Title: Kiss of the Spider People
Series: Star Trek: Voyager
Author: Singing Violin
Rating: T
Summary: Janeway gets into some hot water with some hostile aliens. Set shortly after "Coda."
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. The characters and universe belong to Paramount, not me.
Author's notes: Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I'd like to thank katie520 for her thoughtful review, which reminded me that I still hadn't finished this, and let me know that it was still being read and there was still interest in a conclusion. I'd also like to thank my erstwhile readers who have been patient in understanding the situation that caused me to stop writing for so long. And for those who were part of the incident more than two years ago – I forgive you, and I trust you have learned to be better people.
Feedback: Always appreciated, except from those who use it with the intention of being dishonest or hurtful.
Archiving: Anywhere, though please let me know so I can visit.
Chapter 11: Rogue
No alien had ever escaped their space before. These aliens had not only escaped, but had returned. Intelligent enough to defeat their most powerful vessel and previous leader, yet foolhardy enough to return directly to the web, they were an enigma indeed … an enigma worth studying further. Could they possibly believe they were capable of dancing upon silk tendrils without becoming ensnared? Could they possibly be capable of dancing upon silk tendrils without becoming ensnared?
If she were to decipher these aliens, and perhaps glean valuable information from their strategy, she would distinguish herself from her predecessors … maybe all of them. She would lead her people into a new era of enlightenment.
First, though, dissent needed to be eradicated. If there was one traitor in their midst, there were probably others. She wondered how many heads she would need to read before she determined the level of threat to their great civilization.
Her antennae twitched in anticipation of the events to come.
Captain Janeway watched with muted horror as her oldest friend fought for his life on the floor of Sickbay.
"We can't risk separating them yet. For the moment, they are both alive, and let's try to keep them that way."
Why was there an alien in their midst? Had she not engineered Voyager's escape?
She sighed, looking around for someone who might be available to answer questions. She spotted the Talaxian in the corner of the room. He looked on, but did not appear to be engaged in the action.
"Neelix!" she called, as loudly as she could.
He rushed forward to his captain's bedside. "Yes, Captain! What can I do for you today?" he asked.
"First," she ordered, "you can tell me why one of the aliens is here, attached to my security officer."
Neelix squirmed uncomfortably, but Janeway's eyes defied him. I am still the captain, and you will obey me.
"Ah, yes, well," he started, then paused. Her glare spurred him to continue. "I don't know about what's going on with Mr. Tuvok, but we returned to their space to save your life."
The captain was irate. "You what? Whyever would that be necessary?"
Neelix looked sheepish. "I don't really know. Chakotay was certain of it, though. I suppose you could ask the Doctor … uhh, later. But, considering you're here, I suppose it worked."
Janeway shook her head. It only worked if we all make it out of this alive. "Never mind." She eyed the braces lying next to her. "There is something else you can help me with now."
The Talaxan nodded. "Of course. Anything."
"Those braces," she nodded in the relevant direction. "They'll get me back on my feet. The Doctor was about to assist me with them before Tuvok and the alien arrived. Since he's busy now, do you think you might be able to help me get them on?" She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster as encouragement.
He looked around dubiously, but finding the EMH too preoccupied to give explicit approval in a timely manner, Neelix nodded hesitantly. "I suppose I could try." Eying her medical gown, he added, "Do you also need some clothes?"
With wide eyes, she marveled at his thoughtful observation. "Yes, Neelix, that would be appreciated. Just replicate me a new uniform, if you will. Charge it to my rations."
"Aye, Captain," the Talaxian replied, and for once the captain was extremely grateful for his obsequious nature and opportune presence.
As the channel closed and the viewscreen returned to the image of the alien ship, Chakotay was quite aware he'd just made a promise he might not be able to keep. It wouldn't be the first time … in the Maquis, it was almost routine. However, since becoming a Starfleet officer again, he'd rarely had to bluff; in fact, he had to admit he'd made more uncertain promises to his captain than to potential enemies.
His captain … he really could use her counsel now, but she was weak from her illness, and should not be burdened with the stress of the current crisis … at least, that was the excuse he gave himself not to confide in his recovering commanding officer. If he were to be honest with himself, he'd admit that he was hiding the truth from her much as a child would hide a misdeed from his parents. And, like a parent, she would inevitably find out, and he would accept his punishment, but he hoped to at least return the ship to her command in safety before suffering the consequences of his actions. It was not that he believed his punishment would be more lenient – in fact, he shuddered to think of her wrath when the full knowledge of what had transpired was realized – but he'd returned to the aliens' space with the full intention of saving both her and her ship, and he didn't intend to fail.
He hailed Sickbay. "What is the status of Mr. Tuvok and our guest, Doctor?"
"It's touch and go, Commander," the Doctor admitted. "We've got Tuvok stabilized, but I am not familiar enough with the alien's anatomy, especially its nervous system. Kes is attempting to break the meld in order to allow us to work more efficiently."
"And what is the prognosis, Doctor?" the commander asked warily.
"Tuvok should make a full recovery," the EMH assured, "but I cannot make the same guarantee for our guest."
"Understood," Chakotay responded. "Update me when you have them separated, or … if anything else changes." He didn't dare to speculate as to other possible outcomes.
Tapping his communicator, he began to pace. How long would it take the alien ship to realize nothing was transpiring and demand an explanation? And, what explanation would he provide?
He hoped the situation would resolve itself before he had a chance to find out.
B'Elanna wiped sweat from her brow as she tried yet another setting. It was difficult to concentrate when all she could think about was the captain, and how her own mistakes had almost led to the captain's death, more than once. In this case, while the plan had not been her idea, she'd been a willing conspirator, and therefore felt somewhat responsible for the fate that had befallen her commanding officer. After all, it was the engineer who had shown the captain how to disable the aliens' ship. Without that tidbit, there would have been no plan, and the captain would never have returned to Voyager with one foot already in Sto'Vo'Kor.
While the news was welcome that the captain was not as dead as she had been rumored to be, she knew from observing Chakotay during their conversation earlier that there were still grave concerns: about Janeway's health, about the fate of the ship, and about the relationship between the captain and commander. The ship's morale depended upon the coexistence of the Maquis and Starfleet, which in turn depended upon the collaboration between the captain and commander. If something were to happen between them, something to tear them apart, likely the ship and its entire crew would be torn apart as a result.
Sighing, B'Elanna looked up, and spotted a familiar thin frame. Furiously, she blinked, willing the vision not to be a hallucination brought on by too many hours fighting with alien technology. When the image persisted, she allowed herself a moment of jubilation.
"Captain!" Lieutenant Torres cried, resisting the overwhelming urge to run to the ghostly figure and hug her. "We sure could use your help." In her elation, she did not notice the apparatus keeping her captain erect, nor how heavily her commanding officer leaned against the adjacent wall. Nor did she question the captain's appearance in engineering mere hours after being pronounced dead. She was not going to look between a gift targ's legs.
"That's what I'm here for," Janeway asserted, stepping forward carefully. "Now, what are you trying to do?"
"Do you want me to hail them again, my Queen?" he asked worriedly.
"No, my child," she answered coolly. "We shall wait. If they attempt to escape, we will easily destroy them."
He bowed before her, taking note of the sharpness of her claws, and being careful not to antagonize her, lest he lose his head. "Respectfully, Your Grace and Goodness, it is taking a long time for them to produce the prisoner."
She twirled her antennae in a gesture of nonchalance. "It is possible that he himself is resisting. What hatchling would knowingly walk into his mother's mouth? I will give them a few more cycles to honor our agreement. We do not know much about them. This is an opportunity to learn."
Keeping his body low, he replied with concern. "That may be, My Mother, but how do you know they have not lied to us, and are using the current time to figure out how to destroy our ship, like they destroyed the last one?"
"Faith, little egg. If they intended to destroy us, they would have attempted to do so already. We may yet feast upon their juices, but their knowledge is likely to be more savory than their flesh."
"You are not like the others," he observed, trembling slightly in fear that he was being too bold. "You are patient and wise."
She reached towards him and gently stroked his head. "You flatter me. It becomes you."
He shivered with pleasure at the contact as he rose slightly from his subservient pose. "Is there anything I can do while we wait, Queen?"
She thought for a moment. "I trust you," she began. "I do not yet know whom else I can trust. Obviously my predecessor was betrayed by someone close to her. You shall be in charge of investigations aboard this vessel. Keep watch over all its operations, and inform me directly and promptly if any suspicious action is observed. We cannot be too careful if we are to avoid the fate of the other ship."
"I am honored to be blessed with such an exigent assignment. I will endeavor to guard you and yours with the utmost care." He bowed again, then, knowing he had gained her favor, and marveling at his good fortune.
"I know that you will please me," she answered warmly, fully realizing that she was creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The love that you show your subjects will return to you ten-fold, she'd been told during her training. So far, it seemed to be an accurate assessment.
However, there was another part of the adage she would be wise not to forget. Any weakness you show your subjects will return to you as failure. So, she would be ever-strong, ever-wise, as close to omniscient as a living being could be. No part of her doubted that this was within her capabilities, and as she watched her subject depart, she felt confident that her patience would be rewarded.
"Sickbay to bridge," came the voice of the Doctor.
Chakotay's heart leapt into his throat. "Go ahead."
"Tuvok has awakened, and has requested to speak with you."
The commander briefly grabbed a railing and squeezed as hard as he could. "And our guest?"
There was a moment of silence, and before the Doctor could formulate a reply, Chakotay spoke again. "Forget it. I'll be right there."
When he arrived in Sickbay, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw the blanket enshrouding an alien-shaped lump lying on a biobed. He gulped, even as he eyed Tuvok, who was sitting atop another biobed, his expression impassive on the surface, yet subtly revealing … guilt? He should feel guilty. Hadn't the captain told him not to use that method of interrogation without her explicit permission?
But the captain was incapacitated at the time Tuvok initiated the meld … yet, presumably, Chakotay should himself have been at least informed of the plans. But wait … Tuvok was already in the brig when he awoke from his own spell. It seemed that Tuvok was, in fact, in command at the time, and so the decision was, admittedly, his to make.
Chakotay grumbled at the realization. "What happened?" he asked.
"My apologies, Commander, I …"
The first officer interrupted him. "Never mind that now. What's done is done. Did you find anything out?"
"Indeed," Tuvok replied hastily. "Some of the aliens, in fact, have replication technology, developed by a small group of scientists, of which our guest was one. However, it has been kept a secret from the leaders for … political reasons."
"Go on," Chakotay urged. "There's more, isn't there?"
"Yes. The aliens have a primitive mind-reading ability, but only after the death of the subject. They have a device capable of mapping a brain and identifying knowledge and memories from the pattern. The brain must be removed from the head in order to read it, hence why it cannot be applied to a living being. Also, only the current leader and immediate subordinates have the authority to use the machine."
Chakotay sucked in his breath. "So, if we hand over the body, they will be getting the technology we were trying so hard to hide from them? Along with anything the alien learned from your mind?"
Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "It is a possibility. However, the mind meld was not like any I have ever experienced; I felt the creature's mind disintegrate even as I touched it. Whether this is due to peculiarities of its anatomy, or whether, since this creature harbored valuable secrets, its brain was modified to foil the encoding device, I was not able to discover. I suspect that, if it were the latter, our guest was not aware of it. The imprint left may not be coherent enough to be read by their instrument."
On the one hand, Chakotay hoped Tuvok's last supposition would prove correct, as there would be no worry of violations of the Prime Directive, nor implications to future interactions with a species even more formidable than they already were. On the other hand, if the creature's mind was so muddled that they could not read it, their alibi would be gone, and the alien leader would have no reason to believe they had not deliberately destroyed the other ship.
In any case, it was time to find out. He eyed the Doctor and Kes, who had begun an autopsy while he was speaking with the security officer.
"Doctor," he called, and the hologram looked up. "Prepare the body for transport to the alien ship. Is Tuvok free to leave?"
The EMH eyed the Vulcan, sighing impatiently. "Yes, he may go."
Chakotay looked back at the security officer. "Tuvok, you're with me."
As he turned to leave, he glanced towards the biobed on which Kathryn lay earlier, suddenly wondering why she'd been so quiet. Perhaps she was resting … she certainly needed it, as getting her to relax was always a struggle, and after her recent illness, it was most certainly a requirement for recovery. He wondered whether the Doctor had sedated her in order to get her to sleep.
After a cursory search, he realized she was missing entirely.
"Doctor, where is the captain?" he demanded.
The Doctor followed the commander's gaze and gasped. "I don't know. She can't possibly have walked out of here – she wasn't …"
It was then that he noticed the missing braces. "Oh dear."
Chakotay was alarmed. "What?"
"Actually, she could have walked out, using the muscle-training device I'd replicated for her, but it wasn't within her reach. In any case, it is intended for short-term use; there's no telling what might happen if she keeps it on for a prolonged time period, so early in her recovery process."
The commander blanched. Just like Kathryn, to ignore the health consequences of her actions. "Well, how would she have gotten it on, if it was out of her reach?"
"She must have had help. Kes and I were busy with Tuvok and the alien, and the only other person present was Neelix, who," he glanced around, "incidentally has also disappeared."
The Doctor was about to page the Talaxian, but the commander beat him to the punch. "Chakotay to Neelix," he ordered, tapping his communicator, even as he made his way towards the bridge, the Vulcan by his side.
"Yes, Commander?" he heard.
"Is the captain with you?"
"No, Commander. She said she had some duties to attend to. I'm in the kitchen now – it's almost lunch time, and there are hungry officers waiting."
Chakotay contemplated scolding Neelix for ignoring the fact that the captain was in no condition to be wandering around the ship, but he suspected Kathryn had been less than truthful with the Talaxian and had misled him into believing she was fit for duty, or at least had the Doctor's permission to do whatever she was doing. In any case, he could berate Neelix later. "Acknowledged," he responded before cutting the connection.
He steeled himself for a confrontation. He tapped his communicator again. "Chakotay to Janeway."
There was no response. It figures. She's probably asleep, or deliberately misplaced her communicator so as not to be disturbed.
"Computer, location of Captain Janeway."
The computer's calm voice belied its words. "Captain Janeway is not aboard this vessel."