A few minutes later, when consciousness returned along with even more pain, Janeway found herself on a cot in a small shelter consisting of a few hanging sheets that hid them from alarming fight noises outside. Chakotay was treating a gash on the side of her head with a warm cloth.
"Thank the spirits you're awake," he said. "That was a bad blow to the head. How does it feel?"
Janeway tried to sit up but fell back quickly as nausea hit. "I went through worse training exercises at the Academy," she joked in a weak voice.
Chakotay sat back on his heels and scoffed. "Sure you did. I know how they like to beat the cadets until morale improves."
Her eyes followed him with alarm as he rinsed her blood from the cloth in a small cup. It was more blood than she'd expected. "Chakotay, what is this place?"
He looked around, as if satisfying himself that they were alone and safe, for the moment. His eyes fixed hers. "It's a bad place, Kathryn. We're in an underground Akritirian maximum security prison with fifty other prisoners. There are only a few other women. I've seen them fought over as prized possessions, then bartered the next day for food. Best I can tell, I've been here several days with only what food or water I've been able to trade for." He held his arms wide so that his jumpsuit flapped against him. "I used to have a belt." Janeway looked down. She still had hers, but in the fight it had come loose. Someone had tried to steal it already.
"Did they arrest you in the market, too?" she asked.
He nodded. "I don't know why. They brought me here the first day."
Janeway stretched her arms and legs, expecting more pain, but none of her other injuries seemed severe. "At least I can help with an explanation. I've spent the last few days under harsh interrogation over a terrorist bombing the Akritirians believe you and I coordinated."
Chakotay's face was incredulous. "A bombing? We'd been on the planet less than half an hour when they arrested me. We'd have to be the fastest working terrorists in the galaxy. I heard some kind of percussive noise on the far end of the market, but I thought it must be a performance."
Janeway rolled her eyes. "I guess we should be flattered. They think we're elite operatives in league with rebel forces. It's straight out of a holonovel. I'd be amused if I hadn't just been sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia."
"What?"
"I know. I wish I had a better explanation, but that's all anybody told me, and here we are. I'm sure Tuvok and the crew will be doing everything they can to straighten this out, but meanwhile, we've got to find a way out of here." Again, Janeway tried to push herself into a sitting position and grimaced at the way her head swam. Chakotay took her by the shoulders and forced her back down to the cot.
"You won't do us any good unconscious," he chided. "I haven't seen any possible escape routes. The Akritirians control the inmates with a neural clamp." He turned his head and leaned over Janeway to show her the metal implant on the back of his skull. With a horrified expression, she felt for her own.
"If only he'd kicked me right on the clamp, he might have disabled it!" she grumbled.
Chakotay shook his head. "I wouldn't wish for that. I saw an Akritirian die trying to disable his." The sound of movement in the direction of the chute distracted him. "Stay here. Stay hidden. It might be food."
To cower and wait when survival was on the line ran contrary to all Janeway's instincts, but she was in no condition to get up, let alone help Chakotay claim their share of anything that came down the chute. She watched shadows move all in one direction, then come rushing back the other way a few minutes later. The edge of a sheet lifted and Chakotay slipped back inside. By her best guess, he'd been gone less than two minutes, but his hands were full.
"You got something!" she said. "What is it?"
He was panting much harder than the brief trip to the chute would justify. He stood just inside the shelter, slightly bent over.
"Chakotay?" she tried again. "What happened?"
"I just watched two men kill another over food. I grabbed what was closest and ran." As he spoke, he staggered the few short steps to the cot and fell to his knees beside her. She reached her arm around him and he collapsed toward her. A parcel of hard bread and some sort of root vegetable, and what she hoped was a water canteen tumbled onto the cot. Janeway hugged Chakotay around his shoulders in thanks.
"We'll get out of here," she promised. "We'll find a way."