My first story. Feel free to review. This story has dark elements containing torture, rape, bondage, and a relationship between two women. If you're not into any of those things or are under 18, don't read.

Inwardly, Captain Kathryn Janeway was seething. She was careful to keep her face calm and expressionless since her crew was looking expectantly at her as the Trelok intruders herded them to the center of the bridge. Janeway wasn't used to being out of control.

The battle with the Trelok had been quick and unexpected. The Trelok had superior weaponry and had broken through Voyager's defenses before the crew could even react. Janeway rarely let herself get so fooled as she had with the Trelok. She tried to look back to see where she had gone wrong, but the Trelok currently on her ship were nothing like the Trelok who had invited them onto their planet.

They had encountered the alien home world a few weeks earlier. It had been months since they had come across an M class planet that could offer a bit of offshore reprieve for the crew. The Trelok had welcomed them with an openness and sincerity that was refreshing after all the hostility Voyager had encountered so far.

The people of the planet were a handsome race with a seemingly utopian lifestyle. Janeway had Commander Chakotay set up rotating shifts so that the crew could spend as much time as possible on the surface. In addition to some R & R, Janeway had been able to negotiate for a number of items critical to the ship's maintenance. In all, it had been an extremely successful week.

Everybody had returned to the ship feeling rested and rejuvenated. It wasn't two days after they had left the planet that the crew had started getting sick. It happened quickly, the doctor dealing with one crew member to begin and Janeway dealing with an epidemic shortly thereafter. The doctor had quarantined anyone with symptoms and eventually Voyager was running on a skeleton crew. The doctor was keeping himself activated 24/7 trying to come up with a cure. The virus did not seem to be life threatening, but neither were the patients' condition improving over time.

By the time the doctor had figured out that the virus had been genetically engineered and introduced purposely to the crew, there was a Trelok vessel on an intercept course for Voyager. With a lack of healthy crew members, Voyager had succumbed easily to the unexpected attack and had been boarded by what appeared to be the military branch of the Trelok.

These aliens had nothing of the friendly, unassuming presence of their non-military counterparts. Their tall, state-like bodies were held erect and their stances were lazily aggressive, as if they knew the humans were of no threat. Their faces were long and serene, seemingly bored with their current occupation of somebody else's ship.

Janeway took in the situation on the bridge before stepping forward.

"What is going on here?" Janeway demanded of their captors.

From behind the soldiers surrounding the crew, a man emerged from the turbolift. He was taller than the others and had a fluid and fit body, clothed in an intimidating black and gold military uniform. He had a clean cut face and black, short cropped hair. His long, slender fingers were interwined together in front of his body. Janeway noted that his eyes were filled with a combination of perverse glee and contempt.

He was flanked by two others: what looked to be a second-in-command on his left and the only woman of the group on the right. The second-in-command was holding a weapon and approached the group alongside the man in charge. The woman was weaponless and stayed a step behind both of the men. She was significantly shorter than the men but still slightly taller than Janeway. Her hair was a deep brown, almost black, and hung straight down to her shoulders. Instead of the black and gold outfits that the others wore, she was garbed entirely in black, with a fitted cropped jacket and leather tight pants and boots. She seemed indifferent to the proceedings and had a dull look in her eyes. Janeway thought she looked either slow or bored.

"Captain Janeway, " the tall one said. "I am Tal Mayvik, commander of the Trelok fleet. Now in charge of your ship and crew."

The Captain narrowed her eyes and strode towards Mayvik, "What has provoked your actions? We left your world on good terms."

Tal Mayvik smiled slowly, "Yes, you did. You also left my planet with a virus that is slowly sucking the life out of your crew, making this process incredibly easy for us. Your ship is now mine. Rarely do we come across an opportunity such as the one you presented us with. Most cultures know to steer clear of us by now."

Mayvik paced as he spoke, speaking almost reverentially about his kind.

"People like you are drawn so easily to us - our perfect planet and superior looks. Centuries ago, we learned to take advantage of this. It's pathetically easy, in fact. Unsuspecting cultures have 'donated' their technology to us, advancing our own culture light years ahead of where we would be on our own. Your transporter technology will be a great asset to us."

Janeway took a step closer to Mayvik and looked him in the eyes, "We will never let you take our technology."

Mayvik looked at her sneeringly and then surveyed the bridge. He turned back to the Captain and said, "It doesn't look like you have much choice."

He had Captain Janeway escorted to the brig, while the rest of the crew was forced to begin repairs. While the humans had been on the home world, they had been studied and Mayvik knew they would do what he wanted if he threatened their Captain's life. They were obviously, and foolishly, fiercely loyal to her.

An assessment of damages to the ship showed that a few explosions from the short fight had burned out control panels intermittently. The shields were down, as was warp drive. One of the cargo bay doors had been blown out to allow the Trelok shuttles to enter.

Mayvik knew that his people didn't have the knowledge to make the needed repairs, but that was the reason they had allowed a portion of the crew to remain healthy.

The Tal didn't care for the humans. In fact, he didn't care for outsiders at all. He truly believed in the superiority of his race. Once the repairs were made and Voyager was safely docked at their space station and the Trelok had what they needed, the humans would be forced to serve on the home world or be exterminated.

Janeway paced in her cell, a frown furrowing her eyebrows. It had been days since the ship had been taken and she'd had no communication from either her crew or her captors. She was given a scarce amount of food and that was all.

She had been in tighter spots in her life, but this one was up there. She didn't know where the other officers had been taken and who was still alive. Last she knew, B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris and Harry Kim had still been well, but Chakotay and Tuvok had fallen ill before the ship had been seized. Besides Janeway, it seems the only healthy crew members were ones with specialty skills.

As she was contemplating her limited options, Mayvik strode through the doors along with the women Janeway had noticed the first day and one of Voyager's crew members, Crewman Salor. Mayvik had a frown on his face while the woman had the same dull expression from before.

Mayvik stalked to the edge of the force field holding Janeway in her cell and glared at her.

"It seems your people don't fully recognize the situation they are in, Captain."

Janeway stared back at the Tal and refused to give in to her curiosity. She had long ago realized that silence was always more effective in drawing out information.

Tal Mayvik was agitated and turned away before continuing.

"I thought I had made it clear that your life depends upon this ship getting repaired. Yet, it seems that your crew thinks it's amusing to work slowly and sabotage the systems whenever they're given the chance."

Janeway smiled to herself before responding "Surely you didn't expect us to roll over and give up so easily, Tal Mayvik?" She drew out his name and rank in a drawl that was dripping with contempt.

Mayvik started quickly and angrily towards her, but pulled himself up and, finally, grinned back at her.

"No, Captain, I suppose I shouldn't have. Which is why I am here to request that you talk to them and 'motivate' them to adjust their attitudes."

"And, what makes you think that I would do that?" Janeway asked, although she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The quickness with which Mayvik's anger had turned to such surety was unsettling.

Mayvik glanced over his shoulder and flicked his hand at the crew member. The woman pushed him forward and Mayvik drew his phaser from its holster and tossed it to her.

"I understand, Captain, that you would do anything for your crew. I also understand that you don't regard your life as highly as those under your command. What about this crewman's life? How much do you value it?"

Janeway glanced at Crewman Salor. He was an uncommissioned crew member, one that she had infrequently interacted with.

Tal Mayvik continued, "It's his life, Captain, or your ship. For every day that this continues, one more of your crew will forfeit their life. Make your decision now."

The Captain looked down and thought through her options. She didn't believe that the Trelok had any intention of letting them go. She also knew that she could not, under good conscience or Federation law, let the Trelok have access to their technology. The question was, what would buy them the most time to figure out a plan to get the ship back.

She looked up, glanced at the crewman, and looked back to Mayvik, "I will agree to talk to my crew under one condition. I want to know that they are being treated fairly. I want to tour the ship on a daily basis to see that they are healthy and well, including that the ill are being tended to."

With a growl, Mayvik said, "You don't seem to realize that you don't have anything to bargain with."

Janeway didn't hesitate before replying, "My crew is ready to die if I ask them to. Either you accept my terms or we'll see to it that this ship is useless to you."

Mayvik regarded her thoughtfully and then chuckled and nodded, "Fine. Remember, Captain, not to get you're hopes up. I'm not as slow as you might hope."

He turned to the woman and spoke to her, "Kalle, show the Captain what will happen if she decides to do more than what she has just agreed to."

Kalle looked sharply at the Tal and for a moment, Janeway thought she saw a spark of light in her eyes. Mayvik started to lift his hand and the light died quickly as she nodded and stepped towards the crewman. With just a brief moment of hesitation, she raised the phaser and shot him.

Janeway choked a strangled cry back down her throat as the man dropped to the floor. "You said..!"

"I know what I said. And, if you keep your end of the deal, this will be the last crew member to meet this end. Captain, I am not an uncaring man, but you must know that I am serious about this. I can see in your eyes that you hope this will give you an opening. I want you to be assured, it will not."

With that, he turned on his heels, looked at Kalle and said "Take care of the body, " before striding out the door. As the body was transported out of the room, Janeway was left with rage bubbling up through her middle, into her heart. One more of her crew that wouldn't make it home.

In the days since, Captain Janeway had been escorted by Kalle and two other guards to tour the ship. Janeway could see the uncertainty in her crews' eyes. She wanted to soothe and comfort them. To assure them that things would be okay. But, after the first day when she had ordered them to cease with the sabotage, she had not been allowed any communication.

She had talked with the Doctor once who had relayed to her that he had been told he would be given a cure for the virus, but not until the ship had been fixed and they were back at the Trelok home world. The sick crew members had all been sedated in the meantime.

In engineering, B'Elanna Torres worried Janeway the most. The warp drive was still not online and Janeway could see the anger in the young half-human/half-klingon officer. The first day that Janeway saw her, she had given her a warning look and Torres had met her gaze for a moment before looking away.

As she was taught at the Academy to do in a hostage situation, Janeway tried to engage her escorts on these tours, but the male guards only stared ahead, expressionless. The woman, Kalle, carried no weapon, which Janeway though was odd. She had a youthful face and at first, Janeway pegged her at being a young woman. But, upon closer inspection, there were slight lines around her eyes that showed her age more accurately. She had a petite and lithe body and moved quietly, slightly behind the Captain, never saying a word. In fact, Janeway had not heard her speak once. Janeway had always been proud of her ability to see the best in people, but she felt her anger at the woman, along with Mayvik, bordering on hatred.

As the days went by, Torres was able to get the warp engines back online and Mayvik turned the ship back, away from the Alpha Quadrant.

It was about ten days after they had been taken captive that Janeway was given the opportunity that she had been waiting for.

She and her escorts were on their daily walk. She had noticed that Kalle seemed distracted and weary. She was wondering if she could use this to her advantage, when the ship shook violently. Everyone was thrown to the floor as something continually blasted at the ship, shaking the ship at irregular intervals.

Janeway struggled to regain her footing and look around her. Kalle had been thrown against the wall and seemed to be unconscious on the floor. Janeway quickly turned to the closest of her guards, who was still trying to stand, and grabbed him by the shoulders, kneed him in the stomach, and, when he doubled over, dispatched him with a blow to the back of his neck. She grabbed his phaser and turned it on the other guard before he could react.

Sprinting down the hall and through the door into sickbay, Janeway commanded the computer to activate the emergency medical hologram. The doctor shimmered into existence and looked around.

"Captain, what's going on?"

"Doctor, I don't know what's going on but we need to take advantage of it." Janeway was shakily making her way over to a console, while the ship continued to rock beneath her feet. Her fingers played over the controls and finally she went over to storage locker and pulled some weapons out.

"The first task is to secure engineering. Transport me there and then transport yourself to the bridge and get the bridge crew to start clearing the rest of the ship. We'll work our way towards each other. Good luck, Doctor."

Janeway shimmered into engineering to a shocked look on Torres' face. To the Captain's pleasure, her crew had already taken advantage of the situation and there was a full-fledged fight going on in front of the warp core.

Over the next hour, the engineering team and the Captain worked their way towards the bridge. With their lack of numbers, it was impossible to restrain all of the Trelok that they encountered, so B'Elanna set up a force field around one of the cargo bays and continually transported captured soldiers as they were stunned.

By the time Janeway had made it to the bridge, the majority of Trelok had been transferred to the cargo bay. On the bridge, it was Tom Paris that had flown them straight into a partially ionized nebula, which had wreaked havoc on the ship. It was the diversion that the Captain had needed, but now that her crew was out of danger, she needed to save her ship. She ordered Tom to navigate them to a corner of the nebula that was free from ions and the ship finally settled down.

For the first time, Janeway allowed herself to take a deep breath. She looked around her and took stock of the crew that was with her. She started handing out orders: people to check on the injured, Harry Kim to monitor the status of the Trelok ship that was sitting outside the Nebula, and a team with her to secure the cargo bay.

It was on their way there that one more blast rocked the ship.

"Mr. Kim, report".

Harry's voice came through the Captain's commbadge, "Captain, there's been an explosion in the cargo bay. The Trelok have taken the shuttle crafts and have blasted their way out. They are headed out of the Nebula now. Should I try to get them back?"

Janeway sighed. There was nothing she wanted to do more than get Mayvik back to the ship and make him pay for what he had put them through for the last few weeks, but they didn't have the resources right now.

"No, Harry, let them go."

With the Trelok gone, the crew set about sweeping the ship to make sure there weren't any of the aliens remaining aboard. It was only the unconscious Kalle that was found in the hallway where she had originally fallen. By the time Janeway had been notified and made her way there, the woman was awake and standing, surrounded by a few disheveled members of the Voyager security team. It seemed as if there had been a scuffle.

Kalle had her back to the wall and was looking around nervously. Her jacket was torn at the shoulder and there was blood seeping out of a cut beneath the gash in material. The previously vacant eyes were now filled with fear. Janeway felt a surge of anger as she approached. That her federation training and moral high ground prevented her from throwing the woman out an airlock immediately irked her more than she would have liked to admit.

"Ensign, please escort our guest to the brig." She spit out the word "guest" like it was poison on her tongue.

Instead of following them, Janeway first made her way sickbay, where she was hoping to get an update from the Doctor on the status of ill crew members. Running Voyager, on a good day, would be difficult with only 30 healthy members. Hiding from the Trelok, in a partially functioning ship, was a near impossible task. Curing the rest of the crew was the number one priority for the Captain right now.

The Doctor looked up at Janeway when she entered sick bay. He furrowed his brow, something Janeway assumed he had added to his program recently.

"Doctor, I hope you have some good news for me."

"Unfortunately, Captain, I do not. I was not allowed to work on an antidote over the past few weeks, I was only activated to care for the healthy crew and monitor the sick. I am in the same place I was before we were attacked."

"What are the ramifications of leaving them sedated until we figure out a solution?"

"We can't. The sedation process itself is only meant for the short term. It's not good for their systems and could have lasting affects. Waking them, however, is not an option either. Most of the crew were in extreme pain when they were last awake."

The Doctor went on to explain exactly what was happening to their bodies, until Janeway thought she was going to explode with impatience.

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, "Doctor, please." She took a deep breath before she continued, trying to squelch the sharpness in her tone. "I know you're doing your best."

She dropped her head and pinched the area between her eyes, fighting off the headache that had been a constant since they had been attacked. She wished she had Chakotay or Tuvok to use as a sounding board or to get a second opinion from. But, she didn't.

"Captain, are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, Doctor, I'm fine. I think it's time we found out if the Trelok actually have created their own antidote for this virus. Please accompany me to the brig."

She waited while he transferred his program into the mobile emitter and they walked together to the brig.

As they were walking, the doctor spoke, "Captain, I was unable to inform you previously that I was able to save Crewman Salor from his injuries. I thought you would be pleased to know."

Janeway stopped and looked at the Doctor, "I thought he had died."

"Yes, his injuries were serious, but he was transferred to sickbay in time for my superior medical skills to intervene and save him."

Janeway frowned and continued walking, "That is good news."