Captain Kathryn Janeway sighed with contentment as she leaned on the balcony and took in the beauty of the Serturian home world. Voyager had been in the right place at the right time to assist several Serutian scientists whose ship had suffered damage during a meteor shower. The Serutian's had been so pleased they invited Voyager back to their home world, and Janeway had taken the opportunity to grant some much needed shore leave to the crew.
This had generally been received very well, although there was one notable exception – Seven of Nine, who had promptly deemed shore leave as "irrelevant" and had instead decided to take the time to study the rather unusual natural foliage on the planet, which was bright blue.
The two moons currently making their way across the sky gave a feeling of peace to the woman, and she finally felt able to fully relax, away from the demanding role of Captain.
The soft chirp of her comm badge brought Janeway back to the present.
"Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway"
So much for a holiday Janeway thought. "Go ahead Seven"
"Captain, I believe I have found something"
"Can you be more specific" Janeway asked, rolling her eyes. Trust Seven to be so irritatingly vague.
"Yes Captain, I have found an unusual life sign in the woods surrounding the building. I believe it to be partly human"
Janeway started in surprise. "Seven are you sure?"
"Yes Captain"
"Stay where you are, I'll meet you there"
"Acknowledged" Seven replied, her voice not giving anything away.
Janeway's mind was churning as she hurried through the building, triquarter in hand. A Human life sign, in the Delta Quadrant! Surely impossible, but Seven was usually so thorough. Could she be mistaken?
The Captain quickly reached the outer perimeter of the building in which Voyager's crew had been granted living quarters. She asked Seven for directions to her location, and pulled out her triquarter to scan on route. Janeway detected no life signs at all, until she reached Seven of Nine herself.
"Seven I'm not picking up any life signs" Janeway said, eyebrows raised.
"I detected an abnormal reading in this direction Captain, When I investigated further I discovered a force field surrounding the area in front of us. I updated my triquarter using Borg algorithms and discovered the life form."
"They were trying to hide something from us, but you found it." Janeway pondered. "I should probably say something about respecting privacy, but in this case I'm glad you did. Can we get in?"
Seven raised her eyebrow in that expression that showed she was bemused by Janeway's behaviour.
"I believe so Captain. I can use your triquarter to emit a low frequency pulse, weakening a part of the force field. We should be able to pass through."
"Do it" Janeway decided, handing over the device.
Seven fiddled with the machine for what can only have been a few minutes, but to Janeway felt like hours. She was impatient to find this person and discover how they had ended up so far away from Earth.
Finally Seven announced her success, and placed the triquarter on the floor just in front of what Janeway assumed was the force field, although it was hard to tell. It just looked like another part of the forest, which probably explained why no one had noticed it before.
Seven went first, of course, and Janeway followed. It tingled and Janeway found herself rubbing her hands and arms to try to regain the feeling in them. She smothered a smile when she noticed Seven quickly dropping her arms to her sides, as if she didn't want to admit a possible weakness in front of Janeway.
Seven pulled out her triquarter and began heading deeper into the forest, with Janeway close on her trail. They didn't talk, both deciding to focus on moving as quickly as possible. Janeway, who had been concentrating on not losing her footing in the soft light, was startled to see they had come to a building. It was a small, rectangular shaped structure, and was pitch black. The place looked like it may have once been magnificent, but had been neglected and now looked abandoned and sad.
Seven suddenly shuddered.
"Seven?" Janeway asked, concerned"
"I am well Captain" Seven replied. "I just do not like this place. Although I am not sure why. This feeling is unwarranted. I have not been here before and so I should have no feelings towards it at all." Seven sounded annoyed with herself.
Janeway reached out and touched Seven's arm. "It's alright Seven, I feel the same. There is something about this place. We'll stick together"
Seven nodded, and they continued towards the structure, setting the triquarter to give out light. Another one of Seven's enhancements, Janeway thought wryly, smirking when she thought of what B'Elanna would say.
Seven expertly navigated the obstacles on the floor of the building, which appeared to be old scientific equipment, although she couldn't be sure without further investigations. The triquarter lead them through the structure, to several small rooms all coming off one corridor, all with windows so the rooms could be seen into from the corridor. Seven was starting to get that strange feeling again, and with dismay she realised that there was tables inside the rooms, all with straps on them.
Seven looked at Janeway and saw the same look of horror in her eyes.
Experimentation.
Both jumped when the silence was broken by Janeway's comm badge – Tuvok.
"Captain, the Serturian's have rounded up the crew. They are being held outside the main building and the Serturian's are claiming their privacy was breached. They seem to have a triquarter. They are demanding your presence."
"Beam everyone back to the ship" Janeway ordered. "There's something going on Tuvok and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
"Acknowledged Captain, but I am unable to get a lock on yourself and Seven of Nine"
"We're behind a force field Tuvok. Get Harry on it, we may need a swift exit."
"Aye Captain" Tuvok signed out, and Janeway and Seven continued to the cells at the end of the corridor.
Shouts behind them alerted the pair to the Serturian guards now in the building, so they quickened their pace, Seven directing them to the cell on the left.
"In here Captain"
Janeway entered, her eyes searching the darkness, but was unable to see anything. Suddenly there was darkness, and the sound of Seven grunting in surprise. A slight scuffle and the light was back up, Seven looking down at someone on the ground. It was a girl, Janeway noticed in surprise, and she was looking up at the pair of them in absolute fear. She was filthy, and obviously injured. The shouts suddenly entered the corridor, spurring Janeway into action.
"Janeway to Voyager, have you managed to lock onto us?"
Kim's voice drifted down the line, slightly panicked as always
"Almost Captain, just a few more minutes"
"Hurry Harry, we're about to be discovered and I don't think it'll be a friendly meeting somehow."
Janeway indicated to Seven that they retreat to the far corner, which would be more defensible, and Seven acknowledged, reaching down to help the spit fire to her feet, only to find that she seemed to have fallen unconscious. Seven quickly bent down and picked her up, unceremoniously handing her to Janeway, who was dismayed at just how light she was. They backed up to the corner, Seven in front, preparing to fire at whoever came through the door.
The triquarter light went out just as they saw the familiar haze that indicated Voyager's transporters, and they reappeared in transporter room 1.
Before Janeway had a chance to take a better look at the frail thing lying in her arms, the ship rolled with the force of a direct hit if she wasn't mistaken.
Right on cue, Janeway's badge went again.
"Chakotay to Janeway, we're under attack."
Janeway stood up and handed the girl back to Seven.
"On my way" She acknowledged, ending the communication.
"Seven" Seven looked up, startled at being caught staring at the battered girl in her arms.
"Take her to sick bay, then come to the bridge" Janeway ordered. "We may need your expertise. We'll figure out where she came from later" she promised.
Seven nodded at the woman, and took off, the girl still unconscious, although that was not surprising considering the bone peaking through the skin in her leg, made more obvious by the starkness of Voyager's internal lighting.
Janeway made her way to the bridge, growing concerned at the shaking of the ship.
"Report" She demanded as she entered the bridge.
"They are accusing us of taking their property Captain" Chakotay stated. "When we asked what they meant they opened fire."
"Damage to the Starboard nacelle and three hull breaches on decks 9 and 10 that have been sealed Captain" Harry chipped in.
"Hail them"
The Seturian that appeared on screen did not look happy, his small eyes narrowed in anger. "Return our property at once!" He all but shouted. "You have no right!"
"That property you're talking about is part human" Janeway retorted, ignoring the shocked looks of the crew around her. "She is severely injured and needs medical attention. We will not return her. She belongs with her own people."
The Seturian made some incomprehensible noise and the screen went dark.
Voyager shook more ferociously than before
"They've renewed their attack Captain" said Kim, stating the obvious.
"Target their weapons" Janeway ordered as she fought her way to her chair, against the movement of the ship.
"Minor damage" Tuvok reported. "Three more vessels are on an intercept course"
"I've had enough of diplomacy " Janeway declared. "Get us out of here Mr Paris"
"Yes Ma'm" He responded, and voyager leapt to warp.
"We're being followed" Kim gave the bad news.
At that moment Seven entered the bridge, and coolly stated "I can modify a photon torpedo to temporarily disperse our warp trail. If voyager enters high warp after the torpedo is released, I believe the Serturian's will be unable to detect us."
"Do it" Janeway ordered her again.
Seven quickly moved to Kim's station and shoved him out of the way with her normal Borg diplomacy. He rolled his eyes, having learned long ago to just let her get on with it.
"The torpedo is ready Captain" her cool voice spoke at the same time as Tuvok
"Captain there has been an explosion in engineering"
Janeway slammed her hand on her comm badge "B'Elanna report!"
B'Elanna sounded strained when she reported that a console had exploded in the latest round of firing, resulting in several members being sent to sick bay.
"We need maximum warp" Janeway told her. "We need to get out of here as quickly as possible"
"Acknowledged Captain" B'Elanna replied "I can increase power by taking some from other systems."
"You've got 60 seconds" Came the terse reply from the Captain.
"Ready!" B'Elanna sounded triumphant this time.
"Fire!" Janeway ordered. There was a jolt as Voyager suddenly took off, propelled through space with white blurs passing by.
"Hold course and speed until you're sure we haven't been followed. " Janeway ordered, getting up and heading for the turbo lift. "Seven you're with me."
To be continued.......................