Reaching Out Part 3
D"lara moved silently out of the trees, gathering her cloak tight around her.
Seven stood by the campfire, looking up at the stars. She heard D'Lara approaching and turned to watch her, the fire reflecting in her eyes.
"You did very well today, Seven, I was impressed."
"Thank you...you were impressive as well." Her mind flashed back to a vision of D'Lara in battle, she moved swifter than any creature she had ever seen, decimating anything that stood in her way with a cold precision. She forced her thoughts away from the events of the day and focused on the present.
"Varen's team will flush the rest out tonight, the area will be secure by morning." She glanced around their surroundings quickly.
Omega Prime had two types of terrain: desert and swamp. The majority of the population was transient and lived in an underground structure in the desert region, carefully shielded from prying eyes. Most people assumed the planet was unpopulated, and that was they way they liked it, because, all though very few people knew it, Omega Prime was the most important place in the universe and its secrets had to be guarded at all costs.
All kinds of beings of higher evolution made their trek to the planet at one time or another, it was frequented by Q's, Travellers, and others who had learned that true exploration involved a lot more that flying around in starships.
Omega Prime held the answers to many of the questions they asked, and that was why it had to be kept out of the hands of those who would abuse it. Deep under the planets crust was an ages old chamber which held the complete history of the universe, from beginning to end, past, present, and future.
No one knew how it got there, or who placed it there, it was stored in a
gigantic obelisk that when touched transferred the information
telepathically. Very few consulted the obelisk, not because of any
restriction, but of fear of what they might learn.
A year ago, a nearby empire set its sights on Omega Prime for colonization
and hostilities had broken out. Omega Prime didn't have fleets of
starships, or rows of ion cannons, but it had knowledge, and knowledge was
everything. They created a defense shielding around the planet that
disabled any technology that passed through it and rendered it useless.
When the colonization troops came, they found themselves disarmed and facing
the warriors of the Nejad, Omega Prime's elite warrior class, highly skilled
in hand to hand combat and weapons techniques, their abilities were almost
supernatural.
Nejad wore dark clothing, black usually. There was no one preferred weapon, every warrior had his or her favorite. They moved silently, usually alone, took no prisoners and left no survivors. Most Nejad training was more mental than physical, most developed psychokinetic abilities, enabling them to manipulate the physical environment without lifting a finger. A skilled Nejad warrior could burst your heart in your chest without ever laying a hand on you.
Needless to say, there were some very scared colonization troops in the swamps that day.
D'Lara sat down on a nearby log and motioned to Seven to join her. Inside she was warring with herself, trying to decide what to do to make Seven feel better, ease her burden a little. She slipped her hand into the crook a Seven's arm and linked them together.
"You miss it, don't you? Voyager, I mean."
Seven sighed and looked down. "You were right about me, D'Lara, my feelings
for you were adolescent."
The Nejad trainer stifled her sigh of relief, feeling a weight leave her body. Several months ago she had told Seven that a romantic relationship wasn't possible for them, that's Seven's feelings for her would be fleeting, and like all crushes, would fade away. Seven had reverted to her Borg behavior, gave her a clipped response, and never spoke of the subject again.
Now it was a more human Seven who sat next to her, the Borg mask gone.
"I made a terrible mistake, I...I miss Kathryn." It was the first time she had used the Captain's first name and it startled her a little.
"I know."
"I do find being here agreeable, but-"
"I know."
Seven drew herself up and took a breath. "I will adapt."
"Of course you will. Let's get some rest, we have a war to fight in the
morning."
***************************************************
"Aren't you a little young for an Admiral? Are you sure you didn't stumble into the wrong office?"
Kathryn looked up from her desk and beamed at her younger sister.
"You're early."
"Well, I though I'd surprise you. Is it okay if we leave early? I'm starved."
"Sure." She logged out of computer station and grabbed a coat. Tossing it over her arm she paused to give Phoebe a quick hug.
It startled Phoebe a little in it's intensity.
"Everything okay?"
"Yea, let's get out of here."
They walked to nearby cafe. Yesterday's rain was gone, leaving a blanket of dark clouds in its wake. The air had a chill that went right to the new admiral's joints. She rolled her eyes a little. Age, They sat on cafe's patio that overlooked the street. Phoebe was quiet until they got settled.
"So...what's Starfleet doing? They gonna mothball you along with that ship?"
"It sure feels that way. Right now I'm catching up on seven years of paperwork. Starfleet wants ore detailed narratives of the last few years."
"Narratives? That's odd phrasing."
"Tell me about it. The good news is they've agreed to a refit of Voyager, with no small amount of arm twisting. She deserved better than to be left drifting in some graveyard, being salvaged for parts."
Phoebe thought about issuing her own snide comment on Kathryn's attachment to the ship, but she owed it some respect for getting her sister home in one piece.
There was an ominous thunderclap and the rain began to fall, gently at first, obviously warming up for a big downfall.
"I thought this storm was over. You'd think with all the abilities we have we'd be able to whip up some decent weather," she smiled.
"Well, a wise man once said, 'You'll always get fucked by the weather."
Phoebe laughed out loud as she watched the rain soak the city. The patio stayed dry, safely tucked away from the rain. She lifted her cup of coffee to take a sip when she saw a man running down the street in their direction, splashing haphazardly through puddles on his way.
"Capt-Admiral Janeway!"
Kathryn look up to see a very wet Starfleet engineer standing in the rain with a rather urgent look on his face. "Mr. Barkley, what's going on? Why are you standing in the rain?" The was a small railing dividing the patio from the street and he crawled over it to get out of the rain.
"There's an urgent matter-I need you back at headquarters."
His face paled as he realized he had just ordered an Admiral.
"WHy didn't you hail me? I've got my-" she gestured at her comm badge. The panicked energy from the flustered engineer was draining away both their verbal skills.
"The storm's causing some problems."
"Look's like you just got fucked," Phoebe commented.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" She had only met the man a couple of times, once at Voyager's homecoming to thank him for his work in developing the communications technology to contact Voyager, and once in passing at headquarters.
"There's a communication coming in from the Delta quadrant for you, Admiral."
Janeway jumped out of her chair, slamming it backwards. "Sorry, Phoebe."
She practically leapt over the railing and began running back to Starfleet
headquarters with Barkley in her wake, and trying desperately not to get her
hopes up.
************************************************
D'Lara tried to relax as she sat in front of the microphone. She didn't like recording messages, thankfully this would be audio only. She cleared her throat.
"This is D'Lara, Master of Assassins for the Nejad of Omega Prime with a personal communique for Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager in regards to Seven of Nine."
She paused the recording and took a breath.
"I have an urgent request on behalf of myself and the Nejad that you return to Omega Prime. Seven's welfare has been greatly compromised. I will send you another message in forty eight hours. End transmission."
She leaned back and sighed.
"You done?" A squat, stumpy man asked.
"Yes. I need this set back up in two days. Are you sure of Voyager's position?"
"Absolutely. Now get out of here before you break something," he said, shooing her off.
"Thanks, Litz."
He gave her something that looked like a grin, or possibly a sneer, and shrugged his grubby little shoulders.
***************************************************
Janeway listened to the last of the transmission and wondered seriously if she was in danger of having a heart attack.