It had taken Janeway longer than she'd like to admit to call in the Doctor to examine R. For the longest time she and her officers simply stared at the stranger. As they watched, he changed. A gradual change that they didn't notice at first. He was getting shorter, for one thing.
He wasn't a very talkative fellow. Aside from the initial greeting, he'd only said a few trite things about being on Voyager. Oh, it was his pleasure, but why the cage?
Janeway gave simple, polite answers, but it soon became clear to her that her officers weren't hearing the same things she did. Their confusion at her communication was one indicator. Their own few words to the alien was another. It was disconcerting to think each of them was having a private and separate conversation despite all being in the same room and talking to the same person.
Instead of calling the Doctor, Janeway sent Harry and B'Elanna to fetch him. She wanted a moment to speak to Tuvok.
"What do you think?" she asked quietly. She realized R could probably still hear her, but no matter.
"I believe he is only able to project his abilities outward," Tuvok replied.
"What do you mean?"
"He can put thoughts in our head, but I do not think he can read our thoughts. He has not responded to any of my telepathic communications, only verbal ones."
That was comforting. She suspected the containment field was the cause.
The Doctor entered then. "Hello, R," he greeted cheerfully, quickly joining the visitor in the cell. "I'll be running a few harmless scans. Pay me no mind."
I don't understand this one. He is a hologram?
Janeway nodded.
"Anything you'd like to let me know? Medical history? Health complaints?"
After a few moments of silence, the Doctor tried again. "Anything, sir?"
Being ignored didn't bode well with the EMH. He shot an exasperated look at the captain.
"He communicates telepathically, Doctor."
"Ah. I remember." Janeway thought she heard him mutter something about deceptive mouths under his breath, but the remainder of the exam was executed in silence.
When he was finished, the Doctor said in a low voice, "I believe we should discuss the results outside. I assume those ears of his function."
Turning to leave, Janeway was shocked by the sudden appearance of Chakotay. "Commander, what are you doing here?" He wasn't supposed to be there. He was supposed to be far away, not distracting her. His mere presence made the situation more difficult.
Her stomach clenched at his innocent, almost playful tone and answer. "Just here to see what all the fuss is about. What's going on?"
Checking up on her, more like. She almost put her foot down when the Doctor invited Chakotay to hear R's diagnosis. But he was her first officer. It was natural he should be included. She didn't need a scene, so she let it happen.
Janeway listened to the Doctor's report with real interest, but the results were disheartening. She realized the best course of action would be diplomacy. If she could just figure out why Q wanted R dead in the first place, surely she could find a peaceful resolution.
Such were her thoughts when Chakotay asked, "What about you, Captain?"
"I'm going to talk to him." She wished Chakotay would, for once, just do what she asked him to do and leave her to her own devices. Of course, if he did that, he wouldn't really be doing his job.
"You've already been in there an hour."
She positioned herself for an argument, but she didn't really have any ground to stand on. They were dealing with a dangerous entity, and she'd do well to listen to what the Doctor said. Reluctantly she conceded the point. "Very well, I'll join the Doctor and Seven in sickbay for the time being."
He had the audacity to shake his head at her. She wasn't asking for his permission.
"You haven't eaten all day. Go have some dinner."
Motherly Chakotay always had to make an appearance, didn't he? At least once a day. Couldn't he see she was in no mood to be mothered? She communicated her feelings with a glower so there could be no mistake.
"I'll tell Neelix to come find you personally and to bring a pot of leola root soup."
"That won't be necessary, Commander," she practically snapped.
As she made her way to the mess hall, Janeway allowed herself a moment to think on the conversation. She wasn't sure why she was so irritable. Yes, she was stressed about Q and his wretched blackmailing and about R and the enigma he was. And then she was desperately concerned for Chakotay's safety. That in turn made her frustrated with herself for allowing so much bias in where he was concerned. She hated to admit it, but she was afraid of him, or rather her feelings for him. This infernal situation was making her face that fear. But still, anger toward Chakotay wasn't how she should be handling the situation.
She thought through ways to apologize for her behavior as she picked at her dinner.
Welcome back, Captain Kathryn Janeway.
R had grown hair. It was a mixture of colors, as if it couldn't decide which color to be, but mostly brown. The eyes were blue now, instead of gray.
Janeway had asked Tuvok to accompany her for the visit. She could trust him to be discreet with any knowledge he gained from the discussion she was going to have with their guest.
"We need to talk, R."
How may I help?
Having a conversation with her own voice was disquieting.
"Tell me about Q."
If I'm not mistaken, you are currently associated with him. You likely know more than I.
Janeway sent him a withering look. He smiled in response.
What do you want to know, Captain?
She decided she take this slowly. She wanted to gain his trust. There was a greater chance of success that way. "Do you know why Q trapped you here?"
He wants me dead. As you well know.
She certainly did know. But how did he? Hadn't Tuvok said he couldn't read their minds? She resisted the urge to ask him.
"Why?"
I really don't know. Have you asked him?
She wasn't going to tolerate sass. "I'm asking you."
Perhaps Q fears I've encroached on his domain. He may be billions of years old, but he's quite a baby. No good at sharing.
She couldn't repress the smile the comment engendered. But she wasn't letting R off the hook because of a clever comparison. "Even so, his actions seem a bit drastic."
R stood from the cell's bed and set to pacing across the small space.
Q is boring.
"Maybe to you, but I need to understand things. What have been your interactions with Q in the past?"
I'm not from this galaxy. Did you know?
"Your point?"
When I arrived, I searched for the most intelligent beings this galaxy had to offer. Imagine my disappointment when I found myself in the Q continuum.
Interesting. "So you've been to the continuum. What did the Q do?"
Oh nothing really.
"Is that so?"
Yes.
They continued on in that vain for a while more. That is, they talked in circles. At the end of the hour, Janeway felt as if it had all been a waste of time. The only thing of that could potentially be of any worth was the fact that R had visited the continuum.
Oh, and she noted that his appearance had been in flux. The height wavered between tall and short. The eyes would sometimes be blue and sometimes deep brown. The hair varied in length and color. It was as if he was having trouble deciding what to look like. She thought the changes had corresponded at times with the tone of their discussion, but perhaps she was imagining it.
No matter. She was thoroughly finished bantering with him. It was time to put her efforts to good use. She made her way to sickbay.
"Please tell me you've found something, Doctor," she asked when she entered his office.
Seven looked up as if she had something to say, but the Doctor spoke before the Borg had a chance. "I'm afraid not, Captain. Even under the most intense analysis, the tricorder readings have revealed no patterns and no information. We were just beginning to run some tests on his brain." He indicated the holographic brain suspended in midair above the desk. At least, Janeway assumed it was a brain. It didn't resemble any she'd ever seen.
The captain let out a sigh, but nodded. "Anything I can do?"
The Doctor frowned. "No offense, Captain, but biology isn't exactly your forte." He looked her up and down before adding, "Really, the best thing you can do is to get some rest. It's late, and I suspect you neglected sleep last night."
Janeway looked to Seven for support. The other woman simply raised both eyebrows and seemed to say, "he's right."
"Fine. Carry on, Doctor. Don't be afraid to wake me if you find anything useful."
When she arrived at her quarters, she had no intention of retiring. She needed to form an attack plan of sorts. When she next saw R, she'd be prepared with questions and follow-up questions and counter statements. She just had to go through everything she knew about him and all she knew about Q and surely she'd come up with something. She grabbed a PADD and got to work.
She was on the farm, wandering through the orchard. It was a nice day. The sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot. A slight breeze kept the humidity at bay. The orchard was full of sounds, birds chirping being the most prominent, and somewhere in the distance, a babbling brook. But there was another sound too. An important, familiar sound.
Barking.
She looked to the source, and cried out with joy when she saw her Irish setter gamboling towards her.
"Mollie!"
She wasted no time in dropping to her knees to properly greet her dog. She placed a hand on either side of Mollie's head and tousled her ears while the dog eagerly licked her face.
"Oh I've missed you so much! Have you been a good girl?" she laughed, running her hands up and down Mollie's neck, patting and scratching. "Who's a good girl?"
"I am!"
Janeway froze. What? When she regained control of her motor functions, she looked around her, searching for whoever had spoken. There was no one else.
"I am!"
"Mollie?" Janeway asked, feeling crazy.
In response, the dog simply wagged her tail and licked Janeway's face with renewed vigor.
When Janeway didn't continue petting Mollie, the lick stopped. Then, "You're not."
"What?" This obviously wasn't real.
"You're not a good girl."
Well, if Mollie intended to keep talking, she might as well give her something to say. "Excuse me?'
"You've been a bad girl." She gave a whine to accentuate her words.
"How, Mollie?"
Instead of answering, the dog turned away and bounded through the trees.
Janeway stood and followed. She almost tripped on something. Looking down, she found it wasn't a tree root as expected. It was the Caretaker's remains. She inhaled sharply.
That hadn't been her fault. He'd been dying anyway.
Mollie returned to her side and nosed the object then looked meaningfully up at her. "Array." Then she was off again.
Janeway had to jog to keep up. They eventually came to a hill wasn't part of the real farm in Indiana. Mollie ran playfully up, so Janeway followed. Upon reaching the top, she instantly wished she hadn't.
On the other side of the hill was a graveyard. She didn't have to be close enough to read any of the headstones to know what it represented. There must have been a grave for every single death she had even the slightest part in while in the Delta Quadrant.
Mollie frolicked between the marble slabs and barked, "Come! Come Kathy!"
Feeling cold and nauseated, Janeway complied. Her fingers brushed over the headstones she passed. There didn't seem to be any order to it. Tuvix. Quinn. Seska. Ransom. Names that appeared Kazon. Names that appeared Vidiian.
"Mollie, why are we here?"
The Irish setter stopped rolling around in the grass. "Bad girl." She hopped nearer to her owner. Something had excited her because she started yapping nonstop. "Bad, very bad. So far away. I'm with child. Bad girl, Kathy. Where's Mark? Naughty, naughty. Never coming home. So bad. Bad, bad, bad."
Janeway jolted awake when the PADD on her lap slipped to the floor with a clatter. Her neck and shoulders were sore from the awkward position on her couch in which she'd fallen asleep. But that pain was nothing compared to the word repeating through her mind.
Bad.