Title: Words mean nothing, 3/?

Author: quew

Disclaimer: The premise of the Starship Voyager and her crew belongs to Paramount, not me.

Rating: Stab in the dark…R?

Notes: I think I've actually managed to confuse myself thinking about where this is all going. Because this is a weird time-travel thingummy, the characters as we know them have pretty much been blown out of the water. :)

#

'Wha?!' B'Elanna awoke with a start, sitting straight up and immediately smacking her head on something cold and hard.

She screwed her eyes shut and started swearing under her breath, getting louder and louder until someone clapped sweaty hands over her mouth. 'When I was trying to get you to wake up just now, this was not what I had in mind.'

Torres jerked her head away and tried to raise her hands to rub her sore forehead but they stopped half way, tight chains digging into her wrists. 'What the hell…'

That finally made her open her eyes, and for the first time she noticed the sensation of movement. She was sat in the belly of some sort of vehicle, surrounded by bodies, most groaning or unconscious. She'd hit her head on one of the bars caging them off from the centre of the vehicle, where a stern looking man with a weapon she didn't recognise was crouched, looking wary.

'Don't draw attention to yourself, if you want to get through this in one piece,' The voice said, and B'Elanna looked sideways.

Anna was sitting next to her, a dirty gash across her face and her hair matted with dirt. Her clothes were ripped and filthy, and B'Elanna looked down at herself. Her clothes were just as tattered and dirty, and she bit her lip to keep from swearing again.

'What the hell happened!' She hissed.

'Why don't you tell me?' Anna hissed back.

'What?' B'Elanna's eyes widened incredulously. 'What the fu-'

In one quick movement, Anna stretched her arms out as far as they would go, ripping B'Elanna's com-badge from her tunic. 'Is this how they found us? What is this, some sort of tracking device?' Anna's eyes were full of rage. 'I can't believe I was starting to believe you!'

'Give that back!' B'Elanna reached out, but Anna held it out of range and B'Elanna's restraints stopped her short.

'I saw you, playing with this on our base...but I didn't think anything of it!' Anna raged, but B'Elanna got the feeling that she was talking to herself more than she was talking to the Klingon. 'I should have listened to Michael! He said you were trouble from the minute we found you unconcious in the basement!'

'I don't know what you're talking about! But I need that!'

'Why? What does it do?' Anna turned her gaze to the other woman, and B'Elanna wanted so desperately to lie to her. But...she couldn't. For some reason, she just couldn't.

'It's...it's a com-badge. A communicator. Please, I have to have it back.'

'No. No way. It was you, you sold us out!'

'No! If I did, why would I be riding back here with you?!'

'Maybe you're a deep cover agent,' Anna hissed, her eyes begging B'Elanna to argue, which she did happily.

'Why won't you listen? I'm not whatever you think I am!' B'Elanna went mad then, sheer undeniable fury bubbling up from her hopeless situation. She ripped her at her chains, and Anna's angry demeanour started to crack as she saw the rage on B'Elanna's features. 'I didn't know where I was! I don't know what's going on! Fuck!' She started to thrash in her restraints, and the guard in the centre took notice.

'Calm down!' He barked, raising the weapon. B'Elanna spat at him, and it landed in a gooey mess on his jacket.

'Go to hell!'

Her snarl raised a like one from him, and without preamble he shoved the weapon through the bars. It touched her arm, and she went rigid, convulsing violently as the strong electrical current passed through her body. She lashed out, strong limbs flailing, but as the electricity continued she became weaker, and with one last, muscle agonising jerk she was rendered unconscious, a snarl still on her lips.

#

'Hey! Let go of me! Where are you taking me/' Someone screamed. The voice reverberated around B'Elanna's head, and her headache reached a new level of pain. The screaming became wordless, projecting only terror, and the Klingon opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a solid looking brick wall. She tried to sit, and immediately regretted it as pain lanced through all her muscles at once. Gritting her teeth, she blocked it out, sitting painfully and turning around.

Jail, was the first thought she had. I'm in jail.

All the walls were made of the same uniform grey bricks, and the only thing that stood out was a very thick steel door. She stood painfully, air hissing through her clenched teeth as pain overrode her brain for a second, and then tottered to the door. Set in the door was a small barred window, and she held onto the thick bars, checking out the hallway outside. She could see a door identical to her own directly opposite, and then one down from that, and another, all the way down to a thick pair of double doors at the other end of the hall.

'Hey!' She yelled, but her voice was thick and painful. Clearing her throat, she tried again. '/Hey!/ Why am I here? I don't belong here! What's going on!'

'B'Elanna?' Someone groaned.

'Se…Anna! Is that you?' B'Elanna asked.

'Who else would it be? The…' Anna had seemed to be about to make some sarcastic comment, but then a wet cough bubbled up from her throat.

B'Elanna winced. 'What happened to you?'

There was a scrabbling inside the cell opposite, and then a delicate hand grabbed the bars of the door. With a heave and a grunt, Anna rose into view. 'You did.' She said.

'What?'

Anna raised an eyebrow and coughed again. 'You happened to me. When they shocked you, you started convulsing, and I think you broke my damn rib.' Anna gripped the bars with both hands, her angry gaze locking B'Elanna in place. 'Ever since I met you it's been one damn thing after another!' She tried to say more, but once again a cough came up instead of words.

'So now you're blaming me for all your problems?' B'Elanna growled. She was secretly devastated that she had hurt the woman, but she would never admit it to herself or to the obstinate, stubborn, self-assured Anna. 'Just once, I would like to be in the know! I want to get out of here! Goddammit, I want to go home!' She banged the flats of her hands on the bars in a futile gesture. It didn't help, and B'Elanna felt her Klingon rage bubbling up.

'Why am I here!' She screeched, running at the door and crashing into it shoulder first. 'Get me out of here!' Again and again she slammed against the unmoving metal, until she felt something tear in her shoulder. She howled in pain, but more in frustration, and started kicking walls, punching the door…anything to get out.

'What the fu…?!' Anna gasped. 'Stop it! Stop it! Do you want them to take you away? Don't you know what they'll do to you?!'

'Don't you understand?!' B'Elanna snarled, grabbing the bars and pulling them toward her with all her Klingon/human strength. 'Anything is better than THIS!'

B'Elanna stopped struggling as Anna just stared at her, her jaw hanging slack and her face pale. 'My God…' She whispered …'You really don't know what they'll do to you, do you?' She spoke with such disbelief that Torres felt part of her anger start to drain away. 'You really don't work for them. You really don't know how you ended up at our base. You really…Oh.'

Anna's eyes were so wide, B'Elanna felt the need to reassure the woman bubble up inside her. Whatever was going on here was obviously big; bigger than Anna or B'Elanna or the other prisoners…but, before she could say anything, the big double doors began to open. They transferred their gaze to them as they heard the locks click and whirr, and B'Elanna's eyes opened wide as she saw the person come through.

'Oh no…' Anna choked.

Striding toward them, dressed in a severe black suit and with her hair tied back so tightly it looked almost painful, was Kathryn Janeway.

#

Without hesitation she used a keycard to open Anna's cell. The once self-possessed blonde woman was huddled in the far corner, and B'Elanna watched in horror as the-Kathryn-woman wrapped slender fingers around the injured woman's throat, hauling her upright.

'Where is she!' She snarled, her familiar tones carrying to B'Elanna's cell. She shook Anna once, and the prisoner cried out in pain.

'Stop!' B'Elanna yelled. 'Stop it!' She slammed into the door again and again, unmindful of her injured shoulder. 'You're hurting her!'

The-Kathryn-woman dropped Anna like she was on fire and span to face B'Elanna's cell. Her face, so harsh seconds before, was softening slowly.

'Is that you?' She whispered. 'Is that really you?'

She came close, opening the door to B'Elanna's cell and entering quickly. Before she knew what was going on, B'Elanna was being hugged tightly, her arms pinned to her sides and her breath pushed out of her chest. Then the woman looked up, and a murderous look the Captain never would have worn crossed her features.

'What did they do to you?' She thundered, her eyes on B'Elanna's ridges. Then her face softened one more, and a smile passed over her lips. B'Elanna couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw tears quickly blinked back in the woman's eyes. 'Are you okay?'

'I…I…I…' B'Elanna managed.

'I understand,' the woman nodded, sighing. 'You've been gone so long…You're in shock…come with me, will get those…those /things/ removed.' The tone was meant to be comforting, but B'Elanna stepped back in horror.

'What…? No!'

'I…don't understand…' the redhead looked shocked, and the Klingon could see a hint of suspicion in her eyes. 'What's happened to you? What did they do to you?'

C'mon, B'Elanna, think fast, this could be your ticket out of here…Your years in the Maquis had to have been good for something! You gotta take every opportunity you can! Think, dammit, think!

'They're…scars. Scars. I don't want them removed.' It'll have to do, B'Elanna thought, but before she could say anything else, she realised she might have made a huge mistake.

'I don't see any residual damage…no obvious scar tissue…' The woman's expression was mixed parts trepidation and suspicion. B'Elanna snapped.

'Look, I've been gone a long time like you said! They've had time to heal!' She didn't know what was going on, and the simularity between the woman and Janeway was freaking her out, more so because the similarities were all physical. The Captain would never have acted like this...or would she? Janeway had lost her temper once or twice, but usually only when protecting a member of...B'Elanna swallowed hard, a horrible suspicion forming in her mind.

For a moment after B'Elanna's outburst, it looked like the woman would just leave her in the cell - slam the door and just leave, but then acceptance, followed by dark rage came into her eyes. 'They /did/ that to you. What the hell could they do to give you scars like that?'

'Err…No! No, they didn't do it. No. This was an accident.' She looked at the other woman, eyes roving over her clenched fists and taunt shoulders and…finally, a break! A nametag flapped from the woman's lapel, telling B'Elanna her name was…

'No…Claudia. No. In fact…' She galnced across the hall where Anna was huddled, carefully watching them. 'They treated me. Healed me.'

'Did they hurt you at all?' Claudia asked, her anger dissipating somewhat.

'No.' B'Elanna shook her head. 'Not at all.'

Claudia shot her a look, but then smiled, taking B'Elanna's elbow and leading her out into the hall. Despite feeling unbelievably overwhelmed, she couldn't help but smile a little as she left the cramped confines of her cell.

'Lets get you cleaned up, hey? The guys in Unit Seven are going to be so happy to see you. And I tell you, I'm am going to murder whoever mistook you for one of them and locked you up in here. No-one treats anyone under my command like that,' Claudia said as they paused to let her close and re-lock both B'Elanna's and Anna's cell door.

'Under my command...' B'Elanna's stomach sank.

The Klingon was thinking hard about what to say next when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Her small smile faded as she saw Anna watching her through the bars on her door, a few proud tears dripping down her cheeks. B'Elanna suddenly realised how it must look to her; after convincing her she wasn't working for who-ever it was Anna was fighting, here she was being led out of the jail by someone who was obviously happy to see her, and obviously not on the same side as the blonde.

'Unit Seven,' Anna whispered, so low B'Elanna almost didn't hear. 'That's what you meant. That's why you kept saying seven.'

'Anna, I…' B'Elanna made the mistake of looking straight into Anna's eyes, and what she saw there froze the words in her throat. Hurt simmered in her eyes. Hurt, hate, betrayal…

B'Elanna was silent the rest of the way down the hall.

#

End part three.