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"I hope you're right," said Janeway. "What's the status on the buildup of dark matter in the area?"

"It's increasing with every moment that their shields are activated," Kim reported. "There's also a high concentration that was discharged by the wormhole."

"They're killing themselves and they cannot even see it," said Telek. "The more they utilize Lhiau's Shepherd technology, either with the cloaks or the wormholes, the more dark matter they spew forth."

The ship shook again. "Our ship is responding to the barrage of dark matter. Our shields are down thirty-four percent. Weapons systems are offline," Tuvok reported.

"Is the warp core still offline?" Janeway asked. If they couldn't fight, they would have to flee, with, she hoped, the Talvath in tow. They needed at least one defense option or Romulan shock troops from the remaining two hostile warbirds would be aboard Voyager before they knew it.

"Affirmative," said Tuvok.

"Captain," said Kim, 'Torres reports that they are still having trouble with the Shepherd technology. She says they've got to fix that before they dare engage in warp drive."

Janeway nodded her comprehension and made her decision. "Fire at will, Commander Tuvok."

"Aye, Captain," acknowledged the Vulcan.

Seated at the conn, Janeway badly wanted to utilize her ship's quick movements to defend herself, but she couldn't, not yet. The small science vessel had recovered from the nearly devastating attack and was again heading straight for them. To make the ship dip and dive now would be to lose the Talvath.

"How close is the Talvath?" she asked.

"Almost here," said Paris.

She could see it on the screen, a visible David among the cloaked Goliaths, moving with steady purpose toward safety. Again Janeway wondered what was going on. There was the distinct possibility, almost a likelihood, that this was part of a trap. But if so, were the Romulans really willing to nearly destroy the only vessel equipped with wormhole technology simply to make the fight look believable? To destroy themselves? Something about this rang true, and Janeway had seen enough to trust her gut. She still had her suspicions, though. One did not deal with the chairman of the Tal Shiar without having suspicions.

I wen a former chairman, if Jekri Kaleh was to be believed.

Another direct hit. Janeway fell forward and hit her head on the conn. For an awful moment, the world went gray. When she recovered, everything had a slight halo around it. A mild concussion. She gritted her teeth and willed herself to stay conscious. Neither she nor her vessel could take much more of this.

Suddenly there was a bright explosion. For a brief, wild second Janeway wondered if this was some strange manifestation of her head injury, then realized that one of their photon torpedoes had landed a direct hit on a warbird-and utterly destroyed it. This was becoming far too familiar, this vulnerability of dark-matter-cloaked warbirds, but seeing it repeated did nothing to lessen the pain and regret Janeway experienced at the sight.

"Any Me signs?" she asked.

"Negative," said Kim. Even as he spoke, the first warbird, the one that had been put "out of the battle," as Kim had phrased it earlier, also exploded.

"Dammit, why did we fire on a crippled ship?" cried Janeway, blinking in a frantic attempt to make the halo go away.

"We did not," Tuvok replied. "It either self-destructed or the dark matter destroyed it."

"Open a channel to the remaining warbird," she said. Even as she uttered the words, she knew they were futile. It was deja vu. How many tunes must this ghastly scenario reenact itself before the stubborn, proud Romulans would listen to reason?

"Open, Captain," Kim replied.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship-"

"We know who you are, Captain," came a harsh, masculine voice. No visual, not yet. "Stand down and prepare to be boarded."

"The Talvath is safely within our shields," Kim said. Janeway nodded her acknowledgment.