The group entered the cargo bay and all, with the exception of the Captain, were seated with the rest of the crew.

Janeway was kept apart by two of the aliens who bought them from the bridge. There were three others guarding the crew. She automatically started counting how many invaders they had encountered and therefore how many they would have to remove. She scanned the group and couldn't decide whether or not she was glad that Naomi wasn't with them. She could see Samantha Wildman's worried face watching the entrance for sign of her daughter. Her heart was pounding, her stomach hurt and her vision was slightly fuzzy.

"This is their Captain?" the alien sneered. Janeway's attention returned to the aliens.

"Yes, Leader."

"My name is Janeway. Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?" She was now beyond anger.

"Janeway, we are the Avori. I am the Leader. This vessel is now our property, as is this crew. I have informed your people that we will not tolerate any resistance. We will not hesitate to kill anyone."

"What do you intend to do with my crew?"

"They're no longer your crew, Janeway. Which I will make plain to them presently."

At that moment, another Avori appeared and spoke to the Leader.

She didn't like the sound of his threat, but she was feeling too sick to respond. Janeway was having trouble remaining standing, she leaned heavily against a bulkhead but she could hear snippets of what was being said. She listened while they discussed the location of a sister ship.

While she was waiting, she furiously tried to come up with some plan to rid her ship of the aliens. Nothing but self reproach came to mind. She should have been more alert, more vigilant. She tried to clear her head and tried to come up with a plan. Any plan.

The Leader was speaking.

"Leave the power core. This ship's speed may be better than ours. No dismantling is to take place until the others arrive. They have engineers to evaluate the larger assets."

His subordinate nodded in agreement and turned to leave.

"The crew will still want their bounty." The Leader added, "Explain to them that they may get more profits in the long term if we delay scuttling this ship until the experts arrive."

They seemed to be examining a PADD of some kind.

"I want to know if there are any crew we haven't found yet. Sub-commander," he nodded at one of the aliens that had brought the bridge crew to the cargo bay "interrogate her." he laughed and headed back towards the turbo lift. "I'll be back when I've checked with the ship and begun the stocktake." He added over his shoulder as the doors closed.

Janeway was concentrating on what she'd overheard and failed to properly register that her arms were being held even more securely from behind and she certainly didn't see the fist as it swung at her face.

The force of the blow snapped back her head back and she would've fallen to the ground if not held up.

"So, are all your crew here?" the sub-commander sneered at her.

Janeway was fairly sure that she wasn't capable of answering him, if she intended to. Which she didn't.

"Tell me who in the crew aren't present."

It was all she could do to shake her head. She was nearly unconscious as the second blow to her body rocked her again and the alien behind her held her in a firm grip to stop her slumping forward.

"She probably doesn't know, Clarack. We're wasting our time. While others are getting our share."

"Probably, but the Leader expects us to question her."

A hand grabbed her hair and lifted her head so her questioner could see her eyes. "Well, Voyager?" Another blow struck to the side of her face.

"I'm sure she would have told us if she knew. She's small and weak." Clarack insisted "We're wasting our time. And losing bounty."

"You're right. We are. And it's this bitch's fault."

Harry watched the aliens question Janeway and was almost sick when, the one called Clarack, now obviously angry at having to question the silent woman, drew a punch from what Tom would've said was 'from the floor'. The noise his Captain made when struck in her midsection would stay with him for a long time.

She had slumped forward as much as she was allowed and Harry hoped she was unconscious.

He could just hear the alien restraining Janeway murmured something to the attacker who stopped mid punch.

"Yes, you're right." Said the sub-commander, "We're wasting time here. We should get back to making sure our share is equitable."

Janeway was allowed to fall to the ground.

Harry heard her ribs crack when one of the aliens kicked her in the chest. He watched with horror as she seemed to instinctively tried to protect herself by curling into a ball. She stopped moving when the other alien kicked her in the head.

They dragged her over to the crew and dropped her on the floor next to her first officer.

The crew were plainly horrified by the events unfolding before them and looked with concern as Janeway was gently rolled over and moved to a semi-sitting position and checked, as well as they could, by Chakotay and Tuvok.

"What the hell kind of questioning was that? They don't seem to be interested in letting her answer."

"I believe it was more about intimidation and demonstrating their dominance over the Captain and the crew. They seem overly arrogant. I don't believe they really think any others could pose a threat."

Chakotay was happy to hear a barely audible groan, and her eyes fluttered. One eye anyway, as the other was rapidly swelling and closing over. He was especially worried to see how much she was bleeding from a head wound. Her eyes closed again and she slumped against Chakotay's leg.

Some time later, she groaned again. "I'm glad I skipped breakfast this morning." She mumbled through swollen and bleeding lips, and they could see she was in considerable pain despite her comment. "Just our luck to meet the Delta Quadrant's very ugly version of the Ferengi."

Chakotay's relief at her being able to speak was short lived when she coughed, as he could see blood in her mouth.

"Kathryn, please, try not to move too much" his voice was soft.

"Report Commander." Was her only reply, and it lacked any of her usual vigor. Her eyes were again closed and she was leaning heavily on his leg for support.

"Just about the whole crew is here. We don't know the status of nine crewmembers, including Naomi Wildman." He sighed heavily. "We've got to assume they're either killed or captured."

It was some time before Janeway spoke again.

"Tuvok, what time did we get bought to the cargo bay?" She was hoping his Vulcan internal clock was working to reputation.

"Approximately 1310 hours Captain."

"And what time is it now?" she was leaning heavily on Chakotay, and, if not for hearing her speak, even Tuvok would have said she was still unconscious.

"It is now 1355."

"I've been out for half an hour?"

"Thirty eight minutes Captain."

"Let's hope the others are OK, but we have to concentrate on getting the ship back. We need a plan fast." Janeway croaked "They have reinforcements arriving in maybe three hours. According to what I heard, we've got till around 1700 to take back Voyager before another ship arrives."

"Do you have any ideas so far Captain?" this from Chakotay.

"'Fraid not." She winced as she attempted to shift position, holding her ribs tightly with one arm and dragging the sleeve of the other gingerly across her face. "And I think you two are going to have to pull the rabbit out of this hat." Her head was now resting on her first officer's hip as he had gently moved her to a full sitting position and she could feel his arm supporting her back and was grateful for the touch.

"Rabbit?" questioned Tuvok.

Janeway ignored the question.

"The plan, whatever it is, should be started by 1600 if possible. You need to figure out how to beat the Bermuda Triangle and get shields and weapons back up if you're to stand a chance. I'm afraid I'll be no help at all. I can barely move and my vision is extremely limited."

Noise from the doorway heralded the entrance of Seven, Icheb, Harry and Naomi. Janeway moved her head in the direction of the door but couldn't see what was happening. Chakotay quietly explained developments. She was relieved that they were all right, even though Naomi was probably terrified, she was at least so far unharmed.

She was about to ask Tuvok whether the Doctor was operational before being boarded when her vision cleared enough to see the Leader had returned and was nodding to the sub-commander and then in her direction. He started moving in her towards her. She felt cold. This was what the Leader meant by demonstrating that the crew no longer belonged to her.

They were going to kill her. In front of the crew. Dear god, in front of Naomi. She could tell by the way Chakotay's grip on her shoulder tightened that he too realized what was about to happen.

She had failed. She had broken her promise and she wasn't going to get the crew home. She wasn't going home.

The leader and another alien were deep in a muffled conversation at the far end of the cargo bay.

Another Avori took up position next to Harry and Naomi. The leader addressed the crew.

"You are now possessions of the Avori. Please be aware that any attempts at resistance will result in the death of this child." The alien next to Harry pointed his weapon directly at Naomi.

The crew now sensed something else was happening. The soldier near the child poked her with the end of his weapon. The implied threat stilled any immediate protest.

"Chakotay," she whispered "there are some letters in my desk, can you make sure…" she couldn't finish.

He looked stricken. He could only nod.

"Get them home. I know you will."

The soldier had reached Janeway and motioned for her to get to her feet.

"You've got to be kidding." She murmured as she attempted to stand before being wrenched to her feet and she was dragged more than walked to the far side of the cargo bay.

Janeway attempted to straighten her shoulders and stood as upright as she was able, trying to lock her knees to stop herself falling to the floor. The soldier forced her around to face the open room, her back to the cold metal wall. Her left arm was still wrapped around her mid section, with her other arm holding onto to an upright behind her. It helped her not to show how much she was trembling.

She could hear Naomi asking Icheb plaintively what was happening and could vaguely see a blurry soldier next to the alien leader take aim waiting for the command to fire. She concentrated on staying upright and trying to find Chakotay's face amid the crew.

"Let me show you all that I am in command here. From now on, you belong to the Avori. Kill her."

Shouts of protest came from the crew.

She heard a desperate call of "No!" from Chakotay.

A single flash erupted from the weapon. The blast hit her and slapped her hard against the wall before she slumped face down to the floor.

It had all happened so quickly. The cargo bay was suddenly silent. Until Naomi started to scream for the Captain to wake up.

Chakotay could hear sobs from amongst the group along with the soft sound of Icheb and Harry trying to comfort Naomi. It appeared that Seven had fainted and that Icheb was trying to hold her up while Harry was holding Naomi.

When Chakotay looked back towards the body of his Captain, the sub-commander walked up to her and with his foot, slightly moved her on her side enough to see the front her bloodied and charred jacket. He nodded towards his leader.

"Good." he turned to Harry and asked conversationally. "Where do you put your dead?"

At first Harry couldn't speak. He looked at the alien with unfocused, stunned eyes.

"Your dead." he asked, as though addressing a stupid child "Where do you store them?"

"Sickbay" Harry croaked, tears were starting to form in his eyes.

"Take the body there. Put the one from the bridge there too."

The soldier leaned down and grabbed a handful of the Captain's uniform just behind the neck partially lifting her, her head and arms falling forward and feet dragging along the ground into the open turbo lift doors. Every set of eyes in the cargo bay watched their progress out of the cargo bay.

"I'll be on the bridge checking our new merchandise." the leader said to one of the soldiers and followed them shortly after. He looked very satisfied with events.

The cargo bay was now totally silent except for muffled sobs.

"Commander. Commander?"

"Yes, Tuvok?"

"Are you all right?"

"No. Can you give me a minute, please?"

Actually, Chakotay had never felt so lost in his life. The horror of what they had all witnessed crashed down on him. My god, Kathryn! His head was in his hands.

His eyes had been on her face when he'd fully realized what was to happen. She had looked at him and had mouthed one word, making no sound. It took him a while to figure out what she had said, but when he did, the answer rocked him to his core. One word. "Sorry."

With enormous effort, he pulled himself back to the present.

Not since he had heard about his family's fate at the hands of the Cardassians had he been so horrified. But this was so fast, so final. One minute he had been talking to her, holding her, the next she was being dragged out of the cargo bay like so much trash. He couldn't fully comprehend what he had witnessed. He felt stunned. Hollow. Lost.

But he had to pull himself together.

"Sorry Tuvok. I was just..." he ran his hands over his face, wiping his eyes.

"I understand completely, Commander." and Chakotay could plainly detect sadness in the Vulcan's face.

He surveyed the other crew members around him. They looked like he felt. B'Elanna was trying to comfort Tom, who was sobbing into her shoulder. Seven had come around, but her eyes looked unfocussed and she was now clutching Naomi to her side. Except for the now soft sniffles from the child, the crew were silent, staring with empty eyes at a place against the cargo bay wall.

This was not good enough he realized. The aliens had achieved the desired effect: Kill the Captain, take the heart out of the crew. He'd think about that later, now he needed to focus on saving the crew. Her crew. Now his crew.

The alien guarding them was distracted from his conversation with another guard by his communicator.

"Where is Group Two?"

"Searching the crew quarters on deck three, Leader."

"Tell them to stop scavenging and start looking for more of the crew."

"Yes, Leader."

Harry heard the two aliens closest to him complaining that the others were getting a head start on the pickings and none of the guards had relayed the Leader's message. The four guards looked unhappy with their lot.

This was good news in a way. It meant that at least some of the Avori were less than vigilant about finding the still missing crew.

Wherever those missing people were, Harry hoped they were able to help liberate the ship before anyone else was injured or killed. And with that thought, his mind returned to his Captain who was so much more than a commanding officer to him. A mother figure, a friend, a comrade in arms. He didn't bother to wipe the tears that were again forming in his eyes and hugged Naomi to him.

Chakotay also listened with interest to the conversation between the aliens. It was then he again noticed how few guards were around them. He motioned silently to Tuvok who merely nodded. Maybe the invaders didn't have enough disciplined personnel to keep them under control for any great length of time - the best chance of retaking the ship would be, as the Captain had said, before another ship arrived.

And they had to do something soon.

Janeway regained consciousness slowly and unwillingly. Confused, uncomfortable and more than a little surprised.

Suddenly, pain tore through her body, taking her breath away. Opening her eyes she realized that something was covering her face. No, that wasn't it. She was laying face down on a floor. Instinctively, she tried to move her hand to move herself to an upright position, trying to ignore another fresh onslaught of pain the movement caused. She couldn't seem to move her arms properly. She moved her head enough to examine her surroundings, she guessed mainly from the smell that she was in sickbay. Her vision was limited to light and shadow but she sensed she was alone.

Alone, except for the body of Noah Lessing beside her.

The events of the day came back to her...the ship being boarded ... anger ... a beating...her 'execution' ... then...

"Computer, act.." no sound came from her. Try again. She cleared her throat, put her forehead on the cool floor and almost passed out again. "Computer, activate EMH.."

"Please sta... Captain! What on earth has happened?"

"Ship boarded….shot..me…Noah. The crew.. Need to help them."

He was already scanning her. She was struggling to stay conscious and the Doctor picked her up and placed her on the closest biobed. He scanned her quickly and then reached for a hypospray, bringing it to her neck.

"No…must….awake….crew. Only…three..."

"I'll have to sedate you to treat your injuries. You've got a very serious head injury, among other things." Again he tried to use the spray. She pushed his arm away as best she could.

"No time – their reinforcements will.. here.. soon. What time..is..it?" Damn, she couldn't breathe let alone speak. Despite her best efforts, she passed out.

"Captain, Captain. Can you hear me?"

Janeway struggled to open her eyes.

"Doctor?"

"Ah, good. You had me worried there for a minute, please don't move. You've still got some extensive injuries. How do you feel?"

What a question!

"Well, considering I was just beaten and then executed, not bad. What's happening?"

"I've no idea. Sensors seem to be down. I can't seem to get my station to respond either. You activated me about an hour ago and I've been treating you since then. I thought it best to wake you. The equipment seems to be malfunctioning. I've been offline twice. Your treatment has been, therefore, less than optimal." This seemed to bother him more than anything else.

An hour!

"Voyager has been boarded. The crew are being held in Cargo Bay Two. We need to start a rescue. If we can get to …engineering, perhaps create ……diversion enough for the crew to …..retake …ship". She was thinking out loud. No plan had really taken shape but it was getting hard to talk again. Breathing hurt too. Her left arm felt as if it were on fire.

She started to get up. Slowly.

"You aren't in any condition..." he started, already realizing the futility of the statement.

"Perhaps something for the pain…" she started.

"You need surgery, not aspirin…you won't be in any condition to help anyone if you're dead!"

"I'm already dead, Doctor." She wasn't in the mood for arguing with the Doctor. "Just get me able to function…long enough to get to Engineering and..." she wasn't sure what she was going to do then. She hoped he hadn't noticed her hesitation. "Once the crew and ship are safe, I … promise to come back and stay … as long as is necessary and follow your instructions to the letter, until I recover." she continued. She was squinting at her hand trying to focus. Things were much less fuzzy.

"Yes, well." He sounded somewhat mollified. "Captain you are still in a critical condition. I need to perform surgery for your chest injuries. I haven't done anything with them – you're head injuries were initially the most life threatening. And I've only done a patch up job on that. I couldn't take the chance of me going off line again, especially in the middle of surgery. Your vision will improve within a few minutes or so, but you're other injuries need treatment now."

"I'll live with it."

"No, Captain, you won't." he said softly.

She nodded in understanding.

"I see. I've got to do something Doctor. Whatever the cost."

"How are you getting to Engineering?" he sounded resigned.

"Jeffries tubes."

"Six decks! You'll be dead before you get there."

"Doctor, if we don't escape this situation within two hours," glancing at the chronometer above the Doctor's office "correction, 105 minutes, I will be dead anyway. So your advice is admirable, but badly timed. I think we're done here."

She moved to get off the bed, trying to ignore the extreme pain and intense vertigo she was experiencing.

"Look, there's not … any real alternative that I can see." Anger was helping. "I've already lost one crew member this morning and I don't intend to lose anymore."

He understood. He had already moved the body of Crewman Lessing to a biobed. More quietly he said "I'd join you but whatever happened before we were boarded..."

"Some kind of concussive charge I think." interrupted the Captain

"Yes, well, it seems to have affected the mobile emitter as well. I'm stuck here until B'Elanna can fix it. Give me another couple of minutes at least on the worst of your injuries and I'll give you some medication to take with you. Please." She looked doubtful. "Please Captain, I can honestly say, you won't get two decks unless you let me do some further repairs."

She sat back on the bed. Her hand reached up and grabbed his collar.

"Just ten minutes Doctor. If I pass out, wake me. Promise me."

"I promise."

She made her way slowly and painfully along the Jefferies tube until she reached the shaft that would reach down to deck eleven. Moving down the rungs of the ladder was made infinitely more difficult due to the pain in her chest when her arms, or rather, arm was extended above her head. The left arm was injured, due to the phaser shot she had received to the chest. The Doctor thought that it had absorbed quite a bit of the blast and that she was 'lucky'. She didn't feel lucky just at this moment.

She was forced to rest for a couple of minutes between each deck, trying to push the pain and fatigue to one side long enough to get the job done. Whatever the hell that was going to be.

As a backup plan she had initiated the Emergency Command Hologram and left instructions with the Doctor to self destruct the ship if necessary. They'd set it up before she'd left sickbay. It only needed his final voice activation. He understood what she'd meant, but she couldn't shake the look of profound sadness on his face as he'd helped her into the Jeffries tube.

It was taking longer to move between decks than she'd imagined and it was getting harder to ignore the pain and the exertion wasn't helping her breathing. At least she could see now.

Finally reaching the upper level in Engineering, she cautiously opened the hatch fractionally to allow a quick scan of the area.

Empty. Good.

She peered over the rail and looked down on the main engineering area. It was deserted.

She tried to use the elevator to get to the lower level but it wasn't functioning. She'd have to use the consoles where she was, as she was certain that she wouldn't be able to negotiate any more ladders. She was really having trouble breathing now.

"Damn. Not enough power to site to site people." talking to herself absently as she examined the readouts. Think, think.

Weapons. Transport a few phasers to where the crew were being held. There weren't many aliens guarding them. If she could get the coordinates right, she could place them in the middle of the group. She started making the calculations.

Janeway moved over to the weapons locker and started to push up the hatch door. Pain surrounded her and her vision started to darken. She scooped up four phasers and dropped the hatch before turning and slumping to the floor. She sat down and tried not to pass out. Her chest and back felt like they were being crushed. Taking out the hypospray from her pocket, she used the last dose.

Slowly, she got herself to her feet and moved over to the console. She put the phasers down and started working on the controls. The weapons disappeared in a blue shimmer.

Now what?

She had to assume the crew got the phasers and could do something with them. They'd need shields to get away from the alien ship. And they'd need to be able to negotiate the data pulses or whatever Seven and Harry had discovered.

Leaning heavily on the workstation, she examined the analysis that Harry and Seven had started. They were so close. So close, in fact, that she was able to finish their work and develop an algorithm for neutralizing the data pulses. Apart from being still alive, it was the first good news she'd had today.

Next thing to do was to slow down the ship. They needed to avoid the Avori reinforcements arriving any earlier. It would've been obvious if the ship just stopped and it would also probably bring them to Engineering, which was the last thing she needed. Perhaps a gradual loss of speed, like a leak. Making the necessary adjustments, she locked out the necessary controls and encrypted the information. Janeway smiled as she named the file. If any of Voyager's bridge crew found that, they would realize what it was and utilize it and if they didn't, well the Doctor would take care of that.

A wave of dizziness washed over her. Janeway realized she had little time now.

With the last of her strength, she started working on the shields and was able to align them to work with her algorithm of Harry and Seven. Once they were brought on line, they would be almost completely effective against the pulse. All that remained was to make the shields also work against the concussive charge the Avori had initially used to incapacitate everyone. Not much point eluding the data pulses if they were all unconscious again.

That small win seemed to give her some strength and she started working on the weapons. Her victory was short lived and it became apparent that she'd done all that she was capable of completing.

The feeling of failure came back with full force and as she slumped against the wall, her thoughts went to the crew but she knew Chakotay would get them home. She was unconscious before she had slid down to the floor.