Cat and Mouse
Captain Janeway stood at the main duty station in Astrometrics and studied the holo-image before her. The vast, unstable nebula which Voyager was approaching seethed with dangerous plasma storms and sensor-dampening, radioactive dust clouds.
The captain would have preferred going around rather than risk her ship in that mess, but not only would it add weeks to their journey, it would take them into territory controlled by the T'chenga—a race they had been warned to avoid at all costs. So she pored over their limited data, trying to reassure nagging doubts.
"Still at it?" asked Commander Chakotay, who had slipped up unnoticed beside her. "I thought we had already analyzed all of the data we're able to get through the interference."
Janeway nodded grimly. "We have," she said, "But I have a duty to protect this ship and her crew. We're only a few hours out from the edge of that nebula, and I want to be sure that Voyager will be safe in there."
"With B'Elanna's modifications to the shields, we should be fine," Chakotay said. "Besides, someone has informed me that you didn't go to your quarters at the end of your duty shift. Instead, you've spent the last four hours down here. Don't you think you should get some rest?"
Janeway looked at her first officer, then turned to find Seven of Nine standing on her other side. The former Borg cocked an eyebrow at the captain's look of indignation. "I have to return to my alcove for regular regeneration to ensure that my productivity and efficiency do not suffer. You must do the same."
Janeway looked again from one to the other, both of whom appeared determined and unyielding in their demand that she report to her quarters immediately. Breaking out in a grin, she surrendered.
"All right, you win," she said, but refrained from telling them that she had been about to go on her own anyway.
In fact, when she got to her quarters, Janeway wished that she could sleep for an entire rotation, but informed the computer to wake her after just three hours. Her duty required that she be on the Bridge before they entered the nebula.
She was contemplating whether to change out of her uniform when she was thrown to the deck by a shock wave that rammed through the ship. The red alert klaxon filled her ears and emergency lighting bathed the room in a crimson glow. Getting back to her feet, Janeway looked to the viewports and saw that Voyager had dropped out of warp and was at a complete standstill.
Tapping her combadge, she called out, "Janeway to Bridge, report!"
Silence was her only answer.
"Janeway to Chakotay, what's going on?"
Again, silence.
She immediately left her quarters and headed for the turbolift. "Computer," she called out, and heard the familiar response signal. "Locate Commander Chakotay."
The flat, female voice answered, "Commander Chakotay is not on board."
Janeway frowned at that. "Locate Commander Tuvok."
"Lt. Commander Tuvok is not on board."
At that moment, Janeway stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge, where she stopped in complete shock.
The room was empty.
A sudden chill coursed through her as she voiced her next query to the computer. "Besides myself, is any member of the crew still on board?"
"Negative."
"Where did they go?"
"Unknown."
Another frown met that statement and Janeway stepped to the ops station—usually manned by Ensign Kim—to bring up the sensor logs at the time of the shock wave. She was surprised to find, however, that the sensors were currently scanning a large vessel directly above Voyager's position, holding them in a tractor beam. The ship's long, segmented design indicated a cargo transport of some sort, but its sheer size and heavy armoring made it as menacing as a Borg cube.
Then came the chirp of an incoming hail. She opened a channel and looked to the main viewer where the face of a female alien grinned at her—and alien Janeway knew.
Sleek and graceful, the alien was covered head to toe in a dense, velvety fur of mottled bronze and copper, with a mane of longer, black fur framing her almost feline features. Brilliant emerald eyes laughed at her as she said, "Well met, Kathryn Janeway. I'll bet you never thought to see me again, eh?"
She certainly had not. Over a month ago, Voyager had spent several days docked at the Benali Trade Station, acquiring supplies and enjoying a little R&R. Janeway herself had ventured aboard the vast complex, which sat at the crossroads of twelve different trade routes, and had encountered a fascinating Vyssikhan merchant captain.
Janeway stepped down to the main command deck, assuming a stance of authority directly in front of her chair. "What do you want, Kahl?" she asked the Vyssikhan, her mouth set firmly and her eyes hard and angry. "What have you done with my crew?"
"Oh, they're aboard my ship and enjoying my… hospitality," she said. "But it was you that I wanted to see again. I've never met such a formidable player of Banduu."
Janeway was taken aback by this seemingly trivial topic, but answered, "It's not unlike a game of our own, called chess."
"But your tactics, your strategies," Kahl purred, "They were so innovative—you were quite the challenging opponent."
Janeway couldn't help thinking that Kahl must not have had many opponents. "Is there a point to this?" she asked, steel edging into her voice.
"Just that I love anything that challenges me, and I was not about to let you go off on your way without another match," the Vyssikhan answered. "Only this time I'd like to raise the stakes a bit."
"I told you the last time, I don't gamble," Janeway said. "Remember? We don't have money."
Kahl nodded. "Odd concept, no money," she said, "But I wasn't thinking about money. You have so much more than that: your ship, your crew… and yourself."
"My ship, and even myself, I can understand," Janeway said, "But what use would my crew be to you? You can't think that they would work for you."
"Oh, but it's not me they'd have to work for," Kahl purred again, "But for whomever I sold them to."
That statement made Janeway's blood run cold.
"You never did ask me what line of business I was in, Kathryn," Kahl continued. "And you've got some prime merchandise among your crew. Your Borg pet alone could bring me enough to retire—though I'm tempted to keep her for my own… amusement. And let's not forget the little one. I know a certain emperor who would pay handsomely for such pretty girl to add to his harem."
Naomi Wildman? Janeway suppressed a shudder at the thought of that bright child being sold into slavery. "You make me sick," she said, the steel in her voice honed razor sharp. "I didn't think your filthy kind were still around."
"So, you do have a temper," Kahl said. "Good. That will make it interesting."
"I refuse to go along with this."
"Refuse?" Kahl repeated, amused. "You seem to have forgotten that I have your crew, and your ship is under my power. You are in no position to refuse."
Janeway's blood now boiled at being forced into the Vyssikhan's game. "What would we play?" she asked.
"The most simple of games," Kahl said, grinning in triumph. "Survival."
At Janeway's frown, she explained. "I release Voyager, and I give you one standard hour before I follow and hunt you down. And not with this behemoth," Kahl said, gesturing around her, "But in my personal cruiser. She's small, but more than a match for Voyager, especially since you'll have to manage everything on your own."
"You must be joking," Janeway said.
Kahl stared directly into the captain's eyes for a moment, wordlessly indicating that she was very serious. "If I capture you, your ship and crew are mine to dispense with as I see fit. And you become one of my amusements."
"And if I win?" Janeway asked.
Kahl snorted, as if she believed that outcome highly unlikely. "You, your ship, and your crew go free," she said simply.
"Agreed," Janeway said with a terse nod.
Kahl gave her one last smile, then the large screen returned to its forward view. A moment later, Voyager rocked slightly as the tractor beam was disengaged.
Quickly, Janeway moved down to the conn station, taking the chair ordinarily used by Lieutenant Paris. "Computer," she called out, "Reconfigure this station to access all primary systems." The glassy surface went black for a moment before coming back in the desired configuration.
Janeway's fingers flashed over the panel and Voyager jumped to warp on a heading which would take the ship straight into the nebula. The captain's hope was that the sensor interference would help hide her from her pursuer.
Exactly one hour later, Kahl's sleek vessel emerged from the docking bay of the slave ship. Janeway watched as the blip on the screen went to warp and began its pursuit.
"Computer, calculate the time required to reach the edge of the nebula at our current speed."
"Two hours sixteen minutes, at warp seven," came the reply.
"And how long before the Vyssikhan craft will intercept Voyager?"
"One hour forty-seven minutes."
Janeway increased the warp factor to nine, but knew it wouldn't be enough. In spite of the lead time she'd been given, and the fact that she was pushing the engines as hard as she dared with no one in Engineering, Kahl would still catch up to Voyager before Janeway could reach her goal. Her mind raced with every possible tactic she could think of that would slow Kahl down, but every idea required at least one other person on board.
She was alone.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a chirp from the console. Looking down, Janeway saw that Kahl's ship had reduced speed and was maintaining a constant distance just outside of weapons range. The captain frowned.
What's she doing? Janeway wondered, then realized that Kahl knew exactly where Voyager was headed. The Vyssikhan wanted her to reach the nebula to make the chase more challenging. "Well," she said aloud grimly, "The cat is going to learn that this mouse does not like being toyed with." Then inwardly she mused, If only I had a way to turn the tables on her.
As if on cue, Janeway heard the tone announcing an incoming communication. "Sickbay to Bridge," came the familiar, clipped voice, "It's been nearly two hours since the ship went to red alert. Is anyone going to be good enough to tell me what's going on?"
The Doctor.
It had never occurred to Janeway that Kahl might have overlooked what was essentially a piece of the ship's computer system. She wasn't about to risk the fragile ego of her EMH, though, by actually telling him that.
Instead, full of renewed hope, she tapped her combadge. "Janeway here. Doctor, please activate your mobile emitter and report to the Bridge."
"On my way, Captain."
Now, Janeway had an ally, and her mind was beginning to formulate a plan.
The sleek, multi-winged craft sliced through the nebulous gases, intent on the hunt for its prey. Its captain stared intently at what little sensor data she could pick up, looking for the slightest blip that might indicate where Voyager was hiding. Kahl was beginning to regret letting Janeway get into this soup. It was proving more of a challenge finding her than she had anticipated.
When the tone of the beeps coming from her console changed pitch, Kahl leaned in closer. Her hampered sensors were picking up a large, solid mass that could be a ship. Her initial reaction was to change course and investigate at closer range, but the Vyssikhan stopped her hand over the controls and decided to try a more subtle approach.
Acting as if she hadn't detected anything, Kahl continued along her present course while carefully watching her monitor. Just as the blip was about to pass out of range, the sensors detected movement. A smaller blip had separated from the large mass and was quickly making off in the opposite direction.
With the fluid motions of long practice, Kahl turned her ship around and sped up to catch the little escapee. Opening a channel, she called out, "Did you really think I wouldn't detect such a feeble maneuver, Janeway? And was it wise to leave Voyager behind to strike out in your little shuttle?"
The captain's image came up on Kahl's viewer wearing a grin. "You can't blame a girl for trying," she said, "And I think you'll find that the Delta Flyer is no 'little shuttle'." With that, communications were cut off and the small craft veered into a dense patch of plasma storms, displaying an agility that even Kahl's sleek vessel was hard-pressed to match.
Still, it wasn't enough to shake the Vyssikhan, and once out of the thicket, the fox quickly closed in on the hare. Only to be pushed back again when the Flyer used a volley of phaser fire to ignite the gas cloud between them. When the conflagration cleared, there was no sign of her prey and scans were little more than useless.
No sign, that is, until the Delta Flyer came up suddenly from behind, phasers lancing out and pummeling Kahl's ship. A quick, gut-wrenching maneuver brought her around and she returned fire, getting in a glancing blow before the agile little craft ducked into a dense cloud.
After that, the Flyer became a bothersome insect: appearing out of one cloud, firing a shot or two, and then zipping into another whenever Kahl turned to swat at it.
Kahl quickly lost patience with these tactics. Letting out a guttural snarl, she jabbed at her controls, pushing her ship beyond safe limits for the unstable environment of the nebula. At full impulse, she plunged headlong after the Flyer, determined not to lose her prey. When she got within weapons range, she immediately fired a direct hit on the Delta Flyer's shield generators.
Taking advantage of the weakness that resulted, Kahl punched another control. The familiar sound of a transport in progress reached Kahl's ears and she swiveled her seat to look toward the aft compartment, where a sparkling gold haze gradually materialized into…
A bio-canister!
Enraged, Kahl turned back to her console to confirm that Janeway's lifesigns were coming from the canister, and that the Delta Flyer was reading as empty. To further her confusion, the viewer came on showing, once more, Janeway's grinning image.
"I believe you were trying to catch me in that transporter beam?" the image said smugly as it dissolved into the form of a balding human male in a blue uniform.
Kahl screamed in frustration at the hologram, "Where is Janeway?"
Janeway waited until the Delta Flyer and its pursuer were out of sensor range before re-engaging the engines and making her way out of the nebula. Once into clear space, Voyager jumped to warp nine and raced back toward the slave ship.
Not surprisingly, it had followed the game and was only a few minutes away at high warp. In that short time, Janeway reviewed the sensor logs and pored over the details gathered about the behemoth she was rapidly approaching.
Heavy armor plating was the ship's primary defense against attack. Consequently, its shields were relatively weak and intended only to deter beam-outs. She knew which section of the ship held her crew from readings of human lifesigns recorded by the sensors. She would have to work quickly before the Vyssikhan crew had time for counter measures, and Janeway knew she would only have time for one desperate act.
She hoped that it would prove to be the right one.
Voyager dropped out of warp right on top of the slave ship and immediately bombarded the shield generator with a full volley of torpedoes and a barrage of phaser fire. As soon as the shields were down, Janeway scanned for a Borg signature, locked onto it, and initiated a site-to-site transport within the Vyssikhan ship. This had barely been accomplished before their auxiliary power had restored the shields.
By this time, the Vyssikhans were firing heavily, and Janeway was too busy fending off the attack to confirm the outcome of her tactic. Rather than risk a fight with no support crew, she brought Voyager about and jumped back to warp.
If a hologram could perspire, the Doctor would have been sweating bullets. In devising their plan, neither had anticipated the volatility of Kahl's rage when she discovered the decoy, but the EMH was experiencing its effects. The Vyssikhan's pursuit of the Delta Flyer was reckless and maniacal—and pointless, the Doctor would have said, if there had been anyone around to hear his complaint. Kahl's fight was with Janeway, not him.
Several systems were badly damaged, and the cockpit was full of an acrid smoke that would have been fatal to a living pilot. It was only by shutting down and rerouting power from unnecessary life support systems that he was still able to keep the ship together. At least they were no longer flying around those plasma storms. The Doctor had only given Janeway enough time to get away before getting out of the nebula himself.
The Flyer rocked from another blast and the Doctor knew that the little ship wouldn't take much more of that pounding. Kahl's ship wasn't much better off, and he figured another blast or two would disable her. His torpedo bays were empty, however, and phasers were off-line.
Without warning, the Doctor's console starting beeping urgently at him. "Now what's happening?" he asked aloud, trying to interpret the information displayed on the screen.
"Anti-matter containment failing," the computer announced. "Warp core breach imminent."
Without warp power the Delta Flyer would be at the mercy of its pursuer, but if the Doctor didn't shut down the core, his existence would end. Either way, it didn't look good.
"If I'm going," the Doctor said, melodramatic at the thought of living out one of his favorite holo-novels, "Then I'm taking her with me." A few adjustments to the controls and he reversed course, heading straight for Kahl's ship with all available power to the forward shields.
Before he could transmit his defiant last words, however, he saw Voyager drop out of warp and grab the Vyssikhan craft in a tractor beam.
"Doctor," came Janeway's voice, "I'm reading a containment failure on the Flyer. You'd better give up your heroics and shut down your warp core."
"Aye, Captain," the EMH responded, only mildly disappointed.
Kahl's voice cut in. "Go ahead and destroy me, Janeway," she snarled. "You may have got me, but you'll never get your crew."
"What about our deal, Kahl?" Janeway demanded.
"Null and void, because you cheated," she spat back. "And my people aren't stupid enough to let go of that gold mine in the holding cells without a fight. A fight I don't think you can win, even with the help of your holographic toy."
"Toy?" the Doctor sputtered, "I'll have you know that I'm—"
His words trailed off when the Vyssikhan slave ship dropped out of warp to loom over all three ships. Kahl's image on the viewscreen gloated, but her look of satisfaction quickly soured when a new voice joined the discussion.
"Chakotay to Voyager. We are in possession of the enemy vessel and await your orders."
"Good work," Janeway answered, not afraid to let her relief show. "I'm glad to hear that Seven was able to help."
"You couldn't have done us a better favor if you had beamed us the keys to our cells," the Commander said. "The other prisoners we rescued convey their thanks as well, and assure me that they will see Kahl and her people delivered to the proper authorities."
"That's good to hear, Commander," Janeway said, the last of the tension draining away. "Now, beam Kahl into one of her own cells and let's be on our way."