Good Shepherd

Seven's efficiency review flags three crew members whose work keeps falling short. With nowhere to transfer them, Janeway decides to lead them herself on a survey mission aboard the Delta Flyer: Mortimer Harren, a brilliant but antisocial cosmologist who resents his menial post; William Telfer, a chronic hypochondriac; and Tal Celes, a Bajoran whose work always has to be checked. An invisible force strikes the shuttle and destroys most of its antimatter. Harren suspects a dark matter phenomenon, but Janeway wants proof. Then a parasitic creature emerges from Telfer's body, and Harren kills it against the captain's orders. Near a gas giant, invisible objects batter the Flyer. Harren tries to sacrifice himself in an escape pod, but Janeway beams him back and sets off a chain reaction in the ring debris. All four are knocked unconscious, and Voyager recovers the drifting shuttle. Janeway reflects that she found her lost flock.