~ Seven of Nine ~
Tuvok's outburst had left Seven uncomfortable. The Commander had always been reasonable, even in the face of stubbornness. His urgency made her feel slightly queasy in the pit of her stomach, and unpleasant sensation. He had left the room, leaving Janeway staring after him. When she had composed herself, she turned back to Seven, Harry and Vorik to take up where Tuvok left off.
"Well?"
Still, neither she nor her comrades said anything. Seven was quite sure that Vorik was involved; she had heard him sneak into the cabin early this morning. Harry was also a likely suspect, considering her was heading the project. Janeway was now continuing to pace in front of them, a Queen trying to read her missing drones. She stopped in front of Harry.
"Ensign Kim?" Her use of rank had the desired effect; his eyes snapped to meet hers, body becoming rigid at attention. Indeed, the surly look that had been on his face vanished. "Ensign, you were in charge of the array, so I can be correct in assuming that you were there when it was put up?"
A weak nod.
"Answer me, Ensign."
"Yes, ma'am."
Seven noticed the Captain grimace at the use of ma'am, but she didn't do anything about it.
"Did you activate it at all?"
Harry's hands were clenching and unclenching at his side, clearly debating the right thing to do.
"Yes, Captain."
"Did the Plak'han contact you?"
The tension was amazing. Seven watched as Janeway held her breath, waiting for the possibly life-altering affirmative. She found herself doing the same.
"Yes."
Gushes of air were released all at once, not from happiness, but relief.
"Ensign, who else was with you?"
"Ensign Vorik and Icheb, Captain."
Icheb! But she thought she had heard him come to bed early last night! It must have been Tuvok getting up and coming back, or maybe her mind was playing tricks on her, wanting him to be safe…
Why hadn't he come forward and told someone? Seven could see what was going to happen, now that the Plak'han had found them, and she thought that maybe if Icheb had gotten her, maybe some of this could have been adverted, maybe…
"Ensign, why didn't you come forward immediately? Why didn't you inform me of the situation? Do you not realize that now we've lost time on coming up with a course of action? The Plak'han could be here any minute now, and we're just going to let them walk right in!" Janeway's voice had been crescendoing until she stopped. Harry's face was still looking straight ahead at attention, impassionately, red blotches around his eyes, a stream of tears streaming down the left side of his face. Seven found the exchange, or lack there of, fascinating. The Captain noticed her watching, lips slightly parted, and dismissed her. Clearly, she did not want her bearing witness to what she was about to say.
Trying her best to remain composure as she hunted down Icheb, Seven watched her surroundings carefully, making sure the Plak'han weren't already here. Logically, she knew they weren't here yet. It wasn't there way to sneak up on people. They had just kept striking Voyager until it was nearly destroyed. If it hadn't been for that other ship that had stepped in at the last moment out of nowhere, Voyager would never have been able to crash land, effectively preserving the majority of the remaining crew.
Icheb was sitting in the communications room, tapping away at the console. Rushing forward, Seven grabbed his hand.
"What are you doing? Did you not learn your lesson about playing around it here after last night?" Icheb's face dropped at the accusation.
"How did you find out?"
"Ensign Kim is in the Captain's quarters with Vorik right now, explaining everything." Seven towered over Icheb, who sat quietly in her shadow. "Do you not realize the implications of this delayed confession? There could be Plak'han on this planet right now, looking for the best way to capture us!"
"Highly unlikely."
"Are you unaware of their mission to have us all destroyed? Why are you so impudent?" Icheb turned to the console, tapping in a command on the display.
"Actually, sensor logs show that there was another ship in the region. Not Plak'han. Just before the sensor died, the other ship opened fire on the Plak'han, driving them away."
Seven's mind raced. Another ship that was able to combat the Plak'han. Were they friend or foe? Did they open fire in their best interest, or did they, too, have some unknown personal vendetta against the Voyager crew? If they were after her and her crewmembers, it would be worse than they thought…
"Icheb, have we seen this other ship before?"
"Negative. I already checked the ion trails. According to what is left of our databanks, they are not classified."
"What about the weapon? What is it that it could chase the Plak'han off so quickly?" Icheb keyed in another command.
"I'm afraid sensors aren't as sophisticated as we would like. As far as I can tell, it is some kind of torpedo that creates a high-yield explosive of plasma that clings to exterior of the ships, effectively chewing away at whatever the blast does not incinerate."
"What did this unknown entity do after firing?"
"The Plak'han moved off, and then sensors shut down. They could have pursued, or they could still be in orbit around Haven, or they may have moved off else where. There's no way to tell."
"Unless we put the sensors back on…"
"Seven, as you pointed out, it would be ill-advised to bring them back online without the Captain's permission." Seven smiled slightly. Inside, she felt sick. A civilization that could wield such awesome power could be sitting above them at this very second, and the didn't know about it. But Seven intended to find out.
"Well then, we should go find the Captain."