"In the future, we avoid all planets where we cannot transport down, understood?" Janeway said grimly, arms around her knees, which were drawn up to support her aching head. Of all the times to suffer a migraine, she thought resentfully. What a day. "In fact, we don't leave Voyager at all. If they want to meet, they can bloody well come up to us. No more getting involved in petty conflicts. No more getting abducted. No-" she cut herself off and fumed silently.
"Vent all you like, Captain. I'm not going anywhere," Chakotay said dryly.
She ignored him. The pain was increasing, to the stage where mere chitchat wasn't helping to detract her attention from it. They both heard footsteps, and straightened to attention, though aware of their vulnerability, to face the new threat.
This time, there was only the leader, a female Rian'chMur and two guards with him. It was as if to say that he didn't consider his last encounter with Janeway enough to colour her a threat. The thought that perhaps this lack of guards might be because more might signify his fear of the threat she posed to his authority made Janeway grin. She had to think of more ways to undermine his standing.
"Well, well, well," the female surveyed them with interest. "Fascinating specimens, I don't believe I recognize their species."
"Who cares about their species?" the leader said coldly. "They are insignificant."
"As you say," the female bowed slightly, with an amused twist to her mouth. It was plain she had heard the story of Janeway felling him; she looked closely at her. "Such a small woman, too…"
A small snarl escaped the leader. "If they will suit, I have other matters to attend to," he snapped.
The female snapped to business. "Oh, yes, they are definitely perfect."
"Very well. I will leave you to conduct your business," the leader said with a brisk nod before leaving; posture proud, carefully not having once looked at Janeway during the entire proceeding.
"They will do just fine…"
The smile she directed at the two humans made Janeway think, with a sinking heart, that the effect of whatever this woman planned for them would probably be anything but fine for them. The guards roughly dragged Janeway and Chakotay to their feet and then shoved them after the female.
"Now, you see, insignificant or not, I feel that since I'm shortly going to be knowing you very closely, providing the experiment is successful, which I'm sure it will be," Janeway exchanged an disconcerted look with Chakotay at the mention of an experiment, "I may as well explain what's going to happen. Oh, by the way, my name is Prytelle, and your names would be…?" she looked enquiringly at them.
"I'm Captain Janeway, he's Commander Chakotay," Janeway provided shortly. "We're from the Federation Starship Voyager."
She noted with curiosity that their surroundings had altered. Their cell had appeared simplistic, indicative of a technologically backward race. However, the corridor they were currently walking down was vaguely reminiscent of one of Voyager's corridors.
"How charming," Prytelle said. "Now, Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, my area of interest is in the brain. Garkon, oh, you know, Captain Janeway, the one you knocked down, nicely done, by the way, I applaud your courage and audacity, is kind enough to provide me with a few every now and again when I need them and it's terribly fascinating and so educational," Janeway thought she detected a shudder from the guard propelling her along after Prytelle. "But now I'm finally making breakthroughs in a method that will be useful to the Opposition," she looked at them triumphantly. "I've devised a- well, I haven't decided what I'm going to call it yet, but it will allow me to examine your brains in a rather different way, allowing me access to your thoughts, your memories, experiences! Think of what this will mean! Now torture, which is a tedious and so unreliable a method of extracting information from captives, is no longer necessary, thanks to my genius."
They entered what appeared to be a lab or a sickbay, both perhaps, and a rather untidy one at that, with equipment everywhere, much of which Janeway could identify. It certainly didn't give off the impression of a primitive race, Janeway noted wryly. Were these contradictions meant to confuse them?
"Oh, pardon the mess," Prytelle said, noting where their attention had been diverted. "I've been so excited I haven't had the chance to clean up. Now, where was I…ah hah!" She flourished a hypospray, containing what was no doubt a sedative.
Janeway racked her brains, but there seemed no way of escaping. There was a hiss as the contents of the hypospray emptied into her, causing her vision to blur as the sedative came into effect. Chakotay, too, was sedated, and the two were placed on bio-beds. Prytelle dismissed the guards brightly, but as they left, the smile instantly vanished and her expression, as she regarded the two unconscious officers, was coldly satisfied. Then even that expression was blanked out as she applied herself to work. There was a complex procedure in front of her, and she couldn't allow stray emotions to distract her…
When Janeway regained consciousness, she didn't immediately spring into action. She took the time to simply breathe, stretch, assess her injuries- extensive but not life threatening, was her diagnosis- and then almost reluctantly open her eyes. For a moment, she thought she had gone blind as her eyes opened wide to see nothing but darkness, panic threatening to destroy the calm state she was in and incapacitate her by way of insanity. Then she began to distinguish shades of darkness and realized there was simply no light.
She frowned as she discerned another person's breathing.
"Chakotay?"
"I'm here," his blessedly familiar voice came out of the darkness.
Janeway looked over in his direction but couldn't see him clearly, or even tell exactly where he was. A hand patted the floor next to her before touching her hand and enveloping it comfortingly. Janeway didn't feel that action particularly appropriate, but was willing to take it in the spirit it was offered, and attribute it to the difficult situation they found themselves together in. However she justified it, she was damn glad Chakotay was with her- wherever that was.
"Any idea where we are?"
"Not where we were before," he offered. "It feels different."
Janeway nodded. The 'cell' they'd been in before had basically been a wooden structure built on soil; no floor. This was clearly a less simplistic structure. With a hunch, she called, "Lights."
Instant illumination highlighted their current prison beyond what their light deprived eyes could stand. "Dim lights."
Janeway looked at Chakotay, able to make out his features now. "I guess we've been upgraded," she said.
"Yeah. Guess so," he agreed. "Look, lack of restraints."
"What do you think that means?"
He shrugged. "We've been getting mixed signals during this whole escapade. Why should anything make sense now?"
Janeway nodded in cynical accord. A door hissing open caught their attention as a single Rian'chMur entered, carrying bowls, which he shoved through the old fashioned bars of their cell. He didn't say a word as he left.
"Friendly sort of fellow," Chakotay noted with irony. He eyed the green froth that looked like stewed leaves blended in a soup of some sort, and half-heartedly muttered, "Looks delicious." He dipped a finger into it. "Creamy," he said, tasting it with a thoughtful air. "Hey, Kathryn. It's not as bad as your cooking, would you believe?"
She looked at him for a second, wondering at his cheery, more informal mood, but decided to play along, saying, "That wouldn't be too hard to accomplish. Is that a recommendation? Because it's not one that gives me a lot of faith in this gunk."
"Come on, you have to eat," he reprimanded her. "Keep up your energy."
"This is going to keep up my energy? Perhaps from the expression on my face you can tell I'm very dubious about that," Janeway said wryly.
Chakotay looked sternly at her. She stared impassively back, then casually dipped a finger in the other bowl to try out the dish. Studying the paste on her finger carefully, Janeway delicately touched it to the tip of her tongue, swallowing cautiously. It was…tasteless. Rather like rice, actually. She shrugged mentally to herself. Tasteless was better than disgusting. She took another swipe at the disreputable contents of the dish, clearing off the thin, frothy film of the soup- images of the frothy layer of a cappuccino filled her wistful mind- and swallowed the bland fare.
Then she noticed the burst of red light emanating from the watery depths of the bowl. A second of sheer disbelief and confusion passed before she reached out and grabbed it, dismissing the twinges and aches that accompanied that sudden maneuver. Chakotay had noticed her preoccupation and watched intently as she fished the device out of the soup.
"What do you think?" she asked him, examining the object.
"Tricorder," he stated, grabbing his bowl and scooping off the frothy top, also removing an object. "And here we have a phaser." He closer to her so they could converse in lower tones. "Judging by the method they were smuggled in, I don't exactly think they were authorized."
She looked over at him. "So maybe someone in here isn't who they seem. What else is new?"
"You think there's an agent of the government in here, maybe?"
"Think of Tuvok in the Maquis," Janeway agreed. "It's inevitable that the government would have had a few agents infiltrate this group." Anger filled her. "If they knew of the situation, they shouldn't have asked us here in the first place."
"Easy, Kathryn. Maybe the situation only became volatile recently, maybe the agent couldn't safely report that the group was gaining more power, perhaps this is an isolated event…" Chakotay said. "Although that begs the question of why they have a spy in here- if that's what it is."
Janeway eyed him sceptically. "You don't think that someone had a change of heart, do you? Decided to help the poor, defenceless prisoners?" She narrowed her eyes. "On the other hand, who says this is to help us?"
"You may be right," Chakotay considered that. "The guard who knocked you out had to take your punishment. Must be some sort of atonement; if their leader was humiliated and needed to avenge his honour, it could be similar the Klingon mentality, but you were out cold because of that guy…then he was responsible for the dishonour," he shook his head. "I don't know, and I can't really say I care, given our current position. I just think we should proceed with caution."
"When am I not the soul of caution?"
Chakotay refrained from answering.
"I wonder if that guard knows about it," Janeway frowned. "If he was in on it, he should have told us a little more."
Janeway went over to the panel attached to the bars she reasoned was a lock of some sort and scanned it. She frowned.
"This is going to take brute force," she muttered, grabbing the phaser from Chakotay and aiming at the lock.
"Kathryn!"
"What?" she said in annoyance. "I'm just going to-"
Chakotay ignored her, brushing her ponytail away from her neck.
"Commander?" she demanded, then froze as he tapped on something that clicked back metallically, a barely inaudible sound but for the fact that it was located right behind her left ear.
Janeway dropped the tricorder, letting it fall heedlessly to the floor in a clatter, and reached up automatically. Disregarding the shock that went through her at the touch of Chakotay's fingers, she felt behind her ear lobe, intent on finding what the hell was attached to her… "Oh, no," she said. "What has she done to us?"
Chakotay shrugged.
"Turn around, Commander," she ordered him, bracing a hand on his shoulder as she tiptoed to check him- and hissed in a breath as she saw what she assumed was a similar device to the one attached to her. Small, almost unnoticeable, a sliver of silver…she wondered how he had noticed it but that was not important. She stared at him, struggling to understand what had happened.
"I don't feel any different," Chakotay said quietly.
"Neither."
"It's like the Borg, only understated, discreet," Janeway said grimly. "I suppose the consequences of removing them heedlessly would be as severe. Not that I'm sure how, short of phasering my own ear off."
"What was that the Doctor said, about removing Seven's implants? Synaptic failure, possible permanent brain damage?" Chakotay said softly.
Janeway's lips thinned, and her fists clenched- around the phaser she still held. She felt full of nervous energy, wanting to be out of there, needing to get out. She returned her attention to the control panel and depressed the trigger, fusing the controls together. Spirals of smoke made her cough, but she ignored them and dislocated the wrecked controls with a good kick. Janeway grasped the bars, then tugged to the side with all her might. Chakotay added his strength and the bars slid to the side, with only the barest whisper of noise, leaving them free agents.
"This could be a trap," Chakotay said quietly, after picking up the tricorder she had dropped and handing it to her. She handed him the phaser solemnly and nodded, having already considered that. She stepped out of their cell.
"What alternative do we have?"
They exited the room.