Incorporeal Nightmare (Part 2)
A Voyager fanfic written by Lt 17 Taya Janeway
A Voyager fanfic brought to you by TaTTooGaL aka fROzen Lt. 17 of 26 (MERSTS)
The corridors leading towards ship's stores were deserted. It was so quiet you could drop a pin and hear it echo. Torres walked slowly, taking deep, shaky breaths. This is irrational, she chided herself. Besides, Paris was with her- there wasn't anything to be afraid of, was there?
The ship's store on Voyager was small, and meant to be small, for in the Alpha Quadrant the ship was meant for exploration and not war, and thus only kept a stockpile of scientific instruments and very little weapons. In the Delta Quadrant, it was even doubly empty, due to the lack of replicator resources. Thus it was into this small empty room which Torres stepped into with a noticeable amount of trepidation. This is totally ridiculous, she thought angrily. I am half a Klingon, and such unfounded delusions should not scare me! "Lieutenant Carey?" she asked into the cold emptiness. "If you're there, you had better have an explanation as to why you took so damn-"
Something thumped her solidly from the back.
Her blood seemed to chill and freeze. She turned and suddenly realized that Carey had just given her the explanation as to why he took so damn long.
Torres began to scream.
Janeway sat in her ready room, analyzing the data which had just been brought before her. She surveyed maps of the Lukas sector, deducing the regular trajectory of the anomalous nebula that the Marlok had called The Cloud. It had passed into sensor range several days ago, with nothing had turned up on their censors, simply because the nebula was impenetrable to all forms of scanning known and could only be identified through visual. However, by using records from the sixteen orbiting satellites in the Lukas system for the past eight months, Janeway had been able to plot the elliptical movement of the nebula.
She frowned and took another sip of her coffee. The regularity of the nebula's trajectory was disturbing, as if it was composed of a solid mass and not a swirl of superheated gaseous material that it was. The most interesting thing about it, however, was the large amount of electromagnetic radiation which was emanating from the nebula, apparently the result of excessive thermionic emission from deep within the heart of the nebula. This in itself was a very odd fact. Janeway rubbed her temples, thinking. What could the occurrences of these anomalies have to do with the Marlok's ancient lore of the Spirits within The Cloud?
The door chimed, interrupting her train of thought. 'Come," she said absently.
Chakotay stood in the door way, a strangely detached expression on his face. He crossed the room to her desk methodically and wordlessly slid a padd in front of her.
Janeway closed her eyes, refusing to acknowledge its presence before hearing what he had to say. "More bad news?" she asked in nervous exhaustion.
He nodded slowly. "Ensign Kenneth and Lieutenant Carey have been murdered." He spoke stiffly, emotionlessly, as if it were mere artifacts he was referring to instead of live human beings. "Ensign Kenny was found dead in his quarters with severe neck wounds after he was late in reporting for the last duty shift. Lt. Carey was killed while on duty. Lt. Torres had sent him on a errand to ship's store. When he had not returned fifteen minutes later, she went to investigate and found him hanging by the neck."
Janeway picked up the padd he had given her and scanned it. "Any other things?" she asked casually, trying hard to keep nonchalant voice and straight face to belie the emotional turmoil she felt inside.
Chakotay nodded. "The padd also includes the doctor's report on Ermans' death."
Janeway scrolled downwards and skimmed over the report. "A timed charge was planted within him, set to explode soon after he received the message on his padd…. God, how sadistic," she breathed.
"It should also be noted that the doctor found no traces of such a device during his last medical checkup a day ago," added Chakotay.
A thought struck Janeway. "If that is so, we may be able to track his movements throughout the past day and determine who may have planted the bomb." She tossed the padd on the table. " By correlating it with the movements of Carey and Kenny we may be able to narrow the list of suspects down to about ten or twenty people. Then we may begin the interrogation."
"Captain…" said Chakotay thoughtfully. "Could it be possible that one of our many guests could be responsible for this?"
Janeway threw him an odd look. "Unlikely. I suspect the person behind these murders has a fairly wide knowledge of the workings within our ship."
"Yes," countered Chakotay, "but why would any of the crewmembers onboard have any motive to kill these people?"
"Why would the Marlok?"
"It might be possible that there are certain fanatic activists among their people who would stoop to anything to prevent the formation of this alliance," he pointed out. "All it takes is one desperate man."
Janeway considered this carefully. Might her first officer have a point there…? "And by killing our people, they would incite us to terminate this alliance?"
"Precisely my point." Chakotay moved closer to Janeway and dropped his voice lower. 'Among all the crowds, it would make it hard to track them."
"Are you suggesting that we disallow the visitors on board our ship for the duration of the investigation?" asked Janeway disapprovingly.
"As a security measure, yes."
Janeway frowned at him. "And what does our Chief of Security say to that?"
"Tuvok?" Chakotay gave a surprised look. "I haven't spoken to him yet."
"I want his opinion," said Janeway. "Talk to him about it as soon as possible." As Chakotay turned to leave, Janeway called him back. "There's something very interesting going on with Ambassador Ha'agden's nebula," she said.
Puzzled, Chakotay backtracked and sat down. "What do you have?"
Janeway summarized what she had learnt so far to Chakotay. He perused the information, then frowned. "You're right. These readings seem to be rather anomalous. "
"What do you suggest as our next course of action?" asked Janeway.
Chakotay thought for a moment. "Our sensors can't penetrate it due to excessive EM radiation…. The most obvious course would be to send in an away team to collect a sample."
"Precisely what I was thinking of." Janeway tapped a few controls on her desk, calling up the schematics of the Delta Flyer. " We can modify the Delta Flyer's instrument array to include a ramscoop to collect the gaseous material for further study."
Chakotay nodded. "I'll get Engineering started on it right away."
Janeway's commbadge sounded. "Bridge to Janeway."
Janeway tapped it in response. 'Janeway here."
"Captain," said Tuvok's voice. "An ambassador from the Lukas IV planet is seeking and audience with you."
"An ambassador from the Lukas planet?" asked Janeway in surprise. "It is not Ambassador Ha'agden, I presume?"
"No," replied Tuvok, and his voice sounded remarkably worried for a Vulcan. "She claims she is Salissaj, the high Emissary for the Vorlok people of Lukas IV."
"The Vorlok?" asked Janeway. "Ambassador Ha'agden never mentioned anything about them…"
"Then perhaps you would like to come to the bridge to address the Emissary herself," suggested Tuvok.
"I'll be right there, Janeway out."
The bridge was abuzz with activity as Janeway stepped onto the bridge. "Captain on bridge!" announced Ensign Kim, and immediately the bridge quieted.
Janeway nodded. "Onscreen."
The figure of the hulking Emissary filled the viewscreen. This new entity, noticed Janeway, was decidedly female, with darker, spotted skin and more pronounced eyeridges. Her eyes were an odd shade of scarlet as compared to Ha'agden's off-white. "Greetings, Janeway of Starfleet," she warbled in a saccharine-sweet voice.
"Greetings, Emissary," replied Janeway, noting Salissaj's lack of pomp or tradition. "What brings you here?"
"It has recently come to our attention that you are attempting to forge an alliance with our brother race, the Marlok." She hissed the last word, as if it was the vilest thing she'd ever said. "We come to warn you against it."
"Against it?" asked Janeway, the world slowing down around her. Deep in her gut, something told her that if there were any answers to the murders, it lay here between the - what? Apparent conflict between the Marlok and the Vorlok?
Salissaj nodded. "The Marlok are a treacherous race, Janeway of Starfleet." She moved closer to the viewscreen, her figure looming larger over them, like a doomsaying prophet. "Years ago we cast out our criminal caste to the outer lands, here." She stepped to one side of the viewscreen and gestured, bringing up a overview of the inhabited area of Lukas IV. With grand gestures, she proceeded to describe the decade-long war which had driven the Marlok out of the territory. "The name 'Marlok' means 'blight' ," she explained, "They used biological weapons on us, but our technology prevailed and we took away some of their most vital technologies. But it would seem that their biotechnology skills have since regenerated."
Janeway frowned. 'Perhaps you would like to come on board to discuss this,"
Salissaj shook her head slowly, with a tinge of sadness. "We came only to warn, not to interfere. That is not the way of our people." She stepped back from the viewscreen. "Salissaj out."
Janeway leaned back in her chair and frowned. The plot grew more twisted…. Why? Might Chakotay be right in the first place? "It think it's time we had another meeting with our friend Ambassador Ha'agden."
"No, no, no, that's not true," spluttered Ha'agden rapidly, denying the facts which Salissaj had just presented to them. "We have never done such a thing, and we would mean no harm to the people of Starfleet."
"Then perhaps you'd like to explain why the murders on board this ship seem to have stopped soon after we disallowed your people from coming onboard," replied Janeway curtly.
The ambassador lowered his head, nothing to say.
Janeway's lips tightened into a white line. "Then I suggest we part our ways amicably before the situation worsens-"
"No," whispered Ha'agden, his normally sibilant voice reduced to a low hoarse crackle forged of desperation. "For years we have been struggling to bring our technologies back to date. Now, we are so close, and yet you would deny us that chance!"
Janeway rose and walked to face the ambassador. He lifted his massive head to gaze at her with his unsettling cream-colored eyes. Undaunted, Janeway returned the gaze with a steely glare. "A chance to do what? Use our technology to oppress the Vorlok race?"
Ha'agden's voice was strained and cracking with emotion. "If there were no more murders on board your ship while we remained, would you continue this alliance with us?"
Janeway's eyes narrowed. "Is this a confession of guilt?"
"No," he whispered hoarsely, "it is a desperate plea for help. You think that one of our people is responsible for these murders. I can try my best to stop them."
"The safety of the Voyager and her crew is of utmost importance to us," said Chakotay, taking up the thread of the negotiations after a long silence. "To continue this affiliation would be to compromise it."
There was a long period of silence as both parties considered this. Janeway walked to the viewing panels at the end of the room to peruse the starscape thoughtfully.
"Would our innocence be proved if someone was killed after we sever our allegiances? " asked Ha'agden softly from behind her, his brittle voice filled with a strangely bitter conviction.
Janeway whirled on him, furious. "Are you now threatening us?"
"No, no," moaned the Ambassador, stricken, and he sank into the nearest chair in despair. "Then this alliance is doomed- and so is my race."
Janeway watched the man's reaction carefully. This negotiation was obviously not going very well - Ha'agden seemed to possess very little diplomatic skills and was dragging himself into deeper water at every moment. It's obvious that they've not had need of these skills for a long time, thought Janeway. So, what are they? Are they a race oppressed by the Vorlok, according to Ha'agden, or does Salissaj speak truth about them being a bloodthirsty warrior race?
"Alright," she said heavily. "I'll compromise." She faced the ambassador with a straight face and a determined look. "We will continue negotiations on our exchange, but on our terms only. Moreover, you will no longer be granted access to the quarters we have assigned you. From now on, you will remain on the planet unless it is necessary." Noting Chakotay's slightly startled reaction, she held up a hand to ward off whatever remarks he might have and added, "In the event of any more harm to my crew, we will immediately depart from the planet."
Ha'agden nodded, abashed. "Dismissed," said Janeway.
Naomi, fresh out of Sickbay, walked into Astrometrics, looking for Seven of Nine. She poked her head in and found the area totally deserted. "Seven?" she asked hesitantly. Worry crept into her heart- had something happened to her? Naomi quickly backtracked out of Astrometrics and practically sprinted to the nearest access controls, hoping the computer system could locate her before it was too late-
Naomi heard voices- Seven's voice. She breathed a sigh of relief- she was all right, after all. The voices came form a junction further up the corridor. Two voices- was the other one Tom's? Or First Officer Chakotay's ? She couldn't quite tell. The voices sounded agitated, as if they were quarrelling. Well, whatever it was, Naomi didn't want to be caught up in it, so she called Seven's name fairly loudly in hopes that they would hear it and conclude whatever they were doing by the time she got there.
Naomi heard the man's voice say something like, "We'll discuss this later," and they stopped quarreling. By the time Naomi stepped into the junction, Seven of Nine was alone. She looked distressed to Naomi. Had Paris- by now she was quite certain it was Paris Seven had been talking to- said something to upset her? "Seven?" she repeated. "You promised to have dinner with me?"
Seven looked up, distracted, and nodded. "Yes." She checked her chrono and frowned. "I must have forgotten. Come," she said , taking Naomi's hand, "we will proceed to the Mess Hall."
Naomi didn't say anything as Seven explained that she had been absorbed in finding out more about the nebula she and Captain Janeway would be exploring tomorrow, but somehow, deep inside her, she knew that Seven was troubled by what the mysterious man had said to her.