I should never have left where I was safe.

I woke up to dim light. I sat up and did a mental inventory. I didn't seem to be hurt, at least no more than I had been after the crash. I was in a small room with gray walls, lit by a single light in the ceiling. Across from me sat Sebastian, leaning against the wall. The bruise on his check had grown.

"You awake?" I asked. He grunted and opened his eyes. "Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"Who attacked us, then?"

"The Sandor Dawn."

I winced. "What do they want?"

Sebastian braced himself against the wall and rose to his feet. He paced the painfully small room. I shifted my legs to give him room and leaned into the corner.

"They want us to withdraw the application from the Federation. And to get rid of the school." He stopped pacing long enough to look down at me and then resumed. "They came in while you were unconscious."

"How did they know where we were?" I asked, my head spinning with questions.

"I don't know," Sebastian said through gritted teeth. He stopped and pounded a fist against the wall. It thumped solidly and he rubbed his hand. "They must have people in my government, or else they interrupted my transmissions."

I drew my knees up to my chin and wrapped my arms around my legs, reminding myself of Kella. It was cold in the small room and I was wearing only a thin shirt and pants.

"If you give them what they want, will they let us go?" I asked. I thought I knew the answer.

"They say they will, but I doubt it. They want me to contact my government and tell them to withdraw the application and send the Enterprise away. Then I'm to dissolve the school and send the shapeshifters off to the Minos colony with the rest of them."

"Do they know about that?"

"They know we sent them somewhere. They didn't know the location and I didn't give it to them."

I nodded. That was something. "So you think they'll keep us here even if you do that?"

"If they let us go, they lose their leverage. I could just reverse the orders. They'll hold us for as long as they need to."

"I'm sure someone will be looking for you, though."

"And for you. Come on, which of the two of us do you think the Enterprise will be more likely to come for? Your Commander Riker will be especially concerned."

I rolled my eyes. "He's not my Commander Riker," I told him, but his words gave me comfort. They had promised that they would come for me if anything happened. Granted, they had assumed the blame would be Sebastian's, but surely that wouldn't matter.

"So, all we have to do is wait for rescue," I said.

"If they're able to find us. I tried my communicator, and yours. They're both being blocked."

I burrowed my face into my knees. I started when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Sebastian sitting beside me.

"Here." He was holding a bottle of something. I tentatively took a sip and discovered it was water. "Apparently they aren't intending to dehydrate us."

I laughed weakly.

"What happened back there, in the shuttlecraft?"

"What do you mean?"

"You froze."

"So?" I looked away, gazing at the grey wall across from me.

"That's not like you."

"How would you know?"

"I've read some of the reports on you, on your missions. And I've seen you in action. You're brave."

"Maybe I'm not anymore."

Sebastian paused and I glanced over at him. He was sitting against the wall, long legs stretched out in front of him. He kept a hand on my shoulder. It was warm in the cold room.

"It's the shapeshifting."

I kept quiet.

"You've used phasers before, though, haven't you?"

I shook my head. "I mean, yes. But it's different."

"How?"

"Do we have to go into this now?" I demanded.

Sebastian cast his gaze around the room. "We don't seem to have much else to do."

"It's nothing. I just froze. I got scared. It happens."

I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. They flashed open when there was a rattling in the door and it swung open. Two men walked in and stood over us.

"Get up," one of them said. I started to my feet but one of the men shoved me down again. "Not you, him."

They hauled Sebastian to his feet and left. As the door slammed shut, I surged to my feet and tried to catch it but it was locked fast. I bit my swollen lip and sank back to the ground. Where had they taken Sebastian?

My head swam as I sat back down. Why had I frozen? Sebastian was right, I had been in worse situations than the shuttlecraft before. There was the Romulan ship that had attacked the Enterprise, when I had been sure I was going to die. There had been being bit my Moira on the Enterprise and bluffing my way through the attempted takeover. And there had been a hundred different missions for Sebastian in the last year. Why had I frozen now?

The answer was obvious. Sebastian was right, it was the shifting. It had always been a way out, an escape hatch, a security blanket even when all hope seemed lost. Now it was gone and I was helpless. I scanned the room. There had to be a dozen openings in this room that I could have escaped through if I could shift.

I paused. They didn't have the bracelet technology that prevented me from shifting yet they weren't keeping me unconscious or posting a guard. They knew I couldn't shift anymore. Who knew that? Sebastian did, and his aide on the Enterprise. Then he had announced it to Riley and Io and, once Riley broadcast the interview, the entire world. Surely Riley had not sent out the footage, though. I had no idea how much time had passed but I doubted he would do it while Sebastian was missing.

Maybe Sebastian was right and there was someone in the government working with Sandor Dawn. I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I had had enough of conspiracy theories while I had been investigating Dominic and his attempt to assassinate Sebastian. Apparently, there were more people in the government who disagreed with Sebastian's style.

I stood and paced the cell. I was starting to feel claustrophobic in the small space. I took a few deep breaths. We would get out of here, I told myself. It was only a matter of time. Someone would come looking for us.

My legs were sore from pacing by the time the door opened again. The same two men were holding Sebastian up by his arms. I backed into the wall when they dumped him to the ground. One of them turned to me.

"Talk some sense into him before we're forced to kill him," he said. His voice was harsh. I met his eyes and shivered at the anger I saw that.

"Come on, she's not worth it," the second man called from outside the cell. All I could see of him was a tuft of blond hair.

"Damn shapeshifters. Not so dangerous now, are you?" He leered at me as I glared back. "I bet you'd love to have your freak powers back and take me down, wouldn't you?"

"I don't need them to hurt you," I snapped, sounding a lot braver than I felt. I was still pressed back against the wall.

"Come on, Varus," the blond man called. "He said to leave her be."

Varus glared at me but turned and slammed the door behind him. I dropped to my knees beside Sebastian, who was slowly unfolding from the heap he had been dropped in. I helped him sit up against the wall. His right eyebrow was bleeding and his eye was starting to bruise.

"Oh, Sebastian," I breathed. "What did they do to you?"

Sebastian took a deep breath, winced, and wrapped his arms around his ribs.

"They wanted me to broadcast a transmission calling off the Federation. I told them no."

He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. The right side of his face was smeared with blood. His grey suit was rumpled and dirty.

I crossed the cell and grabbed the bottle of water. I ripped off spare fabric from my shirt and gently wiped some of the blood from Sebastian's face. I felt him shivering under my touch. When I was finished, I sat back against the wall beside him. He shifted, almost imperceptivity, until our shoulders were touching.

"How bad are you hurt?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"I'll be fine. Nothing's broken."

I tilted my head to look at him and found him gazing at me.

"Can I do anything?"

He shook his head.

"It sounded like they've been ordered not to touch you," he said. His voice was getting stronger.

"I guess so. I don't know why. Maybe they don't want anything from me."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"You've started to become a symbol to Sandor, of what shapeshifters could be. I'm worried that they're going to try to use that."

"Use it how?"

"I don't know. It just…if they really want to turn the public back against shapeshifters then it only makes sense to turn them against you."

"Well, I'm not the one bleeding everywhere."

Sebastian laughed weakly. "Is it that bad?"

I examined his eye. His brow was still oozing blood but it had slowed down.

"It's not," I told him. "Really. You might have a cool scar, though."

Sebastian frowned.

"It'll be sexy," I said, aiming for lighthearted. Instead, Sebastian fixed me with a level gaze.

"I don't think so," he said.

We sat facing the opposite wall in silence. I wondered if Sebastian was thinking about our next move. I didn't have any ideas. It was only a matter of time before they came for one of us again. I didn't know how much more Sebastian could take. And I wasn't up for much torture.

"What's the harm in doing what they ask?" I asked him.

"I can't do that."

"Why not? It'll be obvious that it wasn't your choice. And the Enterprise isn't just going to leave because you ask them to. It won't change anything."

"I'm not doing it."

"You're too stubborn."

"If I give into this, it's showing that I can be controlled. Even if I do get out of here, I won't be fit to lead. I won't deserve the trust that the people have placed in me."

"But they're going to keep hurting you."

Sebastian shrugged and then winced again. When he spoke next, it was with a catch in his voice. "I can handle it."

I ran my tongue over my bruised lip. I took a swig of the water and handed it to Sebastian. It was already almost empty. I supposed I should have just been grateful that they gave us any at all. They didn't seem otherwise invested in our comfort.

We sat shoulder to shoulder until the door opened again. It was the same two men.

"Your turn," Varus said, pointing at me. I swallowed hard at the smile on his face. I shuffled to my feet and found myself being dragged from the room. The last thing I saw before the door slammed shut was Sebastian's worried face.