Let the Music Play

Part 1

Kathryn Janeway stood in the sunshine and took a deep breath, a smile on her face. So what if it were just another M-class planet where they had stopped to get supplies? It still felt wonderful to be out in the sunshine, to feel a breeze blowing through her hair.

She thought back; it had been at least a year since Voyager had stopped at a planet this nice, this much like Earth. In their two and a half years in the Delta Quadrant, they hadn’t come across more than half a dozen. As usual, a fleeting thought passed through her mind of settling down, establishing a colony, and as usual, she didn’t consider it long enough for it to be more than a fleeting thought.

Enough daydreaming, she told herself firmly. They were here for a reason: to gather food supplies. They would have been mining metals and minerals, too, but the planet’s crust was made of a material that blocked Voyager’s sensors, and she didn’t want to send mining teams down blind. Captain Janeway looked around for anything that might be useful. She was on a plain, but foothills rose only about a hundred meters away. There might be something useful there, she thought, noting that nearly everyone else on the food-gathering expedition had headed toward the small grove of trees farther into the plain.

After walking through the hills for about half an hour, she finally spotted something that might be useful: mushrooms, growing underneath a rock. She scanned them with her tricorder and found that they were edible; she immediately gathered them up. There weren’t many, but maybe if she could find some more Neelix could make a big pot of soup or something. And Chakotay did like mushroom soup…she pushed the thought away. She sat down cross-legged on the rock and looked around for a moment. She spotted a few trees not too far away, so she put her feet down on that side.

She was quite surprised, when she put her feet down, to find that the ground wasn’t there. She tried to get back up on the rock, but before she knew it, she had slid off. She suddenly found herself sliding down a sort of tunnel, with rock on all sides of her. She told herself not to panic and looked around for something to grab to stop her slide, but by that time the tunnel had turned and she was traveling in pitch blackness.

She didn’t know how long she fell; all she knew was that she kept traveling downward, sliding very fast on the slippery rock. Suddenly, though, the rock wasn’t beneath her anymore; she seemed to float in midair for a moment before hard rock stopped her momentum. She felt nothing at first, and then incredible pain for just a moment before consciousness fled.

Part 2

Commander Chakotay was sitting on the bridge of the U.S.S. Voyager, holding down the fort while the captain was on the surface of the planet with the away team, when he received a hail from Lieutenant Tuvok.

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" Chakotay asked.

"I just attempted to contact Captain Janeway, but she is not responding to my hails," Tuvok answered.

Icy fear suddenly gripped Chakotay’s stomach. If something had happened... "Ensign Kim, scan for the captain’s comm badge."

A moment later, Harry answered, "I’m not picking up anything sir." Chakotay could hear the worry in the young man’s voice.

"Tuvok, recall the away teams to the ship and organize a search party. I want a report in thirty minutes," Chakotay said, trying to keep the terror out of his voice.

"Aye, sir. Tuvok out."

Chakotay stood and went up to Ensign Kim’s station at Ops to double-check his readings. He didn’t think he’d find anything, but he had to do something. He would have liked to go down to the surface to look for his captain and friend himself, but he knew he had to stay on the ship. They’ll find her, he told himself. She probably just wandered into a cave or something. Even so, he had a horrible premonition that something was dreadfully wrong. He forced himself to return to his seat and wait for Tuvok’s report.

Part 3

Kathryn woke up slowly, with no idea where she was. She opened her eyes, but it didn’t make any difference; all she saw was blackness. She felt sharp pains in both her legs, and she didn’t even want to try moving them. She reached out with her arms; she felt nothing but air in one direction, but in the other her hand touched a wall of rock, only a few centimeters from her shoulder. She ran her hand up and down the wall; it went up as far as she could reach, and down as far as the bed...

Bed? Yes, she realized as she ran her hands over the surface she was lying on, it was a bed, or at least something soft. There was also a blanket over her; as she ran her hands over it she suddenly realized that her uniform was gone, leaving her wearing only her underwear.

Where was she? How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was sitting on a rock on the Class M planet they had found and looking for food sources. She had seen several trees and had been ready to head for them...

She began to remember what had happened after that. She’d stepped off the rock into nothingness, slid down a tunnel for what seemed an eternity, and finally fallen. She must have broken her legs in the fall, then. But that still didn’t explain why she was lying on a soft bed. She remembered quite clearly that the floor she had landed on had been very hard.

So she was in a different place from where she had landed. Whoever had found her obviously wasn’t a member of Voyager’s crew; if they were, she’d be in sickbay now. Therefore, there must be someone living on this planet, underground.

She pushed herself to a sitting position and turned her head, trying to see any sign of light. There was nothing. If there were someone living here, why was she in complete darkness?

"Hello?" she called. "Is anyone there?"

She heard footsteps coming toward her, but they stopped just as they reached her. There was a moment of silence, and then she asked, "Who’s there?" She waited again, but there was no response. "I know someone’s there; I heard your footsteps."

"You can’t see me."

The voice sounded surprised, and at the same time it took Janeway’s breath away. It was a man’s voice, very deep and possessing a strange musical quality. Suddenly a thought came to her: was it something special about his voice, or was it just because she couldn’t see him that made her so fixated on his voice?

"No, I can’t see you. I can’t see anything," she said when she had recovered enough to speak again.

"Well." He paused, then said, "My name is Jolan. What’s yours?"

"I’m Kathryn Janeway." She had decided that announcing herself as captain of Voyager might not be the best idea. "I need to get back to my ship."

"Well," he said again. "Kathryn Janeway seems awfully long; may I call you Kathryn?"

"I suppose, but if you can just take me back to my ship it won’t matter."

"Your legs are broken; I tried to splint them as best I could, but I’m not much at medicine. It’s probably best if you don’t try to move them too much." She heard a rustling behind her, and then he picked her up and moved her back, so that she could lean against the pile of pillows he had apparently just put there. "You must be hungry; I’ll get you something to eat." With that, she heard his footsteps going back the way they had come.

"Wait!" she called after him. "You don’t need to feed me; I just want to go back to my ship." There was no answer, so she settled herself back onto the pillows with a sigh. This "Jolan," whoever he was, seemed quite eager to ignore anything she said about getting back to Voyager. She did not like this situation at all.

Part 4

Jolan had been on the planet’s surface gathering supplies when his computer informed him of a ship entering the system. He had immediately gone underground and accessed the sensor data through his hand-held device. He was relieved to see that the approaching vessel wasn’t a Kyrae ship, but a design he had never seen before. With any luck they were simply stopping at what they thought was an uninhabited planet for supplies and would be on their way soon. He didn’t know what he’d do if they were planning on colonizing his planet or something awful like that. He’d been enjoying his life here the last two years, and he really didn’t want to have to leave.

He checked his position and found, to his surprise, that he was five kilometers from his house. Even if the terrain was good and he didn’t have to dematerialize and then re-form too much rock, it would still take him at least an hour, probably closer to two, to get home. He sighed and began his long walk.

He was only a few minutes from his underground house, in a series of tunnels he knew well, when he stumbled upon something he’d never expected to see here: a body lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was a woman, with both of her legs obviously broken. He shone his light on the ceiling and found a small opening about seven meters up. They were nearly a kilometer beneath the surface; he hadn’t a clue how she had gotten that far down. He bent down and felt for a pulse, and he was quite relieved when he felt faint fluttering motions beneath his fingers. She was very cold, though, suffering from hypothermia, and he had a feeling that she would be dead within a quarter of an hour if he left her there.

Jolan suddenly found himself torn. If he left her there, she would die, and then he would have yet another lost life on his hands. He had been responsible for too many deaths already...But there was no way to save her without revealing himself to her and eventually to the others on her ship as well. He quickly decided that his safe haven here wasn’t worth sacrificing an innocent life. He carefully picked up the woman, finding that she seemed to weigh almost nothing, and carried her home.

Once he had gone inside and sealed the door to make it look like a wall of rock, he carried her into the room that served as his bedroom and placed her on his bed. His "house" was composed of two caves about the size of large rooms and a smaller cave with a natural spring that he had turned into his bathroom. One of the larger rooms served as a combination bedroom and living room, while the other functioned as a kitchen, pantry, and dining room. He had searched for several months before he had found this place, and he had immediately decided it would be perfect for an underground residence.

He had placed his bed on a shelf of rock recessed into the wall; it was quite a cozy little nook once he had stopped the water that had dripped periodically from the ceiling. For him it was a nice-sized bed; the tiny woman looked like a child lying in it. Now that he had better light, he looked at her more closely. She could almost have passed for a member of his species, except for her size: she was about the size of an eight-year-old Kyrae. He had always felt small among his people, being a bit shorter and much, much, thinner than the average Kyrae, but being next to her made him feel like a giant.

The woman had long auburn hair, held back by a clip. Carefully he reached behind her head and removed the clip so it wouldn’t cut into her neck. She was still quite pale, but it seemed like her color was a little better than it had been when he had first brought her in. He kept his house quite warm; he had always liked warmer temperatures than others of his species. He looked next at her clothing: she was wearing a black jumpsuit with a strip of red along the top, and the neck of a blue turtleneck showed at the top. On this blue fabric she wore four small gold pins, and there was another, larger pin in an arrow shape with two bars behind it on her chest. On the whole, her outfit gave the appearance of a uniform; he guessed that the pin on her chest was the symbol of the organization she represented, the four small pins on her collar represented her rank, and the strip of color at the top showed her function in the organization.

Her face was definitely beginning to regain its color, but her hands were still as cold as ice. He wondered if perhaps the insulating qualities of the clothes she wore were now keeping out the heat of her surroundings. She would probably be more comfortable without the stiff fabric anyway, he reasoned. He carefully pulled off her heavy boots, then began on the rest of her uniform.

After he had taken off her clothing down to her underwear, he put rudimentary splints on her legs, which were indeed broken according to his medical equipment. She had a nasty bump on the back of her head, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it, so he decided to let it be until she woke up. He then pulled his blanket over her and tucked it in at her chin, then headed into the other room to put away the supplies he had gathered.

What would happen when she woke up? She would undoubtedly want to return to her ship, but he wasn’t sure how he could arrange that without revealing the whole of his technology to her and her shipmates. He decided not to worry about what would happen later; he would leave that until she woke up.

Part 5

It had been six hours since they had discovered that the captain was missing, and Chakotay was very close to panicking. They had found no trace of her whatsoever, and no one on the away team recalled having seen her after beaming down to the surface. They had found several entrances to underground caves in the foothills, but since their sensors couldn’t penetrate the rock, searching them would take a very long time.

The mood on the bridge was, of course, extremely tense. It was all Chakotay could do to keep from pacing, but he knew that it was his job to keep everyone calm. It was very, very hard, though, to do nothing but wait for news, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

"Commander, there’s a ship entering the system," Ensign Kim announced from Ops. "They’re hailing us."

"On screen," said Chakotay.

A surprisingly human-looking man appeared on the viewscreen. "I am Boltam of the Kyrae. Please identify yourselves," he said.

"I am Commander Chakotay of the Federation starship Voyager." He stopped and waited for the other man to make the next move.

"I’m sorry, but I must ask you to leave. We have reason to believe that a very dangerous man is in hiding on this planet, and I would not want him to pose any danger to your crew."

"It’s not possible for us to leave at the moment. A member of our crew is missing on the planet. Besides, our scans detected no one when we arrived."

"This man is very tricky and has probably found a way to hide himself from sensors. He’s also a known killer. Your crewman is probably already dead."

Chakotay suddenly felt fear rush through him. If this maniac had hurt Kathryn... "Perhaps we can help you," he said to Boltam. "My people have been searching the planet for the past six hours. Although we have found no sign of our crew member, we have found vast caves made of rocks that our sensors cannot penetrate." He saw no reason to tell Boltam that the missing crew member was the captain.

Boltam nodded. "This man likes the dark, so he has probably taken up residence underground. The fact that sensors cannot penetrate the rock would explain why he chose this planet. I suppose cooperation would be agreeable, but only on one condition."

"What’s that?" asked Chakotay.

"You must not interfere with our arrest of this man in any way when we do find him. If he is responsible for the death of your crewman, you cannot insist upon prosecuting him yourself. Rest assured that he will be tried and punished for his crimes here as well as his crimes against our people. I also must warn you not to expect to find your man alive."

Part 6

Janeway woke to music, having gone back to sleep after eating. She’d tried to get Jolan to talk to her, but she still knew almost nothing about him. When she’d asked him why he was on the planet alone, he simply said that he didn’t get along with others of his race. She asked him why, but he said he thought it would be a good idea if she went back to sleep. She then heard his footsteps leaving the room.

Now she heard the sound of a musical instrument playing. It sounded a lot like an Earth piano. The music was incredibly beautiful. From the sound of it, the piano was in the room with her.

She pushed herself up with her arms, noting that the pain in her legs had faded to a dull ache. "Jolan?" she called. There was no answer; the music continued without pause, as if he hadn’t heard her. She’d known musicians before who got so deeply into their music that nothing could interrupt them; perhaps Jolan was in that state.

The music ended suddenly, and she heard footsteps coming toward her. "I see you’re awake," he said, and her fingertips began to tingle again. She fought the sensation down. "Here, why don’t you put this on," he said, handing her something soft. As she unfolded it, he said, "That’s a nightgown that belonged to my mother. I have a lot of her clothes here; they’ll be pretty big on you, but it shouldn’t be too terrible."

"All right," she said as she tried to get the garment straight. She was glad that he had something for her to wear; she was getting tired of lying around in her underwear.

She found herself all tangled up in the nightgown, and was surprised when she felt Jolan gently pull it off of her. He rustled around with it for a minute, then said, "Hold out your arms." She did, and he slipped the nightgown onto her wrists and over her head. As he did, she thought about how he really seemed to resent her being here, and she resolved to do everything she could to make her stay as easy on him as possible.

He sighed suddenly. "It’s not that I resent your being here; it’s just that I’m not used to people." Especially people who treat me like a person and not an animal, he thought. He noticed the confused expression on her face and continued, "I’m telepathic. Yet another thing that separates me from the rest of my race. I try not to listen in on people’s thoughts, but I can’t seem to help it when I’m touching someone. Of course, it didn’t hurt that you were practically broadcasting." With that, he left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts again.

Part 7

Two days later, they had still found no sign of anyone in the caves below the surface. Chakotay had told Boltam everything they knew about the captain’s disappearance, but the man didn’t seem to have a clue what to do next. Boltam had suggested they search the underground caves for secret entrances. Chakotay didn’t understand how anyone could put a secret entrance in the wall of a cave without it being painfully obvious to anyone looking, but there didn’t seem to be any other possibilities, so he had agreed. Agents from both ships were now going over the walls with hands and with scanners, trying to find anything that suggested an entrance. At that rate, it could take months to search the entire cave.

Chakotay was now in the mess hall, starting at a plate of something unidentifiable and trying not to let his depression show. He knew it wasn’t working too well, though. His entire life had been thrown into turmoil these past two days. Kathryn was gone; there was a good chance they’d never see her alive again. And he’d never gotten a chance to tell her how he really felt.

Of course, there was no guarantee she felt the same way. He knew that. Still, he remembered New Earth and hoped there might be something. But then again, he didn’t know if she’d given up on her love back home. He didn’t know too much about Mark, but he knew that he and Kathryn had planned to be married when she returned. That was one of the major reasons he’d resisted letting her know that he wished they were more than friends. He didn’t want to pressure her into giving up a relationship that had lasted at least a decade.

Of course, none of that mattered anymore. She was gone; he would have to accept that. She had probably already been forgotten by the thief and murderer known as Jolan.

Part 8

Kathryn sat up in Jolan’s bed, listening to him play the piano. She had realized that it was his bed the first night she was there, when he was getting ready for bed. She had asked him where he was going to sleep, and he had responded, quite surprised, "In the bed with you." She’d been shocked, to say the least, but he’d insisted that there was plenty of room for both of them. She had slept very little that first night, concentrating on staying near the wall and away from him. In the morning, he’d asked her if she was afraid of him. She’d responded by saying that she wasn’t afraid of him, she was just very uncomfortable sharing a bed with someone of the opposite sex. She didn’t mention her growing and completely irrational attraction to him; she tried to keep that as far from her mind as possible. She tried to be professional and stifle her feelings, but the techniques that had always worked before did her no good now. The attraction she felt seemed to be connected to his voice. Every time he spoke, she felt as though he was casting a spell on her. She had never felt like this before.

Last night had been easier; she’d been too exhausted to worry about much of anything except getting some sleep. She had a feeling her head injury had something to do with that; normally she would never have been able to sleep as much as she had the past few days.

Now, though, she didn’t feel tired at all. Jolan had carried her to the table in the other room for breakfast, and they hadn’t spoken a word as they ate. Afterwards, he had carried her back to the bed and sat down at the piano.

Kathryn couldn’t believe how little they’d communicated. They’d been alone together for two days, and she still knew almost nothing about him. He knew even less about her, she realized. She’d asked an awful lot of questions, but he had hardly asked any. She wondered again how long she would be stuck here; she really wanted to go back to Voyager.

Suddenly Jolan began to sing as he played. She gasped, but as usual he didn’t seem to hear her. He had the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. It was like an angel was singing... She couldn’t go on this way. She had to put a stop to this ridiculous attraction to a man she barely knew. For all she knew, he could be living here as punishment for some heinous crime, rather than by choice. Yet he had never done anything to suggest he might hurt her.

Jolan stopped playing and singing without warning. His music seemed to have no beginning, no end, and no obvious transitions; it was far from monotonous, though. "You want to know about me? I can tell you if you want me to, but I must warn you that you probably won’t like me very much when I’m done."

Kathryn thought about it for a moment; as usual, her curiosity outweighed all other considerations. "Tell me," she said.

Part 9

"I’m not sure where I was born, but I know that my mother took me to live in the small village on Kyrid where she had grown up shortly afterwards. My father died in an accident before I was born; I’ve never even seen a picture of him.

"The first time the villagers saw me, they thought I was a monster. I was born with my face... well, twisted somehow. No one has ever reacted with anything other than horror upon seeing me for the first time. My mother made me wear a mask all the time from the time I was two years old. At first I hated it; it was hot and itchy and I didn’t see why I had to wear it. Once I saw myself in the mirror, though, I was very glad to have a mask to wear.

"I think my mother may have hated me; she certainly didn’t love me. I don’t know why she stayed with me. The villagers certainly hated me. If I left the house, the boys would throw rocks at me until I had to run back inside.

"I spent a lot of time in the attic of our house. There was actually a small room that served as my bedroom, but the rest was a real attic. I found several musical instruments and stacks and stacks of sheet music up there one day, and I taught myself to play the music.

"I also read anything and everything I could get my hands on. My mother got me a lot of books to read, but she never really looked at them to see if they would be suitable for a child. As a result, I learned a lot in a lot of different subjects.

"I left my house and my village when I was twelve. My mother had met a man that she liked, but she had never introduced him to me, and I knew why. He’d leave and never look back if he got one look at my face. So I left in the middle of the night one night.

"I made my living doing various things as I grew up. At first I joined a traveling fair and made a living doing magic tricks. The owner constantly wanted me to take off my mask, and I always refused, so I was advertised as ‘The Masked Magician.’ One day, though, he saw me with my mask off; he tried to put me in a cage and exhibit me. I killed him; I was thirteen then.

"I did the same sorts of things for a while, but the same thing always happened: someone saw my face and wanted to exhibit it. Every once in a while, someone would try to kidnap me or something like that. I did what I had to, and I killed maybe fifteen people before I was sixteen.

"After one particular kidnapping attempt, in which I killed four men and escaped with a number of broken bones, I decided that I had to get out of the fair business. I didn’t have any other skills that I could use to get an honest job, though, so I became a thief. At first I only took what I needed to survive, but as time went on I got more and more greedy until I just took whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it.

"I was never able to get an ordinary job because of my face; of course, after years of getting what I wanted by taking it, I didn’t really want an ordinary job anyway. I was actually employed for quite a while; for the last thirty years I’ve been a paid assassin.

"About two years ago, though, I had a falling-out with one of my employers, and I killed him. Before I knew it, there was a price on my head. I stole a ship and everything I needed to make a new life for myself; I planned to get as far away from Kyrid as possible.

"Before I left, though, I went to see my mother one last time. I guess maybe I wanted to finally say goodbye to her. When I got there, though, the house was locked and boarded up. All the furniture and everything was still inside. I went in and looked around, but there was nobody there. I knew what had happened, so I went to the local cemetery and found my mother’s grave. She had died only six months before, around the time I had killed my employer.

"I went back to the house and took some of her clothes to remember her by. I had never seen her wear any jewelry or anything, so it had to be clothes. I took two dresses and a nightgown.

"As I was leaving, I saw a note on her bedside table. I was very surprised when I found that it was addressed to me. The piece of paper is long gone, but I can remember every word it said.

"The note said that she was sorry for treating me like she did and that she was sorry for accepting the offer in the first place. I don’t know what ‘offer’ she was talking about; I probably never will. She then wrote that she had something that belonged to me, and told me where to find it. She also wrote that if I never had a chance to use it I should give it to my oldest child and tell them what it meant. The last words she wrote were, ‘It’s very important because...’ and then it kind of scrawled off. I found it; it’s a green jewel pendant on a silver chain. I suppose I’ll never know why it’s important either. Of course, it probably doesn’t matter too much since I’m never going to have children anyway. No woman will even look at me.

"I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be telling you all of this. Anyway, I left my childhood home, and I took my ship and I left Kyrid. I traveled for nine months before I found this planet, and I’ve been here for two years. I’m sure they’re still looking for me. That’s why I haven’t wanted to take you back to your ship. I’m afraid of being discovered. But I will. I’ll take you to the surface tomorrow and make sure your shipmates find you. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have kept you here this long. Yet another example of my incredible selfishness."

He stopped, and a moment later he left.

Part 10

Jolan quietly stepped into his bedroom to check on Kathryn. She was breathing evenly; she appeared to be asleep. He sighed with relief and went back into the kitchen.

He had offered to tell her his story because he had noticed that she seemed to be one of the people who for some reason were unable to resist his voice. It seemed to have a hypnotic quality that caused some people to feel... well, he really didn’t know how they felt. His mother had been like that; the only reason she had been able to tolerate him was because she loved to hear his voice. He could tell that Kathryn was attracted to him, and he didn’t want her to do anything that she would regret later.

He had to admit to himself, though, that he was attracted to her as well. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but she had an inner strength that made her very attractive. More importantly, she was the only woman he had ever encountered who didn’t treat him with either revulsion or pity. Of course, that was because she couldn’t see his horrible facial disfigurement, but somehow he had a feeling that it wouldn’t matter to her even if she could see him. Unfortunately, telling her about himself, about all the horrible things he had done, the many people he had killed, had not spared him from what he felt for her. He could only hope that his story would end what she felt for him. Although he still wanted her, he would not take anything she didn’t freely give. He had always been a bit protective of women, perhaps because his mother had needed someone stronger so badly when he was growing up and he hadn’t been able to help her. He had killed many people, but he had never been responsible for the death or injury of a woman. He sighed, sat down at the piano, and began to play out a song of unrequited love.

Part 11

Kathryn woke up screaming.

Jolan was shaking her shoulders and telling her to wake up. She stopped screaming as soon as she realized that awful sound was her. "You must have been having a bad dream," Jolan said.

"I think I was, but I honestly can’t remember what it was about."

"I’ve had some nightmares like that. Sometimes it’s better not to remember."

"What time is it?"

"Dinnertime. You’ve been asleep most of the day."

A few minutes later, when they were eating, Kathryn asked him, "Why didn’t you just leave me where you found me?"

He was silent for a moment, then answered, "You were freezing. You would have died if I’d left you there. I thought about it, but I just couldn’t leave you."

He had saved her life! She must have known that somewhere all along, but it was the first time the thought had surfaced. He’d tried to give her the impression that he was a horrible person, but she could tell that he wasn’t. And he was taking her back to Voyager tomorrow, even with the risk that it caused him. Gratitude rose up in her, mixed in with her irrational attraction to him. "Jolan..." she said, then trailed off, not sure what she wanted to say.

She heard him get up and come toward her. "You think louder than anyone I have ever met. Kathryn, whatever you think you feel for me isn’t real. My voice has the power to hypnotize people somehow. It causes them to do things they wouldn’t normally do."

"I know," she answered. Her voice sounded strange to her. She felt strange, too. She wasn’t sure what was happening to her. He was very close to her, and all of a sudden she couldn’t stand it. She pulled him to her and kissed him.

He lifted her up and carried her to the other room. "Kathryn," he said breathlessly, "please, tell me to stop; do something. Otherwise..."

Something inside her cried out that yes, she needed to stop this right now. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t seem to make her mouth form the words. He kissed her again, and she responded, and they both knew that this was wrong, but neither of them could stop. What had started with a simple kiss now had to proceed to its inevitable conclusion.

Part 12

The next morning, Jolan lifted Kathryn out of the bathtub and dried her with a towel. He told her that he’d opened the door to his house and discovered that people from his planet were working with Voyager’s crew to find any sign of habitation. He’d changed the settings of the holographic projectors further down the tunnel, and they’d find the entrance within an hour.

He helped her dress in her uniform, which he had cleaned and mended as best he could. As she was pinning her communicator on, she felt him slip something around her neck. As she felt it to see what it was, he said, "It’s the pendant my mother left me. I know I’ll never have children, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather give it to than you."

"Are you sure?"

"If it’s a bounty hunter who’s here, he’ll kill me. If it’s the government, they’ll put me in prison, probably for the rest of my life. In either case, they’d never let me keep it anyway. You never know; maybe you’ll find out what it means."

"All right," she responded, and she dropped the pendant beneath her turtleneck. "It’s probably better if no one sees it until I’m back on the ship."

"Would you like me play for you?" he asked. She nodded, and he began to play. The music was very relaxing, and despite her efforts to stay awake, she was asleep in a few minutes.

Part 13

Commander Chakotay was pacing the bridge. He knew it wasn’t a good idea—crew morale and all that—but he had to do something.

"Tuvok to Chakotay."

"Have you found anything, Lieutenant?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"We have found what appears to be a hidden door in the cave wall. Mr. Boltam has indicated that he would prefer you to come down before we proceed."

"On my way," Chakotay said, already heading towards the transporter room.

Twenty minutes later, he was staring at a gaping hole where one obviously shouldn’t have been. He and Boltam walked in and made several turns going down the tunnel. Chakotay stopped suddenly; something wasn’t right. He shone his flashlight around and quickly discovered what wasn’t right: there was a Starfleet-issue tricorder lying on the floor of the cave. There were several rust colored stains nearby; he scanned them with his tricorder and confirmed what he had already suspected: the stains were human blood. "Dear God," he said softly.

"Come along, Commander," Boltam said. They continued down the tunnel for a few more minutes before arriving at a seemingly impenetrable wall of rock. Boltam pointed his version of a tricorder at it, and a moment later it changed into what was obviously a door.

They went through the door and found themselves in a natural cave that had apparently been modified as a kitchen and dining room. There was music playing from the next room that somehow relaxed him, even as tense as he was.

"Don’t listen to it," Boltam hissed. "He uses music as a trick!"

They walked through the doorway into another cave. The first thing Chakotay saw was a man dressed in black except for a white mask. He was playing some kind of musical instrument. Then he saw Kathryn lying on a bed recessed into the wall.

The music stopped as he rushed to her. He could hear Boltam making a proclamation of arrest in the background, but he paid little attention as he checked her pulse. She was alive, and he felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He picked her up and she opened her eyes, but she didn’t seem to see him. "Kathryn, are you all right?" he asked softly.

"Both my legs are broken, and I can’t see."

"Did he hurt you?"

A confused expression came over her face for a moment; then it cleared. "No," she said, "he saved my life."

"Let’s get you back to Voyager." He carried her back to the surface, almost ignoring the crewmembers that he passed on the way. He didn’t notice the smiles that suddenly came to their faces when they saw that their captain was alive. When they reached the surface, he called Voyager and had them both beamed directly to sickbay.

Kathryn was silent during the entire trip. He decided this wasn’t the best time to ask her what had happened down there. After he had put her down on a biobed in sickbay, the doctor essentially ordered him out. He was still troubled by something he couldn’t quite name, so he went to his quarters to consult his spirit guide.

When he arrived on the bridge shortly afterward, he discovered that the Kyrae had left with their prisoner. Good riddance to bad rubbish, he thought, and he headed to sickbay.

Part 14

Chakotay entered sickbay and smiled as he saw Kathryn sleeping on a biobed with a blanket over her. He looked around for the doctor.

"Hello, Commander," said the doctor, startling him as he came up silently behind him as usual. "She’s going to be fine, but I’d like to keep her off duty for the next few days."

"Good luck," said Chakotay with a chuckle, knowing the captain’s dislike of being kept off duty for even a day.

"I want you to send her—no, better yet, bring her—here if she shows up on the bridge or at a staff meeting or anything before I give you the okay."

"Agreed. I’ll tell Tuvok as well."

"Thank you, Commander. I’ve healed her legs, although they’ll be sore for a while. Her head injury should heal without any problem, but I want to keep her here until it does, just for safety’s sake. Her vision should be starting to come back now, but it will be a day or two until she has her normal eyesight back."

"Thank you, Doctor."

After a moment of silence, the doctor asked, "Was there anything else?"

"Could I sit with her for a minute?"

"If you like. If she should wake up, though, don’t keep her up for more than a few minutes."

"Understood," Chakotay answered, pulling out a chair and sitting down near the head of the bed.

Part 15

Kathryn opened her eyes. The doctor had told her she’d be able to see a little when she woke up, but it was still quite a shock to see again. Not that she could see very well; all she could see was a gray blur.

"Hey, welcome back," said a familiar voice near her head.

"Chakotay?" she said, turning her head.

"Can you see me?"

"I see a black blur with some red and brown splotches."

"Does this help?" he said as the blur got bigger.

"No. The doctor said everything will be blurry, no matter how close. It should get better, though."

"Glad to hear it." Both were silent for a moment, and then he said, "Well, I’d better be getting back to the bridge."

"I’ll see you, then." She watched as the blur receded and finally disappeared as she heard the hiss of the door.

She lay back down on the biobed with a sigh. It looked like she was going to have plenty of time to think over the next few days. She had a feeling she’d be thinking a lot about what had happened in the cave. She already felt guilty for allowing things to proceed as far as she had, and she knew that the guilt was only going to get worse. She could only hope that it would fade with time.