Chapter Text
After the last interrogation – each one more forceful than the last – the Akritirian security officers took Janeway’s uniform, right down to the dull gray underclothes. The shorter one threw her a worn brown jumpsuit that stank of a powerful cleaning solution. She’d barely had time to put it on when three armed guards appeared at the door of her cell.
“Prison transfer,” the one in front said. He gestured down the hall with the butt of his weapon.
“Prison? No!” Janeway protested. “I haven’t even heard any charges against me, just questions about a bombing I know nothing about. I haven’t been tried or convicted. You have the wrong person.”
“No need for a trial when the evidence is conclusive, under Akritirian law. You were tried in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment. Now move!” ordered the guard. He yanked her out of the cell by her arm and prodded her into motion with the weapon.
“I demand to speak to – “ she began.
“SILENCE!” shouted the guard as he knocked her to the floor with the blunt end of the weapon. Janeway staggered up but another blow knocked her out cold.
She awoke to the sense of falling. The trip down the chute was unexpected, abrupt, and terrifying. She was unable to slow her descent and had no idea how long the fall might last. Her head throbbed. Dizzying, bright lights flashed around her and klaxons sounded the entire way down, at least a hundred meters if she hadn’t entirely lost her bearings. She landed hard on her elbow and hip with a cry of shock more than pain. The sound of voices crowded near her but it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and see the faces of at least several dozen dirty men in brown jumpsuits staring down at her. They all looked Akritirian.
As Janeway pushed up from the floor and tried to stand, the nearest man grabbed her. She shoved back, but more hands snatched at her from the other side and from behind. Someone pushed her back to the floor. She rolled to her back and coiled her legs to slam into the man’s chest as he jumped her. The crowd closed in, grabbing at her limbs and clothing. She reached for every vulnerable body part she could see, poking, kicking, punching and biting at throats, groins, knees, eyes, fingers. Retaliating blows rained down on her. A kick to the head had almost knocked her unconscious again when she felt strong hands dragging her out of the crowd. She was squirming to get into a position to attack this new aggressor when she heard his voice, loud and threatening above her head.
“This woman is my property!” he yelled. “Anybody who lays a hand on her will pull back a stump, got it?” It was Chakotay. Janeway shut her eyes as pain and overwhelming darkness took her, surrendering to the feeling of strong arms carrying her away.
When consciousness returned, along with new and more serious pain, she was on a cot in a small shelter consisting of a few hanging sheets that hid them from alarming fight noises outside. Chakotay was cleaning a gash on the side of her head with a warm, wet 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 said, but her voice was weak and unconvincing.
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 unit 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. “Take mine,” she said, fumbling with it. He took it without comment and cinched it around his waist. He looked thinner already, she noticed. His face was hollow.
“Did they arrest you in the market, too?” she asked.
He nodded. “I don’t know why. They brought me here the first day. No one has explained why I’m being held or for how long.”
She 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. That’s all they told me before they knocked me out cold and I wound up here. 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 this place.” 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 brain damaged,” he said. “You have a concussion and it’s dangerous out there. There’s nothing you can do. 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. Horrified, she felt for her own and found the hard nodule locked to the top of her spine.
“If only he’d kicked me right on the clamp, he might have disabled it!” she said, exploring the device with her fingers.
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 as he collapsed toward her. She felt for injuries but he was unharmed, just traumatized, shaking. A parcel of hard bread, a chunky root vegetable, and what she hoped was a water canteen tumbled onto the cot. She hugged Chakotay tightly around his shoulders, grateful more that he was present and alive than for the food and water. He clung to her silently.
“We’ll get out of here,” she promised. “We’ll find a way.”