Dark Matters_ Ghost Dance (Book 2) - Christie Golden [4]
"I do not wish to hear it," said Soliss, mindful of the disapproving presence of Trima only a few steps away.
"But I will say it, and then you will know. My name is Chakotay, and my companion is Tom Paris."
CHAPTER
2
CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY DIDN'T PARTICULARLY want breakfast, but her appearance in the mess hall at 0530 every morning over the last week had cheered the crew considerably. More than once, she'd spoken quietly to an exhausted B'Elanna Torres over a cup of Neelix's latest coffee substitute, or ruffled the auburn hair of little Naomi Wildman.
She'd chatted with Neelix himself, who kept apologizing for his attempted murder of their Romulan guest, and told him again and again that he had not been mentally capable of knowing what he was doing. Janeway thought the Talaxian was finally beginning to believe her.
She'd tried a fish-and-rice dish for breakfast that
Ensign Wu had sworn was divine, and found to her surprise that she liked it. And she had sat alone, knowing that even if no one chose to speak with her, her presence was seen and appreciated after the incredible and unsettling events of the last few weeks.
She, her crew, and the noble Voyager vessel that had gotten them this far had undergone a great deal together over the past six years. They had had their share of adventure, seen things some sublime and horrific, borne witness to some of the bravest, most compassionate acts living beings could commit as well as the most craven and appalling.
But the last couple of weeks had nearly eclipsed everything that had gone before.
She sipped her coffee substitute slowly. It "was pretty good. A touch grain like, but the aroma was damn near perfect.
It had begun with a series of mysterious wormholes that had apparently been following the ship. That led to the reunion with the Romulan scientist Telek R'Mor, who had told them a tale that seemed straight out of the realm of fiction. It was a story of dark matter and the aliens who manipulated it, of so-called Shepherds both benevolent and hostile. They had seen firsthand what this peculiar, mutated dark matter could inflict: murderous rage, paranoia, recurring nightmares, hallucinations, memory loss, cancers that wouldn't respond to treatment.
You name it, Janeway thought wryly, her mouth curving into a hint of a smile, we had it.
It had almost destroyed them and their ship, until they had managed to track down one of the kinder Shepherds, Tialin. She had appeared to them as an old woman and given them what B'Elanna Torres had taken to calling That Damned Ball. Inside That Damned Ball Tialin had placed all the dark matter that had been contaminating the ship. Right now, Torres, Telek, and Seven were hard at work trying to unlock the mystery of Shepherd technology as exemplified by the sphere. Once they understood it, they could put it to work and be about the surprising next phase of their journey. It was a good, old-fashioned quest hi the cause of what was right. Tialin had asked them to take the orb and help the Shepherds track down and gather up the mutated dark matter still prevalent in the quadrant
Janeway had agreed.
Her smile at the thought of herself as King Arthur leading the quest for the Holy Grail faded a little. Her best knight was not with her. There had been a price exacted, and even now Janeway didn't know how dear that price would eventually be. While on the planet, Commander Chakotay, her first officer and friend, and Ensign Tom Paris had disappeared.
Then, of course, there were the Romulans, and Khala. How they were going to make sense of all of this, Janeway had no clue.
Even as her thoughts turned to the young woman, Shamraa Khala Remilkansuur entered the mess hall with Harry Kim. People stopped in mid-chew, then hurriedly returned their attention to their meals. No
one wanted to be rude, but Janeway knew her crew was desperately curious about Khala. She had been the only living thing on a dead planet, claiming to have