"Are their shields down, Tuvok?" Janeway asked.
Tuvok looked at his console for a moment, "Their shields are at thirty percent and holding."
"They're fixing them," Chakotay said, "B'Elanna must still be trying to find the controls to them."
"Or they were captured again," Janeway concluded, "We'll have to try destroying them the hard way." To Tuvok, she asked, "Are we within firing range?"
"We'll be within range in twelve minutes," the Vulcan answered.
"Be prepared to fire phasers at my command."
"Aye, Captain," Tuvok answered.
Janeway glared at the view screen, "They are not getting away again."

B'Elanna woke to the sound of scraping. She groaned, and closed her eyes in frustration. She then heard the scraping sound again. She sat up straight on the metal bed, and stared into the darkness in confusion.
Two trays? She thought, Am I starting to hear things?
She slowly slid off the bed, and crawled over to the food. She searched in the darkness, and that there were indeed two trays.
What's going on? We try to escape and they give us more food?
She searched the trays. On one tray, she felt something warm. On the other, she felt a ball of hair. She felt around the trays and found two cups of water. She the knew why there were two trays.
Torres stood up, found the closest wall, and began following it. She quickly ran into another metal bed. She lowered her hands, and felt a pair of legs.
"Tom," she whispered loudly, "wake up. It's time to eat."
She heard him grumble, then gasp in pain. A sudden wave of rememberance hit her. She went over to his side, and placed her hand on his mid-section. She felt that it was wet, and his uniform stuck to the wound. She gently pulled back the torn pieces. She heard him gasp, but she ignored it.
Torres hurried back over to the food, and picked up a cup of water. She went back to Paris' side. She ripped the left sleeve of her uniform and dipped it in the water. She then cleaned the wound even though she could not see if she was doing any good. She then tore a piece of her other sleeve, and placed it on his stomach. She pressed it against the wound, hoping it would stick.
"Who's there?" Paris' voice made her jump. The question was a whisper, but it was all of a sudden.
"It's me, Tom," she leaned closely to his ear, "They put us in the same room. They just served us some food."
Paris moaned. She didn't know if it was from the pain or from the knowledge of what he was getting.
"I'll bring it to you," Torres said, "You need to rest."
Torres went over to the food, picked up the hairball, and the bowl of soup. She then headed back to Paris' side.
"I'll share my soup with you," she whispered, "You need more nutrients than what the hairballs cna give you."
"You're too kind," Paris whispered.
Torres placed her hand behind his head, and gently lifted it toward the bowl. She heard him sip the soup hungrily. After a moment, he lied back down. She poked her finger in the bowl, and found that there was nothing left.
"You didnt' save me any," Torres said in mock anger.
"There's the furball," Paris said, a hint of playfulness in his voice.
"Funny, Tom," she said as she picked up the ball. She took a bite, and forced it down. She pushed the memory of how bad it tasted from her mind. She then brought her attention back to Paris.
"Strange that after we try to escape, they capture us and put us in the same room together," she stated.
"One punishment I don't mind recieving," Paris was able to say before a coughing fit over took him.
"It is not a punishment that we put you in the same cell."
The voice that filled the room was harsh and icy. It was also female.
"You have proven yourselves that you will risk you life to protect the other. Something we have never seen before in our other test subjects."
Torres stood up and glared upward, "Test subjects?! Is that what we are here for? Experiments!?"
The voice became less harsh, but remained cold, "Yes, we are studying behaviors in other races to better ourselves. We mostly have been studying the Indryns for years. When we saw you and your male friend, we knew we had found the perfect subjects."
Torres snarled, "What behaviors?! What are you talking about?"
"Mating behaviors," the icy voice answered, "We sensed deep emotions for the other in both of you. We knew you would last much longer than the weak Indryns."
"Why then are you treating him worse than you are me?" Torres asked, seeing that her questions were finally being answered.
"Our males are able to with stand great hardships. They are tested to show how worthy they are of us females."
Tom was right Torres thought, They are Amazons. Outloud, she said, "He is already worthy of my attention! Stop torturing him!"
The cold voice chuckled, "That's why he is in the same room with you. He has proven himself to us that he is worthy of you."
Torres growled, "I knew that before you kidnapped us! Let us go if your experiments are done!"
The voice became harsh again, "We are not finished with you, yet."

"We are within firing range, Captain," Tuvok announced.
"What are their shields at?" Janeway asked.
Tuvok took a moment to look at his console, "They are at thirty-five percent."
Janeway nodded, "Match their speed. Fire phasers on my signal."
"Captian, they are hailing us," Kim said.
Janeway let a curse slip, "Put it on screen."
The stars were suddenly replaced by the eerie glowing eyes. They stared into the bridge crew, but if they were frightened they didn't show it.
Janeway stood and walked over to the Conn station. She had enough of this chase, and she was going to let the Lyante know it.
"Return our crew members now," she said, fighting back the urge to lash out at them.
The glowing eyes did not move or show any emotion, "We will return them when our experiment is complete. Until then, end this foolish chasing."
"We will not go sit somewhere and wait for you to return them. For all we know, you might return us their bodies or not at all."
Did the eyes just darken? Janeway thought when she noticed the eyes flicker.
"They are progressing well," the voice was harsh, "They are doing better than we could ever imagine. We will return them to you alive."
"I want them now," Janeway's own eyes darkened.
"When the experiments are completed, not before," the eyes suddenly vanished, and Janeway whispered a curse.
"They are leaving, Captain," Kim announced.
"Follow them, but not too closely. I want them to think we took their advise."

Continue to Chapter Ten
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