Marooned - Christie Golden [10]
As she walked, not too slowly, not too fast, she touched her commbadge. "Janeway to Chakotay."
"Chakotay here, Captain. How do you like Oasis? Is it a shopper's paradise as advertised?"
She didn't even bother to explain. "Scan for life forms aboard the station."
"Aye, Captain." Not for the first time, Janeway realized that her first officer was a godsend. There was puzzlement in the calm voice, but Chakotay wouldn't waste precious time in questions, not with her own voice as icy and precise as it was.
A beat, then: "Captain, we're reading only five life signs, all but one of which are from our ship. Wait. Make that four. When we first arrived, there were at least a hundred people on the station. What's going on?"
The young couple had kissed and made up. Janeway knew that if she strode up to them and tried to talk to them, they would be completely unable to interact with her. Holograms. Everyone here but her crew members was a hologram.
Suddenly Janeway fully registered all of what Chakotay had reported. "You said four. Who's missing?"
A brief pause, then: "Kes. And every ship but Voyager has left."
Briefly, Janeway closed her eyes, gathering strength. "Lock onto all life forms and beam them aboard immediately. I'll explain when I'm on board."
The first thing Janeway noticed when she materialized in the transporter room was that every other member of her away team lay limply on the floor, unconscious. There were no marks on the still forms of Neelix and Paris, but Torres's head bore a nasty gash at the base of her skull.
"Emergency beam out to sickbay, all of us," she snapped at the startled looking young woman who had transported them aboard. Immediately the world around Janeway shimmered, and when it became clear again she was standing in sickbay.
The doctor immediately rose, all brusque efficiency. He glanced briefly at his captain with a raised eyebrow. She nodded her head; she was fine. "Well, at least one of you has managed to avoid the usual-" One look from Janeway changed his mind about finishing the comment. In a more constructive vein he said, "Captain, if you don't mind I could use some help getting them on the tables. What happened?" he demanded as he flipped open his medical tricorder.
"I'm hoping you can tell me. We separated about forty-five minutes ago. Are they-"
"They'll be fine," he replied, not taking his dark brown eyes off the readings. "I'll let you know what I find."
Janeway had already turned and was heading for the bridge. If her suspicions were correct, then they couldn't afford to waste any time.
"Status report, Mr. Chakotay," Janeway demanded as she stepped out of the turbolift.
"There are no life forms aboard Oasis at all any more," Chakotay replied. "All of the ships departed some time ago. Captain, what happened down there?"
Janeway didn't answer at once, instead approaching Ensign Harry Kim and handing him the small, shiny oval stone that she had thought contained star charts but now, she suspected, bore more vital information. "Mr. Kim, you need to get someone on translating this immediately."
"Aye, Captain," the young man replied.
"Mr. Tuvok, I understand that the other ships docked at Oasis departed some time ago. I need you to get to work on tracking them."
The Vulcan nodded his comprehension. Briskly Janeway strode to her command chair. "There's an old Earth term for the roles in which we were cast, Mr. Chakotay, and that term is sucker."
I'm afraid I don't understand."
"I wish I didn't." She tapped her commbadge. "Bridge to sickbay. What happened to the patients, Doctor?"
"A variety of things,- came the doctor's dry voice. "Mr. Paris was drugged, Ms. Torres was bashed over the head with a blunt object of some sort, and Mr. Neelix, in a curiously satisfying bit of irony, was poisoned."
"How are they doing?"
"They're all fine, though Mr. Neelix seems quite agitated that Kes did