SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 3

"For the last time, I will not speak to you. Where is your captain?" The man's lips were pursed in angry defiance as he spoke, while Chakotay stood frustrated, listening. For twenty minutes the commander had struggled to maintain a sense of calm as he tried to reason with their newest acquaintance of the Delta Quadrant. But from the moment Chakotay introduced himself, the man on the viewscreen had put up the shackles and their communication had come to a grinding halt.

Chakotay crossed his arms in front and wrestled with his pent-up aggravation. The captain had asked him to continue negotiations on her behalf, but his words had been consistently met with irritating silence, while the man's face steadily soured with each of his attempts at negotiation.

Chakotay reluctantly tapped his combadge and saw the bridge crew relax their postures a little.

"Captain to the Bridge."

The atmosphere had been electrified for far too long and he knew it was time to end the heated deadlock.

"On my way." Captain Janeway's harrowed voice echoed back to him.

The turbolift doors opened with a swish. The captain had made it onto Voyager's bridge within seconds of his call. He wondered whether she had recognized any hint of urgency in his voice.

"What is it, Commander?"

"Captain..." Chakotay trailed off. Suddenly lost for words, he was no longer sure how to word his fuming thoughts and still address the situation politely. But the purple robed man on the viewscreen showed no such reticence.

"Captain Janeway, it's good to see you again." The robed man carefully lifted the shrouding hood a little further away from his eyes.

"High Councilor Zeron." Janeway acknowledged the Anawin leader.

"Captain Janeway, your underling there mentioned something about a possible trade agreement in response to our upgrading your supply of dilithium crystals."

Janeway looked at Chakotay and discretely raised her eyebrows, before she turned back toward the semi-shielded face that was grimacing at her first officer yet again.

"Commander Chakotay sought you out under my direction. It was my idea to organize a trade meeting. However, I'm no longer convinced of the need to continue with this course of action. Thank you for your time, High Councilor." Janeway mirrored the imposing body language of her first officer and naturally located her hands to her hips. Then she indicated for the transmission to be terminated and in their identical stance, she and Chakotay knew their position and perspective on the issue was unified.

"We're being hailed, Captain," Harry Kim said.

"On screen," Janeway replied.

Zeron's face reappeared on the viewscreen.

"High Councilor, how can we help you?" Janeway said.

"Captain, I'm sure the Anawin people can supply your ship with a more than adequate amount of dilithium crystals, and anything else you might need, in exchange for something that might profit us also."

Chakotay noted that this time the High Councilor's voice had changed considerably. For the captain, he would obviously make the effort of being pleasant.

"In fact, I would be pleased to meet with you personally on this outpost to discuss anything you might require," Zeron said.

Chakotay turned his attention from the viewscreen to the captain. He could see she was trying to gauge his feelings about them conducting a trade meeting on Zeron's home ground and he nodded his head in agreement. He'd been trained to respond rationally, even though inside his heart still thumped loudly with annoyance. His earlier encounter with Zeron had left him riled.