ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Or perhaps curses to Linda Campbell, who didn't stop me from embarking on yet another genre of fanfiction when I already had a whole slew of X-Files stories waiting to be written! Thanks a lot, Linda! And to Sally and Bonnie, whose response when I said I was writing a Janeway and Chakotay story was: "Whoo-hoo!"

DISCLAIMER: Of course these people don't belong to me. Do I look even remotely like Gene Rodenberry, Rick Berman, or anyone else associated with Star Trek? Thought not.

Something was wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was definitely something wrong. Janeway frowned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her First Officer was behaving...oddly. It was nothing obvious, just little things that weren't ringing true -- things she hadn't realized she knew about Chakotay until they were no longer there. And there was something else... Janeway shook her head and glanced at the empty command seat then at the chronometer. He was late. Chakotay was never late.

She had first noticed it earlier that morning during the briefing. Her First Officer had sat quietly in his chair, absorbing everything and making brief contributions to the conversation. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that. Janeway valued his ability to sit back, see the whole picture, and pinpoint the one thing that everybody else was missing. But this time there had been no moment of insight, no new outlooks on the problem. He had stood with the rest when she had dismissed them and had turned to leave.

"Commander Chakotay."

He had stopped. "Yes, Captain?"

There it was again. That vague feeling of wrongness, of overt formality. Janeway had frowned. "Is everything all right?"

He had hesitated, and an unreadable look had flashed across his eyes. "I'm...feeling a little under the weather."

Concern had flickered through her. "You should see the Doctor."

"I'll be fine Captain. Really. Was that all?" There was a faint note of impatience in his voice.

"I...yes."

He had nodded cordially and left the room, leaving Janeway alone with a growing sense of unease.

That unease had not dissipated with the hours but had grown until she was jumpy enough to call a full battle drill just for the hell of it. To forestall this, Janeway buried herself in a report from Engineering and tried to ignore the chronometer.

Several minutes later the door to the bridge hissed open. She did not turn around but listened to him move quietly across the bridge and sit down. She cast him a quick half-glance and nodded a greeting, her frown unconsciously deepening. Damn it. There was definitely something different about him. Something wrong. And she didn't know what. Janeway could feel a headache beginning to prickle behind her eyes and she looked away.

She suspects. Yes. That's it, Kathryn. Look a little closer. Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. Trust your instincts.

Chakotay struggled once more against the bonds that held him. As ever, his struggles failed and he coiled himself once more into the back of his mind, watching and waiting with barely concealed frustration.

It had begun the night before. He had been meditating when, as he found out later, Voyager had passed close by a small, unremarkable comet wandering aimlessly through the icy void. Ships sensors had noted it, an Ensign in stellar cartography had mentioned it briefly in her log...and that was it. Except that it hadn't ended there.

He had been deep in a trance. There had been peace... serenity. And then...something...had ripped through his mind like paper, flung him screaming in silent agony into some dark corner of his mind, while it took his body. And there it remained, controlling his actions, talking to the crew...sitting next to the Captain.

The Captain. She was the only one, so far...the first to suspect. Part of him wondered at that. Once he would have said that his Maquis crew knew him better than anyone else on Voyager. Now he wasn't so sure.

Whoever, whatever this...thing...was that had stolen his body, it must somehow be accessing his memories. The masquerade was excellent, Chakotay had to admit. It hadn't made many mistakes. So far. Chakotay quelled the anger building within him and focused once more on Janeway.

Look at me, Kathryn. Please.

Chakotay saw Janeway give him another sidelong glance. He could read the tension and confusion in her posture.

That's it, Kathryn...Your suspicions are correct...

Janeway peered surreptitiously at her First Officer. To all intents and purposes, he was scanning a report, sitting beside her just as he did every day. And yet, why were all her instincts screaming at her? Why did she feel this sense of...dread when she looked at him? For a moment she weighed her options, then, abruptly coming to a decision, turned to the man beside her.

"Commander."

He looked up. "Yes, Captain?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, Captain." The note of impatience was back.

Janeway hesitated and considered letting the matter drop. After all, what was she supposed to say? 'By the way, Commander, I've noticed that you seem to be behaving oddly. No, I don't have any evidence to support that conclusion, just gut instinct and an impending sense of doom. Care to explain?' No. Definitely not. But the nagging sense of urgency growing within her wouldn't let her ignore this. She straightened her shoulders.

"I'd like to see you in private, please."

"Of course, Captain."

She rose and turned toward the door. He did the same. Then, a movement from behind her made her half turn. There was a startled cry from Ensign Kim...and something hit her hard across the right cheekbone. She staggered backward, her vision temporarily blurring.

There were shouts and the sound of hasty movement from behind her and then Janeway found herself being unceremoniously dragged to her feet, a muscular arm locked tightly around her neck and a phaser pressed into her side. She arched her back to try to ease the pressure on her throat, pulling futilely at the arm. Chakotay's arm.

"Move and she dies." It was Chakotay's voice, but the tone was cold and ruthless, a tone she had never heard from him. The hurried movements of her crew stilled and silence slowly descended. Janeway blinked away the remaining spots dancing before her eyes as her face began to throb unmercifully. Chakotay (but it's not Chakotay, her subconscious mind screamed) was holding her tightly against his body as a shield. Several phasers were aimed at them both. The man holding her spoke again.

"And don't even think about stunning both of us -- I've got this phaser set on particle stream -- if I take my finger off the trigger, it goes off...and so does she."

Janeway believed him. There was no sense of deceit in his voice. He would kill her without a moment's thought. Fighting off a sense of unreality, Janeway met Tuvok's eyes as the rest of the bridge crew hesitated.

"Do what you have to, Lieutenant..." Chakotay's arm tightened around her throat, cutting off her words. And her breath. She had to do something. And quickly. Janeway shifted her weight then lashed backward with one foot. He shifted with her, and her kick met only empty air. The chokehold tightened, and she coughed, pulling again at his arm. Ignoring her struggles, he spoke.

"Everyone back away from the door -- slowly. Stay where I can see you. No tricks, or you'll be missing one commanding officer. Permanently."

"Commander Chakotay..." Tuvok's voice was calm as ever, but Janeway could sense his concern.

"It's not Chakotay," she managed to gasp. Tuvok's eyes went once to the Captain then back to her captor even as he moved obediently aside with the rest. Janeway felt herself being dragged step by step back toward the doorway.

"Captain?"

"It may look and sound like Chakotay but it's not him, Tuvok." His grip had loosened a little and her voice was growing stronger. Janeway continued, directing her words now to the man who was holding her a prisoner. "Let me go. We can talk about this." They had reached the door.

"It's too late for talking." The phaser pressed deeper into her side and Janeway clenched her teeth. The door slid open behind them. He paused, looked over his shoulder, then pulled her through it. It closed silently behind them.

Chakotay threw the entire force of his mind against the alien in his body. He could not allow this to happen, could not let this...creature...hurt the Captain. His body was being used against the one person he had vowed he would never harm. When he heard her gasp with pain, anger blazed through him like an inferno.

It was no use. Nothing he did could penetrate the barriers that had formed around him. The effort left him exhausted and weakened. He sent a silent apology winging toward the woman in his arms even as he fell back into the prison that his mind had become.

Several members of the crew were treated to the unique sight of the First Officer holding the Captain hostage before Tuvok's orders had the corridors cleared. The man holding her lengthened his stride and it took Janeway only a moment to recognize their destination -- the shuttle bay.

She purposely tried to slow their pace but his grip on her throat tightened until she thought better of it. She wouldn't be able to help her rescuers if she were unconscious, after all. Within moments, it seemed, they had reached the shuttle bay.

The lock did not respond to the code he entered. Without pausing, Janeway's captor removed the phaser from her side long enough to burn through the lock...and then they were in. He dragged her to the shuttlecraft, keyed open the door, and shoved her inside. Then, closing the door behind him, he flung her into the pilot's seat.

"Fly."

Janeway stiffened. "No."

That stopped him. Surprise flickered across his face, in an obscene parody of an expression she had seen Chakotay wear, many times before. But this wasn't Chakotay.

"Who are you?" She fought to keep her voice even, suppressing the need to give in to a coughing fit.

"I'm the man who's going to kill you if you don't get this thing in motion." He leaned menacingly closer.

Janeway suppressed the urge to gulp and look away. She'd never backed down from a fight in her life and she certainly wasn't about to begin now. Besides, she needed only a few more moments before Tuvok would be able to beam her away to safety...

"Where's Commander Chakotay? What have you done with him?"

"Why, right here, Kathryn. I'm right here."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't care what you look like -- You're not Chakotay." Just keep him talking for a little while longer, she thought. Just a few more minutes...

As if reading her mind, he reached past her and powered on the shields. Damn! They wouldn't be able to transport her out now. She was on her own. Janeway looked back up at the man standing above her...and found herself staring down the end of his phaser.

"You will power up the engines and fly us out of here now. This is not a request." If his voice had been cold before, it was positively glacial now.

"Fly it yourself." She turned away, folded her arms, and stared resolutely out the viewscreen.

Locked in his prison, Chakotay could feel a wave of outrage sweep over the alien and a chill went through him. Please, Kathryn, be careful.

The being reached out, dragged the woman to her feet and slammed her against the bulkhead with all the force in Chakotay's arms. Pain flickered through her eyes but she made no sound. She glanced down at the phaser in his hand.

"If you shoot me with that," she said contemptuously, "who's going to fly this ship?" It was apparent that this...person, whoever he was...couldn't fly the shuttle. He might know enough to impersonate Chakotay, but piloting a shuttle was obviously beyond his abilities.

The alien glanced down at the weapon, smiled slightly (that was all wrong...it was Chakotay's smile, but it wasn't Chakotay behind it) and returned it to his belt, then reached past her and powered up the weapons. "If you don't fly this ship out of here, I'm going to start firing. At random," he said conversationally. "I think even a little shuttle like this could do a fair amount of damage to Voyager. Especially from the inside. So...shall we?" He sat down in the co-pilot's chair and waved a hand toward the shuttle doors.

Their gazes clashed. Janeway was the first to look away. She didn't have a choice. Damn. Clenching her jaw, she reached out and brought all the systems on line with a cool professionalism that masked the turbulent emotions inside her. Within moments the shuttle was humming with energy and almost lifting itself from the bay floor. The doors, however, remained stubbornly shut, even when Janeway entered her command code into the computer. 'Good thinking, Tuvok,' she said silently. They weren't going anywhere.

"Shoot them out." The alien sat down next to her. She gave him another incredulous glance.

He didn't even bother to threaten her this time, just turned and looked at her. 'If you don't do it, I will' the look said. Janeway glanced away. She believed him. But the thought of firing on her own ship...Instead she reached up and touched her communicator pin before he could stop her.

"Janeway to Tuvok."

"Tuvok here, Captain. Are you all right?"

"Yes. I want you to open the bay doors." The person beside her quelled his instinctive movement, and allowed her to continue, watching her intently.

"I do not think that is a good idea, Captain."

Janeway glanced briefly at her companion. "Neither do I. Unfortunately we don't have a choice. If the doors aren't opened, he's going to start shooting. Voyager can't sustain that sort of damage. Open them, Tuvok."

"Captain..."

"Do it. That's an order, Lieutenant."

The channel went dead. Several seconds ticked by, then an alarm blared and the shuttle bay doors slowly opened. Janeway nudged the shuttle toward the widening gap. Ponderously, the ship left the confines of Voyager for open space.

Janeway glanced at the person in Chakotay's body, even as she noted Voyager swinging around to set a pursuit course behind them. "Now what?" she said.

"Now..." He reached across her and entered a brief series of numbers into the main computer, "we watch the fireworks."

"What...?" She started to say, then fell silent as her instruments suddenly went berserk. Hastily she brought Voyager up on the shuttle's viewscreen, watching speechlessly as a power surge flooded across the hull, shorting out everything in its wake. Within moments, every external light on Voyager had gone out and the ship had begun to drift helplessly off course. Anger coursed through her.

"What have you done to my ship?" Her voice was laced with venom.

For an instant, Chakotay was glad that it wasn't directed at him. Well, not at him, precisely. Still, the attack on her ship had obviously sent her temper soaring to a dangerously high level. Please -- Don't do anything stupid, Captain. He watched for a breathless moment before she swallowed hard, quelling whatever impulses had been raging through her. Chakotay heaved an inward sigh of relief.

"Nothing much, just an old Maquis trick," the other was saying. "I've put them out of the hunt for a while. Now, set this course." He handed her a datapadd with a set of coordinates. Janeway glanced down at it.

"What is this place?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Now do it."

Janeway didn't argue. She entered the coordinates, set the ship on automatic, then turned to the man beside her.

"Now what?" she said again.

He stared out the window at the stars blurring past them. "Now we wait." He fell silent.

Janeway frowned, ignoring the pain the movement caused in her face. "Who are you?" she repeated.

"What makes you think I'm not Chakotay?"

Janeway stiffened. "Let's see," she said mockingly, "You've attacked my crew, sabotaged my ship, and kidnapped me. None of those are very high on Chakotay's list of things to do. Secondly, you don't move, act, talk, or sound like him. So I want to know...who the hell are you and where is my First Officer?!" Her words took on a dangerous tone.

He looked back at her. "My name is Eidolon. At your service," he said mockingly.

Eidolon. Well, that was a start. She repeated the question that was uppermost in her mind. "Where is Commander Chakotay?"

"Gone. Dead."

A chill went through her. "I don't believe you."

He looked more closely at her. Then he smiled. A nasty smile that sent a shudder up Janeway's spine. "Believe it," he said, "I killed him and took his body. And he never even put up a struggle."

It was the last sentence that set her reeling emotions back on an firmer keel. Chakotay would never have given up, not without fighting to the last bitter inch...and if Eidolon was lying about that, then he could be lying about everything else. "I don't believe you," she said again firmly.

Janeway watched his eyes narrow then Eidolon flicked out one finger to lightly brush her right cheek. Even that faint touch hurt, and she involuntarily winced. A smile touched his lips and he returned his gaze to the stars.

"I don't care."

Chakotay winced inwardly too. There was already a mark on her cheek where he...where Eidolon had hit her, and it was evident from the stiff way she sat that other bruises must be forming from when he had slammed her against the bulkhead. A cold rage began to replace the anger that had been burning inside him. He would stop this alien, he swore. Somehow...