Keep on reading and reviewing, especially reading because I'm almost done.

"Miral, you can't."

"Why not?" Miral shouted back at her mother, "It will save us."

"It's ridiculous."

"It's the only way."

"Miral, we don't even know if you can."

"I can try, Mum."

"And what if it goes wrong, or if there's something we didn't take into account, something we didn't know about. What if these Gobi catch you, what would they do?"

"I understand the risks, it's always risky, but sometimes we have to take risks."

"Accepted risks – " B'Elanna began.

"This is an accepted risk." Shouted Miral.

Neither noticed when Ensign Saka stopped beside them.

"What is an accepted risk?" he asked very quietly.

Miral stared at her mother, as if to defy an answer. B'Elanna stared back. "I have a way to get out." Miral said.

"Really?" He sounded surprised, "Would you care to share it with your senior tactical officer?"

The three discussed for nearly three hours. The first, Miral had explained her special ability to control energy and it's benefits. The second, she had explained how it would help them to escape. For most of the third, she had explained her ability once again....

"... I just concentrate on the particles and there's a kind of .. connection.. so they know what I want them to do." Miral peered hopefully into the confused Ensign's face, "Look, it doesn't matter if you understand how it works or not, but I can do it and I plan to use it to get us out."

"And once we're out, how will we escape the subspace pocket?" Saka asked.

"We will deal with than when we come to it. At the very least, we can use my abilities to a great extent, I'm sure." said Miral.

"And this works, does it, Captain?" Saka asked.

"Yes... It has in the past, on a much smaller scale." he Captain answered.

"And you believe it will work?" Saka asked Miral.

"Yes." she affirmed, although sounding much more confident than she felt.

"Very well, I believe it is worth an attempt." Saka nodded.

"We should go as soon as possible." the Captain said, "To avoid suspicion."

"I concur. Is there anything we can do to help prepare, Miral." said Saka.

"No, but I believe we should tell all the other prisoners."

"Agreed."

Miral spoke to most of the factions herself, her command of languages an obvious asset. The time for her 'performance' was almost here and she was beginning to have serious doubts. She doubted if she could do such a large scale thing with so much energy, far more complicated than anything else she had encountered. She doubted whether she could get Q out in time to save him; she didn't fully understand what was wrong with him but could see it was very bad. Q had lost his energetic brilliance and it kept decreasing through the day; Miral doubted if he could handle another running drill or being hit by one of those cannons.

Miral stood in front of a wall, to the others gathered around her she was staring at a solid, solemn brick wall. She was concentrating, watching the particles, looking for a way in. They had a mind of their own, they were far more complex than anything before. Someone called out behind her, something about hurrying up in this futile exercise. Her concentration faltered for a moment. She snapped her attention back so quickly, it took her a minute to realize that she had entered the energy domain. The feeling was extraordinary and she let out a loud gasp as the shock forced all her muscles to contract.

She set to work, she didn't know what to expect – on the other side or from the particles themselves. They had a mind of their own, as she already suspected, they seemd to be contemplating her directions. She had to move more particles than she ever had before, and how many more there were, she didn't know. It was hard, she knew some had given in. Someone behind her shouted again, in awe of the deformation in the wall. She wouldn't let it bother her, she had to focus and then .... Something snapped, in her mind or elsewhere. She felt what the particles felt, had their infinite wisdom of the universe, felt everything else around her as the particles would.

She took a step forward and, waving her hand, the particles flowed like water into the shape of a giant roman arch – nothing was too complex now and she added pillars and curves. She was in a hall, outside of the cell. Something was letting out a low monotonous bell, soldiers were running. She turned and saw guards, several of them, running toward her. She waved her arms forward and a clear forcefield of particles erected itself, like a tunnel, around her.

She didn't know if those behind her were following, she could only assume they were. She opened an archway in front of her again. She didn't know where thye were, something was missing: oxygen. As soon as she had realized it, the gas materialized around them. She erected a spherical forcefield around the group. She knew the group was there, amazingly, she could sense them, she could almost see them.

They were running, along a bridge to nowhere she thought into existence. Where was – she knew something was coming, something very important, crucial to their survival – there it was. A loud snap sounded and a flash of brilliant white light. Miral's heightened consciousness was cut off, or tested – she couldn't tell. Her mind screamed in pain, that was it.