"I don't suppose any of your godlike powers can stop a volcano?" Chakotay asked softly.
"If I could, I would," Kathryn hissed back at him.
Suddenly, they heard screams ahead of them. Chakotay broke into a run immediately, the others following suit. A group of the aliens were also fleeing the lava flows but one of them had become trapped on a rock, the lava rising higher around her. Without hesitation, Chakotay leaped to her aid, jumping over the lava, picking her up, and carrying her to the safety of her people.
The leader of the aliens looked at Chakotay with a newfound respect. "Tal kanakh!" he said, gesturing for them to follow him and his people.
They followed the natives until they stopped high up a rocky slope far above the lava flow. The aliens milled around, muttering under the breath and eyeing the Starfleet people suspiciously. The one Kathryn presumed to be the leader came up to Chakotay and clapped a hand on his arm. A friendly gesture, she guessed. Probably a 'thank you'. She approached them cautiously.
The alien leader watched her approach, then reached out and grasped her arm possessively. He muttered something and gestured from her to his people behind him.
"No," Kathryn said. She grabbed his hand tightly and closed her eyes.
His mind was easy to penetrate. His language center was very simple, and his language primitive. In a matter of seconds she had learned all there was to learn from him, but now she wanted to give. She began to impart to him a few words and phrases, along with images and emotions related to their meanings. Quickly, however, she felt his mind begin to become overwhelmed and she ceased her telepathic exchange.
When she opened her eyes, he was staring at her. "You…" he said slowly, "friend. You…Fyagha." He said a word she recognized as being what they called their deity.
"Not quite," she said. "I… calghra." 'Leader', she knew.
"Calghra?!" He was shocked. He looked to Chakotay then back to her and muttered something she didn't catch.
"You speak their language now?" Chakotay asked.
"How's that for a goddess of knowledge?" she grinned.
The alien retreated to the rest of his people and began to speak in hushed tones. She hoped she had managed to convey that they meant them no harm.
Suddenly, a deafening roar sounded from somewhere nearby. The rocks around them began to tremble and so did the aliens huddled nearby.
"Axahi!" one of them screeched. 'Monster'.
Around the corner of the rocks slid the giant monster that dwelled in the caves. Clearly the lava had driven it out of its home and now it was looking to vent its anger.
The aliens all made a run for it, but the monster was faster. It snaked its neck out and snatched up one of them, shaking them in its mouth before tossing them off the side of the cliff into the lava below. Then it turned and roared at everyone else. The aliens shrank back, terrified.
"We're dead," Kathryn heard someone behind her say.
"No, we're not." She spun around to face them. "We didn't come all this way and survive this much just to become that thing's lunch! We outnumber that beast a hundred to one! If we all work together, we can drive it back to the hellhole it crawled out of."
The beast roared again, but Kathryn payed it no mind. She began to walk down the line, meeting the gaze of each person in turn. "They thought we couldn't survive without our technology, but they don't realize it's not fucking tricorders and phasers that make us strong. We work together, and we don't back down. We don't break under pressure. And we sure as hell don't give in to one scrawny little monster."
She snatched a spear out of someone's hand and turned to face the beast. "We're not running! We'll drive it back and stand our ground." She lifted the spear aloft and it began to glow with golden light. "Even if we die, we die defending each other, and that makes it an honourable death."
The aliens watched her curiously, not understanding a word she said. But their leader recognized her intentions and picked up his own spear. He yelled out a word in his native tongue and all his followers shouted it too. They began to rush at the giant creature.
"If we die, we die together," Janeway turned to face her crew again. "And if we win, we'll sing of this for years to come!"
