An Ensign's Log: The Year of Hell

Chapter 5: Negotiation

"Can we pull away from them?" she called over the blaring alarms coming from the computer, the escape pod rumbling from the strain.
"No, even though their tractor beam is weak this pod lacks the capabilities of a basic shuttlecraft, we don't have the power!" Lee shouted back as he skimmed over the console, his efforts to disengage the lock unsuccessful. He looked out of the window at the surging orange lights engulfing the view-screen and grimaced, "Reverse impulse power won't cut it either. We're in their hands now."
Ensign (y/n) stared out of the window and watched as the ship ahead of them grew closer, a hatch opening ready to ensnare them inside. From all the alien species that they had come across in the Delta Quadrant, not many of them had been friendly. She only hoped that these incomers favoured negotiations above drastic measures.

They sat at the helm, helpless and silent as they entered the ship, its tractor beam disengaging as the pod docked in the bay. It was too dim outside to clearly see what awaited them, the fluorescent lights inside the pod ghosting their reflections on the view screen, but they prepared themselves nonetheless. Lee picked up his phaser and clipped it to his belt, then walking over to one of the shelves to retrieve a tricorder, he tossed it back to the engineer. Clicking it on, she looked anxiously back up at Lee, her breathing fast. What if they have no intention to talk? Her body jolted as aggressive voices were heard outside, followed by a clambering of metal as someone pounded the other side of the door. Taking her position next to him, the security officer input the unlock code and the hatch realised with a hiss.
"There's only two off us, we might not pose a threat," Lee whispered, hovering his palm over the phaser on his belt, "but if something goes wrong, stay behind me."
Her eyes were like those of a frightened deer as she nodded, unable to speak as the door slowly slid open to the unknown.
Four aliens stormed in, their clothing a dark shade of maroon and lined with copper thread, wide belts strapped across their abdomen. They were stocky and broad shouldered, a whole two feet taller than the young engineer as they snatched the tricorder from her hand, tossing it over sceptically between them before throwing it to the floor. One of the strangers confiscated Lee's phaser with a defensive glare, two of them then snatching her arms and escorting her out of the escape pod with Ensign Lee being pulled along behind her.

She found herself examining the aliens with alarmed curiosity; their skin was a dark olive green with a scaley texture, noses flat and eyes completely black. Shivering internally, she averted her gaze and focused on the hallway.
The ship was almost as large as a Klingon Warbird, but had a completely different aesthetic; rusty brown walls arched over them as the steel grating beneath her boots resounded a metallic clang as the group marched their way through dimly lit hallways, echoes of the ship's engines louder than they ought to be. After turning left and right numerous times, she lost track of where they were going and began to worry that they wouldn't be able to find their way back to the bay which secured the escape pod. These guys better be friendly, heaven help us...

A door at the end of the hallway screeched open and they entered what she presumed to be the main Bridge. It reminded her of those old submarines Tom Paris had shown in his 19th century Earth lecture he'd put on last year, copper pipes and rusty walls making the computer screens look ultra futuristic in comparison. As they stopped marching, she tried to remember what the blonde pilot looked like, but his friendly face was already starting to fade from her memory.
"Sir, we detained the vessel. There were these beings hidden aboard," one of the aliens holding her announced, the grip on her arm tightening. Its voice had a strange gargle to it like an angry reptile as it spoke, the engineer and security officer exchanging uncertain glances as a much larger alien sat up from its chair. As it rose to its feet on the raised platform in the centre of the room, it seemed to grow even taller. These aliens were already larger than she'd expected but this one in particular was huge.
It stared down at them, black eyes unblinking as it silently criticised their small stature and brightly coloured uniforms.
"Step closer," the reptile ordered, its voice deep. The aliens harshly pushed the small humans across the room. Stumbling forward they stopping short at the platform, suddenly feeling incredibly small and inferior.
"Are you traders?" the alien asked with a gargling voice, scaly skin twitching under its dubious eyes.
"No, Sir," Lee responded in his professionally calm voice, posture pulled as tall as he could muster.
"Renegades?" the alien speculated further, it's tongue rattling against its teeth on the s's.
"No, Sir," the officer clarified again.
"Spies from the Krenim Imperial perhaps?"
Ensign (y/n) looked up at the alien with a strange hopefulness tossing about in her mind.
"Are you enemies with the Krenim?" she let the words slip out, anticipation settling in the stuffy air of the Bridge as she kept her gaze locked on the alien. It seemed to surprise the reptilian captain, his strong arms folding over his chest as he glared down at her.
"I could ask the same thing," he replied suspiciously. She took the chance to make a sound negotiation, one that might tempt these aliens to leave them unharmed.
"We are crewmen from the Federation Starship Voyager. We were attacked for months by the Krenim, from which we were forced to abandon ship and had begun our journey home until you found us here," she inhaled a shuddering breath but refused to let her guard down, "Our home isn't in this Quadrant, it's countless light years away with little chance of us getting back. However, there is still a chance to save our ship and it's captain from the brutality of the Krenim Imperial."