Quew © 2000-08-21

Section Eight.

What am I going to do? Why did we have to come here for damn shore leave?! B’Elanna sighed, staring down into the room where ‘The Traitor’ was slowly dying.

I hope the others are ok. Maybe they’re trying to get me back right now. That’s dumb, of course they’re trying to get me back, they’d do the same for anyone else. Maybe I can speed things along…lets see…three guards on the door, shift rotations every four hours. Food every eight hours. Maybe if I’m lucky they will be at the same time and then…

‘Torres.’ He stepped back into the room, smoothing down his severe red uniform. ‘I’m glad to see you are still healthy.’

‘Why, so you can interrogate me some more?!’ B’Elanna snapped, whirling to face him; staring at the woman’s prone body had made her volatile temper even worse.

‘You’ll just have to wait and see.’ He said, smiling charmingly. ‘I don’t really want to hurt you.’

‘That’s bull.’ Torres snorted, ‘you’d cut me up in a second if you thought you’d get anything out of it.’

He cocked his head to one side. ‘You’re right,’ he grinned, ‘I probably would.’

‘Well, at least you’re in a better mood.’ B’Elanna growled, ‘now that your precious Traitor is lying in there gasping her life away!’

He sensed her mood swinging toward violent and decided to cut to the chase. ‘We’ve been monitoring your ship in orbit.’ He began. ‘They have been scanning the planet constantly for a little over a day.’ His expression hardened. ‘They must stop lest they discover us here.’

‘And what the hell to you want me to do about it?! Sounds like it's not going to be pretty if they do find you!’ B’Elanna snarled.

‘We will ransom you. The ship will leave.’ He stated.

‘If you ransom me, they’ll know you are here anyway, idiot!’

His face fell, his eyes glinting like two hard, black diamonds. ‘You are testing my patience, Torres!’ He spoke very quietly, touching the knife at his belt unconsciously. ‘You are passing up the chance to get back to your ship quickly. The second way we will send you back is not as pleasant.’

‘No deal.’ B’Elanna shook her dark head. ‘I won’t help you do anything that could hurt that ship or it’s crew.’

‘Fine.’ He moved over to the door and signalled the guards to open it. ‘Then we will send you back in pieces.’ As he left, B’Elanna noticed her com-badge pinned to the front of his uniform. He saw her staring and touched it.

‘A trinket.’ He said.

#

‘Come in.’ Janeway took her hand away from her temple where it had been massaging her skin – years as Captain had taught her showing weakness in any form was a bad thing. The doors to her ready room swished open and Lieutenant Benson strode in.

The Security Officer was back to her old self, her stance rigid, her short blonde hair neatly brushed and her dark eyes business like, but still Janeway could sense the innate sexual air Benson sent out, prompting so many rumours and gossips.

‘What can I do for you, Lieutenant?’ The Captain offered her a seat, noticing for the first time that Benson seemed a little on edge.

‘Um, Captain, I just came by to thank you. And to apologise.’

‘What for?’

‘Back on the planet, when I was injured. I’d like to say thanks for…looking out for me. And sorry that I wasn’t able to do the same for you.’

Janeway was momentarily speechless. For the first time she had seen past Bensons’ veneer, her cool Officer/Sexual Predator routine, to the loyal, hardworking and smart Officer beneath. She let her Captain’s hardness slip a little, until a small smile pulled the corners of her mouth upward.

‘There was really no need for you to come and say that, Officer.’ Janeway said.

‘I felt like there was a need.’ Benson said, unable to stop a sharp grin. She covered it quickly, but she couldn’t hide the admiring look in her eyes.

‘When we are so far away from home, it’s a good thing that people like you are trying to keep our standards intact.’ The Captain said, feeling good as a faint blush touched the tall Security Officers cheeks.

‘It’s only because you set such a good example, ma’am.’ Benson said eventually, looking Janeway straight in the eye. Kathryn could tell she was being sincere, and it touched her that Benson truly thought that.

‘Thank you.’ She said, returning Benson’s gaze with a smile.

‘Uh, ma’am?’ Benson’s manner changed, becoming slightly trepidation. ‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’

‘Please, go ahead.’ Janeway liked to think she was there for individual crewmembers as much as possible.

‘Well…’ Benson took a deep breath. ‘When we get Lieutenant Torres back, a few crewmembers and I were planning to have a dinner, sort of a welcome home. I was wondering if you would like to come too.’

The Captain was momentarily speechless; had Benson planned to ask this all along? The look on the Lieutenants face told her otherwise. Should she fraternise with her crew? Was Benson asking her out? Was thinking that Benson was asking her out being too presumptuous? What was she worried about? It was only dinner!

Slowly, she nodded. ‘That would be lovely, Lieutenant. I’m sure B’Elanna will love it.’

Benson let a little smile of joy cross her lips, but she pulled her expression taunt and stood. ‘Thank you ma’am.’ She said, and then she left before Janeway could say anything else.

The Captain sat back in her chair, letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. It was only dinner. She’d had dinner with several members of her crew on occasion. But…that felt like a proposition. A voice in her head said.

It doesn’t matter now. She shook her head, annoyed at herself for getting side-tracked. We have more important things to worry about. Where are you B’Elanna?

Section Nine.

‘I am Commander Lu’Tack, Of the Second Blue Division.’ He stood over her bed, his face inches from her bared teeth. She spat, but even at such a small distance it fell short, landing and pooling in a bloody mass on her chest.

‘Why are you here?’ He asked, quite conversationally. She growled at him and tried to lift her head, but it fell back onto the bare mattress.

B’Elanna winced at the humiliation the poor woman must have been feeling. They had even released her from her restraints – they knew that she couldn’t hurt them now, she could barely keep her eyes focused. The Chief Engineer estimated that the woman had less than three hours before…B’Elanna couldn’t even finish the thought.

‘Why did you come back?’ He asked. He had asked the question many times over the last hour, and had got no response at all apart from growls. This time, however, he leaned close and bared his teeth right under her nose. His lips were moving but B’Elanna couldn’t hear what he was saying; he was speaking for one person only. The woman’s face darkened, returning to near it’s normal colour so great was her anger at his words. With a fearsome snarl and surprising speed, she reached up and clamped her hadns onto the front of his tunic, pulling his head down so her mouth was level with his ear. He jumped back with a start, raising his hand to his ear and exclaiming loudly.

‘You’ll regret you did that, bitch!’ He screamed. His reply was a succesion of growls and snarls. Listening closely, B’Elanna had started to pick out feelings emoted into the complicated throaty noises. It sounded like the woman was swearing blue murder at Lu’Tack.

‘Food, Torres.’ Someone at the door said, distracting her viewing the spectecal below. She moved quickly, picking up a chair as she went past. She had had enough of doing nothing. She had reached the point where she had to do something, try and contact the ship, anything, rather than stay there and watch that woman die.

Hefting the chair, she threw it as hard as she could at the man delivering her food. He and his lunch tray spilled out onto to the corridor. She followed quickly, grabbing the nearest guard and using him as a shield as the second guard fired. The first guard took the shot and became dead weight in her grasp, pulling her down toward the floor. Scrabbling desperately, she found the first guards weapon in it’s holster. She pulled and fired just as the second guard took a second shot.

#

‘Captain…we might have something…ships! Five, from behind the far moon!’

‘Yellow Alert!’ Janeway barked, leaping up from her seat. ‘Tuvok, keep your eyes peeled from trouble. Mr. Kim, are their weapons powered?’

‘Negative, Captain, and we are being hailed.’

‘On screen.’

The big screen flared into life and a suspicious looking man peered back at them from the bridge of the lead alien ship. He was wearing a scarlet uniform, his dark hair slicked back over his skull.

‘I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.’

He inclined his head slightly, his dark eyes never leaving her face. ‘Third Commander Su’Red.’

When no more information was forthcoming, Janeway shared a glance with Chakotay and stepped closer. ‘Third Commander Su’Red, is this your planet?’ She asked.

‘You are violating our space.’ He responded, his face expressionless.

‘I can assure you we are a peaceful ship. We have lost one of our crewmembers on this planet and we only wish to find her as soon as possible.’

He shook his head and started to respond when an incessant beeping started from his console. He pushed a few buttons and looked at something out of sight, a scowl building on his features. Finally he looked up and said. ‘You are being transferred,’ curtly.

Abruptly, the screen changed. Another man stood before them, but his surroundings did not look like any sort of ship station.

‘Greetings, Captain.’ He said, a charming smile creasing his skin. ‘I am Commander Lu’Tack.’

Janeway responded in kind, allowing a diplomatic smile to work it’s way to her lips. ‘hello, Commander. I am Captain Kathryn-’

‘Janeway, yes, I know. I was monitoring your discussion with Third Commander Su’Red. I feel I must apologise for his brusque attitude, he is only following orders.’

‘Then you know one of our crewmembers is lost on the planet below us.’

‘Yes.’ He looked serious for a moment. ‘And I must ask you to stop scanning the planet.’

‘Why?’ Janeway asked.

‘You will not find your crewmember by scanning the planet, Captain.’ Lu’Tack said. ‘The planet has a natural fluctuation in its atmosphere that makes scanning impossible.’

‘But we were able to scan the beaches.’ The Captain said.

‘If it helps, Captain, I will send search parties to the surface.’ He said, quickly changing tack. ‘I’m sure we’ll have success, as we know the planet-’

He was interrupted by a disturbance behind him. Shouts could be heard clearly, and a guard stumbled into view, pushed off his feet by an unknown assailant. As his head whipped around to look, Janeway and her bridge crew could clearly see a bite mark imprinted in his left ear.

‘Guards!’ Lu’Tack shouted, ‘get her!’

The entire bridge gasped as B’Elanna rolled into view, pulling herself up on one knee and firing a shot at an approaching guard. By a stroke of luck, she caught sight of the active view screen.

‘Captain!’ She shouted, ‘The planet is populated! It’s protected by some sort of-’

As soon as Lu’Tack figured out what she was doing, he lunged for the com-link. His gloating face filled the screen in the seconds before it went black.

Before Captain Janeway could process what they had heard, Harry Kim’s shout roused her from her shock.

‘Captain! The ships are powering weapons and more have appeared! There are eight now!’

‘Tuvok, Red Alert! Raise shields and power phasers!’ Janeway snapped, going back to her seat and sitting ramrod straight. ‘Tom, back us out of here!’ She may have been incensed but she was not foolhardy with the lives of her crew, especially when eight large enemy ships were converging on their position.

Lieutenant Paris did as ordered and Voyager easily moved out of the slower ships range. The ships fired shots, but they were too far away to do any real damage.

‘Tuvok, fire some warning shots.’ Ordered Janeway, ‘And Tom, get us out of here, warp speed.’

‘But ma’am!’ He exclaimed, ‘We can’t leave her here!’

Janeway gave him a withering look. ‘Let me make one thing clear, we are not giving up. We have to back off, Mr. Paris, so we can come up with a plan to get B’Elanna back. Facing eight ships will not be part of it. Now, get us out of here.’

He reluctantly turned back to his station and soon Voyager was speeding away from the planet…and their lost engineer.

Section Ten.

B’Elanna felt rough hands pick her up, jostling her bruised and painful body as they manoeuvred her onto a slim bed. She groaned loudly when they dropped her down, and was rewarded with a sharp smack around her jaw, bringing tears to her closed eyes.

As soon as she realised she was alone, she cautiously opened one eye. The ceiling above her was composed of rough, rust encrusted grates, same as the walls and the floor. A small forcefield flowed with energy in one wall, big enough for two people to walk through standing side by side.

The realisation hit her as she lay there, trying to stop her head from exploding: I’m in jail. Great. As if this hasn’t happened enough.

Slowly, she stood, examining her cell. The grates that made up the bulk of the walls were full of holes, affording her a view of the adjoining cells. The one on the left was empty, but she could see a body lying on the bed in the cell to her right.

‘Hey!’ She hissed, ‘Hey, wake up!’

She got no response from the prone figure, but she could clearly here wet breathing if she stayed silent. ‘Hey!’ She said, raising her voice, ‘who are you? Why are we here?’

‘That should be obvious, Torres.’ Lu’Tack said from the other side of the forcefield.

‘Lu’Tack!’ B’Elanna’s tone was venomous, and she stopped herself short of running into the forcefield.

‘You are here because of your pathetic escape attempt, and The Traitor is here because when she heard the commotion outside, she strangled one of her guards and tried to escape herself.’

‘Strangled?!’ Torres snorted disparagingly, ‘how could she of strangled a guard? She could barely lift her head from the bed!’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I know. She must have used her last reserves of strength. She’ll be dead in less than an hour, and I’ll be a hero.’

‘A hero? For killing a defenceless woman?’ B’Elanna felt her disgust and bile rise.

‘She is the greatest threat our people have ever known!’ He almost screamed, and he seemed as surprised as B’Elanna at his extreme reaction. He calmed down, a shark like smile pulling his lips over his teeth. ‘And I shall be the one who brought her in. I will be a legend.’

Torres saw something then, something that made her want to crawl out of her own skin. Lu’Tack looked insane, his eyes glinting brightly in the dimly lit prison corridor. His skin looked slightly damp, and his expression was almost glassy, allowing B’Elanna a glimpse to the real Commander, hidden by suave declarations of diplomacy and a diamond hard exterior.

He shook his head and came out of his delusions of grandeur, once more becoming as cold as ice as he fixed B’Elanna with a penetrating gaze. ‘There is no hope of reaching your ship now.’ He said. ‘They know we are here and we won’t allow them to get near to the planet. You can expect to spend the rest of your days here.’ And with that he spun on his heel and stalked off.

Torres went back to the gap in the wall and peered through. The woman’s’ position had not changed, and B’Elanna was worried to discover that her breathing was shallower than ever.