CHAPTER FOUR

Everything hurt. She was sure that there were at least half a dozen knives embedded in her body. Either that, or she was being roasted over an open fire. Wasn't that smoke she could smell?

She cracked her eyes open and was blinded by a sliver of bright light. She tried to hold up a hand to block it out, but the attempt at movement sent a jolt of pain coursing through her body and she let out an involuntary groan.

Almost instantly, she heard someone scramble to her side. "Don't move," a voice said. It was soft and deep and comforting.

"Chak - tay?" She managed to croak.

"You've had a bit of an accident, but we're looking after you. Don't worry, everything will be alright."

She felt something being pressed into her upper arm. Whatever it was made it more difficult for her to focus on her already hazy thoughts. But its alright, she thought as she succumbed to sleep. Its all going to be all right. Chakotay's here.


"Chakotay here." Chakotay tapped his combadge from his hiding place in the shrubs just below President Keja's kitchen window. Seven was crouched next to him, tinkering away at a panel of exposed circuitry. The glow of the wires cast her face in green light and reflected eerily off her ocular implant. Tom stood in the shadows at the far end of the wall, his phaser trained on the guards' hut just around the corner, but Chakotay didn't think the guards would present any trouble tonight. He'd spotted them earlier, when scaling the towering metal fence that walled off the president's residence from the rest of Sira's capital city - four burly Siran men crammed into a small outpost, listening intently to some kind of sports broadcast. In the stillness of the night, Chakotay could hear the commentator's voice ringing out loudly across the president's vast compound.

"I managed to access Keja's security files," B'Elanna's tinny voice sounded softly from his combadge. She had remained on board the Alpha Flyer to look after Miral. "If the system goes down for longer than thirty seconds an alert gets sent, not just to his guards, but to the Siran military. Tell Seven to install a subspace transponder before she takes the system offline. That should give me control once you guys are in."

Chakotay glanced over his shoulder. "Seven, you got that?"

"Affirmative."

"Remember," said B'Elanna, "You'll only have-"

"Thirty seconds," repeated Chakotay. "Got it. I'll leave the comm line open so you'll know when we're in."

"Oh, I'll know," said B'Elanna, staring at three blue dots on a digital map in front of her. They showed the away team's life signs and position in the compound. Next to her, oblivious to the severity of the situation, Miral was fast asleep in her bassinet. Fleetingly, B'Elanna considered taking a photo for the baby book: Miral's first away mission. She chuckled and then shook her head as if to chase the perverse thought away. Focus, 'Lanna, she told herself.

"Almost there," she heard Seven say over the open comm line. Then footsteps and she saw Tom's dot moving to join Chakotay and Seven's by the window. "Now!"

There was the sound of wood sliding against wood - presumably the window being opened; followed by muffled scrambling - the away team trying to climb through as quickly as possible; then a loud slam. "We're in."

B'Elanna's fingers were already flying across the console. She brought Keja's security system back online with nanoseconds to spare.

The away team were crouched behind one of the many alien contraptions in the kitchen. In his haste, Tom had slammed the window shut a little louder than he'd intended. They listened closely for several long seconds to see if the noise had roused the president or his family, but all remained calm.

To reduce the chance of discovery, they'd chosen an entry point far away from the sleeping quarters, but this meant that they would have to pick their way silently across the large house to the east wing, where their scans had shown them that the President was working late in his study. Having memorised the floor plan, Seven led the way. The beacon on her wrist, flicked to the dimmest setting, providing the barest of illumination.

Chakotay followed stealthily behind Seven. His heart thudded loudly, seemingly ready to burst out of his chest, and adrenaline coursed through his body, heightening his senses. He'd learnt a long time ago that there was no such thing as a routine away mission. Each one brimmed with danger and the possibility of death. Still, he'd been doing this for so long now that he greeted the nervous energy like an old friend. His body thrummed with single-minded purpose: Find Kathryn. Find Kathryn.

So when they slipped silently into the study and found Keja standing with his back to the door, pouring himself a drink at a low cabinet, Chakotay wasted no time in marching over and digging his phaser into the small of the President's back.

"Make a sound and I'll shoot," he warned, his voice low and dangerous. Behind him, he heard Tom and Seven taking up strategic positions around the room, just as they'd planned.

Wrenching a tumbler from Keja's hand and setting it down on the cabinet, Chakotay nudged the President to the centre of the room with his phaser. Tom watched silently from where he stood sentry by the window. It was difficult to reconcile this version of Chakotay - the gruff Maquis leader - with the Starfleet Captain who gave his students hearty claps on the back and played with Miral in the dirt.

"I'm only going to ask you once - where's Kathryn Janeway?"

"I... I don't know," Keja stammered, breathing heavily.

"Don't lie to me!" Chakotay pressed his phaser deeper into the Siran president's back. "We know you met with Chip Tehja shortly before the Admiral disappeared. Where is she?"

"I only suspect that Tehja had something to do with this, but I don't know any more than that. I - I promise you!" The words tumbled out of Keja's mouth, seemingly unbridled. "I've been trying to find her. The Federation treaty rests on it!"

Chakotay looked unconvinced. He jerked his head, motioning Tom towards a laptop-like contraption on Keja's desk. "Check his computer."

Tom hurried over and began striking at keys on the console. "It needs a password," he said, quickly familiarising himself with the alien technology. So many planets, so many cultures, but some things remained the same.

"Its fingerprint activated," Keja volunteered. Later, Chakotay would realise that the President had offered this information far too quickly.

"Fine," said Chakotay, nudging Keja towards the desk, all the while maintaining a vice-like grip on the Siran man. Keja leaned heavily on the table as he pressed his thumb to the screen. Immediately, the desktop flickered to life. Chakotay dragged Keja away and back towards the centre of the room.

"He isn't lying," said Tom in disbelief, as he scrolled through the data in front of him. "He's been trying to find the Admiral. In fact, he's got whole teams conducting the search."

"I told you," said Keja, now seeming a little more sure of himself.

Chakotay was confused. Had they really come all this way for nothing? "Then why'd you meet with Tehja?" He asked, shaking the President violently.

"Wait, I found something." Tom pounded at keys on the laptop. "He's been-"

"Guys..." B'Elanna's worried voice filled the room. "I don't know how it happened, but someone's alerted the Siran military. The guards are already coming in."

"Beam us out!" Chakotay roared, shoving Keja away from him. Tom slammed the laptop shut, tucked it under his arm and ran to join the others in the centre of the room where they were already shimmering out of view.

"Something's interfering with the beam out," B'Elanna called out, largely out of habit, since the away team were mid-transport and unable to hear her. "Someone else has a lock on you! I'm recalibrating the confinement beam!"

Three figures shimmered in and out of view on the small transporter pad behind her. B'Elanna's shouts had woken Miral who was crying loudly in her bassinet. Ignoring her daughter, B'Elanna battled for control of the beam out. She tried everything in her arsenal, but ultimately the "starttle's" systems were no match for her mysterious adversary's and the away team shimmered out of view for the last time. As they did, the laptop that Tom had been holding crashed to the ship's floor.

B'Elanna hit the console in frustration, causing Miral to cry even louder. How on earth was she going to mount two rescue missions on her own?!


To be continued...

Ps: Thanks for sticking with me and for all your comments so far - I can't tell you how motivating it is to read them!