The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [54]
"You have helped me find answers for questions that I never thought to ask, friend Chakotay. By all means, I will take you inside the First Place--the colony ship, as you call it."
He smiled at her. Excitement was also rising within him.
Chakotay was blessed with an even temperament, had learned over years of hard lessons to keep a steady head, but he had never lost that sense of enthusiasm for the new, the unknown.
The captain continued. "Chakotay, we've found out a lot of things here, too--things that I think you should know."
He read between the lines. Had the information been for Viha Nata's ears as well as his own, Janeway simply would have told him. They'd found out something, something they weren't yet willing to share with the Verunans. Chakotay felt his initial enthusiasm ebb and prayed that it wasn't bad news.
"Understood, Captain. Do you want the away team to beam up now?"
"No, this can wait. Go ahead and see if you can get into the colony ship. I don't think it's necessary to instruct you to record everything. Our Mr. Kim would love to join you, but I've finally managed to convince him to get some sleep for the first time since this whole thing started. I'll send him down if there's something you need his expertise for, but otherwise I'd like him to get some rest."
"Agreed."
"One other thing. You've got five hours to learn what you can, then I want you and the other officers currently on Veruna Four back up here on the Voyager. From the information on the Akerian computers, we now know where their home world is and how fast their ships can travel.
What we don't know is how badly disabled their ship was and how long it would take them to repair it. But I'd rather err on the side of caution. The minimum time for an Akerian ship to travel to and from Akeras has come and gone.
We're on borrowed time. I'd like for us to get in and out of Sun-Eater before they show."
"Agreed," Chakotay replied. He felt anger stir within him.
Didn't the Verunans have enough to deal with, with their murdered sun, their dying world, and their enslaved brethren, without having to worry about a renewed Akerian attack? "It would save time if you could have us beamed directly to the site."
"Very well." There was a pause, then her voice came again with a hint of mirth. "Happy hunting."
He gave her the coordinates, then signed off. "With your permission, Nata, we'd like to transport you to the site."
"Certainly," the Viha replied. "I have had more adventures in the last few days than I have all my life. If your people stay, Chakotay, they may well restore my youth."
A few moments later, they materialized fifty meters outside one of the bulbous ends of the ship. Up close, it was even more impressive than it had been from a few kilometers distant. This section alone was roughly the size of Voyager. It was more overgrown than it had appeared at a distance as well.
"Walk softly," were the first words out of Viha Nata's mouth.
"For you tread upon holy ground."
Chakotay glanced down. Various items littered the brown grass: beads, necklaces, lamps fashioned of the hot muddy clay, trinkets of all sorts. For a brief instant he was confused and then realized that the gently swelling lumps of earth that covered the immediate area in front of the ship were not natural formations.
"It's a burial ground," he said softly, reverently.
Nata nodded. "We return to the First Place when we die--at least," she amended, "our bodies do."
Chakotay itched with curiosity about what the Verunans thought regarding life after death. More than anything he could recall wanting in the recent past, he wanted to take Nata to meet his family back in his homeland. What stories, what rituals, what magic to ease the heart and spirit.
But there was no time for that, no time to be properly reverent to the dead Verunans who silently slept the eternal sleep all about