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The Adventures Of Kes

Kes's Vacation

Kes goes on a vacation and ends up on a planet with a deadly secret

© J.R.Olson 2009

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Prologue

He ran around the corner, clutching the bag with the goods as hard as he could. If he dropped it, the whole action would have been meaningless. Just a few meters now! A shot from a phaser hit a wall over his head which sent small stones and fragments from the wall raining over him. “There he is”, he heard a voice screaming. “Shoot that little thief!” Another shot from a phaser, this time even closer passed him but now he had reached the door to the old abandoned house. He ran in and headed for the basement.

 “Radi’s coming!” he heard a voice from the basement. He ran into the door which lead to the stairs down to the basement, carefully closing the door behind him. It would take times for the guards to find out which door he had passed through. He ran down the stairs and the old man was waiting there, just as expected. “Hurry”, the old man said. “The others are already down there!” That was good. It meant that the others had gotten away as well.

The old man opened a hatch on the floor and he jumped down in the hole, down to the relative safe below. He knew that the old man would close the hatch and place some furniture on it. Then the old man would sneak out, who knows how and where before the guards would find out that he was involved with the action. Further up in the tunnel, his friends were waiting. “What took you so long?”, one of them asked. “You were risking the whole operation. If they find out about this tunnel too, then we are in trouble.”

“Just wait until you see what I have.” Radi thought, clutching the bag with the goods.

  “We must hurry now, if they strengthen the forcefield” the other kid said. “We may have problems to pass through otherwise.”

 But this time, there were no problems to pass through the small breach in the barrier to the relative safety in the caverns. They knew that enforcers would be sent down to investigate. But the caverns were big and there were many of them. A man was waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. “You did make it!” he said with a sigh of joy. “What did you get?”

 The kids showed up different items which they had managed to get hold of. There were foodstuffs, clothes but also medicines and tools. Radi deliberately placed himself at the end of the queue. When it was his turn, he gave the parcel to the man who opened it and stared at Radi as if looking at some miracle. “How did you get that?” he asked. “I stole it from a drunken soldier”, Radi said with pride in his voice. The other kids stared at the thing in the man’s hand. It was a phaser.

“It was crazy and irresponsible of you to risk the operation by taking such risks and normally you should have some punishment for doing so. But….this is simply too important for us now, it can make a change.”

Chapter 1

  “Now, are you enjoying you vacation, Kes?”

Kes looked at Admiral Kathryn Janeway who were standing beside her on the bridge at the starship Voyager. They were both staring at the screen which showed the dark space and a lot of stars. Just like the old days, Kes thought. It was like it had been when they were lost in the Delta Quadrant heading for Federation space, not knowing when or if they would return. But this time it was different. They were in the Alpha Quadrant, slightly outside Federation space in a rather uncharted area of space where the old Tkon Empire once had been. They were on a combined exploring and diplomatic mission and where now heading for a newly discovered world called Henia which was said to have a small but developed civilization, the result of colonization from a far away planet which had been destroyed by the Borg more then ten years ago.

Since arriving to the Alpha Quadrant with the former Maquis starship Lynx over a year ago, Kes had spent most of her time on a world called New Carlisle where some of her friends had settled. There she did almost the same things as she used to do when she was a crewmember on Voyager, gardening, helping out as a nurse and where she could use her knowledge to help. She enjoyed that peaceful life. But often, when her more adventurous side took over, she did join some expeditions which her friends organized in order to see, learn and explore. One such mission had recently been when she helped Admiral Janeway to escape from some kidnappers who were trying to use her in a political powerplay. (See the “Strange Dreams” story). So when Janeway offered Kes to follow Voyager on this mission, she didn’t hesitate a second.

The more than a month long journey had been more interesting and fascinating than Kes ever had expected. She had been more than delighted to meet her old friends Tuvok, B’Elanna Torres, Tom Paris, The Doctor ans Seven Of Nine who were all back on Voyager now. She had visited the Federation Headquartes, the government buildings on Earth and also the Starship Academy. She had also got the chance to finally visit Vulcan, something she had dreamed of during her time on voyager and she had had the opportunity to visit some of the most scenic and interesting places on the planet and finally had the chance to meet Tuvok’s family too. She had also met people from many of the more prominent species of the Quadrant, such as Ferengi, Klingons, Andorians and many other species she’d only read about.

Not to mention being back on Voyager again. However, initially she did have some mixed emotions about that. There were too many changes which she found a bit disturbing. But she had managed to put those feelings aside and really enjoy the trip. However, Henia was the last stop on the more than a month long journey. Then Voyager would go to Deep Space Nine where Kes would be picked up by the Lynx ship or go to New Carlisle with some Bajoran freighter and Voyager would return to the Federation Headquarters to await new missions. Kes had mixed emotions about that, as it was, she would rather continue the journey and see more of the quadrant. But she didn’t want to pursue that matter with Janeway. It was nice of her to bring me along for this journey, she thought. Besides that, she could easily persuade her friends at New Carlisle to follow them on some missions too, whatever it might be. I have to get out more and see the universe, she thought.

 A couple of hours later, the planet Henia became visible on the screen. An Earth-like planet but with a very small population concentrated in one city in the planet’s tempered zone. Most of the planet did seem to be forests, mountains and oceans.

“The planet is hailing us” Ensign Harry Kim reported. The picture on the screen changed and an alien became visible. It was a squat humanoid who reminded of a Bolian, round face with little hair, face almost the same color as humans but with a more orange hue and wine red lips. He also had two knobs on the forehead, almost like small, stubby horns.

“Aa-haa, WELCOME to HENIA, alien spaceship!”. The alien did speak in an almost singing, wailing tone which sounded a bit funny and Kes had to bite her lip not to start giggling. “What are your BUSINESS here!”

Janeway stepped forward and introduced herself in the same way as she had done so many times in the Delta Quadrant. “I’m Admiral Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We are on an exploring mission and would like to visit your planet in order to establish a first contact with your planet which could lead to peaceful relations, trade and further exchange with your world.

 “I’m Hinig TELE, vice Prime Minister of the government of HENIA!”, the alien said in his singing voice while giving them a welcoming smile. “We would be DELIGHTED to WELCOME you to our world since our ultimate goal is peaceful relations with the Federation and a possible MEMBERSHIP. I will inform the Prime Minister and the GOVERNMENT and we will arrange a WELCOMING for you in a couple of hours”, the alien said. “We’ll accept tour invitation and we’re delighted to visit your world”, Janeway said.

 “Friendly fellow”, Tom Paris said at his place at the conn.

 “Well, they seem to be friendly enough” Captain Chakotay said. He had been Janeway’s First Officer during the years in the Delta Quadrant when Voyager got lost, transported there by an entity called the Caretaker. It had taken Voyager seven long years to return to Federation space. After those events, Janeway had been promoted to Admiral and Chakotay had been promoted to Captain of the ship. However, Janeway’s different missions often got her in touch with her old ship since she took the liberty to take command over Voyager when necessary. Besides that, she had always had a good working relationship with Chakotay, they were good friends, maybe more than friends and it was convenient to work with Chakotay and the crew of which she did know most of the crewmembers.

“Now, tell me, what do we know about this planet?” Janeway asked Tuvok, the calm and reliable Vulcan who had been Janeway’s Chief of Security during the long journey through the Delta Quadrant and recently returned to Voyager after a stint with another ship.

“The information we got is that this world was inhabited until about 10 years ago. Unconfirmed reports says that refugees from a world far away which was destroyed by the Borg has settled here and it seems to be the truth.”

“The population seems to be concentrated to one city. Are there no other civilisations to be found?”, Janeway asked.

 “Not what I can see”, Tuvok replied. There is an abandoned city about 100 kilometres north-west of the capital, or what to call this inhabited city but no lifesigns there, at least not from humanoids. There is a rich animal life in the forests but that’s all when it comes to lifesigns. However, the whole city, the in habited city of course, is shielded by an unusual and very strong forcefield which seems almost impossible to penetrate. They also have an energy source which is totally unknown which must be located underground and is also protected by a strong forcefield.”

“Now, that’s a bit peculiar”, Chakotay said.

 “Let’s not make any assumptions here”, Janeway said with a smile. “There might be some reasons for that forcefield. I will ask our hosts about it when we meet them. I would like to suggest that you Chakotay as Captain of the ship and Kes as Envoy for another non-Federeation world will follow me down to meet the Henian leaders.”

“Thanks”, Kes smiled. Of course she did know that the “envoy” thing wasn’t anything more than a way for Janeway to let her visit the planet but still she felt honoured by the request.  

Chapter 2

  They materialized in a great hall and were met by three men, all the same squat, thin-haired aliens as the one who they had spoken to some hours earlier. The tallest of them bowed to Janeway and the others and started to introduce himself and his followers.

 “Aaa-haaa, WELCOME to HINIBERG, the capital of HENIA. I’m Melin TUBORK, Prime Minister, this is Vice Prime Minister TELE and my chief of security, BADGER. It’s a great HONOR to have you HERE.”

 Janeway saluted the Henian ministers and introduced herself. “I’m Admiral Kathryn Janeway from the United Federation of Planets. This is Captain Chakotay, Captain of the Starship Voyager and this is Kes, an envoy from the non-Federation world New Carlisle who is on this journey with us to establish contacts between her planet and the Federation worlds.” Kes almost felt for laughing when Janeway made her look more important than she was

“ASTONISHING”, Prime Minister Tubork interrupted, “FEMALES in such high positions. That’s not so common among us.” “It’s very common among us”, Janeway answered dryly.

“Now, let us enjoy a meal and continue the exchange of views”, the Prime Minister suggested.

Shortly thereafter they were sitting at a long table together with several Henian dignities, two of them actually female, Janeway noted with satisfaction. She had found the thought of a society totally dominated by men a bit discomforting. Obviously it wasn’t really like that, despite the Prime Minister’s comment earlier.

“We are actually not from this part of space”, Prime Minister Tubork told Janeway. “Our planet was destroyed by a species called the BORG and we couldn’t defend ourselves against them. Thanks to our great and wise king LUCIFAN who had encouraged the DEVELOPMENT of space ships, some of us managed to get away in time before the PLANET was destroyed.” He continued to describe the journey and how they found this planet. Janeway got the impression that the destroyed homeworld must have been situated more in the direction of the center of the galaxy and that the escaping Henians must have travelled across or around Ferengi, Cardassian or Federation space. The information the Prime Minister gave her was so vague that Janeway started to wonder about the truth in the story. They seem to have very little knowledge about this part of the galaxy, she thought. She also found it strange that they hadn’t been wiped out by the Cardassians or noted by some Federation ship or outpost. She saw Chakotay looking at the Prime Minister and then at her and understood that he had noted it as well. Prime Minister Tubork continued to tell his story:

“Fortunately we managed to bring our TECHNOLOGY with us. Thanks to that and thanks to king Lucifan’s splendid knowledge and great visions we could build our city and establish this COLONY.”

“What about that other city?”, Chakotay asked. “The abandoned one in the north-west.”

“Aaa-haaa, THAT one.” Tubork replied, smiling. “THAT was a settlement which didn’t turn OUT so good so we abandoned it and the citizens moved to HINIBERG instead where the life is much better.”

What about your forcefield?”, Janeway asked.

“Meteorites”, the security chief Badger replied in his somewhat raspy voice. Both his voice and manners were somewhat different from the almost over-jovialic attitude from Tubork and the other ministers. “It protect us from meteorites, we have problems with that.”

 “Not to mention that it will also PROTECT us from the BORG if they should return.” Tubork beamed to Janeway. “We also have a forcefield to shield our energy source which is located underground. We also have our heavy industry located underground in order not to destroy the ENVIRONMENT of the planet and the factories are manned with ROBOTS, all in order to give our people a GOOD LIFE”

  “What kind of energy source is that?”, Janeway asked. As a scientist she was interested in that.

 “That is classified”, Badger replied.

“You must UNDERSTAND that we can’t give you too much INFORMATION about that at this early stage of contacts with your Federation”, Tubork said. “It’s a matter of SECURITY. Maybe later on when firm diplomatic contacts had been established.” Janeway had to agree that it was logical. Still, she would have wanted to learn more about the forcefield, the energy source and the strange Henian technology.

Kes had listened to the exchange and felt a bit annoyed that their hosts were telling them so little about themselves. She had a dozen of questions which she would like to ask them but she didn’t wan to interfere with the diplomatic protocol, after all, she was just a guest on the ship and not as important as Janeway had pretended. Besides that, she had also got tired of trying to withstand the obvious advances from one of the other ministers, the Foreign Minister Heinen who made no secret of his intentions to show her, and only her, the wonders of the magnificent city. First she had found the whole thing almost amusing but after a while she had began to feel annoyed over the constant staring and obvious suggestions, not to mention Heinen’s outspoken interest in visiting her homeworld, which in this case was New Carlisle, the colony where hse was currently living. She could imagine the reaction from Commander Novak and his people. They would probably roll him in tar and feathers, she thought, remembering one of Novak’s constant comments which originated from some ancient way of treating cheaters and non-reliable scoundrels. She tried to dismiss the Foreign Minister from her mind and concentrated on Janeway’s discussion with the Prime Minister, eagerly waiting for a chance to sneak in some question while she looked around the dining room. She noticed the great portrait of a typical Henian dignitary in uniform and medals and realized that it must be the great king Lucifan himself and she wondered if they would have the opportunity to meet the king.

“We would like to SHOW you our wonderful CITY”, Tubork announced, “and you will also have the opportunity to pay a tribute to our great king LUCIFAN before the day is over. Then I hope that we can CONTINUE with our negotiations which hopefully will lead to establishing of diplomatic relations in the near future.”

 Two hours later, they were standing outside a great building in the middle of the city, a building which looked like a cross between a palace and a temple. Janeway noted that the area around the building was sealed off with ropes and armed guards in black uniforms. However, Prime Minister Tubork ensured her that this was only temporarily, to keep the order when the place was visited by foreign dignitaries. “Normally, the people are allowed to come here and pay tribute to the King”, Tubork stated.

 They had made a sightseeing tour by foot around the central parts of the city which did seem to be a flourishing city with a lot of people shopping, walking and enjoying themselves. Nothing disturbing or unusual at all, thought Janeway when she looked around to see what was going on at the different places they passed. The city itself was actually very drab, all houses looked the same and did seem to have been built after the same exact parameters and there was nothing of the ancient beauty which often could be seen in the main cities of alien worlds, like the Klingon or Romulan homeworlds.

This GLORIOUS city has been built under the direct guidance of our great KING”, Tubork told them. “HE knew EXACTLY what we wanted and what the people needed so with his firm GUIDANCE, the city was built in record time and a new, glorious chapter in the history of the Henian people started”

 They had passed a great market where Tubork had given hem permission to buy some food and artefacts which would most obviously be paid by the Henian government. After two hours of walking, chatting and visiting some places which their hosts thought were places worth to see, they arrived to what obviously was King Lucifan’s palace, the only outstanding building in the city together with the Parliament where they had beamed in earlier.

“Enter with dignity and respect”, Prime Minister Tubork said to Janeway and the others. Kes felt really excited that they would have the opportunity to visit the mysterious but obviously powerful king himself. They entered the entrance and followed a long corridor which was decorated with portraits of the King in different poses. Then two huge doors in front of them opened and they stepped into a great hall, heavy with chandeliers, heavy drapes and tapestries. And there in the middle of the hall was a large sarcophagus of glass and inside that was the mummified corpse of King Lucifan.

“Let us bow for the fantastic man who saved us” said Tubork solemnly.

“Is king Lucifan…….dead?” Kes blurted out without really  thinking first. The whole thing was so surrealistic. All the day their hosts had spoken about the king as if he was still alive and now this.

“Yes”, Tubork sighed and looked at Kes, Janeway and Chakotay, all joviality gone and replaced by a look of true sadness. “That was the worst day in our history, much worse than the day the Borg devastated our previous HOMEWORLD. We didn’t know how we could be able to survive without his GUIDANCE. But we don’t WANT him to be dead! Therefore we still regard him as our KING. His spirit and his ideas still gives us GUIDANCE and we will continue to fulfil what he once started, a prosperous and powerful HENIA!”

They bowed in front of the sarcophagus, out of duty and in order not to annoy or insult their hosts. Then they were led out of the mausoleum to continue their walk back to the parliament. When they arrived there, Tubork declared that he would like to continue the talks with Janeway the next day. Janeway agreed on that and on her request, the forcefield was shut off so that Janeway, Chakotay and Kes could beam back to Voyager.

Chapter 3

Kes ran through the corridors. It was the Voyager corridors but they were darkened, lit up only by the flashlights which the people who chased her carried.

 “There she is!, one voice screamed. “Shoot her!”, “Kill her!”, she heard voices screaming and a red phaser beam blasted a piece of the wall above her head.

 She continued to run but when she turned round a corner, she saw a shimmering light in front of her. No, the forcefield, she thought. And out of the forcefield came King Lucifan himself, pointing a finger against her, eyes filled with rage. “You KNOW too much!” he screamed with the same voice as Prime Minister Tubork.

And then she woke up. She was in her quarters on Voyager, the quarters which Janeway had provided for her during this vacation or whatever it was. Everything was normal, no black-clad guards with phaser rifles, no spirit of the dead king, no forcefield. Everything was normal. It had only been a nightmare. But what a strange nightmare, she thought.

 She looked at the watch, it was only six o’clock in the morning but she decided to get up anyway. She ordered a glass of Spinach Juice with a touch of pear from the replicator and sat down to drink it but she still felt shaken by the all too realistic nightmare. She didn’t like it, it was some premonition, she thought. Just like when Janeway was kidnapped and she was dreaming nightmares about it, something which had led her and her friends to search for Janeway and rescue her from the kidnappers. Could this be something similar?, she thougt. Was there something going on on the planet which could be dangerous for Voyager, for herself?

She got dressed and walked out in the corridor, which now was the same old Voyager corridor as it had always been. She entered the mess hall and ordered something to eat and drink from the replicators. For some reason, she found the mess hall somewhat uncomfortable. It was the place in which the changes since their days in the Delta Quadrant were most noticeable, mostly because the absence of Neelix. In a way, I miss him and his food, she thought. Neelix, the Talaxian trader was the one who had saved her from the Kazon once upon a time, with the help of the Voyager crew. They had had a relationship for some time after that but Neelix’s jealousy and over-protection had become too much for her. They had broken up during a traumatic event when her body and mind had been possessed by an alien entity but remained friends. Then she had left Voyager because of other dramatic events, made a short return (see the “Coming Home” story) before deciding to remain with her new friends, a Maquis crew she had encountered in the Delta Quadrant after being separated from Voyager and also met the famous Q. Janeway had told her that Neelix had settled on an asteroid with some other Talaxians. I hope that he’s living a happy life there, she thought and wondered if it would be possible to go there one day, just to visit him. Anyway, the mess hall wasn’t the same without the always cheerful and jolly Talaxian. There’s nothing for us here anymore, her friend Novak had said when they visited Voyager after rescuing Janeway and every time she did visit the mess hall, she felt the same. But at the same time, it was so exciting to be back anyway and there was always something exciting coming up when they arrived to another planet.

That brought back her thoughts to Henia. There is something going on down there, she thought. I must go back and see what I can find.

Chapter 4

Janeway was sitting in what used to be her ready room. Now it was Chakotay’s and he was sitting behind what used to be her desk and she was sitting on a chair in front of him. But during this mission, she was still in command. However, that was a formality which didn’t bother any of them. They were good friends and had no problem when it came to chain of command. Right now, they were discussing Henia.

 “Starfleet Command has given me authority to continue the negotiations with the Henians, Janeway said. “According to Admiral Nechayev, both Starfleet Command and the Federation Government are interested in developing contacts with this world.”

“I understand that” said Chakotay. He looked at Janeway and she could see that he was troubled by something. “You have objections?”, she asked.

 Not exactly” he answered. “They seem to be friendly and very eager to have good relations with the Federation. Their Prime Minister actually mentioned joining the Federation as an option.” He stopped and Janeway waited for him to continue.

  “But there’s something sinister with that planet, Chakotay continued. Some things that doesn’t make sense and I’m not referring to the cult of the king. They were more and less licking our faces when it came to show friendliness but it felt…..over-done in some way, like they were pretending.”

“Not to mention that they weren’t telling the truth either”, Janeway continued. “They did mention something about the forcefield being a shield against meteorites. I’ve checked with Kim and the risk for meteorite impacts are low in this system. Besides that, if there were such a problem, the rest of the planet should show up some craters but there is nothing of that. They were also very vague in their description of their history, the whole thing with the Borg destroying their planet and where that planet was located.”

 “Yes, I did notice that”, Chakotay said.

 “It's also revealed that their technology is very alien and that their source of energy seem to be located underground. They might use the core of the planet as an energy source and according to them, they have underground factories manned with robots which provides for their needs. But there is more than that, I guess. However, it’s not of our concern if they want to keep secrets or not as long as it doesn’t threat Federation interests. Besides that, it's always been Starfleet's policy to deal with new species on a basis of openness and trust until proved otherwise.”

 “I guess that you’re right about that” Chakotay said. “But I still have a bad feeling about that planet”

  So do I, thought Janeway and was about to discuss some possible scenarios with Chakotay. But she was interrupted by a chime on the door. “Come in”, she said and Kes entered.

  “Am I disturbing?”, Kes asked in her somewhat shy way. “Not at all”, Janeway replied. “I was just discussing the situation with Chakotay and I’m going down to the planet to continue our talks with Prime Minister Tubork.

 “I want to come along too!” Kes said. Janeway noticed the look in Kes’s eyes. There was something which had made her curious and determined to find out.

“Why?” Janeway asked.

  “Because….”, Kes hesitated. “Because there is something which doesn’t make sense, something strange. They are hiding something and…….and I also had a very strange dream”

Janeway listened with interest when Kes told her about the nightmare. Of course, she could have dismissed it as just another nightmare from someone with a lively fantasy. But Kes’s dreams did often be some premonition, after all such a nightmare had proved to be of great help when Janeway herself had been abducted by some criminals some months earlier. Still, she was reluctant to bring Kes along, not only because she wasn’t supposed to be apart of the negotiations but because there could be some possible dangers as well.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed here?”, Janeway said. Maybe there’s a way to monitor the planet from here and to find something unusual, if there is any.”

“No”, Kes said. “I want to go down with you, just to look around a little, maybe going to the market in order to pretend that I want to buy some stuff. I want to see ordinary people, not dignitaries and guards.”

 “Well, I hope that you’re not going to have a meeting with that Foreign Minister”, Janeway joked. “He did seem to be interested in you.”

 “Eeek!” Kes said and looked as if she had taken a bite of a Leola Root. “He was actually creepy. No, I will avoid that person at all costs.”

“I would like to go along with you as well”, Chakotay said. For some reason he had a bad feeling about this. “I might find out something too.”

“No”, Janeway replied. I need someone up here to monitor the events down there if something turns out to be not as pleasant as expected. However, I will give Kes the opportunity to sneak around a little. But be very careful and  contact me directly if you need assistance.”

  Kes gave her a nod and a smile. She was going to see the planet after all.

 “Most likely, this is just a false alarm”, Janeway said when she saw Chakotay’s worried look. But she wasn’t entirely sure of that.

Chapter 5

Kes was strolling through the streets to the marketplace, followed by two Henian bodyguards. She had beamed down outside the Parliament together with Janeway and been met by some Henian dignitaries, among them the Prime Minister. The Henians had looked surprised and not too pleased when Kes arrived with Janeway but Janeway quickly explained that Kes wanted to take a further look at the city and buy some artefacts from the marketplace. The Prime Minister had acknowledged that and, to Kes’s chagrin sent to bodyguards to follow her to the marketplace. A good chance to discover anything sensational when I have those two watching every step I take, Kes thought. But she had accepted that since it would be the only way to move around in the city.

 When they approached the marketplace, Kes suddenly saw someone trailing with a heavy wagon over-loaded with different goods. The person didn’t look like a Henian, more like a Vulcan or Romulan with pointed ears but still different from those species. He was followed by a Henian who looked as if he was some superior to the other alien. It surprised Kes because she hadn’t been aware of that there were other species on the planet as well. She was going to ask her bodyguards about that other species but then they had entered the marketplace and Kes started to look around to see if there was anything there which was interesting. She was set on going to a place where they did sell some statues and similar things just to buy some souvenir, which was the official reason for going to the marketplace when she noted some commotion nearby. A pompous Henian was yelling and screaming at another example of the species she had seen before, this time a small woman. The translator translated words like “scum” and “lazy creature” and then  the Henian did slap the face of the woman. Kes felt angry and annoyed over the whole scene and turned to her guards. 

“Why don’t you stop him?”, she asked. “Why is he beating that poor woman.”

But the guards didn’t react. In fact, they did seem to enjoy it. “Not OUR business”, one of them said. “Besides that, that lousy servant DESERVED that”.

 “But beating someone like that….”, Kes replied with anger in her voice but she  didn’t get the time to finish the sentence. Angry voices started to scream and suddenly she saw yet another example of the same alien species, this time a little girl about 10-11 years old with human standards, come running with a basket full of bread and other foodstuffs.

 “Stop the thief!”, someone screamed and Kes saw how one of her bodyguards pulled up a phaser-like weapon and aimed at the little girl. Kes immediately pushed the guard so he missed the shot. The guard turned to Kes with anger in his eyes.

 “What are you doing, you alien bastard!” he screamed. “It’s a thief! We’ve got to stop her!”.

 “Maybe” Kes replied “But that doesn’t give you the right to shoot her in cold blood.”

  The other guard had also pulled up a phaser and fired but missed the shot and now there were simply too many people running around which made it impossible for the guards to use their weapons. The little girl was heading for an alley with three black-clad guards running after her and Kes’s two bodyguards did seem to have forgotten Kes completely. They also started to run after the fugitive and Kes decided to follow. There was something going on which she wanted to find out more about. She ran into the alley but it was empty. The little girl had disappeared. The guards were searching the apartments in the houses. She could hear them yelling and cursing from different locations in the houses.

But Kes herself had a tricorder and she used that to track the lifesigns from the unknown alien. She walked down some stairs which led to a basement. The guards had been there but they hadn’t searched very good because Kes found a stone in the wall which was possible to move. She removed the stone and saw that it had a handle on the back, as if someone could let someone in and then close the entrance from the inside.

The hole was just as big for her to crawl into. Behind it was a tunnel. She followed the traces which showed up on her tricorder and continued down the tunnel, a tunnel which did seem to be endless. Finally she turned down a corner and saw it. A forcefield, just like the one in her nightmare, shimmering with an almost sinister light. But she could also see a breach in the forcefield, almost down on the ground. It would be insane of me to continue, she thought. It would be better to contact Janeway and get out of here. But on the other hand she did know that this was her one and only chance to solve the mystery on the planet. She went down on the ground and crawled under the forcefield. It was just as big so that she could pass under it, just as if someone had discovered a possible breach and thenhad been digging to make the breach just as big as a not to big person could pas under it.

 Behind the forcefield the tunnel continued. She turned around another corner and suddenly she heard voices and saw lights and then she heard a typical Henian voice bellow “It’s that alien woman. Shoot her! She must not escape to tell her captain about this.” And then a phaser shot blasted through the darkness and blasted some stones over her head. Kes turned around at stared to run down another tunnel. This is like it was in the nightmare, she thought. They are trying to kill me! Suddenly she heard a voice and saw someone in a nook in the tunnel. “Come here! Quick!” It was the little girl who the guards had been chasing on the marketplace. She was still carrying the basket with bread. The little girl grabbed Kes’s arm and pulled her into the darkness. “Follow me”, she said.

 This tunnel was very narrow and did seem to be a shortcut between two bigger tunnels but obviously didn’t the guards know about it because Kes could here them running through the tunnel she’d just left, screaming and cursing. The little girl pulled up a small light beacon and continued down the other tunnel. “I’ll take you to my people” she said. “They will protect you from the Henian’s, our evil masters.”

“Evil masters?, Kes asked. “Who are you and what’s going on here?”

 “My name is Moria” the little girl said. “I’ll take you to Varic, he’ll explain everything and he will loook after you and arrange for your protection as well.They continued down the tunnel, turned around a corner into another tunnel. At the end of that Kes could see another light beacon and some movements which she suspected to be people moving in the background.

 A voice called out from the darkness: “Moria, where have you been? We were worried. And who is with you?”

 “An alien”, Moria replied. “Another alien who have found the way down here and needs protection”. Suddenly Kes and Moria were surrounded by people. Most of them were young kids but there were also some older people among them. The one with the flashlight let the light shine into Kes’s face. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he asked.

  “My name is Kes and I’m an Ocampa” Kes replied, realzing that words like Ocampa, human or whatever probably didn’t mean a thing down here among these mysterious aliens. “I saw this little girl stealing bread on the market place, the guards tried to shoot her and I tried to prevent them from doing that”, Kes continued realizing that it was best to tell the truth. “I became curious and followed after her and found those caverns.”

 “My name is Varic, I’m a Batarian and this is the World Of Despair. We live down here in those caverns and you will have to remain here as well for the rest of your life, now when you know the secret of our planet.”

Chapter 6

Janeway had finished the negotiations with Prime Minister Tubork. They had agreed on further contacts between the Federation and Henia and that the Federation shoud send an emissary to the planet for further discussions. But not so much more had been achieved. Prime Minister Tubork had expressed his interest in Federation technology, especially the transporter technology and that wasn’t a surprise for Janeway. But the Prime Minister’s attempts to persuade Janeway to give or sell them that technology right now had been somewhat annoying. However, she had finally been successful in telling the Prime Minister that it wasn’t possible before Henia became a member of the Federation. Then the Prime Minister had become very eager to discuss membership and it had taken more than an hour to sort out the terms for membership in the Federation. However, after some hours of discussing all that, the most important issues had been settled and the Prime Minister had invited Janeway and the senior staff plus “that lovely envoy from that other planet” for a dinner later in the evening. Janeway had accepted that and was now about to return to Voyager. So she decided to contact Kes and inform her that they were going back to Voyager. If there’s something peculiar on this planet, she has had a lot of time to investigate that, she thought.

She tapped her combadge. “Janeway to Kes” she said. No reply.

 She tried again. No reply. The Prime Minister interrupted: “Maybe your lovely COMPANION got tired of WAITING and went back to VOYAGER”, he said. “Wait HERE, I will CONTROL if that’s correct”.

He went into another room and came back after some minutes. “YEEES” he said with a smile, “your friend has RETURNED to your ship.”

  Great, Janeway thought. She tapped her combadge again. “Janeway to Chakotay”. But no reply, only statics.

  “Unfortunately our FORCEFIELD disturbs the ability for the crew on the ship to RESPOND”, Tubork said. “Things like that HAPPEN. But it will be possible to TRANSPORT to your ship.” “Thanks” Janeway said and tried again. “Janeway to Voyager. One to transport.”

 The transporter beam shimmered and then Janeway was back on the ship. However, she did have a feeling that something was wrong. “Computer, locate Kes”, she said.

 “Kes is not on the ship”, the computer replied.

 She asked the Transporter Chief. “Hasn’t Kes transported back?” “No, the Transporter Chief replied.

 She tapped her combadge. “Janeway to Chakotay! Have you’ve been in contact with Kes since we beamed down?”

 “No”, came Chakotay’s surprised reply. “Isn’t she with you?” Janeway clenched her fists. Damn, she thought.

 “Ill be on the bridge in about a minute. I’ll think we have a situation here.”

Chapter 7

Kes stared surprised at Varic. “What are you talking about? Why are you living underground? Why are you talking about a world of despair and why are the Henian soldiers trying to kill us? What’s so dangerous with all this and what’s going on.” But Varic pulled her arm and said. “We will explain everything to you but not now. We must go to a safer place, it’s dangerous here.”

 She followed the mysterious aliens down some more tunnels. Finally they saw a light at the end of a tunnel and heard different noises, like from machines and such. They arrived to the end of the tunnel and entered a huge cavern. In a way it reminded her about the Ocampa underground city in a way. But while the Ocampa underground city had been tidy, peaceful and well-organized, this place was the opposite of it. It resembled some sort of underground industrial hell, factories everywhere, something that looked like fires from furnaces and people toiling and working. They went into the city and passed some buildings which obviously were “houses” in which the enslaved people lived. During their way through the city or what it could be called, they had to hide several times when vehicles with black-clad Henian guards approached. Varic had given Kes a coat which with she covered her blonde hair, so easy to distinguish from her dark-haired followers.

“They are looking for you.” Varic said.

 Finally they arrived to a building. “In there” Varic said. They went through the entrance, through a small corridor, then out through something which resembled a yard, down in a basement, down some stairs, into a tunnel and after some turns they arrived to what was obviously more caverns where people lived. They entered one of those caverns and came finally to a sparsely lighted room where some more aliens were. One of them raised to his feet and looked at Varic, Kes and the others.

 “What’s this? Who is she?”

  Varic explained what had happened to this man who obviously was some sort of leader. Kes explained who she was and how she had ended up in the caverns and then she started to ask questions. “What is going on here? What’s this for a place and why are you living down here?”

 “It’s a long story” the other man said.

 One of the other aliens offered Kes something to drink. It looked like coffee but tasted horrible, however Kes pretended to like it in order not to offend her hosts.

  “I’m Tortella, one of the former ministers of the Batarian government”, the man said. “We live down here because we’ve been conquered and enslaved by the Henians who use us as slaves and servants. We are not Vulcans or Romulans but we are related to them. Once upon a time we lived on a planet not so far from the Romulan Empire but we were never a part of that empire. But then our planet was attacked by the Borg. They destroyed it and assimilated many of us. We used what was left of our space fleet to run away from them. We actually were granted to settle down in the Federation territory but we wanted to remain independent and finally found this planet where we settled down.”

 “What happened then?” Kes asked.

“Then the Henians arrived. They told us that they also had escaped from the Borg and asked if they also could settle on the planet. We allowed them to do that because we are a friendly people and we thought that the planet would be big enough for both our people. We became a little worried when they decided to build a city so close to the place where we had settled but they told us that it was of mutual interest, to make communication and cooperation easier. They were oh so friendly for a while. But then all of a sudden they attacked our city, destroyed our city and brought us here to work for them as slaves. We have to work very hard and many of us have died.”

 “The abandoned city”, Kes said. “It was your home.” “Yes” Tortella answered.

  Kes felt a sudden sadness. She could imagine how it felt for a people to lose what they had got and be enslaved. Not to mention that they were forced to live in this underground hellhole.

  “So you have to live here and work in their factories?”, she asked. “But there are some of you who works on the surface?”

  “Some of our people are allowed to work as servants above. They are the people they think they can trust, those who are cooperating to have some privileges from the masters. But they aren’t that much better treated than us who have to work down here.”

 “Are you providing them with energy too?” Kes asked.

 “Yes, they use the core of the planet to produce energy and we are maintaining the facilities which makes them use that. There are also other factories down here which provides for their needs so they can live their happy life above on the surface. Of course they supervise us all the time, therefore they have their enforcers down here. The slightest offence is severely punished.”

 “Why was Moria stealing bread from the marketplace?” Kes asked. “They almost shot her!”

 “Our masters don’t give us enough with food, clothes or anything. What we get is barely enough to survive. So we have to steal and everyone has to participate in order to find what we need. Since most of the adults are occupied with work most of the time and adults are shot if they are caught stealing, it’s easier to let children and youngsters do that. The Henians are somewhat more tolerant if they catch a child. Besides that, it’s easier for children to pass through the breaches in the forcefield and to avoid Henian patrols over and under ground. But we only let children and young people steal food. When it comes to more important things, we have more experienced groups who are doing the job.”

 “Important things?” Kes asked.

 “Tools and scientific things which can be necessary. Medicines, this place isn’t healthy as you can see. But we do dream about escaping or about a possible uprising to and if we can get weapons, we’ll do that. But it’s difficult.”

“And the focefield is there to keep you trapped down here?” Kes asked.

 “Yes, there is only one entrance. It’s heavily guarded by Henian guards and you must have certain identity cards to be allowed to pass through. Those who are allowed to work above have such cards. We do have some agents among them who gives us information about the situation above. As for the forcefield, there are breaches in it, they haven’t managed to make it all that effective yet and we use that to send out people the illegal way.”

 “What about trying to escape to the forests outside the Henian city?” Kes asked.

 “We have thought of that” Tortella answered. “But the forests are dangerous. There are fierce creatures there, giant lizards and flying predators. Besides that, the Henian aircrafts would detect us. Some of us did try to escape to the forests when the Henians attacked and conquered us. They were attacked by their aircrafts and soldiers who surrounded them and annihilated them. The few who might have got away probably perished in the forests.”

 “And no one outside knows anything?” Kes asked.

  “No”, Tortella replied. There have been outsiders who have discovered what’s been going on but they have never been able to tell anyone the truth about this world. The Henians have killed them and the few who have survived…..”

  “…….Are stuck here without hope”, a voice behind Kes said. “No hope, no honor, no worthy life, only disgrace and death.”

  She turned around and looked at the man who had spoken. He was much taller than the Batoris. He had long hair and a very distinctive, ridged forehead. Kes had seen the species before, she had met some of them on Deep Space Nine. “You’re Klingon!”, she said a bit surprised.

 “Yes, I’m Korg and once I was a Klingon warrior. But now I’m only a slave and a coward who don’t have the guts to end this pitiful life.

 Kes looked at him. She knew about Klingons, her old friend B’Elanna Torres was half-Klingon, she had read about them in the Federation databases and she had met some Klingons on Deep Space Nine during a vsiit there, among them the dignified Mr.Worf from the Enterprise. They had all looked powerful and dignified. But this Klingon was different. She could clearly see that he was a broken man, a shadow of what he once might have been.

“But how……how did you end up here?” Kes asked.

“It  was two years ago. I was a crewmember on a Klingon scout ship. We discovered this planet and were allowed to land. The Henians welcomed us and wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the Klingon Empire, so they told us. I don’t know what happened then, I think that one of our officers felt insulted by a Henian, it was a fight and suddenly we were arrested. However, since we were Klingon warriors, we broke out of jail. One Batori servant discovered us when we escaped and led us here. But we made an attempt to reach our ship which failed. The others were killed and captured. They were executed later because the Henians kill everyone who discover the secret with this planet. I was the only one they couldn’t catch. I ran back to the caves and have lived here like a coward since then.

  “You’re not a coward” Kes said. She felt sorry for the once so proud Klingon. She turned to Tortella. “Haven’t you tried to rise against them? Make resistance? You must be as many as them?”

  “We tried two years ago, just after Korg arrived here. We were able to seize the entrance and some of us managed to come up to the surface. But they had armed vehicles and weapons and drove us back. They killed everyone they could catch which they believed had been involved in the uprising, among them many members of our former government. We haven’t dared to do anything since then. But recently whe have obtained some weapons and when we have more of that…..”

 “What about King Lucifan, their dead leader?” Kes asked.

“That butcher and hypocrite”, Tortella spat. “He was responsible for the invasion and everything which has happened to us. When he died, Tubork took over and he’s the same kind of oppressor and their Chief Of Security, the one called Badger is the worst of them. Not to mention their Foreign Minister, Heinen. Many of our women are forced to work as servants in his palace and you can clearly imagine what that means.”  

I can imagine that, Kes thought. “What happens now?”

  “You have to hide from the Henian enforcers”, Tortella replied. “If they catch you, they will kill you because they won’t allow you to tell anyone about what’s going on here. We will do the best to help you.”

  “Listen”, Kes said. ”There is a Federation starship in orbit around the planet. They will search for me and ask questions.”

  “They can’t find you because of the forcefield”, Korg said. “And they will lie to your people just like they did with the Klingons who came to investigate. They claimed that the scout ship had left the world. They will lie to your captain too, saying that you have been killed or got lost in the forests or something like that”.

  “You don’t know Admiral Janeway”, Kes said. “She will tear up the whole planet to find me!”

Chapter 8

Janeway stormed out of the turbolift and on to the bridge. “Get me that Tubork” she ordered Kim. “On screen”, Kim replied.

  Prime Minister Tubork’s face became visible on the screen. “Aaa-haaaa, Admiral JANEWAY. What can I DO for you?”

 “My friend, the envoy from New Carlisle never beamed on board this ship. She must be down on the planet. Can you locate her and see that we can beam her on board?”

 “But she MUST be on your ship because she isn’t HERE”, Tubork replied, showing up a concerned face.

 “No, she isn’t”, Janeway replied “and our transport shows no record that she has beamed back. She’s still on the planet and I want to know where she is and what has happened to her.”

  “I ASSURE you that we will do EVERYTHING to find her and bring her back to your ship”, Tubork replied.

  “With your permission, I would like to send down an away team to the planet”, Janeway said. “We have equipment which can locate her in no time.”

  “Noooooooo!”, Tubork replied with that wailing Henian accent which was starting to get on Janeway’s nerves. “We can’t PERMIT that!”

  “Why not?” Janeway asked, politely smiling despite a growing anger. “It would be to great help for your search teams. Besides that, it would be an excellent start for the cooperation between our people. I’m sure that the Federation government regard that as a beginning of a great friendship.”

  “No!”, Tubork replied. “That is out of the question. No alien military units on our planet. WE will search for your envoy and WE will find her!” Suddenly the Prime Minister didn’t look so friendly anymore.

  “I’m sorry that you aren’t cooperative in this case”, Janeway said. “However, I hope that you will find her soon.”

  “What are we doing now?”, Kim asked.

 “We’ll wait” Janeway said. “I want all senior officers in the ready room immediately. We have to discuss this. I also want you to scan the area outside the forcefield if anything shows up there

  They gathered in the ready room. “Opinions?”, Janeway asked.

  “I suggest that we send down an away team immediately” Chakotay said. “There is something weird going on. Kes wouldn’t disappear just like that if nothing hasn’t happened to her or if she’s hiding somewhere. We might not be able to transport to the city because of the forcefield but maybe we could transport to some place outside and try to penetrate the forcefield in some way.”

 “Permission to lead the away team”, Tom Paris said.

 “Wait a minute”, Janeway replied. “I’ve been thinking about an away team.But it’s not an option right now. First of all, we do know that the forests can be dangerous and I’m also ready to give the Henians some time if this happen to be just a misunderstanding.”

 “I must also point out that we might face a diplomatic problem here”, Tuvok added. “Kes is not a Federation citizen and trying to put pressure on the Henians in this matter might cause a diplomatic conflict between the Henians and the Federation.

 “I’m aware of that”, Janeway said. “I might have to discuss this with the Federation authorities if the Henians turns this into some diplomatic conflict.”

  “But we can’t just abandon her!”, Tom Paris said.

  “No, and I have no plans to do that either”, Janeway replied. Therefore I want you B’Elanna and you Mr. Kim to start analysing that forcefield, if there’s any breaches in it and if we can penetrate it in some way.”

 “We’ll start with that immediately”, Torres replied.

 “Now, what could have happened down there?” Janeway said. “Has she simply got lost or what has happened?”

 “I looked at the Prime Minister when you were talking to him”, Tuvok said. “I got the impression that first he was surprised over Kes’s disappearance, then he became very defensive over the situation. My assumption is that he didn’t know anything about what had happened to Kes but that he also could imagine some scenarios or possibilities which he wouldn’t tell us about.”

  “Can that Foreign Minister be involved?” Chakotay asked with a worried look. “He did show a lot of interest for Kes during that first visit.”

  “Well, that can be a possibility”, sighed Janeway. “Who knows what a powerful person in such a recluse society as this one can come up with. But for some reason, I don’t think that either. My guess is that Kes has stumbled over something she shouldn’t have seen and now she’s hiding down there and I’m gonna get her out while solving the mystery with this planet at the same time.” She turned to the her senior staff. “OK, you know what to do. Keep scanning the area outside the forcefield, analyze the forcefield itself and  try to find out as much as possible about the planet. I will get in touch with the Federation headquarters and discuss the situation. Dismissed!”

The other officers left the room, even Chakotay even if he actually was the Captain on the ship. I guess we have to sort this out for future missions, Janeway thought. But she couldn’t help feeling a certain optimism, thanks to her colleagues. If there are any people who can help me to solve this situation, then there are these people, she thought. Because they are simply the best!

Chapter 9

Meanwhile, Kes was discussing the options with the Batarian leaders. “We must take you to a safer place because the Henians are looking for you to kill you”, a Batarian named Kasel told her. “You know too much about this place and the slavery and they are afraid that the people on the Federation ship will find out what’s happening here. They will kill you and come up with some story about you being burned to death in the forcefield or that you got out by mistake and was attacked by the lizards or flying predators in the forest.”

  “Admiral Janeway won’t be fooled by that”, Kes replied. “Besides that, I’m sure that she will find a way to break through the forcefield and find me and then this whole ghastly story will be revealed.”

 “You seem to have great faith in that Admiral Janeway”, Tortella said.

 “Yes I have”, Kes said with pride in her voice. “We were together in a mission to the other side of the galaxy and she managed to get the ship home through all dangers and difficulties. She won’t abandon me and she will find a solution.”

“Are you sure that the Federation ship will remain in orbit and continue to look for you, no matter what the Henians are coming up with?”, Tortella asked.

“Yes!”, said Kes.

 “Maybe…….maybe this is our chance”, Tortella said.

  “What do you mean?”, Varic asked.

  “If they are up there looking for Kes and are trying to disable the forcefield, then the Henians will have their hands full. It could be our chance to break out from this hell.”

  “You mean that we should try with a new revolt?”, Kasel asked. “It’s too early, we don’t have much weapons and we aren’t prepared to take up a fight with them. Besides that, the forcefield is impossible to penetrate.”

  “But there are breaches in it”, Kes said. That’s how I came here and that’s how your people manage to steal from them.”

 “Yes”, Kasel said. “But we’re talking of small groups here, two-three kids or so. If we want to take over the city and overthrow the government, then we need more people on the surface and the only way up is the main entrance and that one is heavily guarded. Besides that, I don’t think that your people will be able to penetrate the forcefield.”

  “If the forcefield could be turned off”, Tortella said, “then the Henians would be very confused. We could use that to our advantage, attack the forces at the main entrance and come up to the surface. Maybe the Henians won’t start to kill us if a Federation ship is observing them.”

  Kes listened to the debate without saying anything. She didn’t want to tell them that the Federation had laws which forbid them to interfere in conflicts on non-Federation worlds. If I tell them that, they would simply give up all plans for an uprising, she thought. Besides that, she hoped that the Henians would avoid unnecessary killing if they knew that a Federation ship was observing their actions.

 “It’s too dangerous”, Kasel said. “It could lead to the annihilation of our people.”

  “Everything must be better than to die like slaves in those caves”, Korg the Klingon suddenly interrupted. “I’ve had enough of this! Now I’m gonna do what I’ve should have done years ago. I’ve lost my Klingon honor by hiding here like a coward. I will try to reclaim some of it by helping you fight the Henian opressors and if I die, then it is a good day to die!”

  Kes looked surprised at the Klingon who all of a sudden did seem to have regained some of his pride and honor. “Do you know where the forcefield can be turned on and off?”, Kes asked.

  “Yes”, Tortella replied. “But that building is guarded.”

  “So there’s got to be someone with some influence who can get access to it?”, Kes continued. “I think I have an idea…”

Chapter 10

“Admiral, the Henians are hailing us!” Kim’s voice over the combadge interrupted Janeway in her thoughts over if she should contact Starfleet Headquarters or not considering the situation they were in, not to mention her blaming herself for letting Kes go down to the planet. If I had sat my foot down and prevented her from going to the planet, we wouldn’t have been in this situation now, she thought.

“I’m on my way!”, Janeway replied. She raised from her desk and hurried out of the room on to the bridge.

“Prime Minister Tubork”, she said to the man visible on the screen. “Do you have any news about Kes?”

“YEEES!”, the man on the screen wailed, “and I’m afraid that it’s BAD news.”

“What do you mean?”, Janeway asked.

“Oh, it’ so TERRIBLE!, Your friend happened to go outside the FORCEFIELD and was attacked by one of the LIZARDS in the forests. She didn’t have a CHANCE.”

“I thought that your forcefield was impossible to penetrate”, Janeway said, feeling a sudden chill. She knew that she would never forgive herself if Kes had been killed..

 “YEES! But there ARE breaches. I don’t know HOW she got out but she DID and was attacked.”

 For some reason, Janeway started to feel a disbelief in what the man was telling her. It didn’t make sense. However, she decided to play along to see where it would end up.