SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 61

"You know, you never did tell me what happened while you were on that station," Chakotay said. Together they registered the faint smell of eucalyptus trees and glanced around the park that now inhabited the holodeck.

"It's in my report," Janeway replied. She casually cupped her hands under her chin and rested her elbows on the soft grass below. "I'll see you get a copy."

"I've already read your report. To be honest, I found it rather... vague. The Doctor said you had severe injuries. I remember the way you looked when you got back here. I'd say your description was a little understated."

"Are you questioning my report writing skills, Commander?" Janeway asked with an indignant eyebrow raise and sat up.

"No, I'm challenging you to tell me what really happened on that station. How you actually managed to escape."

Janeway closed her eyes briefly as the images came flooding back. She knew her report was scanty on details. She'd made it so, purposefully.

The exterior face of Captain Janeway was forthright and unbreakable, and she was perfectly fine when she was busy. But during the quieter moments, it was still taking all her concentration to stop the mix of feelings from engulfing her. It was the one time she wished she were Borg and had a few less feelings to deal with.

She knew she was holding it together, but only just. Zeron's retaliation had taken her to the brink of death. His grilling technique was brutal and her physical injuries had been substantial, but it was the emotional scarring that had taken its toll. There were occasional moments when she felt like a physical and emotional shipwreck, storm battered and full of holes, although she'd never let on to her crew, and she still wasn't at all sure she was ready to voice her experiences out loud.

She looked at Chakotay. There was compassion in his eyes and concern as she gave him a fleeting smile, which he mirrored. Then slowly she inhaled, and allowed her thoughts to switch between the present and the past, until gradually her mind set her down in the consciousness of four days previous.

***

"Tell me how you got through my security measures?" Zeron demanded. "How you escaped the city? How you found out about the location of the Dimar?"

Janeway stood silent, refusing to provide him with any information.

Zeron struck her and sent her reeling. She closed her eyes as her head impacted with the solid wall for the third time. Her mind swam with dizziness and she felt a new pain set in at the base of her skull.

"I will not risk the child escaping again. Your starship and shuttle have blocked every scan I've conducted. Give me your command codes so I can be sure the child is not being harbored by your crew."

"Never," Janeway replied, between winded breaths.

Zeron's actions were violent and unrelenting.

She had survived the disrupter shot and then discovered Zeron was part-Romulan. From that point on, she'd accepted his blows of anger and retribution. Slowly she scrambled back up onto her feet, only to feel his hands wrapped around her throat in a vice-like grip, choking her.

"You're no help. I don't know why I didn't kill you earlier," Zeron said without feeling.

They were the last words she could remember before she blacked out.

Zeron left her a calling card in her unconscious state - one that bordered on lascivious. He added a couple of strategic tears to the front of her tattered clothing.