Chapter Five
On arrival in orbit around the nearest planet, also called Frela, Voyager was once again greeted by Kitra Sal, now introducing herself in the role of planetary ambassador. She was accompanied by a sharp, militaristic man she introduced as Tia Sal, president of Frela and its neighbouring world, Cosamia. When asked about their similar names, they explained that Frela and Cosamia's laws both required pair-bonded couples in their primary political roles, and that they only felt comfortable dealing with those in a similar structure. At the moment, Captain Janeway's preference would be to negotiate with Neelix or Tuvok or practically anybody else at her side, but in the course of his explanation, Tia pointed out that their ships also worked on the same principle, and so the only acceptable meeting participants would be she and her first officer.
The first non-negotiable point, even before they set foot on the planet, was that transport could only happen to designated points within Frela's major centres. Breaking this stipulation would be immediate cause for arrest and punishment, which Kathryn could easily guess the severity of, based on the martial tone of their communications. The other non-negotiable was that weapons were to be left on Voyager, again on threat of incarceration or worse. Tuvok's protest was swift, but the captain reminded him that they were so short on food and energy that she wasn't left with much choice. She and Chakotay beamed down to the presidential palace with only tricorders in hand, praying that this wasn't the one time that their luck ran out.
They arrived in the middle of the presidential palace, immediately struck by its bright stone structure and the colourful flags that were draped on any surface that could hold them. A large mass of individuals dressed in dark military uniforms streamed in all directions – it obviously was the hub of government activity.
"It will be hard to see them in this crowd," Chakotay commented as he scanned the area.
She had to take his word for it, finding herself much shorter than the average Frela. "They shouldn't have any problem seeing us," she replied, a comment on the fact that their red shoulders were standing out amongst a sea of deep blue uniforms.
"Captain Janeway."
Both turned to find the president and ambassador approaching, trailed by a gaggle of assistants. "Welcome to Frela," Tia greeted, raising his hands in a cross-chested salute.
"Thank you." She turned to indicate her companion. "This is my first officer, Commander Chakotay."
The president repeated the salute, then introduced the rest of his party. "Ambassador Sal you know. My assistant Grièv…" He indicated the shorter woman standing on his right, "and the rest of my administrative team, who are on their way to Building Service Headquarters." At his words, Grièv took the rest of the group and headed off into the throng, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us," the captain said.
"All can be discussed within the sanctuary of our offices," Tia told her. "Please, come." He headed back in the direction from which he came, moving at a quick pace that had Janeway almost jogging to keep up.
Falling in behind them, Sal told Chakotay, "We are surprised to have you here, but not unpleasantly so. It is refreshing to meet aliens who are not of our factions."
Chakotay, ever the anthropologist, leapt at the chance for more information about them. "Do you have many factions?"
"Two. Collectively we are the Frela, but our populace is comprised of Shornea and Pillicks." Out of the corner of his eye, Chakotay noticed what seemed like a grim expression cross Kitra's face, just for a moment before it returned to its previous neutral state.
The president led them all back to his offices, a spacious set of suites on the top floor that overlooked the entire city. The residing pair explained that the Pillicks and Shornea had been fighting a civil war for the past five years, and had achieved a resolution just a few months earlier. The Frela were now entering a state of rebuilding, and of re-establishing relationships between the two factions.
Negotiating for the badly-needed foodstuffs and minerals turned out to be surprisingly easy, with the Frela only asking for star charts of places that Voyager had previously visited. The catch, however, was in allowing shore leave. Because of the planet's post-war state, Tia described his people as untrusting and dangerous; therefore, Voyager's crew would be restricted to a relatively small government green zone in which every Frela was thoroughly searched for weapons before they could enter. The presidential palace sat in the middle of the zone, which was why the Starfleet pair had not been allowed to come in with their side arms. There was also a very lengthy list of rules and regulations that Voyager's crew would have to be familiar with before transporting to the surface, and if anyone broke the rules for any reason, the deal would be off, and Voyager would be in much more dire straits than before.
To prove their point, the president and ambassador insisted on taking Janeway and Chakotay on a tour of the combat-ravaged city so that they could see firsthand what anyone who strayed from the green zone would be subject to. Because of its importance, President Tia was willing to personally take the Starfleet pair on the tour, accompanied by Grièv as soon as she returned. But as they were walking to his personal ground vehicle, another uniformed officer in a wheelchair quickly approached, hurriedly whispering in the president's ear. Tia bolted upright, then turned to face his guests. "I'm afraid that there is something I must attend to at once," he told them as he reached into his pocket for a communication device. "Ambassador Sal will meet you at the transport, and Meika here will escort you." Without another word, he turned on his heel, initiating a call as he quickly left.
His abruptness left the captain surprised and a little suspicious, but she quickly smoothed her features and turned to Meika, who was patiently waiting for them. "My apologies," the heavily scarred man said, his hand covering the stump where his leg used to be. "Follow me." He then spun around and started in the direction their party had originally been going in. Janeway and Chakotay glanced at one another, but said nothing as they followed.
Meika eventually led them into what looked like a large hangar, its entire floor and several mezzanines filled with a variety of different ground car types. He led them to one that was in a more heavily-guarded area, where Ambassador Sal was waiting for them along with her aide, Tremenka Detal. "It pleases me to take you on your tour of the capital," she greeted along with the traditional salute. "The president will be occupied for the rest of the day with another matter."
"Thank you, Ambassador," the captain replied. "I hope we aren't taking you away from your duties."
"My duty is to serve the president and the people," their host responded in what was obviously a rehearsed and automatic statement. "Come, let us begin." She gestured to Detal, who opened the door to the car for everyone before climbing into the driver's seat himself.
The tour took them through what had once been a remarkable city, but now was in a state of utter ruin. Kitra explained that it had been bombarded repeatedly throughout the war, but had been lucky to survive the orbital assaults that obliterated other cities entirely with forty percent of its infrastructure still intact. "We are in the process now of organizing how we will rebuild here," she told them as they passed. "It is a task that will take many years."
"What does the population do for food and shelter in the meantime?" Janeway asked.
"The government has annexed buildings which survived the bombardments to provide housing for those who need it," Kitra explained. "Anyone who cannot fit there is moved to emergency shelters erected in areas where debris has been cleared and the land deemed safe. It is a slow process, however, and a large number of citizens are still fending for themselves while they wait to be processed."
They continued to move through the few streets that had been cleared, the majority still blocked with fallen buildings and rubble. Large numbers of Frela were everywhere, many of whom looked to be recovering from significant injuries. Fires burned intermittently throughout, with groups huddled around to keep warm. For the humans, it brought up memories of the images they had both seen from the end of the Third World War. A sad thought struck the captain. "I don't wish to sound ungrateful, but is the food you promised us going to be taken from these people?" she asked carefully.
"No," the ambassador told her. "We believe in generosity, especially in light of the deprivation we caused ourselves in recent years. Currently the government provides everyone, even those living in these abhorrent conditions, with rations to keep them fed, and then anything additional is designated to others on a case-by-case basis. On one hand, we are fortunate that the lowered population has lessened our impact on food, but in turn, we must get our production facilities back into operation as soon as possible before those reserves run out."
"You had heavy losses?"
Sal gave a surprisingly human nod. "Two and a half billion, plus prisoners."
The hackles went up on Chakotay's neck. "And those prisoners were executed?"
Their host nodded again. "It is standard practice for all captured prisoners. Such actions prevent them from returning to war against us."
Chakotay looked to his captain as he felt his guts clench. These people appeared to be charitable to anyone who needed it, but it didn't take an empath to sense that something was amiss. He saw from the captain's expression that she was thinking the same thing, and his alertness level crept up a little higher as he turned to look out the window again.
The car started a gentle curve to the left onto a main but empty boulevard, pointing the windscreen directly into the sun. Kitra's demeanor quickly shifted from ambassadorial to commanding. "Detal, why are you deviating from our path?"
The driver was hurriedly punching at keys, trying a number of different combinations. "I've lost access to the steering controls," he told her, stress radiating in his voice.
As the vehicle moved away from the city's main centre, it began to pick up speed. "What's our new destination?" the ambassador questioned.
"I don't know!" Detal's movements were becoming desperate as he tried to access the navigation system, but he was locked out at every turn. On the screen, every time new information would come out, it would flash and black out in spots, making it impossible for him to see what was going on. "It looks as though somebody has gained access to the navigational controls. They're changing our destination remotely."
"Try and slow us down," Sal ordered.
But nothing worked. The car was still racing along at full speed when the doors suddenly locked and the windows shaded a dark grey, leaving the passengers with no option but to wait until the car reached its final destination. From their seats in the back, the Starfleet officers tried their communicators, and were rewarded with the exasperating sound of non-connection. Chakotay could easily see Kathryn's fidgety need to be in charge and finding solutions, and he couldn't blame her. Scanning the interior of the vehicle, he looked for stored weapons or any other means of circumventing whatever force had them. Nothing was in plain view though, and considering that they were carrying a high-level government official, he found it surprising. Without any options, he knew that they were going to have to ride it out and see where the rebellious ground car was taking them.
It was an uneasy forty minutes before they felt the vehicle start to slow, veering sharply to the right. "Any idea where we are?" the captain asked.
"I cannot say for certain," Sal replied, her forehead pressed to the window as she continued to try and see outside, "but there's a very good chance that we're outside the city."
From where she was sitting, Kathryn could see the ambassador's eyes frantically darting about in the reflection of the windshield. "Is that dangerous?" she questioned.
"Very." With no apparent end to their journey, the ambassador offered an explanation. "Our people evolved in the forests for millennia, but as we grew more advanced, we began to migrate toward living in cities. Forest living became only for those who could not afford an urban dwelling, until we were able to bring all the peoples into this lifestyle. The cities not only provided warmth and shelter, but also protection from the maladaks that hunted us. Today, we live in safety, while the maladaks rule the forests."
"Who are the maladaks?" Chakotay asked. "Another race?"
"No, Commander, they are large creatures who live in the treetops, waiting for any unfortunate that disturbs them from the silence of the winds. They decimated our population for centuries until we could build defenses against them. But we have been city-dwellers for hundreds of generations now, and rarely venture out of our own habitats, so our skill at avoiding their detection has eroded considerably. The only thing we are definitely sure of is that they hunt based on sound and echo-location."
The car again veered left, and sped up for a few minutes before slowing abruptly, followed by a long period of slow movement which was accompanied by strange scraping sounds along the outer surfaces. Janeway and Chakotay continued to search for something that they could defend themselves with, knowing it was futile but unable to give up. As the minutes wore on, the tension in the car skyrocketed. They finally stopped and the engine died, leaving them in complete silence. The ambassador looked at her aide. "Set it."
Detal, his hands shaking, leaned down to reach for something beneath the control console that Chakotay couldn't see from the back. In a few moments, he sat back up again. "Done."
The vehicle locks suddenly let go, and everyone knew instinctively that they were about to be dragged out. Before Sal could say another word, all four doors were ripped open by a large clutch of rough-looking Frela. Without preamble their leader, a hulking man with shockingly rose-coloured hair, stuck his head inside and looked around. Not finding what he was looking for, he snarled at Kitra, "Where is Tia?"
The ambassador rose to her full height. "Why have you brought us here?"
Later, Janeway would remark to herself about how universal being backhanded for giving the wrong answer was. "Where is Tia?" he screamed at her again. "He was supposed to be here!"
Chakotay's gut tightened again. Someone had tipped these people off as to their itinerary and the fact that the president was supposed to be leading their tour. He tensed when he saw another thug clamp a hand on Janeway's arm, but was distracted when someone else grabbed onto his own. "What do we do with these ones?" the one holding onto the captain questioned.
"Bring them." The man who had struck the ambassador turned away, leading them deeper into the forest.
With two men for every door of the transport, each person was roughly hauled out and dragged along to follow. A short, crude path had been cut through the trees, leading to a small clearing, just a few metres wide, in which a handful of tents and equipment resided. The four of them were shoved together in the centre of the open area, their escorts still holding onto them as they waited.
Their attention turned at the sound of one of the tent flaps being thrown back, and a man even more intimidating that the first lumbered into view. He made his way to them with a purposeful stride, and for the second time, the captain noticed something else that was universal – intense hatred.
"Kosnee..." Detal gasped, his voice shaking.
The new leader walked a slow circle around the entire group. When he reached his starting point again, he suddenly lashed out and cuffed the man who had struck Sal across the back of his head. "You said you were bringing me Tia!"
"He – he's supposed to be here!" the younger man stammered. "My sources confirmed it!"
Stalking up to the lone Frela female, he grasped her by the clothing on her chest and hauled her up so that her face met his. "Who are you?"
She was fighting to maintain calm. "I am Kitra Sal, ambassador to offworlders."
Kosnee released her suddenly, throwing her back into the arms of his men as his attention turned to the two uniformed humans. "That explains these two." He circled around them again, then addressed both together. "You are obviously not Frela."
Kathryn's spine straightened. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager," she announced in her best diplomat voice.
Their captor looked both her and Chakotay up and down, fully assessing them, and after some consideration, he seemed to show a slight bit of remorse. "Well Captain Kathryn Janeway, I'm afraid that you will not be returning to the Federation starship Voyager." He glanced at Sal. "And for that, I am sorry."
He walked back around again to face the ambassador. "Since the president was unable to be here today, you and your friends are going to serve as a warning instead." He drew a weapon from inside his jacket and held it between them.
"Surely there must be some agreement that can be reached?" Janeway tried.
Kosnee's eyes remained on Sal. "Well actually, Captain, one already has been reached." The men around him chuckled.
"What do you mean?"
The answer came when the ambassador stepped forward, turning to face the Starfleet officers as she moved to Kosnee's side. "We told you the truth, Captain Janeway, and my husband was indeed going to take you on this tour. But plans have changed, and I regret your involvement, accidental as it is."
Detal was gaping at her, struggling to find his voice. "You – you are in league with him?" he cried. "He was one of the biggest criminals in the war!"
"A war we had no business being in!" she shouted back at him. "But you were so busy trying to gain power that you did anything my husband said. You are responsible for more deaths than any of us, Detal."
"I was only following orders!" he protested.
Kosnee stepped up toward the smaller man, standing almost against him. "You were the one that signed the orders, Detal. You arranged the movements, the attacks, everything that destroyed what we held dear." His voice was climbing with each word, agony pouring out of him. "Tia may have given final approval, but you were the one who carried it out!" A faint cry could be heard in the brief silence that followed, but no one really picked up on it. Kosnee drew his disruptor, shoving its tip deep into Detal's midsection. "Your orders eliminated my family, and now I am going to send you to the hell from which you came."
The scream echoed through the trees as the beam pierced the smaller man's skin, answered in a sudden, sickening symphony as unseen wildlife seemed to respond. Kosnee's men started to panic, one of them leaping forward to clamp his hands over the dying man's mouth. Kathryn's eyes flew up to the treetops, which were now dark with dozens of large, bat-like creatures who were beating their wings, howling in fury. She tried to pull away from her minders, but fear made their grips even harder; they were all far too familiar with the sound that called out above them. Undeterred, Kosnee continued his assault, relishing Detal's cries of torment as he slowly carved his way up the man's body with a beam that smoked against his flesh.
What order things happened in next, Chakotay wouldn't be able to say. The creatures above them swelled into a frenzy at the sound of Detal's agonies, which were drowned out by the explosion that engulfed the ground car. It spewed shrapnel in all directions, easily reaching the clearing and taking down the nearest Frela. Then the group scattered when the maladaks attacked in droves, their claws and mouths snapping at anything that moved as they dove and swooped around the tiny clearing. Chakotay launched himself at Kathryn, grabbing her as he ran for the nearest cluster of trees. Whether it was sheer luck, or that the maladaks had no interest in humans, he didn't care, but they were left alone to run as the creatures concentrated on the locals. They ran until the shrieks and cries of terror faded, and to be safe he pulled them down into the brush, holding her close as they waited for silence to return.
She pulled away from him and sat up, straining to detect any other movement, but the forest was silent, save for the light breeze that disturbed the leaves. Releasing a shuddering breath, Kathryn looked at her companion. "Are you alright?"
He nodded, his eyes checking her over. "You?"
"I'm okay." Peering around her, she couldn't see any of the creatures that had attacked them in the trees above. Her hand naturally went to her waist for her tricorder, eyes flying down when she touched an empty pocket. "Oh no."
Chakotay checked his own belt as well, but his tricorder too was gone. "Must have fallen out while we were running," he muttered, checking the area around them on the off chance that it might have made it all the way to their hiding spot.
The sound of voices made them dive back to the ground again, hands slapping over communicators to try and stem the volume of the universal translator. "We've got to find them!" they heard Kitra Sal telling someone.
"That will take hours," Kosnee told her. "If we do this, it has to be now."
"But they're witnesses!" she protested.
"Keep your voice down."
There was a pause, presumably because they lowered their volume. The captain and commander held their breath and listened, but could only make out faint murmurings. Just as they thought the conversation had stopped, Kosnee's voice piped up one last time. "With no food or water, and not knowing where they are, they're as good as dead anyway."
Kathryn's eyes squeezed shut when she realized that they'd just been sentenced, victims of circumstance who simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her head snapped up at the sound of a small craft flying above the trees as it turned and followed a new heading, and after it was gone, the silence of the forest returned. Forcing herself into action, she got to her feet and began to examine the area they'd stopped in. It offered nothing of any consequence. Something she refused to identify as panic began to well in her as all the facts rolled through her mind – they were on an unfamiliar planet, lost in a vast forest with no food or water, with absolutely no idea how they were going to get back to civilization, and whether they'd even be welcome if they did reach it. Judging by what had just happened, it was entirely possible that everything Tia and Kitra had told them was a lie, and that they could very easily be executed for the mere act of returning alive.
Forcing herself to compartmentalize her worry, she looked to her companion, who was familiarizing himself with the trees. "We'd better find a way to get back to the city," she told him. "Do you think you can backtrack us to the site?"
He looked around, seeing the path that they had forced through the brush. "I think so, but there's no way of knowing what's waiting for us there."
"Agreed," she said. "But we already know that there is no road system out here, so it's a safe bet that the one that the car did follow is a rarity. If we can find it, it might lead us right back to the capital." A grim thought crossed her mind. "Besides, it's entirely possible that those creatures killed whoever wasn't in that shuttle when it left."
"That's a pretty big assumption."
Kathryn sighed, trying to hold onto what would have been an irrational outburst aimed at him. "If you have any better ideas, I'm willing to entertain them."
He thought for a moment. All the training he'd received over the years had taught him how to survive in strange alien landscapes, but how to find your way back from the middle of nowhere to somewhere hadn't been as important a part of the curriculum as how to find food or water. Starfleet always recommended, unless it was dangerous, to stay put until the ship could be contacted or a rescue team sent. Normally that would be sound advice, but with the inability to beam out, getting found was going to be very, very difficult. Finally, he shook his head. "Not right now, no." He then started to step back through the broken branches that had marked their flight from the clearing, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure she was following.
They walked for about an hour in near silence, with only the sound of their boots breaking twigs and crunching leaves filling the void. While relatively flat, the cluttered terrain was definitely a challenge, even with the damage they had previously caused. Suddenly he held up a hand to signal her to stop; they had reached the clearing. Crouching down for cover, they listened for any activity first, but it was silent. When they decided it was safe to move closer, they slowly picked their way through the brush until the trees started to thin again.
It was a scene of absolute carnage. The bodies that lay around the site had been ripped to shreds, with large portions of them missing. The maladaks had done a good job of feasting, and their leftovers were everywhere. Kathryn's hand flew to her mouth, desperate to hold the bile that was threatening to come up. It had been a long time since she'd seen anything so gruesome.
Concentrating on the equipment and the tents, it didn't take long to see that there was nothing left that would be any use. Everything was torn up, and what hadn't been by the creatures had apparently been destroyed by Kosnee and Tia before their departure. Disruptor burns scorched across much of the debris, including what had been water vessels, judging by the wet ground beneath them. "Damn…" she muttered.
Chakotay had stepped over to the remnants of the ground car to see if anything was salvageable. As he searched through it, it dawned on him that the self-destruct that Detal had set was designed not just to destroy the car, but inflict as much damage as possible, judging by the metal shards embedded in what was left of the foliage around it. He wondered just what sort of world they had stumbled across.
Concluding that there was nothing that was going to help them find their way back to the city, they gathered some larger remnants of tent fabric and a few sharp metal bits to provide them with makeshift weapons, and then headed into the tight tunnel that the ground car had cut through the forest when it was brought to this place.