Disclaimers apply as usual.
A/N:LittleJaneway and everyone else who was wondering, I hope to have new stuff up by the end of the month. I've started to work on it more and getting out of my writer's block.
One day, nine hours, and thirty minutes, that's how long Tom Paris, Sarah Barrett, and B'Elanna Torres had left Voyager and joined the Gerroan fleet traveling to Delvor. And during that time Harry Kim, left in command of the ship in Sarah's absence, had not heard from them.
So he was surprised when Ensign Lang mentioned she was picking up a transmission. However, it wasn't on normal Gerroan frequencies. It was hidden in the subspace wake of a traveling starship. Puzzled as to why Sarah or Tom would try to contact him this way, he motioned for Lang to put it on screen. A grainy image appeared. But it was grainy image of someone that they were all praying to see again; Kathryn Janeway.
Everyone was on the bridge was so stunned to see her on the viewscreen, alive, that they missed when she started talking. Recovered from the initial shock, Harry was dismayed to see that they could only pick up bits and pieces. Apparently Janeway was either too far out of range or using very crude technology to send the message. Harry frowned as the message repeated. It was automated, meaning that she could have sent it days ago, before they were taken hostage. Or perhaps she was being forced to send the message to them now, to ward off the troops. "Have the message transferred to the command console," Harry ordered Lang. "I'll see if I can clean it up a bit."
He doubted that he could, but there was a sense of hope on the bridge and he was going to be damned if he was the one bringing them down. Maybe if he gave it a try cleaning up the message, the let down wouldn't be so hard when he couldn't clean it up.
He watched the message one more time. "Lieutenant Barrett... message ...Gerroan Fleet... Kreyole... dangerous... will...few...days...Janeway..." Harry frowned, what were the missing words? Was she trying to warn them of the Kreyole? Or the Gerroan? It seemed that it could fall either way and he found himself praying that he could get the message a bit cleaner so they could hear more of it. Or perhaps they would get lucky and Captain Janeway would send another message, only this time, a clear one. The fact alone that she had concealed the message in a subspace wake made him nervous. If this message had been sent before they were taken hostage, then why didn't she just send it over normal communication channels? Was she afraid that the Gerroan or Kreyole would pick it up?
If only he had B'Elanna here to help him figure it out. Even Tom would have been helpful. But Harry was the only senior officer on board, and it was making him feel incredibly lonely. He missed playing pool at Sandrine's with Sarah, B'Elanna, and Tom. He would much rather be doing that then sitting in the command chair trying to unscramble a message from his commanding officer who could very well be dead.
"Lieutenant Barrett, I hope you get this message in time. We've run into some problems...Gerroan Fleet...Kreyole... dangerous... will...few... days... Janeway..." The message squawked. Harry was surprised that he had managed to clean up that much, that quickly. The rest was heavily damaged and he had a feeling it was going to take longer. Oh well, it's not like I have much to do right now.
Since Sarah, Tom, and B'Elanna had left Voyager Harry had been in command, meaning modifying the shields and weapons had been put on hold, even though Joe Carey was doing his best to work it out, even he had mentioned to Harry that things would be going a lot smoother if B'Elanna were present. Harry wasn't even sure how long the away team was going to be gone. There was a real chance that this lead to Delvor didn't pan out and they would be back at square one. Not hearing from the away team either was making him nervous. Of course they would probably just be getting to Delvor that day and he was sure that Casius had a horde of procedures that he had to put the away team through before they beamed down to the surface.
Harry shook his head, looking at the static face of his commanding officer. If only you were here, Captain. You would know what to do, you always do.
Of course if the Captain where here, then they wouldn't be joining forces with the Gerroan to negotiate with terrorists in the first place. A nagging voice in the back of his head told him that it was of the utmost importance to clean up the remainder of the message, even if it meant taken the whole time that Tom, Sarah, and B'Elanna were away from Voyager to do it.
Chief Operations Officer's Log, supplemental; We have not had any contact with Lieutenant Barrett, Lieutenant Paris, or Lieutenant Torres, in forty-eight hours. Nerves are running higher than before, and I have been unable to clean up the message that Captain Janeway has sent us. Neelix seems to think that it is hopeless, but I'm not putting it to rest until I'm absolutely certain the damaged message cannot be fixed.
The sun was beating down on their backs and Sarah Barrett found she was wishing they had brought desert robes for this extrusion. Unfortunately Supreme Commander Casius had not been forthcoming with information about their destination, even after she, Tom, and B'Elanna had transported over to his lead warship. At the current moment the three officers were standing in the middle of a desert that reminded Sarah of the Badlands in South Dakota.
When she had been a child her father had insisted on taking her and Luke on a camping trip in the national park. Sarah had hated every minute of it. The days were hot and the nights cold.
Now, seventy-thousand light years from that park, she was standing in a similar place. To her it even smelled like South Dakota. Why would anyone want to live here?
Casius had informed them that this place was a stronghold for Kreyole activity. He was leading them to where he thought their leader, Valia Jourid, was. If there was anyone that Sarah needed to speak to, it was her, Casius assured her. Sarah found herself not feeling very assured. Two days of no contact from Voyager, and living in tight quarters with Paris and Torres, was not helping matters. As they trekked over the barren landscape, the memories of that horrid camping trip was also adding to her sour disposition, which did not forebode well for someone who had to negotiate with terrorists in about ten minutes.
"I feel like we've been walking for hours," Tom complained, his gray-blue eyes fixed on the back of Casius in front of them.
B'Elanna glanced back at the three guards that were following them. "I get the impression that they're just leading us on," she mumbled under her breath to Sarah.
The young counselor had considered that a possibility, but at the moment they had no other leads to go on to find their missing colleagues. She found herself asking the same question over and over again, what would Captain Janeway do?
Casius suddenly held his hand up. The group stopped. The large leader crouched down and gestured for the others to follow suit. His soldiers did it immediately, but Sarah, Tom, and B'Elanna looked at each other, confused at first before joining them. "They're over the hill, in the caves. I don't want to go in there like this, because the moment they see Gerroan troops they'll start to fire. I suggest, Lieutenant Barrett that you leave your weapons here, and proceed with your two officers to the entrance of the cave."
Sarah quirked an eyebrow. "And you will be where?"
"Here, covering you of course."
"Oh, of course. How foolish of me."
Casius scowled. "If you would prefer my men and I to leave, it can be arranged Miss Barrett."
"Actually I prefer it if at least one of my officers is armed. Tom?"
"Already set the phaser to stun, ma'am."
With her jaw set, Sarah stood back up, B'Elanna and Tom following suit. They proceeded down the slope they had been hiding behind towards the caves. From this sight line they couldn't make out if there was actually anyone in the caves and for all they knew they were waltzing right into a perfectly crafted trap by the Gerroan. Then there was the flicker of movement in the sunlight. B'Elanna's gasped a little, Tom's hand clutched at the phaser.
As they made their way closer faces became visible. There were two men sitting at the entrance to the cave. They were dressed in ratty old clothes from the looks of it, had pale, cream colored skin, pointy ears and slight cranial ridges. They looked nothing like the Gerroan. "I get the feeling that these people are not Gerroan," Sarah said under her breath as one of the men came out to meet them. The three Starfleet officers stopped in the their tracks, noticing the large weapon that the Kreyole man held in his hands.
He raised his weapon slightly, asking for identification.
"Lieutenant Sarah Barrett of the Starship Voyager, these are my officers, Lieutenants Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres."
"Lieutenant, eh? Where's your captain?"
Great more mind games. "We were wondering if perhaps you could help us with that," Sarah replied. "We've been told that our commanding officers have been taken hostage by a Kreyole terrorist group."
He laughed at her. It was a cold, are you serious, kind of laugh. "Listen, I don't know about any hostages. Is that what the Gerroan told you?"
"Does it matter who told me?"
"It does if it was that brute, Casius."
Sarah exchanged glances with Tom and B'Elanna. "Why do you call him that?"
"Don't answer that question, Luca. She could be working for them."
"I'm not working for them; I'm trying to find my colleagues that's it."
The one called Luca laughed again. "They have you so wrapped around their finger it's not even funny."
"Yeah, then why are you laughing?" Tom snapped.
Luca pointed the gun at Tom. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Lieutenant."
Sarah grabbed a hold of Tom by the forearm. "Listen, just…everyone calm down. I'm not sure what's going on between you or Casius, the Kreyole or the Gerroan. I just want to get my colleagues back safely. Now, if you have any information for me, I would greatly appreciate it."
He opened his mouth to speak, but somewhere above them on the slope, there came a great cry and before Sarah could even figure out what was happening, Tom had grabbed her and was pulling her behind another slope, ducking for cover. B'Elanna huddled at their side. Casius had opened fire on them, just opened up and fired. Sarah shook with an anger she had not felt since her first few days on the Borg protect. She felt the strongest urge to pluck the phaser out of Tom's hand and fire it at the Gerroan. She didn't know which one to shoot first. Apparently Casius had called for back up troops and they were now storming the caves. The two guards that Sarah and the others had been talking too lay dead on the ground. She realized with a sudden sorrow that she had not gotten the other man's name.
Before Tom could stop her, she clambered to her feet and was pushing Casius with all the might she could muster. "YOU SAID YOU'D COVER ME! NOT START SHOOTING AT ME! THEY HADN'T EVEN OPENED FIRE ON US!"
Casius' dark eyes glowered at her. "These things do not concern you, girl. Now go back with your shipmates and await my orders."
"Your orders!"
"Yes, my orders! This is my operation, not yours!"
"You were never going to help me in the first place, were you? You just needed me to confirm that this was indeed the place you were looking for, wasn't it?" Sarah cried, feeling tears that had threatened to fall for the past four days creeping into her eyes. She had never felt so used and she kept thinking that Captain Janeway never would have fallen into such a trap.
His answer to her was to silently have them transported back to the warship. Sarah, Tom, and B'Elanna found themselves back in their tight quarters. Casius' second in command was sneering at them. "You will remain here until Supreme Commander Casius returns." The door was closed in their faces and they could hear it lock.
Tom and B'Elanna watched as Sarah turned her back on them and kicked the bunk hard. "How could I be so stupid!"
"Sarah," Tom ventured. "None of us saw this coming."
She looked at him, fury in her eyes. "They used me to get those people to come out of hiding."
"And there is nothing we can do about that," Tom said.
"Tom's right," B'Elanna quipped. "Right now, we need to focus on why they wanted us to get them to come out. Obviously there is a reason why the Kreyole wouldn't come out and meet the Gerroan, so they needed someone else to do that for them. We were the perfect canidates."
"Janeway never would have fallen for that."
"You're not Captain Janeway," Tom said. "And…to be honest with you, you're doing a hell of a job without her."
Sarah's sapphire eyes filled with tears and some of them managed to escape, sliding down pale cheeks. "I can't do it anymore, Tom," she whispered, before collapsing down onto the bunk, sobbing. "I just can't do it anymore."
Deep within the caves fighting could be heard. His eyes snapped open. They had been discovered. Moving as quickly as he could, he gathered the little belongings that they had and picked his way through the crowds of people. With one hand he shook his other companion awake, a tall, dark skinned man, and then made his way through the crowd again to find his other companion. The bag slung over his shoulder bumped into people as he walked, but he finally found her slumped against the wall in exhaustion. They hadn't slept much the past five days, this cavern had been a refuge, but now that refuge had been found out.
He grasped her shoulder, and with a gently nudge, woke her up. "It's time to go Kathryn."