"Why would we be so stupid and let go our best hostage of all?  You have not the technology and years of experimenting to cure this deadly disease, she would die in your sickbay!  And as long as she is in our hands, she can still be cured.  And that, Mr. Zach, makes your time to decide a bit more limited."

Then he looks at the other half of the split-screen, where Rugal is displayed.

"As for you... Cardassian... you don't seem to know yet who has the last word in this situation, so I'll have to teach you."

He pushes a button or two, and then a heavy disruptor blast hits on Rugal's ship, causing considerable damage.

The Loxian hisses at the prisoner.

"Then your skills are doctor are going to be needed!"

He takes a stick with a needle and pushes it against Marou.  Next, heavy, painful shocks go through her body and she screams out in pain.  Yet, he does not withdraw the stick for long moments, until she falls on the floor and almost passes out.

"If you don't help us, she will die.  We didn't just give her painful shocks, but it also injected a virus in her body.  The virus will slowly and painfully kill her, and she will be aware of every painful stage that shall bring her closer to her death.  Only we have the antidote for this virus.  Help us, and she will live.  Help us not, and you will see her die slowly day after day.
I give you a day to have a look at how she slowly begins to rotten and die, and to make up your mind about helping us.  I will be back tomorrow."

And with that, the Loxian guard leaves the holding cel and leaves Sanchez, Keilah and Marou alone...

The door suddenly opened again, and Loxian guards and one man in charge entered the room.

"So, have you decided what to do yet?  To give us the informations we want, or to see each other die and die yourself in the end too?"

"Starfleet and Cardassian vessels, listen up!  We have your people hostage on our ship, and they will die instantly, if you do not seize fire right away!  You are fools to come all the way here, to the very center of our space territory, because other Loxian ships are alarmend and on their way now, to intercept you and then you will all be hostages as well.
But we are willing to let your people live, on one condition: give us tactical information on all your ships and on your fleets!"

"We abducted you three, because that way we would be sure your ship wont leave this area in space.  It will lead them right in our arms.  But in the mean time, we will use our time well, and so you will tell me exactly why you are here, and how we can control your ship!  The Cardassians have been around long enough and we will wipe them out for once and for all, and you will help us with that!"

"That's the thing.  You don't know.  So you'll have to believe us.  And one thing you can be 100% sure of no matter what: dont tell us anything and you all WILL die!"

The Loxian commander has to hold on to something not to fall, when the Cardassian vessel fires its powerful weapons.  And before he can shout any orders of a counter attack, the newly arrived ship hails him.  He pushes a few buttons to add Ryan Calderian to the conversation.

"Another visitor it seems! Quantum torpedo's you say? Subspace warheads you say? Go ahead and fire them at us!  But remember that if you destroy us, you kill your own people we have here, along with us!  Cease fire at once or your captain here will die at once!"

The Loxian stares at the doctor.

"When she has died, you are next!"

And he closes the heavy door behind him.

Suddenly a picture of Sanchez, Keilah and Marou appears, all three of them are kept under heavy guard, but Marou is only half conscious.  Then the picture disappears and the Loxian comes on screen again...

"You have seen them, they are alive.  Oh and one thing I would like to add, your female officer -whats her name again, Alissa Marou?- is infected with a deadly virus.  She will die within 24 hours.  The process can be reversed, but even we have taken 3 centuries to discover the antidote against this virus.

We can cure her.
We can keep your people alive.
We can let your ships intact.
But we ask you one thing in return: access to your tactical databanks of your federation.

So what will it be?

The Loxians want to fight back and grab the weapon, but they are too late and find the weapon aimed at them, and have no choice but to raise their hands.

"Your escape from this holding cell won't help you! You're on a ship and we'll arrive at our homeworld any moment now!  You have nowhere to go!"

*On the Loxian homeworld, in the main government office building, the operations manager is doing his routine check-up, when suddenly a alarm signal goes off. He goes to the panel where the sound comes from, and checks what is going on. He looks in astonishment.*
"Now look at that... the President is going to love this!"
*He turns to an assistant.*
"You, take over operations for now, I need to go to the President's office right now!"
"What? Why?"
*But the Loxian operations manager has already left. Shortly thereafter he arrives at the room of the President's secretary, having to explain that he needs to speak to the President urgently. A little later, he finally gets an audience from the Loxian President himself.*
"Mr. President, I have the news you have now long been waiting for. The Spy 1 device we gave to Varnek, has apparently been activated, and has transmitted coordinates and tactical information to us. Have a look!"
*He shows a stellar map on a screen, showing the location of the origin of the transmission, and thus the location of the device. Next to it, scrolls alot of tactical information: firepower, shield frequencies and ship schematics of the U.S.S. Skytoucher.*
"We can only assume that Varnek is there too, and that he managed to trigger on the Spy 1 device. And that gives us only two options: either Varnek is there alone, and has killed Vakin by now, or he failed doing so, and both still need to be killed."
*The President observes the informations displayed on the screen.*
"And what about Kowan? Starfleet captured him and took him with them. Our fleet failed to locate Kowan at Vontak Nor, and back then Vakin did not mention him either. Where is he?"
"Mr. President, I have reason to believe that Kowan was transported to a prison at that same location where Varnek is, as well. We could silence all three of them, for the best interests of the Loxian Government."
*The President takes a deep breath.*
"What would we find there at that location? Any information regarding that?"
"Yes, Mr. President. It appears that there is a large space station located there, which they call their headquarters. It is likely heavily armed, but no doubt our fleet could utterly destroy this mortal enemy of the Government!"
"You are sure of this?"
"Very sure, Mr. President!"
*The Loxian President turns around and sits back down behind his desk.*
"Very well, issue the order to have the entire fleet prepared. I know that we suffered a great loss at our last battle in the Dark Passage, but our engineers have had the time to restore and rebuild most of it by now. We will launch the fleet in 36 hours! Dismissed!"
"Yes, Mr. President!"
*The operations manager rushes out of the President's office, to issue the orders and have the fleet prepared for launch...*

*Meanwhile, in some dark corner of the Dark Passage, the Loxian government fleet moves on, going deeper into the Dark Passage with every moment, finding their way to Vontak Nor. They should arrive at the Cardassian station soon now...*

*For months, the Loxian government had brooded quietly on their defeat... but in secret, they had been rebuilding their strength and forces. They had sent out secret agents to go abroad and find out what was to be done next. The secret agents had returned, with the news that both Kowan and Vakin were at Station Avalon. Therefore, Vontak Nor was not their target any more now, but Avalon Station was. Thus, the government worked on a fleet even more powerful, to overwhelm the Starfleet station... and Vontak Nor after it.*

*A Loxian entered the government halls to bring out a report.*
"All ships of the fleet are ready and massed together. They can depart on your mark."
"Good! Any news from the front of the Loxian Exiles and Starfleet?"
"They have arrived at Vontak Nor and should beam aboard there anytime soon."
"Good... good... and the last thing they'll expect, is an attack! Get the ships to power up their engines, I'm going on the flagship and command the fleet myself!"
"Yes, sir."
*And thus, the fleet powered up their engines and went into position to go to warp toward the Dark Passage, and soon thereafter, a huge fleet was on the move...*

*At the horizon, Loxian Government ships appear as they arrive back at their homeworld Loxius. A few ships is all that remains of the immense fleet that was sent out before...*