Chapter Text
Awareness came back to her slowly and accompanied by a terrible headache.
She couldn't remember anything, not even her name, and the temptation to just sink back into the velvety darkness of another merciful coma without any pain tormenting her was almost overwhelming, but something nagging at the back of her tortured mind kept her struggling her way back to full consciousness.
Sharp pieces of gaudy red and bright white light were piercing through her still closed lids, stinging in her eyes and increasing the pain throbbing everywhere inside her skull. Strangled sounds and noises cut through the daze that was clouding her brain like the shards of a broken vase, and it took her some time to realize that they were her own doing, the sound of her voice unfamiliar and odd to her as she groaned and gasped in pain.
She was lying on her back on something that was hard and soft at the same time, even though this actually couldn't be and didn't make any sense to her spinning consciousness. Her hands moved around of their own accord, and another gasp escaped her dry lips when her numb fingers were stopped by something warm and unyielding. The surface of the walls surrounding her was plain and smooth, but it seemed to drum with the pulse of her own heartbeat, and the whirling lights hurting her eyes so much became brighter when her nails scratched over the walls that constricted her motions at each side of her body. A muffled cry of fear and shock was pulled from her when her hands wandered higher, above her head, just to find another restriction there.
She braced her palms against the obstacle, but it didn't give in under her desperate attempts to remove it. She couldn't breathe, not with the walls enclosing her and coming closer and closer until she feared that they would quash her completely.
Another cry echoed between the restraints of her prison, and she gave in to the blackness with a sob, her last coherent thought the vague and distant regret that she had failed her people.
*~*~*
Captain Kathryn Janeway came back to consciousness with a gasp, her mind switching from pitch black to high alert within one heartbeat and the next.
Her eyes flew open, and she stared at the ceiling above her head, dark-gray stone that was illuminated by a hidden source of light. Kathryn moved her eyes from one side to the other without turning her head, cautious not to attract any attention of her unknown kidnappers before she was fully awake and in control of her body and her memory again.
The last thing she remembered before she'd lost her consciousness was that she'd been in her quarters, sitting on her sofa and listening to Mahler's first symphony while reading something on her PADD.
She'd been doing that a lot, lately, listening to Mahler and Tchaikovsky, his favorite classical composers. Kathryn didn't know why she was torturing herself like that again and again, reminding herself of the foolish hopes she'd nursed that Kashyk was actually serious and honest in his wish to come with her and be more to her than just the hostile inspector of another highly advanced species. She'd not been so stupid to trust his motives, sweet words and explanations fully, and Voyager had been prepared when Kashyk had outed himself to be a counter-agent and tried to keep Kathryn and her crew from saving the telepathic refugees she'd hidden from the Devore so skillfully so far.
Resuming their way toward the Alpha Quadrant after her last encounter with Kashyk Janeway had found herself unable to stop thinking of the Devore; and she'd been dwelling in the memory of their kiss when a sudden burst of light had hit her and blinded her to unconsciousness right in the middle of her own quarters - where she actually ought to be safe from any attack or harm.
And now she found herself lying in something that resembled a coffin, only without a lid. The walls of the coffin were warm and pulsing in the rhythm of her heartbeat, and Kathryn strained her ears, but she couldn't make out any sound other than the low drumming of her own heart beating against her ribcage and some kind of a strange distant humming that seemed to come from the shrine she way lying in itself.
Her sharp and well-trained instincts told her that she was alone in the cave, and Kathryn slowly rose into a sitting position to take a look around and orientate herself. It was clear that she wasn't on board Voyager any longer, and she'd learned to accept new or changed circumstances and situations she didn't have control of at that point and adapt to them without letting fear or despair rule her actions.
It was pointless to mull over the question how she'd been brought here without having further information, and the best way to get back to her ship and her crew as quickly as possible was to gain more information about her environment and perhaps about the people who'd taken her away from her beloved ship.
The cave was empty except for the shrine, and Kathryn still couldn't make out the source of light that allowed her to look around and hopefully find her way out of her temporary new quarters soon. Several stalagmites and stalactites surrounded the coffin that had been placed in the center of the cave which were forming a perfect circle as Kathryn now realized, their shimmering polished surfaces speaking of age and eternity.
Her gaze fell onto something white that was hanging over the end of the shrine, right where the former closed lid had moved to allow her leaving her temporary prison. It seemed to be some clothes that were all of a snow-white color that shimmered like gold and ivory in the soft glow of the hidden lamps. Kathryn frowned, and it was only then when she noticed that someone must have undressed her while she'd been unconscious, taking her uniform and leaving her with nothing other than her sleeveless shirt and her panties.
Her cheeks flushed red, even though no one was there to witness her embarrassment, and she allowed herself a small sigh when she reached out for the clothes her unknown hosts apparently wanted her to wear for the time being. The captain of Voyager decided to think of her kidnappers as her hosts because they hadn't tied her or injured her while she'd been unconscious and defenseless, and there was a dark hole carved into the wall opposite her that looked a lot like a natural tunnel that was hopefully leading to the exit of the cave. The fact that the tunnel was dark and not shimmering in the colors of an energy field was a good sign that she was obviously permitted to move rather freely and leave the cave; and if the ones who'd brought her here wanted her to wear these white clothes, then she would obey their wish and cooperate - even more as she didn't have much of a choice here if she didn't want to face these people dressed in nothing more than just her underwear.
There was a shirt with long sleeves made of soft wool or something like that, and it fitted her perfectly when Kathryn pulled the shirt over her head. The round neck of her new shirt and the seams of its sleeves were adorned with thin silvery threads in beautiful complicated patterns, and the wool was of finest quality and felt wonderfully soft on her skin. Kathryn rubbed over her clothed arm in wonder before she shifted her attention back to the rest of her new outfit. There were breeches made of smooth white leather that hugged her legs like a second skin and were yet comfortable enough to move without any problems, and the long white tunic that completed her looks shimmered like thick and precious velvet and was adorned with the same silvery threads like her shirt. The tunic was loosely fitting and didn't have any sleeves, but covered her shoulders and half of their upper arms, its hems accentuated with broad silver edgings.
A leather belt colored in a dark silver-gray color was apparently meant to hold the tunic together around her waist, and Kathryn slung it around her midsection, stroking thoughtfully over the cool leather that warmed quickly under the touch of her fingers. She noticed four nubs on the belt where the sheaths of some weapons could possibly be attached to it, but there weren't any weapons in the cave she could make out, so her hosts didn't seem to find it necessary to equip her with them, at least not now.
The knee-long silver-gray leather boots Kathryn found standing before the shrine fitted as perfectly as the rest of her clothes that looked to her very much like the clothing young knaves or proud knights had worn on Earth during the Middle Ages, and she put them on and stuffed the legs of her breeches into the long shafts of the boots, taking the last garment that had lain on one of the stalagmites beside the coffin. It was a cape-like thick coat with a hood, its hems fur-trimmed with some kind of silvery fur, the coat itself made partly of velvet and partly of leather, and it was as white as the rest of her new garments.
“Hmm, they seem to like the color white for some reason,” Kathryn said to herself, pushing one strand of her chin-long hair behind her ear. The coat reached down to her knee-pits and swung around her legs when she took a few cautious steps forward to test her equilibrium and explore the cave for further information. She wandered around along the walls to search for hidden panels or other technological devices, but there was nothing, and she couldn't find the origin of the lights either.
After a while she gave up and returned to the coffin she'd woken up in. It was definitely artificial and a piece of highly advanced technology, and it was more a shrine or stasis pod than a real coffin as she could see now. Its purpose was still a secret to her, the interior shaped to host a humanoid person, but the alloy the shrine was made of was unknown to her and the shrine was completely empty now that she'd left it. If there was anything like a console, panel or computer to operate it, then it must be hidden inside the shrine and beyond her reach. Kathryn also realized that the soft golden light emanated from the shrine itself as she now bent over it again, the entire interior shining in that golden light and illuminating the cave with its beautiful glow. Kathryn couldn't make out any buttons or other hidden switches on the outside of the coffin either, and revealing the mysterious secrets of the shrine was actually not her most pressing concern. She needed to go back to Voyager and her crew, and that wouldn't be possible if she simply stayed in the cave and waited for someone to come to her and bring her back.
Her kidnappers had apparently wanted her to dress with these clothes for a special reason and purpose that she would hopefully find out sooner rather than later, and Kathryn's inquiring mind made itself known and urged her to leave the cave and search for answers in the alien world that was waiting for her outside the cave.
Kathryn threw one last glance back at the shrine and then made her way to the tunnel, determined not to rest until she'd found a way back to her ship and her crew.
*~*~*
No energy field kept her trapped in the cave, but there was a brief tingling crawling over her skin when she passed the entrance to the corridor and left the cavern. It was gone again before she could react and step back though, and it didn't affect her in any tangible way but felt warm and almost friendly, so Kathryn thought that there hadn't been done any damage to her - whatever the tingling had caused. The tunnel wound itself through gray rocks for several minutes, and Kathryn used her hands to feel for any possible obstacles on her way because the light from the shrine soon vanished, exposing her to complete darkness quickly. She paused to give her eyes time to adjust to the blackness, and after two or three more minutes she was able to see her white clothes shimmering in the thick blackness surrounding her. She set one foot before the other in a slow and careful pace, and after the next turn the tiniest spot of light became visible somewhere in front of her.
The last meters were easy to pass, and Kathryn brushed her palms against each other in an unconscious gesture when she reached the exit of the tunnel and took a moment to regard the clearing that bordered the entrance to the hollow. It was just a small one, a green meadow in the middle of tall trees with large green canopies. A soft breeze grazed her from the exertion and her inner turmoil flushed cheeks, carrying the scent of fresh grass and leaves to her. She resisted the temptation to close her eyes and hold her face up against the night sky that greeted her from above the crowns of the trees, letting her attentive gaze travel over the odd shadows the light of a pale moon was throwing over the meadow. They looked like giants and hunched dwarfs that had jumped right out of a book with mystic fairy tales, and Kathryn couldn't remain untouched by the magical atmosphere surrounding her.
Wherever she was, it was a beautiful world, the wooded hill behind her the only peak in the green plain that unfolded behind the lines of trees. The soft rustling of grass and leaves indicated that this world was inhabited by animals, the melancholy cry of a raptor that hunted by night breaking the peaceful silence.
A low rumbling sound tore Kathryn out of her rapturous contemplation, and she turned around just in time to see the entrance to the tunnel close as if some invisible giant hands were moving the rocks. The faintest hint of flickering light and whirling colors appeared when the tunnel was fully blocked again, telling her that a force field added to the protection of the cave, denying her any access back to the shrine. The Starfleet captain contemplated her options for a moment and then set off in the direction of the opposite edge of the clearing with quiet steps, narrowing her eyes as she observed the line of dark trees to be prepared in case that her kidnappers weren't as friendly as they'd appeared to be at first sight.
Janeway had just reached the center of the meadow when the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck started to prickle and she sensed that she wasn't alone any longer. Her head whipped around and her hair fell into her face at the abrupt motion, her hands reaching for her phaser before she realized that it couldn't be where it was usually attached to her uniform. Her communicator was gone too, and she shifted her weight and turned to the side in order to make herself as small as possible and be a less exposed and accurate target when not presenting her front to the dark figure that was standing before the rock all of a sudden, right where the now blocked exit of the cave had been and seemingly emerged out of nowhere.
Kathryn could feel their eyes on her face through the shadow the large hood threw over their hidden features, and she slowly raised her arms in a gesture of surrender to prove to the newcomer that she wasn't armed.
“I have no weapons, and I'm no threat to you!” she called over to the motionless human-like figure, “I'm not from this world, and I would like to require your help.” She didn't know whether or not the stranger could understand her without the help of her communicator, but she had to at least try it.
The cloaked person moved forward, and it looked as if they were gliding over the meadow without touching the ground under the long and dark cape they used to disguise themselves. Kathryn's heart was hammering in her chest, and she lifted her chin up and willed herself not to backpedal as she waited for the stranger to come closer and finally reveal their identity to her.
When they did, slowly pulling the hood from their face and letting the moonlight shine onto their familiar features, a loud gasp of surprise escaped her lips, and Kathryn stared at the man she'd thought to never see again.
Inspector Kashyk from the Devore, the one she'd thought she would never see him again, stepped forward, offering his palms to her with a smile. “Ah, Kathryn, it's been a while. You're as beautiful as ever, and I'm truly happy to see you again!”