Chakotay awoke slowly. He felt disoriented at first, unsure of where he was; then the feeling faded. Of course he felt disoriented. He had spent each of the last several nights sleeping in a different location. Now, he was as close to home as he got these days. He felt a figure stir against him, and he nestled back under the blankets, pulling her closer to him. He was in his bunk aboard his ship, the Val Jean.
The figure beside him stirred again, sensing that he had awakened. "Go back to sleep, Chakotay," Seska mumbled.
"Shhh," he whispered soothingly. "I will. Go back to sleep yourself." He felt her relax against him and nod off again, but he knew that he would not fall back asleep himself. He wondered what time it was; they had snuck back into the bunk to catch a few hours of rest before the big raid. Chakotay doubted he had been asleep for more than two or three hours, but he knew that he would not be able to fall back asleep now. There was too much to be done; too much to plan. His crew was depending on him. Slowly, careful not to wake the beautiful Bajoran woman lying beside him, he maneuvered out of his bunk. Seska stirred but did not wake. Quietly, Chakotay pulled on his leather trousers, his shirt and his vest. He exited the crew quarters and emerged onto the bridge. Torres, Ayala and Chell were at their stations.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," B'Elanna quipped.
"How long was I sleeping?" Chakotay asked.
"Only two hours. You could've slept longer."
"No," he replied. "I couldn't. There's too much to be done." He turned to Ayala. "Did you realign the deflector dish to emit a pulse that will disrupt their sensors?"
"It's done, Chakotay," he replied.
"Good. Is the assault team ready?" he asked B'Elanna.
"Yes," she answered. "I'm taking O'Donnell, Dalby, Yosa and Tabor. You know he always escapes a firefight clean as a whistle." Chakotay chuckled, nodding. "What about you, Chakotay? Is your rescue team ready?" Torres asked.
"Jonas and Hogan insisted on coming along. You know they're close with Bendera. I think that the three of us will be able to handle it," Chakotay said. "Ayala, you'll stay here and monitor us from the Val Jean. Be ready to pick us up when we're done."
"I'll be there, Chakotay," his right-hand man replied. "I won't let you down."
Chakotay clapped the other man on the shoulder. "I know you won't. How long until we reach orbit?"
"We'll be at Quatal Prime in about an hour," Ayala replied. Chakotay nodded. He had just enough time to review any last minute details. They had to make sure there were no mistakes. Too many lives were depending on them.
A week earlier, two of his crew members had been captured by the Cardassians: Kurt Bendera and Mariah Henley. Through their sources, mostly Maquis sympathizers at Starfleet Intelligence, the Maquis had discovered that Bendera and Henley were being held in a prison outside the Cardassian colony on Quatal Prime. In a piece of highly classified intelligence, they had also learned that Quatal Prime held a Cardassian weapons storage facility, and Chakotay had decided to make use of both facets of the location. The assault team, led by B'Elanna, would raid the weapons depot, stealing as many Cardassian munitions as they could. If they could not transport the weapons to the Val Jean before being discovered, their orders were to destroy the storage facility instead. Hopefully, this assault would distract the Cardassians from the Maquis' real mission on Quatal Prime: the rescue of their missing crewmen. Chakotay himself would lead the rescue team while Ayala waited on board the Val Jean to beam them up. According to their sources at Starfleet Intelligence, very few people knew of the prison on Quatal Prime, and neither it nor the weapons storage facility was well guarded. Chakotay could only hope that their sources were reliable this time.
At that moment, Seska emerged onto the bridge. "Couldn't get back to sleep, could you?" she asked, approaching him.
He shook his head. "Too much to do."
She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, lowering her face beside his ear. "Too bad," she whispered, sending a shiver down his spine.
She was hard to resist, and Chakotay almost turned and kissed her right at that moment. But instead, he turned his face so that his mouth was inches away from hers and whispered back, "Later, Seska." She pouted, but she stood up, leaving her hands resting on his shoulders protectively.
"Let me come on the rescue team with you," she said.
"No, it's too dangerous."
She removed her arms from his shoulders and crossed around to sit on the console, facing him. She folded her arms over her chest and looked at him with disapproval. "Chakotay, just because we're lovers doesn't give you the right to keep me away from all the dangerous missions." Her tone softened. "Besides, Bendera and Henley were my friends, too."
"I said no," Chakotay replied, his jaw tight.
"You're only taking Jonas and Hogan. You think that three people are enough to take out an entire Cardassian prison? Your ego has gotten the best of you, Chakotay," she said derisively.
His jaw clenched even tighter, anger building inside of him. "Fine!" he exclaimed. "Come along if you want."
She smiled. "That's better," she said smoothly. "I knew you could be reasonable." Something in her voice made him look at her sharply, but when he looked up at her, all he saw was the face of a beautiful woman, looking at him with an insatiable lust in her eye. Whatever he thought he had heard in her tone must have been his imagination... Or I'm getting paranoid, he thought.
"Chakotay, we're coming up on Quatal Prime," Ayala said. "Better get the teams ready."
Chakotay nodded and pressed a button on his console. "This is Chakotay to the assault and rescue teams," he said over the ship's comm. "Report to the transporter room immediately. We're ready."
...
Chakotay, Seska, Hogan and Jonas lay on the face of a ridge that overlooked the Cardassian prison. They remained flat to the ground, only their eyes peeking up above the rocks to survey their target. They were anxiously awaiting the moment when the prison guards would be called away to help defend the weapons locker. Even Seska remained silent. All they could hear was each other's breathing and the occasional sound of a snake or a bird in the tall grass beside them. It felt like they had been laying there for hours, but in reality, it had only been about twenty minutes. Still, Chakotay was beginning to wonder if something had gone wrong for B'Elanna and her team.
His fears appeared to be unfounded. A moment later, the Maquis saw the two guards standing at the door to the prison frantically motion inside. Another three guards stepped outside, and all five consulted. After a moment, four of them ran off in the direction of the weapons locker, while only one remained standing at the prison door. Chakotay grinned at his compatriots and motioned for them to follow him.
They crept down the hillside, hiding behind rocks and bushes as they went. Chakotay gestured at Seska to follow him, while sending Hogan and Jonas around the other way. Chakotay and Seska approached from a direction that the guard would clearly see, while Jonas and Hogan snuck around behind him. The guard noticed the two approaching figures. "Hold it right there," he said, raising his weapon. Chakotay and Seska threw their hands up, but before the guard could get another word in, Jonas had shot him neatly in the back. The Cardassian collapsed on the sand, and Seska went to work immediately on hacking the code to open the prison door. A few minutes later, they were in. There was another guard sitting inside, but he was shot dead by Chakotay before he even had a chance to call for help.
Jonas looked at the guard's console and found the prison schematics. "Here," he said, pointing to a cell on the screen. "This is where they've got Bendera."
"What about Henley?" Chakotay hissed. They didn't know how many more Cardassian guards might be just around the corner.
Jonas pressed several more buttons on the console before finally locating the information he sought. "Here," he said, pointing to a cell on the opposite side of the prison from Bendera's.
"Mike, Hogan, go get Kurt," Chakotay ordered. "Seska and I will find Mariah." The two men nodded and disappeared into the corridor. Chakotay and Seska took the opposite corridor, phasers drawn. Chakotay led the way, at each corner expecting to find a Cardassian guard, but so far, there were none. "I guess our intelligence was right for once," Chakotay said quietly. "This place isn't very well guarded."
"They must really think no one knows about it," Seska added. "Imagine that; the Cardassians underestimating Starfleet Intelligence."
There was an odd tone in her voice, Chakotay thought, for the second time that day. But he couldn't place what was odd about it. He looked at her, narrowing his eyes for a moment.
"What is it, Chakotay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
He pushed the feeling of doubt away. "Nothing," he said. "Let's keep moving." They reached Henley's cell a few moments later. Chakotay knocked softly on the metal wall. "Mariah," he called, "Mariah, are you in there?"
"Chakotay?" her hoarse voice came back. "Yes, yes, I'm here!"
"Step away from this wall," he ordered. "We're going to cut through the metal with our phasers." He and Seska aimed their phasers at the wall and began to carve a hole in the metal. A few moments later, a space large enough for a person to fit through had melted in the prison cell. Mariah Henley stepped through the hole, taking Chakotay's proffered hand as she did so. She looked tired and thin, but she was alive.
"Are you okay?" Chakotay asked.
"Yeah," Mariah replied, although she was shaking. "Thanks for coming after me."
"I'm not about to abandon a member of my crew in a Cardassian prison," Chakotay replied, the anger rising in him again; anger at the Cardassians, anger at the Federation, anger at himself for not being able to do more to stop this.
"Come on, Chakotay," Seska said, tugging on his arm. "It's not going to be long before they realize that we're here." Other prisoners had already realized that there was a prison break, and had begun to clamor for release. Chakotay felt a pang of guilt, wishing he had time to free them all. But he didn't, and the one he had come to free would soon be lost too if they didn't hurry. They had to get back to the beam-out site. He began to move quickly back through the hallways of the prison; the clamoring of the prisoners becoming louder and louder as more of them caught on to what was happening. Chakotay picked up his pace again. The exit was right around the corner.
As Chakotay rounded the corner, he skidded to a halt. In front of his eyes were Jonas, Hogan and Bendera, each held by a Cardassian soldier at gunpoint. Chakotay stared at them for a moment, unable to comprehend. Then he realized that a phaser was pointed at his own chest, and as his gaze followed the phaser up the hand and the arm of his assailant, he realized that the person holding him at gunpoint was Seska. Another Cardassian guard appeared from a corridor behind them and grabbed Mariah, pointing a phaser at her temple.
A fifth Cardassian entered through the prison door. This one wore the uniform of a Gul. "Chakotay," he said mockingly, "welcome to our unguarded prison on Quatal Prime. As you see, it's not as vulnerable as you were led to believe."
A million thoughts flashed through Chakotay's mind at that moment, but above all of them, one burned bright. "You," he said to Seska accusingly. His voice escalated into a shout. "You betrayed me!" With no regard for the armed guards standing around him, Chakotay knocked the phaser from Seska's hand and lunged towards her, his hands reaching for her throat. She was trying to protest, but Chakotay did not hear anything she said. He could not hear it. His rage had blinded all of his senses, so he was shocked when, a moment later, he felt the hot, white pain of a disruptor beam, and then descended into blackness.
...
When Chakotay awoke, his head was pounding. It took him several moments to realize that he was lying on a stone floor, and that he was not dead. He had no idea where he was or how long he had been here. Suddenly, the events that had taken place in the prison came flooding back to him, and he felt shame, rage and guilt. Shame that he had allowed himself to trust Seska; that he had been fooled by her charm, by her seductions, by her flattery. Guilt that his foolishness had endangered his entire crew. And above all, he felt rage at the Cardassians who had imprisoned them, at the Federation who did nothing to stop it, at Seska for her betrayal, and at himself for his impotence. He slowly forced himself to sit up, bracing his back against the wall. The Cardassian weapon had been set on a stun setting. Why they had not killed him outright, he had no idea. He almost wished they had. He heard footsteps approaching, and a moment later, the door to his cell opened.
A Cardassian guard stood there, phaser rifle at the ready. "Get up," he ordered Chakotay. Chakotay decided to comply; he couldn't see the benefit in getting himself killed before he found out what the Cardassians wanted of him. Besides, if he was going to get himself killed, he fully intended to take Seska along with him.
The guard escorted Chakotay out of the prison and to another building that sat between the prison and the weapons storage facility. This building hadn't been mentioned in any of their intelligence, but Chakotay was starting to doubt the reliability of any information surround Quatal Prime. "Where are you taking me?" Chakotay asked.
"Be quiet, Maquis scum," the guard replied. He escorted Chakotay into the building, and Chakotay found himself in a large room. There were no decorations and no windows. At one end of the room was a long table with several chairs around it. Two of the chairs were occupied; one by the Cardassian Gul and the other by Seska. The guard marched Chakotay up to the table, so he stood face to face with the Gul and Seska.
Chakotay stared at the woman who had shared his bed for several months. Her face had... changed somehow. It took him several moments to understand. Finally, he managed to speak. "You're... Cardassian?" he asked incredulously.
Seska smiled; it was not a pleasant expression. "Now you know, Chakotay. All those months when you believed you were sharing your bed with a Bajoran Maquis sympathizer... you were really sharing your most intimate moments with... me." She spoke smugly, and her grin seemed to widen. The look in her eyes made Chakotay's stomach turn.
When he was able to tear his eyes away from Seska, he realized that the entire group of Maquis who had beamed down to the planet with him were lined up along one wall of the room. Along the other wall stood a Cardassian firing squad. Chakotay felt a cold dread rising in his body.
"What do you want?" he demanded of the Gul who sat alongside his former lover.
"Only your cooperation," the Gul said smoothly.
"Gul Dolak is interested in information, Chakotay," Seska added. "Everything you know about the Maquis."
"Hasn't he already gotten enough from you?" Chakotay spat.
Seska smiled, feigning innocence. "Oh, Chakotay, you know that I don't know enough to be useful in that regard... at least not enough to be useful beyond helping them capture you."
Chakotay felt his hands clenching into fists. He wanted nothing more than to pummel Seska and Gul Dolak and every other Cardassian in the room. "I will never help you!" he vowed.
"That's too bad," Gul Dolak said, "because the longer you refuse, the more of your friends will die."
At that moment, the Gul made an almost imperceptible motion with his left hand. Chakotay whirled around just in time to see one of the guards in the firing squad raise his rifle and wipe Mariah Henley out of existence. "NO!" Chakotay shouted, reaching out. The guard who had escorted him in held his arms, holding him in place.
"No?" Gul Dolak replied. "If you do not wish to stand here and watch your Maquis friends die, then you will cooperate with us."
"Don't do it, Chakotay!" B'Elanna screamed across the room. "We'd rather die than give in to them," she spat.
"You'll be next," Dolak said to B'Elanna.
"No," Chakotay protested, "don't kill her."
"Then you'll agree to cooperate with us?"
"What do you want?" asked Chakotay.
"We need to know every movement of the Maquis. We need your plans, your tactical readouts, the names of your crewmen. We need to know the names of your sympathizers in Starfleet. Everything you know, Chakotay, is what we need."
Chakotay's mind was racing. Could he give them part of what they wanted and satisfy them? B'Elanna was one of his closest friends. He couldn't let his own foolishness and stupidity kill her. "Let them go," he said quietly. "Let them go and I'll stay."
"Not good enough," Gul Dolak replied mercilessly. "How do I know you would cooperate after I let them go? How do I know you would tell me the truth? No, you must give me the information now, here, in front of them."
Chakotay looked from Gul Dolak to Seska, to the firing squad, to the loyal members of his crew who stood against the wall, waiting to be executed. He saw one look in all of their eyes. They would never forgive him if he betrayed them now; and at this moment, he knew that betrayal would not mean letting them die, but instead, saving their lives. They had all pledged their to defend what they believed was right, and they would rather die than betray what they had sworn to defend. Chakotay turned back to to the table. He looked straight at Seska. The look she saw in his eyes then made her feel a terror that she had never before felt in his presence. Then he looked straight at Gul Dolak and said quietly, "No."
Dolak gestured with his hand again, and Chakotay turned in time to see B'Elanna Torres' body fall to the ground, dead. "NO! B'Elanna!" he cried out, falling to his knees. He stayed there as he watched the firing squad eliminate Hogan, Jonas, Bendera, O'Donnell, Dalby, Yosa, Tabor. He did not know that there were tears streaming down his cheeks. He did not know that he was screaming, crying out in protest. All he could see were the bodies of his friends strewn over the floor of the room; every one of them, dead.
Seska stood and rounded the table, approaching Chakotay triumphantly. She stood over him, gloating. "Now do you see what your weakness has brought you to, Chakotay? You've not only destroyed yourself, but your crew as well. And now, you belong to us, and we will torture you until you're begging us to let you tell us everything you know about the Maquis." Seska was so absorbed in her victory that she did not notice the dangerous look in Chakotay's eyes.
There was a madness in his eyes, a madness brought on by rage. Slowly, Chakotay stood. He no longer cared whether he lived or died. There was nothing left for him to live for. He only cared about one thing. Seska was not paying attention; she was talking about her victory over him, how weak he was, how he had killed his crew. That may have been true, but there were two members of his crew still in this room, and he wanted to make sure that he got both of them before the day was over. Seska didn't even have time to scream as he grabbed the phaser from her belt and shot her neatly in the chest, killing her instantly. In less than a second, a Cardassian guard had assaulted him, disarming him, holding his arms behind his back.
"Kill him!" he heard Gul Dolak bellow.
The Cardassian guard stepped away. Chakotay stood in the center of the room, his hands at his sides, palms facing forward, head thrown back. The tears had dried on his cheeks. There was only one more member of his crew in the room; himself, and as the weapons fire came at him from all directions, he knew that his rage had finally ended.
...
Axamiya stood anxiously over Chakotay's body. He had moved the man inside the cave, as Oxanayul had instructed him to do, and laid him on the stone tablet that sat several meters beyond the cave's mouth. He had built a fire to keep them warm, and had harvested enough fruits, vegetables and small animals to feed himself for several days. He knew that Chakotay would not be needing any food, but the First Prelate was concerned. Chakotay had begun to toss and turn, as though delirious. He cried out names: "B'Elanna! Hogan! Jonas!" Tears ran down his cheeks. Axamiya had not experienced anything like this on his own vision journey, and he did not know if this was normal. He had the desire to waken Chakotay to make sure he was all right, but he knew that this was forbidden by the gods. So he stood, watching his newfound friend struggle through his journey. Finally, Axamiya knelt down and began to pray.
He did not know how many minutes he had passed in prayer when he felt the ground shaking beneath his feet. Axamiya stood, unsure of what to do. Silently, he asked the gods to help him, to show him the right course of action. Should he remove Chakotay from the cave? He felt that this would be wrong. He had been instructed not to do so, and had been told clearly that the gods would let him know if he should do something different. "Please let me know," he said quietly. "I just want to know what I should do."
The shaking became more violent, and Axamiya could see rocks falling at the entrance to the cave. If he was going to take Chakotay out of there, he had to do it now. He hesitated, but then he saw clearly. This is a test, he thought, not just for Commander Chakotay, but for me. The gods are testing my faith. He decided to trust the protection of the gods and remain in the cave. A moment later, the entrance had been closed by falling rocks. Axamiya prayed that he had made the right decision, and that somehow, the gods would show him a way out of here when the time came to leave.
...
"Commander," Harry Kim said, a tone of urgency in his voice.
"What is it, Ensign?" Tuvok asked calmly.
"There appears to be some sort of disturbance on the planet."
"What sort of disturbance?" asked Tuvok.
Harry pressed a few keys on his console. "Initiating scans," he said. "Sensors showing unusual seismic activity." Then a moment later, he exclaimed, "There's been an earthquake!"
Tuvok pressed his communicator. "Captain to the bridge," he said.
Kathryn Janeway's voice returned over the comm. "I'm on my way, Tuvok." A few moments later, she entered the bridge. "Report."
"Sensors have detected unusual seismic activity on the Cholani home world, Captain," Tuvok explained.
"Hail them," Janeway ordered. Her first thought was of her first officer, down on that planet somewhere with no communicator and no technology.
"They are responding," Tuvok replied.
"On screen." High Priest Oxanayul's face appeared before her. He did not seem the least bit concerned. "High Priest," she greeted him. "Our sensors have detected unusual seismic activity on your planet. Do you require any assistance?"
"Captain Janeway," the Priest replied calmly, "thank you for your concern, but we have no need for assistance here. The gods are watching over us."
"Then the city was not affected by the earthquake?" she asked.
"No one was harmed," Oxanayul replied.
"What about Chakotay?" she asked. "Do you know where he is?"
The High Priest's face clouded for a moment, and Janeway felt a knot begin to form in the pit of her stomach. "Unfortunately, we are not permitted to reveal the location of a healing journey."
The Captain could sense that there was something the High Priest wasn't telling her. "High Priest Oxanayul," she said, demanding as politely as she could, "do you have reason to believe that Commander Chakotay has been injured in the earthquake?"
"No, Captain, I have no reason to believe that Commander Chakotay has been injured."
"Then why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?" she asked pointedly.
The High Priest sighed. "I do not expect you to believe me when I tell you that your first officer is alive and well," he said. "But he is."
"Then why don't you expect me to believe you?"
"Axamiya led Chakotay into the center of the Sacred Forest, to a cave there, where many healing journeys have taken place. The cave is in the center of the area most affected by the earthquake."
