Marooned - Christie Golden [28]
Aren ignored him. "Why should I do something for nothing? What do you propose to do for me, Captain Janeway?" He rose, somehow maneuvering out of the soft, lumpy pillows with utter grace. They stood eye to eye now, the commander of the pirates and the captain of the Federation starship. "What do you offer in exchange?" He paused, seemed to think, and said brightly, "Why, how about Voyager?"
"You aren't interested in talking at all, are you, Aren?" said Janeway, her tones clipped and harsh. "You've no intention of letting Kes go under any circumstances. This," and she gestured at the spacious room, "this was all just to flex your muscle, wasn't it? A grand show, to impress us. We don't impress that easily."
"Captain, please!" Kes's voice, soft as ever, trembled. Janeway turned to look at her. "You're both acting as if I'm some kind of trophy or something. I'm not. I'm a person." Janeway realized abruptly that Kes was absolutely right. She stepped back, letting the young woman speak for herself.
Kes turned to face Aren, staring up at him determinedly. "Aren, this is wrong. I don't want to be here. I want to be with my friends, free to go wherever I want. This is beautiful, yes, but a cage is a cage, no matter how lovely."
"Kes," and Aren softened as he looked at her, "You say that only because you don't really understand what I'm offering you. Give me time. You'll see."
He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "There were other things I had planned to show you, Captain. Our version of your holodeck. A hydroponics bay, which I specifically acquired for Kes's pleasure. This is no prison. I'd hoped to make you see that. I'd hoped we could dine together and chat pleasantly." He glanced about, and his expression became almost wistful. "So many interesting new races. The conversations we could have had!
"But you have clearly stated that you have no interest in such pleasant pursuits. I respect that, Captain Janeway, though I'm sorry. I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."
"We won't leave without Kes," said Janeway, but it was a hollow threat and she knew it. They'd have tofor now.
"Yes, you will. And consider yourself lucky that I'm not a vengeful man." He snapped his fingers and at once the armed guards who had escorted them in appeared, their weapons held loosely, comfortably, in their arms.
Janeway allowed herself one last, long, evaluating look at the commander of the pirates.
"You're letting us go? Just like that?"
"Just like that," Yashar echoed. "Captain, I am a Ja'in, not a murderer. VIHY shouldn't I let you go? You are no threat to me."
You've won this round, Yashar, she thought to herself, but you won't win the next one.
"I'm not buying this. He's really letting us go?" said Paris rhetorically even as he tapped in the commands for liftoff.
"It would appear so," said Tuvok. "Although I must admit, Lieutenant, I share your suspicions. Captain, there must be a reason Aren is permitting us to depart unchallenged."
Janeway, her eyes on her own console, nodded absently. "Agreed, Mr. Tuvok. I don't believe he's really done with us yet. He clearly seems to think that whatever weapons he has on hand are enough to handle Voyager, and that's an unsettling thought. We may despise him, but we don't dare underestimate him. Whatever he is, Aren Yashar is no fool."
She glanced up for a brief moment as the shuttlecraft began to ascend, looking around at t-lie guards who, while still holding their weapons, were not aiming them at the departing visitors. The vessel rose and began to speed toward the rendezvous coordinates with Voyager. There had been no attempt to halt their departure, to challenge them, nor even, she mused, to follow them.
"So, Captain," came Neelix's conspiratorial voice as he edged up behind her. "What's the plan?"
Janeway sighed softly, and with a nod turned over the controls to Torres. She rose and stretched as her chief engineer silently