The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [25]
Viha Nata shook her head. "I am but one individual. The need here on Veruna Four now is for many helping hands. I can best serve my people by sharing the knowledge housed in this old head with those who have so valiantly fought the Akerians on our behalf."
The captain opened her mouth as if to contest the Verunan's last statement, then apparently decided to let it slide. "Let me briefly introduce my officers. This is my first officer, Commander Chakotay; Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres; Security Officer Lieutenant Tuvok; Chief of Operations Ensign Harry Kim; and here on my left is Lieutenant Tom Paris." The introductions over, she leaned toward the Viha, all business now. "You say the Akerians have a base in Sun-Eater. Do you know if it takes them anywhere? Is it a tunnel of sorts?"
Again, the Viha shook her head. "We know they go in and they go out.
Our five scouts who died so bravely apparently discovered much on their fatal mission. Unfortunately, the transmission was lost to us shortly after reception. We did not have time to interpret the data for which they gave their lives."
"Well, then, Viha, I've got a surprise for you," said Janeway.
"We did get the data. We'll be more than happy to transmit it to you after the meeting. For now, Mr. Kim, can you summarize?"
Beaming, Kim sat up straighter, occasionally consulting the PADD in front of him. "We got both visual and audio from the scout ship but not very much of either. There was a lot of interference." He reached forward and activated the program on the viewscreen. Viha Nata's face blipped out to be replaced by a strange oblong shape that resembled a planet--provided it was viewed inside a fun house mirror.
"We have no records of the ship's entrance into the concavity.
I'd guess sensors, maybe even visual, were too confused to record any useful information. This... hole, for want of a better term, is enormous. That's not just a base in there, Captain--that's a whole planet."
Paris whistled softly.
"The hole's gravitational pressure is strong enough to distort light, as you can see here, making all the images themselves appear contorted.
That's what makes me think the concavity is not simply a wormhole, but something more complicated. Normal space would not be distorted, and a true black hole wouldn't permit any light at all. What we can see here and what the audio confirms is that there are the ruins of some sort of ancient civilization on this planet."
Kim enlarged the picture, leaned forward, and pointed a finger at some puckers and shapes on the distorted planet face. "These," and he indicated a couple of dome-shaped objects, "are constructs that have been erected by the Akerians--for the purpose of housing Verunan slaves." His face was somber.
"Slaves? For what?" demanded B'Elanna. "What could they possibly want on a destroyed planet?"
"Information," said Janeway. "Under that kind of gravitational pressure, excavation of the planet would be a long, difficult, dangerous job. Am I right, Mr. Kim?"
Kim nodded. "That is what the three rescued Verunans said."
"How many more remain?" asked Chakotay.
Kim shrugged. "The ones the scout crew managed to rescue had no idea how many others were left. Shortly after the rescue, the scout ship apparently tripped some sort of sensor alarm. The Victory and the Conquest appeared shortly afterward. The scout ship fled--and the rest we know." He deactivated the program, and the Viha's face returned to the screen.
"This still doesn't tell us if there's a wormhole in there or not," said Chakotay.
Tuvok cocked an eyebrow. "The fact that it was not mentioned would appear to indicate that there was not one present within the concavity."
"Not necessarily," commented Paris, leaning forward. "We already know that the graviton activity this far away from the concavity is interfering with our sensors. We can only imagine how bad it would be in the heart of the thing. Maybe the scouts didn't report it because they weren't able to determine