Ghost of a Chance - Mark Garland [96]
"Bridge to Engineering."
"Torres here, Captain."
"Belay that warp drive reconfiguration order. We've still got moons to move, and it looks as if we just might get the chance."
Janeway turned to Chakotay and saw a stark, wide-eyed look suddenly cross his face. He gasped as his breath seemed to catch in his throat.
She tried to reach for him, but suddenly she couldn't see him anymore, and the ghosts were with her.
***
Voices filled Janeway's mind, but they were not all the voices of ghosts. Among them were the frightened, astonished voices of more than one hundred forty men and women, the entire crew of Voyager. All together, somehow, somewhere, they touched one another in the gentlest way. Then the ghosts began to speak to everyone at once.
There were no words, just as before; it was more a sense, an essence, a tacit meaning. This time, however, there were no visions of suffering, no attacks, no fear, no omens of catastrophes to come, no dead. Just a notion that could only be translated into words like "thank you"...
"the children"...
"thank you"...
The children were the Drenarians, Janeway thought, sure of it.
But the people of Drenar Four were not the children of the ghosts, and the ghosts were not their ancestors. The reality was better than that.
Yet even as those thoughts came to her, the images in her mind--in the mind of everyone on board--suddenly changed. She saw something of the great consciousness that had sent the ghosts, the presence that had spoken to her and to Chakotay, and that spoke to the others now.
At their first entry into the alien stream of consciousness a blizzard of perceptions overwhelmed the crew, bits and pieces of galaxies and worlds and peoples, information that came in emotional as well as visual form. But the stream quickly narrowed and became an image only Janeway recognized, that of a fantastic alien vessel, a ship several hundred times Voyager's size... passing before her eyes, blocking countless stars from view...
CHAPTER 17
Lieutenant Torres waited patiently to be addressed while Janeway listened to the reports of the other officers gathered at the briefing room table. Voyager was almost back to normal.
"We're ready to get under way, Captain," B'Elanna said in turn.
"We have nearly full warp capability, and full impulse." With Drenar Four's three moons finally moved into their projected positions she had at last been able to reconfigure the warp drives. She had even managed to get a small repair crew down to the planet to retrieve Voyager's damaged shuttlecraft.
And according to preliminary data, the planet itself had already begun to quiet, though this change was measurable only by using Voyager's sensors; it would be weeks before the Drenarians noticed a real difference. But it would be enough of a difference, B'Elanna thought, quite pleased with the notion.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Janeway said. "A good job, all of you."
"How soon will we be leaving?" Neelix said, the first time he had spoken this morning.
"Soon enough," Janeway told him. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
Neelix looked slightly miffed. "I'm not, Captain. I simply wanted to mention that before we go, we ought to take one of your shuttlecraft over to those abandoned Televek cruisers and do a little... poking around, for inventory's sake."
Janeway and Chakotay looked at each other, then both of them turned toward B'Elanna.
"Agreed," B'Elanna said. "After all, they did say those ships might have the kinds of parts we need. Maybe that was the one thing they were telling the truth about."
"Neelix," Janeway said with a smile, "I'm going to take you up on that.
Paris, lay in a course to those abandoned ships. We'll beam over.
Commander," she told Chakotay, "and B'Elanna, make a list. We're going shopping!"
Within minutes Voyager stood alongside one of the silent, drifting Televek cruisers. A moment later Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, and Lieutenant Torres materialized