Janeway’s relief was clear. “You and I have a great deal in common, Captain.”
“I think that’s why I’m so hard on you. I know for sure that on any given day, I could just as easily be the one writing letters of condolence to heartbroken families.”
“There but for the grace of…”
“Something,” Farkas finished for her. “Someone, actually.”
“Doctor Sal?”
“Every captain should be lucky enough to have the same doctor for more than forty years.”
“I will bear that in mind.”
“The last time we spoke, I was angry. That’s a luxury you are not afforded. And I only enjoy it because you are standing behind me, taking responsibility for the actions of everyone you command.”
“Still, I appreciate your honesty.”
“You will always have it.”
“So how would you propose I answer the DTI?”
“Depends. Do you like being the admiral in charge of this fleet?”
“Very much.”
“Then sooner or later you’re going to have to follow that directive. I would be remiss in my duty if I didn’t tell you I believe it is the single dumbest directive ever issued. We’ve used our temporal shielding often enough to know that whatever the Krenim are up to, they haven’t made any alterations to the timeline since last we enjoyed their company. I’m inclined to believe that the only thing that might change that would be them picking up Voyager’s approach on their long-range sensors. I don’t know what has the DTI so spooked, but I don’t believe it’s the Krenim and I would need a lot more than the word of some temporal bureaucrat to make me curious enough to leave thirty of our people at the mercy of an alien species.
“So, here’s my promise to you, Admiral. The day Dulmur, Lucsly, or Admiral Akaar order me to take command of this fleet is the day I resign my commission. And if they think Chakotay, Paris, O’Donnell, or Fife would do any different, they don’t know us at all.”
“What if I ordered you to take Vesta back to Krenim space?”
“I’d lay in a course and do the best I could.”
Janeway bowed her head and shook it gently. When she lifted her face again to Farkas’s, her eyes were glistening.
“Thank you, Regina.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Chakotay to Admiral Janeway.”
Janeway tapped her combadge. “Go ahead, Captain.”
“I’ve just received a full report from Ensign Gwyn aboard the Okinawa. Lieutenant Patel successfully created a new interlocutor. She is in communion with the Edrehmaia and has provided us with their coordinates.”
It only took the admiral a few seconds to recover from the shock of Chakotay’s words. “That’s wonderful. We’ll lay in a course as soon as repairs are complete.”
“Captain Chakotay, this is Farkas. When you say, ‘in communion,’ what exactly do you mean?”
“Those were Gwyn’s words, Regina. And there is more to report.”
Farkas didn’t like the sound of that and she could see the dread creeping over the admiral’s face as well.
“Lieutenant Patel was unable to complete the experiment as intended. She has merged at the molecular level with the Edrehmaia. According to Gwyn, Devi Patel died a few hours ago, the moment our interlocutor was created.”
19
GALEN
The mess hall had been cleared of all personnel save Commander Glenn; Lieutenants Kim, Conlon, and Barclay; and the Doctor. Glenn was aware that the transfer of Conlon’s consciousness had not gone seamlessly, but in the two days she had spent with Velth, who in his quantum-agitated state did not require sleep, Conlon had performed her duties as chief engineer quite capably. Those duties had included preparations for several permanent alterations to the ship’s slipstream drive as well as the creation by the Edrehmaia of substances meant to integrate with the deflector controls and to provide new shields. All of this had been completed, but not yet implemented.
It was time to make a decision and while Glenn knew that, ultimately, she would make the call, she would not do so without the input of her senior officers. Weeks ago, Velth and Benoit would have been in this meeting.
Things had changed.
“In the interest of clarity and making certain we are all on the same page, would you go over the Edrehmaia’s proposal once more for the group, Lieutenant Conlon?”
“Yes, Commander,” Conlon replied. “Our initial supposition was correct. The scans the Edrehmaia took of our fleet alerted them to the presence of our slipstream drive. This was of interest not because of the speed it provides our vessels, but because of the unique ways in which a slipstream corridor interacts with normal space and subspace. It is also not technology they can simply replicate. Their methods of propulsion are unlike ours. They are generated from their physiology using undiluted radiant energy. What we initially identified as a vessel was actually a large group of Edrehmaia clustered together.”
“Our sensors are still unable to accurately render life signs, even when they approach as individuals,” Kim noted.
“That problem will be corrected once the modifications under discussion have been made,” Conlon said.
“Which are?”
“The Edrehmaia wish to leave our galaxy. They intend to travel into the void and beyond to the next nearest galaxy, Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical. In order to do that, they must breach the galactic barrier with a single star in tow. They have attempted to do this several times without success. The last attempt was made by a group of several million Edrehmaia, all of whom perished in the attempt.”
Glenn remembered well Velth’s description of the large spherical Edrehmaia structure he had seen. It awed and saddened her to understand that it was, essentially, a massive grave marker.
“A properly constructed slipstream corridor will allow them to do this,” Conlon continued. “Now that they have been given the molecular composition of benamite, they can provide us with an inexhaustible supply. They require our vessel, properly modified, to create and sustain the corridor.”
“It’s the part about towing a star into that corridor that has me worried,” Glenn admitted.
“A number of
