons like weapons and shields.
"Fuck," I groaned. "It'll need shields as well. I'll need to miniaturize the shield generators and make something man-portable to build into the armor as well." It would absolutely need strength enhancement, if I wanted it to be functional.
With only half a thought to what I was doing, I opened the designs document I was using for random notes and added "personal shields" to the list of needed components as well. "More things for me to worry about."
Part of me wanted to bring B'Elanna in on this project, but it was still too early for that. I would bring her in when I had something more solid, but at the current rate that was looking further and further away.
Frustrated from ten days of work with little to show for it besides a pretty video game model, I gave in and said, "Fuck it," before I squeezed my eyes shut with a frown of annoyance and reached into the well…
Marvel: Iron Man Armor (1 Charge)
Marvel: Iron Man Armor (2 Charges)
With nothing to tell me what I'd actually be getting, I started at a conservative two charges. I could always buy more later. 'And like that, I'm back down to five chare-ohhhhhh' I thought, feeling myself fall into the data as a river of information streamed into me.
My first impression as I grew lost in the information, was that I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of all the problems I would have in this design process. The second impression was how small my own efforts were in the face of so much new information. Tony Stark, I was not.
This was similar to what happened with the other charges I had spent, but I felt the gulf between what I knew and what I needed to know was much greater than before and the sea of data was barely enough to come up to my ankles. There were so many different subtopics that needed to be thought out and addressed to make this one piece of equipment, so many intersecting design concepts and smaller devices working in harmony, that even with my two charges spent on the damn thing I wouldn't even be able to build the Mark I suit. The one Tony made with a box of scraps in a cave would be years ahead of what I would be able to build right now, were it not for the advanced construction methods available to me, and the other charges I'd already spent.
Power supply issues were the biggest thing, but, thankfully, my previous information dumps into both arc reactors and polaric energy - as well as existing Federation science - made power and distribution dealt with, the data dump latching onto them firmly. That was the easy part.
No, the next hurdle was the exoskeleton itself. The heavier the material used, the more the powerplant needed to work to overcome its own weight, reducing efficiency. The stronger you made this layer, the less versatile the armor became for field use, as it needed to be able to flex slightly with the movement of the wearer, and the thicker it is, the more strength was needed to flex it. Solid frames like I was looking at could work, in theory, but the trade off was that the ensuing armor become slower and more cumbersome. For a walking tank, like the Hulk-Buster, it was ideal. For what I wanted, it was the absolute wrong thing to do, and it was just the first of my many, many mistakes.
Then there were the actuators. Joint actuators needed to be simultaneously lightweight, small, and powerful. There were so many types and designs available to me, able to be mixed and matched, each one with a set of specific purposes, that it made it difficult to decide what was really useful or not. Pneumatic activators, hydraulic cylinders, electronic servo motors, there were even elastic actuators that simulate the control of human muscles and provide touch perceptions. Air muscles, a braided pneumatic actuator, were also excellent for providing tactile feedback. And that was just the ones provided to me with the points I'd already spent.
Recreation of the flexibility of a human anatomy was a very difficult issue and had been barely overcome by Dr. Noonian Soong when he built Data and Lore. Even then, he recreated the act with a human-like robot with human-like size and proportion. I'd have to do the same thing with something a fraction of the space while an actual person was inside the damn thing. Joints such as the hips and shoulders were ball and socket joints in humans, and androids, with the center of rotation inside the body, which meant fully mimicking the degrees of freedom of motion of such joints externally was not easily possible. Even Federation science, for their machines, used joints that were closer to hinges with only a single degree of freedom for each of the dominant rotations.
Spinal flexibility was another challenge, one that I'd become intimately aware of in the past few hours, only to discover that, for all my study of it, I knew practically nothing. Since the spine is effectively a stack of limited-motion ball joints, making an exterior version wasn't nearly as simple as just making another one along the back of the armor. There was no simple combination of external single-axis hinges that could easily match the full range of motion of the human spine. While a "soft" exoskeleton could bend with the body and address some of these issues, that wasn't realistic for a device intended for rugged field use and combat conditions.
Then, as if that weren't enough, there was power control and modulation. A successful exoskeleton should assist its user, which was easier said than done for anything but the simplest motions, such as reducing the energy required to perform basic manual lifting. Individual variations in the nature, range and force of movements that one needed to do when fighting made it difficult for a standardized device to provide the appropriate amount of assistance at the right time, where timing was everything. Even a cortical implant or synaptic stimulator would still suffer from delayed data transfers, meaning you would never be able to catch something thrown to you unless you were already in position to receive it. Algorithms would be needed to tune control parameters, automatically optimizing the energy cost differential of walking, running, or anything else. Direct feedback between the nervous system and control systems - a kind of neuro-embodied design - would be the best option for making that work. That would require some kind of implanted device, which, for the Federation, was a non-starter.
Suddenly I realized why Stark piloted his suits with Jarvis or Friday support systems. AI or even a very advanced Virtual Intelligence system would make control and modulation much simpler.
Finally there is the issue of adaptation to user size. If I built these suits for the crew, not just my larger than average self, I would need to ensure the suits could provide for height ranges of one-point-five (the smallest crewmember was just barely over five-feet tall) to two meters in height. Generally, for military applications there could be an "approved physical size and fitness" issue applied to the suit. Starfleet already has some of those in place for pilots who wished to use the glider craft, about as close to a jet fighter as you could get in this modern era, due to the problems of fitting seats and controls inside the tiny craft.
All of this was just dealing with the issues of the machine itself. This has nothing to do with making sure the damn thing is hermetically sealed for all-environment use, never mind the possibility of needing onboard waste reclamation, environmental systems, strength augmentation, weapon systems, and so much more.
What was worse was that this was an issue that Stark didn't need to deal with, custom-building his suits to their users.
When the headache started to recede into the back of my mind, I groaned to myself, "This is going to be one of those things that take forever to perfect, isn't it?"
Looking back up at my monitor, I started at the time. Nearly an hour had passed since I leaned back, most of that lost in the well of information. "Next time set a timer," I groused, having been lost in my thoughts once more.
Glancing at the model on my desk, I could already start to see how a frame might be built to make my vision a reality. But it wasn't going to be something I could design in a weekend or even a month. I was certainly going to need help, too.
"Bridge to Commander Shepard," a soft femine voice called out over the rooms speaker system.
Forcing down a groan before it began, I answered, "Shepard here."
The voice, who I was starting to think was Ensign Brooks, said, "You asked to be notified when we approached the Banea homeworld."
I blinked, hard, thinking to myself, 'We already arrived?'
"Thank you, I'll be up shortly." I replied, closing the comm link with a tap to my badge.
Quickly pulling on my uniform, I took a brief stop in my bathroom to freshen up and made my way to the turbolift with a padd in hand. The fact that Voyager was actually arriving at the planet first, this time around, was something I was amused about. I hadn't done anything, that I was aware of, to cause this change, but rather than sending on two crewmen and a shuttle to the planet that was in the middle of an active war, while Voyager hung out in the middle of empty space doing absolutely nothing, we were actually taking the whole ship there.
It was a nice change seeing the smart move getting played. I just wished I understood why it was happening.
As I stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge, I could see the Banea homeworld drawing the eyes of all from the viewscreen. I side-stepped behind Lt. Tuvok, easing up beside him while ignoring the raised eyebrow he shot me.
"Lieutenant. What's the system look like?" I asked warmly, trying to be friendly and polite. I knew that to the Vulcan it was a pointless gesture, but I also knew he could recognize my intent for what it was.
Tuvok kept his eye on his console, but answered with, "Unremarkable. It is a binary star system with two F-class stars. One M-class planet, roughly one percent larger than Earth, orbits the smaller with a single natural satellite of unexceptional composition. Scans show numerous Numiri ships patrolling the outer edge of the system, interdicting trade vessels when possible. However the Banea appear to maintain a powerful defense perimeter of unmanned weapon platforms around the inner system. Voyager has reached this perimeter before the Numiri could attempt interception, though they were approaching, but broke off when we entered the Banea's defense envelope."
I nodded, recalling Neelix's briefing on the current conflict. "Rather unusual for two sentient species to evolve on the same planet. Tactical assessment of the Numiri?" I was honestly curious.
Tapping his console, Tuvok brought up a screen showing a small tactical overview of the ships in question. They were roughly rectangular with a taper at the bow, and flat as well. It looked like these ships were on the smaller side, about the same as the Vidiians, if I had to guess, but with a few fewer decks. The energy readings from the scans were more worrying, and I felt my eyebrows rise of their own accord.
I spoke softly to Tuvok, "No way those ships are armed with simple directed-energy weapons that can hit as hard as our phasers. What do they need all that power for?"
He glanced at me, nodded once, and added quietly, "From what we can tell, our sensors are considerably more advanced than their own. It is unlikely they are deceiving us." He tapped the screen, enlarging a region of the hull. "If it comes to a confrontation, I am more concerned about this."
I read the screen, cursing under my breath as I did. Fun fact, Intrepid-Class vessels were equipped with fourteen external shield grids that power our multiphasic and multi-spectrum shielding. What they don't have was "Regenerative Shielding."
The Vulcan nodded at that, "Indeed. Any prolonged engagements with them would not be advised."
Nodding in agreement, I said, "I know Starfleet's still working on this technology, and there is some promise of it working in the near future" - the USS Prometheus currently under construction came to mind - "but I think this is the first time we have encountered a species already using it."
Regenerative shield technology was something of a holy grail to Starfleet. Current shield systems had a set level of strength to them provided by the emitters, and, when that energy was used up, the system needed to shut down and reboot or recharge. Normally this wasn't an issue, shields lasting through most confrontations, and the ones were they didn't were rarely close enough to matter, but if your shields were at three percent and the next hit would drop them, there was nothing you could do about it. Sure, you could redirect power from secondary systems to reinforce the current shield strength, but the gain in defense was minimal and usually wasn't that helpful, as it just caused you to lose more systems from lack of power. Regenerative shield systems on the other hand wouldn't suffer from that weakness, and instead continued to feed power into the emitters at all times so they could recover - or regenerate - over time.
"Fortunately for us," Tuvok began, "their sensors and warp drives are not as capable as Voyager's. If we must, we can withdraw."
"Neelix mentioned that," I helpfully added, "unless provoked, the Numiri tend to avoid conflicts with anyone who isn't Banea. They'll yell and threaten, maybe take a few pop shots to drive us off, but they aren't interested in killing or capturing. Not unless you have something they really want."
"Which would be us." The Vulcan countered. "Our technology would be a prize worth the risk, from their perspective."
"True." I agreed, smiling slightly. It was a joy working with Tuvok, usually. After having to deal with Janeway's blind idealism, it was refreshing to deal with a natural pragmatist. "We'll just have to try and make sure we don't give them a chance to approach us. Watch their patterns and when it's time for us to leave, just head wherever they aren't. Since we can see further than they can, it gives us an edge."
"Unless the Numiri simple decide to surround the system." the Tactical Officer pointed out, and from the slight tightening of the corner of his eye I guessed he was testing me.
"We'll just have to worry about that when the time comes," I answered. "No sense in making plans now when we have no idea how long we'll be here."
Handing over my padd, I added, "By the way, here's the weekly status report. I know normally we deal with this in the weekly meeting, but I'm not sure we'll be having one today for obvious reasons."
Tuvok took the padd and began to read it, but before he could respond the door to the captain's ready room slid open with a soft hiss and Janeway marched out, with Neelix trailing close behind. There was a soft smile on the Captain's face, and a grin on the Talaxians, as they moved to the command seating. I didn't trust it. Smiles on the faces of those two tended to mean something was going to go wrong. They smiled at the Vidiian moon, smiled at the micro wormhole, and were smiling now.
Janeway walked up to the First Officer, saying, "Well, we finished talking with Minister Kray of the Science Ministry. They put us in touch with a Tolen Ren, an engineering physicist and their principal inventor of Banean warship technology and weapons research. He developed advanced navigational arrays, and is willing to help us replace our damaged collimator."
"What are they wanting in exchange?" Chakotay asked, looking equal parts amused and interested.
"Apparently nothing," the Captain said with a little shrug. "Professor Ren is more interested in just getting an example of alien technology to look at and seeing how we design our own systems."
The First Officer tilted his head a little, thinking, "Well that's a surprise. So who are we going to send down there?"
Instead of answering him directly, Janeway looked over at the Ops station and commanded, "Mr. Kim, you have intimate knowledge of our systems and what we are looking for, so I'm assigning you to the team."
"Yes Ma'am." the Ensign smiled brightly, like an over eager dog getting a treat.
Inwardly I was frowning. Despite some things seemingly being pushed off the rails from the original history, some things were fighting to remain in place. There was no reason to send just two people down to the planet, as a warp-capable species they didn't have to compromise on First Contact protocols and keep the ship out of the system to please the Numiri, and they absolutely didn't need to send someone who had no business there down to a planet alone and unsupervised. The fact that the captain was letting a foreign government get a detailed look at the systems in a cutting edge Federation starship meant that we weren't giving them 'nothing' in exchange, no matter how the Captain tried to spin it. I'd have even supported her, as we weren't going to stay here and giving them a look at our tech cost us nothing, if she hadn't been so adamant that we not take anything from the species that attacked us and tried to kill us for our organs. If anyone else noticed the hypocrisy, it wasn't apparent.
"Mr. Paris," Janeway continued, "I want you to go with him. Between the both of you, you should be able to find what we need."
Tuvok, thankfully, spoke up from beside me to say, "Captain, do you wish to assign an escort? They are, after all, entering into an unknown situation."
Janeway glanced over at her oldest friend, and I suppressed a snicker as I saw her smile falter at her noticing me standing beside him. She didn't comment on my presence, replying, "I don't think that will be necessary. The Banea seem like wonderful, peaceful people."
I thought about that for a moment, and looked over at the smiling Talaxian, "You said that the Banea and Numiri both shared this planet once upon a time. Do the Numiri still live there?"
Neelix's smile fell after being called upon, and hesitantly answered, "W-W-Well no, I suppose they don't. I know th-that until a few years ago they were, b-but the last time I was here I don't recall ever seeing a single Numiri on the surface."
Catching on to the point I was making, Tuvok stated, "These, wonderful people, may not be as friendly as they first appear. Additionally, we know nothing of their laws or customs. It is just as likely that Mr.'s Kim or Paris may do or say something that is offensive or illegal. Leaving them alone is unwise."
Exasperated, Janeway moved her hands to her hips and requested with a put-upon air, "So what would you suggest?"
Tuvok stared back at her, and calmly answered before I could. "I would suggest you go along with them. As the Captain, you have significantly more authority to speak on behalf of the ship and crew, as well as additional training in diplomatic fields. Neither of which can be said for Mr.'s Kim or Paris."
Chakotay grinned a little. I knew he didn't like Tuvok or myself, but it seemed he was slowly coming around to respect us. "They have a point, Captain. It would be best to field this yourself, and it is your job."
Janeway narrowed her eyes at the three of us, before slowly sighing, "Why do I feel like this was planned?" Glancing around the bridge, she finally smirked and said, "Sounds fun. Anything else you three might like to recommend while we are discussing it?"
The First Officer started to hesitate but straightened up and pushed on ahead with, "Actually, yes. While you three are busy with Professor Ren, I thought I might go down with a few others and check out the markets. This planet is a known trading post after all, and this could be a good opportunity to gather supplies." The ex-Maquis smiled, "You never know when we'll get the chance again."
Pursing her lips in thought for a moment, the Captain nodded and said, "Good idea. As you said, Banea is supposed to have a trade center. Set it up. Who were you thinking of bringing?"
"Oh, I would love to show you around, Commander!" Neelix started, "Why, I know this marvelous little spot inside the business quarter. Best food on the planet, I swear to you-"
Much to my surprise, Tuvok, Kim, Chakotay, and myself all flatly stated in unison, "No."
"W-what?" the Talaxian stammered, eyes growing wide is disbelief. From Janeway's expression, she didn't like our response either.
Tuvok answered, "Mr. Neelix, following the events of the last time you were part of an away team, you were assigned twenty hours of Starfleet field training and procedural review with either myself or Mr. Shepard. To date, you have completed four."
"And the last three training sessions," I started in, "you rescheduled because 'something came up.' Until you have completed your hours, I wouldn't trust you alone on a barren rock to not get into trouble."
Chakotay nodded along with us, united in our mutual dislike for the alien and his unique brand of insanity. "Neither would I. For your own good, and our safety, complete your training hours."
"Captain!" the Talaxian protested, incensed by our completely deserved treatment.
Janeway, for just a moment, looked like she wanted to pet the alien and tell it that she said it could go along and play with its older sibling. Thankfully, her visage firmed up and as she did a complete one-eighty and she stated in a hard voice, one that was usually reserved for myself, "Mr. Neelix, if you want to work alongside our crew and serve as our guide, you will need to be familiar with our procedures. You won't be coming with us this time, or the next if you still haven't finished your training."
Her voice softened a bit, and she went on to add, "I know it isn't fun, it isn't supposed to be, but I have faith that you can complete your training. Afterwards, we would only be too happy to have you join us on away missions again."
To his credit, the alien forced out a brave upper lip, which only quivered slightly, and nodded decisively. "I will. Thank you, Captain."
Turning back to her First Officer, Janeway asked, "So, who are you heading down with for this little shopping trip?"
Like a boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar, Chakotay smirked and looked down before looking at his superior in the eyes to answer. "I'm no slouch, but I was thinking about bringing our Chief Engineer down. Torres would have a better idea of what is compatible with our systems as well as what would be most useful for us."
Then he looked up at me and asked, "Shepard, would you care to come with us and provide support?"
More than just a little surprised at his unusual display of rapport between us, I hesitated for only a moment before nodding. "Not at all, Commander."
Looking between the two of us, Janeway finally stated, sounding oddly proud, though it could also be smug, "So, two teams of three. I like it. Nice bit of symmetry involved."
"Well," she added, "we have an hour before we are expected on the surface. I suggest we do what we need to prepare. Shepard, we were given strict instructions to not take weapons down with us. Apparently only their armed services are allowed personal firearms of any kind. This does not mean do not get caught, it means follow their laws, as we are their guests, and they are helping us while asking for nothing in return. Mr. Tuvok, while we are down there, the ship is yours."
In stereo, Tuvok and I both answered, "Aye, Captain."
Giving the two of us a parting, indecipherable look, Janeway turned and walked into her ready room while Neelix quickly marched into the turbolift.
Before I could walk away, Tuvok caught my attention with a softly spoken, "I take it that went about as well as you could have hoped?"
I smiled at the Intelligence Officer, "I have no idea what you are referring to, Tuvok."
The Vulcan stared at me, and after a few moments answered, "I have noticed a pattern of behavior between you and the Captain. I understand the source of her animosity with you, but not yours with her. While I am not entirely sure of what you might have wanted to accomplish today, I am reasonably sure that you would have tried to push the captain to take a more proactive role in today's events. And your attempt would have failed."
"That's why you suggested it before I could?" I asked, dropping the pretense of ignorance for a moment. Being one of the smartest people on this ship, and certainly the most observant, there wasn't much point in playing stupid around the ex-intelligence officer. If an enemy agent knows who you really are and has a reasonable idea of what your goals may be, playing the fool not only risks pissing them off but also of turning them against you, even if they were cooperating against a greater threat. It was both easier and more beneficial in the long run to just accept that they knew and be straight with them. To a point.
In enemy territory, this could either lead to you being detained and held until an exchange of captured agents is organized, or it could lead you to making an expected friend or ally.
Pitching my voice low, making a subtle sign that made my omni-tool buzz below the level of hearing that would block out listening devices, I made sure that we couldn't be overheard, To his accusation, I simply said, "Maybe I just want to push her to be the Captain she thinks she is. Even you have to admit, since she got this command, she has made some questionable decisions."
"Perhaps," the Vulcan offered. "But just know that I am aware, and watching."
"Tuvok," I stated as I dropped the jamming, stepping around him and making my way to the lift, "I'm counting on it."