Ugh. Well, for those of you who know about the laptop saga, it continues, with little hope of relief. The replacement laptop ended up being defective, so now I'm getting a replacement for the replacement. I am currently waiting for a hard drive enclosure kit (because apparently the one I need is the only one not sold in stores) to recover data from the original laptop, but I was tired of waiting, so I decided to reconstruct chp. 27 from what I could remember. This is mostly the background on the Kazon-Vidiian Empire...next chapter will have some action. Like explosions and whatnot. Sorry if this isn't up to par, things have been ridic crazy.

"First, we need some reassurances," Kathryn said firmly. "I won't hand over what may be our only bargaining chip unless I have control of my ship back. You have my children; I'm hardly going to double cross you with their safety at risk."

Seska considered her with a long look. She stared at her so long that Tom shifted uncomfortably in his seat and gave a small cough. She glared at him and turned her attention back to Kathryn.

"If you do anything – look at me funny, whisper anything to anyone, breathe differently – it'll be on your children's heads, do you understand me? I'm not a baby killer by nature, but I have killed babies. Understand that, and think hard about your actions from here on out. And don't forget, I have this ship booby-trapped in ways you can't even imagine. Relinquishing control now in no way prevents me from snatching it back later."

"I understand that," Kathryn said through clenched teeth.

Seska gave a long suffering sigh. "The things I do in the name of diplomacy. Computer, transfer command back to Kathryn Janeway, authorization Seska-Omicron-Sigma-Three, but retain command capabilities for Seska, and allow access to the ship's database for Seska."

"Affirmative. Command codes are transferred."

Seska quirked an eyebrow at Kathryn, grinning slyly. "Feel better?"

"Much," Kathryn said sarcastically. "Now, what is it you want to know?"

"I want to know why there are two captains. I want to know when and how Voyager made contact with the Alpha Quadrant. I want to know why you're here. If you don't tell me the truth – and I'll be able to tell if you're not – I will take back control of Voyager and reprogram your doctor to answer to me. Then I will have him perform an ARA on all of you, and you know, drug you and all that. That'll make you talk. Maybe some good old Cardassian torture techniques. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here. I know how persuasive it can be to have your children's lives in danger."

Chakotay swallowed. "What difference do any of those questions make? You want us to help you get your son, and we'll do that. Although if you're this adept at reprogramming our ship's computer, I don't understand why you don't just do the same to one of your ships and do the job yourself."

"Our ships cannot compete with a Starfleet vessel," Seska said forcefully. "The only reason we were able to overtake you was because of our sheer numbers. You are faster than us and I grudgingly admit, the whole of you are smarter than the Kazons and the Vidiians put together. All they can see is conquests and organs. I need this crew…I need their…ability to look outside the box, to use one of your charming expressions. I need what I can't get from them…or myself. I want my boy back, Chakotay. I don't care what it takes, or who I have to kill, or how many ships I have to steal. I'm finding him, and you're helping me. So start talking."

"I knew your parents once, very long ago. Your mother and her crew were of great help to me, and I tried once to repay them…" Denara waved a hand and smiled weakly. "My people had other plans."

"We barely got away," B'Elanna said softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was conscripted into her majesty's service. I had been branded a traitor long before that, for my attempt to help you. Once the Kazon-Vidiian Empire was formed, I was called upon to care for the empress and her child. Vaden was my charge until he was taken to the training camps." Denara looked down. "The empress has not been the same."

"You sound sorry for her."

"We are close. I am her confidant." Deana met B'Elanna's eyes. "I knew of her intentions. You ship arriving was most fortuitous to her, but I fear we will not escape. The Kazons and the Vidiians…they are twisted by hate and fear. She thinks they are loyal to her, and most are. But there are those on this ship, in this convoy, who tire of Emperor Cullah's rule. And they can see that the empress has begun to question her people's beliefs…and they are beginning to scorn her because she is not of either race. They never have before. But things are changing."

"They've had a short reign." B'Elanna said wryly.

"Maybe they shouldn't have had one at all." Denara pushed a button on a device on her wrist, and a force field surrounded them. "You may feel a slight tingling. Our transporters are different than yours." B'Elanna gasped as an intense pins-and-needles sensation swept over her body, and she heard the children's sounds of discomfort. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were in a gray room, dimly lit.

"What was that?"

"It's a transport system the empress had commissioned by her most trusted followers, including myself. It was undetected, and as far as anyone knows, our life signs are still in that room. That's what the force field is for," Denara smiled. "We're not on a Kazon-Vidiian ship anymore. This is the empress' private shuttle. She was able to place it while Voyager's shields were down. We're anchored inside Voyager's shield bubble, right under your hull."

"Why don't you tell us of this Kazon-Vidiian alliance, first?" Kathryn asked. "I don't think an exchange of information is too much to ask."

Seska made a noise of disgust. "Fine. We can sit here and talk history all day as far as I'm concerned. It won't get you out of here any quicker." Seska sat down and leaned back in her chair. "It started shortly after our last…tête-à-tête. We were searching for Voyager, mainly to capture the ship and hopefully set your people on a deserted planet somewhere. Cullah thought that was a bit of irony, that your people with all your technology would be forced to survive without it." Seska rolled her eyes. "I was surprised he knew what irony was in the first place. Eventually, we had to concede that Voyager was gone. No one had seen you, no one in further sectors had ever even heard of you, and we couldn't find a trace of you anywhere. It was as if you had just disappeared. We had to face the possibility that you had, in fact, found a way home. I knew that wasn't outside the realm of possibilities. For all your annoying qualities, you really are an ingenious group of people." She shrugged. "Not as clever as me, perhaps, but close." She glared at Kathryn. "Now, you can give me a little tidbit before I go on. Where was Voyager?"

Kathryn glanced at Tuvok, who inclined his head nearly imperceptibly. "We found a wormhole. We had a very small window of time in which to go through, so we took the chance, and…" Kathryn shrugged. "Home sweet home."

Seska raised an eyebrow. "So you've been gone for at least seven of your years, yes?"

Uncomfortable, Kathryn nodded.

Seska moved forward, seemingly willing to leave that bit of information alone for the moment. "As time went on, the Kazon as a whole began to suffer. Resources were thin; sects were massacring sects in a struggle for power and survival. As a woman, my ideas and solutions were ignored. They were behaving like a bunch of barbaric Klingons when I knew, that if they would just drop their posturing and their stubborn notions of dominance, they could possibly work together long enough to grab resources from another culture, hopefully some sort of idealistic fools like all of you." Kathryn narrowed her eyes, but held her tongue, and Seska laughed. "Well, as it so happened, we ran into a convoy of Vidiians, a group which incidentally included several ships who had tangled with you before. At first, they tried stealing our organs. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty attached to my innards. So after we blasted the hell out of each other for a few hours, I quietly suggested to Cullah that we might come to a bargain of sorts.

"He called for a cease fire, and asked that the Vidiians meet with him. Of course, they didn't trust us, and we didn't trust them, but they were able to suck it up long enough to meet on our ship. We learned that they were suffering from their little Phage. They were far more technologically advanced than the Kazon, and had significantly more resources, largely because they used their firepower to take from whoever they felt like. After several days of negotiations, Cullah and the Vidiian captain had drawn out a proposal for an alliance. Basically, the Kazon would use their brute strength and warlike capabilities to get the Vidiians organs, thereby leaving the Vidiians free to concentrate on their former philosophical pursuits and medical science and whatnot, and in return they would supply whatever Kazon ship willing to do their bidding with a multitude of resources. Basically, we would live very comfortably." She sneered. "I say Cullah worked on this agreement, but in truth, it was I who gave him these ideas. He doesn't have enough brains to get his boots on in the morning. Anyway, the agreement was taken to the Vidiian High Council, and as it turned out, they were eager to test this new alliance immediately. They may have been more advanced, but our firepower was significantly stronger, out ships faster, and we were much less squeamish than the Vidiians, who did what they did out of necessity. The Kazons would do it out of sheer blood lust.

"Cullah spread the word through the sects about the proposed alliance. They came in droves to pledge their allegiance. They were all dying off, slowly, and many sects were desperate for the influx of technology and nourishment that the Vidiians could supply. Cullah rallied them all to his side, and in one fell swoop on the Vidiian home world, he had them handing their world over to us. Cullah named himself emperor of the Kazon-Vidiian alliance, and for several years, we lived a symbiotic co-existence. We obtained organs for them; they gave us whatever we wanted."

"Things are going to get pretty...interesting...soon," Denara said. She marched to the opposite wall, her skirt swishing around her ankles. Punching a code into a keypad, she pushed back her stringy hair as a panel in the wall opened. "The children will need protection. If we should be hit, they may be hurt. This shuttle doesn't have much in the way of defenses. She had little time or resources for its construction," She pulled several belts and wrist clasps from the little cubby. She closed the panel and brought them back over. "But what this shuttle lacks in defenses, it makes up for in fire power. You'll see."

B'Elanna took the belt and clasp handed to her and looked at it dubiously. "What is this?"

Denara looked up from where she was wrapping the belt around Benaren, who had his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth and was staring at her in confusion. "Personal shields. The wristlet and the belt will form a shield around an individual. They were recently developed by her majesty's personal scientists."

B'Elanna raised her eyebrows, impressed at the engineering that would have to go into that.

Katie curled up her lip when Denara started to place the device on her. "I don't want it."

"Katie-"

"I don't want it. I want my mommy."

B'Elanna sighed and kneeled down, not an easy feat for someone as pregnant as she was. "Listen, Katie, Mommy is doing something very important right now. She can't be here. But I know that she and Daddy would want you kids to be safe. Please put it on."

Katie pouted, then glared at B'Elanna. She snatched the belt from Denara's fragile hands. "You don't know anything about my mother," she said petulantly. "And I don't either."

B'Elanna watched as the angry little girl struggled to attach the belt around her tiny waist. Her brother, in his own quiet way, began to assist her. She stood still as he clipped the belt for her, and then he patted her hand, giving her a small smile. Katie's anger seemed to fade, but she turned from the rest of them, silent.

Denara checked to make sure everyone's devices were attached properly. "Good," she said, then keyed a code on a small keypad in her hand. Instantly, B'Elanna felt a warm feeling wash over her. She reached a hand out to the empty air, and while there was no resistance, she could feel a change in pressure. "Amazing," she whispered. "What can this protect us from?"

"Well...I'll show you," Denara bounced the keypad in her hand thoughtfully, then tossed it at B'Elanna with all the strength she had. It wasn't a very large keypad, but it certainly would have hurt. Yet, it never hit. It bounced off an invisible barrier right in front of B'Elanna's face, and fell to the floor.

"This shield has been tested against weapons fire...plasma weapons, projectile. There's very little that can get through it. If you fall, it will cushion you. And I've programmed it to repel Kazons and Vidiians. Unfortunately, that means I can't touch any of you, so please keep your distance."

"You can program it against specific races?" B'Elanna asked in disbelief.

"Of course. It's just a matter of DNA recognition." Denara, to B'Elanna's surprise, pulled her dress over her head. To B'Elanna's relief, she wore a form fitting pair of leggings and a tunic underneath. She smiled. "Much easier to get around in, but as the empress's companion, I'm expected to dress for my station...all my skin must be covered and anything except a dress isn't really acceptable. One of Emperor Cullah's rules. It doesn't make any sense, I know. But little the emperor does, or my people do, makes any sense. Now come, we need to get to the control room. I assume you know how to handle weapons, B'Elanna."

"Of course."

"Good," Denara walked over to another wall and pressed a panel. A doorway appeared. "Come. We have little time before the empress makes her first move."

"Then we heard of a…what is your word for it…a think-tank, roaming this sector of the galaxy," Seska continued. "Charging ridiculous fees to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. They offered the Vidiians a cure for their phage, for a price. Well, Cullah couldn't have that. I was already tired of the lifestyle we had entered. Vaden had just been taken from me, and my patience with the Kazons had reached its end. We had all we needed. There was no reason to continue the alliance with the Vidiians. And…" Seska closed her eyes at the memory. "I watched, once. I hadn't meant to. Before I saw, it didn't bother me. I never even thought about it. But they brought a group of children to one of the medical facilities on Vidiia Prime. I was there to tour the capital, as I did several times a year when Cullah was occupied, just to ensure that the Vidiians were behaving. I saw them bring the children in, and curious, I went to see what they were doing. They were the same age as my son, I would guess, and I watched as they tore the organs from the children, many whom were still conscious. I've never shuddered at bloodshed, but the screams of those children haunted me. I wondered for a long time after that, what I had become." She leveled her gaze on Chakotay. "My mother was an artist. I bet you didn't know that. My father was a diplomat. He was killed during the wars with your people, and my mother died shortly after. I was a child, drafted into the Obsidian Order, programmed to be a spy and nothing else, conditioned to forget the gentle upbringing I had, or at least the gentle child I had been. But after that, I remembered my mother. Constantly. I remembered her laugh, her soft hands, how she would paint in our garden, how she would tell me stories at night. I barely knew my father, but I knew her, and I suddenly began to wonder what she would think of a daughter who allowed children to be mutilated. From what I remember, she had never approved of the occupation of Bajor, of the holocaust we committed there. I never gave it a second thought, but I began to. I began to think like I imagined I would have if my mother had raised me. She was a special woman."

Chakotay cleared his throat. "She sounds it."

"I wondered what would happen if the Vidiians ever got the upper hand on us. Once we were no longer useful to them, I had no doubt they would do to us what they did to those poor children, and I wondered if my son would be among them. It terrified me. Cullah wouldn't think twice about giving our son to death, saying it was the glory of a Kazon soldier. Well, I had other ideas. I was glad the think tank had come, and I was willing to pay any price at that point to have the Phage cured and break this murderous alliance we had created.

"Cullah evidently didn't agree. As far as the Vidiians know, the representatives of the think tank just disappeared one night, along with their offer. But I know that they were murdered by Cullah's men. He knew the end of the Phage meant the possible end of his cushy life as Emperor. No one else from the think tank ever came."

Seska sighed. "So I began to plan. I had to get Vaden back, and get out of this sector. I had only made one true friend here, one person I could trust, and she has helped me. It is her I sent the children to, and as we speak, she is having them transferred somewhere neither the Kazon nor the Vidiians will find them. It won't be easy to get out of here, and Cullah will not rest until he finds us. The security around Vaden will be nearly impenetrable. But we have to get him. And once we do, we have to get the hell out of the Delta Quadrant."

TBC