The Mysterious Case of Neelix's Lungs
Episode 1x2: "Lizard-Women from Another Dimension!" by starswordc & worffan101
Author's note, by worffan101:
So this is the second installment of my second real collab with starswordc, part of a series aimed at being not quite as problematic as the original show.
StarSword-C and I have long complained on the Star Trek Online forums about various aspects of Voyager, ranging from Janeway's inconsistent and often psychopathic characterization, to the sheer offensiveness of Chakotay's vaguely-defined ethnicity, to the many, many dangling plot threads, to Kenneth Biller's abject writing incompetence, to Harry Kim's eternal inability to get promoted, get laid by someone non-evil, or get a script worthy of his actor's talents, to the way nobody ever listened to Tuvok, to Neelix in general…
You probably get the idea.
This series arose from me watching one Voyager episode too many as part of my research for a story that I wrote set in the Delta Quadrant, based on a prompt on the STO forums. My Janeway Rage (as I've taken to calling it based loosely on an off-hand comment made by a friend who's sick and tired of hearing me complain about Janeway's poor characterization) was reaching critical levels, and finally I sat down to write a Caretaker AU where Janeway was dead and the Cardassians who were chasing Chakotay got snagged as well. I linked StarSword to the document, took his advice on a few ideas (namely, killing Chakotay because if we were to make him reasonably inoffensive from an ethnic point of view he'd be unrecognizable), and it sort of mushroomed into this massive project that sucked up half of my time in finals week. Luckily I did alright on my exams.
We have about three seasons of about eight stories each planned out. It should be a fun ride; since we're exploring all of the implications of the things we bring up, it's going to be a bit more grimdark than canon, but I hope that we can keep it uplifting.
Anyway, this series will focus primarily on rewriting some of Voyager's better episodes—that is, those with decent concepts that were screwed up by executive incompetence, rather than bad concepts. *cough* macroviruses, "Threshold" *cough*. We intend to keep a reasonably connected plot thread going; any damage sustained will be accounted for in the next episode, for example, and plot threads will not be left dangling for three and a half seasons.
The Doctor, here referred to as "Lieutenant Emergency Medical Hologram", will be changed as little as possible, because frankly he's pretty damn cool already.
There will be some original material, based on interesting ideas that Star and I come up with. Such is the following story, based around a species I designed in my spare time while under the influence of too much Red Bull, too little sleep, pressing Biology finals, and the webcomic Girl Genius.
Thank you very much for reading, and I hope that you enjoy this little chapter in our story.
Main and recurring cast:
Gul Aman Evek, CO, CDS Vetar: Richard Poe.
Acting Dalin Hogue Marritza, tactical officer, CDS Vetar: Eric Etebari
Gil Kalar, operations officer, CDS Vetar: Sean Maher.
Glinn Emil Tarak, security chief, CDS Vetar: Nathan Fillion.
Glinn Nirymer, CMO and chief therapist, CDS Vetar: Murphy Guyer.
Acting Gil Daran Taril, helmsman, CDS Vetar: Alan Tudyk.
Provisional Glinn Alina i'Kevratas t'Aimne, sensor officer CDS Vetar: Morena Baccarin.
Gil Kerani Ocett, security officer, CDS Vetar: Gina Torres.
Captain Veronica Stadi, CO, USS Voyager: Alicia Coppola.
Commander Tuvok, XO, USS Voyager: Tim Russ.
Lieutenant Harry Kim, operations officer, USS Voyager: Garret Wang.
Lieutenant Commander T'Pai, CMO USS Voyager: Aly Michalka
Lieutenant Lyndsay Ballard, ChENG, USS Voyager: Kim Rhodes.
Lieutenant Ayala, security chief, USS Voyager: Tarik Ergin.
Lieutenant Emergency Medical Hologram, deputy CMO, USS Voyager: Robert Picardo.
Lieutenant JG B'Elanna Torres, deputy ChENG, USS Voyager: Roxanne Dawson
Ensign Tom Paris, helmsman/tactical officer, USS Voyager: Robert Duncan McNeill.
Crewman Celes Tal, sensor chief, USS Voyager: Zoe McLellan.
Ensign Samantha Wildman: Nancy Hower.
Neelix: Ethan Phillips.
Kes: Jennifer Lien.
Guest-starring:
jir ni zaran Ar'tana Nivat, CO, HZA Naarat: The Rock.
zir S'lin Ta'kat, CSO, HZA Naarat: Andy Serkis.
jian-caste Ha'ni communications officer: Manu Bennet.
jaranat Khanlat Nik'tu, XO and helm officer, HZA Naarat: Michael Caine.
tanit S'a'tak Akh'Sat, security chief and chief tactical officer, HZA Naarat: The Undertaker.
Maje Hozak: Stephen Fry.
Unknown system, 10 light-years out of the Ocampa system, Delta Quadrant
Federation Stardate 48327.79 (20 February 2371 Earth Standard)
Cardassian Unified Date 4701.7.3/104
Two starships, castaways far from home, floated in the void above a dead world. One, a teardrop-shaped medium cruiser, pale gray with bullet-shaped nacelles far astern. The other, floating off its companion's starboard wing, was gold-colored, resembling a large, flat fish. Eight shuttles of varying classes held a picket an astronomical unit out while hardsuited crew members scuttled across the motherships, checking the welded panels patching great rents in both hulls.
Aboard the Intrepid-class vessel, a dozen senior officers from both ships sat around a table in the command deck wardroom. "First order of business," said Gul Aman Evek. "Food. Replicators are probably going to have to go on rationing."
"Agreed," said Captain Veronica Stadi. "I think that order number two should be information. Maps. Find someone who knows this sector, find a way to avoid those Kazon. They're idiots, but a lot of idiots can still fuck you up."
"Well said," nodded Evek. "Power conservation and information, two most critical parts of a deep-space survival situation. Holodecks?"
"Stay up, if there's enough power. We need them for therapeutic and training purposes."
"Good, don't want our people going stir-crazy. Tuvok, anything to add?"
"I will need to discuss a rather private matter with our Vulcan crew members. I will brief Captain Stadi as is necessary. In general, however, I agree."
"All right. Stadi?"
"I think… Those Ocampa, they relied almost exclusively on that alien for food, but they also had a lot of hydroponics."
"Kes," Lieutenant Ayala said. "She might be able to set a hydroponics bay or two up for us."
"It would ease the strain on the life support systems as well as provide food," Tuvok added.
"Good idea," Evek agreed. "Gil Ocett?"
"Sir?" said the Cardassian woman, sticking her head in the door.
"Get Neelix and Kes in here, now."
"Yes, my Gul."
"While we wait…" The gul reached for his comlink. "Evek to Kalar."
"Yes, my Gul?" said the young Cardassian through Evek's link.
"Get some scans of local space. Any ships, anybody who might know the area and doesn't like the Kazon, I want to know where they are and how to talk to them."
"Yes, my Gul."
"Next on the agenda," Stadi said. "Fuel and ammunition."
"Most of the parts for photon torpedoes can be replicated," said Evek. "Expensive as hell but they're doable. We're going to need dilithium for spare drive crystals, as well as anti-hydrogen and deuterium."
The black-haired human lieutenant sitting next to Stadi tapped a hand on the table. "Deuterium's the easy part," Harry Kim said. "It's just heavy hydrogen. Anywhere there's water, you've got a ready supply."
Evek nodded. "Dilithium and antimatter, then. I assume your ship has an onboard antimatter generator?"
"Low-capacity and very power-intensive, but yes, we do," Stadi confirmed.
"Captain Stadi," Dalin Hogue Marritza, the Vetar's new tactical officer, asked, "what about those tricobalt weapons you used against the Kazon?"
"Not readily replaceable, not with what we've got with us," the blond Ensign Paris answered with a shake of his head. "The warhead requires exotic elements we'd need special equipment to make."
"Shtel. Very well, next item. We still need spare reaction mass for these alien power cores—Engineering is sending me a full report on their workings and fuel in ten minutes."
"Oh, we already got that," said a brunette Human woman in Ops colors. "They're actually pretty interesting. They run on perigium supported by a thoron-infused superconductor magnetic system. Looks like we won't need to refuel them as often as our standard warp cores, but the way we got 'em hooked up we're going to be running mostly the warp cores."
"Thank you, Lyndsay," said Stadi. "I mean, Lieutenant Ballard. Next order of business… psychotherapy. T'pai and Evek's man Nirymer have been training, or more accurately he's been teaching her how to do basic therapy and counseling. I'll get some of my own as soon as I've got the time. Ideally, we can get some of the Kazon victims ready to fill support roles or something—"
"You needed us, Sir?" asked Neelix, entering cautiously.
"Scratch that," said Stadi. "I just had an idea. Kes, hello."
"Hi…" said Kes with a timid smile.
"She just got out of therapy," said Neelix with an apologetic smile. "The Kazon, they gave her something called post-traumatic stress, you see."
"Understood. Kes, do you know hydroponics?"
"Y… yes, Sir. What do you want me to do?"
"Ballard, I want you to have Torres work with Kes here to rework one of the unused cargo bays into a hydroponics bay. We'll get you some helpers, it'll be a great way to get the other Kazon prisoners used to normal life again."
"I want the same on the Vetar," said Evek. "My chief of engineering will help you."
"Thank you!" said Kes, her eyes alight with a real smile. "Thank you! I'll make you the best hydroponics bay ever! You won't be disappointed!"
"I'm sure we won't," said Stadi.
"I can help," suggested Neelix. "I know a few things about cooking, I was the chef and morale officer on a Talaxian cruiser once."
"Sounds good to me," said Evek. "See if you can whip up a good stew, or whatever is popular in the Federation. It doesn't need to be perfect, just edible."
"Yes, Sir," Neelix agreed with a surprisingly crisp salute. "Pleasure to help, Sir!"
"Dismissed," said Evek. The Talaxian and Ocampa left, Kes excitedly telling Neelix about her ideas for the hydroponics bay.
"That's food done," said Stadi. "We'll need information, though."
Abruptly Evek's comlink chimed. "Yes?"
"Gul Evek?" came Gil Kalar's voice. "I have a wormhole on sensors, ten klicks out… hang on, something just came out! It's a starship, unknown configuration!"
"Sound red alert! I'm on my way," said Evek, the officers standing and moving for the exit.
Unexplored space, universe designate 2. Tr'akh'ss standard date Fifth Extended Day, standard year, 8462.
"On viewer," said jir ni zaran Nivat.
"Two unidentified ships, jir," said jaranat Nik'tu. "Origin and configuration unknown."
"To be expected, given where we are. Try to establish communications."
"Yes, zaan. Tanit, hail those ships on all frequencies...try lightspeed coms, too. They don't look terribly advanced, but there is some energy field that I can't identify…"
"Coms link open," reported a slim, mottled-scaled jian Ha'ni at the coms station. "Subspace coms active."
"Greetings, unidentified species," said jir Nivat in homeworld-accented Ha'ni. "I am jir ni zaran Ar'tana Nivat, zaan of the Ha'ni scout vessel Naarat. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
An oddly-shaped alien, with pinkish-gray scales and a curved scale, possibly a crest, on her forehead, appeared on the viewscreen. It said something, but Nivat couldn't understand it.
"Translation algorithms adjusting," reported the tanit at coms. "Try again, zaan."
"I say again, I am jir ni zaran Ar'tana Nivat, zaan of the Ha'ni scout vessel Naarat. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
"Ah, good," said the alien woman. "Universal translators are working. Greetings, jir ni zaran Nivat-I do hope that I pronounced that correctly. I am Gul Aman Evek, Cardassian Fourth Order. Are you familiar with this region of space? We are willing to trade for information."
"We are explorers, Gul Evek," said Nivat, her vocal cords struggling around the alien words. "This universe was suggested by the zhir'iae for possible colonization; my mission is to explore and map this sector for the Ha'ni zhirat. Are you in need of assistance?"
"Yes. We are about fifty years of travel from home at standard faster-than-light cruising velocities, and we were just discussing the need for information on this sector."
"I see. We would be willing to trade information and maps of this sector, although we are not in particular need of any supplies. May I wormjump over to your ship?"
"Of course. Sending transporter coordinates now. Gil Ocett! I need four men to the bridge, now. Standard security gear, we have a guest and I do not want to upset—" Evek said a word that the computer didn't translate.
"Coordinates received," said the tanit. "They do not appear to have any wormjump facilitators on board, though."
"That is unusual," said Nik'tu. "Jir, will you need a security detail?"
"Send tanit Akh'Sat and Kirana Ta'Kat to the crew deck facilitator. I will meet them there. And someone keep zir Ta'kat occupied while I'm gone!"
"Ja'cha, zaan," chirped the jaranat as the titanic jin grabbed her ceremonial rank baldric from her command stool and moved for the ladder to the lower decks.
Stadi was already in the transporter room when Evek trotted up.
"All right," said the Gul. "Let's see who we're dealing with."
On the transporter pad, the air rippled, seeming to invert upon itself… and a massive alien stepped out.
Jir Nivat was a eight-foot-tall bipedal creature, vaguely similar to a Terran Komodo lizard, broad-shouldered and muscular with a powerful, scaled tail rippling behind his or her mottled black body. The alien wore an embroidered baldric, a utilitarian loincloth, and little else. Evek saluted; the Ha'ni made what might have been a bow in response.
Behind the Ha'ni, space rippled twice more, and two more massive reptiles stepped out.
"Greetings," said Gul Evek. "I am pleased to meet you in person. This is Captain Veronica Stadi of the Federation starship Voyager, my deputy security chief Gil Ocett, and three of my security men. May I have the honor of escorting you to the conference room?"
"It would be my honor," said Nivat, voice deep and gravelly. "May I introduce tanit S'a'tak Akh'Sat, my chief of security, and itan Kirana Ta'Kat, one of my security officers. I would have brought my science chief, but it would of course have been highly impolite of me to subject you to the passion of a Ta'kat-broodline zin. I've always been something of a scientifically-minded woman, so I should be able to understand whatever is necessary, despite my caste."
"I… see," said Gul Evek. "I apologize, but we are not familiar with your species."
"Neither are we with yours," said Nivat. "I hope that we will be able to reach a tactically advantageous agreement, despite this."
"This way, please," said Stadi courteously, the massive lizards following with a rolling, ambling gait. They had to bend down to get through the doorways.
"Have you no jin on this ship?" asked Nivat.
"If jin means people like you, then no," said Evek. "My tallest man is barely three-quarters of your height."
"What does that word mean?" asked Nivat.
"Which one?"
"Man," she said in a decent approximation of Cardassian, her alien vocal tract struggling around the word.
"Uh… it indicates a male, the biological sex that does not carry offspring."
"What…" said Nivat, mystified. "Like an animal?"
"Excuse me?"
"My apologies, our universe has no sentient species, besides the Ha'ni and the long-extinct Adversaries—a powerful and arrogant race from early in our history that tried and failed to enslave us. Where we are from, there are only women, who lay eggs; the concept of a sex other than woman… it is something only found in nonsentient creatures."
"Well," said Evek slowly, processing this information. "This universe is rather different. Here, I can think of only four single-sex sentient species out of dozens or more, and of that number, two are hermaphrodites, one is a form of sentient amoeboid creature that reproduces by budding, and one species is genetically-engineered with only one gender. Most species here have two sexes, female like Captain Stadi and Gil Ocett here, and male like me and my security men."
"The mammalian is a woman, but you are a second gender?" Nivat seemed interested, but all three Ha'ni were clearly taken aback.
"Yes," Evek replied. "Here is the conference room."
"Thank you," said Nivat, manners acting over confusion. "This is… a most confusing revelation."
"Trust me," chuckled Evek, "I know what you mean. My ship was plucked halfway across the galaxy in an instant by an arrogant alien that proceeded to use my men for medical experiments and tried to keep two of them as breeding stock. Then we encountered a species known as the Kazon, who are not only astoundingly incompetent and unintelligent, but treat women as property of low value on top of that."
The Ha'ni hissed, Nivat starting backwards.
"They what? They practice slavery? How disgusting! What sort of primitive kaz-kanizhki could be so uncivilized?"
"The Kazon, apparently," remarked Stadi. "Our guide says that they are something of a power in this part of space; we want to avoid them, because they may be idiots but they still outnumber us several hundred thousand to two."
"I see," Nivat replied, settling somewhat. "Well. You seem to be decent, civilized people; I am willing to share our maps of this region of space with you."
"Thank you," said Gul Evek. "I am not sure what we could give you in trade…"
"Honestly, anywhere out-of-the-way that has interesting ancient ruins or unusual geology," said Nivat. "Just give us the coordinates and we'll explore it, and try to be unobtrusive. I've always been something of an archaeology woman myself, and the public back home loves that stuff; diversity like non-Ha'ni have is weird but entertaining."
"Diversity?" asked Evek.
"Yes," said Nivat. "It may be hard to explain… In a Ha'ni broodline, all members of a particular caste of that broodline will look basically identical. Closely-related broodlines are very similar, too. To us...there is not this broad spectrum of diversity, these shapes and colors that vary with no breaks; there is the spectrum of broodlines, each individually distinct, and the three castes, each distinct with no overlap. The public...to them, and, I must confess, to me, it is interesting, sort of oddly fascinating, that species with very little in the way of distinct castes can have such internal diversity. The public, myself included, finds the sheer variety of shapes portrayed in their art and visible from other species' skeletons to be fascinating. Only one caste, but such variety within that caste, none of it discrete enough to be broodline-based...it is most exciting. I love to explore the ruins of mammalian cultures, and the public eats it up; I might even get funding for a full expedition."
"Well," said Stadi, "that sounds not unlike the Federation. Exploration is in Starfleet's founding writ, after all."
"Sounds like an organization after my own heart," hissed Nivat with a toothy maybe-smile.
"Well," said Evek, "The Cardassian Union is more than happy to give your species access and first-claim rights to this sector, in exchange for maps of the area."
Nivat leaned back against the wall, tail idly scratching her ankle. "Would I be correct in assuming that the Cardassian Union has no power here?"
"Beyond my ship? Honestly, you are correct."
Nivat and her guards made a strangled hissing sound that was probably a laugh. "I like you," she probably-chuckled. "You are an amusing second gender, and I would certainly not mind meeting you again."
Evek smiled in return, leaning back in his chair. "I do try. Cardassia thanks you, jir Nivat."
"It is my pleasure, zaan'iae," said the reptile, bowing to Stadi and Evek. "Nivat to Naarat!"
"Nik'tu here, zaan."
"Start transmitting these mammalians the maps we have of this galaxy so far. And prepare to receive data on the Kazon species from them."
"Ja'cha, zaan."
"Thank you, jir Nivat," said Stadi. "We will transmit data on the Federation and its more notable member species, as well. If you will excuse me, I need to return to my ship; I have a counseling-training session to attend."
"Of course," said Nivat.
Red alert sirens blared. "Kalar to Evek!" came from the Gul's combadge.
"Evek here! Report!"
"Kazon starships, my Gul! Four carrier-class capitals, and about thirty raiders, coming in at warp 7! Recalling the shuttles now!"
"Stadi to Voyager! Beam me directly to the Bridge! Sound red alert, all hands to battle stations!"
"What…" hissed Nivat, clearly shocked as Stadi vanished in blue light. "Without a wormjump facilitator...never mind. Nivat to Naarat, engage and destroy the Kazon! I will assist from this vessel!"
"Ja'cha, zaan! Tanit, full power to weapons! Activate wormjump interdiction!"
"Follow me to the Bridge," said Evek brusquely. "I will show you Cardassian strategy first-hand. You are in for a treat today."
"Hail the lead ship!" barked Stadi as she claimed her Captain's chair with a salute to Tuvok.
"On screen, sir!"
"Kazon vessel, this is Captain Veronica Stadi of the Federation starship Voyager. Break off your attack and we will allow you to leave this area in peace."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed a rather usually ugly Kazon with particularly large hair. "The woman thinks it commands a ship! Ha, ha, ha! I can't believe the Ogla lost to these fools! I am Maje Jal Hozak of the Kazon-Relora! You will all be my slaves! Ha, ha, ha!"
"Kazon ship will be in weapons range in thirty seconds," said Kim. "Ha'ni vessel is moving to intercept—and given the scans Crewman Celes has gotten of their weapons, one shot from those guns should take out a Kazon capital."
"Maje Hozak, I am willing to overlook your insults if you break off your attack at once." Stadi's voice was cold and firm.
"Ha, ha, ha!" sniggered the Kazon. "You dishonor your ship by sitting in your master's seat! Kill th—"
"Connection lost, sir!" said Celes.
"Wow," said Lieutenant Kim with a whistle, looking at his console, then at the expanding debris field on the viewscreen, then at his console. "The Ha'ni ship shot one of their energy weapons—some sort of pulse-firing asynchronous phaser cannon—and holed that Kazon ship right down the middle. That… wow, I'm glad we're on their side!"
"Evek to Voyager," crackled over Stadi's combadge. "We are moving to cover the Ha'ni ship. Not that it looks like they need it."
"Paris, synch us with the Vetar's TacNet. Move into over-under formation, recall all crew on EV duty by transporter if necessary, and power up the phasers!"
Another Kazon capital burned. Stadi looked to her console, and Harry's scans of the Ha'ni ship. Engine pod, engineering room, crew decks, mess hall—weapons schematics. Two forward-mounted pulse cannons, really all that an agile ship like that normally needed, but the firing range was quite small—the raiders might be able to flank it…
"Harry, what kind of defenses does that Ha'ni ship have?"
"Some sort of hull plating that I don't recognize instead of shields, sir. Whatever it is, the Kazon weapons are having no effect at all besides temporarily heating the points of contact by a few dozen Kelvin."
"Wait, they have no shields?"
"No, they… oh."
"Exactly. Neelix said that the Kazon like to try boarding raids. We have to warn them—Stadi to Evek!"
"Evek here! We just got a hail from the Ha'ni ship! Kazon have beamed off of those raiders and onto the Ha'ni ship's crew decks!"
"Stadi to Ayala! Get four of your best men and get to the transporter room, we're beaming you over to the Ha'ni ship!"
"Filthy kaz-kanizhki!" spat jir ni zaran Nivat. "Filthy, uncivilized, arrogant brutes think they can just take my ship… Gul Evek, I request usage of your superior wormjump technology to return me and my jin to my ship. We will crush the kaz-kanizhki filth!"
"Oh, you can have more than that. Gil Ocett! Take your squad and assist jir Nivat and her forces! We will destroy the Kazon in space. For Cardassia!"
The Gil and her three squad members saluted crisply, and Ocett motioned to the Ha'ni officers to stand by her.
"Ocett to transporter room, seven to beam to the Ha'ni ship."
Nivat felt a strange buzz across her skin as the alien wormjump activated, and then she, her two jin, the four aliens, and five armed mammalians in rank garments similar to Stadi's were on her ship. Most likely the mammalian equivalent of jin.
"Excellent," hissed Nivat. "We are near the main engineering room. You, mammalian jin! Retake control of Engineering with your squad. I will take my escorts and these aliens to support the rest of my crew on the command and crew decks. Fight well!"
Nivat saluted the mammalians, and turned towards the crew decks.
Mother below, it was good to be back on her ship. The aliens had been very polite, but their ship had been brighter than she was comfortable with, and very cold on top of that. She had had to focus to stop herself from stamping her feet during the diplomatic meeting.
"Gil Ocett," Nivat snarled, the alien words tickling her vocal cords. "Take tanit Akh'Sat and one of your jin-equivalents. I will take the rest with jin Ta'Kat. I will head for the Bridge while you focus on the laboratories. Fight well!"
"Fight well, jir Nivat. You, with me. For Cardassia!"
The Ha'ni ship was oppressively hot, even to Ocett. Cardassians generally preferred warmer temperatures than Humans, but the dark, almost stifling heat of the Ha'ni ship was uncomfortable at best.
Cardassians had evolved from surface-dwelling desert lizards, the kind that spent most of their days sunning themselves on rocks and roaming over the sands in search of burrowing prey. The Ha'ni, apparently, were burrowers; their corridors were even vaguely circular, probably for the crew's comfort.
The looming Akh'Sat, all of nine feet tall and something like two hundred kilos at least, broke into a lurching, almost bounding gait at the sound of weapons fire and shouting ahead. Ocett motioned to her squadmate, Getan, to follow, and broke into a trot.
The corridor ahead was much brighter; there was a well-lit laboratory or something off to the—
Something spoke in Ha'ni, and Akh'Sat came to a screeching halt, grabbed both Cardassians, and forced them to the ground with incredible strength before they could react.
"Stay down!" she hissed with what Ocett could only describe as an urgent tone.
There was a sudden roaring explosion, a couple of screams that might've been Kazon, and a giant tongue of flame roared out and flashed over the wall opposite the open doorway.
"What the hell?" wheezed Ocett.
"My apologies," said Akh'Sat, standing and helping the Cardassians to their feet. "This is Ta'kat's laboratory. She is zin. Are either of you injured?"
"Just my pride," muttered Ocett. "What the hell was that explosion?"
"EAT FLAMING DEATH, VEL-KAZ-KANIZHKI WHO MATE WITH THE UNCLEAN!"
The speaker was a greenish, downright scrawny Ha'ni, five feet tall at the most, with a short, thin tail not even as long as her legs, a large head, and a massive weapon of some sort half-dragging from one hand.
"Ta'kat," said Akh'Sat with what could best be described as a sigh. "Put down the death ray."
"How do I know those things behind you aren't more stinking mammalians?"
"Because they're with me and they're not shooting me in the back. Now put down the death ray and secure yourself in your lab."
"All right, alright, I… ooh, shiny!"
The little Ha'ni dropped her weapon, which sparked alarmingly, and darted forwards, narrowly avoiding Akh'Sat's grab and tugging out Ocett's disruptor.
"Hey! That's not a toy!"
"Wow!" said Ta'kat. "It's so light! Let's see what kind of power output it can…"
Akh'Sat, with the air of one who had spent most of her adult life doing such things, grabbed Ta'kat, relieved her of the weapon, and carried her protesting form over to the lab.
"Stay," said Akh'Sat, tossing Ocett her weapon. "I mean it, or I will tell the jir."
Ta'kat tried what looked like the Ha'ni equivalent of pouting.
"I mean it," said Akh'Sat. "If you don't stay here, I will ensure that your death rays are taken away for an entire week."
"All right…" muttered Ta'kat. "I'll work on the star maps or something…"
As they moved off, Ocett trotted up beside Akh'Sat. "Are you sure that we can just leave her there?"
"Yes," Akh'Sat confirmed with a toothy grin. "S'lin Ta'kat is zin-caste. They are… immature. Brilliant, excellent scientists of all disciplines, but...immature. Most have a fascination with highly explosive weapons. The best way to threaten them is to take away what they love most—their shiny, explosive 'toys'."
"They serve regularly on your ships?"
"Of course. Their weapons are extremely effective, as the charred remains of those kaz-kanizhki back there can attest, and over ninety percent of our technological advancements have come from zin. Including wormdrive, wormjump tech, and our ship's weapons."
"Wow," said Ocett. "So your society is built around having a decent portion of the population being insane scientists from some Terran holo?"
"I believe that you are correct, yes," said Akh'Sat, reaching around a corner, grabbing a Kazon that had been trying to hide there, and snapping his neck with one massive paw. "There is another squad down this corridor, weapons hot."
Ocett was starting to really like the Ha'ni.
"Ha, ha, ha!" snorted a large, ugly Kazon as his three goons pointed some sort of primitive phaser weapons at the five Ha'ni engineers. From what Lieutenant Ayala could tell, these Ha'ni were around Human-sized, five-foot-ten or so with three-foot tails. They had smaller jaws and less outsized musculatures than Nivat and her warriors; probably civilians.
"We're gonna be rewarded for stealing a ship like this!" laughed the ugly Kazon again. "Keep them against that wall!"
Ayala pulled back, and motioned to his men—two ex-Maquis and two Starfleet security. He motioned out the Kazon's numbers and positions; two men to shoot the goons on the left, one to take the goon on the right, one to watch their backs, and Ayala himself would take the ugly one.
"Hey, you!" said the ugly Kazon. "Get over here and turn off the power, and I may just let you live instead of using your skin for a cape!"
"How about I use yours?" said Ayala, leaping down into the Ha'ni engineering chamber, the Kazon turning with identical expressions of stunned, gaping stupidity.
That line needed some serious work.
Four shots fired, and the Kazon dropped.
"You alright?" Ayala asked the most senior-looking Ha'ni.
"We are," she said with a brisk nod. "Impressive. Your species uses jian in jin roles?"
"What?" said Ayala.
"You are jian, or the equivalent, yes? You're about my size and bulk—"
"Oh! Uh, jin are like Nivat, yes?"
"Like jir Nivat, I assume you mean, not like tanit Nivat here… yes, that is correct."
"Right. Well, our species… we don't have giant warriors like that. There's just people, all about the same size and shape."
"Strange," said the Ha'ni, typing something in to a console. "With no jin to fight or zin to advance technology… you must be a nation of bureaucrats and artists!"
Ayala chuckled. "It often seems that way, especially on the core worlds."
"I like you," said the Ha'ni with a ghastly, toothy grin. "You have a good sense of humor. Tanit, check the power conduits, those idiotic kaz-kanizhki might've damaged them."
"Keep our shields over them," snapped Stadi, Voyager keeping pace with the Ha'ni vessel as the frigate spun like a kestrel, spitting fire that obliterated the Kazon ships on contact. "Nik'tu, one last capital coming in in three seconds."
"We see it," hissed the Ha'ni XO over coms. "Raiders are down, boarding parties are under control—zaan in the command chamber!"
"Stadi, this is Nivat," said the Ha'ni commander. "We have regained full command of the Naarat. Your jin have by all accounts fought like Ha'ni. The Kazon have been extinguished. Nik'tu, good job here."
"Jir Nivat, we're covering you with our shields; that should keep the Kazon out. One last capital in weapons range, firing phasers…"
"We have it. Open fire."
The frigate's lances pulsed again, and the Kazon carrier was speared by light and heat, detonating instantly.
"No more Kazon contacts on sensors," reported Celes Tal from the sensor station.
"Good," said Stadi. "Drop red alert. Jir Nivat, thank you for your assistance."
"And thank you for yours, zaan Stadi. Gul Evek, thank you for your aid."
"You're welcome," said the Cardassian, his warship slipping up alongside Voyager's right flank. "Let's get our people back to their proper ships and finalize this trade, shall we?"
"Thank you for the maps," said Gul Evek some thirty minutes later. "I don't suppose that you would mind sharing the weapons, stardrive, and hull materials that you use?"
"Unfortunately," hissed Nivat, "our government has rules against that. Technology trades with species that are drastically different technologically… the zhir'aata must sign off on such things personally. As much as I would like to trade for your tactical faster-than-light technology or your energy field technology, I do not have the authority to do so."
"Damn," said Evek. "Another Prime Directive—or something like it, anyway. Stadi, your Federation's setting a bad example!"
"Jir Nivat," said Stadi slowly. "We already have deep penetration scans of your ship, and I presume that you have the same of our vessels. Might I suggest…"
"Well, scans are a whole different matter," said Nivat with the universal tone of someone who was very selectively interpreting the Rules. "I can't tell or show you how to build a wormdrive or kak'tan'Ak hull plating, but I can let you leave with the scans. I have some scans of your technology, after all, it would only be fair."
"And I of course can do nothing to keep Cardassia's secrets from you. Fighting you would be pointless, after all. And Cardassia has no Prime Directive, as well." Evek's voice had the very same political tone.
"While I am a Starfleet officer, and thus bound to the Prime Directive," mused Stadi. "We are in no situation to remove the scans from your computers or otherwise hinder your moving on."
"I see that even aliens and mammalians share some basic traits with Ha'ni," said Nivat. "Do you need any assistance with repairs?"
"Thank you for the offer," said Evek, "but we have everything under control."
"Same here," said Stadi. "Mr. Tuvok, you have the Bridge; I have a training session to get to. Farewell, jir Nivat. I hope to meet you again someday."
"Perhaps we shall," said Nivat. "We will likely send an official contact delegation to your species in a few cycles. Gul Evek, it was a pleasure."
"The pleasure was all mine," said Evek. "Farewell."
"Farewell," hissed Nivat. "Tanit, next survey point. Engage wormdrive."
A wormhole flared in space, the Ha'ni ship entered it, and it was gone as if it had never been.
"Post-traumatic stress," lectured the Lethean, striding back and forth. "Technically rather easy but very nasty if you don't catch it fast. It's relatively easy in terms of skill needed in the early stages, which makes it an ideal training disorder."
T'pai was sitting rather stiffly and taking short notes. Stadi herself was somewhat nervous, but excited to learn.
"Now, treatment. Couple different ways to do this. Most people, you just do a partial wipe, dull the emotional response, introduce some blocks to help them avoid thinking about it. It's dwelling on the trauma that really causes problems. Worst case I saw was two decades untreated, I had to use method number two.
"Method number two is what you use on highly emotional species like Romulans, Klingons, Vulcans although they won't admit it in public, as well as people who've had untreated trauma. With Vulcans it's really bad, because the emotional control can mask trauma until they snap, and when they snap… well, Commander T'pai, you probably know what I mean."
"I do," said T'pai mildly.
"Right. The thing about method number two is that it's basically traditional exposure therapy aided by a telepath. Basically acting as a guide and support while the patient confronts his or her trauma. It is absolutely, one thousand percent critical to remain in control of the link at all times during such a therapy session, even more so than usual; if you lose control, you will wind up doing more damage and wrecking your own brain for a couple of days on top of that. Basically, don't lose control of a link, and especially don't lose control during an exposure. I'm going to provide backup for you both, no questions asked, until I am absolutely confident in your ability to remain in control; this is for your safety as well as for medical ethics. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir," said both women simultaneously.
"Now. I have a patient, and you two are going to piggyback on my neural link. I'm going to show you the ropes, and if I like what I see I'll let you each take point in our next session. Clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Ora, you may come in now!"
The brunette woman entered hesitantly. Note the fear, Nirymer mind-sent. She's expecting one of us to just hurt her. But she's even more scared of being hurt for disobedience.
"Sit down here, dear, that's right," the Lethean said out loud, gently guiding the woman to a well-stuffed chair just off of the wall. "Just relax, we're here to help. T'pai, on my right shoulder, Stadi, on my left."
Nirymer kneeled to Ora's left, reaching across her body to gently grasp the sides of her head. Stay in a relatively non-threatening pose like this if possible. An abuse survivor is like a scared animal in some ways. Avoid anything that can be construed as a threat, even if it's really inconvenient. Now. Link up with me… good. Enter in three… two… one…
Light. A blur. Flash after flash of images like a strobe…
Careful! Don't get lost in the stream! Getting lost in a subconscious is bad for your health.
We are following, sent T'pai. Stadi focused on not letting too much of herself drift into the link.
Here's a tough spot, sent Nirymer, the glittering, translucent forms of the three minds hovering before a projection of an old Terran drive-in movie theater. The memory's going to be up on that projection, and it's not going to be pretty.
We are ready," said T'pai.
There was a flash, and for what seemed like hours but was really only five minutes they saw horror.
Target the emotional responses like so, said Nirymer after what seemed like a quarter-hour but was really seconds. Emotions are the dangerous part, do a broad-spectrum emotional dampener. This kind of treatment will eventually be corrected by the brain, but it will last for years under normal circumstances. Reinforcement just helps.
A minute or so of real time in, Nirymer's mental projection was fiddling with the projection-wires of the projection-theater. This is actively degrading the memory. Essentially speeding up the natural process of forgetting. I'll show you how to delete eidetic memories later.
Is it safe? asked Stadi.
It requires finesse, sent Nirymer distractedly, focusing on his work. If you'll look, you'll see that the images are getting blurry and choppy. That is intentional. If this works, the memory will be too vague for the patient to dwell on it; the more vivid the memory, the more the patient relives her trauma. Vicious circle.
What seemed like almost three hours in, Nirymer's projection sprouted an oversized, ethereal fire extinguisher and began spraying the area. General dampener of negative emotions. We've already sabotaged the emotional response and cracked into the memory itself, now we just dampen the negative emotions, keep her trauma numb for a while. This should keep her in good mental shape for about three days even if the previous steps failed. The purpose is to tip the balance in favor of positive emotions; joy, comfort, belonging, security. Do you feel the principle?
Yes, sir, sent Stadi.
Then try it yourself.
Both women's projections materialized emotional fire extinguishers of their own, and doused the vicinity.
That's good, sent the Lethean. Not too much, she'll be too numb if you go too far. There, yeah, focus low. In the projection world, negative emotions cluster at the "bottom".
Is this procedure correct? sent T'pai.
Yeah, looks good, said the Lethean. Actually… I think this is good. Not much more we can do here right now—you have to let the emotions settle, the brain and personality acclimatize. You two ready?
Yes, sir, sent the women.
All right, out in three… two… one…
Strobe. Blur. White. And they were themselves again, blinking at the return to normalcy, sore muscles twinging as they began to move again.
"Aaaand, breaking the link," said Nirymer, and Stadi was just Stadi again. "All right, darling. Are you feeling alright?"
Ora allowed him to help her up. "I… yes. I think I am, sir…"
"Hey, don't 'sir' me. I'm your therapist, not your attending. Let me see that smile."
The woman smiled, somewhat weakly.
"That's beautiful. You're doing so well! I'm proud of you, such a good patient."
"Thank you, sir."
"Ah-ah, no 'sir', please. To you, I'm just Nirymer. Or Mister Nirymer if you like. Now, if memory serves, you are off to the gardening holoprogram with miss Kes, now, aren't you?"
The woman nodded.
"All right, off you go, then." The man led the woman over to the door as T'pai and Stadi stretched out kinks in their necks. "Ensign, thank you. Please escort this woman to the holodeck where they're practicing hydroponics techniques."
"Well," said Stadi to T'pai. "That was informative."
"It was quite illuminating, yes," T'pai agreed. "I must return to Sickbay. I have records to do with the Lieutenant whose name is to be determined."
"And I should get back to the bridge. We'll talk later?"
"That would be agreeable."
"Sir?" asked Daran Taril hesitantly from the door to Gul Evek's ready room, the black-haired Romulan woman lurking behind.
"Come in," said the Gul, closing the picture of his wife and children and shutting his desktop PADD. "What do you need?"
"It's for myself and t'Aimne, sir. We want to join the Vetar's crew full time, if that's possible."
"Ah. I'd been hoping that you'd say that. Standard policy is somewhat divided on this matter, but frankly, we're seventy thousand-odd light years away from standard policy. I would like to know, though, why you are interested in joining the Guard full-time."
"Purpose, leih," said t'Aimne. "We need a purpose."
"And this ship has it," said Taril. "I was a zero when you found me, sir; just me and my wife on a freighter. If you hadn't shown up with the Vetar those Orion slavers would've killed us and nobody would've cared."
"Perhaps," said Evek mildly. "To be fair, though, I am certain that the slaves whom you rescued were quite happy that you took offense to the Orions' deeds, liberated their 'cargo', reneged on your smuggling deal and made a run for it at warp 8."
"Fat lot of good that would've done them if you hadn't blown the Orions out of space, sir. But my point is...before this job, I was nobody. Just living job-to-job, smuggling contraband, trying to stay out of the way of patrols. Now? I've got a purpose, a reason to exist. I have a wife back home to get back to, hundreds of people who depend on me, and a commander whom I do not want to disappoint. It's… it's a good feeling, sir."
"I can understand that," said Evek. "What about you, t'Aimne?"
"Something similar," said the Romulan. "On the Vermithrax I had a purpose, a reason to live. When the monster took us and left us for the Kazon… I lost it. I tried to motivate myself to be strong for the other prisoners, but… the Kazon are idiots and incompetents, but they are brutal. Horrible. I… I'm ashamed to say that before you showed up and killed them… I'd given up. You and your crew, and Captain Stadi and hers, you gave me a reason to care again."
"I see," said Evek. "Well, report to your stations and I'm sure that my successor can justify it all to Command in fifty years. Man your posts to the last, for Cardassia."
"What's this about, Ayala?" asked Torres as the Maquis got settled on the holodeck.
"Are we going to try to take the ship?" asked Suder.
"Fuck no!" snapped Ayala. "We're damn lucky that Stadi and Tuvok didn't just hand us over to the Cardassians and call it a day. They probably would've gotten away with it, too, given the situation. No, I'm here to tell all of you to be on your best behavior, period."
"And why the hell should we do that?" snarled Torres.
"Because, let's face it, that bomb that we set on Tara IV? Killed children. Doesn't matter that they were Cardassian—they didn't participate in the Occupation, they didn't kill Bajoran rebels or oppress people. You and Seska and Suder and me, we did something awful, and we need to accept our punishment."
"You're saying this, Ayala? You, who hate Cardassians more than anything?" asked Seska, one of the Bajorans.
"Yeah. I'm saying this. I'm saying that the governor of Tara IV was not worth fifteen innocent lives. I'm saying that because Torres and Suder and I fucked up, people who never oppressed or killed a Bajoran in their lives got killed painfully. I deserve fifteen years in medium-security for that, minimum. Hell, we've all killed people who may or may not have really been as evil as we told ourselves. Suder… that reminds me, Suder, I made you an appointment with Evek's counselor for tomorrow morning at 1000 hours, and I want you to keep it. Anyway. My point is, Gul Evek had a legitimate grievance against us, and could very easily have fought to punish us the Cardassian way. But he didn't; he let us get Federation justice, which for all the Federation's slow and witless about defending people like the Bajorans is a lot better than Cardassian justice. So I'm telling you here and now, we're damn lucky to work off this sentence, and whether you agree with me that we deserve it or not, I will personally come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who jeopardizes our position. Am I clear?"
Seska, Jonas, and Torres did not respond at first, so Ayala eyeballed them until even Torres dropped her head and muttered "Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, back to work, and remember to take advantage of some of the benefits of being nominally-Starfleet. Like holodecks and replicators that have more than three patterns on them."
Personal log, Gul Aman Evek, Cardassian Fourth Order.
Lycoris.
Well. This has certainly been a day to remember.
We have a plan for our personnel and supply problems. Captain Stadi and Commander Tuvok have been most efficient. With luck, we will only need to refuel and resupply half as often as we would under standard procedures.
We encountered a species called the Ha'ni, a highly advanced reptilian race from another universe. They were quite pleasant, much like the Federation although considerably more efficient. We were accosted by the Kazon, who managed about two sentences before being blown out of space. We parted with the Ha'ni on good terms, and the leader of their exploration mission stated that they would return within two or three decades. We have given them the coordinates of Earth and Cardassia Prime in case they wish to start a longer-term diplomatic relationship at that time.
Neelix has explained the makeup and approximate space of the Kazon. Apparently they are a tribal culture, divided into several feuding sects. Honestly, I tuned him out about halfway through, because they all sounded the same—vicious, incompetent pirates. Except for the Kazon-Nistrim, who are apparently vicious even for Kazon and occasionally show signs of intelligence such as using sensor masking. We will have to watch out for them.
Daran Taril has officially joined the Guard. Yes, I know, political hassle… but I am fifty years from regulations, and he's a good, capable man. And while I have yet to see the Romulan, t'Aimne, in action, I suspect granting her a field commission will pay dividends as well. If Jagul Macet or Jagul Broca wants to pick a fight about that, you know where I will tell them to stuff it. Cardassia needs talent, not petty racism.
I hope that our children are healthy, and are serving Cardassia well.
I love you.
Your husband,
Aman Evek.
Captain's log, stardate 48328.54. We have repaired the minimal damage sustained during the battle with the Kazon, and parted on amicable terms with the Ha'ni. We have a decent set of star charts, which should help us evade the more dangerous anomalies and find beneficial ones to speed our journey home. Ballard has teams working with the Cardassians to recreate the Ha'ni technology from the scans we got, but it's going very slowly at best.
My training in telepathic therapy and combat is going quite well. Neelix and Kes have, with assistance from the engineering crew, set up hydroponics bays and mess halls on both Voyager and Vetar. We are working on training what few crew we can spare, and the dozen or so women who we rescued from the Kazon, to work as cooks and farmers. Neelix says that with four helpers he can keep Voyager's crew fed three meals a day as long as we use a limited buffet style instead of made-to-order food. And the shuttles have us loaded up with deuterium and replicator mass, so—
[recording paused due to inactivity]
That was Mr. Tuvok. We have a course that will get us to a small agri-colony where we can pick up additional supplies, with a minimum of potential hassle. Easy jaunt, six days at warp 8. We break orbit in two hours.
End log.