Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [105]
The body of the captive lay on the examination table, dissected now as a result of his necropsy. Trakis had found nothing remarkable during the procedure; in spite of the Kazon belief that these creatures might be harnessed in some way to act as a fighting force, the physician could find no evidence that the Tokath possessed a large enough brain to be intelligent. As he suspected, they functioned purely on instinct-and as such, were an unruly and potentially dangerous ally. It would be like trying to train a pack of feral dogs.
Trakis finally found a frequency that looked promising, a low-energy subspace band almost indistinguishable from the ship's warp-core emissions, and he began a carefully modulated series of hails. It would require some luck, to be sure, but his chances of getting off this ship alive had just risen dramatically.
"Captain, we're being hailed." Rollins looked down at her in some puzzlement, and Janeway turned to him.
"By whom?"
"I'm not sure. It's coming from the Kazon ship, but the message is being piggybacked on a very low frequency subspace carrier wave. I don't know why the Kazon would go to that trouble."
"On screen." She looked up and saw a staticky image fill the screen; she couldn't see the figure well and couldn't understand him because of a noisy interference.
"Attempting to clear the transmission," said Rollins, and within seconds the sound had cleared significantly though the image had improved only slightly.
"dis.. attempting to contact the Federations on their ship. Is anyone receiving this message? I am Trakis, a Trabe physician taken prisoner by the Kazon. Repeat, I am attempting to contact the Federations-was "This is Captain Janeway of Voyager. We are receiving you."
The figure on the screen seemed to slump in relief. "Captain... I'm glad to hear from you. I'm asking for asylum-the Vistik have no further use for me and I suspect they'll terminate me soon. Can you use your technology which transports individuals to bring me onto your ship?"
Janeway's mind raced, assessing risk factors. "Our transporters only function within a distance of forty thousand kilometers. We'd have to put ourselves in weapons range of the Kazon-and at the moment our phaser arrays are offline. What's more, we'd have to drop shields to bring you on board." The figure leaned toward the screen. She still couldn't see him well through the interference, but she recognized the desperate tone in his voice. "I have information which will be of value to you-the reason the Kazon are so interested in this planet, and why they are trying to destroy you."
"Dr. Trakis, you don't have to be valuable to us in order for us to assist you. If we can help, we will."
"Thank you, Captain. I am in a small laboratory on the starboard side of the ship, near the ventral airlocks."
"Remain at your station until you hear from us."
Trakis acknowledged, and the transmission ceased. Janeway pondered the implications of this conversation. It could be a Kazon trick, of course. That was probably the more likely explanation. And yet, there was something genuine in the fear Trakis had projected, and it was true that a Trabe was never safe at the hands of the Kazon.
She was intrigued by his promise of information. Did he know something that would help her retrieve her crew? It was a tantalizing prospect. But before she could reflect further, she was interrupted. "Engineering to the bridge."
"Janeway here."
"Captain, we've got the phasers back."
"Good work, B'Elanna. What was it?"
"A microfracture in the PDM crystal. So small it was virtually undetectable-we had to infer it from the prefire chamber response. But we're back on-line now."
Janeway's mind raced. Now they could face the Kazon as equals-even superiors. They must act quickly, while the Kazon still thought they were disadvantaged. She turned to Chakotay.
"Battle stations, Commander. Rollins, divert all auxiliary power to the shields. Mr. Paris,