Death of a Neutron Star - Eric Kotani [24]
"No," Tyla said. "For losing."
The captain still looked puzzled. How could she make the captain understand? "Let me put it this way," Tyla said. "There is no word for 'loss' in the Qavok language. They win or they die."
The human captain was nodding. "So we need to give those three ships a way out."
Now it was Tyla's turn to be confused. "Captain? A way out? If you can destroy them, you must destroy them. They are Qavok."
Captain Janeway gave her a sad but gentle smile. "It seems you are missing a few words from your language as well, such as 'compassion' and 'compromise.' "
Tyla could feel her face growing hot, her anger rising. She forced herself to stay still.
"I'm going to ask you to help me here," Janeway said.
Tyla took a deep breath and forced down her anger over the insult. "I will try."
"I'm going to ask you to give up your claim on the yacht, so I can return it to the Qavok."
"What?" Tyla almost shouted. Again she forced herself to remain still. She could see the two guards out of the corner of her eye. If she even made a wrong step they could cut her down instantly. "I suppose you would also like me to return to the Qavok?"
"Of course not," Janeway said. "But if we give them back the craft we might be able to stop the killing here. We'll drop you and Dr. Maalot off at your homeworld as soon as we witness the binary explosion. We have to stay here to make sure the Qavok don't send the unexploded star toward your homeworld."
Tyla forced herself to take another breath. The main screen still showed the three Qavok warships chasing after Voyager around the binary neutron star. It had taken a dozen of her people's ships to defeat three Qavok warships. Yet the craft she now was in could do it easily and didn't want to. Still they would make sure the Qavok did not destroy her homeworld. These humans were a very strange people.
"I relinquish my control of the yacht," Tyla said.
"Thank you," Janeway said, nodding. She had a faint smile on her face, as if she understood what Tyla was thinking. Could the humans also read minds?
"Hail the Qavok," Janeway said. "Tell them well give them what they want."
"Response coming in, Captain," the one they called Ensign Kim said.
"On screen," Janeway said as she stood. "Tyla, move sideways about two steps to get out of the picture. No point in rubbing salt in their wounds."
Tyla stepped sideways.
The face of a Qavok warrior filled the screen a moment later.
"You surrender?" the Qavok asked.
Tyla wanted to jump at the screen, scratch his tiny eyes from his face, stab the Qavok a hundred times in his dozen tiny hearts. Yet the humans around her seemed to have no reaction at all to the image of the Qavok.
Captain Janeway actually laughed at the Qavok. "Of course not. But I am willing to call a cease-fire. And to show my good intentions, I will return your prince's yacht to you."
"And the Lekk escapees?" the Qavok asked.
"They will remain on my ship and be returned home," Janeway said.
Tyla could hear the firmness in the captain's voice. The same firmness Tyla had felt when caught during her escape attempt.
"I will consider your offer," the Qavok said, and cut the connection.
In all her life, Tyla had never imagined a Qavok considering an offer of peace. Yet this human woman seemed to control them at her whim.
"Keep us ahead of that fleet, Tom," Captain Janeway said.
"No problem," he said. "As long as they stick together."
"I bet they will for the moment," the captain said.
"Confirmed," Tuvok said.
The captain turned to Tyla. "Any suggestions?"
"None," Tyla said, still staring at the screen in wonder.
"They had an alliance with the Xorm."
"That wasn't so much a peace treaty as it was a standoff."
"And that's lasted for thousands of years?" the captain asked, clearly amazed.
"That is what history teaches us," Tyla said. "I know nothing more."
Janeway nodded. "So it seems that if they don't take