She had been eluding her pursuers for eternity, it seemed. The sweat on her body felt almost like a second skin, born of a mixture of fear and desperation; tightly controlled and held in check but a real, living entity nonetheless. The desperate fear was born when her palm flower began to blink steadily some nine hours ago. In another fifteen hours the blinking would cease and the flower would turn black. And she knew exactly what that meant. Mandatory suicide. She would be obligated by society to report to a local Sleepshop to embrace death with open arms. Or, if she chose the other option - which she had - she would be branded a coward by society, hunted down like an animal and terminated by the DS Squad.

Men and women were physically trained through grueling means to become DS agents and indoctrinated by the city's central computer to pursue and execute subversive members of society whose sole crime was wanting to live beyond the age of thirty. They were ruthless and unmerciful killers, feared by all except a small minority whose will to live outweighed the threat of being relentlessly pursued should one decide to escape from the city to a place referred to in certain circles as 'Outside.' A few runners had actually managed to elude DS and reach their goal of departing the city, proving it was a possibility after all.

She decided to follow suit.

Having disappeared far into the darkened catacombs of Cathedral, she looked in every direction, her eyes scanning her surroundings. So far she could see no one else in her immediate vicinity, but instinctively knew this was not to last for long. Sooner or later there would be DS agents infiltrating this place, searching for her. If they managed to find her here the termination of her existence would arrive sooner than it would have had she stayed put where she was and picked out Sleepshops to enter. Or perhaps her eventual fate would be even worse than death.

In certain runners' circles she had heard whispered tales of a place known only as "rehabilitation" where the most intelligent of the subversive elements comprising the city's population were suddenly taken by special DS agents and never seen again. Usually this happened at night; a person's living quarters would be raided by DS and its occupant brought to this special place for re-indoctrination by the city's central computer for unknown purposes. Rumors abounded of lobotimization and the fusion of living flesh with electronic pieces in which the unfortunate victim was to serve at a Love Shop as a living mannequin of a kind. Plainly, death would be a blessing in comparison, but the voice that lived within her said incessantly life was preferable to either.

So Jessica 6-8753589R plunged deeper into the night-black labyrinth to which she had escaped, knowing full well sooner or later her pursuers would be here shortly. Wiping the sweat from her face, she looked around in the catacombs for the entrance she had been informed of into a long-unused and forgotten underground labyrinth that eventually would lead her Outside. The entrance to this passage, she was almost certain, was located somewhere within this immediate vicinity; all she had to do now was to find it and DS didn't have an ice-statue's chance in hell of finding her.

All the while, she was keeping in mind the possibility of one DS agent in particular who could very possibly follow her into Cathedral. A female, this agent had joined the force as soon as she had reached the legal age of doing so, which was twenty-one. Considered by many as one of the most formidable DS agents of either sex, she was among the most ruthless and dangerous of them, boasting among the highest kill scores of any Sandman or Sandwoman in the city. It was also rumored in runners' circles that this agent in particular had a secret personal affinity for hand-to-hand combat and rather enjoyed wearing her quarry down physically in this regard before termination, especially female runners. Jessica found herself wondering whether this one would be pursuing her...

Leia 14-9454138C couldn't fathom for what possible reasons her quarry was foolish enough to choose this godforsaken catacomb to elude DS of all places. Certainly the occupants residing in this section of the city would tear the woman to pieces if the rats didn't. No runner dared enter Cathedral after nightfall of his or her own volition unless they were desperate, insane, or simply stupid. It was ultimately of no consequence, the Sandwoman decided. This woman had chosen to abandon her duty to the city and would have to accept the consequences now. There was no turning back for either of them. Leia was a DS agent with a job to do, not to mention a reputation to maintain as one who never allowed her prey to escape.

She watched from an unseen position as the woman - Jessica 6 according to the computer readout back at DS Headquarters - moved silently through the shadows as if in search of sanctuary from her pursuers. The woman for the most part stayed out of sight, to the point where she was virtually invisible to the untrained human eye. She was indeed a bright woman, this Jessica, Leia conceded her at least that much; the way she disappeared into the darkness most DS probably wouldn't have located her too easily. The runner was quite clever and resourceful as prey, but Leia was ultimately more so as a huntress, as she would shortly have to demonstrate to her.

She continued to stalk her unsuspecting quarry ... moving silently in the darkness as Jessica was, much like a snake feeling out the intelligence and tenacity of its dinner...

A snake, she repeated to herself inwardly, welcoming the implications arising inside her at the thought. Leia found herself reveling in the simile as she watched Jessica traveling further into the shadows. It was quite some time since she had pitted herself physically against another female, specifically another female who had opted to place herself in the same situation Leia's quarry presently was. She could feel her excitement steadily growing as she continued watching the woman, receiving furtive views of her skin as the dress the runner wore revealed the skimpy bikini-like underclothes in which she was clad.

Leia's excitement rose to a fever pitch. She would creep up undetected on the woman, enjoying the feeling of alarm the runner would surely feel knowing she was being pursued, and strike when the precise moment came. She would wrap her limbs around her unsuspecting victim's frame and crush the very fight out of her until the oxygen was forced from her sleek body. The mental picture of Jessica squirming desperately while caught in a perfect textbook scissor-lock almost robbed Leia of her breath. At this moment she could feel her thighs squeezing the hapless woman, feel the soft flesh giving way between her crushing embrace.

And then, when the runner was systematically reduced to little more than a breathless, defeated tangle of arms and legs lying on the floor, Leia would retrieve her Gun, pull the trigger, and the homer would tear its way into her helpless body, ripping her apart from the inside even as she howled in complete agony, until nothing was left of her but an unidentifiable jumble of organs.

Taking care not to needlessly alert Jessica to her nearby presence, Leia silently unholstered her belt, peeling off the skin-tight black leather DS uniform. Hiding her vestments and utilities in a place she was certain they would not be found by those miscreants living in Cathedral, she returned to her full height, revealing what she was clad in underneath. Her only vestments now were an equally tight-fitting black vinyl ensemble that most closely resembled a bikini. The material, hugging her body like a second skin, provided total freedom of movement that guaranteed the runner would not suspect her physical presence. Enjoying the feeling, she resumed stalking her prey, moving farther into the shadows herself in a parallel path higher up and off to the side.

Alone in the darkness, Jessica suddenly felt a change in the atmosphere around her, suddenly suspecting she was being watched. Pausing mid-step she drew in breath and crouched low to the floor. She looked around to discern whether there was someone following her. No one was in her direct line of vision as she glanced furtively in every direction, but she felt watched all the same. Jessica imagined it could well be Leia stalking her in the gloom; she knew the Sandwoman enjoyed playing cat-and-mouse with her quarry before striking, almost as much as engaging with it physically. Her muscles tensed as she continued into the dark shadows, anticipating a strike from the woman, which could come at any moment from any direction...

From her position of watching, Leia sneered to herself as Jessica attempted to ascertain where her huntress could be at the moment. But, something was not right here. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but after a while she began to realize there was a possible method and purpose as to the seemingly pointless direction in which the runner was headed. At first, it appeared as if Jessica was fleeing aimlessly, seeking nothing else but to escape her pursuers, but as Leia watched she began to piece it together. Why was this woman only sticking to the shadows, as opposed to wandering blindly in Cathedral in her flight? As she pondered this, it suddenly came to her! There must be some sort of an unseen passageway somewhere in here!

This obviously came of significant interest to the Sandwoman. Perhaps Leia would indeed benefit from this encounter in more ways than she thought possible. Perhaps while using the strength in her lithe body on Jessica to crush the life out of her, she might force the runner to reveal the existence of this passage, if there in fact was one. If this supposed passage was the means for the runners who got away to escape the city, the renown Leia would receive for her role in alerting the rest of DS and causing its eventual destruction would be considerable. Her excitement rising at this prospect, she executed an acrobatic movement high up in the shadows, to gain a firmer purchase above her quarry, awaiting the right moment to pounce...

The feeling that Jessica was being stalked was becoming more and more apparent to her with each passing second, and as time passed she was increasingly certain it was Leia who was doing the stalking. Mentally she readied herself for any possibility of what could occur when they crossed paths. If she made a wrong move, she would surely die ... or worse. Firmly controlling her consternation, she faded into the blackness, maintaining her thinking reason as she ascertained the safest path to follow searching for her destination. She imagined the passage she sought was close by now, and if she maintained a clear head, it would only be a matter of time before she found freedom...

Leia pursued her quarry relentlessly, keeping an eye on Jessica as she moved deeper into the darkness surrounding her. Even as she enjoyed the game, she found herself becoming more convinced that the runner had a specific destination in mind as she followed the woman's purpose-driven movements. The excitement rising inside her had become an unquenchable fire as she prepared to pounce at any moment...

Although she fought to control it, Jessica could feel her consternation rising as she suspected her possible huntress was awfully close now. Tensing, she attempted to watch her surroundings even as she searched for what she arrived here to find. If it was Leia there, lurking somewhere in the darkness, why didn't she simply fire a homer her way? Jessica seemed to already know the answer: she was playing with her. She pressed on, knowing full well that that damned Sandwoman bitch could be upon her at any moment...

Unbeknownst to either of them, two pairs of eyes watched huntress and prey from undetected places in the deepest recesses of Cathedral. The intruders, playing their little game of cat-and-mouse, had traveled farther into their territory than either expected, obviously unknowing of the dangers awaiting them. Keeping their place for the time being, one of the unseen shapes in the dark turned to the other, whispering something in an almost undetectable volume. As the second shadow moves off, the first turns eyes back to the women in the distance, watching and waiting...

Although Jessica's consternation had risen toward the highest levels, it was accompanied by burning anger at the thought of her pursuer playing with her as she was. She was on the brink of quickening her pace to a sprint, leading whom she was almost perfectly convinced was Leia on a chase to learn which of them could outrun the other while seeking her path to Outside and freedom ... when she suddenly felt the woman's legs slam around her neck with brute force, locking together at the ankles and constricting fiercely. Choking and gasping for air as the powerful thigh muscles coiled themselves around her, Jessica looked up as far as her neck would allow despite the sudden grip around her throat. As her attacker uttered a guttural groan while tightening her strong legs around her delicate windpipe, she looked up into Leia's eyes staring down at her, filled with a controlled fury and contempt.

"The game's over, bitch," she hissed threateningly.

Through rumors and hearsay, Jessica was fully aware of Leia's secret affinity for physically wearing down her quarry, particularly females, before termination or turning runners over to rehabilitation. Burning hatred welled up inside of her at the thought, which fueled her with the adrenaline necessary to struggle against the tightly encircling legs that threatened to force her into unconsciousness unless she acted immediately. She gripped the muscles underneath the Sandwoman's thighs in an effort to loosen them. This happened to allow the barest moment of respite as the scissor-lock did loosen enough to allow Jessica to turn around, in a slim hope of mounting some kind of counterattack. But Leia sensed she had her prey exactly where she wanted her and wasn't about to give up her position of dominance so easily. Instantly she gritted her teeth and slammed her thighs together again, cutting off the runner's breathing. Then, deciding she might want to continue the game for just a while longer, she elected to release the hold, slamming her bare feet into Jessica's face and knocking her down.

Leia dropped to the floor as Jessica struggled to regain her footing. They slowly circled one another, sizing one another up like malevolent panthers, the sheer hatred they felt toward the other showing on their faces. To both of them, the other seemed to become the embodiment of everything they despised the most about the world they lived in. Saying nothing for the moment, they stalked each other, their eyes locking together in equal amounts of cold malice. Huntress and prey appeared as if they could both expend equal amounts of energy against one another on hate and adrenaline alone. Leia finally broke the silence. "Do you wish to continue playing after all, or do you prefer to inform me as to your business down here in Cathedral before I terminate you?" the Sandwoman spat disdainfully, sneering openly at Jessica. She said nothing in return, but Leia's scornful tone apparently fueled the runner's heated adrenaline a second time, because Jessica suddenly leaped forward, using her own legs as pistons, hurtling herself toward Leia, meaning to demonstrate she was no ordinary helpless prey.

As Leia met Jessica's charge with one of her own, the runner quite unexpectedly knocked the Sandwoman to the floor, pinning Leia firmly onto her back. Jessica arched her own back to channel her weight into holding her down as Leia bucked to free herself, lifting her legs and launching a fierce kick directly into Jessica's gut. The intense force of the kick knocked Jessica halfway from her position before she reasserted herself astride her enemy. Snarling, Leia lifted her legs, slamming them around the runner's throat a second time. Leia hooked her ankles together, fighting to topple Jessica from her knees. For a moment, it seemed evident that she would achieve this, when an instant later a scream escaped from her lips as the runner immersed her nails and then her teeth into a naked calf. The Sandwoman roared in pain and rage, tearing her leg free from the runner's mouth as she aimed a kick squarely into Jessica's unprotected face. Diving atop the woman, she pulled a fist back, preparing to drive it downward into the same area where Leia had kicked her...

When Jessica proceeded to fight like a madwoman, with crazed albeit directed fervor. Raising one arm to block the oncoming fist, she slammed her knees into Leia's back, driving her forward as Jessica used the momentum to roll her attacker completely off her and to the floor. In that instant Leia realized that she had grossly underestimated the tenacity of her quarry, getting the feeling she would have to draw on her every reserve of strength in order to emerge the victor. Fine, she mused to herself, if this traitorous coward wanted a contest of power and endurance, she could have one. Jessica, recovering from the pain she felt in her neck and face, stumbled carefully back to her feet, hurling herself at the Sandwoman. Colliding with Leia's abdomen, Jessica seized her waist and drove forward with her legs, the furious inertia propelling her enemy to the floor. Landing on top of her, the runner whirled with her huntress, rolling over again and again, straining for the upper hand. In an attempt to mount an offensive Leia blindly struck out, her balled fists grasping her opponent's dress. The flimsy material somehow ended up halfway off Jessica's body in their struggle.

Glaring at Leia, Jessica removed the dress from her slender physique and prepared to throw it to the floor underneath her, revealing another bikini-like ensemble similar in texture to the one Leia wore, only this one was a shade of red. Leia suddenly charged forward again, meaning to take full advantage of the temporary advantage she presented. Surprised by this attack, Jessica managed to ready herself at the last instant, curling her hands into fists she drove straight into the Sandwoman's solar plexus, knocking the breath from Leia's body so that the runner could regain her footing as quickly as she could. Leia gasped as Jessica's fists collided with her, Infuriated, she collected herself and charged Jessica again as the runner regained her feet, thrusting her arms hungrily around Jessica's torso. Jessica's eyes bugged wide open; she sucked in breath as her waist yielded to the enraged Sandwoman's strenuous grasp. She writhed with desperate fervor to break free, succeeding in inviting Leia to tighten her arms. The grip was agonizing, but Jessica could see the lascivious look in the Sandwoman's eyes and could tell Leia was enjoying her position much more than she was letting on.

This served to enrage Jessica even more as Leia demanded of her, "Perhaps you didn't hear me. I said, you will tell me what the hell your business is here or I will make you suffer!" Her tone was as hard as steel, the sarcastic humor now completely absent from her voice, demanding a response. As if to reiterate the razor-sharp quality of her vociferation, Leia thrust her arms tighter still around Jessica's torso, causing her to rear her head back, eyes squeezed shut, gasping harder for breath. But in defiance, Jessica insisted in giving no answer to her. Leia threw her head back, concentrating her energy on crushing the fight out of the runner anyway if she refused to cooperate. She moved her face back to level with her prey, preparing to demand an answer again, when quite unexpectedly, Jessica thrust herself forward, smashing her forehead into the Sandwoman's face in retaliation. Quick to follow up on this, she smacked the open palms of her hands directly onto Leia's ears. The blow dazed her enough to allow Jessica to wriggle out of the devastating bear hug, compounding further on her assault by delivering two blows to Leia's head and plowing a knee into the Sandwoman's groin.

Still more enraged now, while fully aware what a challenge the runner actually was that she had endured the agonizing hold, Leia launched a kick straight into Jessica's solar plexus. It was now the runner's turn to back away from the impact, fighting again to regain her breath. The Sandwoman relentlessly approached her, her arms outstretched to reapply another embrace, when the runner suddenly dropped to the floor and lashed out with her foot. Leia was caught off guard as she collided face down to the floor. Seizing the advantage presented to her, Jessica crawled to her feet and leaped onto her enemy, smothering Leia in an embrace of her own which had very little to do with affection. Her legs gliding across the smooth skin of the Sandwoman's lower back and stomach, she coiled them around Leia's waist as she whipped her body convulsively to escape. The runner's deceptively soft-looking thighs exerted pressure as formidable as that of her opponent as Jessica snaked her arms around Leia's windpipe, involving a complex tangle of the Sandwoman's arms within her own as the hold culminated by cutting off the flow of oxygen at her neck.

The pressure on the Sandwoman's slender body inexorably increased as Jessica focused all her strength toward administering equal amounts of pain as Leia inflicted upon her earlier. Enjoying the choked groans emanating from her enemy, she took to twisting Leia's body at uncomfortable angles even as Leia bucked like a crazed mare to break loose from the encircling limbs around her. While she clearly did not expect her prey to fight back as effectively as she was, Leia didn't much care for the prospect of losing this conflict. Sensing her resistance gradually being worn away, she knew she had to strike back now. Gritting her teeth to prevent any more oxygen from escaping her lungs, she lifting a leg into the air, driving it downward as hard as possible into Jessica's groin. At Jessica's sudden pained grunt and huff of air expelled from the runner, she inwardly delighted. Half twisting, half-whipping her body like a striking serpent, Leia finally managed to extract herself from the legs squeezing her waist with such brute vigor, powering down her arms to force Jessica to release the elaborate chokehold around her.

They reared up on their knees, still glaring hatefully at each other as, slowly, they crawled forward yet again. Lowering her shoulders, Leia rushed Jessica, clenching her teeth as she locked her arms around the runner's torso. She began to unmercifully cudgel her chest against that of Jessica, bare flesh striking bare flesh with resounding slaps as Leia grunted with animalistic fury every time their bodies collided. Jessica threw her head back, crying out in pain and anger as she was crushed with malicious intent. Beginning to tire, and not liking what was obviously to arrive afterward should the energy depart from her entirely, Jessica hooked one arm around the Sandwoman's throat, securing it tightly with her forearm. She wrenched furiously at Leia's throat as she struggled in desperation to extract herself from the compressing arms around her. The Sandwoman loudly demanded Jessica reveal to her what she had come here to find; in total defiance, the runner narrowed her eyes and snarled into her tormentor's face, demanding Leia release her.

This act of defiance on Jessica's part aroused Leia's anger to new heights; it was at this point she decided that nothing would avail her she would force the rest of the oxygen from the runner before doing the job for which she had pursued her here, then search for the secret passage herself if she had to ... Then, without warning, the catacombs around the combatants became thick with the sound of mocking laughter. The noises were coming from all around them. Before Jessica or Leia were aware of what was happening, the remote area of Cathedral was almost completely filled with human shapes. An entire legion of newcomers, all moving with graceful stealth and brandishing a variety of weapons emerged from the darkness, converging upon the two fighting women who now found themselves in the center of a rough circle formed by the ones entering the arena runner and Sandwoman comprised.

Although she was quite reluctant to relinquish her crushing embrace on Jessica's squirming body, Leia was nonetheless forced to contend with this new threat as the shadows emerging from everywhere around them converged on the scene of battle from all sides. These people were the anti-social, the criminally insane, the dangerous miscreants who made their home within these catacombs, banished to live in Cathedral from a society they had no place in. And before long they both would be surrounded with no chance of escape. The warring females simultaneously loosened their respective grips, springing apart to acknowledge the arrival of the newcomers as they closed in. Jessica turned to glare at her huntress, almost as if she wished to continue their fight despite the gathering "audience" moving in to surround them. Then, remembering why she had arrived here and the thin hope that she might discover the hidden path she had been informed was somewhere in this labyrinth, she turned and departed at a run, dodging the oncoming bodies with surprising deftness and vanishing into the dark again.

Counselor Deanna Troi and Doctor Beverly Crusher were the unseen figures watching the vicious contest between the two characters they programmed the Enterprise holodeck to provide for the purposes of the fantasy unfolding before them. A time earlier, Deanna had witnessed and participated in a similar fantasy she and Seven of Nine had constructed together in another holodeck, the one aboard the Voyager. It was an experience that turned out to be enjoyable for both parties, and instilled an interest on the part of the Counselor in female combat. So she had gone to her friend Beverly and talked her into spending time in this holodeck to share her interest together.

Once there, they underwent a similar process as the one she and Seven underwent on Voyager's holodeck choosing two central characters with similar physical and psychological attributes that would make them ideal opponents for one another. In fact upon accessing the holodeck computer, she and Beverly utilized the same search parameters she and Seven did. The two characters that the computer had involved in the previous battle appeared alongside one another. Deanna and Beverly both decided since Ivy Miller had won that fight they might be interested in choosing another opponent for Leia Organa.

After a couple moments of consideration, they finally decided on Jessica 6 from the 1976 classic "Logan's Run" played by Jenny Agutter. It was Beverly's idea to include an appropriate setting based on certain sequences in the movie, programming the ship's holodeck to pit the characters together in a loose story line following the film in addition to the novel on which it was based. This done, they had very subtly become part of the story in which they would be key characters themselves. From their unseen position in the shadows they watched the confrontation between Jessica and Leia, opting to become part of the story when Beverly 'sent' Deanna to gather their fellow 'Cubs' to move in on the combatants when the time was right.

Leading the onslaught of invaders into the scene of battle, they strode ahead side by side, exuding a clear sense of confidence and territoriality. Leia and Jessica turned to look in every direction as the newcomers converged on them from out of nowhere, summoned by Deanna who had the word spread quickly among the legion of Cubs dwelling in Cathedral. By a random directive from the computer, the character known as Jessica turned back to glare at her opponent before taking off for parts unknown, apparently to seek a way out of the city as she was when she arrived here. Turning and nodding toward a few of their companions, Deanna allowed a handful of the Cubs to abscond to pursue Jessica as she and Beverly approached the silent, defiant Leia.

"Well, look at what we have here," Deanna intoned softly, addressing her fellow Cub leader being portrayed by Beverly Crusher.

She approached Leia head-on, staring with unflinching directness at the slender black-clad holodeck character. Having remembered this persona from her battle with Ivy Miller in the other holodeck setting that she and Seven of Nine had constructed together on Voyager's holodeck, Troi was relatively familiar with the fighting style Leia had been programmed with for this scenario.

"An unfortunate Sandwoman who appears to have taken a wrong turn."

As Leia glared with open hostility at the two newcomers, saying nothing for the time being, Beverly sidled up in a position opposite Deanna, directly behind the 'Sandwoman.'

"Yes," she conceded, "it appears she's found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, doesn't it?"

It was plainly obvious by now that Beverly was enjoying herself in her recreation as well, having been told by Deanna of her previous holodeck experience and rather eager to engage in a bit of simulated combat with this character. Though the present situation left the question open as to what Deanna had in mind.

"I believe, if you ask me, it would be appropriate for us to teach this foolish bitch a lesson," Troi continued, absently brushing a lock of her night-black hair aside with one hand as the other longingly fingered a long, mean looking knife resting in its scabbard at one bare hip.