"Yes, Kayla. What is it?" Janeway asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

"How long have those ships been positioned like that?" she asked, tracing the outline of the seven ships surrounding Voyager.

"A couple of hours, why?" Janeway asked, walking over to the tactical station.

"Look at this outling," Kayla replied. She glanced up at Tuvok and he stared down at her. "Do you see it, Mr. Tuvok?" she asked.

"If you are referring to the positions of the seven ships, i do. But i do not see the point of your observation," he replied.

"If one of them fires, we will be hit. But also, notice that the three starboard ships are constantly moving. Always leaving a space just big enough for us to slide through. Provided we have an expert pilot, that is."

"Curious," Tuvok said softly.

"And here," shp pointed to the ship directly behind the port warp nacelle. "If this one moves even the slightest bit, the ship across from it will be hit if it opens fire."

Janeway stared at her. Her tactical officer had noticed this, of course, but Kayla seemed to think the holes in the enemy's defenses were deliberate, rather than the result of poor planning or judgement.

"Now for the big observation," Kayla said sadly. She pointed at the viewscreen. "That ship belongs to Harbade and the rest of the Escaria. They're a sort of, uh, weapons council, i guess you could call it. It has the most weaponry." Kayla paused, as if stricken by a painful memory. "And it has the scanner," she said sadly.

"The scanner?" Janeway asked, alarmed. Kayla made it sound like a weapon she didn't think they could combat.

"Kayla looked at Tuvok. "You're Vulcan!" she said with sudden urgency.

"That is correct," he replied, raising one eyebrow.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, blinking hard.

"Hear what?" Janeway asked, not understanding.

"If you are referring to the whistling noise, yes. I do," He replied, glancing at the captain.

Kayla gasped, looking at the viewscreen. She took in the confused look on the captain's face. "Captain, when you first arrived here, were you hailed by Harbade?" she asked.

"We were," janeway replied.

"Kayla cursed, interrupting the captain. "What time did the ships take this formation?" she demanded.

"Mr. Kim?" Janeway asked, glancing back at the Ops Officer.

"1320 hours, Captain," Harry Kim reported.

"What time is it now?" Kayla asked. She was standing next to Tom Paris now, pain etched onto her face.

1515," he replied.

Janeway turned to Kayla. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

Kayla rested a hand on Tom's shoulder. "Captain, when that first hail was answered, all those ships found out everything about yours. How many people, medical information on all of them. They know all your technology. The transporter, the warp nacelled, the computer, everything. Even your weapons and your shields.

Janeway looked at Chakotay, who, up until now, had been silent. He stood.

"Tom turned to Kayla and rubbed her hand gently. He could tell how frightened she was.

"By now they've no doubt disabled our shields, then," Janeway said.

"With seven ships and no shields..." Harry's voice trailed off

Kayla sprinted across the bridge to the Operations console. She stared at it a moment, feeling everyone's eyes on her. She quickly began tapping buttons.

"Captain," Harry protested.

"It's all right, Harry," Janeway replied quietly.

"Captain, i must point out that Kayla is inexperienced with starfleet technology and may do something that she does not intend to do," Tuvok said severly. He forebear to point out that the child could well be a spy in any case.

"With all due respect, Lieutenant, i've seen every piece of technology that passes over this planet. I know what i'm doing." She continuously pressed buttons while she spoke, not removing her eyes from the console.

"There!" she said proudly. "You have sheilds, and Harbade's ship does not." She looked over at Tuvok, who's face was twisted in pain.

"Tuvok!" Janeway exclaimed, hurryinh to his side.

The Vulcan recovered his compsure quickly. "I am all right, Captain," he said. There was no trace of the agony he had displayed just moments before on his face.

Kayla moved to stand behind Tom Paris again, staring at the ship in front of her. She spun around and locked eyes with the Captain. "Captain Janeway, soon, that ship is going to aim a very powerful weapon at you. It'll show up as a blinding white light. When it does, anyone caught in it will be killed. It should manifest itself about two meters off the floor. You will survive if you stay under the direct beam. You won't be real happy about it for a while, but it's better than being dead.

Tom stood, turning to the captain.

"Will we have any advance warning?" the captain asked calmly.

"A high-pitched whistle and a lot of pain." A tear fell from Kayla's eye and Tom squeezed her shoulder gently. "You have to tell them!" It was all Kayla could do to keep herself from screaming. The pain in her head was excruciating. Worse than it had ever been before.

Janeway tapped her commbadge. "All hands, drop to the deck, now!" she ordered sharply, following her own instructions.

Tom felt Kayla begin to tremble, slightly at first, like a shudder, but increasing. She squeezed her eyes closed and collapsed against him. He eased her to the floor gently.

Tom dropped to his stomach next to Kayla. The pain the shot through his body was worse than anything he had ever experienced before. Even the knife wound he had sustained in the AKarian prison didn't come close to this. The whistle hurt his ears, and the pressure inside his head made it feel as though it would pop. Just when he felt he couldn't take anymore.... it stopped. He slowly rose to his knees, head trobbing and vision blurred.


Beside him, Kayla rose more quickly, using the console to prop herself up. She shook her head, trying to concentrate. She pressed buttons slowly, blinking away tears. She removed her hands from the console, staring at the results of her scans.

Kayla pounded the console angrily. She looked around the bridge. The lights had dimmed; red bars flashed on and off all around, and a few of the consoles had stopped glowing. Many of the others were barely lit. The crew lay sprawled on the floor. Tuvok stirred, stumbled to his feet clutching the console.

Kayla sprinted across the bridge, dropping to her knees beside Captain Janeway, cradling Janeway's head in her lap.


Janeway opened her eyes. It was dark, but she knew that was just the red alert lighting. "Captain?" cam a soft voice from above her. Janeway tried to speak, but she couldn't get her voice to work. "Captain, i'm gonna go down to the planet. I don't want Voyager destroyed because of me," the voice she now recognized as Kayla said.

Janeway tried to form words again, and this time succeeded. "We do have shields, Kayla, and weapons of our own. I won't allow you to do that." Janeway rose slowly, collapsing in her chair.

"Captain. The evidence suggests that the Tiasonarians' weapons are considerably more advanced than ours," Tuvok pointed out.

"Mr. Tuvok, the thing they just used what not exactly a weapon. The guns they have would tear this ship to peices and then blow up the bits if they wanted it that way." Kayla said unhappily.

"Delightful thought," commented Tom Paris from where he had reclaimed his position at the helm.

"Captain," Harry Kim spoke up from the back of the bridge. "That, uh, thing, disabled our shields again."

"Can you get them back on-line,Kayla?" Janeway demanded.

Kayla hesitated. "I could try," she said finally. "I'm not sure." Kim moved out of the way and let Kayla take the controls. She worked quickly, ignoring the crew. Tuvok monitored her work from his own console, and Kim watched her over her shoulder. The familiar buzz of the 'access denied' rang out. Kayla grunted and tried again.

"Captain," Tuvok reported, "They are powering weapons."

"Which ships?" the captain demanded.

"All of them," he replied. He barely got the resonse out before the first volley struck Voyager.

"Shouldn't that impact have been bigger?" Tom asked.

Captain. There is a passable gap between the two starboard ships," Tuvok reported sharply.

Janeway nodded at Kim to give Kayla access to whatever it was she was working on, and tunred to Tuvok.

"No! Don't you see? They're teasing us. The gap in the ships, the light firing patterns. They would never be that sloppy.

"The ship lurched violently.

"Report Mr. Paris," Janeway barked.

"The ship changed heading, captain," Tom replied quickly. "But i didn't do it," he added, confusion coloring his voice.

"Then who did, Mr. Paris?" Janeway demanded.

"They did," Kayla replied. She tapped a final sequence of buttons and moved away from the console.

"Shields raised, Captain, at 86%," Kim reported, moving into position

"Kayla, explain," Janeway said.

"They can control your ship. You can't move unless they want you to." Kayla was surprisingly calm. "Captain, if you don't want your ship destroyed, i suggest you allow me to return to the surface." She wasn't real happy about her options, but they seemed the only ones available.

Janeway frowned, not likeing the options, either. "I won't let you go alone," she said finally. "Lieutenant Paris. It seems we won't be needing a pilot for a while. You accompany Kayla to the surface."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, standing.

"I suggest you change clothes, Tom. You'd stick out a little in your uniform," Kayla pointed out.

"Good idea," he responded with forced cheer.

"Tuvok. Hail the lead ship," Janeway ordered.

The turbolift doors slid closed on Tuvok's reply.

"You never looked better, Tom," Kayla laughed. "In fact, you almost look Maquis.

"I was maquis for a while. A short while. Got caught on my first mission," Tom replied ruefully.

"Ah," Kayla replied, stepping up on the transporter pad.

"Energize," Paris ordered.