Varus half dragged me down a dimly lit corridor and through a large door. I blinked in the brighter light, trying to maintain my balance as Varus let go. The room was the same stone as our cell had been but there were a few chairs arranged in the center. There was a man sitting in one of them.

I glanced behind me and saw Varus and the blonde taking up positions on either side of the door.

"Please, sit down."

I turned back to the seated man. His short brown hair was tinged with grey at the temples. He was sitting back in the chair, one leg casually crossed over the other. He was holding a steaming mug of something.

I hesitantly stepped forward and sank into one of the two remaining chairs.

"Tea?"

I dumbly shook my head.

"I'm sorry if my men scared you. We needed to get you and the Prime Minister here but I didn't want you to get hurt. Would you like something for that cut on your head?"

I shook my head again. I had forgotten that I was even hurt. It had stopped bleeding.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm a member of the Sandor Dawn. You can call me Echo." He set the steaming mug aside and leaned forward. "You're probably wondering why you're here. The Sandor Dawn has just one goal: to keep our society pure. That means no alien influences. You can see how Grey's bid to join the Federation is dangerous to that."

I kept silent, watching Echo. I could almost feel the presence of the two men behind me. I had noticed phase pistols on their belts as they drug me down the hall. One wrong move and I would be at the receiving end of one of them and I couldn't be sure that it would be set to stun.

"So we had to act," Echo continued. "But Minister Grey isn't cooperating with us."

"He's stubborn," I said, finally speaking.

"You can help me there."

Me?

"You're being hailed as a hero," Echo continued as if reading my mind. "Grey awarded you the Silver Moon. People are starting to trust you. If you make a statement saying that you don't support sending the shapeshifters to that school, people will listen."

I narrowed my eyes. So, this was about shapeshifters and not about the Federation.

"I can see that that doesn't appeal to you."

"I won't do anything that's going to hurt shapeshifters."

"Of course not," the man said smoothly. "That's why you're going to suggest to Grey that instead of trying to turn them into real people, he should send them off world to wherever the rest of them went."

I bit back a retort at his comment about turning them into real people.

"How does that sound?"

"What would you do with the new shapeshifters? The kids who keep popping up every year?"

"We would round them up and ship them off at intervals."

I wondered if he was trying to make this sound appealing at all.

"What if I don't help you?"

"Then we'll bomb the school. And kill Grey. We don't need him if he won't cooperate. I have no doubt that after it's discovered that you killed him, the public opinion will turn against shapeshifters even more strongly than it was before. And our isolationist policies will win out."

My blood ran cold. So that was the plan. That was why they had been ordered not to touch me. If Sebastian didn't do what they said, they would kill him and somehow frame me.

"Without your shapeshifting skills, you're helpless, aren't you?"

I gripped the arms of the chair until my knuckles turned white.

"I thought so. Varus, Baron, take her back to the cell. Let her think about it."

I felt myself behind hauled out of the chair and I stumbled to my feet before I fell. I tried to think of a way out as they returned me to the small room. Sebastian struggled to his feet as the door slammed shut behind me.

"Did they hurt you?" he demanded. I shook my head.

"No, just threatened me." I realized I was shivering and rubbed my arms before I realized it had nothing to do with the temperature.

"Here." Before I could protest, Sebastian was out of his suit jacket and was wrapping it around my shoulders. I pulled it tight around me. It smelled like evergreen trees.

"What did they say?"

"Did you meet Echo?" I asked. Sebastian shook his head. "It seems like he's in charge. He wants me to convince you to do what they're asking. I told him you're stubborn. So, he wants me to make a broadcast saying I support shipping the shapeshifters off world instead of sending them to your school."

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. But he said that if one of us doesn't cooperate, he's going to…going to kill you and frame me."

I took a few steadying breaths. I could feel the panic rising in me. It had just been a few days since I had gained my freedom and now I was back in a cage, a worse one than before.

"That's not going to happen."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just am." Sebastian raised a hand as if to touch me but then lowered it. "We're going to get out of here."

I gritted my teeth. "I just feel so helpless," I whispered and was ashamed to discover a lump in my throat.

"I know. But we'll get out of here."

I shook my head. "Not just here," I said. "On the Enterprise, too. Ever since I was hurt. I feel like I'm walking around with a piece of me missing and I'm just so scared, all the time."

I paced to the corner of the room. I could hear him following me.

"Can't you just do what they ask?" I already knew the answer and he didn't explain himself again.

"I won't let them frame you. It wouldn't work, anyway. Captain Picard knows you would never do something like that."

"Would it matter?" I asked the wall. "They don't have any jurisdiction over Sandor. If you're killed, people are going to freak out and they're going to elect an isolationist Prime Minister who's going to do exactly what these people want. I'll end up in prison and they'll send the shapeshifters back to those damn rehabilitation centers, or worse."

Sebastian was silent behind me.

"I can't stop you from doing what they ask."

I worried my bottom lip. Echo had never promised to let me go if I did what he was asking. Even if he had, I knew what my answer would be. "I can't."

"I can't either."

I turned around and hugged the coat to myself.

"We're going to get through this," Sebastian said.

I nodded noncommittally. "Your eyebrow stopped bleeding."

"Just in time for round two."

"That's not funny."

Sebastian's face turned serious. "They will come back, though. When they do, we need to be ready."

"For what?"

"To make our move. It'll be two against two. It's a small space. If we can get a phase pistol, we can get out."

I didn't answer.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can."

"We don't have a choice."

I shook my head. "You don't understand. In the shuttle, I froze."

"I know you're scared, but we don't have a choice."

I shook my head again. "It's not just being afraid," I said. I leaned back against the stone wall and felt the cold seeping through the coat. "I can't make myself do it."

Sebastian stepped closer again. His face was shadowed from the single light.

"Tell me," he commanded.

I swallowed hard. " I…I feel like there's this pit inside of me and every time I let myself think about my shapeshifting or about the future, I start being pulled into it." I closed my eyes. "It's like there's this darkness just waiting to swallow me up. That's what happened in the shuttle. I couldn't do anything, couldn't even think straight. It was all just too much. All I could do was be afraid. I feel…wrong, like something's broken inside me."

"I'm sorry, Tasha."

"I don't know how to fix it. Or if I can be fixed," I whispered, looking down at the floor. I wasn't sure if he heard me.

Sebastian stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to meet his gaze.

"You're not broken. You're one of the bravest people I know. After all the shit I've thrown at you, everything I've put you through, you're still standing. And you're still trying to help other people. That's bravery."

I swallowed and blinked back tears. I had rarely felt so vulnerable and I didn't like it.

"I didn't realize what it was like to feel helpless," Sebastian said, stepping back and letting go of my shoulder. "I don't like it."

I rubbed my face until my eyes hurt. "Do you think we're going to get out of here?"

"I do," Sebastian said without hesitation. "We'll either be rescued or we'll figure a way out ourselves."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because we're survivors."

Hours passed in the dimly lit cell. We had no windows and had no way to mark the passage of time. As I grew more and more tired, I knew it had to be night. And still we heard nothing. There was no rescue attempt. I tried desperately to think of a way that the Enterprise would be able to find us. Perhaps they had tracked the crash of the shuttlecraft. But maybe the trail was cold by the time they got there. I didn't know who far we were from the crash site or even how long I had been unconscious after the capture.

I was dozing off to sleep when the door opened again.

"You've had time to reconsider, Grey," the blonde man said. I realized with a start that they had never tried to hide their names or faces. Maybe Sebastian was right and they never intended to let us go. "Now it's time to meet the boss."

Sebastian walked out of the cell before they could drag him off. I sat in the corner, huddled under his too-big jacket and listened to the silence.

Then I heard a scream.

It was followed by another.

I was on my feet in an instant. I tugged at the door but it wouldn't budge. I pounded on it uselessly.

"Shut up in there," a voice growled from outside.

I stopped. I hadn't known there was anyone there. But down the hall I heard groans.

"Take me to Echo," I demanded loudly, talking to the door. "I'll do what he asks. Just stop hurting Sebastian."

The door swung open and I found myself facing Varus.

"Walk," he said.

I stepped from the cell, happy to be dragged this time. He directed me to the same room we had been in before. My heart stopped when I walked in. Echo and the blonde were standing beside the circle of chairs, looking down at a huddle figure on the floor.

Sebastian was kneeling in front of him, cradling his left arm. Echo looked up when I walked in and gestured to Baron, who stepped back.

"What is it?" Echo demanded of Varus.

"She said she'll cooperate."

A slow smile spread across Echo's face. "Excellent. Hopefully we won't have to break any more bones."

I tried to avoid looking at Sebastian.

"Stop hurting him."

Echo stepped back from Sebastian. "As long as you do what we say, we won't hurt him."

I nodded. Echo stepped around Sebastian but turned back to him as the man struggled to his feet, still holding his arm. His face was pale.

"Tasha, don't."

"Quiet," Echo snapped. "Varus, take her to the next room."

Varus grabbed my arm tightly and drug me from the room. I threw one last look back at Sebastian's pained face before we were in the next room. There was a mounted camera pointing at a chair.

Varus picked up a stack of papers and handed it to me.

"Read this."

I skimmed the first page. I take responsibility for the abduction of Sebastian Grey. My mouth fell open. The shapeshifters will not be kept down any longer.

"This isn't what Echo asked me to do," I said, looking up at Varus.

"Do you want to live or not?"

I gritted my teeth. The echoes of Sebastian's screams rang in my head. They had broken his arm. He was never going to give into their demands. If I did, they would frame me for his murder and kill us both. If I didn't, they would find a way to do it anyway.

"Can I have some water?" I asked. Varus grunted. "I can't read this with a dry mouth."

Varus left the room and returned a minute later with a silver bottle of water. As he handed it to me, my hand slipped and it fell to the ground. I bent down to pick it up.

As I rose, I slammed my fist into his crotch. He let out a strangled cry and doubled over in pain. I took the opportunity to shove him backward and fumble for the phase pistol on his belt. His hand closed over my wrist in an iron vice as I tried to aim. My hand screamed in pain as I pulled the trigger.

Varus growled as an arc of light shot from the pistol and struck him in the side. The pain in my wrist disappeared. I pulled back and shot again, this time in the chest. Varus slumped to the ground.

My heart pounded as I adjusted my grip on the pistol and slipped back into the hallway. I could barely breath as I pushed open the door to the next room. All I wanted to do was run and hide but the screams were still echoing in my head.

Three sets of eyes rose to meet me as I entered. There was silence for a split second and then Baron and Echo both reached for their weapons. I shakily aimed at Baron just as Sebastian threw himself at Echo, both men crashing to the ground. My shot at Baron went wide and the blonde man shot off a blast as I dropped to the floor. I could smell burning hair as I shot again, this time hitting him in the shoulder. He slumped to the ground with a groan, his shirt and skin charred under the blast.

I turned to where Sebastian was fumbling with Echo on the ground. The men rolled over one another, not giving me a clear shot. I didn't trust my aim enough to risk in. A blast rang out and Echo slumped to the ground. Sebastian shakily climbed to his feel, pistol grasped in his right hand. His left was hanging limply by his side.

"Are you okay?" he demanded. He stepped forward to brush my hair. He pulled away a few burnt strands. "That was close."

"I'm fine," I told him. I sized him up. He was pale and his face looked clammy. His left arm was limp. "How are you?"

"I'll live. We need to get out of here."

"Do you think there are more of them?" I asked. Now that we had a moment of calm, I didn't know if I would be able to face more of this.

"Probably," Sebastian said. He set down the pistol and rifled through Echo's clothes. He came up empty handed.

"What are you looking for?"

"Our communicators."

I checked the pockets of the unconscious Baron. They were empty. "The other one is in the next room."

Sebastian followed me.

"How did you get him?" he asked.

"I punched him in the crotch." I looked up in time to see Sebastian wince. "He doesn't have it either."

"Maybe they have another room somewhere."

Sebastian nodded and lead the way out of the room. He climbed a staircase at the end of the hall. There were several windows off of the new room and I saw it was dark outside. I followed Sebastian into an open door just in time to see him shoot a stunned woman sitting at a computer.

"You're kind of scary," I told him. He was trying to push the unconscious woman's chair back one-handed and I stepped in to help.

"I spend a lot of time training," Sebastian said. He set down the computer and picked up a piece of equipment off the desk. He twisted a nob on it. I turned to face the door in case there was anyone else in the darkened building. "Grey to Sector A, come in Sector A." There was silence. "Grey to Enterprise."

Nothing.

"We need to get out of here," I told Sebastian. I turned to see him pocket the device and pick the pistol back up.

I led the way out the front of the building. There was no one there.

"No transport," Sebastian noted.

"Maybe someone's coming back for them."

"We need to be gone by then."

We hurried away from the building and into the woods that surrounded it. Once in the trees, I turned to look at the place where we had been held. It was a squat, stone building with greenery growing up the front and covering some of the windows. It looked abandoned. I heard a crunch of leaves and found Sebastian moving deeper into the woods.

I followed him into the darkness.