Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [80]
"Captain!" Neelix said, his voice thin and excited, as he hurried off the turbolift, Kes trailing close behind him. "We saw the whole thing on the monitors. Splendid! Splendid job! I knew all along those Televek weren't to be trusted."
"I think we all agree you were right," Janeway conceded.
"He often is," Kes said with a smile.
"It's good to see you up and around, Kes," the captain said.
"Thank you, Captain," Kes replied.
"She does look remarkably well, doesn't she?" Neelix remarked.
"Captain," Ensign Stephens said, intently examining one of the ops panels. "I have located the shuttle on the planet's surface.
Clear as can be. It just... it just appeared."
"That Televek cruiser may have been making the magnetic field interference seem much worse than it is," Chakotay suggested.
"Agreed," Tuvok said, looking down at his own displays. "We are scanning clearly now."
"Run a full sensor sweep of the area around the central power source," Janeway said. "Look for anything we might have missed, anything that might help us. And get a fix on that second cruiser down there. If they lied about everything else, they would have lied about its condition as well, which is what I've suspected since we spotted it."
She waited while Tuvok ran his scans. There was no sign of a liftoff as yet, but the Televek vessel's power source was active and levels were rising, indicating possible preparation for one.
Considerable activity was taking place in and around the site; warm bodies and equipment were being moved toward the cruiser.
"Looks like we may be getting some more company up here," Chakotay said. He examined the readings over Janeway's shoulder as he joined her and Stephens at Ops.
"We don't have much time, either way," Janeway said, half talking to herself. She looked at Chakotay. "Gantel had no intention of helping the Drenarians on the planet. And neither do his friends in the second ship. If anyone is going to do anything for those people, it will have to be us."
"And it'll have to be now," Neelix agreed, his lightly spotted brow forming a dark line over his small eyes. "We've still got an entire Televek war fleet breathing down our necks."
"There just isn't time to finish diverting the moons," Chakotay said.
"I don't want to abandon the effort any more than you do, but--" "I know." Janeway placed her fist loosely against her lips and cast her gaze downward, trying to concentrate. There was a way.
Like pieces of a puzzle, one she should be able to assemble, the answer was in her head somewhere, just around a corner. This she knew. She just needed to gather all of the pieces...
"We're missing something," she said, turning to the others. "We must be."
"What we're missing is our best chance to get out of here," Neelix suggested. "Captain, it never was your responsibility to protect or assist these Drenarians in the first place. I can appreciate your compassion--I feel the same way--but sometimes, when you've done all you can do and it just isn't enough, the only alternative is to accept that fact."
"I think he may be right about that, too, Captain," Kes said gently.
"Your people are so willing to help wherever and whenever help is needed, to do whatever needs to be done. I've seen it again and again.
It's one reason why I'm so glad to be here, learning from you. But I've also learned that even the best doctor loses a patient sometimes.
It's the will of the gods, perhaps, or it's just their time. You can't hold yourself responsible."
Janeway didn't have a good argument at the moment. She felt numb.
"We're talking about losing an entire world. And a most remarkable people. You haven't met them, Kes. They are worth saving, a fact that seems lost on the Televek. I don't want to give up."
"If I may, Captain, numbers