She sighed, picked up her PADD containing the minutes of the meeting, and headed out the door toward the Mess Hall. She needed a break.

"I'm off to the Mess Hall. Tuvok, you have the bridge." Tuvok nodded as the turbolift doors slid closed.

As she entered the Mess Hall, she noticed that it was completely empty. It was only 1500 hours. Normally, there are one or two people sitting around trying to hide from her Chief Engineer or herself, but there wasn't a soul around. It was all for the best, though. She really needed some 'alone time' to gather her thoughts.

"Coffee, black." The computer chimed an acknowledgment as the signature chrome coffee cup appeared. Janeway picked it up and headed off to a corner of the room next to the windows.

She was staring out the window, watching the stars trying to figure out what was happening when she promptly fell asleep.

"Bridge to the Captain." Tuvok's voice rang through her head, "Captain, please respond."

Kathryn was drowsy. She couldn't believe she had fallen asleep in the Mess Hall, again. It happened so often that the crew didn't even wake her up anymore, and this time was no exception. There were a couple of crew members sitting at a table eating as Tuvok hailed her. "Go ahead, Commander."

"Captain, I believe you should report to sickbay."

"Sickbay? Why?"

"There has been another murder."

"Who?"

"Ensign Kim."

Janeway jumped from her resting place and ran to the sickbay doors. When she entered, she found Tom already there helping the Doctor try to revive young Ensign Kim.

"On my mark, Mr. Paris." Tom nodded. "Now!"

Harry's body shook from the surge of power that the node put there trying to bring him back.

"Again, Mr. Paris."

"Harry's life signs are coming back. We have a heartbeat!" Tom was nearly dancing.

Kathryn waited with baited breath as the Doctor and Tom stabilized Harry.

"Doctor, what happened here?"

"Ensign Kim was attacked with a Klingon dagger."

"A Klingon dagger? Where?"

"I found him on deck seven, section four."

"Why was he there, Mr. Paris?"

"Because Tuvok sent him down there to check up on a conduit malfunction. All of B'Elanna's people are busy trying to get the warp core up and running at full. After that conduit exploded killing Crewman Jacobs, it really messed up the warp drive, but you know that already. Anyway, Harry said he'd go fix it, and, when he didn't come back and wouldn't answer his hails, I offered to go after him. That's where I found him with the dagger sticking in his chest."

"Is there any indication of anything Doctor? DNA, fingerprints, sensor logs?"

"Nothing so far, but I haven't looked at much. After all, I've been trying to bring Mr. Kim back from the land beyond."

Tuvok walked into sickbay. "My apologies for my tardiness, but I've been looking at sensor logs to try and identify Mr. Kim's assailant. I am forced to relate that I have found nothing. It is just as it was with Commander Chakotay."

Janeway glanced at her first officer who was in stasis a few beds away. "Can you revive Harry, Doctor?"

"No, I can't. Whoever attacked him injected him with a drug that I am unfamiliar with. He, too, is in a coma."

"That's a little unusual, don't you think, Tuvok? Why would some one want to put their victim in a coma and then stab them?"

"Perhaps that is not their intention."

"Maybe. Doctor, I want you to do the same scans as you did with the Commander. Tuvok, I want you to look over the sensor logs for both Harry and Chakotay again. Look for anything that might link the two. Tom, go back to the bridge. We need you there, but be careful. There's no telling who's next. I want a meeting in two hours. Meanwhile, I'm going to look into more motives for these attempted murders. Let's do it."

Janeway didn't like the empty seats that kept appearing at her staff meetings. It was distracting, but a good reminder why they needed to solve this mystery.

"Well, we all know," B'Elanna was tired and it showed, "that Harry was a suspect for Chakotay. I mean, he was the one that found him, he was in front of his quarters, and there were no other witnesses, so maybe the killer was just trying to make sure Harry wasn't blamed for something he didn't do."

"Well, let's hope that's not the case." Tom's voice was increasing in pitch as his fear level went up. "After all, I was the one who found Harry. Does that mean the killer is after me next?"

"Let's not start a massive panic here." Janeway was trying to maintain her calm. "Tuvok and I have gone over the sensor records time and again, and we still haven't found anything. The same can be said of the Doctor. So, that means we still need a motive. What links these three people, and why did this person put Harry in a coma before stabbing him with a Klingon dagger?"

"I think the question is how did they get it. I took a look at it before the meeting, and it belongs to me. I even went to our quarters to make sure. Mine is missing. I've been in Engineering all day. I've got alibis for every hour for the past nine days because I've either been working or sleeping."

"No one is suggesting you are at fault here, B'Elanna," although it had crossed the Captain's mind, "I think it may be possible that this person has access to access codes and that's how they can cover their tracks so well."

"They simply delete the information so well that we cannot retrieve it, but," Seven's mind was at work, "there are always residual signs left from a deletion. If, indeed, that is what the killer is doing, we should be able to track down this residual signatures of the data."

"It does seem to reason that it is possible, Captain."

"Alright, then I want you and Seven to start working on that, Tuvok. Meanwhile, are there any suggestions on a motive for these attacks?"

"Well," Tom started, "We, that is B'Elanna and I, had thought it might be tattoos because both Chakotay and Crewman Jacobs had them, but Harry doesn't have any that we know of, so that can't be it."

Seven brought her idea, "Indeed, I came upon the same problem. I had thought that it might be the uniforms because both the Commander and Crewman wear command red uniforms, but Ensign Kim does not, so my hypothesis was incorrect."

"Captain," the way Tuvok addressed her indicated to Kathryn that this was something she did not want to hear. "There is one possibility that you are ignoring."

"What is that, Commander."

"If I am not mistaken, Ensign Kim also has a 'crush' on you."
Janeway rolled her eyes. "Is that not true, Mr. Paris?"

"Well, Harry would kill me if he knew I told you this, Captain, but, since Tuvok brought it up first," he shrugged. "Harry does have a crush on you. It's just one of those things. You know how bad his track record is – two alien species, a dead woman, two holograms, the wrong twin, a borg," Seven moved slightly at this comment," and you. It's not like he can really help himself."

"I can't believe this. Ok, I want a full list of everyone on this ship who has," she rolled her eyes again, "a crush on me. I can't believe I'm saying this. Tom, I want you to work on it. Since warp and propulsion are off line, we're dead in the water anyway, so we don't need a pilot. Alright, let's get to it. Dismissed." She really hated where this was going.