Title: Words mean nothing, 2/?

Author: quew

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the premise of Voyager and her crew, I'm just playing with them for my own amusement in a non-profit stylee.

Rating: PG-13/R?

Notes: I have about as much idea of what's going on here as B'Elanna does :)

#

B'Elannas' mouth opened, but no sound came out. She tried once, twice, three times, but she could not produce words.

They stayed frozen for a few seconds, the woman reaching out on hands and knees, and B'Elanna blocking her, holding her hand in a grip that was warningly tight but not painful. Finally, B'Elannas indignation at her predicament gave her words.

'Who are you?' She asked, her tone verging on rough.

'Let me go,' the other woman countered, a fire lighting in her eyes. 'I'm asking the questions here, not you.'

'Who are you!' B'Elanna repeated, the woman's fire stoking her own before she could stop it.

'Let me go!' The woman ripped her hand out of Torres's grasp and overbalanced, landing on her butt with an angry grunt. 'Who the hell are you?'

'My name is Lue…Torres.' B'Elannas' Maquis instincts had told her rank might not be the card to play…yet.

The Seven woman, however, had caught her slip. 'What were you going to say?'

'Nothing.'

'Liar,' she countered, narrowing her eyes. 'Who do you work for? Did the Government send you?'

B'Elanna felt her short fuse coming to an end. 'No! I have no idea what you're talking about, okay? Look, I want to know where I am, how I got here and who the hell you are! Now!'

The woman raised an eyebrow and a vision of Seven crossed B'Elannas' mind. 'Fine,' she stood, crossing the room to a door the same colour as the walls that the Klingon had not previously noticed. She knocked and the door was opened from the outside. 'My name is Anna.' And with that, she was gone, leaving B'Elanna confused, angry and alone.

After a few hours of solitude, B'Elanna had checked the walls, door and floor. The walls were made of some sort of plaster construct, crumbling easily when excessive force was applied it but hiding hard brick underneath. The door appeared flimsy but one or two tentative shoulder-bashes proved it was solid. So, in the end, B'Elanna had time to think.

She thought about where she was - the construct suggested a lower technological level than Voyager, but how could she be sure without going outside?

She thought about how she'd got there - the only answer she could think of was a Transporter malfunction, which meant Seven had been right. But…she was obviously far away from the ship…how could a simple malfunction have sent her this far?

She also thought who she was with - the Seven woman, Anna. It occurred to B'Elanna that maybe the similarity wasn't a mistake.

/Time travel! You're actually thinking about time travel? Yeah, right, like that would ever happen!/ A voice said in her head.

/Do you have a better explanation?/ She shot back.

Shut up, she growled at herself

#

She awoke with a start, unaware she'd been asleep, and was shocked to find Anna staring at her, sitting back in her space on the floor.

'Are you ready to answer my questions?' She said, running a hand through her blonde hair.

'No.' B'Elanna forced herself to wake up quickly and sat up facing the other woman. 'No way.'

Anna shrugged. 'Fine.'

She stood up and had knocked on the door again, one foot out when B'Elanna called out. 'Wait!'

'Yes?'

'Am I a prisoner?'

Anna sighed, a look of almost regret passing over her fine features. 'I don't know.'

'What do you mean? I thought you were in charge?'

Laughing short and bitter, Anna shook her head. 'Far from it.' Then she looked around, as if ashamed to be talking so candidly to her charge. 'I mean, if you answer my questions, we'll see about getting you out of here.'

'Okay.' B'Elanna sat back, gritting her teeth. 'What do you want to know?'

Anna hiked an eyebrow toward her hairline. 'Feeling trepidation? Don't. This isn't major surgery, I'm only going to be asking you a few questions.'

She shut the door and sat back on the floor, but instead of looking at the carpet, she looked straight into the Klingons' eyes.

'What's your name?'

'B'Elanna Torres.'

'Where are you from?'

'A…colony.'

'What do you do?'

'Engineer.' The questions continued thick and fast, and B'Elanna tried to be vague, but they were so quick she sometimes let answers go before she could think about them, like the next:

'What's your rank?'

She hadn't been expecting it, and her lips said half of the word before she could shut them. Half was enough, however.

'Lieutenant, hey? I knew it.' Anna's eyes became guarded and cold. 'You were sent to infiltrate us?'

'Yeah, 'cos I'm so inconspicuous!' B'Elanna snapped, pointing at her forehead and uniform.

Surprising them both, Anna snorted laughter through her nose. She quickly wiped the expression of amusement off her face and stood.

'Food will come in an hour. More questions later.'

#

'You know, I've been thinking. As far as you know, I'm a complete unknown, and yet you wander in and out like you own the place, not obviously armed and not afraid to sit and let your guard down. Why?' B'Elanna asked the question through a mouthful of bread. Anna shrugged, nibbling on her own food, obviously uncomfortable.

'You don’t beat around the bush do you?' She asked.

'You didn't answer my question.' B'Elanna retorted. 'And I think it's only fair, since I answered all those questions for you.'

'Fine. Fine, whatever,' Anna sighed, 'I just…I just don't feel like you'd harm me. That's all.'

B'Elanna's Klingon sensibilities raged, saying things like so she doesn't think I'm a threat? But she swallowed them, somewhat pleased by her captors candour. And yet, it didn't help her situation.

'I want out of here.' She said eventually.

'I can't do that.' Anna's voice held the smallest hint of apology, but that was it. It was almost monotone, like Seven's.

'I want out!' B'Elanna lost her temper, captivity weighing down on her. 'I haven't done anything wrong!'

Anna stared at her for a long minute, searching B'Elanna's gaze with her own, and then she leaned forward like a conspirator, her voice low. 'Look, keep your voice down. I believe you.' Then she stood abruptly, ashamed to have admitted that, it seemed. Her hard mask fell back into place and before B'Elanna could move, she was gone.

'What the hell is goin' on?!' B'Elanna leant her head back and yelled, letting out all of her frustration.

As if it was an answer to her shout, a huge explosion rocked the building she was in. She looked on in horror as the roof and walls shook, plaster flaking off in huge chunks. She thumped her hands against the door, yelling, but her shouts were swallowed by another explosion, and then a third.

The forth one blew out the wall of her room, and the last thing she saw was a huge chunk of brick sailing toward her face.