Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [79]
“You were an outsider,” Sekaya said. She sounded tired, as if the telling of this tragic story had drained her. “We talked about it, Mother and I and some of the others, and decided that we wouldn’t lie to you about it. We just…wouldn’t share that part of our colony’s history with you.”
Anger blazed inside him, then subsided to an ember. He supposed he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t been there, to suffer through it as she had, to know that a childhood friend—and in his sister’s case, a future husband—had been slain to satisfy the whims of a conquering people.
“Did you ever learn what they wanted? Why they performed the experiments?”
She shook her head. “No. Who knows, with the Cardassians? Maybe to implement new and improved torture devices. Maybe just to kill some time. But it is right that you knew, Chakotay. I know you’ve just been handed a big responsibility with Voyager, but even captains get to take shore leave now and then. Perhaps…perhaps you can come back home for a bit. I’ll show you the Cave of the Dead. Where we honored those who fell.” She swallowed and blinked quickly. “I made a special altar for Blue Water Dreamer.”
“I’d like that,” Chakotay said. He extended his hand, and she squeezed it and let it go.
“Now you know why I feel so close to Marius and his people,” she said. “I know a little something about the loss he’s feeling. And now, you do too.”
Chakotay cleared his throat. “We’re going to be landing soon,” he said. “And we can think about our tribe and its history in a brighter light when we try and figure out why that chamozi is down there.”
Sekaya nodded. “This sounds good. I have had enough of sorrows connected with our people, my brother. It’s about time we were able to share something positive.” Her eyes gleamed. “Let’s go see it.”
Chapter
21
“OUCH!” Ensign Walter Merriman hissed through his teeth at Kaz’s gentle probing. Even though Merriman had reported to sickbay immediately after his injury, his side was already beginning to bruise.
“Sorry,” Kaz apologized. “Well, you banged yourself up good, Ensign. Two broken ribs, a broken clavicle, and…are these bite marks? Good heavens, man, what were you doing on the holodeck?”
As soon as the words left his lips, he put two and two together and figured out exactly what Merriman had been doing on the holodeck.
The ensign’s face turned beet red. “Um, just a program,” he said.
Kaz smothered a grin. From the evidence in front of him, he was willing to bet that Merriman was running a program that involved Klingons—particularly Klingon females—and he’d relaxed the safety protocols. A lot.
“The safety protocols are there for a reason, Ensign,” Kaz remonstrated as he set about repairing the broken ribs. “You’d do well to adhere to them in the future.”
“Hey,” protested the burly Merriman, “a guy’s gotta work out his stress.”
“Certainly,” Kaz agreed mildly, encouraging Merriman to sit up. “I actively encourage vigorous and safe exercise. But stress is only increased if the, um, exercise climaxes, shall we say, in a visit to your friendly ship’s doctor.”
Kaz hadn’t realized that humans could turn quite that shade of scarlet. Merriman hastily got back into his uniform, murmured, “Thanks,” and left.
Abruptly, Kaz’s amusement evaporated. He’d just participated in a double standard, and one he didn’t like. Why did he find it amusing that Merriman had participated in a rough-and-tumble, slightly naughty, and perhaps sexual scenario on the holodeck, and yet was concerned about Akolo Tare? The obvious answer was that Tare hadn’t been a willing participant in the “program.” She’d been kidnapped, physically subdued and abducted in front of witnesses, and in all likelihood raped. If she’d programmed it that way, that would be one thing, but she had been assaulted against her will. And that could never be tolerated.
But what about the holograms in Merriman’s program? Granted, Klingons weren’t often assaulted against their will, but they certainly had no say in what they were programmed to do.
They’re much simpler programs, reason and logic