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Chapter Nine
Chakotay felt all eyes of the bridge crew on him at Harry's grim statement. They were still following him, but were unsure of what he was going to do next.
"If the Captain is being held, it must be against her will. Check any large facilities, medical or correctional. We've got to start somewhere. We experienced interference with our scanners last time we were here. Is there any way we can modify them, work around this problem?"
"I'm on it," B'Elanna said, striding crisply over to Harry's station to assist him. She pulled out a panel under the console, and began to reconfigure something.
"I'm reading five such structures in the metropolitan area where the Captain was lost," Harry replied after a few minutes. "Two medical, two correctional, and some sort of government dormitory."
"Tom, can you hack into their systems?" Chakotay asked. "We need layouts of these buildings, as well as knowledge of their security systems." Tom raised one eyebrow at him, and swiveled in his chair to make the attempt.
B'Elanna crawled out from under the console, and said, "I think I've got something. Let me double check the alignment of the main sensor array, and I'll let you know for sure." She called out the last phrase over her shoulder as the 'lift doors closed, completely in her element.
Chakotay glanced over at Tuvok, who was punching up readouts on the screen adjacent to his chair. "We have 23 minutes remaining, Captain," he remarked.
"I'm aware of that, Commander." Chakotay said, and the two officers' eyes met for a moment in understanding. "Find out how far their planetary sensors extend. Check out their moon; see if we could hide behind it, if necessary." He raised his voice to address the entire bridge crew. "Before we go through all this cloak and dagger procedure, I'd like to make sure that it's even feasible to get the Captain out." Or that she's actually even alive… the phrase remained unspoken, but resounded around the bridge as if someone had shouted it.
Chakotay tried to push back the doubt that had begun creeping over him. You're crazy, it hissed. She's dead, and you've lost your mind. Even if you don't end up getting everyone killed, Tuvok will surely remove you as unfit for command. He shoved the thought aside, and shored up his reserve strength, turning his full concentration to the task before him.
Tom's console chirped. "I got it, Captain. Floor plans, security protocols. There could be others that are more highly encrypted though."
"Good work, Commander. Load it onto a dataPADD."
"It's not gonna be worth much, if we have no idea where they're holding the Captain." Tom added.
"I know, Tom." Chakotay hit his commbadge. "B'Elanna, what do you have for me?"
"Harry, check your readout," came B'Elanna's order, by way of response.
"She's enhanced sensor acuity by 22!" Harry sounded astounded for only a moment, and then began his scan again. "I have her," his voice was nearly cracking in excitement. "One human biosign."
Chakotay clenched his trembling hands together, and managed to speak levelly. "Where is she?"
"In the dormitory."
"Can we transport her out?"
"Negative. There's some kind of security field in place at that end of the building."
"Of course." Chakotay muttered under his breath. He turned to Tuvok. "After we beam down, take Voyager out of here at warp, until they're satisfied that we're gone. Take position behind one of those moons or asteroids. Avoid being detected, but stay in communications range."
"Captain – "
"Don't try to talk me out of it, Tuvok. I know I'm the Captain, but I got us into this, I'm not going to let someone else risk his or her life in my place."
"Captain, I was going to say, bring her home safely." Chakotay half-smiled then, and clapped Tuvok's shoulder.
"Paris, Ayala, you're with me. Tell the EMH to get his holo-emitter, and meet us in the transporter room." He strode to the 'lift, and turned at the doors. "Tuvok, monitor their communications. It would be best if no one realized we were down there."
"Understood, Captain." Tuvok said, and turned his attention back to the readouts.
Chakotay briefed the team in the transporter room, while handing out small devices. "Wrap these around your arm; they will help with beam out. Hopefully, while Mr. Tuvok cannot beam us into the shielded area, with these, he can beam us out of there. Doctor, up the frequency on your emitter… we want you out of there too.
"Paris, Ayala… you will be beamed to the lower level of the building. You need to disable the main power grid. Set off some alarms, start a fire or something. Distract them, and then get out of there. The doctor and I will retrieve the Captain.
"Doctor, do you have your medkit?" The EMH nodded. "Here, put these in there." Chakotay put several black, flat triangular devices in the bag.
"Triangulators?" Tom asked.
"The Captain probably no longer has her commbadge." Chakotay looked each of them in the eyes briefly. "We ready?"
The other men nodded. "Paris, you and Ayala first. We'll be about 2 minutes behind you…and 5 levels above you. Do your job, and get out. Understood?"
"Aye, sir," they said together, deadly serious. Seconds later, they shimmered out of sight.
Two minutes later, Chakotay and the EMH shimmered into a sterile white corridor. It was absolutely silent.
"Well?" The EMH queried, raising his eyebrows. Chakotay raised a finger for silence. He noted a small recording device mounted in one corner. It began to rotate in their direction. Farther down the corridor, a forcefield crackled a translucent blue.
"Come on Tom!" he said under his breath. Seconds seemed to stretch out into years. The recorder moved closer. Sweat began to form under Chakotay's arms, and he felt as if he were breathing loudly enough to wake the dead.
All hell broke loose.
Klaxons began to shrill, but were quickly silenced as main power went offline. Red, emergency lighting came on, but the halls were dim and eerie. The forcefield was down. Somewhere far away, they could here shouting and the sounds of running feet, but the sounds soon faded.
"All right, here we go." Chakotay jerked his head in the direction of the now defunct forcefield. The two men strode quickly down the empty corridor. "She'll probably still be under guard, but if we can get her away long enough to triangulate her position, we should be able to beam up without having to come back outside the shielding."
"Would that not be powerless as well?" asked the doctor.
"No. Paris's information said it had an outside power source." They had wound their way through many twists and turns, and the corridor came to an end at a T-junction.
"Which way?" Chakotay checked his tricorder. The biosign was to the right. They quickly continued that direction, and began passing doors every few feet.
"Cells," Chakotay hissed. "Check them." He began looking in the ones on the left, while the doctor took the ones on the right.
He found her in the fourth cell. She was curled in a fetal position on a narrow cot, sleeping peacefully. He wrenched the door handle, only to find it locked.
"Damn!" he swore violently. There was a keypad under the door handle. "They're password protected." He attached the tricorder to the lock through a data port, and hit a sequence of keys.
Numbers began to scroll rapidly up the tricorder's screen, and a "3" appeared stationary. A corresponding symbol lit up on the keypad. Numbers scrolled again, and a "7" flashed up next to the "3". Another symbol illuminated.
"This is taking too long, dammit." Power flickered in the hallways, and he thought he could hear the faraway murmur of voices.
"Captain…" the EMH had a warning tone to his voice.
"I know, Doctor. I can't make it go any faster." There was a "5", then a "2". Numbers continued to stream past.
"C'mon, c'mon." Chakotay chanted, as if to urge the tricorder on. Another "3" appeared.
He did hear voices now, approaching rapidly. He swayed on the balls of his feet, preparing to move quickly.
A "2" appeared. The numbers stopped abruptly. The keypad chirped and turned purple. There was a distinct sound of a latch releasing. Chakotay could have sworn the EMH had been holding his breath.
Chakotay turned the knob. The voices stopped, and then changed their tenor. There was a sound of running feet.
"Hurry!" Chakotay shouted, and the EMH began to toss him triangulators. He slapped them on the floor, and then grabbed Kathryn by the shoulders.
"Kathryn, you've got to get up. Come on!" She stood slowly to her feet, looking bewildered.
There was a cacophony of noise and shouting the corridor. Chakotay stood her in the middle of the triangulators. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Chakotay to Voyager, three to beam up."
The door crashed open, and Chakotay heard the sharp hiss of weapons fire. He turned to shield Kathryn's body with his own.
And heard the familiar whine of the transporter.
They rematerialized in sickbay, an arrangement obviously made by the EMH. Chakotay slapped his commbadge.
"Chakotay to the bridge."
"Tuvok here, sir."
"Did Paris and Ayala return unharmed?"
"Affirmative, Captain. How is the Captain?"
"Unknown. The doctor is checking her out. I'll keep you informed."
This had all occurred in a matter of seconds, and Kathryn Janeway had yet to speak. She looked around with frightened eyes, and backed away from Chakotay's approaching form, as Chakotay lifted his hand to close the commlink.
As it was, the link to the bridge was still open, when they heard her shriek,
"Who the hell are you? And where have you taken me?"
TBC