Janeway tried to shake a sinking feeling about this whole situation as she entered sickbay.
"Doctor, have you finished your scans yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm just about done." The Doctor punched some figures into a console on his desk. "Ah, there we are."
"What have you come up with?"
"Well, remember that unknown chemical I found in Ensign Kim's body?" Janeway nodded, "I have analyzed it, and this is what I found." He turned the console around so the Captain could see the results.
Janeway almost lost her balanced as she realized what the chemical was floating around Harry's bloodstream, but managed to maintain her composure. "Do you have any idea what the substance is, Doctor?" She wondered how long she could play dumb about this information. It had only taken a day for the entire crew to find out about the Omega Directive. Kathryn could see the slippery slope forming.
"No, not yet, but I'm working on it."
"Good." She hesitated. "Doctor, I have a question for you."
"Alright."
"This 'substance', did you check Commander Chakotay to see if he has any traces of it in his bloodstream as well?"
"No, I hadn't thought of that, but I will now." Swiftly, he picked up a medical tricorder and began scanning the comatose Commander. "He does, indeed, have the same chemical present in his bloodstream. Normally, my scans wouldn't have even picked it up…"
"Do you think that the other two chemicals you found were a rouse to lead you away from finding this substance? Is this really what's causing the Commander's coma?"
"Hmmm, it is possible. After all, the other two substances were in such a small amount that normally they would only make the Commander ill, not put him in a coma."
"I want you to look into that. I also want you to check Crewman Jacob's file and see, from your last scans of his body, if there are traces of this unknown substance in his bloodstream as well."
"Right, I'll contact you as soon as I find something."
Janeway nodded as she headed out the sickbay doors and toward Ensign Taylor's quarters.
"Computer, is Ensign Taylor still in her quarters?"
"Affirmative."
Janeway rang the Ensign's door and waited. It was few a seconds before she was given the ok to enter. As she entered, Janeway noted that the room was plainly decorated, almost harsh, and the young woman in front of her, although surprised, was still unusually cold. Kathryn found herself remembering why she wasn't fond of Ensign Taylor.
"Captain Janeway. What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"
Janeway smiled, but quickly recounted the move. "Well, Ensign, I'm here to ask you some questions if you don't mind."
"Not at all, Captain. Please, sit down. Would you like something?"
"Thank you, no." She sat down on a stiff chair across from the couch where Taylor was seated. "Ensign, I'm going to ask you some rather personal questions, but . . . "
"You think that it may help you find out who killed John."
"Well, yes. We believe that whoever is responsible for killing Crewman Jacobs is also responsible for injuring the Commander and Ensign Kim. We are trying to look for any connection between the two, which is why I need to ask you these questions."
"Go ahead."
"Were you and Crewman Jacobs romantically involved?"
"Yes." There was no elaboration, and Kathryn knew it was because Taylor wanted to make this as difficult and as distasteful a matter as possible.
"Were there any members of the crew who might have objected to the two of you seeing each other?"
"No, not that I know of. Most people wanted to see him with somebody if for no other reason than to get him to stop talking about you." The venom in her voice momentarily stunned Janeway. She had forgotten that the Crewman had a 'crush' on her. "I don't know why you're acting so surprised, Captain. John was as obsessed about you as Chakotay could have ever dreamed of being, or Harry Kim for that matter."
"I see."
"Do you have any more questions for me, Captain?" Janeway definitely did not care for this woman. No wonder she avoided her at parties.
"No."
Taylor rose, and Janeway followed. "Well, then, if you'll excuse me, Captain, I have to get some rest. I'm on Delta shift this week."
Janeway left the Ensign's quarters with a sense of uneasiness. This woman didn't like her, that was obvious, but that didn't qualify her as a murderer by any means. It didn't even give her a motive for the types of attacks that were being committed. If Ensign Taylor was going to attack and destroy any person on this ship, it would have been Kathryn Janeway herself, not some second hand crewmember.
"The Doctor to Captain Janeway."
"Yes, Doctor? Have you found something?"
"No, but I thought, since Commander Chakotay isn't able, that some one should remind you to sleep now and again."
"What time is it?"
"2300 hours, way past your bedtime."
"I don't recall ever telling you I had a bedtime, Doctor."
"As your physician, may I remind you that is my duty to make sure you remain healthy even if you don't care to maintain your own health. Now, you should get some rest before I pull rank."
"Ok, Doctor, I'm headed toward my quarters now. Janeway out."
Just once she wished that people on this ship would tend to some one else's business other than hers.
She changed clothes and slid under her covers. Her mind was racing with information. She had one dead crewman and two senior officers in comas with a top secret, level 10 chemical floating around their bloodstream. There were only three people aboard Voyager that had access, or even knowledge, of this chemical. One of the three was already not an option, but the other two were, and they were not likely suspects. She had a Klingon dagger, a needle, a conduit, and two recognizable chemical substances which were all used as diversions to try and hide the use of the chemical. She had a sensor log deletion so well done that Seven and Tuvok together couldn't break the encryption code, and her only likely suspect was a bitter young woman who was jealous of her because her boyfriend had a 'crush' on her. There was that connection. Each of the men had a thing for Kathryn, which she had known all along. Tomorrow, she would look at the list of names Tom had made and placed on her desk. This whole episode was getting stranger and more dangerous by the hour.
"Sickbay to the Captain."
Kathryn was really starting to hate waking up to the Doctor's voice. "Go ahead, Doctor."
"Captain, I hate to keep giving you these kind of wake-up calls, but there has been another attack."
"Who is it this time?"
"Seven of Nine."
Janeway almost fell out of her bed.