Gretchen Janeway opened the door and saw a person behind it who wasn't a familiar guest in her house or even often seen in the neighborhood. It was Admiral Owen Paris.

"Admiral", she said without hiding her surprise. "What brings you here in Indiana?"

"Can I come in?" Owen asked.

"Of course", Gretchen said and let the admiral in.

Once the door is shut, Owen turns to Mrs. Janeway and asks:" Do you know where your daughter is?"

"Kathryn? No. I haven't heard of her in few days. Why do you ask?"

"I need to find her", Owen said seriously.

"Why?" Gretchen asked, because the look on admiral's face had almost instantly made her worry. "Is she in some kind of trouble?"

"We cannot find her. I need to talk to her, because there is a reason to believe that she has helped an imprisoned man to escape."

"What? My Kathryn would never do anything illegal."

"Are you sure you don't know where she is, Mrs. Janeway?"

"I don't know about her whereabouts", Gretchen told truthfully, "and that is all I can say. Now tell me; is my daughter in trouble?"

"She might be", Owen says calmly. "I don't want her to be, but I'm afraid she has done a very bad decision. Also two of her former crewmembers have reported to be missing; Seven of Nine and the Doctor. They haven't reported back to duty."

"I… I don't know what to say."

"There is more. Also my son Tom and my daughter-in-law B'Elanna are missing", Admiral continues.

The last sentence was the one, which made Owen most unhappy. Tom was gone, vanished, and he didn't know why. He had a hunch, though, that it had been Tom's decision to leave, that he had left intentionally without telling anyone about it. But where had he gone? Was he with the others? Where they still on Earth? Unlikely. Owen's another hunch told him that they had to be outside of Sol system by now. But what he wasn't able to understand was the reason why Tom, who had finally succeeded to get his life together, had done something as irrational and thoughtless as this. Owen had difficulties to understand his motives. He wasn't able to help the familiar feeling of disappointment finding its way to his heart. Perhaps Tom wasn't able to change after all.

"What is going on?" Gretchen asked. "How long have they been gone? There hasn't been any news about this in public media broadcasts."

"The news is not officially out yet and Starfleet aims to keep this under the wraps as long as possible. You have no idea where she could have gone?"

"No", Gretchen told again and sat down on the chair. Tears began to burn her eyes. "And to hear about her disappearing … this is the kind of pain I didn't want to feel ever again."

.

.

"Status", Picard ordered.

"Impact in six minutes", Data reported.

"Is there any way we can avoid this?" Riker asked one more time. "Bridge to LaForge; anything?"

"Out warp drive is still down, our impulse drive is also down. We may have few thrusters, but they won't move us from the orbit. I'm sorry, Commander, that I cannot report better news."

Riker sighed and shook his head.

"There is more", Geordi continued. "We have found proof that this gravitational field is artificial."

"What?!" Picard asked.

"That would explain it", Kathryn stated. "This is a D-Class planet in Federation Space. If this was a natural phenomenon, we would have known about this before we were trapped."

"Whose trap is this?" Picard asked.

"Unknown captain. But we are continuing our analysis."

"Must be a Cardassian trap", Chakotay said then. "Our Romulan quest onboard was suddenly very unaware of things when we asked what Romulans were getting in return from giving their cloaking device to Cardassians."

"That right", Riker agreed. "And Deanna did sense that he was hiding something."

"But why was the Romulan ship also trapped in this? If this was their compensation, why is this working in their disadvantage now as well?"

No one was able to respond when Data suddenly reported: "We have a visual."

"On screen", Picard said.

All eyes on bridge looked the big screen in front of them. The Romulan ship appeared from the other side of the planet. It looked so small now, but all of them knew than in few minutes they would be able to see it very close.

"Still no response to our hails", Riker informed the captain. "They just won't talk even though we both are about to explode in million pieces."

Counsellor Troi, who had been very quiet the whole time, suddenly stated: "I sense apprehension from there. And… haste. None of them are ready to die."

"That is understandable", Riker said. "No one is ready to die here either."

"No, that's not it…", Deanna said. "They…"

But she wasn't able to finish, because all of the sudden the Romulan ship exploded in front of their eyes.

"REPORT!" Picard demanded.

"It seems that the Romulan ship conducted self-destruction", Data stated. "No other factor could explain the explosion we just witnessed."

"That is very unlikely move from Romulans", Picard stated.

"Well, according to our 'quest' Kelath, these are outlaws, rebellions. Perhaps they have the principles of their own", Riker suggested.

"Perhaps", Picard answered, but there was a doubt in his voice.

"There is debris ahead of us, but it won't pose a threat for the Enterprise", Data informed.

"They are alive", Deanna stated then.

"What?" Riker asked.

"They didn't kill themselves. They are alive."

"Where are they?" Picard asked.

"On the planet", Chakotay answered before Deanna had a chance to open her mouth. "They must have transported themselves on the planet."

"Picard to transporter room three", the captain called then.

"Yes captain?"

"Can we beam an away team down on the planet?"

"It's so- and-so", was the answer.

"What the bloody hell does that mean?!" Picard asked angrily. "Either we can or we cannot."

"I wouldn't recommend it, sir. Something about this gravitational field is disturbing our transporters as well. I don't know if we would be able to maintain their patterns."

"The Romulans did", Riker pointed out. "I am willing to take the risk."

Picard sighed. "I don't know if it is necessary for any of us to go down there. Our sensors are also seriously compromised because of this gravitational field, so we wouldn't be necessarily able to follow you. The Romulans are trapped on that planet, alone. We don't have to take unnecessary risks."

"They are not alone there", Deanna said then.

"What?" Picard asked and looked at his counselor deep in her eyes.

"There are others, too."

"Who? More Romulans?"

"I cannot say, but I definitely sense there the others as well."

"It's a D-Class planet", Riker said. "There are no locals there."

"So there must have been someone waiting the Romulans there", Picard suggested. "And they may have means to escape from the planet while we are trapped in this gravitational field…"

"Or to destroy us", Riker whispered. "Captain, we must get down there as well."

Picard pondered for a moment until he nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Chakotay; ready to take a little walk down there?" Riker asked then.

Chakotay nodded.

"Mr. Data; you are with us as well", he continued and Data got up on his feet immediately.

"I am coming as well", Kathryn informed.

"Admiral?" Picard asked.

"I am coming", she continued then. "Enterprise is here because of my orders, and I am going to do what ever it takes to get this ship out of this situation."

Chakotay was about to express his objection, but Kathryn silenced him with the display of determination on her face, which was very familiar to Chakotay. He knew her stubbornness and he knew as well that if necessary, she would put her rank in good use.

"Very well", Riker stated then and the four of them walked towards the turbolift doors. "Let's just hope we get there in one piece."

.

.

Deanna Troi walked towards her quarters. She had a headache and therefore she had left the bridge as soon as the away team had stepped into a turbolift. Deanna's headache was always a sign of her needing break. So she was about to take five minutes to herself, which would most likely be enough for her to be ready again, sensing all the Romulans and the others who were on the planet. She didn't like the fact that she hadn't managed to be more precise in describing who those people were down there, but perhaps she would be once she had blocked them all out for a moment.

Deanna opened the door and stepped in. Suddenly she sensed someone in her quarters. She automatically took her hand on her combadge to alert the security, but it was too late. The next thing she knew was a heavy blow on her head.

And then nothing.

"I'm sorry counselor Troi," Kelath said as he looked the ship counselor on the floor. "But this was necessary. I cannot risk someone with your abilities being onboard this ship anymore."

Then Kelath detached the combadge from her uniform and threw it on the floor. Then he placed a small chip on her hand. The chip had been his own backup plan, if things had gotten worse, but now it was more useful in the hand of this half-Betazoid who was currently unconscious. But the venom on the chip would kill her in next hour or so, which was ideal for Kelath's purposes. He didn't want to leave any traces of blood in the sight. So the final phase of this kill was to find a place to hide her, so that she could die in peace without her comrades knowing about it.