Author’s note: This series takes place after “The Swarm”, “Blood Fever”, “Displaced”,
blah, blah, blah…
Thanx: I would like to thank my thesaurus, my dictionary, and my brain. Without you
guys, I’d be lost.
Okay, so I *sorta* got the idea for this story from a Star Wars book I read. But I
Voyager-ized the idea so it doesn’t sound that much like the Star Wars story. If there are
any Star Wars fans out there, the book I read was “The Courtship of Princess Leia.”
Okay, just *one* more note before I start the story. This is the first Voyager fanfiction
that I’ve ever written. So I kinda have no idea what I’m doing. Point out any mistakes
you might see or you can just tell me that you like the story and spare my feelings. 🙂
Actually, just tell me the truth. I would appreciate *any* comments on this.
My address is cvu@ix.netcom.com and my name is Cherry Vu.
Disclaimer at the end
Dilemmas: Part 1, The Attack
B’Elanna Torres sat at the engineering station on the bridge trying to fix some
minor problem with the plasma conduits. She had been bored out of her mind down at
engineering because everything else had finally been fixed after the last attack and all
was running smoothly. And, besides, she couldn’t stand to hear anymore of Lieutenant
Carey’s corny jokes. There was also another reason why she had wanted to work on the
bridge. She was hoping maybe she would get a glimpse of a certain someone…
Tom Paris sat at the helm silently watching B’Elanna working at the engineering
station out of his peripheral vision. He wondered why she had decided to work on the
bridge today. True, there was nothing else to do down in engineering, but usually
B’Elanna sent someone else to the bridge to fix the minor problems.
*Maybe it’s….*, Tom thought, *No Tom…it’s not you. She just came to the bridge
because she was bored. That’s all. Nothing else. Why do you care so much anyway?*
Tom hadn’t been able to stop thinking about B’Elanna ever since the Nyurians had
replaced the entire crew of Voyager with their own people. He remembered feeling
B’Elanna’s stinging cold hands trying to warm them up while they had been trapped in
one of the icy habitats on the Nyurian ship. He hadn’t wanted to let go of her hands but
he knew that he had to….
Tom was suddenly awakened from his daydreaming by a surprising blast that
rocked the ship.
“Captain! We are being attacked by an alien vessel off the starboard bow,” Tuvok
said.
*Really, Tuvok. I don’t think the captain could’ve figured that one out if you
hadn’t have told her.* Tom thought sarcastically.
*Great! Why is it that we’re always being attacked *right* after I’ve fixed this
damn ship?* B’Elanna thought angrily trying hard not to scream.
“Red Alert! All hands to battle stations! Try hailing the vessel Harry!” Captain
Janeway shouted over the blaring klaxon.
“No response Captain. They’re–,” Harry Kim answered suddenly cut off by
Tuvok.
“Captain, two more ships have joined the first vessel!” Tuvok said. “Both of their
weapons are powered.”
“Try hailing them again Harry!” Captain Janeway shouted. Suddenly another
powerful blast hit Voyager and Captain Janeway was flung out of her seat onto the hard
ground.
“No response from any of the ships, Captain!” Harry answered.
Chakotay rushed out of his seat to help Janeway up. He gave her his hand and
pulled her up off the ground.
“Tom! Get us out of here now!” the dazed captain ordered.
“Helm isn’t responding! And the warp engines are off line too!” Tom cried.
“That last hit took the engines off line captain,” B’Elanna explained, “I’m working
on them now.”
“Tuvok! Fire at will!” Captain Janeway instructed.
“Firing at will,” Tuvok answered. A second later Voyager’s phasers hit the first
vessel. Another phaser blast hit the second ship. “Direct hit, but minimal damage,”
Tuvok reported. Voyager was hit once more with another intense blast. It seemed that
each blast was more powerful than the last.
“Damage report!” Captain Janeway shouted.
“Shields at 54%, weapons at 85%, warp engines off line, casualties at 14 and still
coming in,” Harry said with a trace of panic.
“Captain, only two of three ships are attacking us. The third ship is just sitting
there,” observed Chakotay.
“I can’t worry about that right now! We have to get the warp engines back on
line. How much longer B’Elanna?” Janeway shouted.
“Give me six minutes! I just got this damn thing fixed!” replied a fuming
B’Elanna.
“Tom, can you get the helm to respond?” the captain asked.
“Not yet Captain. It may take a while,” Tom responded.
Two hits rocked the ship, one after the other. *Now what?* Captain Janeway
thought.
“Captain! Shields at 32% and falling!” yelled Harry.
“B’Elanna, try to get more power to the shields!” Captain Janeway ordered.
“I can’t! The auxiliary power is being rerouted to the warp engines!” B’Elanna
shouted back.
“Shields falling to 27%!” Harry reported once more.
Captain Janeway looked over at Chakotay questioningly. She didn’t have to say
anything at all; Chakotay knew that look. *What do we do now?* her eyes said.
Chakotay shook his head despairingly. *I don’t know* his eyes said back.
“I got warp engines back, but I don’t know for how long. We have to get out of
here now!” B’Elanna said interrupting the two commanding officers’ thoughts.
“We can’t! Helm *still* isn’t responding!” Tom shouted.
Voyager took another hit from the first ship and then another from the second
ship. The third ship remained slightly behind the first two ships as if it were observing
the entire attack.
“Shields down to 12%!” Harry cried with trepidation.
“Tuvok, keep firing phasers! Ready the photon torpedoes!” Janeway ordered the
lieutenant.
Several phaser blasts emanated from Voyager hitting the first two alien ships.
Again they sustained minimal damage and continued with their attack on Voyager.
“Photon torpedoes ready captain,” Tuvok said.
“Fire three torpedoes at each ship!” the captain said.
“Firing!” Tuvok said. Janeway watched as three torpedoes sailed past Voyager
and hit the first ship. It rocked with the force of the torpedoes but still looked a lot better
than Voyager. The same happened to the second ship.
“Direct hit, but minimal damage,” Tuvok said repeating what he had already said
earlier.
Voyager took two more hits and then the attack stopped.
“Captain, our shields are down,” Harry said quietly, voicing everyone’s fear.
“I’m sorry captain but helm’s not responding at all,” Tom said before the captain
could even ask.
The two ships that had attacked Voyager parted to allow the third ship to come in
between them and face Voyager. Everyone on the bridge stared at the viewscreen
wondering why they had suddenly stopped their attack.
“Maybe they want the ship,” Chakotay said ending the nervous silence on the
bridge.
“Well, they’re *not* going to get it,” Captain Janeway said through gritted teeth.
“Not while I’m alive.”
“What do they want? It doesn’t look like they’re going to attack us anymore but
they’re not trying to board us either,” Tom said.
“Try hailing them again, Har–,” Captain Janeway started. But she was stopped
as a purple beam of light surrounded her. Just as suddenly as the purple beam appeared,
it disappeared…along with Captain Janeway.
“Commander, it appears that Captain Janeway has been transported to the ship
ahead of us,” Tuvok said.
Several other purple beams of light appeared on the bridge…and several other
crewmembers disappeared. Tom looked over at the engineering station just in time to
see B’Elanna being transported by the purple beam.
“B’Elanna!” Tom yelled, as if his yelling could stop her from being transported.
“Commander! Crewmembers all over the ship are being transported off Voyager
onto that alien vessel,” Harry said. “But…wait a minute..this can’t be right..”
“What is it Ensign?” Commander Chakotay asked.
“If these sensors are correct, the only crewmembers being transported off the ship
are women crewmembers,” Harry said.
“Women?” Chakotay asked.
“Yes. All seventy-one of them. With the exception of Ensign Wildman’s baby
daughter, the only people left on this ship are men. All the women have been
transported to that alien ship ahead of us,” Harry said, looking incredibly confused.
“Why would they only want women? Why not all of us?” Chakotay asked out
loud.
“Commander…it has been observed in several species that women are captured
mainly to serve as slaves to their captors,” Tuvok said.
Everyone on the bridge tried hard not to think about what *kind* of slaves Tuvok
meant. Tom especially hoped that this wasn’t the case. He couldn’t think of B’Elanna
being used that way. He prayed that she would be okay. But they could do nothing now
but sit and wait.
Commander Chakotay stared at the viewscreen for a while trying to think about
how Captain Janeway would handle this situation. Finally he said, “We can’t do anything
at the moment to get them back. None of the alien vessels are responding to our hails
and our helm, our shields, and our weapons are down.”
*Great, Chakotay. Always thinking positively aren’t you?* Tom thought.
*Dammit, we *have* to do something. B’Elanna and the Captain and half our crew is
over there!*
“Our first priority right now is repairs,” Chakotay said, not noticing the grimace
from the pilot when he said that. “Tuvok, start repairing the weapons array and try to get
our shields up. Harry, go down to engineering and give Lieutenant Carey a hand with the
warp engine. Tom, try to get the helm back on line.”
As everyone began to work furiously on the repairs, Commander Chakotay sat
down in the Captain’s chair and thought, *What the *hell* is going on?*
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Captain Janeway looked around the room where the women of Voyager were
being held captive. It looked rather comfortable, but she knew that it was still a prison.
There were several large couches laid out around the large room and low tables were set
in front of the couches. There were also other tables in the room and several chairs
surrounded those tables. The doors to the room were obviously locked and the
communicators didn’t work as well. Most of the women had taken seats on the couches
or the chairs and were talking privately amongst themselves. The Captain herself was
also seated on one of the couches next to B’Elanna.
“Where are all the men?” B’Elanna asked the Captain.
“I don’t know. They’re either all being held in another room or are still on
Voyager,” Captain Janeway answered. “Let’s hope they’re still on Voyager.”
“This doesn’t look very much like a prison,” commented B’Elanna.
“No…no, it doesn’t. I wish someone would tell us what happened….,” Captain
Janeway said.
The Captain’s wish was soon granted as a tall, elegant woman suddenly appeared
in the room before them. She had long, black hair that was styled intricately on top of
her head. She also wore a light violet veil over her face. Through the veil, Captain
Janeway could see a pair of big black eyes staring out at them. She had sumptuous icy
blue lips and there were three circles of black markings encircling her swan-like neck.
Her gown was simple and obviously made to fit her graceful body. It was a light violet to
match her veil and was sleeveless revealing her smooth, cream-colored shoulders and
arms. The dress flowed all the way down to the floor and the end part of it always trailed
slightly behind her. Despite the fact that this mysterious woman was so enchantingly
beautiful, it was also a bit obvious that she was older than Captain Janeway. She was
probably old enough to be B’Elanna’s mother although by just glancing at her, one would
most likely not think that.
“Hello and welcome to the Capacian ship Rapizin. I am Queen Dearba of the
planet Capacious. We mean you no harm, we only wish to–,” the woman started.
“Where is the rest of my crew? Why have you brought us here?” demanded
Captain Janeway.
“Your slaves are still safely aboard your ship, Miss…uh..”
“Captain Kathryn Janeway. Of the Federation starship Voyager. And they are not
my slaves. They are a part of my crew. As are these women,” said Captain Janeway.
“You are *equals*?” the Queen asked incredulously, “They are not your slaves?”
“No, they are not. We consider men and women to be equal to one another.”
“Well…that’s…interesting,” Queen Dearba said slowly, eyeing Captain Janeway.
“Why have you attacked us and brought us here?”
“It was the only way. We have brought you here to analyze you. And that is all
you need to know for the moment,” Dearba said.
Before Captain Janeway could say another word, Queen Dearba disappeared.
*Great, just great* the Captain thought. *Well, at least Chakotay and the men
are still aboard Voyager. Maybe they could try to get us back.* She sighed and sat down
next to B’Elanna waiting.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Tom couldn't concentrate on his work. The helm was being stubborn and the attack had taken a lot out of it. He kept fidgeting and worrying about B'Elanna and wondering what in the world was going on. "--back on line yet, Tom?" Commander Chakotay's voice interrupted Tom's thoughts. "Huh?" Chakotay sighed. He knew how worried Tom was about B'Elanna. But he also needed to make sure that this ship was working. Besides, he was worried too. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do at the moment. Harry had said that they couldn't get a fix on the womens' communicators because of some interference from the lead ship. And attacking them was definitely *not* an option. All they could do for the moment was sit and wait, and fix the ship while they were at it. "I said is the helm back on line yet?" repeated Chakotay. "Not yet, Commander. I think I can get it back on line in about 15 minutes," answered the lieutenant. "Good. Keep working on it, Tom." "Chakotay to Kim." "Kim here." "How are the warp engines?" "Busted. But we should be able to get it to work in about an hour." "Alright. Chakotay out." Chakotay turned to the Vulcan chief of security and asked, "So how are the weapons Tuvok?" "I estimate that repairs for the weapons array will take 45 minutes at the most," the apathetic Vulcan responded. "Okay. Continue with repairs." "Chakotay to the Doctor." "Doctor here." "Any serious casualties?" "The most serious injury was a broken leg. Most of the injured crewmen here in sickbay have been tended to and have returned to their posts. Ensign Wildman's baby is also in sickbay." "Is she hurt?" "No, but Ensign Dawson found the baby alone in Ensign Wildman's quarters and brought her here. Mr. Neelix is currently watching over her." "Fine. Chakotay out." Chakotay sighed and walked over to the Ops Station. With half the crew gone and Harry down in engineering helping Lieutenant Carey, there was no one at Ops. Chakotay looked at the console and tried once more to figure out some way to get the women back. *This is impossible* he thought. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Captain, we’ve been here for over an hour already,” commented an impatient
B’Elanna.
“I know B’Elanna. We may just be here longer than that. I have absolutely no
idea why they would want only us though,” sighed the Captain.
“Didn’t that lady say something about men being slaves?” asked B’Elanna.
“Yes. That’s interesting, isn’t it? She actually thought the men aboard Voyager
were our slaves,” Captain Janeway said with a tiny smile.
“Well, they practically are anyway,” joked a smiling B’Elanna.
Captain Janeway chuckled at that thought and so did B’Elanna. She was still
impatient though. *There’s no telling what Carey’s done to my engines without me
there.*
Suddenly, Queen Dearba appeared before them once again. She looked the same
since the last time they had seen her. Captain Janeway stood up to face the Queen and
B’Elanna stood up as well, staying slightly behind and to the side of Captain Janeway.
“Our analysis of you has been completed. All of you are free to return to your
ship now,” the Queen said.
All of a sudden, Captain Janeway found herself back aboard the bridge of
Voyager staring at the viewscreen.
“Captain! You’re back!” a startled Chakotay exclaimed.
Captain Janeway looked around the bridge to see the bridge crew staring back at
her. The men looked shocked like Chakotay but they also looked relieved to see the
Captain and the rest of the women back. The other women on the bridge looked a little
confused and disoriented like Captain Janeway.
“Captain, are you okay? What happened? What did they do to you?”
“I’m fine Chakotay. They didn’t hurt us at all. The aliens that kidnapped us are
called Capacians. I believe I spoke to their leader, Queen Dearba. She said something
about an analysis,” Captain Janeway finally said.
“An analysis? What kind of an analysis?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell us anything besides that. Well, actually…she did
say something that was very interesting…”
“Yes? What was it?”
“Well it appears that in her species, all men are slaves to women. She actually
thought that the men aboard Voyager were *our* slaves,” Captain Janeway said with a
mischevious grin.
“Oh no…Don’t even *think* about it Captain,” Chakotay said. He returned
Captain Janeway’s smile though.
“So are repairs for the ship–”
“Captain! The Capacian ships are leaving. They’ve already gone to warp,” Harry
said, now back at the ops station.
“Well, at least they didn’t attack us again. And none of us are hurt. We might as
well just let them go,” Captain Janeway said. She watched the ships go to warp and
disappear from the viewscreen. Sighing, she sat down in the Captain’s chair.
“Captain, our repairs for the ship are done,” Chakotay said, answering Janeway’s
earlier unfinished question.
“Good. Glad to know you kept busy while we were over there.”
“Well, since we had nothing better to do…” Chakotay started, smiling jokingly at
Janeway.
“Very funny Commander,” Janeway said, smiling back at him. She remembered
a joke that B’Elanna had told her about the men of Voyager “practically being our slaves
anyway” and felt the urge to tell Chakotay it.
“You know, I remember something B’Elanna told me while were aboard the
Rapizin. It was about how men are slaves to women in the Capacian species. She said–
well, B’Elanna, why don’t you tell Chakotay yourself?” said the Captain.
Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay looked over to the engineering
station. It was empty. Tom noticed this too and began to get increasingly nervous.
“B’Elanna? I didn’t see her leave the bridge,” said a confused Janeway.
“Neither did I Captain,” agreed Chakotay.
“Computer: Locate Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres,” ordered Captain Janeway.
“Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres is not aboard Voyager,” came the cold computer’s
voice.
Tom felt his heart skip a beat and his stomach roll. *Oh Gods.*
“What? You mean that she didn’t come back with the rest of us?” Captain
Janeway asked.
“That is correct.”
“That must mean that she’s still aboard the Rapizin,” Captain Janeway said to
Chakotay. “Computer: Are any of the other crew members missing?”
“No. Only Lieutenant Torres.”
“Great. Tom, set course after the Rapizin. Maximum warp,” said Janeway
grimly.
Tom didn’t have to be told twice. He set course for the Rapizin and prayed to
Gods that she was alright. *Hang on B’Elanna. We’re coming for you. Just hang on.*
….to be continued…
Disclaimer: Okay (sigh) let’s see…Paramount and Viacom own Voyager and all the
characters, I own Queen Dearba, the Rapizin, the Capacians, and all the male Capacian
slaves (hee hee hee!) 🙂
Okay, the reason why I’ve kept Kes out of this story is because I just heard that she is
going to be leaving Voyager in the second show of the fourth season. I know, it’s sad
ain’t it? I’m going to miss Kes….(sigh) What’s the Doc going to do without her? 🙁
I want to say one more thing: Queen Dearba is actually one of my best friends Debra (I
changed the spelling a bit) and the Capacians are named after a magazine I worked on in
junior high called “Capacious”. 🙂 Also, the Rapizin is named after the clothes line
Rapizzi (I’m wearing a Rapizzi tank top right now!). Hey, I had to get the name
somewhere! 🙂