The Murdered Sun - Christie Golden [6]
Janeway glanced over at Kim, who shook his head. "Impossible," said the ensign. "We'll need to be much closer in order to get any readings that would be worthwhile--even to determine if the wormhole is inside the black hole or not."
"I would like to reemphasize that all the spaceship debris we have encountered up to this point has been from vessels inferior in construction to the Voyager," said Tuvok, his dark face as calm as if he had been making idle conversation. He tilted his head, his eyes scanning the rest of them. "While this is far from being a definite assessment of their power, it is certainly an indication of the type of vessels they have encountered and subsequently been able to defeat."
Janeway leaned back in her chair, her eyes on the table.
Chakotay watched her intently, wondering if her mind, like his, was racing with a hundred thousand scenarios of eventual encounter with this mysterious race that had gotten Neelix so agitated.
"Mr. Chakotay?"
Her sudden turn of attention to him forced the first officer to refocus his thoughts, but he recovered at once. "It's a calculated risk," he said. "But then, so is every single move we make out here in the Delta Quadrant. We're constantly facing the unknown. There's nothing to count on out here but ourselves and our ship."
He leaned forward, his gaze locked with Janeway, but his words addressed to them all. "I say we proceed but with caution. The wormhole--or black hole, whichever it turns out to be--is located in a solar system with eight planets. Neelix doesn't know where the Akerians' home world is. I think there's a good chance that the Akerian home world is one of these planets. Perhaps we should travel slowly, constantly sending out a greeting. If the Akerians think we're looking for them in a peaceful fashion, perhaps they will behave in the same manner. Let's give them no cause to perceive us as a threat."
He'd been watching Neelix out the corner of his eye as the Talaxian grew more and more agitated. Now Neelix exploded with, "It doesn't matter to the empire if you're a Bekovian toth-eater with six-centimeter fangs or a little bug on their nose, they're going to perceive you as a threat and deal with you accordingly!"
"And just how is that, Neelix?" Tom Paris's face was all guileless innocence, save for the crafty smile that quirked his lips and spoiled the illusion.
"I'm not the one who wants to find out, am I?"
Janeway sighed. "What I'm hearing from Mr. Kim is, we can't determine if that wormhole is or isn't a way home by sitting here, correct?"
Kim nodded. "Yes, Captain."
"And Tuvok thinks that we'd be fairly safe if our unpleasant neighbors do show up."
"Correction," said Tuvok. "We have no specific reason to think we would not. However, there is always the risk of danger in encountering a new race."
Chakotay smothered a smile. He had learned to respect Tuvok when the Vulcan had worked undercover on Chakotay's Maquis vessel.
The respect continued, even when Tuvok had revealed the true nature of his mission.
"Well, it sounds to me like we should go ahead--cautiously. Any objections? Besides you, of course, Neelix."
Chakotay glanced around the table. Nobody seemed inclined to disagree.
"Then let's do it." Janeway's cool expression melted into a warm smile that lit up her features. "It's the best possibility to come our way in a long time. If there's a wormhole in that system, we're going to find it, Akerians or no Akerians.
Stations, everyone. Yellow alert."
***
It was always easy to sound brave, Janeway had found. Almost always easy to appear brave. Snap out the words, hold your head just so, force your body language into communicating what you wanted your crew to "hear." But making yourself feel brave?
That was another matter entirely. As she walked with her senior staff back onto the bridge and slid into her chair, she said a silent prayer to anyone or anything that might heed such missives: Please, let this be the right thing.
She'd