Part 2
Chakotay
materialised into a large brightly lit room full of the most sophisticated
technology he had ever seen. There were no clumsy consoles, control panels,
wires or pipes. The walls of the ship were seamless black and only a random
pattern of blinking lights indicated energy conduits behind the dark panels.
Other than that, from gleaming black floor to equally black ceiling the room was
bare. Despite the black coloration, the illumination was pleasantly clear
although it was impossible to tell where the light was coming from.
He
had expected to be met by arms and aggression. As it was, he wasn’t met at
all. He took a step forward and a
green beam of light emerged from above him and bathed him in its glow. He froze
as a tingling sensation crawled over his skin but other than a slightly
unpleasant stinging there was no pain only an uncomfortable sensation of being
probed.
The
light abruptly switched itself off and he was surprised to find that his phaser,
comm badge and tricorder had vanished along with his belt, shoes and the tiny
medicine bundle he constantly wore under his uniform. He hadn’t felt their
removal and as the cold floor bit into his bare soles he was at least grateful
that his clothes remained.
Tom
probably wouldn’t have been so fortunate, he reminded himself. Unsure of what
he was now expected to do, and aware that the B’rech’kians
could just as easily inflict him with a worse probe, he hovered in place,
waiting for the aliens to collect him.
After about 15
minutes he decided he had had enough of waiting and squaring his shoulders he
ventured hesitantly towards the open doorway. He braced himself for punishment,
but finding none, began to relax and walk more confidently. He hesitated at the
doorway and reached out a cautious hand to check for an invisible force field.
Nothing.
Perplexed and now
becoming annoyed with the aliens seeming disinterest in him, despite his equal
fear of what that interest might entail, he stepped boldly into the wide
corridor. The door swished closed behind him and disappeared. He turned back and
ran his fingers over the wall, finding no seams or joins. It was as though the
door had never existed.
He walked down the
featureless corridor. He realised that he was probably passing endless other
undetectable doorways since it was improbable that the ship would have been
designed with a seemingly endless corridor in it, which meant that he would only
find an open doorway where the B’rech’k intended him to.
No wonder they
couldn’t be bothered to meet him, he thought angrily. They had disarmed him
and he was now just like a rat in a maze, leading himself into whatever fate
awaited him. It probably amused them to make him walk willingly into his jail
cell, he decided.
It took another few
minutes and several twists and turns before he saw an opening in one of the
walls.
Okay, this is it.
He told himself and setting his face in an expression of nonchalance he marched
into the room, ready to face whatever awaited him. He had a vision in his head
of a Cardassian type prison. What he found made his knees buckle in surprise.
He was in a
luxurious one-roomed bedchamber. To the left was a huge divan draped with
multi-coloured silks like a Risan brothel, in front of him was a low dining
table surrounded by roman-style couches and on the right was a sunken spa bath,
bubbling hotly with water so heavily scented that it assaulted his nostrils. Two
K’tech were knelt submissively at the side of the bath, another was laying out
a richly decorated costume on the side of the bed and a fourth stepped forward
shyly as he entered, his face hidden by his long unbound golden hair, and he
swiftly dropped to his knees in front of the startled Commander.
Chakotay just gaped
in dazed bewilderment at the four naked beauties and the opulent surroundings,
and waited for the B’rech’kian’s to realise that they had let him in the
wrong room.
Taking his silence
as permission, the K’tech at his feet raised slender arms and reached for his
waistband. As soon as he felt the boy’s fingers fumbling with the
unfamiliarity of his alien clothing, Chakotay’s brain snapped back into gear
and he staggered backwards, desperately trying to ignore the way his cock had
responded to the close proximity of the beautiful, if slightly plump, slave’s
fingers.
“What the hell
are you doing?” He roared at the boy in his panic and the K’tech collapsed
into a terrified ball at his feet, cowering from his totally unexpected anger.
Chakotay
immediately felt guilty. The slave was little more than a child, perhaps 16 or
17 and had obviously only been doing what he was trained to do. Oh the other
hand, the B’rech’kian’s would undoubtedly have punished the slave for
mistaking Chakotay as a master rather than a prisoner, so he had probably saved
him from a beating.
“He has
displeased you?” A booming voice rang out from behind Chakotay.
Chakotay turned in
confusion to see the B’rech’k Captain entering the doorway, a look of fury
on his face. In the flesh the alien was even more imposing, he stood almost
seven foot in height.
Not waiting for an
answer from the Commander, the alien stepped up to the slave, grabbed his blond
hair and wrenched the K’tech’s tear-stained face up to meet his. Chakotay
watched helplessly as the slave closed his brilliant blue eyes in terror and the
B’rech’k captain drew a knife and slit the boys throat before Chakotay even
realised what was happening.
“NO!” Chakotay
screamed and pounded uselessly at the Captain’s broad back as the K’tech’s
blood poured out around his lifeless body.
A red transporter beam emerged from the ceiling, bathed the corpse in its
eerie light and both the body and the stain disappeared, leaving the floor
gleaming again.
Then the alien
turned to face Chakotay’s horrified expression.
“We are a long
way from home and have a limited supply of K’tech. Please remember that before
you allow one to displease you again.” He chided
“You killed
him!” Chakotay roared in outrage
The Captain
shrugged. “It was necessary to kill ONE of them today. His failure to please
you merely made him the obvious choice. A
second slaughter is NOT necessary. Therefore I would appreciate you keeping your
temper under control from now on. I understand that you are a barbarian, but as
a B’rech’k hostage you have a duty to at least try and act in a civilised
manner.”
Chakotay’s mind
whirled as the alien murderer casually called HIM a barbarian. He realised with
a sick feeling of guilt that his refusal to let the K’tech undress him had
caused the boy’s death. It was imperative that he quickly learnt the rules of
his new life before he inadvertently caused another innocent to suffer or die.
Swallowing his hatred for the alien Captain he took a shaky breath.
“As you say, I am
a barbarian.” He said placatingly “Please explain what is expected of me so
I can be more ‘civilised’”
The B’rech’k
Captain slapped him heartily on the shoulder and grinned.
“Ah, at least you
are a CLEVER little barbarian.” The alien chuckled, “I guessed that when you
swindled me out of that pretty K’tech of yours. I have to tell you I am still
rather upset about that. On the other hand, you are probably a better
acquisition. I fancied the novelty of a K’tech with brains but the rest of the
crew found the idea too unnerving. Their stomachs quite turned over at the
thought.”
The word
acquisition rolled around in Chakotay’s head.
“What exactly IS
my status here?” He asked worriedly.
“Oh I’ll
explain the details later,” The Captain replied expansively
“Am I your
K’tech?” Chakotay demanded
The alien looked
quite ill at Chakotay’s question.
“You are
B’rech’k, you can’t be a K’tech. What a disgusting thought.” He said
with an expression of horror. He looked at Chakotay as though the smaller man
was mad and then suddenly he guffawed loudly.
“Oh, it was a
joke! Ha! Ha! You have a strange sick sense of humour, little alien. You are
lucky that I have a strong stomach. I must warn you though that my crew are more
conservative and don’t appreciate such things. Try to be more sombre at dinner
tonight.” He warned quietly.
“What has
happened to Voyager?”
The alien frowned
in confusion and then his brow cleared
“Ah, your old
ship? They have left. The defence grid was deactivated to allow their passage
back out of B’rech’k space.”
Chakotay sighed
with relief.
“They said they
would return to ransom you, but of course they won’t, none of them ever do.”
The alien said blithely “Just as well, of course. The B’rech’k would have
died out millennia ago without the infusion of fresh blood into our gene
pool.”
Chakotay looked at
the other man in amazement. “You mean this is all about kidnapping ‘breeding
stock’?”
The Captain
shuddered. “Please try to stop using K’tech terms when referring to people,
it is most upsetting. You are so ungrateful. We have rescued you from your
mundane life with those barbarians. Look around you and see how wonderful your
life as a B’rech’k will be!” and he gestured expansively at the luxurious
room and the three remaining K’tech.
Chakotay finally
realised that the room was HIS, as presumably were the slaves. His prison was
certainly not what he had expected. Of course, that didn’t make it any less a
prison.
“Why do you use
such an elaborate ruse to ‘rescue’ people?” Chakotay asked tightly
“Since you are
all barbarians, only a Captain of an alien ship is likely to be suitable to join
us. We only ever recruit the brightest and the best. We discovered that despite
the obvious advantages we offer, most Captains were reluctant to voluntarily
abandon their ships. I assure you
that almost all of them quickly decided they preferred their new lives, as will
you.”
Chakotay bit back
his bitter denial. It seemed more politic to co-operate until he had a better
grasp of what was going on.
“Why do you need
outsiders for your gene pool?” He asked
The Captain
stiffened a little. “As I have already said, I will explain the details later.
In the meantime your K’tech are waiting to serve you and prepare you
for dinner. It will be a chance for you to meet the rest of the crew and
discuss what role on the ship you are most suited for.
We are still two months journey from B’rechnar and you will undoubtedly
tire of just staying in your quarters, no matter how entertaining you may find
them at first.” He sniggered, looking pointedly at the K’tech.
“Remember what I
told you though, a K’tech who displeases a B’rech’k must be put down
immediately. It is the law, and we barely have enough to last us home.” He
admonished firmly and then swept out of the room before Chakotay could ask him
what he meant by ‘barely having enough to last’.
As soon as the
Captain exited, the three remaining K’tech exchanged terrified glances with
each other until finally one of the bath attendants crept forwards on his hands
and knees until he was in the position of his unfortunate predecessor.
The trembling boy
slowly stripped him and Chakotay just stood and let him.
The situation was intolerable but he didn't dare risk refusing the
slave’s attentions. His own disgust at being served in this fashion was
drowned by his certain knowledge that his rejection of the K’tech would result
in the boy’s death.
When he was finally
naked he trembled a little himself in the certainty that he was undoubtedly
being watched by more eyes than the six blue ones of his K’tech attendants. He
suspected that the Captain’s slaughter of the first K’tech had been a
deliberate lesson for his hostage. The only way that the B’rech’k Captain
could have arrived at exactly the right moment to deliver that lesson was if he
was monitoring Chakotay’s room.
So Chakotay merely
bit his lip to stop himself from screaming in humiliated outrage as the blond
head of the K’tech descended gently onto his groin and nibbled and licked him
to arousal.
His body’s
physical response to the boy’s ministrations brought a further crashing wave
of guilt onto his already overburdened conscience. He was disgusted with himself
that he could be aroused by the frantic touches of a slave who was in fear of
his life.
As the blond head
bobbed expertly up and down his erect shaft and his balls drew up into the
tingling tightness that preceded orgasm, tears of shame began to pour down
Chakotay’s face, yet he still screamed in ecstasy as the slave’s throat
tightened and sucked him into orgasm. He pumped his essence deep into the
boy’s welcoming throat until he was drained.
The K’tech then
proceeded to lick him clean, with the tiny tongue strokes of a dainty cat and
then sat back on his haunches and looked pleadingly at Chakotay’s face to see
whether his performance had been satisfactory.
The naked terror in
the blond’s eyes as he trembled in front of his new ‘master’ combined with
the fact that the K’tech’s own penis was limp and shrunken in his lap in
clear evidence that the slave had gained no pleasure at all from his act, made
Chakotay feel absurdly like a rapist. Chakotay forced himself to smile at the
boy, and although the expression was false it was enough to chase some of the
shadows from the blue eyes and the boy stopped his terrible shivering.
Chakotay whispered
“Thank you.” And leant over to stroke the boy’s silken hair. He was aware
he was treating the K’tech like a pet but given the boy’s whipped puppy
behaviour it seemed a natural way to reassure him. His instinct was obviously
correct because the K’tech finally gave a happy sigh and leant into him,
rubbing himself with sensuous pleasure against Chakotay’s legs.
To Chakotay’s
complete self-disgust he felt his cock responding to the boy’s actions and
gently detaching himself from the K’tech before his body could betray him
again he headed for the whirling spa and quickly descended into the warm water.
He lay back in the
warm comfort and rested his head on the side of the bath. The only thought that
was keeping him sane was the realisation that however soul-destroying it felt to
have sex with a terrified slave, he had saved Tom from becoming one. The thought
that Tom had nearly sacrificed himself to become a K’tech made his heart
constrict with pain.
He had no doubt
that the green probe would have found any suicide method Tom would have carried
and Tom would have died on a cold alien floor with his throat slit ear to ear.
As the Captain had said, it was the law that a displeasing K’tech was ‘put
down’ and he knew that the pilot would never have allowed himself to be
abused.
He knew that Tom
would be suffering from guilt, that he would probably hate and curse his name
forever, but at least the pilot was alive. To Chakotay, that was all that
mattered, it was all that had ever mattered. No one on Voyager realised how he
felt about Tom, particularly Tom himself. The Jonas debacle for instance.
Everyone thought he was still angry with the pilot for deceiving him. The truth
was, he wasn’t that petty. He knew Tom had been acting under orders. The
reason he was still so mad about the incident was the casual way Tom had risked
his life as though it was worth nothing.
Even today, when
Tom had yelled “I’m dispensable.” He had wanted to grab the pilot and
shake him until some sense finally descended into that pig-headed, beautiful
blond head. From the day he had first met the pilot he had been captivated. Even
stinking drunk, underweight and full of arrogant bravado Tom had made his soul
sing. He had tried to refuse Tom entrance into the Maquis, calling him a drunk
but really knowing that he simply couldn’t bear the fact that one day he might
have to cradle the younger man’s dead body in his arms.
He had almost had
an orgasm on the day Tom was captured by the federation. He knew that Tom would
be safe in Auckland, far away from the Maquis war and his health and welfare
closely monitored by the Auckland wardens since no one would dare to face the
wrath of his father, the Admiral.
When he had seen
Tom on the bridge of Voyager he had wanted to scream. He had attacked the pilot,
berating and accusing him, but all he had really wanted to say was “You were
SAFE, you idiot! Why the hell did you risk your life AGAIN?”
He knew Tom hated
him, had always hated him, and he didn’t care. In a way it made things easier.
As a harsh, unforgiving, senior officer he had at least been able to curb
Tom’s wild suicidal risk-taking nature (or at least sometimes). Had he ever
let Tom know how he truly felt about him, he would have lost the ability to
control him.
Or at least that
was how he had justified these years of bitter animosity. Now, acknowledging
that he would never see the pilot again, he bitterly regretted the way he had
behaved. Perhaps if he had revealed his heart to the other man, he could have
made Tom’s life easier and his self-respect higher.
On the other hand,
his declaration of love might have just made the pilot run away even faster. He
knew Tom wasn’t gay. He had happily romped through all the unattached females
in both the Maquis and Voyager and never once even looked at any of the men, not
even Geron who had been obviously drooling over him since first sight.
His reverie was
disturbed as one of the K’tech knelt behind his head and began to carefully
wash his hair for him, his fingers kneading Chakotay’s skull. Chakotay closed
his eyes and relaxed back into the massage with a sigh of contentment. The
sexual nature of the K’tech disturbed his conscience, but this kind of gentle
pampering was innocent enough for him to enjoy.
Of course, the
close proximity of the boy’s sex to his nostrils as his head was nestled on
the back of the boy’s naked thighs, sent an unwelcome surge of excitement to
his groin and he reached under the water and slowly ran surreptitious fingers up
and down his cock.
Gently but firmly,
a delicate hand under the water pried his fingers away and his gasp of dismay
turned into a muffled scream as his cock was slowly drawn into a hot, tight
embrace.
His eyes shot open
and he saw one of the K’tech standing waist high in the water and descending
his ass down onto Chakotay’s lap, slowly impaling himself onto his erection.
Chakotay’s
automatic protest was silenced by a pleading look in the boy’s nervous eyes.
He remembered he was being monitored and closed his eyes in resignation. The
K’tech lowered himself until his ass hit Chakotay’s thighs and then he began
to move himself up and down.
The delicious
friction was unbelievable and despite himself Chakotay found his hands wrapped
around the boy’s waist so that he could control the speed and depth of the
strokes. Buoyed by the water, the K’tech’s body seemed weightless and he
thrust the boy up and down on his lap, harder and faster until each descent sent
floods of water spilling over the sides of the bath.
The K’tech who
had undressed him earlier slipped into the bath beside them and dove under the
water. A few seconds later Chakotay felt himself being rimmed by a hot eager
tongue. His hips bucked in reaction and he pounded harder into the boy on his
lap.
He felt a tongue
probing hungrily into his ass in a furious rhythm, broken only by the boy’s
occassional need to come up for air, and the K’tech behind his head leant over
and offered him his mouth. Chakotay sucked hungrily at the sweet tongue and
tangled it with his own.
The K’tech on his
lap began to squeeze his anal muscles tightly and then the K’tech beneath the
water thrust his tongue deeply into his ass. The combination of sensations took
Chakotay over the edge and he screamed as his cock erupted a fountain of cum.
He blacked out for
a moment, while the three K’tech carefully detached themselves from his spent
body, and when he came to his senses again he opened his eyes into the grinning
eyes of the Captain who was stood by the bath, offering a towel.
“See, I told you
you’d like it here!” the alien smirked and then winked.
Chakotay flushed
deeply. There was no point in denying that the experience had been the best sex
he had even had wet dreams about let alone imagined. Chakotay was an honest man
and wouldn’t allow himself the self-deception of pretending he hadn’t
enjoyed the experience.
However, he could
also honestly say that his most fervent wish was that it had never happened. He
had been forced to perform by the knowledge that the B’rech’k were watching
and his need to protect the three innocent slaves. He had had no choice. The
knowledge helped him to assuage his guilt over his enjoyment but only increased
his hatred for the B’rech’k Captain.
“They were
‘pleasing’” Chakotay confirmed and saw ‘his’ K’tech all sag with
relief. He grabbed the towel and made a show of drying his hair so that he could
hide his sudden tears.
“Dinner is in 30
minutes” The Captain advised him, “I’ll look forward to your company
there.” And with a jaunty wave he strode off again.
“Hope you enjoyed
the show, you bastard” Chakotay muttered under his breath and then let his
K’tech help him out of the bath.
They expertly dried
him and then dressed him in one of the elaborate B’rech’k costumes. There
were so many complex layers that Chakotay was actually grateful for their
assistance. He noticed that they were now far more relaxed and were occasionally
even jostling each other for the right to put the next layer of clothing on
their new ‘master’.
Chakotay regarded
them thoughtfully. All three were breathtakingly pretty although they were all
slightly plump in his opinion. He decided it was either the fashion here or was
due to their pampered existence (when they weren’t having their throats cut,
of course, he reminded himself bitterly.)
“Can you
speak?” He asked them, genuinely uncertain since none had even uttered a sound
since he entered the room.
Six sky blue eyes
met his in fear and then slowly all three nodded nervously.
Chakotay waited and then realised he had asked them whether they COULD
speak, he hadn’t said that they were allowed too. Sorrow pierced his heart
again at their obvious complete submission.
He remembered the Alien’s mention of breeding pens and realised that
the K’tech were raised from babies to be slaves, they probably couldn’t even
imagine a different life.
All the same, it
seemed strange that NONE of them had even a spark of spirit, he thought. Then
again, with instant death as the penalty for even the smallest lack of
obedience, he realised that the fact these K’tech were in their late teens was
proof in itself of their absolute tractability.
“What are your
names?” He asked gently.
The three boys
looked at each other in panicked confusion. Finally the boy who had ridden his
lap dared to reply.
“We are K’tech,
master.” He mumbled hesitantly.
Chakotay frowned,
saw the instant terror in the boy and corrected his expression into a smile.
“But what are
your names?” He asked
The K’tech looked
at each other helplessly and the braver boy gulped visibly before replying
“K’tech have no
names. K’tech are K’tech, Master.” And he flinched, sensing by instinct
that his answer had angered his master despite Chakotay’s impassive mask.
Spirits, Chakotay
breathed to himself in disbelief. They aren’t pets after all, even pets have
names. The K’tech are just possessions to the B’rech’k. He was so angry he
wanted to howl. Sod the bloody Prime Directive, he thought. If he had to play
along with the B’rech’k, so be it, he decided.
Somehow, someday,
he was going to take this sick society by the balls and rip it apart. He had
seen atrocities in his life. He had seen things done both by and to the
Cardassians that had scarred his soul, but never in his life had he met a race
so arrogantly evil that they had subjugated people into the category of
disposable objects, not even worthy of names.
This was
ridiculous, he decided, he couldn’t just call them all “hey, you!” He
turned to the trembling K’tech.
“You,” he said
pointing at the boy who had been brave enough to speak “Your name is Tate, it
means wind.”
The K’tech looked
at him in complete bewilderment and then a tentative smile hovered over his
plump pretty face as his lips silently tried the name out.
Chakotay pointed at
the K’tech who had washed his hair. “You are Skan, it means sky.” And then
he turned to the last K’tech who was waiting in desperate hope and smiled
“You are Wi, it means sun.”
“Okay, which of
you know where I have to go to eat?” He asked.
“Your choice,
Master.” Tate replied hesitantly.
Chakotay looked at
him in puzzlement. Skan walked gracefully to the wall and touched the smooth
surface. A previously invisible panel slid open to reveal a collection of
collars, restraints, whips and some of the most obscene sexual toys Chakotay had
ever seen. Skan reached in and retrieved a golden collar and chain and then
returned, head bowed and offered it.
Understanding
dawned as Chakotay remembered that the Alien bridge had shown all the
B’rech’k with a personal slave in attendance. Presumably all the crew had a
number of K’tech but they chose one to attend them publicly. He didn’t know
what public function a K’tech played, but had a sickening feeling he was about
to find out.
He looked
uncertainly at the three slaves, and decided that Tate was the boldest and would
be the better choice (and prayed he wasn’t subjecting the boy to some form of
punishment).
However, Tate’s
obvious glee at being chosen helped to put his mind at rest. He clipped the
collar around the Tate’s neck and Tate then showed him how to fasten the end
of the chain to his own belt. He started towards the door and noticed that Tate
was surreptitiously wiping his eyes.
“What’s wrong,
Tate?” He asked gently
The K’tech
trembled nervously but realised Chakotay had no intention of moving until he
spoke. “Forgive a K’tech, Master.” Tate mumbled, now beginning to shake.
“What is it?”
Chakotay demanded.
“Is master
displeased?” Tate finally sobbed
Chakotay didn’t
know what he had done to make the K’tech so distressed. He was sure he had
interpreted the collar correctly. They were running out of time, so he didn’t
have time to deal with Tate more sympathetically, he was terrified the K’tech
would be blamed for his lateness.
“Tell me NOW what
is wrong.” He snapped and Tate flinched but finally answered
“I do not have
the K’tech’nar.” Tate whimpered.
“What is
K’tech’nar?” Chakotay asked in exasperation.
Tate just rubbed
his hands nervously over his bare chest and groin. For a moment Chakotay was
none the wiser and then he remembered the ornate body jewellery he had seen on
the personal K’tech. Obviously
the jewellery was a mark of favour and taking Tate out completely unadorned was
unbearably humiliating for the slave.
Chakotay turned to
Wi and Skan, “Quickly!” He said to them and they needed no other
instruction, they ran to the secret cupboard, collected the jewellery and
proceeded to adorn Tate with jewel encrusted ear, nipple and cock rings.
Then, smiling
happily again, Tate led him unerringly through the maze of corridors to the
dining hall. Chakotay was bewildered that despite the fact that the K’tech
were completely submissive and docile, they obviously had their own hierarchy
and pecking order. He was pleased that Tate had felt able to ‘complain’
about his ignorance and he had a feeling that giving the K’tech the identity
of names had sparked a tiny bit of self-respect in them after all.
He realised he
would have to be careful how far he let them go. As much as he wanted to treat
them as his equals, he knew that it was their lives that he risked with his
‘radical’ ideas.
An arch appeared in
the wall of the corridor and Chakotay was assaulted by the raucous sounds of a
gathering of hungry B’rech’k. In the middle of the huge, high-ceilinged
room, seated B’rech’k and their kneeling slaves surrounded a long table. He
could vaguely make out what appeared to be a large suckling pig being carved in
the centre. The distinct smell of barbequed pork made his nose wrinkle in
disgust and he hoped that they could cater for his vegetarian diet or he was
going to get very hungry, very fast.
“Ah ha! Our new
crewmember!” The Captain shouted over the rabble, raising a huge goblet and
waving it in a decidedly drunken welcome. Half the contents spilled over his
K’tech’s head and the Captain frowned in annoyance, then smirked and bent
down to lick it off.
Chakotay recoiled
in disgust, even Klingons had more decorum he decided as he saw that several of
the crew were being sucked off by their K’tech as they speared chunks of white
meat with daggers and swilled it
down with wine.
Tate pulled him
towards an empty space at the table and then nearly fell over backwards when the
chain on his collar went unexpectedly taut. He turned in consternation to his
master and began to tremble in guilty fear at the look of complete outrage on
Chakotay’s face. With typical K’tech thinking, he assumed it was he who had
displeased his master, and he cowered fearfully.
Chakotay was frozen
to the spot, his eyes fixed in disbelieving horror as he stared at the middle of
the table.
Finally he
understood the Captain’s earlier comment about the K’tech he had killed.
He understood why
the K’tech had no names.
He even realised
that he had been wrong to interpret the word K’tech as meaning slave. K’tech
obviously meant cattle.
He looked into the
opaque eyes of the K’tech who had been butchered in his quarters, passed over
the glazed fruit that decorated the boy’s charred mouth and his eyes traveled
down to the plump chest that had been carved to expose several white ribs.
And Chakotay
fainted.