Seven of Nine - Christie Golden [1]
Before them on the huge screen was a grid displaying a particular area of space. Even though the grid had been scaled down dramatically, the mapped area filled the screen.
"That's why it's called an empire," said Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, softening the jibe with a smile.
"Well, yeah, but-wow! I mean, look at it!"
"Crossing through it, even at its narrowest point, will take several weeks. And circumnavigating it would take almost a year." Captain Kathryn Janeway crossed her arms and glared at the vast expanse of the Lhiaarian Empire, an imperfect circle of pale blue on the map.
Paris had used colorful terms, but he was essentially correct. It was the single biggest area of claimed space that any of them had ever seen. It made the Romulan and Klingon empires look like anthills.
Janeway suspected that the Borg's area of dominance would give the Lhiaarrian Empire a run for its money, but Seven of Nine had not been forthcoming with any details.
Besides, the Borg considered the entire universe their empire-they just hadn't charted all of it yet.
"Mr. Neelix, what do you have on the Lhiaari for me?"
The Talaxian perked up at the mention of his name and strode forward.
He examined his padd with a flourish. "Well, as we can see, it's quite the, ah, piece of space, isn't it? The term Lhiaarian Empire is actually something of a misnomer. The Lhiaari only live on a single planet, which is their homeworld and the capital of the empire, located about. .."
He delicately tapped the console and the mapped area shifted, zooming in on a single orb. It looked so much like Earth it made Janeway's heart skip a beat.
"Here. They are an intelligent race, not overly given to warfare, and quite advanced. However, they do seem inordinately fond of red tape.
"The entire perimeter of their space is loaded with checkpoints, and there are more sprinkled about here, here, and here. Apparently, it can sometimes take weeks for ships to negotiate passage if a vessel hasn't been given express clearance by Emperor Beytek himself."
"That is unacceptable." Seven of Nine stood erect at the console. Her face, pale, blue-eyed, and graced with a few remnants of Borg technology, was almost as unreadable as that of Commander Tuvok, the Vulcan security officer who stood silently beside her.
The blue light from the screen played across her features, glinting on the metal of her implants.
"We do not have the resources to sit idly in space dock awaiting clearance. "Hate to say it, but I'm with Seven on this one," said Torres. "Isn't there something we can do?"
"There are times on this journey when I would rather have a good old-fashioned firefight than keep kowtowing to the diplomats," said Janeway, a smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. "And right now is one of them. This sounds like the Bowmar all over again. But I don't see any other alternative. I'm not going to add an entire year to our journey just because we don't want to be annoyed by red tape. Neelix, how are we doing on foodstuffs?"
The Talaxian's dappled brow furrowed. "We're doing all right on seasonings, but staples are dipping below my comfort level. We haven't passed through any space where we could stop to replenish our supplies.
There is of course always the replicator and rations if we get into a tight spot."
"Rations. Mmmmm," said Harry Kim, rolling his eyes.
"If we are going to be stalled in space, twiddling our thumbs at an emperor's whim for a week or two, I would respectfully request that the replicator be reserved for medicines and medical supplies," put in the Doctor.
"Now wait a minute," interrupted Torres, turning with a frown.
"Engineering needs-" "That's enough!" Janeway's voice held an edge.
"We're not even in Imperial space yet and already we're arguing about who gets the replicators! Tom, how far are we from the first checkpoint?"
"We should be there in a few hours if we maintain