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The ocular implant seated at Seven’s brow rose quizzically. She had rarely known the Talaxian to be so vehement or pessimistic.

“The commander is attempting to see that the captain is returned to us,” Seven observed. “You do not believe the potential for success outweighs the risks inherent in the mission?”

Neelix sighed.

“Part of me does. But the rest of me keeps thinking about Naomi. There’s only so much I am willing to sacrifice, Seven,” Neelix said defensively.

“I understand,” Seven replied.

“You do?”

“The officers and crew aboard this vessel volunteered for the services they are performing. Naomi Wildman did not have the opportunity to make such a choice,” she stated with typical detachment. “It is… unfair,” she finished.

“I am certain of only one thing,” Neelix said after a thoughtful pause. “There are forces at work here that are more powerful than we are. And I don’t believe those forces have any of our interests at heart. The longer we stay, and the more we do to irritate them, the worse this is going to get. I don’t take our losses lightly. But we should accept them and move on, before there is no one left to grieve for those who are gone.”

Seven’s placid gaze remained fixed on Neelix.

“You are proposing an efficient method of resolving this crisis,” she said.

“Well, thank you,” he replied, not sure if she was actually complimenting him.

“Unfortunately, in my experience, Voyager’s collective is rarely concerned with efficiency,” she added as the doors to the transporter room slid open before them.

Chakotay had already returned the Key to its ceremonial box and placed it on the transporter pad. He was configuring his tricorder when they entered.

“I’ve analyzed the schematics of the array and found a way to take a little time off of our journey,” Chakotay said as they joined him.

“The pattern enhancers Seven and B’Elanna set up on the Betasis are still functioning. Once we’re there, we’ll travel a few hundred meters on foot to the nearest tetryon transporter.”

“You’re not actually suggesting we use them again?” Neelix said in disbelief, before adding a somewhat respectful “Commander? I mean, after what happened to Tom and Harry?”

“There is no other way to get from the first to the second ring where the lock for the Key is located. We’ve used them before and I’m reasonably certain that as long as we use them as they were designed, we should be safe.”

Neelix didn’t appear to be convinced, but hesitated to voice another round of doubts.

“From there, we should be able to transport to the series of transport alcoves nearest the room where the lock is located,” he indicated, pointing to the schematic. “Thanks to Tom’s experiments with their transport system, we have figured out how to manually enter our destination into their system and bypass the telepathic controls, as long as we are moving from one transport hub to another within the array. Otherwise, we’re talking about a journey through the array on foot of almost two kilometers. I don’t want to risk exposure to the creatures that infected Tuvok for that long, but if either of you disagree, now’s the time to say something.”

“I have been tracking the multiphasic life-forms for the past several hours,” Seven noted. “Most of them are currently located in what we believe to be the array’s engineering center, located on the first ring. By following the course you have set, we run very little risk of confronting them,” she said, adding, “Assuming our presence does not disrupt them in any way.”

“Neelix?” Chakotay asked.

“The quickest route sounds best to me,” he said as enthusiastically as possible.

“Very well,” Chakotay replied, taking his place on the transporter pad. “B’Elanna and I reconfigured the modified phaser rifles you are carrying to stun the multiphasic life-forms. My rifle is equipped with the neural agent that is toxic to the Nacene. If we should encounter Phoebe, or any other Nacene, mine is the only weapon that will