The BLTS Archive- Heartwood
by Blue Champagne (rowan-shults@sbcglobal.net)

---

Hi, Blue Champagne here.

Paramount is God. All I own about this story is the specific actions,
dialogue, and narrative. And I own the planet Heartwood, I guess.
Paramount owns everything else.

Please do not print or post this story anywhere without running this
header.

---

"You don't really think he's gonna do it, do you, Captain?"
Janeway turned in her seat at the copilot's station. "Who's not going
to do what, Lieutenant?"

"Chakotay. Your orders, if I remember correctly--" B'Elanna sipped her
coffee, "--were that he was to continue without us if the hostile
activity started up around here and we coulnd't return, and/or he
couldn't retrieve us, within seventy-two hours."

"And that he will, B'Elanna. He'll exhaust all possibilities, but--"

"He'll stay."

The Captain turned back to her boards. "You have a low opinion of a
man with whom you've so much history. When that grid snapped on as we
descended below the upper atmosphere, he'd have started trying to find
who's claimed this planet; but if he can't, and can't get past the
defense--"

"No, I have a HIGH opinion of him. If we can survive here--"

"Survive? I'd build my retirement house here, assuming--"

"--by never letting out a peep on subspace, and don't power up the
engines so those damn grid buoys don't start that damn shooting, and
an aerial search sure won't reveal anything--" she waved out the front
viewport at the trees, the size of redwoods, their foliage making a
dim, shifting pattern on the moss and wood chips that covered the 
ground, "then it can't detect US, only signals and power usage beyond 
a certain limit--"

"Which I've just established," Janeway said, feeding her information
to the pilot's station. "And emergency radio won't penetrate that
grid, by the way."

B'Elanna made a face at the limit, but continued speaking. "So they
shouldn't be able to sense us. He'll assume that we'll be able to stay
alive. But he'll also assume they can penetrate their own grid without
setting it off or being detected by Voyager--that we'd be in danger of
ground-based search parties. He won't give up until he gets us
back--we're trapped unless he comes for us somehow."
Janeway looked back up at her half-Klingon Lieutenant. "I've never
seen you give up so easily."

"Oh, I haven't given up." B'Elanna set her coffee on the floor and
returned to her boards, processing the information Janeway was feeding
her. "I'm just thinking like he does. The man is a walking worst-case
scenario, and he's not gonna be happy until he dies for a good cause,
protecting someone or whatever."

"It's a good thing I've got you along to think like he does; I'd have
foolishly assumed he'd obey my orders," Janeway muttered, tapping a
key to record another analysis of the atmosphere that immediately
surrounded them. Fortunately, this being a survey shuttle, they had a
meteorological subroutine in the navigational computer, so she didn't
have to do any paper-and-pencil work. But for anything farther than a
few feet from the shuttle, they'd be out on foot with the slightly
more limited tricorders; a tricorder could be set to send almost no
energy signature, so as not to alert the grid to their location. Even
their comm badge signals were perforce damped--they could speak to
each other, but the signals certainly couldn't reach orbit.

"How's that neck, Lieutenant?" Janeway asked as she worked.

"Mmph. Not great. If my neck bones weren't so padded I'd have whiplash
for sure. How are you doing?"

"Bumps and bruises. I've got a cold pack on the worst one."

"Where? I don't--oh. That's gotta hurt."

"Mostly when I stand and walk. I'm all right sitting down, provided I
remember not to shift my weight the wrong way. I don't think it will
slow us when we get started out there."

---

"Hail them again, Mr. Kim."

"Hailing the vessel, sir." A sour computer raspberry. "No response."
He added almost inaudibly "Again."

Commander Chakotay stared at the screen in a glum brows-lowered slump
only an idiot would try to disturb.

An idiot, or Tuvok. "Commander, they will obviously not--"

"I'll ask for your observations when I want them, Mr. Tuvok."

"Yes, sir."

Harry and Tom exchanged a look across the bridge that everybody but
Chakotay saw. Tom rolled his eyes and Harry shook his head in
frustration.

"That ship came in at impulse, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"You detected no warp signature?"

"No, sir." Tom hypothesized "Either impulse is their best speed, they
have a hiding place to emerge from on short notice, or--"

"It IS possible their warp signature is undetectable by our
technology,"
Harry interrupted, "but there was no sign of them until they suddenly
appeared at the orbit of the fourth planet out, at impulse. Pretty
respectably, by the way, sir. They came right up toward us at point
nine-nine-seven lightspeed, and stopped on a dime."

"Mr. Kim, broadcast this on all frequencies and translator
capabilities to that ship."

"Channels open, sir."

"This is Commander Chakotay of the Federation starship Voyager. We
sent out hails to any ships in the area, asking for permission to send
down surveying and supply teams, as we were warned us that territorial
claims in this part of space are subject to...rapid reevaluation."

Everyone looked around at each other; apparently the transmission was
being received, so far, which was farther than they'd got yet.

"Unfortunately we did not receive a reply to those hails until we had
given up expecting one and sent out a survey shuttle."

He gritted his teeth, remembering Kathryn's cheerful "Don't be such a
mother hen, Chakotay. This part of space may be dangerous at times,
but we've waited two days for a reply; I'd say this is one of those
periodic times of low activity Mr. Neelix told us about. Even the
Captain needs a little activity to keep the skills sharp." She'd
finished as the boarding plank of the large research shuttle raised
and locked; the last thing he'd seen was her eyes sparkling as she
grinned a mischievous grin.

"Now that we wish to retrieve our people and leave what is obviously a
bespoke-for territory with all due haste, we receive no replies save
warning shots across our bow, one of which damaged part of our sensor
grid. We don't want to bargain, and we don't want to remain. We only
want to retrieve our crew and leave, in peace."

There was a pause. "All frequencies open," Harry reported, just to be
safe.

Red lights flared everywhere and the ship rocked.

"That wasn't a warning shot," Chakotay muttered as he regained the
Captain's chair. "Damage?"

"Forward shields at half," Tom reported, "and from the readings I'd
say we'll have another big rust spot on the fender."

"Paris?"

"More cosmetic damage, sir."

"And how are they?" Chakotay swung toward Tuvok.

"Their shields are at full," reported Tuvok, "and...they have a very
respectable array of weaponry, but most of it seems to be inactive.
There is power regeneration in effect; however, it is apparently to be
held in reserve; their weapons are not powering yet."

"And if we mount an attack now?"

"We would expend considerable energy at considerable cost, sir. To
breach their shield design, we would have either to drain Voyager's
power unacceptably, or gain more information on that design."

"Information which is less than forthcoming," Samantha muttered.

"So we can shoot them and nothing will happen but that we drain our
defenses, but they won't be able to shoot us again until they can
generate the power to do so?" Chakotay obviously wondered what he was
being sold, here.

"Standoff?" Harry offered. "At least, until they can regenerate
power."

"And therefore a brief standoff, Mr. Kim," Tuvok informed him. "We
know very little of their ship, virtually nothing of these people, nor
the reason for their claim on the planet, if indeed they have one. If
they are protecting a resource they do not wish anyone to know
about--"

"They wouldn't have answered the hail. Maybe they don't want anyone to
know details. Could they have hoped we'd have given up and moved on?"
Harry wondered, his tone indicating his disbelief in his own
hypothesis.

"In the Maqui," Chakotay said, slumping into his brooding posture, "to
protect something worth this much effort, we'd risk calling for
reinforcements."

"Or, if it was known that the risk WAS unacceptable, simply defend it
to the death," Tuvok reminded him. Paris was about to voice agreement,
but seeing Chakotay's expression as he turned the pilot's chair toward
the Commander, chose to forgo the comment.

Chakotay spared the security officer a sour look. "They've got a
buoyed sensor-and-defense grid that can shoot at small landing craft,
but can't take on a starship--and it obviously would have, if it
could--and they've got bucketloads of...determination. My guess is
they've got friends, maybe already on the planet, but probably not.
Mr. Kim, if you hear the slightest peep from that ship, I want to know
about it."

"Yes sir...but nothing so far."

"Maybe it's the keeping-this-a-secret aspect," Tom mused. "Maybe they
don't want to announce the location of the planet where their stash
is. So far, our transmissions to them have been tight-beam. Maybe we
should see how they react to a broad-spectrum announcement--"

"We've already made dozens of broad-spectrum announcements, Tom,"
Wildman said, but he argued "That was before we launched a landing
craft. They may be more worried now..."

"Obviously they're more worried now," Harry muttered, but only Tuvok
heard him.

"If this planet holds something that important to them, they might
maintain a watch with regular, perhaps constant, silent patrols,"
Tuvok said.

Chakotay continued "Of which either this IS one, or they and their
people received a signal we managed to miss when the defense grid was
triggered. Even if this is only a patrol, when the patrol is
missed..."

"THEN their friends will show up," Tom said with acid cheer.

"Commander...this is very strange," Harry said. "I'm not reading
lifesigns, exactly, but I AM reading something. I just can't
categorize it."

"It is entirely possible that our sensors cannot accurately read these
beings," Tuvok said. "We have encountered that phenomenon before."
There was a pause, and Wildman put in "Is it just me, or did we just
fail to come up with a single plausible explanation for all this?"
Silence. Now EVERYBODY was brooding. Except Tuvok, who simply
experienced a slight expansion in his usual state of brood.

---

"We should try to get some sleep, in shifts, of course," Janeway said,
putting her supper tray back in the replicator. "Tomorrow we'll wander
afield."

"You just don't put up a defense grid over a resourceless planet,"
B'Elanna muttered, placing her cup in Janeway's outstretched hand.

"Thanks."

"Not unless it's a sacred place of some sort," Janeway hazarded.
"We've encountered that several times."

"Neelix would know something like that, and if he didn't, I'm willing
to bet Kes would figure it out. She reads those things right out of
the vacuum. Got a real bent for them. I'll take first watch."

"Kes is a very spiritually oriented person, but she's not a god, and
I'll take first watch. I want to finish these analyses so you'll have
something to do while I go get more information about our
surroundings; if there ARE resources here--"

"I'm half Klingon; I can do without sleep for days if I have to—’’

"—your not being fit to live with under those circumstances
notwithstanding—’’

"--and you are not going anywhere without me, Captain. I can't use
directional scanners beyond a few feet without alerting that grid; the
best we'd be able to do, if you fractured yourself some way or other,
would be chat about what Kes might have to say about the afterlife."

"So we'll both be fractured? Infinitely more practical."

"You may be the worst woodscrawler I've ever seen--"

"But it's like a Douglas Pine forest here, the easiest terrain I've
ever--"

"Yeah, and you managed to make it look hard, Starfleet training
notwithstanding. Captain, with all due respect, it only makes sense
that if one of us goes and one of us stays, I go. But it'd be better
if we packed on our emergency gear and went together."
Janeway sighed. "Even Starfleet policy agrees with you, as does
interracial physiology. Why couldn't I have taken Ensign Vorik on this
trip?"

"You almost did. I was pretty busy when Chakotay gave me the choice of
sending one of my people. But you would have gotten the same arguments
from him, except with longer words and the regulations quoted to the
letter."

Janeway laughed, shaking her head as she went back to the small
sleeping cabin and sat down on the nearest bunk. "I surrender
unconditionally, Lieutenant. You have first watch, I have second
watch, and we shall both venture out into the green when the sun
rises, with phasers set on three--that should be a safe level, but
we'd better try not to fire them at the same time, if luck is not with
us and we have to use them at all. Until my watch, you might see what
you can come up with on those analyses. I know they're not done--"

"I do have some ability to extrapolate, Captain."

"You know I trust you, B'Elanna. Somewhere in there, you have the
heart of a scientist."

"Hah. Somewhere in YOU is the heart of an engineer."

"I'll let you know when I'm through with it. Tell me if your redundant
one gets tired."

"You're lucky you're the captain, Captain." But B'Elanna was grinning,
where Janeway couldn't see. If the Captain was in a good enough mood
to make lame jokes, how bad could things be?

"Call me Kathryn for the duration," Janeway yawned, and closed her
eyes.

The Lieutenant actually stopped what she was doing and turned around,
but the Captain was apparently already asleep.

---

Janeway woke to a soft "Ca--Kathryn, it's time for your watch," and
the smell of coffee. She forced herself awake, swinging her
still-booted feet out of the bunk and rubbing at her eyes, remembering
too late that she'd been wearing day-long liner.

Laughter broke out in front of her and she raised her gaze with her
best icy stare. "Do you really think a cup of replicated coffee will
save you now?"

"Hmghm, hm, ahem." The Lieutenant swallowed her laughter; she had a
tray of steaming pancakes and maple syrup, bacon, coffee and juice.
Holding it out, she opened her mouth to speak. Janeway's eyes focused,
she snatched the tray and said "I forgive you. For everything you've
ever done in your life." She dove into the tray.

B'Elanna observed for a moment, then said "I want my heart back. If
you can't program a replicator any better than it looks like you can,
you haven't been making good use of it. Or maybe you've just got it
set to 'eat like a Klingon' instead of 'think like an engineer'."

"If you can make a replicator turn this kind of trick," Janeway
mumbled around the food, "you'll be in my quarters every morning with
your magic--" she gulped coffee and returned to the pancakes,
"--fingers. And I'll give you your heart back after you've taught me
to program a breakfast like this."

"Teach you my hole card? My plan is to trade this ability for leniency
after I've finally done something nobody--particularly you--can
forgive."

"Keep this to yourself, and that'll be it." Kathryn swallowed the last
of the pancakes and started on the bacon.

"How about just hearing what I've come up with so far?"

"Give me five minutes and the sonic toothbrush."

"It's in the head, Cap--Kathryn." B'Elanna returned to the front
compartment, leaving the door open.

When Janeway appeared, her hair was hanging loose to midback, maybe
farther. "I'm sorry about this slothful appearance," she said,
obviously not at all concerned, "but I can't get those clips to stay
in without the static hairbrush, and apparently those aren't
considered crucial enough to be included in emergency supplies; and
replicating anything that isn't food or medical supplies is an
unnaceptable drain on our power reserve. So, what have you got?"

"I think I've got the reason there's a protection grid around this
planet. Here."

Janeway focused on the indicated screen; it was an overview of a large
area, taken on their way down, modified by the computer--and the
Lieutenant's magic fingers--to level, slowed view. Certain things were
highlighted, measures shown, and component elements revealed.

"My God," Janeway whispered. "Are you sure about this?"

"Well, no, actually," B'Elanna reported, with a bit of hangdog
apology.

"The computer and I did a lot of extrapolation from the data you and
the automatic sensors gathered--but if it's close, this much platinum
and gold is certainly worth protecting. Only a few of our regular
systems use it, and then not much, but the backup systems I could
build with this--for that matter, I could build perfectly useful NEW
systems with some junk out of ship's stores, some supplies Neelix
could help us with, and THIS. I'd have to go back a generation or
so--maybe less--in the manual, the systems I'm talking about wouldn't
know what to do with gelpacks and biocircuits, they'd have to be
linked but separate, but those systems were the standard on Starfleet
ships for hundreds of years. And if--"

"B'Elanna--" Janeway placed a gentle hand on B'Elanna's shoulder.

"The heaviest elements cost the most energy to replicate, and I never
have enough of them on hand," she hurried on, "--and I could--"

"B'Elanna! Slow down," Janeway returned to her softer tone. "For one
thing, this is naturally occurring element. If it's not a compound,
it's certainly mixed, possibly to a degree that would keep it from
being cost-effective to extract. What we're looking at here is not a
representative sample of the available amounts—I didn’t have leisure,
on our way down here, to run the sort of operations that would give us
that information.

"Another point is that…this...motherlode is on a planet that obviously
belongs to someone who has prior claim, and who doesn't wish to share.
It's still possible--we don't know yet who installed that grid or
why--that we can negotiate for some of it. But as a third point, we
don't have any FIRSThand information on this find at all. We can't
even verify the elements in question for certain without going to an
exposed site and getting readings--firsthand."

In full-bore exasperated Klingon mode, B'Elanna did everything but
stamp her feet or slam a bulkhead with her fist. "Then let's GET the
damned surveying equipment and--"

"Let's you go to sleep and let me go over the analysis extrapolations.
I gathered most of the data; no offense to your abilities, but there
might be a few useful things here and there that I turn up AH-ah-ah--"
B'Elanna had opened her mouth to speak and Janeway's forefinger
swished up with the grace of an epee to block the Lieutenant's lips.
Which were very soft, Janeway noted absently. "You will get some rest,
my cardiac donor, and I shall get some work done, and we will go
surveying, and possibly spelunking, in the morning. We aren't going
anywhere in the dark. Understood?"

B'Elanna was silent, her eyes wide and agonized with holding the flood
behind the gates. Tom or Chakotay she could've screamed at, or even
belted in Tom's case, but the Captain...

With a knowing smile that she tried to hide--it wasn't as though this
fit of enthusiasm was anything out of the ordinary for a Klingon--

Janeway went back to the sleeping cabin and came back with one of the
two pillows, which she handed to B'Elanna. Then she assumed a squared
stance, arms folded and eyes closed. Her lips were twitching, but she
refused to smile.

B'Elanna looked at the pillow, then looked at the Captain, then broke
up laughing and dropped the pillow. At that, Janeway opened her eyes,
grinning broadly.

"Oh, God...anybody else, Captain..."

"Kathryn."

"Anybody else, Kathryn..." she tried to get a breath, "...and I might
not be laughing right now, I don't know."

"Nobody else would have been able to order you to stay here, except
Chakotay, and I doubt you'd cold-cock him."

Wiping what might possibly have been drool, but was probably tears,
from the side of her face, B'Elanna raised her eyes from her half-bent
position and said "It takes a hell of a human to tell a Klingon to
shut up and go to bed."

"I have an unfair advantage. Now let me get through with the head, and
get these damned gaseous halos off my eyes, and then you get some
sleep. All right?"

With a few exhausted hacks and hiccups, B'Elanna nodded, grinning.

---

"B'Elanna."

B'Elanna snarled once.

"Wake up, Lieutenant. Here." The aroma of decently replicated coffee
reached her. She sniffed a couple of times and woke up, sitting up in
the same instant. She took the cup from the Captain and said "Is the
heart kicking in, or are you using my replicator program?"

"Must be the heart." Janeway smiled. She was damp and in one of the
blue coveralls from the emergency supplies, minus the detachable
sleeves, leaving her wiry-muscled arms bare. Her hair was still loose,
but looked longer and possibly brighter. "I felt a need to challenge
myself. It took me exactly seventeen materializations of ceramic mugs
full of swamp muck before I managed that."

"And you gave it to me. The ever-generous Captain."

"I've got to keep my people happy. Speaking of which, I found a source
of clean water nearby to wash with, so we won't have to use the re--"
B'Elanna spurbled coffee, wiped her face. "You LEFT the SHIP withOUT
me?"

Janeway rolled her eyes. "When I said nearby, I mean practically on
our doorstep. If we'd landed fifteen feet to the left--"

"We'd be hanging in the giant pseudo-Douglas Pines."

"Yes, well, aside from that, we'd have been on top of the spring. It
happens to be in the same vicinity as the caves which we'll be
investigating this morning. The pool isn't large--a spring that
emerges and then goes back underground--via a route along the bottom.
Placid enough to swim in without danger, and I'd know; I still didn't
go in while you were asleep, but now that I'm up, you won't have to
deal with the rigors of sponge bathing; we can monitor each other
through our comm badges. But I've enough experience with this sort of
thing to know we'll have to look for another way into the caves."

"I see why Chakotay complains about you," B'Elanna muttered. "You
can't
stop being a science officer."

Kathryn assumed a bemused expression, eyebrows raised. "Complains,
does he? I'll have to have a word with him later."

"No, Cap--Kathryn. We talk to each other about everything, there's
really no one else we can tell some things. Don't take it out on him
because I was indiscreet."

"Well! You must be receiving some of the diplomatic components from MY
heart, non-redundant though it may be. I put out a set of coveralls
and a towel for you--I'll wait here, and set up what I want to show
you.
We'll even be well within shouting distance of each other, but it's
still best to keep the comm channel open. I thought I'd let you whip
up your own breakfast, as your culinary skills with a replicator
program far surpass mine."

"Good idea."

"Apparently you haven't received as much of that diplomacy as I
thought," Kathryn said, grinning and sitting in the co-pilot's seat to
key up the information she wanted to show B'Elanna.

The Lieutenant stopped at the replicator. "Shall I make you some
coffee?"

"I retract that last statement. Please."

"So how pure is this spring? Can we swallow the water, or should I
keep my head above it?"

"I could swallow a little without filtering it for minerals, but I
won't, I'd probably have a stomachache. You might actually like it,
though."

"Good. Would've been hard to...say, how did you get all that--" she
touched Janeway's hair while handing her the steaming mug, "--washed
without putting your head under?"

"A secret which will die with me."

B'Elanna laughed. "You should have woken me. I could have helped you,
and we'd both be clean now."

Kathryn actually flushed slightly. "I don't believe it's within even
the most flexible bounds of protocol for a Captain to request aid from
her officers in matters of personal hygiene."

"Get out of that corset one of these days, Janeway," B'Elanna muttered
as she left through the port door, which stood open. Kathryn, behind
her bug-eyed but silent reaction to the statement, realized that
B'Elanna had underestimated human aural capability in this instance.
God knew what she got away with saying every day, except possibly
around Vorik.

Kathryn developed a smirk, watching her lieutenant stroll off through
the trees with coveralls, towel, and degradable bathing gel.

She and B'Elanna had often jettisoned protocol during emergencies, or
even on the holodeck; they'd traded the occasional cameraderic
insult--or things such as the "heart of an engineer" joke that was
refusing the dignified death which was too good for it.

"Corset," Janeway murmured. "I'll have to get her for that." Smiling,
she glanced at the chronometer and returned to her work. B'Elanna was
no doubt thorough but quick with her daily ablutions; the Captain
would have to hurry.


At the spring, B'Elanna was shivering a little--the Captain was human,
probably hadn't found the basin of clear spring water that emerged
briefly into the light as nippy as B'Elanna did--but she was taking
the opportunity to paddle around a little and wash at leisure; she
usually didn't have time for this sort of thing on board, until and
unless she was booted out of Engineering with strict orders from a
bunch of frazzled ensigns and crewhands to unwind, already.

"Lieutenant."

B'Elanna splashed unintentionally and turned in the water. "Captain!
You startled me. Is something wrong?"

"Yes. It's difficult to reach one's back when in such deep water; one
keeps floating in circles. Care for some help?"

Janeway squatted, fingers folded loosely together, on the grassy bank
edge that fell away to the water a few inches below. She had that
I-dare-you-to-answer look on her face.

'Great, she heard the corset thing,' B'Elanna thought, covering her
eyes
with her hand. Then she paused, thinking, and turned to swim for the
brush sitting on the rocks arm's-length overhead, near the place that
the current, several feet down, vanished under the rock. She swam
slowly over to Janeway with the brush.

The Captain took it, and her eyes widened. "This isn't an
engine-systems brush, is it? It IS."

"It's all right, Kathryn." The name was somehow easier to use when she
was naked and floating. Definitely less formal. "Just don't turn it
on."

"Of course not, but this still--"

"Afraid of a little blood, human?"

Janeway eyed her, then growled "Turn around, Lieutenant."
B'Elanna did, and was instantly seized by the left bicep and her back
was attacked with stunning ferocity by a badger. Or it at least felt
like that. B'Elanna flinched once; then she started arching her
shoulders. She lowered her head and braced her feet against the
sloping, slippery pool bottom to raise herself out of the water to the
waist, trusting Kathryn's deathgrip on her arm to keep her upright and
close to the bank. The scrubbing felt good on her skin, and Kathryn
was pushing hard enough to reach the muscles with the pressure,
holding her hard enough to keep her still, and the slight pain sent a
tingle through her...

It was only when she realized that her eyes were slitting closed, she
was getting warm despite the water, and there was a soft growl forming
within her that her eyes flew open in alarm, and she was grateful for
being in cold water up to her waist.

Kathryn, for her part, was getting concerned; was B'Elanna taking
actual pleasure from this--far from impossible, considering? Or was
she only determined not to show the pain to Janeway and blow her own
end of the dare? Also far from impossible, considering. Torres' warm
coffee skin was turning a deep purplish amber and there were visible
scratches--not deep, only the first layer or two of skin--where
Janeway’d really dug across the trapezius with the brush.
"B'Elanna..."

She'd been about to ask if there were mock heroics involved here, but
when Janeway spoke, B'Elanna turned in the water, eyes burning, her
lips pulled back in a half-snarl--which quickly became a full one as
her eyes widened and she bellowed "Kathryn! Behind you!"

The Captain spun, and saw the low-to-the-ground creature speeding
toward
them over the moss and bark scraps. Kathryn and B’Elanna together,
dripping wet and holding a concertina, didn’t mass what this creature
did.

There was no time to think. Janeway braced herself, barely registering
B'Elanna trying to get out of the water behind her--it had taken
Janeway at least a minute, there was no easy access--Kathryn's
instincts combined the spring just behind her—can’t afford to be
knocked over--the mass and low profile of the creature, the speed
and--at the exact instant she dropped to her hands, her legs snapping
out in front of her, and the creature met a couple of Starfleet boot
heels with a percussive whack.

That didn't knock it out, and she hadn't expected it to, but it gave
her a moment to reconnoiter. "Lieutenant?"

Torres was nowhere to be seen. Janeway’s head jerked back around as
the vaguely--very vaguely--warthog-like armored creature regained its
feet, purpose already returning to its movements. More like a picture
of an Ankylosaurus, Janeway thought, except it’s got shark teeth and
no spikes—

She leaped toward the animal before it could get itself totally
together and gave it the old Starfleet side-kick in the head with her
boot heel, then another, and while she was preparing a third the thing
swayed around the other way and began to stumble back along the course
it had come.

"Well," Janeway panted. "At least he knows when he's licked." ‘Even if
I don’t.’

"Sure does," came from her left, and Kathryn turned her head to see
B'Elanna standing there with a dead branch dangling from one hand, a
branch Janeway couldn't have swung without the aid of an entire crate
of spinach. Torres didn't have a concertina, but she was dripping wet.
There had been a note of admiration in her voice, but her next
sentence was irritated. "Mind telling me why you didn't use your
phaser?"

"There was no time to think. It's in my pocket, and I didn't have half
a second to make up my mind--my boots or a phaser at setting three on
an armored creature. Really a bit of a toss-up--"

"And why in hell wasn't your phaser on your utility belt?"

"I intended to put it there, but I was...distracted. You know, I don't
think I've ever seen one of my officers quite so out of uniform,
Lieutenant."

B'Elanna dropped the branch, which landed with an incredibly solid
thud, and shook her hand and arm out. "DAMN that thing is heavy. Let
me get all this new sweat off, and I'll meet you back at the shuttle.
Before you ask, MY phaserWAS within arm's reach on the bank, but...I
wasn't expecting the..."

"Spiny water plants? I wasn’t expecting them, either. Had to go the
long way round. Still, why the branch and not your phaser? You had
more time to go look for a branch?"

"No, I had more time to go break off a dead one. Anyway, more than
it’d’ve taken to go diving for my phaser." She pointed down into the
spring.

"You knocked it over the edge trying to climb out."

"I'm fast, but I'm not graceful."

Smiling slightly, Janeway unpocketed her phaser and went to hand it to
Torres. "There are more in the shuttle's supplies, but we'll have to
retrieve that one, before that current takes it out of reach. We're
not equipped for cave-diving."

"I'll dive for it before I come back, and yes, Captain, I'll be as
quick and as careful as possible." B'Elanna grinned.
Janeway only raised an eyebrow and nodded, before turning for the
shuttle.


A few minutes later, a hail came from without. "I got it!" Janeway
turned to see B'Elanna through the open doorway, wearing the coveralls
with, like her own, the sleeves detached. Janeway imagined that if she
herself were a little too warm, B'Elanna would be comfortable. At any
rate, B'Elanna's arms were certainly pretty.

Strong. Torres' arms were strong, she reminded herself. She shouldn't
reduce her Lieutenant's pulchritude to mere cosmetic niceties.
Inside, her hair dripping, Torres brandished the phaser, showing that
the "active" light was out, and said, as she was stuffing her uniform
into the replicator and touching the "reclamation" control, "I nearly
got sucked inside that damn cave once because...I ran out of air,
and--"

"You wouldn't come up for a breath and got dizzy," Janeway translated,
and B'Elanna wrung her hair out down the back of Janeway's collar.
Janeway yelped, jumped up and yanked the belt of B'Elanna's coveralls,
sending the Lieutenant staggering, and caught her with an arm around
the waist, flipping her feet off the floor, balancing her on arm and
hip.

"Cry Uncle."

B'Elanna was too lost in hilarity, and probably too stunned, to do
anything but choke and snort. Kathryn sighed and let her down, feet
first, saying "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. It's tiring to be a Captain all
the time, with no relief from outside, and I miss the luxury of
horseplay. I shouldn't have, ah..."

"Put me in that position?" B'Elanna challenged, keeping a straight
face.

They warred it out, and Janeway lost, collapsing in giggles back into
her chair and covering her face with her hands, laughing quietly and
helplessly. "I'm having FAR too much fun on this semi-abortive
mission."
Torres slapped the deactivated comm signal, plopping into the pilot's
seat. "Survey crew to Voyager. We're under attack by an entire colony
of stinking-bad jokes. Emergency beam-out."

"I could wish," Janeway muttered. "The heart's been breathing down my
neck for hours, demanding commentary."

"Tell it to shut up. I do, often enough."

Janeway had started keying up her exploration plan, but shot B'Elanna
a look and paused. "There must be many such occasions."

"Yes, but then you'd know about that. Worse for you, you're commanding
all the sections."

"But not the contradiction of a biological imperative. How do you cope
with it?"

"I break things and hack people off. And they forgive me. And you
forgive me."

"I hope you don't break anything crucial."

"No, just my own things. I must be a month behind on replicator
rations."

"Is that a fairly constant state? I'll consider increasing yours."

"No."

"I know you don't want to be treated any differently than your people
are, but we always consider biological need--" Torres' face tightened.

Janeway dropped it and said "This has been a poor joke, B'Elanna, I
grant you, but is...there some other reason you wouldn't want
increased rations?"

"The 'Torres' pool."

Janeway turned her chair toward B'Elanna and said quietly "The Torres
pool."

"I'm not supposed to know about it." B'Elanna kept readying her system
for particular input, certain routing signals and whatnot. "Some of my
crew have a pool about when I'll lose my temper to the point of baring
my teeth while I'm yelling. It doesn't have to be AT anybody, in
particular; it just has to happen, in Engineering, during my watch.
Half the winnings are automatically added to my rations by the
computer, explained as 'surplus.'"

"They can't believe you'd fall for THAT."

"Probably they don't. But they know I'm on a line, and if I step over
it...there are worse deterrents. When Tuvok reported it to Chakotay,
Chakotay came to me, and I asked him not to tell you."
Janeway sighed.

"Damn it," Torres said, leaving off and turning to face Janeway, "I
asked you not to hang him--please. There's no counselor on the ship,
and we can't--"

"I'll remember that, Lieutenant. But I can't tolerate such disrespect
from those under you. I made you head of that section; disrespect to
you
is disrespect to me."

"I don't think it's that disrespectful. I think that in a way, they're
proud of me. I'm theirs. Their own butt-kicking hull-punching
curse-screaming Klingon." Her voice was calm, but cold.

Janeway whispered "And you feel like a mascot."

"No." B'Elanna was quick to ward that one away with a glance. "I
feel...added up, yet again. I suppose like a human surrounded by
Vulcans must feel. But they respect me and obey me when it matters,
and that's…all I care about. They...make a show of seeing me as this
great burden, but I don't think they really do, entirely."

"I don't. At all."

B'Elanna looked up at Janeway's eyes, and said "I know you don't. If
we were in the Maqui, I'd defend your back against any challenger.
Maybe even Chakotay. You're the best."

There was a pause, as both women refused to drop their eyes.

Finally Janeway smiled wryly. "Tell your heart to stop making me want
to hug you."

"Nah. I don't wanna tell it that."

They hugged, tight, for what felt like about forever, but finally
Janeway started a slow disengagement procedure, and B'Elanna started
cooperating in a moment. "Not everybody is in on it, you know, in
Engineering," B'Elanna said.

"Do you know who's not?"

"Vorik's not, of course, but he knows about it. I've been told by
several people, and none of them can understand my lack of bloodlust
about it. I think the all the scuttlebutt's about to make short work
of it."

"Well, at that point we'll increase your replicator rations. Is Harry
in on it?"

Torres snorted. "He doesn't even know about it. There are individuals
in this universe who radiate such sweet innocence that people are
loath to ruin it, and he's one of them. Tom knows, but even he
wouldn't tell Harry."

Janeway sighed. "Understand that it goes against both Starfleet
regulations, and--my own inclinations, to know of this and take no
action."

"Understood. I'll return the favor sometime."

"I don't need any more favors from you—thanks to you, I have the best
chief engineer in all four quadrants."

"Oh, stop, I'll get all weepy," B'Elanna said in her driest tone.

Janeway grinned and resumed her own part of the preparations. "How did
you know about that animal? I know you can smell that sort of thing to
a degree, but it was a ways off when you became aware of it. And I
don't think the wind was favorable, what wind there was."

"My senses were...uh...sort of enhanced. High humidity, smells carry
farther." No way in hell was she going to tell Janeway that she hadn't
been able to smell anything but her own wet self and Kathryn’s damp
self, hadn't really had a plan, when she heard Janeway say her name;
she'd just wanted to see the other woman, touch her--thank all Gods
for strategically placed carnivores.

'Okay, my guts had a plan,' she admitted to herself. 'It was just
trying not to let me be aware of it until it was too late.’

---

The following morning, Paris was asking "What if we tried to leave
orbit?"

"We would either be destroyed—the most likely scenario, given that
their weapons are charged to full strength--or have a tractor beam
added to our present difficulties," Tuvok answered.

At that point, as Paris prepared to argue his view, the lift doors
near the ops station slid open and Kes stepped onto the bridge,
wandering toward Harry and leaning lightly against him, looking toward
the front viewscreen.

She had obviously been asleep; she was wearing one of the complicated
wraparound garments she liked, but this one was white, looser, and all
gauze. Her gold hair was mussed and her eyes were distant, focused
somewhere they couldn't see. She was barefoot, and in general
resembled a Christmas tree angel.

Chakotay saw Tom smiling broadly toward the back of the bridge and
turned around, saw Kes. Harry was looking a little embarrassed, but
pleased. Tuvok's eyebrows were on the rise.

"Kes?" Chakotay said carefully. "What brings you to the bridge?"

"They're all right," she said, and yawned.

"Excuse me, Kes," Tuvok said softly. "But who is all right?"

"B'Elanna and the Captain," she responded in a near-whisper, then
folded her arms comfortably around Harry's arm and rested her head
against his shoulder, her eyes starting to close.

Tuvok moved forward, forestalling everyone's concern with a raised
hand. As he slipped an arm around Kes's waist, Harry mouthed over her
head "Is she all right?"

Tuvok nodded, arranging Kes against himself instead of Harry. Harry
mouthed again, using puzzled facial expressions, "Is she AWAKE?"

Tuvok shook his head. "If you will excuse me for a few moments,
Commander--"

"Of course," Chakotay said.

Tuvok conducted Kes gently into the lift, and as the doors closed,
said

"Deck three. Are you unable to wake up, Kes?"

"I thought I was..."

"No. You are in a state of vivid REM sleep; it is probable that your
brain has lost its ability to disconnect your mind's directives from
your body's responses. If this ability is simply routinely disturbed
because of stress, there is no problem; I will conduct you back to
your quarters and ensure that you enter a more normal state of sleep."

"Mmm."

"Can you open your eyes?"

She did, and looked up at him, hazy but focusing. A frown crossed her
features and she said "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought everyone would be glad
to hear it."

"They are glad to hear it, Kes. They, and I, are simply...concerned
about this deviation in your sleep patterns."

"Oh. I should go back to bed then."

"Yes, that would be wisest. Remain there until you are able to wake
naturally--I will deactivate your chronometer alarm."

She continued looking at him, half-supported on his arm. She smiled
suddenly, then said "Yes, I suppose it is frustrating to be a
touch-telepath. I can go home on my own..."

"That you cannot."

"Oh. No."

Tuvok was baffled. "'No' what?"

"You won't have to carry me. I can walk." She swayed a bit, but did
indeed remain upright. "Have you heard from the other ship yet?"

Tuvok froze. "They will not answer our hails."

"I know. No, you see, there is no THEY." She paused again, and said
"Because I went over there, and there's nobody there, but there are
recordings, standard responses--they just won't activate, because the
thing that does that is very old, and doesn't want to work."

The doors opened, and Tuvok carefully started forward. He wondered if
there might be a way to beam to the ship in question.

"Only in envirosuits. There's no atmosphere at all. Also there are
some...interior defenses. Maybe personal shields would stop anything I
saw. But neither the ship nor the planetary weapon grid will let you
beam over, and if you try to shuttle over--yes, it will activate the
ship's defenses. Like the last message you sent."

The doors of her quarters opened, and she said "Thank you, Tuvok," and
started to fold comfortably up on the floor. He picked her up, and she
giggled. "I am NOT being difficult! What a thing to say."

"I said you were being silly," Tuvok corrected her.

"Oh...that, I suppose."

He pulled her covers up around her and thought about the first
meditation he had taught her.

"Yes, I like that one..."

By the time he left her quarters a few minutes later--he had wasted a
few seconds, watching her sleep and thinking about his daughter--she
was at the same level of sleep, but her concern wasn't prodding her
body into inappropriate action.

Stepping back onto the bridge, he said "Commander. I am able to
confirm Kes's vision as genuine and not a result of her dream
state--though her somnambulation was a result of the dream state. She
considered her information crucial, but could not rouse herself."

Everyone wilted with relief, all over the bridge, for several reasons.

"In addition, I can confirm these reports, which she gave me as I was
conducting her to her quarters. That ship is a very old uncrewed
patrol ship, reacting automatically to our actions. It will fire on us
if we attempt to launch a shuttle, send out any kind of beam or
signal, or in any way attempt to board it. I believe you would
describe it as a 'watchdog' device. My belief is that its intended
function was to hold potential thieves here while a crewed ship was
dispatched."

Chakotay sighed. "That explains a great deal."

"Why didn't it attack when we entered orbit?" Harry wondered.

"She did not speak of that; however, my hypothesis is that there was
some sort of sensor scrambler or deflector in place, which may still
be functioning--it may not have been intended to camouflage the
planet's resources from sensors as sensitive and precise as
Voyager's--to hide the planet's resources. If a ship entered orbit, it
would scan the planet and move on, and there would be no attention
called to the planet itself by these potentially competetive peoples.
If, however, anyone attempted to land..."

"Yeah, the people who built the sensor screen couldn't have had any
way to anticipate Voyager's sensor array," Tom said.

"That is true, but I can verify that the 'watchdog' ship is indeed
very old."

Chakotay touched a control on the Captain's chair arm and a screen
flipped up. "Computer, activate emergency medical holographic
program."

"Please state--oh, it's you. Is there something I can help you with,
Commander?"

"I'd like you slip into your mobile emitter and come up to the bridge.
We've got more information on the current situation, and I'll need
some survival-standards input."

"Of course. I'll be there in a few minutes. Kes should be coming in
soon, and then--"

"Kes will be in late today," Tuvok said. "She experienced a
somnambulative episode, and I thought it in her best interest that she
awaken naturally."

The Doctor frowned. "In that case, I'll leave the sickbay channel open
and be there directly. Are you sure she'll be all right, Mr. Tuvok?"

"I can state with a reasonable probability of accuracy that she is in
no danger."

"Yes," Chakotay added. "She's fine."

---

"I noticed your hair looked especially bright today," B'Elanna said,
staring at her tricorder readout as she knelt next to the spring in
full exploratory gear.

"Why, thank you," Kathryn said, raising an eyebrow.

"Now I know why. There's gold in it."

Janeway blinked. "There's what in it?"

B'Elanna stood up and turned, ran her tricorder across Janeway. "It's
all over you, under the suit, but there's a heavy concentration in
your hair."

"It must have acted like a sieve," Janeway whispered, touching the
long shining mass. "I was expecting it to feel like I'd washed in
mineral-laden water, but I didn't think...it must be on you, too."

"It is," B'Elanna responded, tapping the control pad a few times, "I
just don't wear it as well. With hair like yours..."

"Really. And here I thought my scrubbing was making you glow like
that. When you walk through one of these few-and-far-between patches
of sunlight, your skin gleams."

B'Elanna reflexively looked at her arm, realized she was standing in
the shade, and said "Oh.Well, SOME kind of a mineral lode with gold in
it must be nearby if the concentration in the spring is that heavy."

"There should be, but with our general and directional scanning
ability so limited, not to mention the things we can't scan for at all
without going over the power use limit, we might still not find it.
But we've still got today and tomorrow to find what we can; let's look
for an entrance to some caves."

"Mmh," B'Elanna responded unenthusiastically, stood, and started to
follow Janeway, who was scanning as she walked, trying to bring
together the limited/extrapolated data with what the tricorder was
seeing around them. Since they could scan no farther than a couple of
meters with the allowable power, they could be wandering around for a
while, at least.

"Something wrong?" Kathryn asked.

Torres grumbled "Water-carved caves make me nervous. They sometimes
experience a second childhood when it rains."

"I think these are probably limestone caves, at least in part. No
heavy water currents, just a light, constant flow down the walls."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the science officer."

"Does that mean I can have my he--"

"No. Also, some of the heavier minerals may be revealed where the
limestone is worn away." Janeway went on for a bit about what else, as
well as, or instead of, they might expect to find; B'Elanna walked
behind Janeway to make sure she didn't trip on an exposed root or
ground rise.

Janeway was not a natural hiker, no, but she had enough stamina to
start irritating B'Elanna. "Captain, are we any closer?"

"It's only been an hour. If the land were flat we could walk straight
to what we need. As it is--"

"Hell, I know all that. I'm just glad I've got a good sense of
direction and a way to track our progress. I'm just impatient,
Captain. Don't pay any attention."

Janeway stopped and turned, lowering her tricorder and her more
geology-specific scanner set. "I'd get bored shepherding a technophile
like me through a perfectly clear-floored forest, too," she smiled.
"Don't think

I don't know why you're walking back there; it's not just because I'm
doing the scanning."

B'Elanna came up even with her, sighing. "I don't mean any disrespect,
Cap--"

"Kathryn, already! Is it so hard to remember? If either of us knows
Chakotay, this trip will be over soon enough. Let me enjoy the equal
footing while it lasts."

B'Elanna watched her a second, then said "All right. In that case,
your doing all the real work so far really jerks on my chain, and you
aren't even getting tired."

"That's because I've got your--"

"And I was expecting so much from this mission, the resources looked
incredible from orbit, and it’s looking like we won't be able to get
our hands on anything significant, and now we're limited to damn near
stone knives and bearskins for what we CAN find, and--and I'm
generally HACKED, all right?" 'And in these oversized coveralls I
can't even check out her ass while we walk.'

"I'm frustrated too, B'E--"

"By the way, I really liked the backscrub. And the way you kicked the
crap out of that overgrown targ. Got it? Good." Torres stomped ahead
another few meters and turned. "Well? I don't know where I'm going,
here. Break out the tricorder, science officer Kathryn." She was
panting a little by now, her eyes dilating under the sun-dimming
canopy high overhead.

Kathryn watched her for a moment. The Captain was standing in a small
puddle of sunlight, and her long hair was gleaming like a beacon,
shadowing her face; all Torres could make out was the blue in her
eyes, brought out by the azure coverall.

She came up to where B'Elanna was, then said "You didn't smell that
overgrown Targ, did you."

"No."

Kathryn reached up, carefully, as if B'Elanna might spook, and touched
the Lieutenant's hair; she let it fall through her fingers, then
touched her cheek with a fingertip. B'Elanna turned her face toward
Janeway's palm, exhaling into it, and laid her own fingers along the
back of Kathryn's hand to hold it against her cheek a moment.

Finally B'Elanna started "We really should..."

"...get to work," Janeway finished with her in unison, and they both
laughed, part in embarrassment and part with delight.

Not long afterward, they found a big hole in earth, and Janeway said
it might indeed lead to caves where they could get accurate
measurements...or it might dead-end in three meters.

"No point not trying," B'Elanna muttered, going first this time. She
scrabbled downward, her hands sinking into moss and moist earth. There
weren't any needles, which she thought odd; surely these trees, big or
no, must shed needles some time. Maybe something ate them as they
fell.
Her wristlight came on as the darkness closed in, and she gazed
around, near the shaft of light coming from above. "It's all right.
Come on
down."

She caught Kathryn's waist, taking the other woman's weight on her
chest and shoulders, and lowered her to the ground, then forced
herself to let go. She said "It's...pretty slim down here."

Kathryn was shining her light around. "Yes..." She walked forward a
few feet, consulting her tricorder, then looking around at the tunnel,
touching the wall, shining her light down the length of it. "It's
structurally far stronger than it should be; it doesn't seem natural.
It's too convenient."

"You said it," B'Elanna muttered.

Janeway scanned again, with everything, and said "I think this must be
a constructed tunnel, but without more reinforcement than I can find
any indication of, I don't see how it could have survived long without
regular maintenance. Come on. Let's see what's farther down."

As they moved carefully away from daylight, Kathryn said "Did you
notice that there are no rodents in or around the trees? I did see a
few small mammals, but they didn't go up the trees."

"No, but I did notice that while the trees shed and regrow bark, they
don't seem to lose needles. If they are needles; the dead ones on that
branch were sort of wide, flat needles."

"Or narrow, thick leaves, yes. If any arboreal creatures live in the
trees, it must be higher up than we can scan, or see." Janeway was
ducking around a protrusion of rock, which turned out to be some
uninteresting silicate. It did have tiny concentrations of heavier
minerals in it, though. She mentioned this point. "And there's a
fairly dense reading of heavy metals, scattered at microscopic
concentrations and...some sort of--hm. Damn, I wish I could scan more
deeply," she said, staring at the readout on the geologic scanner.
"Maybe we're deep enough not to trigger the grid with our signals."

"Yeah, maybe, or maybe it was designed with that in mind. I'm
beginning to think everything on this planet is soaked in valuable
metals and minerals, and none of it is in concentrations we can do
anything with. What you said about cost-effectiveness is true; we
can't wring out rock after dirtload after spring. The energy cost of
transporter-extraction of the substances we need, let alone the
alternative methods--"

"Mmm." Janeway was communing with her tricorder to a point that Torres
expected to see her go down hard on her face at any moment, and
B'Elanna remained as poised as possible to catch hold of her equipment
pack and halt the fall.

"This way," Kathryn said, and ducked through a passage B'Elanna might
have missed, which was saying something. Torres could only follow
because Kathryn's gold-laden hair, hanging long and loose, gleamed so
brightly in her own wristlight.

There were no more branchings, but the tunnel began to widen. It
wasn't descending rapidly, only a few degrees of slope; but the
descent was steady. Janeway kept scanning, both hands and eyes busy,
constantly on the edge of tripping or banging her head, and Torres
kept following her, wishing she could help with the scanning, but
realizing the necessity that someone make sure Kathryn didn't kill
herself. Besides, outside a limited knowledge, in this situation she
wouldn't be able to extrapolate what she saw into anything useful.

After an unknown while, B'Elanna realized the reason they weren't
breaking out the air tanks was those tiny glints she kept seeing out
of the corners of her eyes. It was light from the surface, probably
incidentally reflecting off some small bit of metal or smooth crystal.
It really didn't seem like a natural arrangement, though for all she
knew, the little shafts were made by burrowers or water or the land
settling or something. Time to ask the science officer.

"Kathryn," she began, "I know there's still a chance this is just some
sort of sacred-place planet, or it's abandoned, and this particular
tunnel is rough enough to be natural, but you did say that the first
tunnel looked too well maintained, and do you see those glints of
OOF!"
Kathryn had stopped dead. Because of the slight tilt of the tunnel
floor, Torres could just see over her head.

It was an obviously unnatural arch. Even timbered, with something that
at least resembled fresh-cut wood.

"The smoking gun," Janeway said in a desiccated voice.

This time, B'Elanna just went ahead and punched the walls and cursed.

---

"I don't think we'll need to adjourn to the briefing room," Chakotay
said.

"Very well," the Doctor said, leaning against a guard rail. "Tell me
about this new information."

Everyone looked at Tuvok, who explained Kes' subconscious revelations
briefly.

"I...suppose her lessons must be coming along swimmingly," the Doctor
surmised, eyebrows up. "But you and I will have to talk about this
'somnambulatory episode,' Mr. Tuvok. I can't have this telepathic
training incapacitating my nurse, even briefly."

"I had intended to look into the situation, with your help, of course,
Doctor. But rest assured, she is inconvenienced, not endangered. I
would not allow Kes to come into any kind of jeopardy."

"Good," the Doctor told him, with an almost pronounced growl. "I'm
glad to hear that."

"Relax, Doctor," Chakotay said quietly. "She's just fine. Now, what
will it take to keep our people alive on that ship, beyond personal
shields?"

"You understand, of course, that my recommendations must be limited,
with the information you've given me."

"I know. Paris, Kim and Wildman are working on finding likely weak
spots or any sort of vulnerability; we're working on a plan to fool
that geriatric Doberman out there. Just assume that our people are
already inside."

"Very well." The Doctor described various methods of maintaining a
livable environment around the away team, separately, together, and
under what sort of conditions--with or without gravity, in the
presence of various substances and systems, what sort of tools they
could use in what situations without endangering their own lives.

While he was still theorizing, the three over at the science station
mobilized, and summoned the Doctor, Chakotay and Tuvok over. "I think
we're finished," Wildman said, "we've got everything we can pick up
without possibly activating the other ship's weapons. And some
possible timetables of windows of opportunity, assuming certain
factors, some of which we have already observed. We'll need your input
to verify the rest, if they can be verified."

She had her hand on Harry's shoulder where he sat at the station, and
he didn't seem to be paying much attention to the world at large.
Absorbed in the data, he didn't respond when she patted him. "Harry,"
she said, which also did no good. Samantha gave Tom a look of appeal.

"Wake up, babe," Paris tried, at which Harry looked up, blinking.
"What? Oh, sorry. Here's what we've got," he said, keying back to the
beginning of the presentation they'd worked up. "Let's find out what
you three can do with it."

"With so much 'possibility', one would think we could do a great
deal," the Doctor muttered, and Tuvok and Chakotay both glared at him.

"Let's get this on the main screen and get started," Chakotay said.
"According to the Captain's orders, we've only got a day and a half to
retrieve her and B'Elanna."

"Yeah," Paris scoffed, returning to the helm.

"Right," Harry snorted, heading for ops.

"Day and a half," Wildman whispered, rolling her eyes.

"You didn't officially hear any of that," Chakotay muttered to Tuvok,
sitting back down in the Captain's chair.

Tuvok chose to see if he could get away with not replying at all.

---

"Why are you growling, B'Elanna?"

"Do I need more reasons than the fact that my job became a totally
definite moot point an hour ago? At least YOU'VE still got something
to do."

"You could help, to a degree, if you're that bored."

"No. I couldn't keep myself from going off on applications. Besides--"
she stopped, and stopped walking.

"What is it?" Janeway turned around.

"Feel that." The half-Klingon's hand was flat on the tunnel wall.

"I don't feel...wait a minute." She punched her tricorder control pad
a few times. "There is a low-level vibration. Very low level."

"I smell water."

Kathryn eyed her.

B'Elanna smirked. "Really."

"All right then, we'll be on the lookout. We might be over it; watch
for any fallout drops or water-carved holes."

"Holes. Right. Hold still."

"What--" B'Elanna had grabbed Janeway's arm, stepped up to face her,
and started to slide past her in the tunnel.

"Our packs," B'Elanna said, "are making this--an exercise--in squish,"
B'Elanna gasped, as they finally exchanged places in the tunnel on the
word 'squish'.

"And I enjoyed every second of it," Kathryn said slowly, sounding
pretty serious about it, and B'Elanna flushed, but Kathryn continued
"But aside from general recreation, what was its purpose?"

"If there might be holes, it makes a little more sense for me to go
first."

"Good point."

An indeterminate time later, B'Elanna was thinking they should have
been traveling this way all along; she could warn Janeway of drop-offs
and overhangs, freeing Janeway from having to take her eyes off her
instruments for a picosecond; which, short of waiting while B'Elanna
actively lifted her down a drop or grabbed her head and shoved it to
safety before she smacked it into a rock or similar obstacle, she did
not.

"If the tunnel branches again," B'Elanna said an indeterminate time
later, "you'll have to let--"

"B'Elanna? You don't sound well. Is something OOF!"

As they staggered back to balance, Janeway caught a glimpse of a big
empty as her wristlight flailed across it.

"We're not RIGHT on top of the water, anyway," Torres said, starting
forward.

It was a large cavern, with a broad, L shaped pool; the cavern was
rather L-shaped as well, she realized, as they got a better look. The
pool seemed still, but Janeway had experience with this sort of thing;
she knew there was a current running through it somewhere.

As she had predicted, it was limestone, in many colors and impurities;
small crystals glinted in the walls as they shone their lights around.

"What are those?" B'Elanna asked, indicating with her light several
winding tubelike objects that wandered into the cave and back out
again; as she flashed her light around, they saw more of them,
randomly placed across the cavern. "They don't look like rock, really.
Well..." Torres puzzled. Some of them extended down and into the
water; some went through the water but returned out through the wall.

"I don't have an answer for you yet," Kathryn said, "but I'll see if I
can't figure it out."

They set up the lamps, and the glare from the crystals nearly blinded
them, and they turned the lamps down somewhat and held their eyes a
minute, cursing. "Idiotic move," B'Elanna said in what sounded like
real distress.

"Well, sorry," Janeway muttered.

"No, not you, me. I should have thought of that. Never mind, I told
you I'm just in frosted-shorts Klingon mode."

"A pity about your shorts, but it's no reason to be so hard on
yourself."

B'Elanna snorted in bad-joke disgust, which was the idea. They resumed
setting up equipment, Janeway informing Torres what she'd need, and
even
B'Elanna getting interested in the pure science end of it at this
point.

"You know," B'Elanna said, wandering around a particularly
crystal-laden section of wall with a small scanner in one hand and its
readout unit in the other, "I still don't buy the idea of there being
no significant lodes on this planet. How could our scanners have been
that far off? I grant you, I also don't believe the concentration
level or the size of the area we read, but..."

"The lodes could be much deeper than the shuttle's sensors can read,"
Kathryn said, examining one of the tubular objects, "which would put
them out of our reach. It would also explain the lack of notable
mineral concentrations in the higher ground, though there are such
high levels of minerals present there."

"If it's deeper than a survey shuttle's sensors can read, it'd almost
have to be at the planet's core."

"I'm still walking like a lame crab from the wild ride we'd had by the
time we got to our closest approach over the planet. It wouldn't be
surprising if the sensors--"

"Not these sensors, damn it, surveying's important enough for me to
maintain them myself, and we'd have to have been hit a lot harder than
we were for there to be even a bobble in the readings. This whole
thing is driving me to--to--"

"Extreme frustration, obviously. We all hate being stuck with
conflicting data, B'Elanna."

"Sorry, Cap--Kathryn."

"Nice save. And don't be sorry. I'm every bit as pissed off as you
are."

B'Elanna spun, her sensor unit whirring, to stare at Janeway with all
the facial mobility of a gaffed fish. Janeway met her stare a moment,
then a smile broke through and she covered her eyes, chuckling. "So
much for decorum."

B'Elanna smiled. "Thanks for that. I know you're not one to curse in
company."

"Not without very good reason, but mostly I don't swear around my
officers and crew. And mostly, the only people I interact with now are
my officers and crew. Like I told you, I'm rather enjoying the equal
footing we're on at the moment."

"Equal footing hell. An engineer-and-scientist team in which the
engineer doesn't have a damn thing to do?"

"Except give the scientist something very lovely to look at when her
eyes get tired of the readouts."

B'Elanna dropped her scanner and said "God DAMN," whirling back to
slam a stalactite with the heel of her hand. "Excuse me.
Captain--Kathryn--don't DO that. The mood I'm in, I might eat right
through that damn baggy coverall."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Your call."

"At the moment, I suppose I can't manage to see it as a bad thing."
Janeway's voice was a little unsteady too, and she cleared her throat
and rubbed at her larynx with one hand, then said "I'm sorry, I should
have remembered that Klingons...don't deal with these things the way
we do. That you might be more frustrated than I am, and begin to need
an outlet worse than I do. I haven't been trying to tease you. The
things I've said...they haven't been intended to upset you."

B'Elanna picked up her scanner and the corresponding readout unit and
returned to the pile of equipment, set them down, and went a few more
steps around the dark pool to where Janeway was. "I know about
flirting, Captain. I don't do it much, but I don't think you'd
deliberately try to upset me. I just...I was reaching critical mass,
and I blew up. I'm
sorry."

Janeway sighed and hugged B'Elanna, the half-Klingon's arms wrapping
almost painfully tight around her ribs. "I don't even know if I was
going anywhere with this. The...idea, the flirtation is enough,
sometimes. Or not, sometimes. I should have thought that this would
have far more difficult repercussions for you than for me--after this
is over, as well as right now--if it didn't go well, or if there was
a...lack of clarity for either of us. I'll stop it right now, if--"

"No. No, I didn't mean that. Like I said, I blew up, that's all. What
you said...felt too good to hear without, uh, some sort of substantial
response. I guess I'm not in good shape for flirting. It just comes
across as more frustration."

"I know. As I said, I should have thought of it. I'll be more
discreet."

"It's not all your fault. It's not like you took this innocent
creature and yanked her around. I already..." she stopped, and
released Janeway and backed up, settling her rear against the sloping
cavern wall. "When we work together... sometimes it flows so well...we
don't always think in unison, but that's the point. We...shore each
other up. And neither of us is afraid of the other taking the lead,
which wouldn't mean much to humans, but it does to Klingons. And
sometimes...I want to blurt it out, how much I respect you and admire
you and all that soppy crap. You're also beautiful, which doesn't help
much."

Kathryn's eyes softened, and she smiled.

"But," Torres continued, getting up and waving an arm in an elaborate
gesture of dismissal, "you're the Captain, and it would only make
everybody and her damned dog uncomfortable. Me not the least of which.
And even if you weren't, what would it do to that...that fascinating
relationship we already have? I feel good when I work with you, even
when the situation's desperate. I don't wanna mess that up." She had
been holding a hand over her eyes in an I'm-trying-to-think gesture,
and now dropped it and turned to face Kathryn. "But I guess I just
did, didn't I?"

"No." Janeway put down her equipment and went to take B'Elanna by the
shoulders. "Not at all. Everything you just said--I feel the same way
about you, though it's easier for me because I can compliment you,
praise you in the logs, make award recommendations, that sort of
thing. Whereas it would look a little odd if you came up to ME one day
and told me what I fine job you thought I was doing, and that I had a
real future in Starfleet, or something similar. And when we work on
the ship together, your praising me implies that I've given you the
right to assess my performance, and you…couldn’t presume."

"You're good at this. Done it before?"

Janeway grinned. "No. I'm glad you approve of my style." Then they
kissed. No fanfare, no frozen moments, they just did. It was just
obviously what came next, here.

'She's right,' Janeway thought, 'we shore each other up, we anticipate
each other, but not because we're identical... unfortunately, she was
right about everything else, too.'

---

"Harry!" Chakotay shouted over the comm.

"I've got them, I think--" There was another pause, the ship rocked
again, and Harry said "They're aboard, all three."

"Shields up," Chakotay said at once. There was one more blow, slightly
muted this time.

"Are they all right?"

"We're getting their envirosuits off," Harry's voice came over the
comm.

"Kes and the Doctor are checking them out..."

"Damn it," Paris muttered. "That power gradient window ought to WORK."

"Obviously our theory is missing a key ingredient," Tuvok said blandly
from his station.

"I'd still like to know what the heck it was Harry was reading,"
Wildman said. "I've gone over the data, and he's right. It's got some
lifesign characteristics, but not enough of them to qualify as a
lifesign."

"Cyborg?"

"I doubt it. We can usually read that, and there would be lifesigns,
definite ones, even if they had unusual accompanying signs."

"Harry, the away team? Status?"

"They're all okay except Vorik. I think he actually materialized for a
moment on the alien ship. His envirosuit was perforated and he has
some vacuum damage, but--" he apparently conversed with someone and
returned saying "It's not serious. He's not even working much to keep
his Vulcan face on. They're all going to sickbay for a more thorough
check now."

"B'Elanna's going to be ticked that we scrambled her people to no good
purpose," Paris muttered.

"This is the third try with this particular type of window," Chakotay
said after asking Harry to come back up to the bridge when he was
through. "We haven't been able to get any of the teams over, and this
time someone was injured. I think we'd better look for another
approach." He didn’t sound hopeful, and Wildman tried to help.

"We do have backup plans. I'd be willing to try the shuttle."

"I appreciate that, Wildman, but the backup plans are, according to
our calculations, even less likely to work, and we just failed three
times at the main plan."

"Then maybe the calculations are off," Wildman said reasonably. "We
had to do an awful lot of guesswork and if-then. Maybe the backups
actually have a better chance."

"You have a point." Chakotay thought, then said "Wildman, pick your
team. But tell them to stand by; as a last resort, we'll try the
sling-drop, but we're not at last resort yet. Paris, I want you to
pick your team--no more than two members--for the decoy-and-rescue
plan. Once again, keep it on a standby level."

"Aye, sir."

"Both of you, relax; keep in mind that the Captain and B'Elanna are
probably in no immediate danger. If I lose our best pilot and our top
ensign in the science section, the Captain is going to be very unhappy
with me."

"Yes, sir."

"Aye, sir."

"I'll be in sickbay if you need me. Mr. Tuvok, would you accompany me,
please?"

Tuvok followed him into the turbolift.

In sickbay, of the away team, only Vorik was still there. He was lying
on one of the beds, hands folded, gazing impassively at the ceiling;
the Doctor was standing over him with a couple of light-emitting
instruments, only Kes knew which. Vorik tried to sit up as the two
officers approached. "Commander. Lieutenant."

"Lie DOWN, Mr. Vorik, and stay there, or I'll ask Kes to sit on your
chest while I finish this."

From the lab came the sound of Kes's throaty giggle.

Vorik reluctantly lay down, and Chakotay said "It's all right, Mr.
Vorik, as you were. Ensign Kim says that you may have materialized,
briefly, on the alien ship."

"Yes, sir, that's what I was told."

"You don't remember anything about it, then."

"Very little, sir, and what I do remember I cannot verify as
accurate."

"I'll take what I can get."

Vorik paused, and said "I recall a...presence. I sensed this presence
telepathically, which is abnormal for Vulcans, as I had no physical
contact with anything in the ship, nor any time to go into an
appropriate meditation or trance."

Tuvok said "Vulcans have been known to receive and send telepathic
transmissions with other telepathic races, or even with other Vulcans,
without benefit of physical contact, in certain circumstances. Please
continue."

Vorik thought for a heartbeat or so, then said "I detected no
emotional component to the presence, either malicious or otherwise.
Yet it was a presence; Vulcans cannot sense artificial intelligences."

"Usually, no," Tuvok put in. "But again, there are exceptions. Do you
remember anything else about this presence? Did you receive any visual
information at all?"

"I believe there is no internal lighting in the alien ship, at least
at the location where I materialized. Or, possibly, I materialized
facing a wall. I remember the fraction of a second that I was actually
materialized, able to see, but there was no visual input whatsoever."

"You're sure you were out of the beam? For a fraction of a second, you
said?" Chakotay asked.

Vorik stared at him, looking almost wounded. "Of course, sir. That is
what I said."

"Thank you, Mr. Vorik," Tuvok said, and managed to hustle Chakotay to
an emptier corner of sickbay without touching him. "Forgive Mr. Vorik
for not understanding your request for a repetition of his report. He
is very young."

"I know," Chakotay said, obviously already having gone on to other
thoughts. "Kes...did she say she sensed a presence? I know she's not
Vulcan, but--"

"Kes did not, actually, 'sense' anything," Tuvok cut in. "She merely
observed certain things, which she described as being visible or
understandable because she 'went there'."

"Went there?" Chakotay looked up.

"She described what sounded like a seamlessly chained series of her
usual telepathic visions, or, alternatively, an out-of-body
experience.
She related no sense of a presence, but she did describe the objects
she saw, and those on which she received information, in a rather
anthropomorphized fashion."

"Tuvok..." Chakotay folded his arms, looking uncomfortable. "You're
certain that Kes was not harmed or compromised in any way by her last
vision?"

"She was not. And yes, Commander, I would know."

"Then...would it be possible for her to 'visit' the ship again? Only
if there is no chance of harm to her, of course."

"As yet I do not know how, or why, this aspect of her mental abilities
is manifesting. It may be a one-time occurrence; it may be a normal
facet of her people's telepathy. But without time to work with her and
gather information on the phenomenon, I am reluctant to ask her to
attempt it deliberately."

"So am I, Mr. Tuvok, believe me. But she may be the only one who can
get us the information we need to get close to that ship. Every time
we've tried to beam a team over there, we've gotten so shot up we've
had to bring them back before they could even materialize. And as you
know, we've been using all the information we have to come up with
what was supposed to be our best-chance plan."

Tuvok thought a moment, then said "I will speak with Kes. If she
agrees, we will set about finding the safest manner in which to
proceed."

Chakotay nodded. "I'll be on the bridge. Let me know her answer."

As Chakotay left, Tuvok headed for the lab, glancing over his shoulder
at the Doctor, who was still busy with Ensign Vorik. "Kes," he said,
and she looked up from the viroscope, smiling and saying "Hello,
Tuvok."

"Do you have a moment? Commander Chakotay has made a proposal I would
like to discuss with you."

"Of course. Can we discuss it here?"

"I think it would be better if we did not," Tuvok said, giving a
meaningful look through the port back toward the Doctor.

"Oh. I see," Kes said, smiling a bit. As they went through the main
sickbay on the way to the door, Kes called "I'll be back in just a
moment, Doctor. There are some things that...I want to ask Tuvok
about."

The Doctor's head swiveled, his eyes charging for Full Penetrating
Glare, but Kes and Tuvok ducked out before it could get that far.

They strolled a short distance along the corridor. "I'm afraid the
Doctor is a little irritated with you," Kes explained apologetically,
still smiling.

"That is not unusual."

"He's just worried about me."

"I am aware of that, and I am glad he has such concern for your
well-being. He simply refuses to acknowledge that my relationship with
you is similar to his, in a different area of study, and that no more
than he would I allow you to come to harm."

Kes covered her smile with her hand. "He says the same thing about
you."

"That also is not unusual."

They stopped walking as soon as they reached a bend in the corridor,
and Tuvok began. "Commander Chakotay wishes to know if you would be
willing to attempt to repeat your experience concerning the telepathic
visions you had while sleeping."

"Oh." Kes looked faintly troubled, but said "I suppose. I don't feel
any the worse for it, it wasn't frightening. It's just that neither of
us can say why it's happening."

"I expressed that concern to the Commander as well. He agreed to leave
the decision to you."

"You would have to help me. I didn't initiate any of it, and I
wouldn't know how...maybe we could see if I can enter a similar state
if you and I were mind-linked. You would be there to observe, too, and
I would have a better idea of where to look...I don't remember any of
the somnambulistic episode, or the things you tell me I said. I'd like
to have a little more control than that. If it doesn't work...well, we
can always try the sleep-inducer and see if it happens again."

"The commander should find that an acceptable course of action." He
touched his comm badge. "Tuvok to Chakotay."

"Go ahead."

"Kes has agreed to the experiment, but requested that I be extensively
involved. We will both need to be excused from duty for the day."
"Of course. Both of you are excused. Let me know as soon as you come
up with anything. Good luck. And...look after Kes, Tuvok. The Doctor
will have me for breakfast if anything happens to her."

Kes giggled as Tuvok pressed his lips together in annoyance. "If
anything is going to happen to anyone, Commander, it will happen to
me, not Kes. I will see to that."

"Good. Chakotay out."

To forestall another of the giggles that Tuvok found somewhat
irritating, she said "I'd better go tell the Doctor I'll be--"

"May I suggest that you contact him from my quarters?"

"Oh…I suppose that would be more expedient," she agreed.

---

"Do you suppose one of those leads out?" B'Elanna pointed with her
ration bar—they could have packed replicated food, but both of them
were in too much of a hurry--at one of the two or three holes that
vanished into the side of their current cave.

"I can't say for sure, not without turning up the gain on my
geoscanners," Janeway said, chewing and taking a swallow of filtered
water out of her cup. The filtering bottle had needed its filter
changed after a single use. "And you have informed me that doing that
would bring about Armageddon."

"I said it's an unacceptable risk. Past a level of a few dozen meters,
we have no idea how far down we are, and all we have to go on are the
capabilities of our own sensors."

"And those air vents you noticed. They must have been dug with the
same technology that keeps the surface earth from caving in without
changing it in any detectable way, or they couldn’t sink them very
far. Also, the rock strata ought to be getting more obvious, and there
are some other geological factors that don't fit—I think we ought to
have encountered a greater variety of upwelling gasses by now. I think
we're a fair way down; this pool's undoubtedly connected to the
spring--and to a lot of other pools and springs and underground
waterways. I don't think we could get too deep without encountering
far more water. But...everything else has been so contradictory that I
can't be sure. Perhaps we're halfway to China."

B'Elanna stood up, brushing crumbs from her person and putting her
wristlight back on. "I'm gonna look around a little. And make
a…comfort stop."

"Not far. If you encounter a single branching, or a particularly rough
spot, turn around. Understood?"

"Sure. Science Officer Kathryn. All kidding aside."
Kathryn shook her head as B'Elanna left, through the nearest of the
passages.

All the hours they'd spent down here, and they had, for all practical
purposes, no information they couldn't have gotten at the surface--or,
rather, all the data. They did know a few things they hadn't before,
such as: This place was definitely not open for casual resource
gathering; a few things about mineral content in certain kinds of ore,
some of which also appeared on the surface; Janeway was attracted to
B'Elanna and the attraction was returned, squared by Klingon hormones;
and The Bruise from Tartarus didn't hurt so much if she was moving on
a downward slant, unless she jolted.

As Janeway tidied the equipment back up into their packs, she heard
B'Elanna scrambling back through the opening. "It dead-ends in a few
meters, a littler pool like this one. It's also got some big rocks,
one of which makes a convenient handhold if you can bring yourself to
overlook the purity of the water, if you get my drift."

"I see. Thank you."

"A word of warning; you have to make a long step OVER the little pool
to get to the handhold rock."

"This," Janeway muttered. "If I had to pick one reason, this would be
why I detest living in the bush for a week or two to 'appreciate'
nature."

"Little too natural," B'Elanna grinned, finishing hitching their stuff
back together.

"Mm."

When Janeway got back, she said "Let's head back to the surface. I
think we've managed to frustrate every nerve we can down here."

"And then some," B'Elanna said. "Maybe we should check out the other
passages. One of them might lead to the surface."

Janeway thought, and shook her head. "The entrance looked created. One
of those might lead out, all right, but I'm willing to bet it would
take some time, if it did at all."

"How about this...we walk a few dozen meters down one of the other
passages we can see here, and if it doesn't look different or
promising, we'll come back and go out the first way. We might even
find a way that goes obviously deeper, so you can use your geoscanners
more effectively."

Kathryn's head came up, and she blinked. "Why, what an excellent idea.
Would you care to pick a tunnel?"

"That one," B'Elanna said, pointing at the other end of the cavern.
"It looks less natural than the others. I'll go first. You've got a
lot of measuring and blinking and whirring to do."

"Good idea."

They measured and blinked and whirred, and to their astonishment, the
tunnel did indeed take a sharp downward turn. They knew they should
turn back, but even B'Elanna was too into the mystery by now to
complain.

The tunnel began to spiral a bit, and before another fifteen minutes
had passed, steps appeared under their feet, smooth and sloping, but
quite recognizable.

In half an hour the tunnel opened out again, and they were in another
cavern, this one sort of oblong, and they broke out the big lamps
again.
This time, there were few crystals to bounce light in tiny
eye-piercing lances, so they turned the lights up brighter.

Revealed, the cave was a huge snarl of the tubular objects that seemed
to be neither fully organic nor fully mineral. They came in from all
sides, leaving little or no room to stand, and from what Torres and
Janeway could see, they all anchored either somewhere in the water or
near it, or perhaps the ones in the water just descended a ways
without anchoring at all.

"THOSE are tree roots," B'Elanna said, definitively, dumping her pack
and starting to unload scanning equipment as Janeway went forward with
her own. "So what if it looks like sort of reddish brown metal."

"Look at this." Kathryn held up what was unmistakably a piece of bark,
though thinner and flatter than what littered the forest floor. The
small strip of interior she'd peeled it off of, on the apparent root,
had a dull, pale gleam to it. Janeway tried to scratch it with her
nail, and squeaked when her nail broke instead. "Ow."

"All right?"

"Yes. I simply have no fondness for the heebie-jeebies; I bent the
nail the wrong way. B'Elanna, this isn't as hard as rock, but it's
definitely not as soft as the inside of a tree root should be. Did you
see any broken places in the bark on the trees?

"Not really; where I broke the dead branch off, the break was a few
centimeters out; I didn’t have time to investigate."

"Of course not. Let me check something..." She got out a different
tricorder and scanned the root, then the piece in her hand. "The
root--we're assuming here it's a root; it could be a separate
lifefor--"

"What about it already?"

"It's made largely of metals. Its skeleton, its cellular walls--where
we'd have cholesterol, this has some sort of metallic composite. The
bark...yes. The bark doesn't show the metallic signitures...it seems
to be a sort of insulator--and it conducts water."

"A natural insulator that conducts water?!"

"Some of the tree's components are organic; most of them, in fact. It
has what seems to be a fairly common plant respiratory system, and--"
she sighed and shook her head. "I can't tell much from down here.
Let's get back to the surface, but first--" She readjusted the
tricorder. "I'm going to do a deeper scan of the surrounding
half-mile. By my calculations, we should be far enough underground..."

"And what exactly are your calculations based on?"

"It's a judgment call based on my dazzling expertise. Try to keep your
face averted from my brilliance." She depressed a control and turned
in a circle, raising and lowering the tricorder.

"My...God," she whispered.

There was a muffled boom, and the cavern trembled around them.
B'Elanna's head jerked up toward the ceiling in alarm. Slapping the
tricorder closed, Janeway said, without a trace of irony, "Bad call.
Let's move. Close as we can get to the entrance is the place to be
now."

---

"Sir, the defense net is firing on the planet!"

"What locations?"

"Concentrated near our presumed location for the shuttle, sir," Harry
said, and Chakotay moved over to his station.

"How powerful are the bursts?"

"Much less powerful than, say, a small photon torpedo, but that close
to the surface they'd cause sizeable explosions."

"Damn it--" Chakotay slammed a fist against the console. "Can the
shuttle withstand it?"

"Probably, unless they're hit dead-on by accident."

"By accident?"

"Yes, " Harry thought. He continued "Apparently their targeting
systems were really nearsighted, or time has affected the net as well
as the ship. Remember, the Captain had time to give the order to
abandon the search in seventy-two hours before they had to stop
transmitting; I think they were mostly being rocked by near-misses. I
didn't read any significant damage to the shuttle before we lost the
ability to look for them with the sensors. B'Elanna wouldn't have much
trouble dodging anything the size and speed we saw."

"True." Determined to be worried as hell, he reminded the Ensign "But
there's such a thing as serendipity, and besides, they may not be in
the shuttle."

Harry said "Hm. Sir, the barrage has stopped."

"The Captain would know what not to do, sir," Wildman offered. "If she
was going to do anything that might trigger the grid, she'd be sure
she wasn't in the open, or at least not at the site where the power
was used. She may even have intentionally triggered the grid, to find
power level or type data so she'll know more about what she can
accomplish down there."

Frustrated by everybody's determination to look on the bright side,
Chakotay nodded and said "Maybe so. All right, carry on, everyone; if
anything changes, I'll be in the Captain's ready room." 'With a
powerful cup of Valerian root tea,' he mentally finished. 'Maybe with
a shot of brandy in it.'

---

"Oh, this is perfect," B'Elanna growled. "The barrage left us a
present."

"What...oh. Dear."

The tunnel had collapsed just after the timbered arch, explaining the
arch's purpose, since nowhere else was the tunnel thus reinforced.

"Whatever method they used to keep this tunnel from crumbling down, it
wasn't sufficient here, so--"

"How deep do you think we are?" B'Elanna asked, then added "if you
think
your opinion means anything after what happened a while back."

"Hey. I may have been right on about our depth, but off about the
sensitivity of the grid's sensors. I think...no. There's no way to
know. We might simply be able to dig our way through--this looks like
mostly dirt--but we'd be sure to loosen, at the least, a shower of
more dirt."

"The Sisyphus effect."

Janeway smiled. "Exactly. It might be possible to create a hole we can
wiggle through, if we drag the packs after us instead of wearing them;
then again, there may be rocks or other heavy objects that would
simply fall and block the tunnel past all hope of excavating it with
what we have on hand."

"Also, we might dump half the tunnel on our own heads."

"Some of this I can ascertain with my equipment, at the low setting
we've been using."

"Ascertain away." B'Elanna started removing her pack. She sat down.

"Good news and bad news," Janeway offered in a moment.

"What's the good news?"

"We can safely dig through this wall of dirt."

"And the bad news?" B'Elanna braced herself.

"We can safely dig through this wall of dirt. As if I'm not filthy
enough. Let’s get the spades out and get started."

"No," B'Elanna said, "I'll do it. It won't tire me out, and I'll have
something useful to do. You see what you can do with the new data that
precipitated--"

"Ouch."

"--this obstacle. I'd like to hear that 'My God' elaborated on,
eventually. Besides, it's way too tight in this tunnel for two people
to wave shovels around."

"Point taken." After setting up a lantern, Janeway sat down with her
pack and started pulling things out--tricorder, PADD, geoscanners and
et cetera. B'Elanna put a shovel together and started digging.

When the dirt started raining on her, Janeway took her wristlight off
so she could aim it at her work instead of the wall in front of her
work, and retreated several meters down the tunnel.

It took B'Elanna about half an hour, because, as she kept announcing
to the area at large, the dirt kept &*#$*^ falling and she was having
trouble keeping a spadeload ahead of it. "Kathryn, get your stuff back
together and come on. I'm going to keep at this, shove the packs to
you, then get through before the window of opportunity closes."

Kathryn didn't waver; it was obviously their only chance to get though
this collapse. It went just as B'Elanna had said; the Lieutenant
shoved Janeway through, then the packs, then a final flurry of digging
to widen the hole enough again and she lunged for it. Her hips got
stuck, but Janeway grabbed her arms and they both pulled ‘til B’Elanna
was through.
The tunnel ahead was clear as far as the eye could see, which was not
saying much. They got the packs resettled and continued.

Luckily they found no more collapses until they reached the entrance,
which had all the architectural grace of a fallen soufflé.

With a sigh, Janeway said "At least we know this is only loose surface
soil. Let's get started."

Here, there was enough room for both of them to dig, in the flailing
beams of their wristlights and one of the lamps. They kept having to
move the lamp to keep it from being deluged with soil.

It might only have been loose surface soil, but there was a lot of it.
It didn't shower more than a few clods and spatters at a time, as they
went along, from above. But one did tend to slide down the pile of
moist earth, or fall over as the PILE of moist earth slid out from
under one's feet, and it did deposit generous quantities of DIRT in
one's boots and coverall.

"It's getting muddy," B'Elanna noted. "Must be raining outside."

"Must--uhngh--be," Janeway agreed, depositing a heavy shovelful of mud
somewhere behind them.

They climbed out directly through a thick, clinging mud patch,
clambering and clawing, barely able to find purchase. It was not
raining now, but the sky was cloudy and it was getting dark. After
making a few comments about how they both looked (bad), they continued
to the shuttle, and it continued to get darker.

"I've got mud all over the INSIDE of my coverall," B'Elanna said
incredulously. "A whole layer of it, like it just grew there."

"Sounds clammy."

"You mean you don't have mud in yours?"

"I've got mud in places that make the bruise's location seem as
pedestrian as my forehead."

Finally they reached the shuttle, and Janeway said "I hope you're not
going to argue with me, but I'm heading for the spring."

"I'll probably beat you there." They shoved their enfilthed clothing
into the replicator for recycling and pulled out some more coveralls
and various items from emergency stores intended for personal hygiene;
then they headed for the spring, abristle with armament which, this
time, they made damn sure was where they could reach it in a matter of
nanoseconds without any problem. They also set up a lantern, as a
preventive measure toward needing the armament.

"It's gonna be cold," B'Elanna shivered.

"You'd rather have a replicator sponge bath?" Janeway asked, already
in the water. "But you're right, it's freezing. Let's get the worst
off and get back to the shuttle." She ducked her head with that very
intention, handfuls of the neutral cleaning gel floating in a halo
from her head as she scrubbed. She came back up, smoothing at her
hair.

"That current makes me nervous in the dark."

"I'll hold your hand," Janeway got through her chattering teeth.
"Let's get this over with."

B'Elanna hopped in, splashing Janeway in the face. "Sorry." She
splashed more containedly over to Kathryn and said "You could have
tied something around this before we went down."

"If your aunt'd had...never mind. Just scrub." Kathryn's hair was
packed with muddy gook. B'Elanna's was as bad, but shorter. "Here, let
me get yours, turn around. Oh, this is FREEZing--"

She scrubbed at B'Elanna's hair, and finger combed clots and snarls
out. She ducked B'Elanna to get rid of all the soap and said "That's
as clean as I can get it."

They scrubbed with soap everywhere else, too, as the mud showed a
disinclination to just back off and not cause any trouble.

"Are we done?" B'Elanna levered herself partway out of the pool,
access be damned.

"I am. Give me a hand. And don't even think about it."

"Think about what?" Torres asked, shaking her head to spew droplets
across the rocks and holding her hand out to Janeway.

"Never mind."

They scooped everything up and raced back to the shuttle, hopping over
outgrown tree roots, making it in maybe eight seconds. B'Elanna
slammed the door switch and adjusted the atmosphere control to a
higher temperature. "Okay, now for the hot water."

In a businesslike fashion they got out sponges and, in the bunk cabin
that contained the slightly walled-off excuse for a head, scrubbed
loose anything the cold water hadn't taken care of. What with the
cold, mineral laden-soaking their skins felt more like husks, and they
rooted in the emergency supplies for chap-resistant balm.

"Let me get your back with this," B'Elanna said, obtaining a packet of
the moisturizing disinfectant.

When she looked up, Kathryn, in the full dishabille they were both
still in, gave her the famous Janeway Wry Look. "Can't you come up
with a better line than that?"

B'Elanna stumbled, then said "Actually, all I had in mind was getting
your back with this. But if you've got a better idea I'm all for it."
Janeway sighed and turned around, moving her wet hair out of the way.

"Maybe its better if we try not to have such ideas. Sorry I said
that."

"No--" B'Elanna sighed, grabbed Janeway's shoulder and started rubbing
her back with the light, non-greasy cream, her hands moving down
Kathryn's arms when she was done with her back. "I think what would be
better," the half-Klingon said, rubbing with a thorough,
muscle-penetrating roughness, "is we should decide we're just going to
flirt and hint around, and have that be understood. Or do something
about it, and have exactly what is done about it be understood. I'm no
good at this human..."

"Crap?" Kathryn offered, causing a pause in B'Elanna's ministrations.
The Lieutenant resumed, saying "I wasn't going to put it like that.
Think back over how the last couple of days have gone, Kathryn. If
you're ready to hint around, then I'm ready to say Let's go."

Kathryn was still, then slowly turned around, B'Elanna lowering her
arms as the Captain did so. "Let's go," she said simply. "Do I get
bitten much?"

"Some."

Kathryn came up and slid her hands down B'Elanna's arms, finally
taking her hands. "I should be able to get around all right tomorrow.
That's the only restriction I--"

A crash sounded loud enough to blow them sideways, unbelievably close.
They dove for the control seats at the speed of fear.

"Electrical storm," Janeway said immediately.

B'Elanna examined her readouts, and compared them with what she knew
of the shuttle. "We're not in danger; the shuttle will insulate us,
it’s too heavy to be blown over by the wind—I guess a tornado might do
it, or we could get buried in flood debris--"

"Both are unlikely in this kind of terrain." Janeway started taking
some standard-procedure readings on the atmospheric changes. "Let me
just--"

One of the huge trunks within their field of vision was hit by a bolt
of lightning and they both shouted and hit the deck. When their sight
and hearing started to return, they heard another blast, and
another--bolts flying from the sky—and horizontally, the trees--

The great trees were shimmering with light. Bolts continued to flare
around them, causing more bark to go flying. The needles, or leaves,
on the branches were glowing a different color, and if she was seeing
right, the bare-bole places were where the lightning was striking, and
restriking...

"The trees," They said in unison.

Janeway said "The resources, the heavy metals...they're in the
trees--and the tree roots, in even higher concentrations, distributed
at the cellular level. Drawing from the lodes you mentioned, B'Elanna,
deeper than a survey shuttle's sensors can reach--probably mostly
through the medium of the groundwater, free and otherwise--to the
surface, creating the initial sensor scan results...but you'd have to
kill every third tree, at least, to get a sizable yield of platinum or
gold, or blow up the planet to get at the lodes..."

They gazed at the beautiful, powerful spectacle for a while; it was
truly breathtaking, though the vibrations through the shuttle and the
light had them backed into the middle of the front cabin with their
hands up to shield their eyes from the worst of the glare. B'Elanna
had made a halfhearted motion toward the viewscreen controls,
intending to mask the port with the screen and filter the light into
something they could watch comfortably, but her hand had fallen back
to her side.

Finally Janeway couldn't take the painful flashes of light and turned
her face away, half-blinded and reeling with the noise and light. She
felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned.

B'Elanna raised her face up to Kathryn's; her full lips and rich skin
were flushed, her dark eyes dilated hugely, and against the flashes of
searing light that was remarkable enough to take Janeaway's stunned
attention from the display outside. B'Elanna's teeth were bared in
what
could only in part be described as a grin.

"B'Elanna?"

The half-Klingon was panting, and her only answer was to push Janeway
down into the pilot's chair, straddle her, take her hand and exhale a
low growl across the inside of her wrist.

All right, I know what's going on now, Janeway thought. I'm not
opposed but I really need to ask her some--"AAH! B'Elanna, your
teeth--!"

They squirmed as B'Elanna tried to keep her incisor-hold along
Kathryn's jawbone, and Kathryn tried to break the same hold without
losing a portion of the only face she had. She felt the teeth slide
out of her flesh and a smooth, hot tongue slide along the shallow
punctures. She felt a warmth in her pelvic region that she really
hadn't expected, considering the pain a few seconds ago. She heard
B'Elanna growling in her ear, the smell of the blood on her lips and
in her teeth coming with it.

"Don't like it?"

"I didn't say that," Kathryn said in what was almost a growl, too;
rough, the lowest tones of her low voice. Her vision was filled with
blooming multicolored retinal images that shimmered, blinding, between
her and B'Elanna; she felt shaken by the thunder, the vibrations of
rain and noise through the shuttle, breathless...

"Then DO something about it!" There was another vast shock of
lightning and B'Elanna seized both Kathryn's wrists and pinned them at
her sides, breathing a long, warm breath across her face, her lips,
millimeters from touching.

Ohh, Kathryn thought, this part is nice. Very. But...she heaved up
with both arms, and B'Elanna gave way easily, it turned out with
ulterior motive. As Kathryn regained her feet, B'Elanna, keeping her
wristhold, rose from a crouch to shove Kathryn back against the wall.

"B'Elanna..."

"B'Elanna this," B'Elanna growled, and kissed Kathryn so deep and hard
the older woman couldn't even move her head. Resistance is futile, she
thought, and nearly laughed out through B'Elanna's nose. At least
active mastication no longer seemed to be involved. When her mouth was
finally released, she wondered "Isn't one of us...supposed to be
reciting love poetry or some such thing?"

"Nah, that's a guy thing to do," B'Elanna shoved aside the idea.

"You've had human lovers, haven't you, B'Elanna?"

The half-Klingon nodded, her eyes burning into Kathryn's.

"Could they walk afterward?"

A slightly evil grin answered her. "Always. Not very fast, but
always."

"One of you is always the...supposed to be the aggressor, am I right?"

"Full Klingons, supposed to be, but nothing's one-way with me, really,
and...you don't understand," B'Elanna almost whimpered, heating up
again, pressing herself against Kathryn and moving sinuously. "I
don't...don't--"

Insight reached Janeway. "You want me to be the aggressor." This was
answered with another depth-charge kiss and B'Elanna releasing her
wrists in order to run her hands roughly--but not roughly enough to
hurt--over Kathryn.

The Captain swept B'Elanna's knees out from under her with one leg;
B'Elanna landed on her back, Kathryn fell astraddle the other woman
and said "Then we have an understanding. But like you said...nothing's
really one-way. How long do we beat each other up?"

B’Elanna panted, whispered "Sort of a little bit all the way through.
We can tone that part down. A little."

"How much do you want me to bite you?"

"As much as you want to." B'Elanna was squirming, running her hands
impatiently up Kathryn's body.

"Where? How hard?"

"The places you least like to be bitten hard are the places I least
like to be bitten hard."

"Clear enough."

B'Elanna had a kiss a person could happily drown in. For that matter,
a person could happily drown in almost any part of B'Elanna. The rain
pounded; the multicolored lightning strobed. Eventually they began to
slow down a bit after the first few peaks had passed and they needed a
rest. The giant trees resonated with the energy around them, and they
could almost feel the electricity crawling across their skin.
Neither of them really wanted to rest...

But at last, they were running their hands over each other, heavy
caresses, feeling, experiencing, memorizing. One of them would
occasionally whisper something and the other would kiss her, things
about pleasure and admiration and enjoyment and friendship and love,
and what was startling, and what had been known from the first, by
either or both of them.

The Bruise from Tartarus had the good sense to relegate itself to the
status of "minor concern".

---

Kes was lying on her back, on Tuvok's bunk. She was dressed for sleep
in the same white garment she'd worn to the bridge a couple of days
ago. Her eyes were closed, and she was listening to Tuvok repeat
something in Vulcan, over and over, sonorously, quietly.

She knew the words meant "Thy chains are broken, they soul may see;
thy chains are broken, thy soul may hear; thy chains are broken, thy
soul may know; thy chains are broken, thy soul may speak." But she
liked it better in Vulcan, so that was the language he used.

Not that he was talking. She could hear him, deep and clear, in her
mind; in that place, she perceived him very differently from how
everyone else did. He did not attempt to hide his affection for her,
or pretend ignorance of hers for him; after all, Vulcans did have
emotions, and it would be illogical to deny them in a situation such
as this, but it would also be illogical to dwell on them. He and Kes
were here for a purpose. And with Tuvok's help, Kes could focus on
that purpose with incredible precision.

And yet, she was free. Sleeping, dreaming.

Wandering through the systems of the ship, she knew she was not really
here; it was a vision, seen only by her because she was the only one
whose brain was equipped to read it.

Tuvok's presence was the cohesion she clung to, almost, it felt, with
her physical hands. He was the mechanism that allowed her to move at
will. And if she were to lose orientation, be tumbled in vision, he
was the line she would cling to and the shore where she'd land. There
were no words here. She could only try to create words so that Tuvok
could understand what was happening…

Danger, she received--not to herself. There was not danger here; there
was danger on the planet.

Danger TO the planet.

You are here to defend the treasure on the planet, she thought.
Once again, a sense of danger to the planet. Not jealousy.
Protectiveness.

The planet is yours, she thought.

The planet was not. Danger. Defend. Protect.

Then it is not your planet, she thought.

Not a belonging. Life. Danger. Protect.

Protect the planet, she thought.

Protect the planet.

Those who live on the planet, she thought.

Those who live on the planet.

Who is in danger, she thought.

A vision came to her, so powerfully she almost lost her tenuous
balance in the trance, and nearly woke.

*Trees water plants groundscrub treessmalllargeplants*

You preserve, she thought. You preserve life.

Preserve life.

We preserve, she thought.

Preserve.

We preserve life, she thought. Respect life.

You preserve life.

Yes, she thought. We do not need the lives of those you preserve. We
would not harm them. She sensed changes taking place, power systems
shut off or rerouted, standbys returning to readiness.

Preserve, the ship said.

We preserve, said Kes, we respect life. We will not harm this life.

And then there was nothing, but Tuvok waiting to catch her, and she
opened her eyes groggily, hearing him say "Slowly, Kes. Slowly." She
was lying propped half in his lap, her head on his arm. "You did quite
well," he said matter-of-factly. "Commander Chakotay informs me that
the unknown ship has powered down all weapons, dropped shields, and
left the area at high impulse. The defense grid is also inactive."

She smiled lazily. "So it's all right now. They can come back."

"Indeed. The Captain has informed us that she and the Lieutenant will
be rejoining us as soon as they have taken some scientific data on the
planet's plants."

"I'm very sleepy."

"Sleep would be optimal. You are quite drained."

"Thank you, Tuvok."

"Thanks are illogical."

She smiled and fell asleep in his lap.

---

The Captain was sipping coffee in the ready room with Kes, B'Elanna,
Chakotay, and Tuvok. "...and the moss didn't show up as containing
metallic traces because it roots in the fallen bark and its
broken-down remains, which contain none. Kes, I don't care if you're
not a member of Starfleet, I'm putting you in for a Bronze Cluster.
Finding a way out of this without destroying the watchdog and the grid
might have been impossible without you."

"It was mostly Tuvok's doing. I couldn't have found my way at all
without him." Since she was always saying things like that, no one
paid any attention.

B'Elanna muttered "I'm still trying to believe someone was
philanthropic enough to design the whole setup to defend the LIVES of
the trees and the other plants that used the minerals in their cell
walls, not the...the plethora of heavy metals and valuable minerals
they contained. And I can't believe nobody around here with a more
local home port than we have, more energy to spare for exctracting the
heavy metals, has come up with some way to shoot that ship up and blow
that grid out. The reward would certainly be worth the effort."

Everybody looked at her.

"Well not that I'D do it," she expostulated, with a gesture that
nearly slopped her coffee.

"It's possible people have tried to use the plants," Kes said. "Neelix
says there are periodic attempts, but even if they make it through the
grid and back out again, they don't have the technology to realize
that the resources are held in a rather nonliquid form."

"Unless you count the water," B'Elanna muttered, and Janeway glanced
at her, but B'Elanna was continuing "WE realized it."

"We were willing to," Chakotay offered. "I would imagine people have
been pounded to death by that grid and that watchdog ship before. It
may be considered something of a cursed treasure."

"Or a mythical one," Kes put in. "Something else Neelix said is that
some people believe the planet generates a sensor ghost that mimics
heavy metals."

"Well, whatever the reason," Kathryn said, "the plants are safe once
more, and botany is having a gloriously exhausting time with all the
data we got after Kes convinced Fido's toy to stop shooting at us."

"I wonder who set the guard in the first place," B'Elanna pondered.

"There can be no way of knowing that," Tuvok said. "by our
measurements, that ship was old when Vulcans were beginning to walk
erect."

"How about humans?" Chakotay wondered.

"You were still arboreal."

Kes giggled and Kathryn chuckled. "All right," the Captain said,
"B'Elanna and I are going to see about getting some sleep. We've had a
bit of exercise."

As Tuvok and Chakotay were leaving, Kes looked back and said "I
noticed you were walking a little strangely, Captain. Did you hurt
your hip?"

Kathryn said, perfectly relaxed, "Yes, on the way to the surface while
the shuttle was bouncing around. I'll come to sickbay if it's not
better soon."

As the doors closed behind her Janeway finished "…but that's not why
I'm walking a little strangely."

B'Elanna broke into a lascivious smile.

---

Kathryn got up and came over to B'Elanna, who was sitting on the sofa.
She sat down, and said "About the little matter of your heart..."

B'Elanna essayed what was apparently supposed to be a comradely grin.
"I stole it back while you were asleep. You remember. The whole
fifteen minutes or so we got."

Janeway touched B'Elanna's cheek with a fingertip. "No you didn't. I
can still feel it."

B'Elanna lost her grin, replaced it with a contemplative expression
while they gazed at one another. The stars prismed by outside the
port.

"Then maybe I grabbed yours by mistake," B'Elanna murmured.

"Let's consider it a mutual loan," Janeway said softly. "Good friends
are always sharing things with one another." B'Elanna smiled slowly
back at her.

They sat holding hands for a while, watching the stars.

---

The End