AN: I do no own Star Trek: Voyager or any of the characters. But I wish I did. I'd have a lot of fun with them. I had some great editing done for me by TheJesser. Thankyou!
Kathryn could feel the blade of the knife as it was slowly pushed deeper and deeper into her thigh. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the arms of the chair she had been tied to, and refused to scream out or beg for her life. As the cold metal blade made its way past the skin and into the underlying muscle, white hot searing pain rippled through her leg and into the rest of her body. She felt the knife as it traveled past sinew and reached her femur. Blood seeped from the gash and soon became a torrent, threatening to drain her entire body of its necessary properties. As her vision blurred, she felt her consciousness begin to fade away. She welcomed the blackness, but before it could engulf her, her captors removed the blade and used a glowing hot metal shaft to cauterize her wounds. Within seconds, the pain would begin all over again.
"You think you're unbreakable? You think we can't make you do exactly what we want you to do?" Her captor spat out the words in disgust.
"You have no idea what my crew is capable of doing. You will not survive this, I can promise you that." Kathryn growled, her jaw defiant, and her eyes burned holes through her tormentor.
"Pretty tough words for such a puny woman who's tied to a chair…bleeding and bruised." Her captor laughed. "You humans, have a strong will to live. I like that, in fact I respect that, but you have something I need. All you have to do is give IT to me. Then you and your crew will be free to leave."
"Ha! You expect me to believe anything you say? If you had my crew, you wouldn't be torturing me for their whereabouts. And as for what you want…you'll never get HER from me. She is safe with my crew, they'd never give her up to you...never." Kathryn again was defiant.
"You are a mindless female. How anyone thought it would be a good idea to make a female captain of anything is beyond my comprehension." the lead captor turned and gestured to the man standing behind him. "See what else you can get from her, then end it!"
Kathryn could do nothing but watch in horror as a new torturer stepped out from the shadows. He was draped in all black, which only added to his menacing appearance. He walked slowly, yet deliberately toward her and removed his hood, revealing the scarred face and soulless eyes of a madman. Kathryn closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She knew she was about to feel pain like she had never experienced before, however she needed to stay strong for the good of her crew. She silently wished that they would just leave her here to die, rather then attempt a rescue. Their lives were worth more then her own.
A sad smile crossed Kathryn's face as she thought back to young Naomi Wildman. She had once told the little girl that there were three rules that Captain's lived by, keep her shirt tucked in, always go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of the crew. Ultimately, as the captain of Voyager, she was the reason the situation got out of control in the first place, and the thought of harm coming to her beloved crew was heartbreaking. However, deep down inside she knew they would never leave her behind. No one was ever left behind.
2 Days Earlier
"Captain, I'm detecting an encrypted message being sent over subspace." Harry informed Kathryn Janeway, who sat quietly reviewing maintenance logs.
"Are you able to decipher it, Mr. Kim?" Kathryn continued to skim through the information contained on the PADD.
"I'm almost done...just another second..." Harry trailed off as he continued to tap commands into the computer. "Decipher complete." His eyes widened as he read the results. "Captain...its a distress call."
Her head perked up at his words. "I thought we were in an uninhabited region of space? Tuvok, can you locate the origin of the message?"
"Indeed, Captain." He stated from behind Janeway. "This region of space was indeed declared uninhabited by Neelix. However, we did not have any verifiable information to confirm his statement."
"The message originates approximately 1.5 light years from our present location." Harry said.
"Harry, are you able to determine who sent it? And do you think its a recent message?" Janeway asked.
"Its impossible to tell at this time, Captain." Harry replied.
"Ok, then. Play the message, I want to hear it for myself before I make any decisions." Kathryn looked over to her left. Chakotay sat dutifully quiet, apparently in full agreement with how Kathryn was proceeding.
"This is my last attempt to procure assistance. I have no idea if anyone will receive this message, let alone in time to save me. My name is Chayan, and my ship has suffered extensive damage. Life support systems are failing and there's only a day's worth of breathable air remaining. If anyone can hear this message, please come and help. There is no one else."
"Was that the full message?" Captain Janeway asked.
"Yes, Captain. It's being replayed on a loop transmission. Do you want me to send a reply?" Harry asked.
"No. We have no way of knowing who sent it or why their ship was damaged. For all we know it could be a trap." Kathryn paused and rubbed her chin. "But we are members of Starfleet, and we have a code we live by. If someone needs our help, we will do what we can to offer assistance. Tom, set course at maximum warp to where the message originated. Tuvok, I want you to scan for potential threats. We don't know who we are dealing with, and I want to be ready for the worst."
"Yes, captain." Both, Tom and Tuvok said in unison.
"Chakotay, I'll be in my ready room. When we are within an hour of our destination, come and get me." Kathryn said.
"We're not going to get there until sometime tomorrow." Chakotay replied.
"I know. I have a lot of work to do and I don't know how long it will take. I may still be in my ready room when you start your shift tomorrow." Kathryn joked.
"Will do. In the mean time, try and get some rest. You've been working nonstop all day. I haven't seen you eat anything today that didn't resemble a cup of coffee." Chakotay leaned in conspiratorially and added, "How about you come to my quarters after our duty shift, and I'll make you something to eat."
Kathryn smiled and tilted her head to the side, "You always know exactly what I need, even before I do. I'll meet you there at 1800 hours." Kathryn got up from her command chair and went into her ready room. Just before she exited the bridge, however, she glanced over her shoulder to see if Chakotay was still watching her. He was, of course, and it brought a smile to her face.
Kathryn looked around her ready room. There were PADDs stacked 5 deep all over her desk. She'd been working for hours and it hadn't even made a dent. She sighed and put her head into her hands. Chakotay is right, she thought to herself. I do work too hard.
"Chakotay!" Kathryn exclaimed. Her head snapped up and she looked at her desk chronometer. It was 1750 hours. She only had ten minutes before she was supposed to be at his quarters.
She thought about all the reasons she could legitimately cancel dinner plans, but none of them seemed important enough...even to her. She knew she was going to have to hurry. Not wanting to show up at his door wearing her uniform, she decided to transport directly to her quarters to save time.
"Computer, perform a site to site transport of Captain Kathryn Janeway from the ready-room to the Captain's quarters."
"Acknowledged." The computer stated flatly, "Prepare for transport."
Within seconds the ready-room faded from view and Kathryn found herself in her quarters.
"Computer, full illumination." Kathryn rushed to her bedroom as the computer complied.
Out of breath and already two minutes late, Kathryn left her quarters wearing a simple blue dress. It wasn't anything special, but she knew Chakotay liked it, and that was good enough for her. She stood in front of the doors to his quarters, fixed her hair and made sure her dress was straight before pushing the door chime. Within a few seconds the doors swished open and Chakotay stood in the doorway welcoming her inside.
"Well, only three minutes late this time." Chakotay teased.
"Am I always late? I really did try, I swear. It's just that the turbo-lifts were full from the duty-shift change, we stopped at every..." Kathryn began rambling, her web of white lies grew with each breath.
"I'm only teasing. And I'm sure you took a site to site transport to your quarters." Again Chakotay smirked with pleasure at seeing Kathryn squirm for a change.
"You know me too well my friend. Too well indeed." Kathryn was glad she'd been found out. She never liked the idea of telling lies, even if they were little white ones.
"Are you ready to eat?" Chakotay motioned for her to follow him into the dining area. "I have everything ready, unless you want to start with something to drink. Wine? Coffee? Maybe some tea?"
"I think I'll have some wine. Red, if you have it." Kathryn sat at the dining room table as Chakotay replicated some red wine. He handed a glass to Kathryn and went to the other side of the table and sat down.
"Oh this is wonderful, Chakotay. Thank you." Kathryn smiled as she took a second and then a third sip of the wine.
"Rough day?" Chakotay asked.
"No rougher then the usual day aboard a ship lost far from home." She smiled, then continued. "I have so much 'busy-work'. What I wouldn't give for a good old fight with the Borg right now. I could use a break."
"Well I don't know about that, but if you need some help going through the maintenance PADDs, I have some extra time. Trust me, if I have any questions, I'll run them by you before signing off on any of them." Chakotay knew she would never ask for help, but she might take some if it was offered.
"You don't have to do that, really I'm fine."
"I know I don't have to...I want to." Chakotay reached across the table and placed his hand on hers.
The two friends looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, before Chakotay withdrew his hand.
Clearing his throat he said, "I think now would be a great time to start our dinner. I have a salad prepared for us, with blue cheese and croutons." Chakotay got up from the table and didn't wait for a reply.
They sat quietly and ate their salad. The tension in the room was palpable. Finally, Kathryn couldn't take the pressure any longer and broke the silence.
"Chakotay, I think we need to talk. I've been doing some thinking...about us." Kathryn looked down at her food while she waited for his reply.
"Us?" Chakotay replied simply.
"You know, us. Our relationship, or whatever you'd call it." Kathryn took another sip of wine, this time a much larger one.
"With all due respect, Captain. If you intend on refreshing my memory about 'boundaries' there is no need. I clearly remember that conversation. Every last word of it." Chakotay said with a bit more harshness then he had intended.
"No. I've been doing some thinking and I..." Kathryn started to explain when she was interrupted.
"Tuvok to Captain Janeway."
"Janeway here." Kathryn looked at Chakotay, apologizing with her facial expression, for the interruption.
"There has been a development I think you would like to be aware of, I suggest we gather all senior staff to the briefing room as soon as possible." Tuvok stated.
"I'll be there in ten minutes." Kathryn stood up to leave. "Have everyone meet in the briefing room within fifteen minutes. I'll arrive early so you can get me up to speed."
"Understood, Captain." Tuvok then cut the transmission.
She turned back to Chakotay and said, "We'll finish this conversation later, ok?"
"Sure." Chakotay was already heading toward his bedroom to get ready for the meeting.
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