Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [65]
Ellis did a double take. Chakotay smothered a smile. He’d never seen his first officer look more surprised.
“Begging your pardon, Captain, but I assumed you’d be the one to lead an away team,” he said.
“I’m not quite the rebel that you and many in Starfleet think, Mr. Ellis,” he said, still smiling but also very serious. “It’s my first mission and I’m going by the book. I’m sure you of all people can appreciate that.”
Ellis continued to look nonplussed. The smile faded from Chakotay’s face. “In case you’re not sure, Mr. Ellis, that’s an order.”
Ellis nodded quickly. “Of course, sir. I was just—Sorry, sir. Do you have any, uh, recommendations as to whom you want on the team?”
“It’ll be your team and your mission, Commander. Assemble whomever you think would be best.”
Astall was fully aware that, like every member of her species, she was poor at hiding her emotions. So she concentrated intently on keeping her “Federation ears” on and staring straight ahead when she got into the turbolift with Sekaya, Ellis, and Fortier. Fortunately, they were talking intently among themselves, and she got off first. She scurried down the hall to sickbay and burst in on Kaz.
“Good, you’re alone.”
His lips twitched in amusement. “Well, hello, Astall. What can I—”
She waved her hands for silence. “Kaz, listen to me. I just came from the bridge. We’ve just had our first look at Loran II. While it doesn’t appear that there were any battles fought there, we weren’t able to detect any signs of human life.”
Kaz’s smile faded. “Damn,” he said, sighing. “That’s a blow.”
Astall wanted to let her eyes fill with sympathetic tears on behalf of the colonists, but refused to surrender to her emotions.
“But there was also a strange storm system that might well be artificial. Lieutenant Campbell said that it’s entirely possible that something was interfering with our sensors. It’s likely that Ellis will want you on the away team, in case they encounter any wounded,” she finished.
“Likely? Try certain. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll assemble a kit.”
“Jarem, you have to tell Chakotay. Tell him about what we did.”
He had been moving quickly, but now he froze. He turned to look at her.
“What we did,” he said coldly, “won’t interfere with the performance of my duty as a doctor. I told you that.”
“But Chakotay needs to know about it. There are others who can—”
His handsome, expressive face shut down. “No. I’m not going to tell him.”
“It’s one thing for you to operate on Voyager,” she continued, wringing her hands and bouncing slightly in her agitation. “I have no doubts whatsoever about your ability to function here.”
“Why, thank you, your confidence is overwhelming.”
Astall cringed. She hated sarcasm. To the sensitive Huanni, it often felt like a physical blow.
“But you’ll be going down in the middle of a storm,” she continued gamely. “To a colony. To a place where there could be Cardassian technology. There could be all kinds of triggers that could distress Gradak. I think you’ll be all right, frankly, and you seem to think so too. But we must let Chakotay know. He needs to make an informed decision. Surely you understand the need for that. It’s the right thing to do.”
Kaz turned away abruptly, but not before she saw his jaw tighten. She wondered what humanoids would think if they knew how easily Huanni could read them. Their body language and facial expressions, even that of the most reserved of them, told the story more eloquently than their words did. Even Vulcans weren’t immune to Huanni scrutiny. As highly emotional creatures themselves, Huanni were attuned to any signals from others.
Right now, she could easily see that Jarem Kaz was torn. He was wise enough to understand Gradak’s need to be healed, but embarrassed that he couldn’t control feelings that were welling up inside him, yet were not his own. He was fond of Chakotay and Janeway and wanted so much to prove his worth to them. He had a stubborn pride that didn’t want to admit that right now, he might not be able to do what he could be called on to do,