Janeway walks in and make a beeline for Tuvok.

Along the way she spares a glance at Laurence.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Ensign."

"Yes, sir. Thanks to this man's efforts," he nods to the doctor.

"Well, I wouldn't say man-"

She cuts herself off.

???

Is the doctor secretly a Vulcan or something. He's just not going to say anything for now.

"Anyway. Tuvok, we need to discuss how the Kazon got their hands on that dampening field generator. I highly doubt it was something they developed themselves."

Tuvok has a (holo)doctor's hands and gizmos all up in his face but will gamely discuss this nonetheless.

"Indeed, captain. I found myself quite caught off-guard for-"

"Oh not this again. This is a medical bay, not a conference room, and this man is my patient. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can-"

"Computer, end Medical Holographic Program."

The doctor vanishes, his gizmo dropping to the biobed.

He startles involuntarily. It's one thing to be transported yourself but quite another to see someone else vanish into thin air.

"Captain?" he asks hesitantly. "Er. Was the doctor... needed elsewhere?"

It sounded more like a summary dismissal, but he's trying not to be too incredibly rude.

She looks a bit surprised to be questioned on this.
"He wasn't needed anywhere, at the moment. Your injuries were superficial, right Tuvok?"

"Indeed."

"Not needed anywhere? Then..." She almost makes it sound as though she killed the man, but surely that can't be. His face betrays some shock anyway.

Janeway might notice that if she was paying much attention. But right now she's more focused on how if the Kazon had been a little better prepared (for example, if they'd brought chemical projectile weapons), or if Voyager had gotten a little bit less lucky, they would have lost the ship.

"Anyway. Tuvok. You were saying?"

Tuvok has spent a very long time interacting with humans, and has honed his ability to interpret their emotional states. He's very skilled at it.

For a Vulcan.

"As I was saying, I was caught off guard by this attack. This dampening field is not like anything I've seen before, and I agree that the Kazon could not have developed it. They must have some source of advanced technology."

"Agreed. We need to learn more about this mysterious source of theirs. As we've seen today, it's obviously a threat, but it could also be an opportunity."

"Captain?"

"We're going to need some form of help if we're going to make it home in less than 70 years. If there are aliens out there with advanced technology who are willing to share, they might be our ticket back."

Tuvok tilts his head in agreement.

"Anyway. My congratulations to you, and your team. You did a fine job."

Laurence finds his voice after this exchange and finally breaks into the conversation.

"Captain. I beg your pardon for my general ignorance, but as I feel myself indebted to him, I find I must ask again. Where is the doctor?"

"Our real doctor was killed: you were treated by the emergency backup hologram. I turned him off: presumably Tuvok will turn him back on when we're done here."

He feels relief that the man isn't gone forever. And yet--

"Hologram." "Holodeck." The connection seems obvious now. A "medical hologram" is not a job title, nor even a species. It's a description of a lesser being.

Turned him off? he wants to say. But he spoke to me. He healed me.

But it's clear those things don't matter to Janeway.

In point of fact, she had been planning to do the same to Laurence, as soon as she was done with his holonovel.

(Of course, that's different, he thinks. He wasn't a *real* person before, the way the doctor-- medical hologram-- obviously is now. Ensign Kim explained it to him.)

"It must be convenient having a subordinate one can remove from existence at will," he bites out unthinkingly. "I am amazed Starfleet does not make it a standard condition of service."