Chapter 5

"Any sign of the Romulans?" Captain Picard asked.

"None sir," Worf answered briefly.

Picard sighed. It had been three hours and they still had not found the Romulan Warbird. So far Lt. Worf's attempts to track them down had had no results but failure. 19 people had been taken. 15 of them were teenagers, and the rest security personnel. The parents of the teens had been gently informed as to what had happened, and had also been assured that everything possible would be done to get them back. Still, it had taken some work to keep a few of them calm, and Counselor Troi's help had been greatly appreciated on that front. Especially considering the fact that her sister had been kidnapped as well.

As for Beverly, who immediately after learning had come straight to the bridge, she sat next to Troi beside herself with worry even so. She had done nothing for the past three hours but stare straight ahead at the viewscreen and every few minutes ask Worf the same question that Picard had just asked. Unfortunately, so far the answer had been no every time. Other than that, the bridge was unusually quiet.

After hearing Worf's answer, Picard sighed inwardly and gave Deanna and Beverly a sympathetic glance. Oh, if only they could find them!

A soft groan woke Kathren from her nap. The young Betazoid blinked and rubbed her eyes. Whoops, she thought, sitting up. I didn't mean to fall asleep. That was somewhat strange; it had only been mid-morning when they had been transported off the Enterprise. How long have we been here? She wondered. Then she heard another groan, and remembered what had woken her up.

"Wesley?" Kathren asked quietly, turning to the window. She pushed a bit of blonde hair behind her ear that had escaped her braid while she slept. Wesley seemed to waking up. He shifted and groaned again. "Wesley?" Kathren said again, a little louder this time. Slowly her friend's eyes opened.

"Huh? Wha…Where?" Wesley asked confusedly, starting to push himself up from where he had landed on his back on the floor. "Oww," he winced.

Kathren sighed, "We're on a Romulan ship, Wes."

"Oh…yeah," he said. "I know." Then he pushed himself up into a sitting position against the wall. He gasped and shut his eyes from the pain in his back when he did it.

"Be careful!" Kathren cried in alarm, wishing she could get to him.

"I'm okay," Wesley said, the sharp pain in his back having quickly receded to a dull ache. "It just hurt when I sat up. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm 'fine', Kathren," he said forcibly.

"All right, all right."

Wes sighed. "So now I guess we have to find a way out of here, huh?"

"Yeah," Kathren replied. "Or hope that the Enterprise rescues us." She was about to say something else, but then she heard someone enter the large outer room. Both she and Wesley stood as they looked out to see two Romulans headed their way. The Romulans retrieved the two teenagers from their cells, and then, without any explanation, began to lead toward the door.

As they walked., Kathren's gaze happened to fall on one of the security officers, and she noticed that he didn't have his combadge. Kathren quickly glanced at the other three; they didn't have theirs either. She looked at Wesley, and the expression on his face when he looked back at her told her he'd noticed, too.

This was not good. Well, at least now they knew at least one of the reasons why they were being taken somewhere, but that couldn't be all it was, could it? A few moments later they were still walking and they were both getting a little impatient. They glanced over at each other, and after a few seconds of silent eye conversation between the two friends, they knew what they were going to do. The Romulans suspected nothing, and thus, at the same moment, they were both able to surprise the guards by breaking free and running for it.

However, the Romulans recovered quickly. One of them grabbed Wesley's shoulders from behind and swung him around, slamming him against the wall. Kathren tried to ward off the other, but he knocked her to the ground.

"Kat!" Wes yelped, finally pushing the first one off of him and starting toward her. But then he stopped and swayed, dizzy; apparently the harsh impact of his already bruised head against the wall had not helped his stability. So, the Romulans seized their captives again, and continued down the corridor.

"Well, that didn't work," Wesley scowled.

"Nope," Kathren sighed.

Several minutes later the Romulans finally stopped in front of a set of double doors. The doors opened, and the teens looked around curiously as they were led in. The room was rather large, with huge metal shelves lining the walls and in rows inside. Some of the shelves held large containers, and some were empty. It was obviously a cargo bay of some sort, but it didn't feel like a cargo bay. It felt different; there was a frightening air to the bay, but neither Wesley nor Kathren could put a finger on exactly what it was.

But why had the Romulans brought them here? Well, hopefully they would get some answers now. The Romulan Commander was waiting for them a few yards away.

"What's going on?" Wesley demanded of him angrily.

"Why are we here?" from Kathren.

The Commander frowned. "You're on my ship because I want you to be, and we're on our way to Romulus. That is all you need to know and all I am going to tell you."

Kathren and Wesley froze. If the Warbird reached Romulus, or even crossed the Romulan Neutral Zone before the Enterprise rescued them, it would be much harder to get them back. There was also a chance that if they got that far they would never see home again at all. Neither of them had really realized it as a possibility until just now, and it scared both of them. The friends gulped, telling themselves, assuring themselves that they would be rescued in time.