"Ow, damn it!"

She had never liked the pocket knife she religiously carried around. Unfortunately she had to admit that it became extremely useful when one was bound.

She could feel the warm liquid dripping onto her feet. Why the aliens wanted her shoes she still couldn't figure out.

One thing she did know was that she was going to drown in her own sweat soon. These aliens seemed to prefer a warm and dark atmosphere. For the first day it was only mildly uncomfortable. Now this temperature, added to the fact that the only thing she had ingested in three days was the vile fishy concoction her captors had left for them was making her desperate.

"I don't know why you're still trying. I told you those aren't human ropes, they won't be cut and now you hurt yourself for no reason."

"Norman, would you shut up! Please.", Ever since she had decided to escape Norman had done nothing but tell her that her efforts were futile and that they were both going to die. The usually pessimistic scientist had become infuriatingly depressing over the past few hours.

"I'm just being realistic. Besides what are you going to do if you ever get yourself untied?"

"I thought that I would just politely ask the guards outside our cell to point me to the closest escape pod. Also I think you mean when I get untied, not if. Need I remind you that I got the knife out of my pocket, something you told me was impossible. Now come on Norm even you can look at that as progress. I'll have us out of here in no time!"

Elizabeth Lennox had always been extremely grounded and realistic, so this forced optimism was annoying her. As the daughter of a farmer she was uncomfortable with false hope, but even more uncomfortable with giving up. Plus Norman's nasally whine had her itching to prove him wrong.

Elizabeth had only known Norman for two days. They became acquainted when they were unceremoniously shoved into this hostage situation together but that didn't mean she had to like him. The punctilious scientist was apparently working on a top secret project, which was the reason he was here. Elizabeth was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. If only he would shut up.

JPOV

"Okay people listen up! We've just received word that a Starfleet analyst has been kidnapped by a pack of nasty Cardassians. We have been assigned to get this guy back. Sullu, you have the coordinates?"

"Yes, captain! Setting a course for the enemy ship now"

James Tiberius Kirk loved being called captain. You could say it fed his ego well.

This next mission seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. Just another Starfleet assignment. From the information he had received it seemed that this Norman Cheevers-really Cheevers- seemed like your regular analyst. Perfectly adequate with a genius I.Q. Why the Federation cared so much about this guy, or that anyone would want to kidnap him was unclear to Kirk.

"Captain?", Uhura's voice snapped Kirk out of his reverie, "I'm attempting to contact the Cardassian ship now."

"Put 'em on screen." These Cardassians were something ugly. Gray, scaly faces with ridges coming up over their eyes. To make it even worse they stole Vincent Price's hair.

"This is James Kirk, Captain of the U.S.S Enterprise. Apparently you have something that doesn't belong to you and we would like him back."

"I'm very sorry to disappoint you Captain Kirk, but I and my crew are not sure what you are talking about."

"So you deny that you have kidnapped a member of Starfleet named Norman Cheevers?" Kirk couldn't help smirking a bit at that name.

"I have never heard of that man," was the Cardassian's quick response.

"What is your name and rank, sir?" Spock jumped in with one of his logical questions.

"I am Gul Dukat, I am the captain of this vessel and unfortunately I cannot help you find the man you are looking for." With that sentence Captain Dukat terminated the transmission.

Kirk thought that Gul looked way too smug. He decided that somewhere on that ship was the starfleet analyst. It was almost as if Captain Gul was challenging him. Well, he'd always loved it when people told him he couldn't do something, it made doing it more fun.

"Well, that was rude!", Kirk said with a smile, "He didn't even say goodbye. McCoy, Sullu, I think we should pay our Cardassian friends a visit. I'm sure he would be more pleasant if we spoke face to face. Spock, take over for a sec I'll be right back."

Spock seemed extremely annoyed and confused, "Kirk you cannot invade a peaceful ship to educate someone on their manners. Besides you have no proof that Dr. Cheevers is on that ship."

"True," Kirk said, "but I think he's there and that's good enough for me."

EPOV

Elizabeth suddenly heard shouting. She hoped that the awful noises didn't mean they were about to be killed, but when the doors to their cell flew open she couldn't realistically expect anything good to come from this.

The alien was yelling at them in his -she was just guessing she couldn't tell a boy alien from a girl alien- native tongue. He was soon joined by two more crew members. She had no idea what they were talking about, but one look in Norman's direction told her it wasn't good.

It seemed they had made a decision just as the noise was increasing. They suddenly grabbed the two humans and began half dragging, half pushing them out the door and down the hall.

Elizabeth heard even more shouting and even someone laughing as she was dragged into the hall. She could have sworn she heard someone yelling in English. She hoped that she wasn't going crazy because even the thought that she might get out of here made her ready to do something stupid and futile.

She stopped suddenly and refused to move. As one of the aliens attempted to move her she thrust her head back with as much force as she was able. Her head connected solidly with the alien's nose and as he was distracted she ran towards Norman's captor and rammed him into the nearest wall.

The alien's head made an awful sound as it hit the wall. Elizabeth hoped that meant it wouldn't be getting back up very soon.

"Norm move it! Run!"

Elizabeth began running in the direction of the human shouting, while Norman was trying to get her to run in the opposite direction. He was so distracting with his panicked impression of a Mexican jumping bean she didn't even notice the human until she ran him over.

"What the hell?", he started yelling but Elizabeth cut him off.

"We need to get off this ship right now! I have been kidnapped by these aliens and I would be thrilled if I could get reacquainted with the human race and safety."

He helped Elizabeth to her feet but he seemed extremely confused.

"Captain! We got an extra!"

"Got it McCoy! Sullu grab Norman for me. Scotty we got five, beam us up!"

The dark interior of the ship started to fade replaced by a blinding light. Elizabeth wasn't sure what was happening but she hoped it meant that she was finally getting off the alien's ship.

The sudden change from the humid climate of the alien ship to the cool, pristine human ship was a welcome so Elizabeth felt dizzy. She blamed it on the head butt or maybe it was the cuts on her arm or her near empty stomach. She fought back the black spots that danced in front of her eyes.

"Lizzy?"

Elizabeth spun around at the sound of her name. She knew that voice. The spinning wasn't a good idea though because the black dots closed in on her as she hit the ground, but not before she recognized those all too familiar blue eyes.