Sweet Dreams, Voyager (Part 4)
A Voyager fanfic brought to you by TaTTooGaL aka fROzen Lt. 17 of 26 (MERSTS)
A Voyager fanfic brought to you by TaTTooGaL aka fROzen Lt. 17 of 26 (MERSTS)
The crew quickly take their places on the bridge. Chell is hailing us from the planet. He is frantic. I can't exactly make out what he's saying, but I think I understand: the captain has been kidnapped.
Chell can't stop apologizing. He blames himself for not protecting the captain enough.
You did all you possibly could, says Chakotay. Beam back to the Voyager.
He cuts the transmission and rubs his forehead. What was I thinking, he says, sending only one crewman to accompany her!
I feel like I can't breathe. Kathryn has been taken by the enemy. I try to steady my trembling hands on the railing between the command and upper platforms, but it doesn't help much. I'm afraid that they'll do something awful to her- kill her even.
B'Elanna is attending to the banks of consoles behind Seven. She glances at me, her face tight. Relax, she says, not sounding very convincing. We'll get her back.
I'm receiving a hail from the lead ship, says Seven.
Put it onscreen, says Chakotay.
We see Ennaxor Noswad's face for the first time. He's got a narrow face, cruelly sharp cheekbones and angry red eyes. He sneers at Chakotay. I duck behind Seven's console, trying not to get seen. But I'm still aware of every single pixel being displayed on that screen.
So, this is the vaunted ship, Voyager, he says.
I am Commander Chakotay. What do you want?
Noswad laughs, a high-pitched, ugly sound. Oh, you know very well what I want, Commander. What interests me is what you want. He leers, and gestures to someone offscreen. Bring her here.
One of his aides step into transmission range, and I stifle an outcry with my wrist. He's carrying the limp form of Kathryn in his arms. Noswad grabs her roughly by her hair, and turns back to Chakotay. Your captain's quite an amazing woman, isn't she?
Chakotay grits his teeth. Now you're calling ransom, he says bitterly.
Noswad pulls out a sharp knife and flashes it at Kathryn's throat. No! I want to shout, but Seven silently clamps her hand down on my shoulder. He mustn't see me.
He presses the blade down firmly on her flesh, cutting the skin and drawing a trickle of blood. Seven's grip on my shoulder tightens. I grasp her hand tightly, nervously. Noswad chuckles, a deep sound coming from his belly. You have five hours, Commander. If not… he flips the knife and makes a swift slicing gesture.
Chakotay tenses.
Noswad keeps the knife. He then raises Kathryn to his lips and kisses her. I'd hate to mar this lovely body of hers, Chakotay. He grins fiercely, hungrily. Five hours, Commander.
The transmission cuts.
Seven releases her grip on me. I sink to the floor, trembling. Even the crew can feel the vibrations on the hull. Not knowing what else to do, I bury my head in my hands and cry. The light levels drop and my engines whine in stress, but there isn't anything I can do about it.
Somebody picks me up. Chakotay. Everyone on the bridge looks at me. I cling tightly to his neck. He soothes me, saying hush, everything will be all right, like he's talking to his own daughter.
But he doesn't know that everything's going to be okay. He's frightened too. Frightened for Kathryn, frightened for me. I hate myself. If I'd remained in hiding, we wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. I brought us here.
They're going to kill her, aren't they? I ask Chakotay.
His voice is soft but strong. No, not if there's anything we can do about it. He gestures everyone into the briefing room. But first, I'm going to have to call some people up here.
I awaken, feeling stiffness everywhere. I am in some sort of cell, tied to a crude wooden chair. A yellow forcefield flickers across the wide doorway, and someone stands guard outside. I can't see who it is. I try to move my arms and my legs, but everything is tied fast. Someone's taken off my dress uniform, leaving only the inner tank top layer- and no commbadge.
My head aches. I moan.
The guard comes over to the forcefield. It's Nayr. I seethe, knowing that B'Elanna put a lot of faith in him. He sneers. "Awake, are you?"
I merely glare at him.
"I'll fetch the Ennaxor." He grins wolfishly and walks away. I assess the situation. Here I am, being held captive by the renegades. Doubtlessly they've already made some sort of ransom demand towards Voyager. I think. If Voyager does not meet that demand, Noswad will kill me. But if they do, there is no telling that they will keep up their end of the deal. It seems a no-win situation, and the only way out is for the ship to leave the system, as fast as possible.
But knowing Chakotay, that'd probably be the last thing that he does.
Somehow, I am convinced, they'll think of a way to get us all out of here. There is a way. There has to be. There is always a way. Wasn't that something James Kirk said when he beat the infamous Kobayashi Maru simulation? Or was it someone else?
At any rate it is inconsequential. Somehow or the other my first officer will pull a miracle out of his hat, rescue me, and eliminate this threat at the same time.
A voice in the back of my head mutters, Just who do you think you're kidding, lady?
The forcefield flickers off. A dark silhouette is framed in the doorway. For one delirious moment, I imagine he is Chakotay and all my wildest prayers have been answered. Then he steps into the light, and my heart sinks. It is Ennaxor Noswad, his face stretched into a hungry leer. He approaches me and I try to recoil from him. He places his hand under my chin and lifts it upwards, and appraises me like ware from one of the streetside markets in Tri'hsder. "Welcome aboard the Trinity, Captain Janeway," he says, sounding insufferably pleased with himself. "You're quite a specimen, aren't you." His eyes sweep downwards and I can practically feel him undressing me with his eyes. He leans forwards, eyes glinting hungrily. "We don't have many women on our ships. All of them are too pacifist. But you, you're a fighter, Captain Janeway. I like that."
"Don't touch me," I snarl.
"Ooh, fierce." In complete disregard of my words, he grabs one strap of my shirt and pulls himself close. I try to recoil. Up close, his face reminds me of a devil's. One of the ropes binding my legs to my chair is loose. I wriggle my feet, trying to pull free of the ropes. It works, freeing my legs, even though my feet are still tied together.
Noswad seizes me and kisses me, hard. I ignore him as best as I can, and focus on my legs. At just the right moment, I shove them upward fiercely, slamming my knees into his solar plexus hard. He gasps and staggers away from me, the color leaving his face.
What happens next is so fast I don't see it coming. An explosion of pain rips across the left half of my face as something collides, hard, with my cheek, snapping my head to the side with such violence I feel the muscles in my neck pull. Gritting my teeth, I silence my outcry, and instead turn slowly to face Noswad. My cheek throbs painfully. He's fractured the bone. Noswad grins with some satisfaction, his hand balled into a fist. "Leave us," he sternly instructs Nayr.
With abrupt suddenness, the chair under me disappears. A hologram. I flail as I fall backwards. Noswad moves closer to me. I stand up, feeling a sense of finality. Perhaps its all for the best that I die here, so that Voyager will leave and not do anything foolish to save me. And I'm not going to die without a fight. I tense, battle ready. Noswad and I circle each other like a pair of jungle cats, eyeing each other warily. He sneers.
I take the chance. I swing my leg up and impart him a swift blow to his head with my boot. He staggers, stunned. Another kick and I sweep him off his feet. Before he get to his feet, I straddle him, hand raised, and drive my fist into the left side of my face in anger. The retaliation feels good.
Noswad doesn't even flinch. "I like this position," he whispers, and before I can do anything, he grabs my neck in some variant of the Vulcan nerve pinch. I am immobilized, and even as my mind screams commands to my arms and legs, I can't do anything. But I can still talk. I snarl an acid invective at him, and his grins lopsidedly.
"You know, I'm beginning to like you, Captain Janeway. Perhaps I will keep you after all this is over, after all." He smiles wickedly, a dark light flashing in his eyes. "But first, let's see what you can do." He shoves me roughly to the wall, and I can't do anything but comply.
I begin to scream.
I sit tensely in the briefing room, entwining my fingers together. Irej, Chell and Nartleb have joined us, as well as Naomi. I invited her, so that I can have someone to hold my hand. Naomi looks worried. Everyone does.
Nartleb shows us video footage from the kidnapping, while Chell keeps up a nervous running commentary. The renegades rush into the scene, creating a diversion while the single masked man darts Kathryn and beams out. Then all the rest do. It is a clever ploy.
As I told your captain, it would be best if your ship leaves now before the situation aggravates further, says Nartleb.
And leave her here, with these beasts, says Chakotay angrily.
Unacceptable, says Seven emphatically.
Maybe it's going to take a while for it to sink into your thick brain, says B'Elanna testily, but we just don't abandon crewmembers.
She'd do the same for us, Harry adds.
Nartleb sighs. Maybe it's going to take a while for this to sink in for you, but your captain is as good as dead. The renegades will keep her, even after they get the girl from you.
Chakotay stares straight at Nartleb. Maybe it's going to take a while for this to sink in, but I'm not intending to let them do either of those things.
Nartleb gives him a skeptical look. And just what is your plan to rescue her?
Chakotay glares at him, but says nothing. The silence speaks loudly for itself: We don't have a plan for saving her.
I twist my fingers together as Naomi grips my wrist, frightened. I think frantically, there's always a way. Always an alternative. Kathryn said that.
Um… sir? Says Irej timidly, raising his hand slightly. If I may, there is one possibility. The renegade ships are old and they don't have much shielding against the harshest of the plasma storms in the aachi moridoka. If you could bait them and draw them inside, the radiation might destroy them.
B'Elanna starts to protest, and I know what she's going to say. The sensors show that there's too much radiation inside of the storm for even a ship of my design to take.
The Suhtoma radiation in the interior of the storms is enough to overload the bioneural circuitry, says B'Elanna. The ship's exterior would be undamaged, but what about Voyager? We don't know what it'll do to her.
I'm ready to take the risk, I tell her strongly. We've got to get her out of there.
There must be some other way, says Tom in exasperation.
There isn't any easier way, I tell him.
Tuvok frowns. I must admit that the ship is right. Of all the methods we've suggested so far, this is the one with the least risk.
Even so, says Neelix, how in the world are we going to bait the renegades into the plasma storm without inciting them to kill the captain?
We'll think of something, says Chakotay bluntly. The real problem is, how are we going to get her out of there?
Easy, I say, seeing the solution at once, piecing information from various sources. We can send someone in there first to put a transponder nanite into Kathryn. Then when the ship enters the plasma storm, their shields will weaken. We disable them, beam Kathryn over, and run.
And within five hours everyone on the renegade ship will be dead! Says Nartleb in delight. What an excellent plan!
I want to go on that ship, I say firmly.
Too risky, says Chakotay. Someone- maybe Nayr- will recognize you.
I fold my arms and set my jaw. I'm going, no matter what you say.
No, and that's final, says Chakotay in rebuff. I won't let you put yourself in danger.
I stand up and walk over to Chakotay. She'd do the same for me, I tell him firmly. It's my fault that she's in there in the first place, and I want to get her out. I give him a beseeching look. Please? I ask.
Chakotay sighs. Even so, how are we going to get you onboard the ship?
I sneak in.
How?
Naomi raises her hand. Commander? I think I have an idea.
I don't know how long I've been in here. Time is relative, and it seems like infinity. I curl up on the cold floor of my cell and try to sleep. I hurt everywhere- my head, my back, my legs, between my legs, my neck… The throbbing in my cheek has grown almost unbearable. Noswad enjoys aggravating it very much, and I hate to think of the kind of fractures it has sustained.
I can't sleep. Softly I sing a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was little, a traditional song called The Prayer. The sweet melody brings back memories of my childhood on Earth.
"Let this be our prayer; just like every child… needs to find a place; guide us with your grace, give us faith so we'll be safe." I repeat the refrain over and over again, drawing comfort from it, using it to shut out the pain.
I hear footsteps and voices. I recognize Noswad's voice, and flinch inwardly. I've been here less than a day, but already I have come to dread that deep basso profundo voice, the rough caresses of his hands… I begin to sing again, more agitatedly this time. I will not allow Noswad to rule me by fear.
The forcefield's hum is disrupted. Someone has come into my cell, confirming my worst fears. I look up to glare at Noswad-
-and my heart leaps as I see who is standing beside him. Naomi Wildman, carrying a wicker basket. But why her?
Noswad's lips curl. "Your daughter is here to see you," he says. His face seems suffused with anger at himself for displaying such weakness by letting her in. "To see her last, no doubt." He stares intensely at Naomi, who doesn't flinch. "You have ten minutes, no more, no less!" Then he storms out. The forcefield flickers into place behind him.
I sit up and gaze at Naomi in confusion. Daughter? I don't get it. But the moment Noswad is gone, her brave façade crumbles, and she rushes over to me, flinging her arms around my neck. When she pulls away, it's Voyager's tear-stained face that I see, not Naomi's. All she'd done was to alter her image so she wouldn't be recognized.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, hugging me fiercely. "Everything I said about you was wrong, and now you're in here and it's all my fault."
I pat her back, trying to soothe her. "It's not your fault, dear, it really isn't. And everything's going to be all right."
She nods, taking deep breaths, trying to get her emotions under control.
"How did you get here? What's happening on board the ship?" I ask her.
"I came on the Delta Flyer," she says. "The ship is preparing now." She leans forward and whispers in a conspiring manner, "We've got a plan to get you out of here."
"Tell me about it," I say.
Voyager nods, then her eyes widen as she glances at my cheek. She puts her hand out gently to touch it. "You're hurt." She turns to the basket and pulls out a medikit, probably taken from the Flyer. She picks up the med tricorder and runs it over me. Her jaw tenses as she studies the readout, then she says in a trembling voice, "They hurt you," in a tone that tells me that she knows precisely what's been going on in this cell. Her hand quivers, and she grips the tricorder with enough force to leave indents in the surface.
I gently brush the tear trickling down her cheek with my hand. "I'll be fine, Voyager."
She removes a hypo from the medikit and places it against my neck. She leans close to administer the shot, and whispers in my ear, "There are transponder nanites in here. We're going to use them to beam you out."
I frown. "How are you going to get past their shields?"
"I'm not. We're baiting them into a severe plasma storm within the aachi moridoka, then we'll fight. This will disrupt their shields, then we'll beam you out and go. Their ships aren't designed to withstand the Suhtoma radiation, so they'll either blow up, or their crew will die from the exposure. Except you, because I've just given you an inoculation against it."
It doesn't sound like a foolproof method to me. "If the level of Suhtoma radiation is so high, they won't follow you into the plasma storms."
"They can't tell how bad the radiation is, and they don't know what effects the radiation has. They need the technology, and they'll do anything to get it."
Even kill me, I think bitterly. But there's something else Voyager isn't telling me. "You're not telling me something, Voyager. I can tell."
She glances at the floor for a moment, biting her lip. Then she looks up. "B'Elanna says that the level of radiation may be too high even for my bioneural circuitry to withstand." She fidgets a little. "She thinks that I may get hurt."
"Hurt? How so?" I ask, genuine concern rising for her.
"She thinks that I may be… killed," the girl says slowly. "But no harm will be done to the ship's
structure and function."
"No," I say firmly. "It's too risky, then. Don't do it."
When she next speaks, her voice is soft and sad, but it holds a layer of steel beneath. "The ship and the crew need you, Kathryn. They can't function without the captain. But they don't need me. They didn't even know I existed until two days ago."
"I won't let a member of my crew die like this," I tell her, refusing to sacrifice this sweet young child just to save myself.
"You'd do the same for me," whispers Voyager. "You'd willingly die for your ship. If I were ever to die, you'd be the only one who'd be willing to go down with me."
"It's my duty as a captain-" I begin to say, but she interrupts me.
"Not every captain today would do it," she argues. "But you would." Her eyes shine brightly with tears and she hugs me fiercely. "You're the closest thing to a mother I've ever had."
I, too, blink back tears as I hug her. "And you've become like a daughter to me."
"Maybe it won't be so bad," she says. "Maybe I'll still be around. But…" her voice breaks. "I think it's best that I wait till we return to the Alpha Quadrant before I come out again. I still have so much to learn, and I don't want to risk any of my crew's lives again."
I suddenly realize that she hasn't just come to tell me of the plan, she's come to say goodbye. My heart aches. "I barely got to know you," I tell her, taking her hand.
"There'll always be time," she says softly. Then she straightens up. "I just wanted you to know- that you were right for doing what you did… everything you did. You got us all the way here in one piece. And I've seen more of the galaxy than I ever would have in the Alpha Quadrant. And now you'll get us all the way home."
I smile lopsidedly at her. "I'll miss you," I say.
She smiles back. "Me too." She breaks her embrace as she stands up, reluctantly. Noswad is at the doorway. Her features morph back into those of Naomi's. "Goodbye, Kathryn."
The forcefield flickers off, and she heads towards it, looking over her shoulder all the time. "Goodbye," I say softly, as the field snaps back on. Then I curl back on the floor and try to bury my misery.