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 [email protected] 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 fumingB'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.
