Chakotay was currently scrubbing the floors in the great hallway. He used a stiff brush with soap and water and kept dipping it from the bucket. The task was hampered by the shackles still on his ankles, but at least his hands were free. He appeared to keep his eyes on his task, though he did observe people going by. No one spoke to him which was fine. It also meant no one was paying attention to him at the moment. The less attention, the better. And he could learn a lot just by watching.

He was just sloshing the water around when a familiar voice sounded, "Chakotay?" Looking up, he saw the Talaxian at his side. Giving a small smile and keeping his voice quiet, Chakotay gave a sharp nod, "Neelix."

Neelix had just been walking by and had seen the big man bent over, and stopped because he had looked familiar. After a second glance, he knew who he was. He had been worried about him the last little while and was happy to see that the Commander looked more or less okay. "You alright? Haven't see you in a bit."

"I'm fine," Chakotay answered softly. He blew out a breath and continued scrubbing, knowing he would get into trouble if he stopped. And trouble was the last thing he needed.

The alien wasn't fooled, however. Looking more closely, he saw the fresh bruises on Chakotay's arms and a good sized handprint on his neck. "Commander? What happened?" He kept his voice quiet and sympathetic, not wanting to push, but needing to know how he could help his friend.

Chakotay snapped, "Nothing happened. Just go, okay?" He pushed down his feelings of loathing away. He wanted to be left alone. But he felt a warm hand on his shoulder and the frank concern in Neelix's tone, asking once again what happened to him. And a whisper that it would be okay. He had to snort. No, it wouldn't. Shaking his head, he looked up again at Neelix and said, "It's fine. Honest. Just go."

"Commander, you're bruised. Did... did… Cassandra hit you?" Neelix asked gently. He'd try to have a word with her if he could. But he needed to know what happened first before any accusations could be made.

Finally, Chakotay had enough. He stood up tall, eyes flashing with anger and hurt. "Hit me? Yeah, she hit me. She beat the hell out of me. And she had her way with me. There, you happy now?"

Neelix stared at his friend. She had… had she really done that? The only thing he could think to say was, "Was it… consensual?"

"What do you think?" Chakotay snapped at him. Then he knelt again and dipped into his bucket again and slapped way more water on the floor than he needed to. He started scrubbing vigourously as a way to vent his feelings on the matter.

"Oh Commander…" Neelix gasped with horror. So she had done it. She had raped him. The rumours were true about this sort of thing… he had heard stories. "I'm so sorry. So sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Glancing up, Chakotay growled, "Yeah. You can leave me the hell alone." With that, he went back to scrubbing.

It was very unfortunate that a guard was walking by at that moment. She heard the rude comment, and wheeled on him, "Boy, what the hell? What kind of tone was that?!" She fingered the whip at her belt and glared down at him.

Blowing out a breath at that, Chakotay glanced at her, but amended to Neelix, "I'm sorry, sir. Please leave me to finish my task. Thank you, sir."

Neelix didn't know how to respond to this. This wasn't right. But these were the rules here. But to him, that still didn't make it right. He could only nod, and apologize to Chakotay, "Of course. I'm sorry for disturbing you." Then he started walking away but turned back when he noticed the guard hadn't left Chakotay yet.

"That was not acceptable, boy. You never, ever get to be rude to us, or an alien. You are the bottom of the barrel. Pond scum. Nothing more than labour or a dick. You got that?" She waited until she got a "sorry, ma'am" from him and continued. "Just so that doesn't happen again, you will be punished." She thought a moment and grinned. "You get to pick. Serum with me. Or the whip. Which?"

Chakotay stared at her. She wouldn't really do that, would she? But she didn't seem like the kind to joke about that sort of thing. He shuddered inwardly at the memory of what he'd gone through with Lady Cassandra, but he'd also seen the deep scars of the slaves who had been whipped. He sighed deeply, then answered with little hesitation, "The whip."

Nodding at him, the guard put a hand on his collar and pulled him up again. "Right then. Let's go to the post. I wanna see you bleed, boy."

Neelix drew back, horrified for the second time in minutes. He watched Chakotay get a leash on him then follow the guard past him. He couldn't let this slide, not when it was him who interrupted and pushed Chak to talk. "Hey, wait a minute! Don't do that to him. It was my fault. All my fault. You wanna punish someone, punish me." He ignored the quiet shake of Chakotay's head and laid that challenge down with a determined look.

The guard stared then laughed. She was curious as she asked, "You're Neelix, right? You're new. Where's your slave?"

"My slave? I don't have a slave! Nor do I want one," he retorted.

She looked at him incredulously, and shook her head with a laugh. "No slave? What sort of a being are you? Never mind. If you have no slave, you have no claim on this one. Only the Phantom does. And why would I punish you, Talaxian? It was not your fault he was disobedient."

Neelix glared at her and spoke firmly, "I am his friend. And you are not the Phantom. You have no right! And it was my fault… I distracted him. I talked to him, and asked him questions that I shouldn't have. That's all."

The guard huffed, looked at Chakotay and back to Neelix. She still had that toughness in her voice as she stated, "Neelix, I work for the Phantom. And even so, he is under me. He is under you. Let me make that clear. He. Is. A. Slave. Not a friend. Now get lost so I can punish this slave for his atrocious behaviour. You go do whatever you were doing before." Not giving him a chance to respond, she gave a sharp and unfair yank to the Commander's collar and hurried away.

Neelix stared after the two, then turned to dash back to Cassandra. Clearly, he had to respect the chain of command. And the Phantom was on top. He picked up his pace to a near run, searching for her, knowing the clock was ticking. He was going to try to prevent Chakotay from being beaten if he could. At last he skidded to a stop, seeing a flash of familiar black hair. Panting, he made his way over to Cassandra, and hurriedly interrupted her conversation, not caring right now if this was a breach of conduct or what. "I'm sorry, my Lady, but I have to speak to you immediately."

Cassandra gave him the look, but then decided that Neelix was still too new to everything to know all the rules. So she politely excused herself from the young woman she was speaking to and gave Neelix her attention, but not without first saying first, "I realize you are new to us, Neelix, but the proper thing to do is wait until I have told you that you may speak."

Rushing his words, Neelix was quick to apologize, "Very sorry, ma'am. Very sorry. But this is an urgent matter. See, I saw Chakotay and stopped to talk to him. And I'm afraid I said the wrong thing and then he didn't wanna say and then I pushed, and he was scrubbing, an-"

"And what is your point, Talaxian? I have little time for nonsense," Cassandra snapped. This was ridiculous.

Neelix took a breath and plainly told her, "Chakotay is going to get whipped for something I did. I need you to stop them from doing that! It was my fault. Not his. Please tell them not to whip him."

The Phantom eyed him, then nodded. "Let's go get this sorted out. I'd ask you more questions now, but best we do it there." She strode off with long, powerful strides, and Neelix found that he had to scurry along to keep up. They got outside by a shortcut he didn't know about, but he trusted her to know where she was going.

The scene that met Neelix's eyes made his breath hitch. There was that guard, whip in hand, and Chakotay, stripped to the waist, and chained to the whipping post, arms spread to either side. There were fresh lashes already scoring his back.

The guard turned around at the sound of quick feet and smiled as she saw Cassandra. The Phantom was quick to the point, "What happened, Una?"

Una gestured at Chakotay, who had frozen at Cassandra's voice, and explained, "He was scrubbing the floor in the hallway. Apparently Neelix stopped to ask questions, and he didn't like answering them. Then he, as I overheard, told him, 'You can leave me the hell alone.'"

Cassandra raised an eyebrow at this report, and she knew Una did not lie to get the slaves in trouble. Looking at Neelix, she quietly asked as an aside, "What did you ask him?"

Murmuring in a pleading tone, Neelix replied, "I just asked if he was okay. And he told me what you did. That wasn't right! You had no right to do that to him!"

A smirk came on her face and the coldness in her voice chilled Neelix, "Oh, I have every right to use any slave I choose. In whatever capacity I so desire. Furthermore, he is to answer any questions politely. No matter what you ask." She nodded at him then looked at Una. One command, "Whip him."

Una grinned and caught the soft almost unheard sigh from the chained slave. He'd been hoping, hadn't he? Too bad then. Una studied the lines she had made already, raised her whip hand and let fly.

Chakotay winced with the strike, and wished that Neelix would just leave. He'd caused enough trouble for now. And Chakotay might be in for more, now that she knew what he'd done. Though he couldn't blame Neelix for trying. Hell, he'd do the same if the roles were reversed. He gritted his teeth against the fire lacing his back, determined not to cry out and give them that satisfaction.

"Harder," he heard the Phantom say. He had just enough time to brace before the lash struck him with greater force. Fuck, fuck, fuck, that had hurt like hell. But he still refused to say anything. Chakotay couldn't tell if Neelix was still there or not. He hoped not. He didn't want his friend seeing him like this. Not when he knew…

Grunting with each lash, Chakotay focused on silently saying the names of the Voyager crew. It helped him focus. He began with the Bridge crew, and onwards. Finally, he felt Una stop, and he'd only started yelping towards the end. Then his hands were loosened, and his body dropped. He cried out again as he hit the ground, and saw to his relief that Neelix had gone.

Grey eyes loomed over him, and Chakotay stared up. "Get up, boy." Grunting, he struggled to obey, then was led to a private room. Puzzled, he looked at both Cassandra and Una. He thought he'd be sent to his cell. Or at the very least, have the slave doctor bandage his bloody back. He'd seen that happen. So, what did they want? Wincing as he stood, Chakotay watched Una lock the door for privacy, then saw what they were doing now and sucked in a breath.

"My Lady Cassandra," was the only thing Chakotay said as he knelt in front of the chair she sat on as she waved him over. Then he buried his face between her legs and covered the hiss of pain as she ran her hand over his lacerated back. He knew when he was done with the Phantom, he would have to repeat the process of pleasuring on Una. How many times he'd do this, he didn't know, but he knew it would be until they said stop. The only thing he was thankful for was they did not rape him. This time.


Paris was exhausted. It seemed like a permanent state with him lately, being unable to rest well. The floors of the cells weren't that comfortable, with only a blanket for comfort. But he'd been trying to stay out of the way. Now if only he could keep his damn mouth shut. But he'd always had an issue with that, and paid for it with beatings or a caning. Luckily, if one could call it that, he'd only been whipped the one time. And he hadn't seen Chakotay since that day. Cassandra must be keeping him close, which Paris did not like the idea of. But what could he do from here? Nothing, that's what. It was frustrating, and he wished he could punch something. Or someone… more like those women. But he knew enough that it was a bad idea.

Trudging back from the Miranda, Paris was suddenly stopped by a woman, whom he knew as Tali. Tali purred at him, and said, "Wow, what a great specimen of a human male, you are! Mmm." She ran her hands over his chest in appreciation, and looked up into his blue eyes. Paris hesitated, remembering Hannah. But he did not like the gleam in her eyes.

He watched her every move tensely, and Tali purred again. She ran her hands over his chest, and sighed, "Those are beautiful muscles you have, boy. I wonder what you're like… in bed…"

Paris gritted his teeth. He didn't want this. But how could he say no? She was touching him everywhere, and Paris looked away as he felt her hands on his groin. Maybe, if he was good, he'd get pleasure out of this. But somehow he sensed he wouldn't from Tali. Maybe Hannah would give it to him. He wanted Hannah. Not Tali. However, someone else stepped in to save him.

Jade came over and said to Tali, "He's supposed to have some more training. If you're horny, why don't you use Randall then?" She pointed out to the nearby slave, who jerked his head up at his name. He'd been working alongside Paris, and the flash of fear was evident in his eyes.

Tom watched her take Randall away, and turned his focus back on Jade. He wasn't sure whether to thank the woman or not, but was given no chance to do so when he was led into a different building than the one he'd been occupying for the last while. Curious, Paris looked around, even though he was tired from the long work day and had wanted only his cell. This seemed almost like… a stable? But there were no horses here… or at least animals that looked like horses. Or dray animals, basically. That meant… Tom looked around in surprise at Jade. Did that mean…?

The black haired woman grinned and said, "You're getting the hang of things. Time for you to put on some more muscles there. And the best way to do that is become a cart slave. But you have to learn a few things first." She immediately tied Paris by the collar to the wall with a leash, and dragged out what looked for all the world like a harness. Which, after a second glance, was exactly what it was. Paris was made to strip, and he felt something soft cup his genitals and hold them secure. He was a bit nervous at this turn of events, but at the same time he was interested. Maybe he'd get to get around more, which would be great. Paris had always been the energetic sort, and hated to be cooped up for long. And he'd get to scout out what this world looked like.

Jade ran her hands down his body again. Tom sighed, for this seemed to be something the women did a lot. It was degrading, which seemed to be the point: show him his place in things. Now Tom felt a belt go around his hips, and a harness go around his chest and back and two straps go between his legs around his parts and close at the back. He stamped a bit crossly, but was rewarded with a slap. "Stand, boy!"

The next thing he knew, Jade was holding his nose tightly. Tom fought and struggled against her, helpless with his hands secured to the front of his harness, and finally opened his mouth to breathe. Something hard was shoved in, but it was soft on his teeth, but sharp on his tongue, and Jade quickly secured the bridle.

Oh hell no. No one was doing that to him. Paris fought the restraints even more now, and tried to pull away. Jade just let him. She knew he couldn't do anything right now, and just let him wear himself out. When she thought he was calmer, she untied him and again held a bucking, fighting slave as he tried to free himself. Then an idea came to Paris and he did the opposite. He tried to attack her.

That had the effect of making him scream and drop to the floor, writing in pain. When the collar shock wore off, Paris panted heavily. He didn't understand what had happened. Jade hadn't touched him with anything, had she? He didn't see anything in her hands, and that made him puzzled. Watching carefully, Paris tried to kick her away when she laid a hand on his groin once more. And once again, he was in the throes of pain. It had definitely come from the collar.

When the pain faded once more, Jade explained, "Just try that again, boy, and you'll get shocked. Now get up and behave. No more fighting."

Not having any other choice, Paris staggered up on weak legs and let her lead him back outside to a single cart. Was he supposed to be hooked up to this? Yes, he was. He felt the bars go alongside him, and a bar in front of him was there to tie is hands to. Now reins were attached and he turned his head around trying to see Jade. But she was in the cart in a moment, and clicked at him. Paris hesitated, then lost his head for sheer anger and stubborness. He bolted.

This time, Jade let him run. She had told him to go forward after all. And he'd find he wouldn't be able to run forever anyways. So she merely held the reins loosely and didn't try to pull.

Paris was already finding this was a dumb idea. At last he went back down to a stop and waited in confusion. Again the click and this time he refused to move. Jade was equal to that and Paris felt a hot slash of pain across his back. He jumped, cursed silently, then decided to try backing up. Naturally he got another lash for his pains. Tom really, really wanted to just go on being stubborn, but there were not really a whole lot of options open to him. Finally, he just walked forward.

They took a few circuits of the nearest block, and Tom did watch carefully to remember where the shops were. He couldn't help crane his head around when he saw the girl school. He hoped to see Hannah. But again the stinging fire across his back reminded him of where he was: in harness pulling a cart. A silver glint in the sky attracted his attention. Was it a shuttlecraft? His hope faded when he realized that it was not a Starfleet craft, but one of the odd looking ones they had on this planet. That made him remember: what had happened to the Delta Flyer? He hadn't seen hide nor hair of it, and also no one had mentioned.

A sharp tug on the bit and Tom turned left down a street he hadn't been before. Then right again. On one side was the busy town. On the other side, a field stretched out. Tom took a quick glance before he looked ahead, not wanting to get whipped again for looking. But after a moment, he did look again. Something shiny and silver had caught his attention. Trying to study the object without being too obvious, Paris' eyes widened. There were all sorts of small shuttlecraft in the field, all of them abandoned. Some were obviously dismantled. Some were in the process. And on the edge of the field closest to the road, still intact in its fine beauty, stood the one he knew. The Delta Flyer.