He thinks a little longer. Suicide attack? But the Kazon don't really have a motive for that, and in any case it's not much more likely to work than a conventional attack.

Cloaked ambush? Conceivable, but there's been no evidence the Kazon have such technology.

Overconfidence? The Kazon withdrew after the Caretaker array was destroyed, with a significantly larger force.

"I've got no idea what they could be thinking, Captain. I don't like it."

"60 seconds to intercept, Captain. Do we try to go around them?"

The cautious move here would be to avoid them. Voyager is the fastest ship of a civalization that's at least 200 years ahead of the Kazon: it would be easy to do.

But if she does the cautious thing every time, she'll never get the ship home. Even if you ignore the agony of a 70 year voyage, they're unlikely to survive that long a trip through uncharted space with no support. She needs to take risks and hope for something to get them home faster: advanced warp technology, another member of the Caretaker's species, a wormhole, or something she hasn't thought of.

Admittedly, the Kazon don't seem very promising on the advanced technology front. But if they can establish friendly relations with the Kazon, it reduces the risk of travel through this part of space, and maybe they can ask around and get in touch with someone more advanced. And the risk here is pretty small: it only seems like a risk at all because the Kazon ship is acting like they know what they're doing. On the face of it, Voyager has them utterly outclassed.

"Let's see what they want."

This kind of hubris is how the Maquis managed to survive fighting the vastly more powerful Federation. But Janeway's made her decision, and it would be too damaging to the incredibly thin trust growing between the Maquis and Starfleet crew for him to challenge it.

Voyager drops out of warp.

A few seconds later, the Kazon vessel does as well, maintaining a respectful distance.

They hail Voyager.

"I am Jal Miran of the Kazon-Pommar."

"Captain Janeway, of the Federation starship Voyager. Why have you intercepted us?"

"My apologies if our approach was alarming."

"While I understand you've come into conflict with the Kazon-Ogla, not all the sects are united against you. The Kazon-Pommar would be happy to discuss trade possibilities with you. Perhaps you'd value maps, or safe passage through our space?"

"Those would be of value to us, yes. But what is it you'd want in return?"

"Access to your replicator technology. It would be a huge benefit to our sect."

"Unfortunately, that's not something I can offer. Federation regulations don't permit me to trade away our technology like that."

Eugh, that's classic Federation, prioritizing rules over survival. Not that he thinks this was a good idea in the first place, but if they're going to do it they should actually do it.

"That is indeed unfortunate."

"However, perhaps there is still room for negotiation. We might be willing to settle for goods produced by your replicators. Spare parts, or even food or water."

She's still deeply suspicious. But this is consistent with the best case scenario, and this is exactly the sort of risk that might pay off with getting home.

"That might be acceptable, yes. Would you like to beam over to discuss it?"

"What does that mean? I don't believe we have the technology you're referring to."

"It refers to transporting you to our ship instantaneously by converting you to energy, then back to matter on our ship."

Humans developed transporters in the mid 22nd century, so that 200 years thing is looking bang on so far.

"You would kill us, then make a copy?"

Really?

(There's pretty universal consensus among federation philosophers that transporters don't kill you. They have stated reasons, of course, but ultimately the real driving force is "god transporters are so convenient".)

"That's not how the Federation sees it, no. Would you prefer to take a shuttle over?"

"Yes, we would."

Arrangements are made! Soon enough, the Kazon delegation is meeting with Janeway and Chakotay in the briefing room next to the bridge.

"... so while in principle, yes, self-sealing stem bolts are not a technological secret I'm compelled to keep from you, I expect that the difference in materials is sufficient that it would nevertheless -"

She's cut off by a combadge chirp.

"Captain, 3 Kazon shuttlecraft are approaching Voyager."