“Pathfinder” is episode ten of season six of Star Trek: Voyager.
The episode doesn’t open on Voyager, but what looks like Earth, and TNG‘s Reg Barclay is tidying his apartment up when there’s a knock on the door. Troi has arrived and they chat. No, Barclay hasn’t just moved in; he’s been here nearly two years, but hasn’t had a chance to unpack. Troi thinks Barclay seems a little on edge; he says he’s excited to see her. He wants to see Geordi before the Enterprise leaves, but wanted to spend some time with Troi. Troi heard Barclay was working on the Pathfinder project. Well, not any more. Barclay’s cat starts eating the ice cream Barclay got for Troi. The cat is called Neelix. Barclay tells Troi he’s become obsessed with Voyager.
Barclay starts talking about firing tachyon beams at pulsars from the MIDAS array when Troi tells him to start at the beginning. It started in the holodeck. Doesn’t it always? A reference, perhaps, to “Hollow Pursuits”. Barclay was running a simulation of Voyager‘s bridge on the holodeck when his boss, Pete, enters. Pete asks about some diagnostics Barclay was supposed to do as Admiral Paris is coming tomorrow. Barclay has a theory; an itinerant pulsar is passing close to the MIDAS array and it could be possible to create an artificial wormhole to create two-way communication with Voyager. Barclay’s last idea didn’t work and Pete doesn’t want him talking to the admiral tomorrow.
Later, Pete stops by. Barclay has finished the diagnostics and Pete invites him home; Pete’s wife’s sister is in town and he thinks she and Barclay will get on. Barclay begs off. He wats to spend time on his theory, though he doesn’t say that. Instead, he returns to the holodeck to play poker with Tom, B’Elanna, Chakotay and Harry; Chakotay and B’Elanna are still in their Maquis outfits. Barclay heads home, but can’t sleep. He heads back to the Voyager sim and the Doctor gives him a massage. Barclay sleeps better on the Voyager simulation than he does at home. Once again, Barclay is far more confident on the holodeck than he is out of it, and he’s also multi-talented, in demand by everyone.
Pete is briefing the admiral on where the Doctor said the position of Voyager was in “Message in a Bottle” when he was briefly transported to the Alpha Quadrant. They have estimated Voyager‘s speed and decided it’s in one of three sectors. Given the occasional huge leaps Voyager has made, including in the previous episode, “The Voyager Conspiracy”, that should be accurate. Admiral Paris asks if they can contact Voyager yet. They’re working on it and should soon be able to reach Voyager in a matter of days. Voyager won’t be able to respond immediately, but they’ll be able to send them specs for the hypersubspace communications.
Barclay interrupts at this point with his idea. He’s doing a bad job of explaining it, but the admiral, though he can’t give Barclay marks for clarity, is interested. Pete says it’s beyond their technology currently. Barclay asks what have they to lose by trying. Have they forgotten about those people in the Delta Quadrant? One is the admiral’s son. No, he hasn’t forgotten.
Troi asks how Barclay dealt with this. Did he apologise to Pete? No, he went back to work. Barclay needed someone to bounce ideas off. Troi thinks that sounds reasonable. Did he consult his Pathfinder colleagues? Not exactly. Troi is not surprised to find he went back to the holodeck; Barclay says they are the only people he can relate to. Troi tells him they are not people. Barclay knows that, but they help. Troi thinks it sounds more like he’s escaping from work. Pete invited Barclay to his house, yet Barclay went to the holodeck instead.
Barclay has struggled since he left the Enterprise, having difficulty relating to people. It doesn’t help that, with his previous history of holoaddiction, spending so much time in the holodeck looks like he’s relapsed. Whilst he may not have relapsed, he is too comfortable in there and is definitely obsessed with Voyager. Most of the episode is spent on Earth; those members of Voyager‘s crew – who all love Barclay – who are seen for most of it are simply their holographic recreations.