Star Trek Voyager: The Gift

Star Trek Voyager: The Gift 13. 101 Ways to Kill a Cardassian

“…These renegades, acting without the support of the Cardassian government, want the war to be reignited, don’t play into their hands.” The message paused, as if to give time for their cold, bureaucratic words to sink in. It was enough time for Seven’s ears to register Chakotay’s strangled gasp of disbelief, as if he’d been thrown in arctic waters and was fighting for every breathe of air. The sound made her stomach lurch in pity; she after all knew the agony of disregard, abandonment. Her lips even opened slightly, but she was saved from the struggle of searching for words by the message starting up again, “The rescue ships are to pick up all survivors and congregate on Quelan VIII, where the survivors will be offered all the support and counselling the Federation can give. We…”

“Turn it off.” Chakotay’s voice manifested as a growl from deep within his chest.

“Of course.” Seven replied quickly, slamming her fist with unexpected force down on the button. The message cut out instantly, leaving the forest eerily soundless once again. The growl of his words still reverberating in her ears, Seven didn’t dare look into his face, her eyes instead fixed on the shards of broken glass at her feet. Finally, cursing her weak will, she lifted her head but still couldn’t look him in the eyes, “Chakotay, I…” She could go no further, her chest seemed to collapse inwards, her voice disappearing into the vacuum that this dead world now was.

Chakotay exhaled heavily, giving her leeway to follow his darkened gaze, which trailed the black smoke billowing up from the village. “Seven…” He said in a clipped tone, his face turned away from her, “Do you think that “renegades” could’ve done…” He indicated the devastation around them with a sweep of his arm, “…this?” Seven bit her lip, looking down at the ground again without answering. She choked back a gasp of surprise as he roughly seized her chin and pulled it upwards, forcing her to look at him. “Answer me Seven of Nine.”

She couldn’t suppress a violent shudder as his eyes, coal black and empty, bored into her. For the first time in her life she was undeniably afraid of a human being. Gulping, she stated bluntly, “No.” She couldn’t stop a sigh of relief filling her chest as his hand dropped away from her face and he stepped back, ignoring her again. She continued anyway, “It’s highly improbable, in fact virtually impossible, that any group of Cardassians could get such ships, let alone weapons, without their government’s express consent, or more accurately without the consent of the Obsidian Order.”

“They…they know all that too, the…the Federation?” he asked in a snarl, spitting in disgust as he said the name. Shaken by the cold, murderous, venom in his voice, Seven nodded wordlessly, watching as he began to pace restlessly around her. “Counselling? Support?”  He repeated the message’s mantras with dark sarcasm. “We needed support when they were ravaging our worlds and what did they do?” He answered his own question, “Nothing. They’re glad to get rid of the little irritant that wrinkled their perfect treaty. As long as it’s just settlers who were stupid enough to leave their Earth utopia, they don’t give a damn!” He stopped mid stride, suddenly tearing manically at the collar of his soiled Starfleet uniform, his fingers clawing at the two gold pips on the collar and tossing them to the ground, his boots kicking dirt over them as he ripped apart the red fabric of his jacket, “If I’m a second class citizen, then I shouldn’t wear this…” He muttered under his breath as he stalked off in the direction of the burning village.

“Chakotay, wait!” Seven shouted after him despairingly, “The beacon for the rescue ship is set here, if we wander off then they won’t find us...”

“They can follow me into hell!” He snapped back without turning around, his pace quickening.

Seven stumbled out from behind the console, tears bubbling over as she sank to her knees around the shredded fabric. Blindly, she groped through the dirt until the two gold pips lay glistening in her cybernetic hand. Closing her fist around them, she ran after Chakotay.