Ch. 16

"You know what, Starfleet? The next time you pull a stunt like that you'd better be packing a phaser!"

Tom immediately got to his feet as B'Elanna blew into the house like a thunderstorm, with Harry right on her heels. It never paid to be too relaxed around her when she was in this kind of a mood. "So, how'd it go?"

"Let's just say that the best thing that ever happened to Harry," B'Elanna growled from the kitchen, "was him getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant. I'd hate to see how he would've turned out if he'd stayed here."

Tom raised his eyebrows at Harry, who had wisely joined him in the living room. "She's overreacting."

"Overreacting?" B'Elanna exclaimed and they heard something being slammed onto the counter. She came out of the kitchen long enough to point a finger at Harry. "You tried to set me up on a date!"

"Oh really?" Tom crossed his arms across his chest and looked at his best friend. "With who?"

"You weren't going to have go on it. I was just trying to keep him interested," Harry yelled the last word as B'Elanna stormed towards the bedroom. Looking at Tom, he added quietly, "Lieutenant Prescott."

Tom's lip curled in disgust. "Isn't he the one-"

"Yeah, he is."

"Oh." Tom digested that for a moment. "Why were you-"

"He's in charge of the hangar where they transported Kathryn's shuttle. In order for us to get in to see it, I had to make him think he stood a chance with B'Elanna. You were not going to have to actually go out with him," Harry reiterated as B'Elanna rejoined them after changing clothes.

"So tell me, Harry, was your entire graduating class from the academy pathetic, or was it just you and the petaQ?"

Harry frowned at her. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Lucky for you."

"So you did get to examine the shuttle?" Tom asked.

All the energy seemed to go out of both of them. B'Elanna slumped back against the couch. "We didn't find anything. The burns from weapons scoring didn't carry any known signature. Everything we would use to trace the shuttle's origin was badly damaged. I…there just wasn't much left of the shuttle at all."

"If they were on it," Harry said, "there's no way they survived."

"How'd you make out?" B'Elanna asked. "Did you talk to Nog again?"

Before he could answer, they heard the front door open. Chakotay and Tuvok joined them in the living room. Harry glanced towards the door, and Chakotay answered his unspoken question. "Seven went to my house. We didn't find anything in the evidence collected, and she wanted to interface directly with the house computer system to access the transporter and alarm systems."

"I am sure her methods will be much more direct than those used by the investigation team," Tuvok commented.

"You mean she's going to-" Tom imitated the Borg tubules that were housed in the Seven's hand, "with the computer?"

"Yes," Chakotay confirmed tiredly. "What about you? Have you found out anything? Where's the Doc?"

"Haven't heard from him yet," Tom said quickly jumping in when Harry looked prepared to deliver the bad news about their lack of discovery. "But I did talk to Nog again, and he talked to his uncle. Now Nog wasn't sure what it was he was supposed to be asking, but apparently, his uncle had just heard that this guy, Milo Cyronius, was actually still in business."

"Did you say Milo?" Chakotay asked, sitting forward. "When I talked to Sveta earlier, she said that she'd heard that name. She said as soon as she pressed about who the guy was, everybody just clammed up."

"Well according to Quark, this guy runs the gamut. He likes to deal in one-of-a-kind treasure type pieces that he auctions off. He also has this sort of pleasure cruiser with gambling and whatever else you might want. Assuming you have the money to pay for it," Tom explained. "Now get this, he's also been known to run high-end slave auctions."

"Slave auctions?" Harry asked not understanding. "For what?"

Tom looked uncomfortably at Chakotay and could tell that he already knew. His eyes had darkened considerably, and he was staring at the coffee table, but he answered Harry's question. "For sex." His voice was strained. "The man sells people for sex."

Understanding dawned on Harry's face, and he looked sick. "And that's why they took Kathryn?"

"Could be," Tom said.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Not to be…rude or uh…"

"What?" B'Elanna asked, staring at him.

"Well isn't…I mean...don't these kind of things usually have," he cleared his throat, "uhm…younger girls? I mean, not that the captain is old, 'cause she isn't, by any standard. That's not what I meant."

The last words rushed out of Harry's mouth. After a moment of profound silence, Tom finally took pity on his friend.

"Well, Harry, you're right about it usually being adolescent girls," Tom said, stressing a more appropriate word choice. Harry buried his head in his hands. "But for someone like Kathryn, a celebrity of sorts, there'd be an active market for her as well."

"There are still two facts we are overlooking," Tuvok commented, immune to the uncomfortable tension of the room. "We have no information linking this Cyronius to the disappearance of Admiral Janeway and Madelyn, nor do we yet have proof that they are, in fact, alive."

B'Elanna glared at the Vulcan. He had a point, but she really didn't want to hear it. Apparently, neither did Chakotay. Getting to his feet, he began pacing the floor. "He's right, and even if we did this isn't helping us find them."

"Did Sveta mention anything else?" Tom asked.

"Not really. She just said the more she asked, the less people were willing to say."

"Not unusual for people accustomed to operating outside the legal system."

"Unfortunately, that's true," B'Elanna commented dryly.

"Yeah, but is this guy Milo powerful enough to operate freely?" Harry asked. "I mean, in order for the Captain to be kidnapped, a lot of things had to happen."

No one bothered correcting him on calling Kathryn captain, and his statement hung stale in the air until they heard the whine of a transporter beam. The Doctor unexpectedly materialized in the living room. Finding himself facing the door, he spun around to find them all watching him. "It wasn't Kathryn Janeway in that shuttle. She isn't dead."


The Doctor hurriedly explained about the implants and how he and Dr. Crusher had found no trace of them in the remains. They'd also found a fracture along the right femur that had been attributed to the crash, but closer examination proved that the fracture was actually an older injury.

"Admiral Janeway did in fact have a medical history of multiple fractures in her left leg from a previous shuttle crash, but not her right," the Doctor proclaimed proudly. "That and the missing implants helped me convince Dr. Crusher that the remains had been misidentified."

"What about Madelyn?" Chakotay asked quietly.

The Doctor's face fell. "I wasn't able to determine anything with hers. I'm sorry."

The sense of excitement his news had brought quickly dissipated. Harry scratched his head, "Were you able to determine who the remains did belong to?"

"Sadly, no, and we probably won't, now that they've been so completely tampered with."

"I have a question," B'Elanna said, half raising her hand. "Did you happen to leave any Borg implants in me that you haven't bothered to mention?"

The comm. unit beeped with an incoming call, and Chakotay moved to answer it, missing the rest of the exchange between the EMH and two of his other former Borg patients. He wiped a hand over his face before activating the screen, expecting it to be Gretchen.

"Commander! Oh, I am so happy to see you. I called your house, and Seven of Nine told me you were here. I'm so glad I managed to find you, sir. I mean, Captain."

Chakotay's head was spinning. Tal Celes was the last person he expected to see on the call unit. He sighed inwardly; he should've been expecting this though. The message had gone out to all the crew members in an attempt to inform them of Kathryn's death before Starfleet made the official pronouncement. Now, he would have a deluge of calls expressing sympathy that he really didn't have the energy to deflect. Especially now with the news the Doctor had just given them. He realized belatedly that Celes was still talking.

"…and Tabor is here, too. We were meeting at Deep Space Nine to commiserate about the Captain."

"Deep Space Nine? Isn't that where Quark's is?" Chakotay asked, feeling like his mind was slowly piecing something together.

"Yes, exactly," the young woman said excitedly. "I should get to the point. We met a Ferengi there who knew about the Captain."

"Quark," Chakotay clarified, thinking he was about to hear the same thing Tom had just told him.

"No, not Quark, another Ferengi. He said he saw Kathryn Janeway on a ship. A ship that belonged to this guy named Milo-"

"Cyronius," Chakotay finished with her. He was completely alert now. "What else did he say?"

Celes told him the entire exchange that took place at the bar. "Then Tabor and Dalby kept questioning him. He told us the auction was supposed to take place today or yesterday, depending on the time difference. I wasn't real clear on that. Or he wasn't real clear, but it was supposed to be at a place called Merk's. He gave us the coordinates. Sir, it's on Earth."

Chakotay downloaded the coordinates. "Celes, this is excellent work."

"Thank you, sir. We just wish we could've gotten the information to you in time to save her."

Chakotay had almost cut off the communication when he heard Celes say that, and he forced himself to stop. "She isn't dead, Celes. We're going to get her back."

"You're kidding! No, sir, I mean, of course, you aren't kidding. I would never insinuate that you'd kid about something like this…that's great news. But how? When? " Her face flushed. "Never mind, sir, I know you must have a million things to do right now and don't need me asking all these questions. We're here sir, just let us know if there's anything else we can do."

Chakotay resisted the urge to shake his head. "I'll let you know as soon as we know something definite," he hesitated before continuing, "Celes, did the Ferengi mention Madelyn at all?"

"I'm not sure, sir," she said. "I didn't want to tell you in case it wasn't her. He never saw a child with the Admiral, but he said he did see one on the ship once. I don't know if it was Madelyn or not."

Chakotay nodded and exhaled a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He thanked Celes again before signing off, repeating to himself that Maddie was with Kathryn and trying to convince himself of it while he tapped in the comm. code for his house. Seven answered.

"I'm sending you a set of coordinates, Seven. I need to know everything there is to know about them and a place called Merk's."

"Of course," Seven nodded.

"Call as soon as you have it. You'll have to use my comm. badge frequency because we won't be here."

"Where are you going?"

"We'll be at those coordinates."