Ghost of a Chance Read Online Free PDF Page B

phasers.
    “One moment, please,” she said. She signaled Kim to mute the channel, and he quickly complied. “Torres,” she said, hardly turning her head, “get back to work on those shields and weapons systems. And the warp drive. Whatever you can do will certainly be appreciated. Keep Mr. Tuvok informed.”
    “Yes, Captain,” B’Elanna answered. She shut down the bridge’s engineering station and headed back toward the lift. Janeway signaled, then accepted Kim’s nod once more.
    “We are making numerous minor repairs to our ship,” she said to the alien, “and we intend to move on when they are completed.
    They should not take long. Again, we have no quarrel with you, or with anyone in this quadrant. The repairs are necessary, however, and already under way.” She stopped short of apologizing for possible territorial infringement: she was fairly certain the alien vessel was not from the Drenar system, and never had been.
    She waited as a long silence followed. After a moment she decided to try again, the other way around. “Why are you in orbit around this planet?” she asked the aliens. “And why have you fired on us?”
    Yet another pause, then: “We are curious as to why you have chosen this planet in particular as the place to complete your repairs.”
    “I won’t bore you with particulars, but in part we are interested in replenishing our organic supplies—foods, seeds perhaps, and several raw materials. We were also attempting to determine whether the population below is in any danger due to the extreme seismic activity our sensors have detected. But you haven’t answered my questions.”
    It was worth a try, she thought. These aliens had to know something about what was going on down on that planet, and they had to know she was aware that they knew.
    She waited for their reaction. The wait was a long one. Janeway began to pace a few steps away from Chakotay, followed closely by Neelix, whose continued silence was for him commendable. Then she turned, waited for Neelix to get out of her way, and walked back.
    “Captain,” Neelix said softly, “I was going to say—” “It was just a matter of time, Mr. Neelix,” Janeway said. “Now, do you know anything about them?”
    “I think so.”
    “Captain,” the alien voice said at last. “You bring up an interesting point. That is, in fact, precisely what we are here for as well, to investigate the planet’s unusual geologic disturbances and possibly to offer aid to the planet’s inhabitants… if necessary. We only fired upon you because we thought you were going to attack us. We’ve never seen a ship like yours.”
    “Understood,” Janeway said. “Please stand by.” Again she signaled the channel mute. “Finish what you were going to say, Mr. Neelix,” she told the short alien still beside her.
    “I have been trying to do just that,” Neelix said with minor indignation. “They are a very old race, these Televek. A rather… hmm, unsavory lot, you might say.”
    “Go on,” Chakotay urged him.
    “Their past endeavors have included slave trading and piracy, and worse, I’m told. Though in more recent times they have become very well known in this quadrant as weapons brokers. Dealers in death.”
    “Parasites that feed off hostilities among others,” Janeway said, characterizing them.
    “And encouraging them, I believe,” Neelix added. “Good for business.”
    “The truth is, their kind are often necessary,” Chakotay suggested.
    “Where do you think outlaw resistance fighters like the Maquis got most of their weapons from?”
    “These particular traders are not known for their scruples, Commander,” Neelix went on. “They frequently sell to both sides in a conflict, or to all sides, raising the level of weapons technology little by little, and usually escalating the death toll in the process.”
    “Until their customers annihilate themselves completely,” Paris said, shaking his head.
    “Those practices could indeed