The ship rocked beneath Janeway as she sat in her room. She had slept fitfully, her shirt rubbing against her sore back and making it hard to get comfortable. It was early in the morning when the ship had started shaking. To Janeway, it felt as if they were under attack.

After a half hour, everything quieted down and Janeway's door opened. Mayvik entered, eyes blazing with rage. He grabbed Janeway by the hair and dragged her out into the corridor. She tried to fight him, but his grip was too tight and he was much stronger than she was.

They wound their way through the ship, until they had reached the rooms that held the brig. Mayvik opened a door and led Janeway through, before shoving her through another door that was so low she had to duck. With a click, the door closed and was plunged into darkness.

Janeway felt her way around, trying to figure out where she was. When she realized, her heart sunk. She hated small spaces. And the room was tiny. It was too short for her to stretch her entire body out and the ceiling was too low for her to stand up straight. There were only walls and the door she had come through.

Ever since her time with the Cardassians, she had a fear of being enclosed like this. She let herself slide down the wall into a sitting position and she focused on trying to figure out what was going on.

As she sat in the darkness, her mind ran wild with the possibilities. Was Kalle okay? Why would Mayvik had put her here so soon after she had given in? What had happened to her crew? Maybe it was just temporary.

But as the hours dragged by, Janeway became more and more agitated. She banged on the door, with no affect. Finally, after exhausting herself, she fell asleep curled up on the floor.

Since Janeway didn't have a watch, she didn't know how long she had been in the room, but the time felt interminable. She was brought water and small meals, but nobody would speak with her. She was given a can to relieve herself in and that was emptied every so often.

With no contact with any other living beings, other than the food being shoved in and the can being taken out, Janeway slowly began to think she was going crazy. She started to hear screaming that sounded like Kalle, right outside her door. But when she pressed her ear against the wall, she found she couldn't hear anything.

It had been days, maybe a week or longer and she was dozing on and off, as she spent most of her time doing, when the door opened and light streamed in. She covered her face with her arms as her eyes were blinded by the unaccustomed brightness.

She heard footsteps and felt someone grab her by the collar of her shirt, dragging her out into the main room. She struggled to stand up, but her legs were weak from disuse and they gave out on her immediately. Above her, she heard a chuckle.

"Captain Janeway, please, take your time."

A few moments later, when her eyes finally adjusted, she looked up at the voice.

It wasn't Mayvik, but a man who was wearing an outfit similar to the one Mayvik wore, but with more decorations. He looked older than Mayvik, but was equally as handsome and his face didn't have the same cold hardness to it.

"Let me introduce myself, Captain. My name is Commander Anka."

Janeway didn't respond but looked around, surprised at this newcomer and expecting to find Mayvik lurking somewhere in the room.

"Tal Mayvik is no longer with us, Captain. He has been...relieved of duty."

At that, Janeway let her body relax and she felt a moment of relief.

"And my crew?"

"They are safe, here on the ship. I have taken over command and we are almost to Trelok."

Janeway hesitated a moment, not sure if she was ready for the answer.

"And Kalle?"

Anka looked away, "I'm sorry, Captain. Kalle is dead."

While Janeway stared in disbelief, Anka turned to one of the men standing near him, "Please see to it that the Captain is able to wash up and get her some clean clothes and a meal." He strode out the door and the men left behind helped Janeway onto her unsteady feet.

Feeling numb, Janeway let herself be led to her former quarters, where she took a shower and redressed herself. Someone had left a meal on the table, but she ignored it and a few minutes later, the door opened and Anka came striding into the room.

He took a look at the plate of cold food and said, "Not hungry, Captain?"

Janeway ignored the question, "I would like to see my crew."

"There will be time for that, Captain." He walked around her and looked out the window.

"Captain, Mayvik and I didn't always see eye to eye. His use of violence was often...excessive. I prefer less extreme methods. I think the two of us could work together to come to a mutual arrangement. You want your crew to be treated fairly, I want this business with Brahid to be over."

"What do you want from me?"

"All I want, Captain, for now, is an understanding that things will be easier if we're both on the same page." He paused and then continued, "You must be exhausted from everything that's happened today. We'll be arriving at the planet tomorrow. Get some rest."

With that, he exited the room, leaving Janeway to puzzle over his cryptic statements. She sat down on the bed, mentally exhausted from the events of the past few weeks. She thought about Kalle, about the last time she saw her and the vacantness that was in the woman's eyes. The guilt threatened to overtake her but she pushed those feelings away. She still had her crew to think about. She had spent too much time focusing on Kalle and she had lost both her ship and crew because of it.

Before drifting into a fitful sleep, she thought only that she would do anything in her power to get her people back on Voyager.

The next day, when the ship had docked in orbit, Janeway was escorted to a shuttlecraft which took her to the planet surface. She still hadn't even gotten a glimpse of her crew since they had been at Brahid. Once on the ground, a transport vehicle took her to an apartment style house that was bordered by large, brick walls.

Inside, the house was extravagantly furnished and meticulously neat, as if nobody actually lived there. Before leaving her, one of the guards knelt down in front of her and, picking up her pant leg, snapped a large metal bracelet around her ankle. He then undid the restraints on her hands and left the room.

Janeway explored the room, trying to see if there was a way out. The door they had walked through was locked and the only other exit was at the other end of the room, facing the back of the house. The wall was covered with drapes and when Janeway pulled them back, she discovered an enclosed porch. She stepped out on it, seeing that although she was only on the second floor of the home, she was looking out over an area that was on the inside of the brick walls and was much lower than the street level on the outside.

It was a large dirt yard, surrounded by brick buildings. Guards were stationed on the wall, all holding weapons. In the middle of the yard, the crew of Voyager stood, huddled in a tight group.

To Janeway's eyes, they looked haggard. Thinner than when she had last seen them, dirty, and tense. She started to count them, but was interrupted by a voice.

"Captain, I see you've found your crew."

She turned quickly, to see Commander Anka standing behind her. She hadn't heard him come in.

"Let me talk with them."

"Not now, Captain. We have other business first. Please, come sit with me."

She followed him reluctantly, first turning back to take another look at her crew. In the other room, he directed her to sit on one of the couches and he sat across from her.

"What do you want from me? Why am I not down there with them?"

"Captain, let me explain the situation to you, so you have a clearer understanding. We have been at war with the Brahids for generations. As I'm sure they've led you to believe that we have been the aggressors and they the victims. But that is not how it started. They attacked our planet and wiped out hundreds of thousands of our people, to steal our technology. But, it's been decades now and we believe it's time to end the war."

Janeway shook her head, "So you expect me to believe that you're the victims here? And even if I did, what do you want with me?"

"My country is still blinded by their hatred. But I believe we need peace. We need to show that we can work together with humans. You are the perfect diplomat, well spoken and attractive. I want you to work with me to show a unified front."

Janeway frowned, "Commander, I am not even from Brahid. Under my law, I am not allowed to interfere in your matters."

He shrugged, "That doesn't make a difference. My people see you as the same."

"Then what was the whole thing with Mayvik? Why did you let him take me? And treat Kalle the way he did?"

"Like I said, Captain, Mayvik was short sighted. He didn't belong in command."

"And if I say no?"

"I know you care deeply for your ship and crew, Captain. They are currently prisoners of war, sentenced to hard labor. Life in our camps is not easy. But, if you were to do this, things could change for them."

Janeway stood up and walked back over to the porch. She stood looking at her crew, assessing the situation.

"What, specifically, would you need me to do?"

"Be by my side, Captain. Attend functions. Show my people that we are on the same side. And, seeing as you've spent time on Brahid, help us with information that would help lead us to peace with them."

Janeway looked sharply at him, "You want intelligence information on their defenses." It was a statement, not a question.

Anka lowered is voice, "We can't get to peace when we're on such uneven footing, Captain."

Janeway laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "You almost had me fooled, Anka. But I'm not that stupid."

"No, Captain, I didn't think you were. But it was worth a try. I was trying to make it easier for you, to give you the choice. But I should have guessed you were too stubborn for that."

He turned to a guard standing by the door and gestured to him. The man left the room and Anka joined Janeway on the porch. Janeway got a pit in her stomach, but kept her face calm.

Down below them, the man that had just been in the room was walking out towards the Voyager crew. Janeway couldn't hear them, but she could tell he had spoken and one of the crewman was pushed forward by a guard.

As he was forced down on his knees, Janeway looked at Anka, "What are you doing?"

Before he could respond, the guard lifted his weapon and shot the crewman in the back of the head. The man slumped over and Janeway could see Chakotay fighting to get to him.

"I thought you said you didn't believe in violence as an answer!"

"I said I prefer to avoid violence. I didn't say that it doesn't have its place."

Looking back to below them, another crewman was being pushed forward. Janeway could see that it was Samantha Wildman. Nearby, Naomi was screaming for her mom and the entire crew was trying to surge against their captors.

Quietly, Janeway turned to Anka, "Enough. I'll do whatever you want."