Note: At the end of this log is a scene I made up entirely. I didn’t like the way the log ended for this episode and a comment by Delta Blues Man, Jim Wright gave me the idea. The idea of valadation on Calems part. However, I wrote it as perhaps a canonized part.
Disclaimer: Paramount have the Mokra. I don’t claim them.
We were running low on Tellurium, essential to ship for power and warp drive. It was becoming critical. We were shutting down our systems one by one. Neelix let us know we were nearing a planet where we could get some Tellurium. He made contact with a member of the resistance movement against the Mokra, the ruling power.
Kathryn decided that herself, Neelix, B’Elanna and Tuvok would transport down and get the substance. She told me to keep our shields up as long as possible, considering that this was a very hostile planet.
Very hostile.
I really wish that Kathryn had sent me instead. It was a risk and she knew it. Kathryn likes risks. Must be a prerequisite for being a captain.
This mission was quickly becoming ugly . . . from all fronts.
**
Down in engineering, things were becoming critical. I was watching the warp core when Harry asked if we had any news yet on the Tellurium. We were down to 12% in matter/antimatter reaction. If it drops below 9%, the plasma injectors will lock up, allowing us to never re-initialize the nacelles.
"Options?" I asked Harry
"We’re going to reduce our power demands even further. We’re going to have to drop the shields."
"I don’t want to leave the ship defenseless this close to a hostile planet." I told him.
"All other systems are already off line. Life support is at minimal. You asked for options; this is the last one." Harry was right. We needed to buy time for the away team. I hesitated for only a moment.
"All right. Power down the shields." As Harry rerouted our lights came back on, well at least for the time being.
"That helped. It’s only a matter of time. There’s nothing more we can do without the Tellurium." Harry seemed sorry at this revelation. Any further discussion was cut short by a hail from Neelix.
"Neelix to Voyager."
"Yes, Neelix."
"The rest of the away team is gone, Commander." He said quickly. "They’ve been taken by the Mokra. What do you want me to do?"
Power was the first priority. "Did you get the Tellurium?" I asked. Maybe this mission wasn’t in vain.
"Yes, I have it."
"Then we need you here. Prepare to beam directly to engineering."
"Rerouting emergency power to Transporter room two and . . . energizing." Harry said, on the ball. Neelix materialized moments later. He handed the Tellurium quickly to Harry.
"Chakotay to away team. Captain, can you hear me?" No answer. As Harry worked on the Tellurium, I continued trying to hail the team. "Tuvok, Torres, please respond." Again, no answer. I told Harry to begin rerouting power back to all systems.
But what I really wanted to know, had to come from Neelix. "What happened down there?" I asked him, walking away and letting Harry get his work done.
"I don’t know exactly. I went into the shop and completed the trade. Then I heard weapons fire on the street. By the time I got out there, the Captain and the others were gone."
"Are you sure it was the Mokra?" I wanted to be perfectly sure. Sure before I did anything.
"I spoke to witnesses on the street. They said it was quite a fight." Sure, a Klingon with an attitude, a Vulcan who knows defensive posturing and a feisty captain. I’ll bet it was one hell of a fight.
"Any idea how the Mokra knew you were down there?" Someone had to know they were there.
"I. . .ah. . .someone must have told them we were coming. The Mokra have informants everywhere."
"Could your contact be one of them?" I asked him.
"I don’t think I would have made it back here with the Tellurium if he had been. Besides, he’s involved with the Auserian Resistance movement. He would never help the Mokra."
"They probably have the resistance movement under surveyance ." I hypothesized. Harry interrupted saying it was time to give the engines a try. It did work. One problem down, one to go.
I took Neelix with me. "I think it’s time we contacted the Mokra." I think I let my voice betray my mood. My best friend, one hell of an officer, and my captain. . . Kathryn, were missing."
Arriving on the bridge, I had Paris take us from behind the moon and put us in standard orbit around the planet. Nice and slow so we wouldn't look aggressive. Paranoid, hostile; no need for diplomacy. We were in view of the planet for just a few seconds when they scanned, then hailed us.
"On screen." I said.
"Third Magistrate Ogras of the Mokra order." As if that was going to impress me.
"Commander Chakotay of the Federation Star Ship Voyager."
"May I assume you wish to conduct business with us?"
"No, some of my crewmembers have already been to the surface. We've lost contact with them." Admit everything up front. Perhaps we'd have an easier time rescuing our away team.
"I see. You must have been unaware of our regulations. I'll transfer a complete copy for future reference."
"I have reason to believe they're being detained." I said. This guy was too slimy for my taste.
"Detained? That's possible. I'll look into it for you." Yeah, right and Vulcans may just sprout wings and fly.
"Thank you." and transmission was cut. Neelix said he wasn't like any Mokra he'd ever known, that he couldn't believe that they'd help us. We'd take any means of help. But I ordered continuous scans, for my own peace of mind.
I sat in my chair and brought up the command joint console, trying not to show how worried I truly was.
**
Much later, I invited the Third Magistrate aboard Voyager, hoping maybe he'd be a little more willing to help locate the team. In my office, he gave me the song and dance routine about how his world had been put under attack before and how they basically didn't take lightly to others (read us) just coming down to their planet. I told him we had no hostile intentions (thought I hoped my voice didn't betray my own hostility).
Supposedly, he trusted us, but his colleagues were more cautious toward 'disreputable' ships. Neelix took that one real bad. They sure didn't want to even believe that we were even from the Alpha Quadrant. But not him, he wanted to help us.
"Then I'd like to talk to my crewmembers." I told him. I was almost daring him to prove his interest 'to help'.
Oh no, that would be impossible. But he was sure interested in what reason we had for coming to his planet. i could be just as allusive.
"I'll consider that, after I talk to my crewmembers." I told him. He told me I wasn't making this easy. Then he offered to see what he could arrange. I saw him out and turned to Neelix.
"Talk to your contacts again. I want an alternative to sitting here waiting for him to get back to us."
I didn't trust this guy. We needed the team back. I wanted them back.
Not knowing their fate was the hardest thing.
**
Through his contact, Neelix found information about the prison we figured the team was being held at. Surrounded by metaphasic shields, no less! I asked if we cold find a way to beam through them.
Harry said he was working with their modulation pattern. We might be able to use it to our advantage.
It wasn't sounding good. If we beamed in, we would be surrounded by the Mokra guards. We couldn't find them through the sensors because of the shielding and rock. So, if we sent in anyone, they'd still have to located the away team.
A challenge if there ever was one.
**
There sensors covered the whole planet, so there would be no surprise element on our behalf. I was hoping we'd have that advantage. Harry said if we set the deflector grid to send out radion pulses, then one would be a transporter signal that wouldn't be detected right off. No way for the okra to concentrate their guards in any particular area.
"How long will it take to modify the deflector?" I asked Harry.
"I can do it right now."
I contacted Paris to see and make sure his team was ready for transport. We began just to use the pulses, almost ready to transport when the whole ship rocked from a hit that came from the surface. A precision hit to our deflector grid. They knew exactly where to hit us.
Our little action, the Mokra took as hostility. Eighty-five canons were pointed right at us. I had two minutes to think of something and fast.
But I was determined to get the away team back. Get my friends back.
At any cost.
**
While we were attempting to find a solution, Harry discovered a disruption in the shields around the prison. The disruption was coming from *inside* the prison. We could transport down, but the Mokra would be able to detect us. But Paris said they had other things to worry about. No time like the present.
Pronounced Mokra timing. They fired. One last scan for the away team, and we'd have to break orbit. Harry quickly told us to set a course.
"Where are you taking us, Mr. Kim?"
Apparently, there was a heavy atmospheric storm, disrupting our sensors. Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. A blind spot if we sat above it.
**
We got them back. It was good to hear Kathryn's voice again, though it held a tone I didn't quite recognize. She said to break orbit.
"Gladly." I told her.
I truly was.
**
After Kathryn came back on duty, Harry delivered the report on ships systems. When he came back out onto the bridge, his face said it all. Something was wrong with Kathryn; something bothering her. I handed the bridge to Tuvok and I entered her ready room. She was fingering what looked like a necklace.
"Captain?"
"What do you need, Commander?" She hadn't looked up yet.
"You seem distracted. Anything I can help with?" She put down the necklace and looked up to me.
"He died saving my life. He did many times. When we were first attacked by the Mokra guards. Again when they were looking for me."
"Very brave man." I said, hoping that would help her.
"And very confused. He believed I was his daughter, Ralkanna. He wrote to his wife every week for twelve years. Twelve years that she had been dead. Ralkanna was shot in the tunnels trying to free her mother."
"None of that was your fault, Captain. From what I saw of the Mokra, you were lucky he found you before the guards could get you."
Kathryn looked down at her desk. "I know. You're right. I only wish I could have saved him."
"Captain, you *did* save him." She looked quizzically at me. "You validated him as a person. You gave him faith at the end when he needed it. You gave him peace."
She gave me that crooked grin of hers. "Thank you, Chakotay. I needed to hear that."
I smiled back and went back to the bridge.
See, Kathryn has something about her. Calem wasn't the first she's ever validated, put faith back into or given peace to.
I should know.
It's a most remarkable gift.
**End Log**