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“But she was unconscious when the Doctor did that,” B’Elanna said. “She didn’t have a choice. We’re talking about someone, or something, that only wants to be rid of us. How are you going to force the synaptic patterns into our holobuffers?”

“By making its current environment inhospitable,” Seven said.

“What?” B’Elanna asked in obvious disbelief.

“Most life-forms share a survival instinct. If the consciousness embedded in the organic circuitry of the Betasis were no longer able to live within that ship’s neural network, it would be forced to seek an alternative. If we provide it with a suitable escape path, it would be forced to either take it or die.”

“Like trapping an animal,” Chakotay said. “But what would we use as bait? I mean to say, how would we make sure that the consciousness will choose the path we will lay out for it?”

“Voyager’s systems have a bioneural component. Our gel packs function in a manner which is similar to the neural network of the Betasis.”

“But the gel-pack system is completely separate from the hologrid,” Harry reasoned.

“I am not suggesting that we offer Voyager’s bioneural circuitry as the bait,” Seven continued. “But we have sufficient spare gel packs to create a smaller neural network that could be linked to the hologrid for the purposes of attracting the consciousness. Once the consciousness is completely contained there, we simply transfer it to a stable holomatrix.”

B’Elanna was quick to voice her next objection.

“How do you propose we destroy the neural network that the consciousness is currently embedded in?” she asked. “Do you want to blow up the Betasis?”

“No, Lieutenant,” Seven replied. “If I were to infect the neural network with a sufficient supply of nanoprobes…” she began.

“You want to assimilate it?” B’Elanna shouted.

“B’Elanna,” Chakotay barked in frustration. He could see the wisdom in what Seven was proposing, though he had to admit there was a time when he would have responded as sharply as B’Elanna had to any suggestion of using the Borg’s invasive and destructive means of “reproduction” as a means to an end.

Seven cast an icy and disparaging glance at B’Elanna. “The nanoprobes could be coded to destabilize the neural network without affecting any of the ship’s other systems. They would not be capable of assimilating the vessel, any more than the nanoprobes that were transferred into your body to save your life on Monorha were capable of turning you into a Borg,” she retorted sharply.

B’Elanna paused, then said softly, “I’m sorry, Seven. That wasn’t fair of me.”

“Your apology is acceptable,” Seven replied.

“You mean accepted?” B’Elanna half-teased.

Seven responded with a slight smile, further dissipating the tension between them.

Chakotay gave those present a moment to raise any further objections before he offered his conclusions.

“Very well,” he said. “Seven, begin replicating the nanoprobes. Harry, get down to the holographic research lab and construct a stable holomatrix that will support the transfer. Use the holomatrix designed for Danara Pel as a template, but adjust the physical parameters to those of a Monorhan. B’Elanna, you’ll work with me on our defensive capabilities. We still need an alternative in the event the life-forms aboard the array get curious about Voyager.”

“Commander,” Tom interrupted.

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“With your permission, I’d like to conduct a more thorough analysis of the tetryon transport technology we discovered aboard the array.”

Chakotay instinctively balked at the idea, but gave Tom a chance to make his case.

“To what end?” he asked.

“If we can’t defend ourselves against those creatures, we’ll need a way to get off this array in a hurry. Boarding the array was a disaster that I’m not anxious to see repeated. We barely escaped the singularity’s gravity well. If the tractor net that brought us in hadn’t activated, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now, and at this point we don’t know