Part VII

“ I went over the diagnostic reports.” B'Elanna was saying to Tuvok and Chakotay. “ And I noticed a few discrepancies. First, the--”

Chakotay impatiently cut in, “ You noticed discrepencies. Skip the explaination, I’ll read the report later. Just answer this, B’Elanna-- Yes or no, was the warp core sabotaged?”

She looked him square in the eye. “ Yes, the warp core was sabotaged.”

“ You are absolutely certain?” He felt sick.

“ I have no doubt about it,” B'Elanna replied.

“ Can you tell who did it?”

“ Whoever it was covered their tracks meticulously. I have no way to tell. The person sabotaged it sometime in between 2300 and 0100 hours. They deleted logs, left no trace whatsoever of what authorization they used to do it. They must know the ship's warp core pretty well. Too well.”

“ Off the top of your head, who has enough knowledge of the ship's systems to pull this off?”

“ That I know of? Well, the Captain, myself, Lieutenant Carey,” she hesitated a moment before saying, “ Lieutenant Meta, Seven, and Vorick.”

“ I think we can elimnate the Captain,” Chakotay noted wryly, “ And you, Seven, and Carey were ill at the time.”

“ And I think we know Vorick wouldn't do it. Besides, he wasn't even on duty at the time,” B'Elanna added. “ So that leaves Meta.”

“ Not necessarily,” Chakotay said. “ Those people were just off of the top of your head. I'm sure there are more people who have it in their expertise to sabotage our systems.”

“ Of course, there always are,” B'Elanna replied, refraining from pointing out to Chakotay how glaringly obvious it was that Meta did it. This didn't seem to be the right time. Not yet. But B'Elanna made a mental note to herself to have a private talk with that traitor who had probably gotten the Captain killed.

* * *

Rennika arrived in engineering with high spirits a few minutes before her shift. She greeted Carey genially, and he smiled back and nodded to her. She headed over to Torres, handing the Klingon woman a padd.

“ Here's the warp bandwidth report you asked me for, Lieutenant.”

“ A bit early, isn't it?” Torres asked, her voice chilly.

“ Well,” Rennika said, “ I had some time on my hands, so I just decided to finish it early.”

“ Oh, you're just so special, Meta. Really,” B'Elanna said, anger lacing her voice as she snatched the padd from the outstretched hand.

“ Lieutenant, did I do something wrong?” Rennika asked, her eyes widened

B'Elanna stood up, wishing she could tower over Meta. Instead, she had to make due with looking up into the taller woman's eyes. “ I think we both know what you did.” She growled.

“ I'm not sure what you're talking about,” Rennika said warily.

“ Well then, let me clarify. You sabotaged the warp core, you told the Bromalians where the Captain was going, and you probably got her killed.”

B'Elanna had a short leash on her temper, but it seemed to be escaping, making her voice shake.

Rennika had a momentary look of shock on her face as she unconsciously took a step back. Quickly, the old innocence returned. “ I-I don't know how you came up with that, Lieutenant, but I would never--” She noticed Torres grow wild-eyed in front of her, and the engineer took a menacing step forward.

“ Say it,” she hissed. “ Just say it. Chakotay may be blind, but I'm not! If you dare lie to me, I swear, I will kill you where you stand!”

Rennika was in a daze. She couldn't tell the truth, but she wouldn't dare provoke Torres. She found herself intimidated, scared of the woman despite herself. She whimpered, “ Just leave me alone.”

B'Elanna let out a bitter, harsh laugh. “ You didn't give the captain that luxury, did you? But let me promise you one thing, Meta,” She drew in closer to the other woman. “ When what you did gets out, you will have more enemies on this ship than you have ever had, and if it somehow doesn't ever get out, I will be enemy enough for all of them!”

Meta usually didn’t scare easily, but her shock at B’Elanna’s knowledge gave her an alien cowardice. Meta backed away, then she turned and blindly rushed out of engineering. B'Elanna stared after her in utter contempt.

“ What's her problem?” Lieutenant Colmar asked Torres. B'Elanna glanced at him.

“ She's had a bad day.”

* * *

Kathryn woke up on a bed for the first time in two months. She glanced around the dimly lit room and noticed that the only furniture in the place was the bed. Other than that, the room was bare except for a ceiling light.

It was another, more comfortable cell that her previous one (and certainly more comfortable than the Box, she added). The bed was somewhat hard compared to the one on her ship, but she was comfortable nevertheless. She also had woken up on her own, not by a rude kick to the ribs or having freezing cold water dumped over her like they had done once.

Kathryn heard the door open, and she glanced up to see Mordus standing in the doorway. “ I hope you're feeling better than you were earlier.” She was somewhat surprised about the change in his voice since the last time she'd met him. It was softer now, smoother, while before it had been loud and menacing.

“ Yes, I do,” she replied, not sure what else to say. What torture did he have planned for her?

“ I take it you're hungry.” He approached her slowly, cautiously. “ There's food outside. I'll help you over there.”

Kathryn didn't trust him, and suspected that this kindness was some sort of facade, but she nodded. He bent over and helped her to her feet, supporting her as she slowly made her way to the door. It was the first time Kathryn had really gotten a chance to walk, and she found that, with help, she could still do it.

They exited the cell, and he steered her over towards a chair. “ Just sit here.”

Kathryn lowered herself down, her legs already worn out from the short walk. He brought over a bowl of some sort of substance. Janeway recognized the taste immediately. It was something like Brexian Pokash, one of the commonly served meals while she was in the box, but it tasted rather good now.

She ate in silence. She felt his eyes on her as she choked down as much as she could as quickly as she could. A part of her was apalled that she was giving in like this, accepting his rewards when God knew what he’d ask for them, but she ignored that voice. All she knew was that she had never been so hungry in her life.

“ So,” she asked, when she was too full to eat anymore, “ What's this all about?”

“ This?” He asked.

“ I mean this... act of kindness,” she replied, gesturing to the food and to the room around her. He smiled, a dry, thin-lipped smile that wasn't especially pleasant.

“ You may have a negative impression of me, you have reason to, but not everything I do stems from an evil, ulterior motive,” he replied.

“ Ah, but you must have something to gain out of this.”

He smiled. “ Actually, I was hoping to gain a dialogue.”

“ A... dialogue?” Janeway was confused now.

“ A conversation?” He said, then as if explaining to a child, “ To converse--”

“ I know what a conversation is,” she replied, a bit too quickly. Her voice softened. “ I just didn't expect you to say that.” She stared at him for a second, then smirked. “Are you and Hath’Hart doing some sort of good cop-- bad cop sort of thing?”

“ I beg your pardon?”

Janeway leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “ On my planet, in the twentieth century, law enforcement officers used to interrogate people. One would be kind, one would be hostile. It would cause the suspects to trust and talk to the kind one.”

He shook his head. “ I'm not trying to wring information out of you, if that's what you're asking, but thank you for that information. I might try that approach in the future.” He paused for a beat. “ So, Captain, tell me about your planet.”

“ Excuse me? Tell you about Earth?” She stared at him. “ Why?”

“ Intellectual curiosity,” he replied. “ I've never traveled outside of Order space, and one can't help but wonder about outsiders. Tell me about this Federation of yours.”

Janeway was still somewhat in shock. This... man who had hunted her for so long was now trying to be, for lack of a better word, social with her. She still couldn't quite tell what he was up to, but she decided it would be best to stay on his good side. Deciding to give the formal first contact lecture on the Federation, she began, “The United Federation of Planets stretches across seven thousand light years and consists of...”

* * *

They had yet to find evidence about who the traitor was. They had gone over all of the suspects' communication's logs, and found nothing.

Now, a frustrated Chakotay was going over his transmission records. It was a semi-annual requirement that the Captain had strictly enforced. Now that she was gone, it had fallen slightly behind schedule, but he still felt the priority to finish what she'd started. If he didn't, it would feel like he was giving up on her, and he would never do that.

It had been over two months. They would reach Shrelton in a little over six weeks, but they'd also have to make stops for supplies along the way. The best estimates concluded that they would reach Shrelton four and a half months after the Captain's abduction. Chakotay told himself that he firmly believed they'd get Kathryn back alive, although most crewmembers had already given her up for dead.

The ship was quiet and lonely. Everything seemed more tedious and pointless now than it had ever seemed, and Rennika was driving him insane. The woman would never leave him alone. She would say that she felt upset about Kathryn's imprisonment as well, but then she wouldn't even batt an eye when Janeway was mentioned. She would say one thing, and seem to actually believe another. It was really getting on Chakotay's nerves. He couldn't seem to relate to Rennika anymore. She seemed like a stranger to him, one he never had really known up until now. He began to seriously consider calling it off.

He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't see the one transmission. It registered in the back of his mind and he snapped out of his trance and flipped back to the place.

It was a transmission sent from his quarters to the Bromalians a little over a day before Kathryn's kidnapping.

“ What the hell!” He exclaimed, jumping up in his chair. He quickly noted the time and date, and checked the security log to see who had been in his quarters at the time. There was only one person: Rennika Meta.

* * *

Mordus had asked her about everything. Her life, her career, her family. Janeway couldn't understand what it was he wanted from her. He was agreeable at times, almost kind, but she had seen a darker side to him. When someone came, he would hastily shuffle her back into her cell and lock the door. Bits of their conversation would filter through the door to her, and she learned enough from the conversation to get a grasp that Mordus was not one to be trifled with.

One time when he was absent, a guard came in to feed her, and she asked him where Mordus was. He told her, then he left. That's all that had happened. When Mordus came back, he was furious at her for even speaking to the guard, ordering her never to speak to another person unless he had given her permission first. She never saw that guard again. Needless to say, she had been startled by that sudden outburst of his temper. He had never quite showed it to her before.

Another time, he was once again asking her personal questions. She answered them as best she could, but avoided really sharing too much of her personal life, especially his intense inquiries into her former lovers. He noticed she seemed to be stepping around things, and grew furious when she still refused to answer him. He had yelled at her in a paroxysm of rage, his entire body shaking and the vein in his forehead throbbing. Janeway, who had already seen his temper once before, wasn't too shocked to say anything back this time. She snapped back a reply, and he hit her. Hard. She was knocked down to the ground. He followed his backhand and knelt down and picked her up, pulling her up by the collar and pushing her against the wall.

“ I don't want to hurt you, Kathryn, but don't push me!” He whispered, addressing her by her name for the first time. He kept one hand on her collar and grabbed her upper arm with the other and steered her back over to her cell. He shoved her in and slammed the door, locking it. She had had the bruise on her cheek for nearly a week. The worst of it had recently come when he asked her about her father. Kathryn had always been rather uncomfortable talking about him, and answered all his questions in monosyllables. He again grew angry, and Janeway grew angry as well. This earned her a black eye. She stood back up from where she had fallen on the floor. Mordus grew even more angry and hit her once again. She stumbled back, but managed to catch her balance. He grabbed his rifle-like weapon (Janeway hadn't seen it yet) and swung it like a bat, hitting her on the side of the head. Kathryn fell down, her body going numb underneath her and the world blackening.

He knelt over where she was lying, too disoriented to move, and hissed, “ When I knock you to the floor, you stay on the floor until I say you can get up.” He then stood up and looked down at her again. “ You can get up.” He then turned away and walked out of the cell, locking the door behind him.

Kathryn couldn't sit up. She lay for a few seconds more, then passed out. She passed in and out of consciousness for a few days before Mordus was convinced to get a doctor. He had been reluctant to allow her to see anyone. The doctor diagnosed her with a severe concussion and treated her.

There had been a few other times, but none so severe as the most recent one. He was growing steadily more and more possessive of her, treating her like she was his property. The day finally came that one of the guards blundered into not properly locking her door. Kathryn had hidden one of the utensils from her meals in her cell, an ice-pic like instrument. She already knew that Mordus slept somewhere else, so she didn't have to worry about him. Kathryn approached the lock and worked the utensil into it. She moved it around for a few minutes before she finally managed to open the door. The guard wasn't outside of her cell at the moment, undoubtedly off answering nature's call or something else. He didn't bother calling a replacement because he didn't expect her to break out.

She crept past him to where the weapon Mordus had hit her with was kept. She undid what she thought was the safety and powered the weapon up. Kathryn inched open the door to the outer room. She had never been past the outer room in her time here, so she made her way cautiously, not knowing what came next.

There were two guards talking. Neither of them noticed her come in the room, or when she raised the rifle. They were standing close together, and she took them out with one shot. It must have set off some alarm without her knowing it, for after she left that room, she entered a giant hallway. Kathryn hurried as fast as she could down the hall way. She passed a few rooms with open doors. Right as she was going past one of them, a shadowy figure came out and grabbed her rifle.

Kathryn kept her grip, not letting the person take it from her. The person then used her own strength against her by shoving the rifle forward, hitting her in the face. She involuntarily let go of the weapon as she stumbled back.

Mordus threw the weapon back into the room behind him and advanced on her. Janeway knelt down low, preparing for his attack. He came at her with blinding speed, grabbing her and effortlessly tossing her up against the wall. Before Kathryn could do anything, he was at her again, hitting her first with his fist, then back handing her with the same hand. He clubbed her down next to her neck on her shoulder, successfully knocking her down to the floor. At this point, Kathryn knew he had defeated her. When he had her on the floor she was in no position to fight him. Added to that was the fact that Mordus, no, Bromalians in general, possessed a far superior strength to that of a human, a mix between the controlled strength of a Vulcan and the untamed strength of a Klingon. Plus, Mordus was a huge man. He was larger than Chakotay, nearly a foot taller than Janeway, and probably weighed three times as much as Janeway did. She lay on the ground looking up at him, struggling to choke breath into her lungs.

Mordus knelt down and wordlessly lifted her up, dragging her bodily down the hall. He took her back to the cell, fury burning behind his cool composure. When she was in, he closed the door and slammed her up against the wall.

“ What the fuck did you think you were doing!” He growled, angrily. “ Trying to escape? I've treated you well, given you enough food, and this is how you repay me!”

“ Go to hell, Mordus!” Janeway hissed, already regretting the words, considering Mordus's current mood. A snarl twisted across his lips and he slammed his fist across her jaw. He hit her again and again before he threw her away from the wall down to the ground. Mordus kicked her in the ribs. Janeway cried out and tried to get up as he aimed a kick again and got her in the stomach. She was knocked back down to the ground. Kathryn doubled up as the air was knocked out of her. Then he connected one with her face. This flipped her over onto her back, and for a moment, Kathryn was blinded by the sudden rush of blood that got in her eyes. He raised his leg and stomped on her head.

When she felt herself about to mercifully pass out, he momentarily stopped. “ No, no, you're not going to pass out on me yet. I'm not through with you.” He said, panting. He lifted her up again. Janeway grimaced, pain throughout her body as he dragged her across the room and shoved her back up against the wall.

“ What the hell were you thinking?” He demanded again, the look on his face torn between rage and an almost amusing perplexity. She fought back the urge to laugh at the absurdity of this. How could he not understand why she’d want to escape? She was a prisoner, for God’s sake!

Unable to express these sentiments, she managed to choke out, “ Fuck you!”

Mordus grabbed her by the neck, his body right up against hers to hold her to the wall, and tightened his fingers. Kathryn gasped, raising her hands to try to pry off his hands. His face was dispassionate, and the world started to go black.

“ This hurts, doesn’t it? You want me to stop? You want me to let go?”

Unable to nod her head or even choke out a word, her eyes flickered desperately up to his.

When his hands loosened around her throat, her entire body sagged. She was only held up against the wall by his body pressing against hers.

She didn’t notice his hands upon her until her head cleared, or his lips upon her neck. Her gaze raked over him-- his skin was flushed, a bulge in his pants. She put her arms against his shoulders to try to break away, but her arms had no strength.

*The sick bastard,* she thought, struggling harder against him. *He’s aroused by pain. *

* * *

” You really should stop blaming yourself, Chakotay,” B'Elanna was saying to him. “There was no way you could have known what she was planning.”

Chakotay listened to her words but took no comfort from them. “ Everyone saw Rennika for what she was except for me. Christ, B'Elanna, am I that blind?”

“ You're not blind,” B'Elanna said. “ You just have, as I've told you before, bad taste in women.”

Chakotay grunted. “ Bad taste. I always seem to be involved with women who turn into traitors.”

“ Well, if you and the captain had ever been involved, I'm sure that wouldn't be the case,” B'Elanna said.

She noticed the pain in his eyes when she mentioned the Captain. “ Chakotay, I'm your friend. What is it?”

Chakotay paused, as if uncertain whether to reply or not, then finally said, “ I don't know. I don't know whether or not to believe she is still alive. B'Elanna, in my heart, I have to. I love her, B'Elanna. Even if it isn't mutual, I love that woman. But all of the odds are against her being alive. And to know that it was done from my quarters... that I was having *sex* with the woman who betrayed her while god knows what the Bromalians were doing to Kathryn, it's-- it's just tearing me apart, Torres.” He collapsed down onto a chair.

“ Chakotay, do you think the captain would want you to agonize about this?” Torres demanded. “ She'd want answers, and if she is alive, I'm sure she'd appreciate the fact that you are doing *everything* in your power to get her back. Besides, no one's killed her yet, and there's no reason to believe that she'll let them kill her now.”

He smiled at her, a mirthless smile that didn't even reach his eyes. “You have some very valid points, B'Elanna. I just wish I could be as optimistic.”

“ Hey,” B'Elanna said, trying to cheer him up a bit. “ Don't get all melodramatic on me now.”

He glanced at her, appreciatively. “ Thank you, for everything. I just can't stop thinking about her, what she's going through.”

“ No problem.” B'Elanna replied. “ Besides, I have no doubt she's more worried about how you're holding up right now than about herself.”

* * *

Mordus hesitated momentarily, staring into Kathryn's eyes. When she felt him against her, for a moment, he saw a flash of naked fear run across her face. It was the first time he had ever seen that reaction from her, and only helped arouse him even more, giving him a sense of empowerment over her that he hadn't quite felt yet. He’d been planning on taking her at some point, but he had waited for the right opportunity. Here it was. It served the bitch for trying to escape.

His hands on her neck fell to her shoulders as he put weight on them to ease her down to the floor. She was already in a weakened state, and couldn't fight him.

“Don't,” She hissed, her hands flying to his wrists to try to pry his grip off of her shoulders. As he shoved her down onto her back, she repeated more urgently, obviously fighting down panic, “ Don't!”

“ Shhh,” Mordus whispered, moving his body on top of hers, his hand moving up to her throat again.

Kathryn desperately pushed against him, struggling. Her head was throbbing and her body cried out under his weight. One of his hands was holding her down by the shoulder, his other one was resting near her throat, and his legs were pinning her legs down. He seemed to be having little difficulty holding her down. Unable to do anything else at the moment, Kathryn resorted to clamping her teeth down on his hand.

With an inarticulate curse, he withdrew his hand and brought it back down in a fist against her jaw. Her head bumped the ground with a painful thump. Kathryn felt herself grow dizzy again and her body started to stop responding to her. His hand returned to her shoulder and the other hand grabbed her by the neck. He was choking her once again, and Janeway used both her arms to try to pry him off, becoming desperate for air. She was too much in the struggle to notice what else was going on. She vaguely felt the chilly air against her skin when her pants were torn off.

He relaxed his grip for a moment, allowing her to get a bit of air, then tightened it again while he simultaneously entered her. Janeway would have screamed if she had any air. The pain was horrific. He thrust into her again, harder, and then again, grunting in pleasure. Kathryn knew that her face showed everything she was feeling, the pain, the terror, the humiliation, but she couldn't hide it right now. Mordus feasted in it, staring down into her face as he held her down, simultaneously choking her and thrusting into her. She once again had to focus on the hand gripped around her neck, choking the air out of her. She felt on the verge of passing out, the world spinning around her, seeing Mordus thrust into her but not feeling it. It all seemed ethereal momentarily before he suddenly did a last, hard thrust and convulsed.

His hand around her throat loosened. He fell on top of her, sweaty and panting. Kathryn lay underneath him, unable to get up, helplessly gasping for air.

After he had regained his breath, he glanced down at her. “ Don't you ever try to escape again,” he repeated. That was all he said. Kathryn moved her head to the side. It was all she could do to keep from shrinking underneath his gaze. He wordlessly got off of her and pulled up his pants. Kathryn wasn't sure when he left the room, but when she finally had the courage to look up again, he was gone. She was too in shock to even cry, to even feel the emotions in the aftermath of her rape. She simply lay still, in shock, until her injuries got the better of her and she passed out.

* * *

Chakotay was watching Tuvok interrogate Rennika. Tuvok had asked her a few meaningless questions about how she had done what she had done. Finally, he asked the one Chakotay was interested in hearing. What her motive was.

She didn't answer Tuvok on this one. She instead looked over Chakotay. “ I did it because I love you, Chakotay,” She whispered.

“ Lieutenant--” Tuvok began, but Chakotay held up a hand to silence him.

“ You did it because you love me? How is killing my best friend showing you love me?” Chakotay demanded.

“ Because,” Rennika said, voice strained. “ I knew you loved her too. I-I wanted us to be together, alone. Undisturbed. And you know we never could have done that if she was still around.”

Chakotay was in shock. “ You did this because I told you--” He stopped short. *My god, why didn't I realize how sick this woman is?*

Tuvok continued the interrogation, but Chakotay was too stunned to pay any attention. An overwhelming sense of guilt came over him. If it wasn't for him, Kathryn never would have been captured. *It's the same as if I killed her with my own hand.*

When the interrogation was over, he began to stumble towards the door. Rennika watched him silently for a few moments before she leaped to her feet and called out, “ It was the right thing to do, Chakotay! I did it all for you... It was all in the name of love!”

Chakotay shuddered before he plunged out into the corridor. Before the doors slid heavily shut behind him, he heard Rennika laugh, her laughter metallic and unnatural, crying with glee, “It was in the name of love!”

* * *

Kathryn woke up. Her memory came back to her, and she felt the panic rise in her again as she relived the experience. She had never felt so humiliated in her life, or so degraded. Kathryn attempted to untangle herself, to sit up, to do something, but she couldn't. She could only lie on the ground, gasping for precious air that both gave her life and burned her hoarse lungs. She wished she could stop hyperventilating, but she couldn't calm down.

Suddenly, a tremor ran through her body and she began to shake violently. She couldn't compose herself, nor could she struggle to help herself; all she could do was curl up in a ball and try not to tremble or freeze to death.

She became aware of how cold she was, but she couldn't do anything about it. The pain was everywhere, both inside and out.

So in this dark room she lay, a humiliated ball of defeat, praying for an end to come. For death to finally come and end her torment.

* * *

She must have been lying like that for hours. She didn't move, she didn't think. She simply saw and felt the blackness and the pain around her. Kathryn stayed like that until a single thought came into her mind: No. This one word brought her out of her unthinking darkness, reviving her mind and opening her eyes, infusing strength into her aching body and purpose into her broken spirit. No! She thought again. She wouldn't let herself lie here, like a victim. She felt strength flow through her veins; she was empowered by the sudden rush of anger that flowed through her. The hatred. It was these single emotions that broke through her darkness and brought her out, willing her to get up, not to give in.

She was on her feet without realizing it, gritting her teeth to keep her legs from going out from under her as she staggered over towards what was left of her pants. She was still unsteady as she pulled them on, composing herself as best as she could. She ran a shaky hand through her mangled hair, feeling the tangles all about. Kathryn felt blind hatred, deeper than any she had ever felt before. It went down to her very bone and fueled her. Janeway soon was as well composed as she could be. She paused, looking around, wondering what she would do.

Finally, she settled on moving back into one of the corners. She leaned back against the wall and slid into a sitting position on the floor, glaring at the door. She would stay awake. When that bastard came into the room again, she would not be taken by surprise.