Kathryn leaned back into the chair. It had taken her a long time to make the decision to drag herself into it, knowing full well that she would be revealing just how weak she was by doing so. A light had come on in the room after the voice had disappeared. She couldn't see any sort of monitoring device in the room but chose to assume that she was being watched. It was a plain room, about 15 feet by 20. It had neither the look of a holding cell, or of a guest bedroom but something of a strange mixture. The walls and floor were bare and unadorned but there was an armchair, a distinctly Victorian looking bed and a small table with a glass containing what looked like water placed on top. Kathryn had considered her position for a few moments before moving to the chair. She was very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain and the cold floor had been chilling her to her bones. It hardly mattered that they knew of her condition, since all they would need was a basic weapon to kill her as she had no way of defending herself and no way to contact Voyager.

She had not taken the word of the strange creature at first, trying repeatedly both to contact Voyager and testing her phaser on the nearby table. However, it appeared that the alien was correct and neither would function here, wherever here might be. Kathryn calculated that she had not been there for more than half an hour. That had given her plenty of time to think about her situation. Survival instinct had kicked in and, unnerved as she was, the fears from her past no longer crippled her thinking. These people might not be associated with whoever had given her the virus, but who were these 'friends' that they had spoken of, and what did they want with her? Kathryn knew that Voyager possessed advanced Starfleet technology which was unlikely to have been seen by many races in this part of the galaxy, and that kidnapping her was a more useful way of acquiring her ship than launching an attack which would risk damage to the systems.

Who were these people, the apparent 'hit men' of some other race? They did not seem violent, had not threatened her and seemed to be attempting to make her reasonably comfortable. Kathryn didn't trust these conflicting signals at all. She was getting thirsty but wouldn't have touched the glass on the table for any amount of money. She had had enough experience of her body being invaded by alien substances lately.

Just as she was contemplating what these 'friends' were going to do with her, the door on the far side of the room opened, admitting a small group of people. Several of them were strange to Kathryn; they were tall and thin with greenish skin and large eyes. The figure at the head of the group turned and nodded to them and they left again. There was no mistaking the identity of this creature when he turned around; Tarnak, the Cardassian who had been responsible for her torture and interrogation 5 years previously.

---------------

"On screen"

Chakotay watched the Cardassian ship drift lazily in orbit around the planet. It had been detected coming through the wormhole less than 3 minutes earlier. Sensors indicated that one life form had beamed down to the planet and two remained on board. They were still far from the ship, but Voyager must have registered on its sensors and Chakotay wondered why they had not acknowledged Voyager's presence. He wanted nothing more than to blast the damn thing out of the sky but he reasoned that capturing it would give them the upper hand. Before Voyager could make a move however, the ship turned and sped back through the distant wormhole. Chakotay threw himself into his chair, frustrated that he hadn't done something sooner. He couldn't afford to let chances like that slip through their fingers. Every moment they waited could be bringing Kathryn closer to death.

Tuvok was becoming very concerned by the First Officer's behaviour. They were all worried about the Captain, but Chakotay seemed to be going above and beyond the call of duty on that point. He walked over to where Chakotay was sitting.

"Commander, there is a matter I would like to discuss with you."

Tom and Harry looked over at them and actually leaned forward a little so that they could hear what was being said. A look from Tuvok sent Harry on a determined mission to conduct yet another scan of the wormhole and led Tom to the sudden discovery of a very complicated problem with the navigation controls.

"What is it Tuvok?"

There was exasperation in Chakotay's voice, and a quiet desperation that confirmed Tuvok's suspicions. He leaned closer so as not to be heard by the surrounding crew.

"Commander, we are all concerned for the Captain's safety, but I fear that your personal feelings for her and your hatred towards the Cardassians are clouding your judgement."

Tuvok braced himself for the self righteous indignation that was usually the response when he informed people that their emotions were interfering with their duties, but instead he was surprised that Chakotay only sighed.

"You are right my friend, I am not thinking clearly."

Tuvok was momentarily taken aback by this admission of guilt. However, he quickly recovered. His trust in his First Officer was absolute.

"I trust that you will take steps to control yourself."

Chakotay nodded. Tuvok was satisfied with the conversation and turned to go back to his post but Chakotay stopped him by gripping his arm.

"Tuvok."

"Yes Commander?"

Chakotay fixed him with a look of intense sincerity.

"Thank you."

Tuvok was uncomfortable with such a display of emotion and merely nodded gruffly and returned to his position.

"Mr. Kim, try to re-establish contact with the Jemarh'ka."

---------------

Kathryn pursed her lips and refused to look towards him. Tarnak was becoming frustrated with her, she could tell, but for some reason he hadn't tried to hurt or threaten her yet. She had never known Cardassians to play good cop before and she was distinctly puzzled, but thoroughly prepared to take full advantage of the situation. She wasn't going to tell him anything.

Tarnak was becoming very angry. How his people managed to work with such a primitive race, he could not understand. They had no weapons technology, no concept of torture or interrogation and the only reason that they had not been annihilated by the Cardassians was because of the strange natural shield which protected their planet and disabled any weapons which were taken down to the surface. If he could have things his way, Janeway would be taken back to his ship and interrogated properly. However, he could not risk bad relations with the Jemarh'ka. Their planet was one of the only (and certainly the richest) sources of ladarium ore available to them. 'Damn them and their ethics', he thought. An uncooperative prisoner should be treated accordingly.

"I will ask you again... Captain", he spat out the word as if was painful to him to address her by her proper title "what do you know about the Kappa Anomaly?"

Kathryn didn't move an inch. Whatever she had expected, it was not this. She had had no idea that the Cardassians knew of her mission, or even that anyone except herself and the crew of the Helix knew of the name 'Kappa Anomaly'. However, that ship and its crew were very likely to be utterly destroyed by now. She betrayed nothing in her look that could indicate that she knew what he was talking about.

Tarnak leaned closer to her, placing his hands on the arms of her chair. Still Kathryn didn't move. He ran a finger down the outside of her uniform, along the line of her sternum. She flinched away from him. He smiled.

"So you do remember me Captain. After all this time..."

Kathryn flashed him a look of utter hatred. Yes, she remembered. The torture device had been surgically implanted in her chest and connected to the nerves throughout her body. She remembered Tarnak standing over her with a remote control device, casually describing the amount of pain he could inflict at the touch of a button. She remembered a pain so severe that it had blinded her for hours at a time... She had told him nothing then, and she would tell him nothing now.

Tarnak was becoming angry. This woman had been very resistant to questioning before, even with the aid of his technology. He would have to play his final card. Backing away from her, he casually sat on the edge of the bed.

"I understand that you have been taken ill recently?"

Kathryn had turned before she could stop herself. She could see the self satisfied look on his face. Chakotay had been right. She had not wanted to believe it. But she realised that she had known from the moment Tarnak had entered the room. Whatever control she had had of the situation, she had just lost it.

"I hope you understand Captain, that cures for your condition are very rare. I happen to possess one myself" at this he tapped the vein in his neck "if you are willing to negotiate a small exchange in return."

Kathryn's steely look told him that he needed to press his point a little further.

"Khalay, come."

He addressed this command directly to Kathryn. She felt a strange sensation in her stomach, as though her body was deflating and then a shimmering grey cloud appeared in front of her, formed itself into a perfect replica of her and sat down on the bed.

Kathryn couldn't help the look of surprise which now crossed her face. Tarnak actually chuckled, causing Kathryn's look to harden back into one of hatred.

"This is Khalay. She is... well firstly; she isn't a she at all. She can be anything. She copies the DNA of whoever she likes. She has been on Voyager since you ventured onto a planet in the Denarsii system just over a month ago. I must say she has enjoyed her stay thoroughly." The Kathryn copy smirked. "She was most saddened to hear of your illness. So much so that she gave up her own form and entered your body to prevent the development of it's more... nasty effects."

Kathryn spoke for the first time.

"So you sent a spy aboard my ship to give me a fatal illness. Why then try and protect me from it?"

Tarnak was pleased, this was progress.

"Well, we wouldn't want to destroy the very information we need now, would we Captain? Besides, we needed to adjust your flight plan to ensure that you reached us, which took rather longer than we expected. We know that you have what we want."

"I can't give you what you want. It is implanted in my mind in such a way that I cannot even access it."

Tarnak had expected this... He needed the Vulcan.