11 February 1998

Hunters

Seven of Nine continues to forgo regeneration in order to work on downloading a message from Starfleet. The doctor tells her she could be harming herself, and reminds her that she is no longer a borg drone, to which she replies acidly that she doesn't need reminding. When the letters turn out to contain letters from home, Janeway asks Seven what she intends to do when they reach the alpha quadrant. Even though she says their return to the alpha quadrant is irrelevant to her, she looks horrified when Janeway suggests she might have family on earth.

Seven requests to take a shuttle closer to the network in order to more quickly download the message. The captain orders her to go with Tuvok. Seven worries that the captain doesn't trust her. When Seven and Tuvok have been captured by the Hirogen, she seems fiercely proud of the Captain and Voyager's tenacity and formidableness. Even though she continues to have trouble integrating socially with the crew, she appears to feel some connection with them.

21 January 1998

Message in a Bottle

This episode begins with B'elanna complaining to Chakotay about Seven's behavior. She is angry that Seven took something from engineering to astrometrics and then locked herself inside. She says Seven is treating astrometrics like her own private domain. I don't really blame her. It's the only space on the ship that she has any connection with, and probably a lot more comfortable than the cargo bay where her alcove is.

While B'elanna is talking to Chakotay, Seven summons him and the captain to the astrometrics lab to tell them about a Starfleet ship in the alpha quadrant that can be contacted through an alien sensor network. She clearly realizes that the captain would risk a lot to contact Starfleet and is willing to spend all her free time working toward getting Voyager home as soon as possible. She stays locked in astrometrics working on finding a way to send messages through the relay for most of the episode, forgoing regeneration for days.

B'elanna encounters Seven in astrometrics and accuses her of being rude. Seven has settled into the somewhat abrasive, low voice she uses for most of the rest of the series. She doesn't seem to agree with B'elanna's assessment. Later, when the Hirogen are jamming the link, she sends a mild shock through the relay to incapacitate him and stop him. Janeway seems less than pleased, but B'elanna approves. The tension between B'elanna and Seven seems dissipated--for now.

Side note: At the end of the episode, the doctor gives the crew the good news that he was able to contact Starfleet and that they have begun looking for a way to get Voyager home. This is a turning point in the series--they finally have contact with home and are no longer alone. Janeway then declares that 60,000 light years seems closer today than it did yesterday, but this, as I have previously pointed out, is probably not how far away from home they should be. I'm not sure how much space they should have travelled without Kes, but I think it's more than 1,000 light years.