Harry looked closely at the aliens, as he stood in the small freighter ship with Tom and Chakotay by his side. “They remind me of Ferengi.”
“Very observant Harry.” Tom looked around at the confined space that they stood in. This was the way that ships were made to fly, he thought as he looked at the movable controls that surrounded him. He found himself reaching for a gage when the Commander slapped his hand. Tom turned his head and look at the Commander who was now talking with one of the small aliens. He almost missed the skin scorching looks that the Captain gave the young pilot whenever he misbehaved.
“What are we supposed to do?” Harry whispered over his shoulder.
“Do I look like the Commander? How am I supposed to know?” Tom snapped at his younger friend.
“You know Tom, you have a lot of suppressed anger that you should deal with.”
“Thank you Doctor Spock.” Tom moved away from the Ensign and into another area where it wasn’t quite as crowded. Did he have that much suppressed anger? No, Harry is just exaggerating like he always does, Tom told himself. As soon as he saw that the Commander had finish talking with the alien he moved towards him. “So what are we supposed to be doing?”
“Very funny Tom.” Chakotay gave him a disconcerting look and walked as far away as he could in the small contraption.
“Why does everyone think that everything I say is a joke?”
Harry whispered in Tom’s ear softly so Chakotay couldn’t hear. “Don’t pay attention to the Commander, he’s having a bad day.”
“Did I ask for your sympathy?”
“No you didn’t.” Harry raised his voice louder than he thought that he would, and even the aliens heard the altercation that began to arise. “I’ve tried to put up with your sarcasm and slaps in the face for too long, the least you could do is apologize.”
Tom couldn’t believe his ears. “Apologize? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“It’s just like you to not admit your faults.”
“What faults?”
“See you won’t admit anything!” Harry yelled.
“Oh yea mama’s boy, it just so happens that I admit a lot of things.”
“Yea.” Harry pushed his voice into an exasperated sarcasm. “Whenever you admit anything that makes you look good.”
The Commander had quickly noticed the visual distraction that had arisen and moved towards the rising sea of tension. “OK you two just calm down. Just settle down.” Each time Chakotay spoke his voice climaxed closer to the crescendo of sound protruding from the two men arguing, until his impatience broke. “SHUT UP!”
The two younger men closed their mouths at the sudden volume change in the Commanders voice. Harry seemed to flush slightly when he noticed every pair of alien eyes looking straight at the trio of humans.
Tom had seen the Commander upset before, but never had he heard words spoken that loudly from the impassive Indian. “Commander we were just practicing our Captain Proton skit.” Tom quickly saw that he had made a terrible mistake, Chakotay was like a bottle of Romulan rum, ready to burst.
With a great effort to remain calm, but slowly falling off the edge of insanity Chakotay moved in-between the two men. “Because of your childish behavior we are wasting valuable time in which we could be actually helping Yingman and his crew.”
Tom turned on his charm and took a dangerous risk in attempting to weasel his way out of the situation. “Chakotay, as I said we were just trying-”
Cutting in the Commander barked at the blonde pilot. “Did I say you could speak Lieutenant?”
Tom straightened his posture immediately. “No sir.”
The Commander leaned towards Tom and looked deep into his blue eyes. “I brought you two along not so I could baby-sit you but because I thought you were once responsible officers who were actually worth the uniforms your wearing. Maybe I was wrong. Just because the Captain’s not here doesn’t mean that you suddenly have the permission to act like pathetic versions of Klingons. Is that understood Ensign?” Chakotay turned sharply to face Harry’s bewildered face.
Caught of guard Harry found no voice.
“Is that understood.”
“Yes sir.” Harry finally answered while avoiding Chakotay’s intimidating stare.
Raising his voice again Chakotay looked at Tom. “Lieutenant. Sit over there and if you even try to touch one thing I will burn your hands off with my phaser.”
He shifted his stare to the younger of the two men. “Ensign, I’m disappointed in you, I never thought you would stoop to his level.” He pointed to Tom. “I thought I could expect more out of you than this. Stand over there.” The Commander took a deep breath then resumed his speech. “If I see either of you so much as look at each other, the both of you will spend the rest of out trip home, on Voyager, in the brig.” Giving the two men one last look Chakotay stormed away in a cloud of anger.
Small sharp needles began to prick slowly at Captain Kathryn Janeway’s skin. It started from within, one by one, causing pain to slowly spread throughout her entire body. When it finally arrived at her head dots of light appeared before her closed eyes. When the prickling had stopped a dull numbness came over her like a heavy blanket. Her eyes twitched and she fought to open them. Instantly the blanket of numbness flew off of her skin and a sickening pain hit her entire body with a harsh blow that left her breathless. Her deep blue eyes flew open and all she could see in front of her was a thick and dense fog of pitch black. Every fiber of her being attempted to move but her efforts were futile, she couldn’t move any part of her body.
After what seemed to her like thirty minutes of attempting to move any of her ligaments, she finally decided to rest a while. Sitting in the dark she tried distracting herself from the pain and began to put together the pieces of what she could remember.
The last thing she remembered was being on Voyager. There was something else. An alien. Yes she remembered being beamed onto an alien ship and then he injected her with something, something that entered her blood system making her drowsy and then darkness fell upon her. That’s all. How did I get here she wondered. Where is here?
She decided to try to move once more. Her leg began to edge forward and a cord of pain shot through her entire spine. Suddenly without warning two large Florissant lights turned the blackness in the chamber into a fiery white. Instinct caused Janeway’s arm to shoot up, protecting her eyes from the immense pain that entered her pupils like two sharp swords. Nothing but silence followed the change in the lighting.
As her eyes adjusted she slipped her arm down to her side. She couldn’t see any blood which was a good sign but why did every cell in her blood stream burn like a thousand needles running through her veins?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud noise that sounded like a large door opening. The sound of footsteps increased in volume as a shadow fell upon Janeway’s body. A face entered her area of vision, but quickly vanished out of sight. Then she was lifted upright as everything flew around her head in a large oceanic blur. The blood cells rushed into her brain quickly, causing her to feel faint. The last thing she saw was the door opening into an empty hallway filled with the horrid smell of burnt flesh. Then she drifted into the familiar feeling of unconscious.
Standing on the bridge of Yingman’s ship made Chakotay feel helpless. There was nothing he could do now but wait to arrive at the planet. It wasn’t long before they would arrived at their destination, it had already been and hour or so since they had left Voyager. At that moment a red strobe of light entered the ship and scanned the crew.
“What was that?” Chakotay demanded with dark intensity.
None of the lizard looking aliens answered him but instead they began to run towards the nearest exit.
“What do you think your doing?” Chakotay grabbed Yingman.
Yingman began to fidget nervously. The alien spoke in a meek voice with great fear shown on his face. “There is a ship out there with more powerful fire power than us, so we are evacuating the vessle.”
“What?” Chakotay barked. The alien desperately tried to find the words that would explain his incongruity. “We.. uh.. we’ve encountered their kind before and we know that there is no way we can fight them.”
Clenching his pronounced jaw tightly, Chakotay took a deep shallow breath to calm his usually dormit temper. He knew that Yingman was not the type to respond well to anger so he tried to speak with as much patience as he could find within himself. “Why don’t we talk to them first and see if-.”
“No that is not possible, they refuse to talk to anyone.”
“Who are they?”
“They are the guardians of the Empire that’s all we know.” Yingman was now squirming in his cobalt blue robe, obviously attempting to wriggle his way out of Chakotay’s firm grip.
“What Empire?”
“The Empire that we’re going to, what other Empire would I be talking about.” The green little serpent’s voice took on a high pitched tone that made Chakotay want to throw the annoying alien head first into the nearest bulkhead.
“I might have known what Empire you were talking about if you had bothered to tell us.”
Like a bolt of lightning the yellow eyes of the strange tiny man widened with sudden realization of his mistake. He was just about to explain himself when the small vessel rocked, causing the lights to dim and consoles to explode. “Listen Commander, my crew and I must leave immediately before we are destroyed!”
The Commander understood their sudden panic, but was disgusted that Yingman had never mentioned the Empire before. He wondered how many other things Yingman had forgotten to tell them, but none of that mattered at the moment. The question was, how were they supposed to get to the planet now that Yingman and his crew were jumping ship? “Let me get this straight, your going to leave us here on your ship alone?” Chakotay gestured towards Tom and Harry who still sat apart with their heads bowed in shame.
“N, no, there is room for you and your two officers in our escape pod.”
“That was not our agreement.”
“I know.” The diminutive aliens eyes shifted uncontrollably around the room refusing to land on anything, especially the Commander’s deathly glare.
Chakotay took a shallow breath while mentally attempting not to loose his cool. “Fine you leave with your crew but myself and two crewmen are staying here.”
As soon as Chakotay had loosened his grip on the serpents silk robe, Yingman went running through the doors to join the rest of his crew, in a frantic rush. Leaving the bridge intensely quite.
Looking at the two young men sitting on opposite sides of the room, Chakotay took initiative and broke the awkward silence. “Tom, Harry get over here and help me fly this damn ship.”
“Yes sir.” Both men answered in unison.
The voices came first.
“How is she?”
“I think she’ll be fine, but you must be careful Jessum, this is a knew species, you can’t just pump them with drugs that could possibly harm them.”
“I was in the middle of the Delta Quadrant I couldn’t just stop at a local infirmary to ask what drugs to use. Besides I was already late for my appointed arrival home.”
“That’s no excuse your a scientist you should have known better.”
“I’ll try to remember that next time.” The voices stopped. Then footsteps moved towards her. A hand rested lightly on her arm. “Captain. Can you hear me?”
“Doctor.” She managed to mumble.
“Is she talking to you?”
“It can’t be, we’ve never met before?”
Captain Janeway blinked a few times, attempting to clear her blurry vision. When the image became clear she did not see the familiar face of her EMH Doctor but instead the unfamiliar face of an alien.
Before the unknown alien could blink Janeway was sitting upright and looking for a door or weapon, whatever was nearer. “Oh no you don’t young lady.” The alien grabbed her shoulders, attempting to push her back down to the metallic table she was sitting on. “Jessum, come help me she’s a feisty little thing.”
“You don’t have to tell me, I was the one who captured her remember?” The other alien who Kathryn now recognized as the same alien who abducted her from Voyager came over to help him hold her down. They restrained her with three thick metal bars that held her feet waist and arms firmly to the cold, unrelenting table.
She was about to demand to know who they were and why she was there when the alien that she hadn’t seen before extracted a small contraption from a nearby cabinet. It was unknown to her at first what he planned to do with the small metal object until he came towards her with it. All she was able to stifle was a “No,” when he placed it over her mouth enabling her to speak.
Helpless, and angry that she was put in the position to feel helpless, she had no choice but to lay silently, unmoving. The alien hovered over her for a moment, looking at her and grinning darkly. There was something vaguely strange about the way he looked at her and Kathryn wished that she could turn away, but instead, she stared at him just as intently. His vacant ivory eyes held hers for a few agonizing moments until he finally turned away.
“She’s a fine specimen Jessum, your father will be pleased.”
“You think so.” The alien suddenly took on a childish expression.
“Why definitely, she’s a beauty.” The older of the two aliens patted Jessum on the back in a fatherly manner.
“Thanks Doctor I hope you’re right.”
Janeway observed the two as they talked to one another. They were both tall, at least six foot five and their bone structure was not that much dissimilar to a Klingons. Both wore their white hair in a loose pony tail allowing it to cascade down their backs. The black clothes they wore were a striking contrast to their light skin, hair and eyes. Back on Earth there was a word for those types of people, albinos.
The room that they were in was filled with thousands of contraptions that Janeway had never seen before. Assuming that she was in the infirmary, the tools must be advanced medical equipment. On the left side of the wall was a small window, revealing a city made of gray stone. For a fleeting moment she longed to be out there free of her restraints. At that moment the two aliens halted their banter abruptly and turned to face the set of doors that had opened.
Two men clad in ebony robes holding weapons walked in. Immediately the Doctor and Jessum fell to their knees, bowing their heads in respect. Janeway had to crane her neck to see the image that entered the room next. The first thing that caught her attention was the delicate material he wore. A dark green robe hung loosely over his black tunic. Around his neck he wore a single silver chain with a charm dangling on the end. His hair which was white like the others was worn in a tight bun in the back of his head.
He walked suavely over to the two bowed men until he was looming over them like a powerful God. Scanning the room menacingly with his eyes, he gave the two bowed men a look of utter disgust. Then he spoke in a deep hypnotizing voice that could have caused blood to trickle away with fear. “You may rise.” The two aliens rose to their feet and to Janeway’s surprise the leader was not as tall as the others, but his height did not lessen his powerful hold on the Doctor and Jessum.
Glancing nonchalantly at Janeway the leader directed his question to Jessum, the one who had taken Janeway from Voyager. “Where did you get this.. thing?”
“From an unknown race in this Quadrant, they are quite advanced father.” Jessum aswered quickly, all to eager to impress.
The leader shot his son a look that make his son’s confidence shatter like glass, then fall to his feet. Immediately Jessum made an attempt to cover up his vocal mistake, by adding onto his previouse sentence as if he had not finished it before, “But.. but they’re nowhere near at our level of advancement,.. uh sir.”
His son looked at him hopefully waiting for some acknowledgment from his father. Instead his father simply replied. “There is only one thing I hate more than a coward who doesn’t have enough gumption to stand by his ideals.”
Instinctively, as if he had heard it a million times before, Jessum asked meekly, “what?”
The leader answered the question by simply looking at his son for a long excruciating moment of bitter silence. Then he turned and walked towards the doors saying, “ Do something with that alien, Doctor, and then bring it to me. As for you Jessum,” His father halted and then turned to face his son in one swift motion. “the next time you leave in you’re.. ship, don’t bother returning.” A gaunt smile crept on his chalky face, then he left, leaving fear and confusion in his wake.
The enemy ship loomed over the small vessel like a starving predator, just waiting to devour it’s prey. Inside the small vessel, emotions ran high as Tom and Harry took their posts, awaiting Commander Chakotay’s orders.
Chakotay sat in the command chair, thinking only about rescuing Kathryn, no matter what it would take. While looking strait ahead he gave Tom the order that could very well result in death. “OK Tom get us out of here, alive.”
Tom rubbed his hands together warming them up for the exhilaration of flying the vessel out of dangers way. “Yes, sir.”
With a burst of energy the ship lurched forward, towards the enemy. The large vessel fired but missed as Tom zoomed underneath the belly. In just a few moments they were out of danger. Tom leaned back in his chair. “That was too easy.”
“A little too easy.” Chakotay echoed suspiciously. “Harry scan the area for any other obstacles.”
Harry glanced down at his console before he answered cheerfully, “No sir only a solar system and stars.”
“Should I continue ahead?” Tom asked already moving towards the ships controls.
Chakotay didn’t answer but instead stared at the veiwscreen as if he could see something that no one else could.
“Sir?” Tom called to Chakotay after he didn’t respond for a while.
“No.” The Commander answered abruptly. “Harry, put the enemy vessel on screen.”
The image of the large ship appeared before them. A collective shock swept over the helm when the three officers saw something that made their lower jaws drop in terror. The sight before them was of the enemy ship opening a large hatch, releasing thousands of miniature ships, all heading in their direction, like a swarm of locus.
“Commander,” Harry reported. “their traveling straight towards us at warp 9.”
“So.” Tom retorted.
“So,” Harry shot back. “this ship is only capable of warp 6, it would be impossible to out run them. I’m not reading any lifesighns inside them either, they must be mechanically operated.”
“How many.” Chakotay asked.
“Approximately, 1,600.” Harry looked at Chakotay with an expression of defeat.
“Any ideas Lieutenant?” Chakotay looked at the young rouge. To his surprise, Tom’s face wasn’t filled with the usual air of mischief and arrogance. Instead, he looked almost solemn.
His blue eyes, held an understanding, as if he knew and respected Chakotay’s obsession to find the Captain, but also knew that it was time to give up. “Commander, with all do respect, we’re not going to get out of this mess. I think we should surrender.”
Captain Janeway’s frigid bare feet made a squishing noise as she walked along the slimy tunnel floor. She could hear the echoes of the guards boots as they lead her through the winding maze of tunnels. One of the four guards walked directly behind her, holding the rope that was tied tightly around her neck. She felt like a dog being walked by her master. Despite the feelings of rage that burned throughout her soul like a holocaust of hate, she stood tall emitting the aura of dignity.
Suddenly her foot slipped on the grimy slime, and she went flying towards the filthy floor. She lay there for a moment afterwards, desperately ordering her weary arms to lift herself up. The guards did nothing but laugh at her embarrassing predicament, and shortly afterward began to kick her in jest. Embarrassment quickly turned into rage and her anger gave her the strength she needed to stand. It was not long before she was pulled down again by the guard who held her rope. A volcano of laughter erupted once again at the sight of her on the floor.
Her blue eyes looked upwards towards the alien who gripped her leash tightly. In one swift motion she yanked at the rope and he toppled over. The laughter abruptly halted and the guards looked down at her in astonishment. Then their eyes were upon her, all eight eyeballs stared down at her in a white ring of wrath.
The first to take action was the one she had pulled to the floor. He rose immediately and with the raw end of the rope proceeded to whip her in a fury of passion. Two other guards held her while the fourth watched with unusual pleasure.
While each blow struck her, Janeway focused on the one image that gave her strength; Earth. She silently took each hit, concentrating solely on her farm in Indiana, of her mother, and the gentle willow tree that she had spent many a peaceful afternoon under. Then the image of Voyager came into view, her ready room, a cup of warm coffee and her crew. She longed to be sitting in her command chair, whispering softly to Chakotay about the pleasant dream she had experienced the night before. The more she concentrated on Voyager the more she thought of the possibility that she may never see her ship again, and that thought gave her more pain than any blow that could strike her.
Before she knew it, the two guards holding her down, pulled her onto her feet. She looked up in amazement. The powerful man who she had seen earlier in the infirmary was holding a gun in his hand. He had shot the guard who was beating her, and he now lay dead at her feet.
The powerful leader glanced at her briefly, a glimmer of amusement in his ivory eyes. “Anyone who harms this women without my permission will answer to me!” His strong words echoed through the tunnels, and in the corner of her eye she could see the guards shiver. “Is that understood?” He asked with a soft intensity.
“Yes sir.” The guards answered in unison.
“Good.” The mysterious man whispered, “I’ll take it from here.”
Of the three guards remaining, one stepped forward meekly. “Sir.. it would be our honor to accompany you the rest of the way, this alien is feisty.”
Without even acknowledging the guards proposal he took the leash from the hand of the dead guard, and lead Janeway down the tunnel.
Chakotay decided not to surrender, after all he was an ex-marquis, and marquis don’t give up under any circumstances. So with a fresh determination he stood from the command chair and ordered Tom to plunge into the swarm of
“You mean you want me to fly this ship into the swarm?” The red alert lights flashed on and off, giving Chakotay only a glance at Tom’s shocked expression. Looking back at Harry he could tell that the feeling was mutual, both of his officers weren’t in the mood for a suicide mission.
Chakotay repeated his order once more. “You heard me Lieutenant, I want you to fly this ship into the swarm.”
A sound that the Commander was all to familiar with erupted from Tom’s mouth, the sound of mock laughter. “I’m sorry Commander but I’m not willing to become a kamikaze for you cause.”
“He gave you an order Tom, it’s your duty to follow it.”
Looking back at Harry, obviouslusly perturbed by his comment, Tom stood from his console with arms lifted in annoyed defeat. “All right brown-noser, if you’re prepared to die why don’t you fly the ship?”
Harry rolled his eyes in weariness while under his breath he whispered, “baby.”
“What?” Tom was furious now, and about to walk over to Harry and settle their argument physically, when Chakotay grabbed his arm harshly.
With a soft intensity that was equivalent to any amount of yelling, Chakotay reprimanded the two younger officers. “I refuse to deal with you two any longer; if you’re not careful I’ll transport the both of you into space and watch with delight as you explode from within.” Even though his threats were in vein, his anger was genuine and Tom and Harry knew it. Thrusting Tom back into his console chair, Chakotay leaned closely to Tom’s ear and whispered violently, “you have your orders Lieutenant, I suggest you follow them.”
The Commander returned to his seat praying silently that Tom wouldn’t take his orders lightly. There was a slight hesitation before he sighed in relief as Tom punched in the coordinates and the ship was plunged into the midst of enemy territory.
The ship vibrated violently from stress as Tom worked diligently at the console, maneuvering the small vessel, desperately trying to avoid the torpedo ships. Chakotay could see small beads of sweat roll down the back of Tom’s neck, collecting at his gray turtle-neck which was slowly darkening in color from wet perspiration.
The air in the vessel was thick with humidity due to malfunctioning atmospheric controls, and Chakotay could hear his heart pounding over the whine of the ship and the clatter of the weak bulkheads, ready to burst from the strain that Tom was putting on the ship. It felt like the run of Banderos during one of Chakotay’s first Marquis missions. Adrenaline high, nerves on edge, and everything on the line, it was the life a marquis officer and Chakotay had almost forgotten how it felt. A warm feeling of exhilaration shot through his veins like a dose of strong drugs. It was a high that he had lived and survived on for years, a feeling that drove him to the edge of the universe and back.
A sudden jerk knocked the Commander back into reality.
“Their firing on us, “ Harry reported.
“Tom, try flying above the swarm, that should ease up on the fire.” Just then the ship rocked violently.
“Direct hit on the port nacelle, we’re venting fuel.” Harry’s voice was strong yet quavering.
“I’m trying to get above them but their matching our movements.” Tom’s voice was thick with concentration, and Chakotay marveled at his flying talent as yet another hit rocked the ship.
Chakotay walked up to Tom who was sweating profusely at this point, fingers flying on the console, eyes set firmly on the information being fed through the computer screen. His breath was short and strained. Chakotay patted him firmly on the back reassuringly, “you’re doing good Tom, keep it up.”
The ship rocked once again, this time steam began to fill the bridge. “We’ve been hit hard, there’s a breach in the deck below us,” Harry reported. Chakotay ran over to Harrys console as their vessel took another bad it throwing Tom out of his seat. Lifting himself up quickly, Tom took his seat and viewed the console, but it was to late. Within the time it took for him to get up the ship had careened into a nearby enemy vessel. The impact was horrific and far worse than expected.
The Commander went flying as the ship turned upside down. His left shoulder crashed into the bulkhead causing a sharp pain to course through his body. Gasping, he desperately tried to lift himself from the floor. Once standing he looked around assessing the damage visually. The bridge was filled with smoke which made it hard to see. “Harry, Tom.” No one answered. The pain in his arm was full force now and he touched his shoulder delicatly. It was out of socket and he knew the arm would only continue to bother him if he didn’t pop it back in . Grabbing his right sleeve with his teeth, he ripped a piece of material off, wedged it between his teeth and bit down hard as he kneeled down next to a nearby console and rammed his left shoulder against the hard metal. Grunting loudly he heart a loud pop as the bone was replaced into its socket. The pain lessened as he spit the material out of his mouth.
“Harry, Tom.” Still no answer, the ship was deathly silent. He didn’t have time to look for them through the increasing amount of smoke accumulating around him. He ran to the console where Tom had been sitting and quickly began to maneuver the ship out of danger. To his surprise the enemy torpedo vessels were gone, and so was the mother ship. They had suddenly disappeared out of sight like they had never existed, yet the damage around him was proof that they had once been there.
He scanned the ships computer in desperation. His first concern was to find a planet to land on, Yingman’s vessel was in no condition to remain in orbit.
“Commander?” He heard a voice call from behind him.
“Harry?” Chakotay called back.
“I hit my head. I think.”
“Harry, I need you to clear the bridge of this smoke, I can’t see a damn thing.”
“Yes sir,” Harry responded in exasperation.
A large hiss filled Chakotay’s ears as the smoke began to dissipate. Once the smoke cleared, Chakotay visualy scanned the bridge. To the left of him, slumped against the bulkhead was Tom. “Harry,” Chakotay called out, but Harry had already read his mind and rushed over to the lifeless body.
Harry checked for a pulse then looked at Chakotay smiling, “He’s still alive.”
Chakotay took a deep breath and said, “Good, but we don’t have time to attend to him. Lay him on the floor then return to your conn.”
Harry did as he was told, but Chakotay could see by the worried look on his face that even though Tom was alive, he wasn’t well. All the more reson they had to land the ship, Chakotay thought yet he wished that is was Tom flying, not him. “Harry, where’s the nearest planet.”
“Approximately 2 light years from our current position,” Harry reported.
Chakotay simply nodded and punched in the coordinates. The ships lurched forward relentlessly. “Do we have enough power to land this ship, Harry?” Even as he asked the question, he didn’t need an answer, he was going to land this ship no matter what.
“Commander, I wouldn’t recommend landing this ship, sir, it’s in no condition-”
“I don’t care weather you recommend it or not,” Chakotay interrupted, “I want to know if it can land.”
A small silence followed as Harry scanned the ships internal readings. “She may be damaged beyond repair, but she can land.” A deep sigh escaped Harry’s dry cracked lips. His youthful face was worn ragged with exhaustion, and Chakotay’s demeanor softened at the sight of his threadbare officer.
At that moment the computer bleeped, announcing it’s arrival at the planets coordinates. “We’re entering the planets atmosphere, “ Harry announced.
“Raise shields.” Chakotay ordered.
“Umm.. Commander,” Harry hesitated.
“Let me guess.” Chakoaty said wearily. “We have no shields?”
“I’m afraid so. I could revert all power from necessary systems including life support in an attempt to give us enough power to raise the shields.”
“How much time will we have before we run out of oxygen?”
“About 5 minutes.”
“That should give us just enough time to land. Be prepared to revert power on my mark.” Chakotay briefly scanned his console making any last minute changes. “OK Harry, now.”
At that moment Chakotay took the ship into the turbulent storm of the planets outer atmosphere. The ships began to vibrate as Harry called from behind. “Shields are holding at 70 percent.” The hull moaned in protest as the view from the viewport turned vertigo. Chakotay had only the ships sensors to lead him blindly to safety.
Suddenly the ship rocked with intensity. “What the hell was that?1” Chakotay yelled out as he desperately attempted to regain control of the ship.
“There are multiple force fields around the planets atmosphere that our sensors didn’t pick up.” The ships rocked once more as surrounding consoles that weren’t already damaged began to implode. “Shields down to 54 percent and dropping, “ Harry hollered above the commotion.
Chakotay’s shoulder began to ache as he desperately attempted to navigate through the planets harsh conditions and various forcefields. Alarms began to go off as the ship continued to brutally vibrate.
“I’m reading ship wide system failures,” Harry continued to report.
“Just keep navigation and shields operational Harry, that’s all I care about,” Chakotay ordered through clenched teeth.
The ship continued to spiral downwards completely out of control despite Chakotay’s best efforts. The rattling of the hull had become defining and the Commander could barely hear Harry yelling in the background. What was worse though, was that he could already feel the effects of no oxygen playing on his nervous system. He was becoming dizzy and short of breath, and uncertain that Harry, Tom- who was still unconcionse- or himself were going to live. The background noises slowly increased as he stubbornly attempted to retake control of the ship. His efforts were in vein. As he slowly slipped into unconincsness, he could feel the ship impact the planets unforgiving ground.
The darkness was almost suffocating. It filled the entire room, allowing no eye to see it’s contents. Kathryn Janeway entered into the darkness with the mysterious man that had saved her from the guards wrath.
A ominous pair of enormous metal doors closed behind her, sending a shiver down her spine, yet she refused to show any signs of weakness in front of her captor. So she remained poised, as always, regally standing tall and relentless.
The leader turned sharply towards her. Slowly he walked around her smallish figure taking in every detail as if she was a breath of oxygen to his lungs. Once he was finished inspecting her, he took a deep breath and walked over to a large desk.
As far as Janeway could see, the desk was the only visible thing in the room, for it was shrouded in darkness with only a single light shinning down upon her and the alien.
Though the illumination was poor Janeway could clearly see the broad figure of her captor leaning against the obsidian desk. His skin was as pale as the other aliens she had encountered earlier, yet he didn’t seem as sickly or week. He looked strong, unwavering in stature and grace and in some twisted and revolting way, he was almost.. handsome.
Janeway broke the uncomfortable silence first. “May I ask why I am here.”
The alien looked at her intensely, his eyes revealing a realm of darkness, blacker and more sinister than the shadows that surrounded him. His long snow white hair shined softly in the single light that hung above him. “I don’t often find other species breathtaking but you my dear,” closing the distance between them, “are an exception.”
Her stomach lurched as he came towards her. His aura was almost palpable as he stood before her, his eyes searching her in a mysterious attempt to find something..
“You didn’t answer my question, “ she persisted in a commanding voice, “Why am I here?”
He answered slowly with a coldness that could have frozen the red blooded heart of a Klingon. “I ask the questions, not you, understood?”
She felt like a child, no worse, a pet. Prisoner or not, she demanded respect. The persistent beat of her heart grew louder as the anger rose with. Taking a deep breath she stepped forward. “Oh I understand perfectly. What I don’t understand is why you’re people would fire at my ship relentlessly, abduct me, then drag me through the halls of your prison with out an explanation.” As she continued to talk in a low and controlled voice, the alien turned around clearly uninterested in what she had to say. “I believe I have every right to know why I’m being forced to stay here against my will.”
She barley had time to catch her breath after the last word was spoken when the alien began to laugh, softly at first then with an intensity that made Janeway’s cheeks burned in fury at his mocking delight. Slowly he turned around to face her as he sat down gracefully at his desk. “I’m sorry to have upset you my dear but even I cannot change the rules for a woman as enchanting as yourself. I do apologize however for your mistreatment. My son should have never given you such a high dose of medicine, he had no idea that you’re frail little body could not handle it. As for my guards.. well, I have no explanation except that they are imbeciles. In fact I’ve been meaning to find myself a new guard to replace the one that I disposed of.”
“I don’t need apologies, I need answers.” The less she knew, the more she would be taken advantage of.
“My name is Emperor Kayleb Ontarsis. Everyone addresses me as Emperor, but you may call me Kayleb.” He rose from his seat and made a sweeping gesture across the black room. “This is my home,” His eyes once again stared into hers as he whispered gently, “and yours.”
There was something unexplainable in his stare that forced her soul to feel naked and insecure, and something in the darkness that surrounded them, grew darker. She snickered, primarily to relieve the increasing amount of fear building up inside of her. “Mr. Ontarsis, my home is half way across the galaxy, not here.”
Gradually his disposition changed, growing as eerily dim as the shadows that loomed around him. Slowly he walked towards her, and she stiffened as he placed his hand around her waist, drawing her towards his muscular physic. She struggled against the pain of his hand against the freshly bleeding rope wounds on her back. It was an uncomfortable position to be in, and she wished she cold brake free from his tight grasp, but she had to remain unemotional, and she was too still to weak from the drugs to fight him off.
Quietly he leaned towards her and whispered, “Despite the many masks you wear, I know there is a dark place inside of your soul where you deepest fear is waiting to be unleashed like a wild predator rattling it’s cage.” Something in his voice frightened her, some tenebrous evil that seemed to reflect the darkness that surrounded them. “I feel you trembling Kathryn.” She turned pale at the sound of her name, and bit her own cheek in punishment for becoming weak. “There is no need to fear me, I am here to protect you.” He released his hold on her and returned to his desk.
She watched him in disgust as he picked up a communication device and said, “Take the human to her prison cell.”
Janeway’s eyes burned with rage as the enormous doors opened and a legion of guards entered. She wasn’t sure what angered her more; his ability to make her feel vulnerable, or her inability to remain strong. Whichever it was it was unacceptable. No one makes Captain Janeway tremble. No one.
Slipping out of the nearest guards grasp she ran to the desk where Kaylen sat calmly. “I will not be treated as an animal,” she said in a low threatening voice.
“You are not an animal, therefore you will not be treated as such.”
“Stop talking in riddles and tell me why I’m here,” she yelled, sapphire eyes burning like crimson fire.
He rose abruptly, his cadaverous face inches away from hers. “You’re here because I say you are. Take her away.” He dismissed her with a flip of his wrist and sat back down as the guards dragged her into the raven labyrinth of tunnels.
He sat there a moment as the last of the guards pilled out of his room and the obsidian doors closed, leaving him in silence. His long white fingers began to tap the top of his desk rhythmically. Slowly he leaned back into his chair and closed his weary eyes. It would be a while before he would remove the human from her cell, she needed time to cool down before he began the usual procedures. Besides, he smiled inwardly, he had a few personal procedures of his own...
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