AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I hope you enjoy! There are a few parts to this little story arc. Let me know what you think!

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B'Elanna was aware of a number of things around her.

She was aware that the Kazon guards leading them didn't want them to speak without permission. She was aware, too, that the Kazon guards believed in punishment for anyone breaking any of the rules—even if they'd never actually been informed of the rules.

Just as Culluh's people had started to lead the group off the bridge, with B'Elanna, Carol, and Kathryn watching on and waiting their turn, Daryl had called out a final request to speak to his "love." Culluh apparently found the idea of torturing all of them—physically, mentally, and emotionally—to be very pleasing. He clearly found them amusing. He'd allowed Daryl's request.

Of course, because he believed B'Elanna to be Daryl's mate, he'd had her dragged over to the man as one guard separated him from the rest of the group.

They were being watched. They were being listened to. Daryl's eyes, darting around, told B'Elanna that he was fully aware of that. He was reading the room as much as anything else.

"You know the story of the Trojan horse?" Daryl asked. "That old Earth story?"

B'Elanna's stomach had done something of an excited flip and she'd allowed herself one quick glance in Tom's direction before she looked back at Daryl. Tom had an obsession with all things Earth and all things old or ancient. Whenever they'd enjoyed time alone together, he'd often found the opportunity to sneak in a little story here or there for B'Elanna's entertainment and to stretch the evening just a half an hour or so longer.

As luck would have it, the story of the Trojan horse had been one that Tom had told B'Elanna following an event with an alien species with which they'd had a failed trading experience.

"I remember it," B'Elanna had assured him. She did remember it. The full details of the story, at the moment, hadn't come directly to her memory, but she knew that she remembered it. She only needed a moment to think, and she'd recall it all.

Daryl nodded at her.

"Good," he said. "Just remember—the key to it? Is what's on the inside." As an act of clarification, perhaps, wrapped up in a show of affection, Daryl pressed his hand to her stomach as though she were actually carrying a baby like he'd told Culluh she was doing. She'd resisted the urge to push him away, realizing that wouldn't do well in this situation—and also realizing that he was clearly telling her something. Something, hopefully, she'd eventually understand. She simply had to listen and figure it out. "Carry my love with you," he reminded her. "And remember—the most important thing? The key to it? It's there."

B'Elanna had accepted his message and bid him farewell, putting on a bit of a show, herself, of reaching toward him even as her guard led her back out of the way to wait for the group to pass.

The Kazon soldiers that had come into the room after the group was gone—fresh from their ships—had come bearing something that was meant for training the slaves. It took them all less than five minutes to realize they were some kind of electrified rods. They'd also brought bindings.

All of them had their hands bound behind their backs, and they'd been led to Kathryn and Chakotay's quarters—the quarters that would now belong to Culluh. They'd learned that their guards didn't want them to speak out of turn when they'd told them to prepare Culluh a meal fit for the Maje, and Kathryn had pointed out that, until they restored more than just the emergency power, the replicators weren't going to function. One of the guards had laid the rod down, roughly, against her back, and there had been no mistaking the sizzling sound or smell of burnt cloth and flesh that had followed.

Carol and B'Elanna had loudly protested Kathryn's treatment, but she'd silenced them, herself, when the guards had threatened both of them with the rods.

Despite the fact that they hadn't appreciated her giving them the information about the power supply, one of the guards had left to apparently move power restoration to the head of their list of things to accomplish. While they waited, the other two guards put B'Elanna, Carol, and Kathryn in the bedroom so that they could be sure that they were safe from running away, but they also weren't under foot.

As soon as they were no unshackled and left to their own devices in the room, Carol immediately forced Kathryn to bare her back to her so that she could see the burn that was left behind by the rod.

"We need a dermal regenerator," B'Elanna said, keeping her voice low.

"And you might earn one," Carol said, slipping into the bathroom and coming back out again with a towel that she'd soaked in cold water. "But you're not going to earn any privileges if you don't keep your head down. This is going to sting, at first, but it'll feel better in a minute." If it stung, B'Elanna couldn't tell. Kathryn had been stoic about the burn in the first place. She was stoic about it now. "The bad news is that the burn is deep," Carol said. "The good news is that it's cauterized everything, so at least there's no bleeding wound to deal with."

"That's great news," B'Elanna said. She didn't miss Carol's arched eyebrow, and she responded in kind. "Look, I'm sorry, but…is that just the plan? We just—learn to be good little slaves?"

"For now, that's exactly what we do," Carol said, keeping her voice at barely more than a breathy whisper. "We learn what they expect of us. Of good, personal slaves. And we be the best slaves that we can be. We already know that they like groveling. They like weakness."

"That's fine for someone like you," B'Elanna said.

"B'Elanna," Kathryn scolded, barely putting sound to B'Elanna's name.

"I'm sorry," B'Elanna said. "I didn't—I didn't mean that."

"You did," Carol said. "And that's OK. Actually—it's a good thing. Because that's what we need everyone to believe. About all of us."

"You have to forgive B'Elanna," Kathryn offered.

"There's nothing to forgive," Carol said sincerely. "Does it feel better? Without anything—there isn't much I can do."

"It's fine," Kathryn assured her. "Thank you."

"Carol," B'Elanna said, catching the woman's attention again. "I didn't mean that. Really. It's just—the way I was raised."

"I know," Carol said with a soft smile. "You're a Klingon. Daryl's told me all about Klingons."

"About Daryl," B'Elanna said, her stomach clenching. She got up and glanced through the bedroom doorway. Their Kazon guards were standing and talking in the living area of the quarters. They were unconcerned for the moment, about their wards. There wasn't much that they could do in the bedroom, and the Kazon guards knew that. Still, at least it gave them the quiet opportunity to speak freely to one another. "Look—I don't want you to think that there's anything between Daryl and I because—there's not. I promise. There's nothing between us."

Carol smiled to herself.

"Then I'm sorry to hear that," Carol said. "Because—I know that, at least to Daryl, there's a really good friendship there. Something he values. And I wouldn't call that nothing."

B'Elanna was struck by the words.

"That's not what I meant," she said. "I do consider Daryl a friend, of course." She stopped. As soon as she said it, she heard it. Her ears really heard her own words. "A very good friend," she admitted. "And I haven't had a lot of those in life."

"Then you know that they're worth a great deal," Carol offered.

"I meant—there's nothing romantic between us," B'Elanna said, whispering to Carol.

"I know that," Carol said. "You care about Tom. And Tom cares about you." B'Elanna considered stopping her. She considered denying it. But there was no need to deny the truth and this didn't even feel like the right time or place to do so. There was far too much at play here for such a thing to matter. Besides—she did care for Tom, and she was beginning to think that he was fond of her, in his own way. B'Elanna didn't say anything, she simply let Carol continue and say what she needed to say. "And Daryl cares about you, but…I'm not insecure enough to think that Daryl can't have friends. You say you haven't had a lot of very good friends. You're not the only one. Daryl and I…neither one of us…have had a lot of good friends. Not ones that we got to keep, at least."

"That's all the more reason that we can't just hide out and be good slaves," B'Elanna said.

"Carol's right," Kathryn said. B'Elanna didn't have to say anything to her. Kathryn was either able to anticipate what B'Elanna was thinking, or else she was able to simply read B'Elanna's facial expression. She nodded her head and gave B'Elanna a very understanding expression. "It's frustrating, and it feels like doing nothing, but even Klingons know the strategy of studying your enemy. Learning their weak points. Exploiting those weak points."

"But our preference is to simply tear the enemy apart," B'Elanna said. "Destroy them. It's a lot faster that way."

"You only get one chance to do that," Kathryn said. "Move too quickly and you could blow that chance before you were in the right position to take full advantage. Besides—there's still a chance that we can handle this diplomatically. There's still a chance that we can get out of this without losing too many lives—our own or the Kazons'." Kathryn smiled at Carol. She patted Carol's shoulder. "I'm sure that Carol would like to see us get out of this with as few lives lost as possible."

Carol gave Kathryn a somewhat tight-lipped smile and tipped her head slightly before she nodded and patted Kathryn's leg where she sat beside her—all of them having gathered on the bed when there wasn't anywhere else for them to go in the room.

B'Elanna couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something that made her feel like Carol's smile wasn't sincere at all—and she wasn't sure exactly what that meant.

She let it go for the moment, though, and she sighed.

"I guess if we're just waiting, I might as well tell you congratulations," B'Elanna said to Carol. "I told Daryl, but…I never got the chance to tell you like I wanted. Of course, it sounds out of place, now."

Carol smiled to herself.

"It sounds wonderful to me," she said. "No matter when it's said, I'm happy to hear it. I didn't know how much I truly wanted this until…and now I couldn't be happier than I am to know that Daryl and I are going to have this baby together."

B'Elanna laughed to herself.

"So, was that—all an act? The crying and the…wailing and everything?"

Carol shook her head.

"No," she said. "And—yes. I guess it was real, and it wasn't."

"Are you always this much of an enigma?" B'Elanna asked, amused at Carol's reply.

"I think we're all more complicated than meets the eye," Carol offered. "Aren't you?" B'Elanna didn't answer her. She didn't feel like she had to answer her. Carol spoke again, anyway, keeping the silence from being awkward. "I'm going to tell you; in case you don't know. Men like Culluh are all the same. I don't think that species, or lightyears, or whatever matters. He wants to feel powerful. In control. Especially with women. And he wants to be the one to grant mercy or give punishment. There's nothing a man like that appreciates more than feeling powerful and in control of someone, especially if she's a woman."

B'Elanna sighed and chewed on their situation.

"We'll figure something out," B'Elanna said. "It was fast thinking, though, of Chakotay and Daryl to take advantage of the situation and get us in here so you weren't alone." She laughed to herself. "I guess—we'll be fine as long as Culluh doesn't get it in his head to do any sort of medical scan of his personal slaves. If he did, then at least the two of us will have some explaining to do." B'Elanna laughed to herself, amused by the thought of Culluh's reaction when he found out he'd been had—at least to some degree—and two of his prized slaves that he thought would produce more valuable slaves turned out to be just women with empty wombs.

Her laughter stopped, though, and her joviality was replaced by a sharp clenching in her gut when she looked at Kathryn's face.

"Captain," B'Elanna said. Kathryn didn't respond. Her face responded for her and made her words unnecessary. "It wasn't part of the act, was it?"

Kathryn simply shook her head and sighed. B'Elanna didn't try to place all the many reasons that she suddenly wore such a heavy expression.

"No," she said. "I'm afraid…it wasn't."

B'Elanna didn't know if her face conveyed the range of emotions she felt. Before she could gather her thoughts, though, or find any words to say to Kathryn, they all heard the sound of the doors hissing open. They heard the guards address Culluh, and they heard Culluh respond to the guards.

Kathryn, Carol, and B'Elanna all scrambled to their feet just in time to see Culluh arrive at the bedroom door with Seska and the baby just behind him.

Culluh walked in and went directly to Carol. He caught her face in his hand and turned it from side to side. B'Elanna couldn't help noticing that any earlier lightness was gone from Carol's countenance. She looked somewhat sullen again. Culluh looked pleased just to be touching her.

"They didn't harm you, did they?" Culluh asked.

"No," Carol said. "Please—don't…" He smiled at her. He shushed her like someone shushing a child instead of a full-grown woman.

"You're going to do perfectly," he commented. He gestured toward B'Elanna as one of the guards walked in. "Cebrall—take her to engineering. See if she can help them speed up the process. Don't hurt her too badly. Only just enough for her to cooperate. Seska—I know how fond you are of Janeway. She's yours to have. A gift." He smiled at Kathryn, clearly pleased to humiliate her—or at least to try to do so. "She's going to love being your personal slave. Verri will help you train her. You can do what you want with her. I don't care. Not as long as the child she carries stays intact until it's time to be born. I want the profit it'll bring." He turned his attention back to Carol, whose face he still held in his hands. When he looked at her again, Carol ducked her head as much as she could and turned her eyes away from him. He liked that, and he laughed to himself.

"When do you want this one back?" the guard called Cebrall asked.

"As soon as the power's back online," Culluh said. "I'd rather our own engineers work out the rest of the problems, just in case she's not as cooperative as I'd like for her to be. The same rules apply to your treatment of her. Keep the child intact, but that's my only concern. The child will be worth a great deal." He let go of Carol's face and put his hand on her shoulder in a move that seemed partially affectionate and partially controlling. "This one stays with me."