The BLTS Archive- Warmth 1:
#1: Abandoned
by J. A. Toner (jamelia116@aol.com)

---

CAUTIONARY NOTES:  This work of fiction is available in two versions,
a PG-13 version and one that is RATED NC-17. People who are under age
18, or those who are offended by openly graphic descriptions of
male/female sexuality are strongly cautioned against reading the NC-17
version. If the very idea of people rationally discussing abortions
and premarital sexual relationships also upsets you, you might want to
find something else to read altogether.

RELATIONSHIP WARNING: this is a P/T, K/K story, with strong hints of
J/C. If your preferences are other than these, sorry, but you have
been warned.

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek universe, including all of its
characters, the episodes, and officially published works are property
of Paramount, Inc. and Viacom. No infringement to their rights to this
material is intended. This work of fiction was created for the
enjoyment of fans, including the writer herself, and no financial gain
will be realized from the writing of this story.

In addition to the characters, I have borrowed elements from many Star
Trek: Voyager episodes, for reasons of continuity. I would like to
credit the screenwriters and originators of certain episodes to thank
them for giving me the opportunity to use my imagination in fitting
them all together:  Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Lisa
Klink, Jonathan Glassner, Adam Grossman, Kenneth Biller, Jimmy Diggs,
Steve J. Kay, Brannon Braga, Joe Menosky, and Harry Doc. Kloor. Thanks
for some great stories.

Two characters, those of Ensign Jim Joseph and Ensign Elaine Myers,
were wholly invented by me. The actual story as it appears here that
is not otherwise the property of Paramount is copyrighted by me.

Many fanfic writers have helped build a mythology around Voyager's
crew. Some of my favorite stories are alluded to by the titles of the
books in "Tom's room" at the beach house; this is meant as a tribute
to those writers for providing me with much enjoyment.

Thanks are especially due to two other writers: Tara "Uisge Jack"
O'Shea first wrote of the relationship between Megan Delaney and
Gerron in her stories "Shared Joy, Shared Pain" and "Trust No Glass."
Tara allowed me to borrow that relationship for this story. Her
comments were exceedingly helpful in writing this. Mere words cannot
express my appreciation for the assistance of Terri "TerriTrek"
Zavaleta, who graciously took much time from her own writing to help
me hash out plot elements in this one. She's one terrific editor, too.
Thank you, thank you, Terri!

And last, but certainly not least, thank you, AOL's Paris/Torres
Collective for your encouragment and support, and to the PT Fever Mail
List for encouraging me in writing this, as well as many other
stories.

This story was originally written in June, 1997, but it has been
revised a bit. Most of the changes were to improve grammar, correct
typos, etc. Since events from the fourth season have negated much of
what occurs in this story, it is now an alternative universe story. I
like it the way I wrote it, though, so I didn't change much. One
correction was to give Naomi Wildman her actual name. Another thing I
changed was a passage about Seven, who had not been seen at the time
of the first writing. I had changed this passage based upon a spoiler.
My original concept of how Seven would feel about clothing was closer
to the way she is on the show than the revision's, so my original
passage is back.

CHRONOLOGY:  The first half of this story takes place immediately
following the Star Trek: Voyager episode, "Worst Case Scenario." The
second half takes place several weeks later, after the conclusion of
the two part episode, "Scorpion." At the time I wrote this, I had
heard a few spoilers about "Scorpion" and "The Gift." I used what I
felt I must, such as the addition of Seven-of-Nine. Much of the rest I
discounted, however. I figured I would just use my imagination to
describe how I would like to see the transition take place. Although I
like what happened in "The Gift," I liked what I did here, too. While
I did not knowingly and deliberately deviate from the show's canon as
it stood at the end of "Scorpion I" when I wrote this, I took
liberties by adding things for which there was little evidence. An
example of this is the fact that Kes and Harry were not noted to be
lovers during "Scorpion," but since Kes cries out, "Harry's in
trouble," rather than "The away team is in trouble," when she first
senses danger, I felt free to postulate their much closer relationship
in this story.

This story can be shared with friends, but please do not post on the
internet, archive, or publish without permission from the author.
Constructive criticism is not only accepted but is actively
encouraged. Please let me know what you think!

---

"It's OK, Tom. How about yours?"

"Solid as a rock, as always, Torres."

Thomas Eugene Paris flashed a groaning B'Elanna Torres one of his
trademark crooked grins to punctuate his reply. The helmsman and chief
engineer of Voyager clung precariously to a craggy rock face suspended
above a narrow valley. The valley was located on the southern
continent of the nameless fourth planet of a yellow-white star
designated only as V3-F01-1572 by the staff in Stellar Cartography.
They hadn't gotten around to giving the star an actual name either. If
Voyager's sensors had not detected the presence of a very high grade
of dilithium crystal on the planet's surface, the two lieutenants and
their crewmates gathering tubers in the valley below would not have
bothered to visit the star system at all. Since Voyager needed
dilithium for its own warp engines and as valued commodities for
trading, Captain Janeway had decided that this particular side trip
would be worth the delay it would cause in their trip back home to the
Alpha Quadrant. When the trip is expected to last 70 years or so, one
week's delay to obtain a substance that will be needed anyway is a
sacrifice easily made. If at the same time they could secure tasty
edibles to supplement Neelix's food stocks, so much the better.

"Check your tricorder again to see how close we are to that formation,
Tom."

He pulled the tricorder off his belt and held it over his head. "The
readings are very strong directly above us, about 10 meters from
here." Carefully replacing the device, Tom inched up the cliff, fixing
his feet in the crevasses in the schist, allowing his full weight on
each foot before moving his hands gingerly up to a higher position. A
glance down at his half-Klingon, half-human companion verified that
she was being as careful as he in grabbing each handhold and foothold.
Although the rocky surface was uneven enough to give them good
footing, they did not want to take anything too much for granted,
despite the safety line attaching them to one another. Neither wanted
a repeat performance of the fall in the mines of the Sakari world.
Neelix's plunge while they were rappelling down a steep mine shaft had
endangered B'Elanna Torres' life, contributing one more complication
to an away team mission that already had become fraught with
difficulties. Because of all that had happened on that mission, this
time B'Elanna had elected to bring along Tom alone when climbing the
cliff, once it was clear that that was the only way the dilithium
deposits could be reached.

"Warm enough, B'Elanna?"

"A little too warm, actually. It's a good thing we left the jackets at
the base of the cliff." She slipped the front closure of her gray
uniform down a hand-span below her neck. Catching another grin on
Tom's face and knowing he was thinking about the last time she had
worn this particular away team outfit, she added "Don't even say it,
Paris."

He laughed. "This is great. I don't even have to say anything to you
anymore to be branded a smart-ass. Pretty gneiss, don't you think?" He
held up a small chunk of sparkling, speckled rock that had crumbled
off the rock face into his hand.

She groaned at the bad pun. "They're getting worse all the time,
Paris. 'We're starting with a clean slate'? 'My schisters would have
loved this'? Please tell me you don't have one for sandstone."

"I'll granite you that, I don't have one for sandstone. Let me think .
. . ."

"If we weren't tethered together I think I'd throw you down the cliff
for that one." She was trying not to laugh. "I'm having enough trouble
keeping my breath without having to suffer through your bad jokes,
too."

"I promise I'll be good."

"Sure, you will--until you can think up another even more excruciating
than the last!" she growled. Hearing her growl, he flashed her another
brief look and winked at her, but this time, he caught himself before
provoking her any further.

The past few weeks had been good ones. B'Elanna might have accepted
some of his invitations to dinner or his holodeck programs earlier if
she had anticipated how comfortable they would become with each other,
and so quickly. With his reputation as a mercurial womanizer, B'Elanna
had expected she would have to fend off his advances at every turn.
Instead, he had treated her like a buddy, almost the way he treated
his best friend Harry. Almost, but not quite. She was always aware of
his attractive male physique and sensed he was just as attracted to
her own strong but very female body.

There was that bet he had won, of course, paid off in her
participation in a Klingon martial arts program. Tom was a lot more
enthusiastic about learning how to fight with a bat'leth than she was,
and he had truly annoyed her with his pushiness. B'Elanna knew he was
trying to appeal to her Klingon side, but she simply had no interest
in honing that aspect of her nature. It only caused trouble. Of
course, it was comforting that he didn't appear put off by it, most of
the time, anyway.

His gentlemanly behavior had even inspired her to do a little research
on the life and loves of Thomas Eugene Paris since he had come to
Voyager. Her investigations had disclosed some unexpected facts about
the helmsman's love life, proving once again the truth of the old
adage, "Don't believe everything you hear."

While her thoughts had been on holodeck programs, dinners, and a
blue-eyed enigma, the shelf Tom and B'Elanna had been climbing widened
to a width that could easily accommodate their feet. Compared to most
of the climb, traversing the last few meters of their trip was easy.
Finally, she heard the welcome words, "I see the vein."

Scrambling up next to him, B'Elanna saw, near an intrusion of basalt,
the tell-tale strip of blue/green/violet dilithium crystals that had
been the goal of their search. She flipped her own tricorder open and
smiled at what she saw. "This is it, Tom. Look at these readings!"

"There must be quite a bit here, unless the quality is even better
than what we found in those asteroids two years ago." That terrific
find had led to Tom's making the first successful transwarp flight by
anyone in the Federation, though no one off Voyager knew of it.
B'Elanna was surprised that he had alluded to the incident; he usually
avoided any refererence to it because of his embarrassment over what
had transpired afterwards.

The tricorders confirmed that a significant quantity of high grade
dilithium crystals was embedded in the rock of the cliff. After
bending down to clean the shelf upon which they were standing of any
loose shards of rock, Tom climbed a little higher, above the crest of
the anticline, and installed four pitons with safety lines attached.
Since a failed piton had caused Neelix's fall, B'Elanna had agreed
with Tom that depending upon Federation equipment to be foolproof was
foolhardy. This time, there were two lines apiece for them to use in
lowering bags of retrieved materials or for their own descents. This
mission was not to have any complications if either one of them had
anything to say about it.

As he started to lower himself back to the dilithium formation, Tom
tapped his comm badge and signaled to the away team in the valley
below them. "Paris to Neelix."

::::"Neelix here, Lieutenant."::::

"We've found the dilithium, Neelix, and we're going to be excavating a
fair amount of rock. You'll have to move your teams away from the
cliff."

::::"Have no fear, Lieutenant. In anticipation of your need to remove
extensive amounts of rock in your mining efforts, we started our food
gathering at the cliff and have been moving steadily away from it,
down towards the stream. I must say, Lieutenant, these tubers are
going to be a marvelous addition to the menu. I'm planning on having
roasted tubers with bilisberry sauce tomorrow. Tuber pie, baked tuber
and leola root casserole will be . . . "::::

"Uh, that sounds great, Neelix. We can't wait. But I'm going to have
to get to work now. B'Elanna's giving me a Janeway kind of stare, if
you know what I mean."

::::"I understand perfectly, Tom. Neelix out.":::: Neelix did
understand, having been on the receiving end of Janeway's legendary
glares on more than one occasion.

"Tuber and leola root casserole. More wonderful delights from the
kitchens of Chez Neelix." Warm brown eyes met clear azure as they
laughed together. "Here, let me help you. B'Elanna," said Tom, as she
fumbled to turn her backpack around without losing her balance on the
shelf. Opening each other's packs and removing their phasers, they
started the tedious task of cutting through solid rock to gain access
to the treasured dilithium crystals that lay within the cliff.

---

"Enter," responded Kathryn Janeway to the signal from her ready room
door. She smiled up at her first officer as he handed her a PADD.

"Neelix just reported in about his crew. There's a large amount of
some kind of edible tuber in that valley. Larson said that they tasted
a lot like yams or sweet potatoes when they first reported finding
them. They've already transported up a large quantity and are
gathering more. He also reported that Paris and Torres have begun
excavating the dilithium from the cliff."

"Wonderful. How are they all holding up physically? They can't gauge
their workday by daylight hours alone down there."

"No complaints at the moment. None of them beamed down until it
started to warm up in the valley, several hours after sunrise. Paris
and Torres have been working about five hours down there so far; we'll
encourage them to finish up in four hours or so. That way they'll have
a few hours before sundown as a buffer, in case they need more time.
If necessary, we can send relief crews down for the food gatherers. By
the way, Vorik's crew on the northernmost continent sent up more
beryllium, but Molina's crew still hasn't been able to find much
that's edible up there, even though it's late summer where he's
looking. Seems there are so many insects that a lot of what appears to
be promising is too chewed up to be worth the trouble to collect."

"Call them back, then."

"I was thinking of sending them south to join Neelix.  I can have
Harry scan to see if he can find a concentration of the tubers
somewhere other than where Neelix is. We don't want to over harvest
one area, for the sake of the local ecology." He considered his next
words for a moment before adding, "Not that there isn't something odd
about the ecology down there already. No trees, hardly any shrubs, no
large animals and almost no small ones, a limited variety of
vegetation. The development of the species we have identified suggests
that there should be a much greater variety on this planet than has
been found there."

"Do you think this thin nebula the system is passing through has
something to do with the unusual planetary conditions?"

"I'll have Harry run some scans and look into it, Captain. If there is
a relationship, it could affect the away teams on the surface."

After giving her approval, the captain leaned back in her chair, arms
crossed behind her head. "Chakotay, just how many of those tubers do
we want on board? Given Neelix's proclivity towards getting 'carried
away' with new foods . . . "

With an ingenuous expression on his face, Janeway's first officer
replied, "You mean, you don't want to have sweet potato shakes and
sweet potato pancakes with yamsickles for dessert?" By the end of this
query, his dimples were highlighting a very wide grin.

"Exactly," she returned dryly.

"Larson seemed pretty enthusiastic about them, and so were Kes and
Wildman when they cooked up some of the first shipment. The Doctor
tested a sample and assured me that they're nutritious, too. I don't
think it's overuse of leola root in Neelix's meals that causes all the
complaints. The crew just doesn't like them, no matter how they're
prepared. I heard that Neelix does have a long list of dishes he
already wants to try with this root, but hopefully they won't become
too tiresome. At least I hope not. Kes is already planning on planting
some in the hydroponics bay."

"I want you to know, Commander, that I plan on making an entry in my
personal log to remind myself about this conversation a few months
from now. I want to be in a strong position to document 'I told you
so' after a few hundred 'sweet potato-and-___' meals from Mr. Neelix."

Chakotay was still chuckling when he returned to the bridge

---

"Tom, look at this one! This crystal could have kept the warp core
going on one of those old Constitution-class vessels for a year!" Tom
smiled at the excitement he could hear in her voice. Their bodies were
sprawled full-length in the back of a narrow cave they had carved out
of living rock while following the vein of dilithium deeper inside of
the cliff.

With great care, B'Elanna extricated the large, beautifully shaped
crystal of dilithium from the last fragment of schist holding it to
the rock formation. Tom, the top of his head almost brushing the
ceiling of their artificial cave as he supported himself on his
elbows, accepted the crystal from B'Elanna. Wrapping it in packing
cloth, he slipped the now-protected crystal into one of the bags sent
up by Neelix after they had created a sitting and working area at the
edge of the cliff.

"B'Elanna, this bag is full enough to send down now, I think. Neelix
was going to get lunch ready for his crew the last time I talked with
him. That was an hour ago. Unless you're going for some kind of
endurance record, I think it's time we took a break."

"You're right. I'm not sure I feel much like eating whatever Neelix is
feeding his crew, though." After Tom had backed out enough to permit
her egress, B'Elanna commando crawled out of the inner recesses of
their miniature mining operation. Both of them groaned in unison as
they stretched out their arms, legs, and backs once they were able to
sit upright.

"God, that feels good," said Tom. "When we get back on board Voyager,
I'm going to go straight to Neelix's resort for a massage. Don't give
me that look, Torres. A massage. A real massage, that's all. Unless,
of course, you're volunteering for something more than that." He made
a show of wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her, prompting the
smile from her that he had expected.

"Dream on, Paris," she said but suddenly grimaced and grabbed at her
upper arm as she felt another cramp assault her already sore shoulder.

"I think you might need that massage right now, B'Elanna." Tom changed
his position to face her back. Gently but firmly he began kneading her
neck, upper back, and shoulders. A bemused expression flitted across
his face as the thought of indulging in mutual massages with the fiery
but beautiful lieutenant crossed his mind. Unable to hold his tongue
any longer, he asked, "Once I'm done with you, you wouldn't mind
giving me a turn, would you?'

B'Elanna whipped her head around to get a good look at his expression.
He had managed to assume an air of innocence that was not matched by
the sparkle in his eyes.

"We'll be too busy digging out more crystals," she said archly. "Right
now, I want to eat. I'm too hungry to mind what Neelix has decided to
poison us with today." She picked up the sack Neelix used for sending
supplies up to them. Digging into the bag, she found four sandwiches,
several ration bars, a package of something that resembled lumpy
fruit, a bottle of beverage, and two cups. "Lets see what this is."
Unwrapping one of the sandwiches, she sniffed cautiously at it before
declaring, "This one smells like fish. From Neelix?" she added,
incredulously.

"I forgot to tell you. I sent Neelix some tuna salad I replicated for
him to use when making our sandwiches. It's Neelix's version of bread,
though. I didn't trust what Neelix would be sending us, either." He
smiled sheepishly as he gave her a last rub down her upper arm.
Sliding on his butt to the spot next to her on the shelf, Tom took the
bag out of her hand and peeked inside.

"What are these things, anyway? Oh, I remember. He said he was going
to send us up a sample of those tubers they've been digging out of the
valley floor." Tom unwrapped the lumpy package and found a
fuchsia-colored root, still slightly warm from being phaser-roasted by
Neelix's crew. Breaking off a piece, he grinned at B'Elanna. "You will
give a suitable eulogy at my memorial service if these turn out to be
like 90% of Neelix's specialties?"

"Depends on whether you expect me to praise you to the skies or if you
want me to be honest."

"I want you to be brutally honest, of course. Tell everyone, 'Here
lies Tom Paris, Best Damn Pilot Who Ever Flew a Starship.'"

"And the most modest one, too, right Hotshot?" she sniggered.

"Just the truth, so help me, God." Assuming a noble, self-sacrificing
pose, he picked off a piece of tuber, popped it into his mouth and
began to chew.

"I think you can put that eulogy on hold, Torres. This is definitely a
10%-er. Not only edible, but good, too. Umm. Reminds me of
Thanksgiving dinner yams. Taste a piece, B'Elanna."

"How do I know I can trust your tastebuds, Tom?" She laughingly
feinted away from him as he tried to slip a piece into her mouth. They
twisted about for a few moments in the close quarters of the hollow,
but with his longer reach he was able to stuff a chunk between her
lips without too much trouble. After she had chewed for a few seconds
she admitted, "Kind of sweet. Not bad, I guess. I wouldn't want to
live on a steady diet of it, though, and knowing Neelix . . . "

"Yeah, I think his favorite cookbook must be *1001 Ways to Overuse Any
Ingredient*. I hope Tuvok decides to let him join Security. He's
really better at that than cooking. And if you breathe a word of that
to him, I will deny it, Torres. I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings."

"Even if he *is* such a trial to our stomachs, Paris?"

His mouth full, Tom shrugged his shoulders noncommittally until he
managed to swallow. Finally, he managed, "Even if, B'Elanna . . . "

They munched away for a while, gossiping, teasing each other and
chatting about everything and nothing--enjoying each other's company,
if the truth be told, though neither one was willing to admit it to
the other.

---

"Commander, Ensign Vorik's team has returned from the surface with the
beryllium, but Lieutenant Carey reports that there still seem to be
problems with the transporters," Harry Kim relayed from his bridge
station.

"How long did it take this time?"

"The total transport time was 53% longer than expected for the mass of
the team and the materials, Commander."

"That's even longer than when Molina came up. Has Lieutenant Carey
come up with any hypothesis yet for the cause?"

"Not really. He's been in the transporter room for the last two hours
running a level four diagnostic, but he hasn't found anything yet to
explain it. It could be the atmosphere itself, Commander. We've had
static over the comm lines to the surface most of the day, and it
seems to be increasing." The young ensign spent a few moments calling
up readings on his operations console before adding, "Commander, I
just noticed something else. When Ensign Lang relieved me for lunch,
she took solar activity measurements. They're quite different from the
current readings. Several small solar flares have erupted in the past
three hours. With the gases in this system from the nebula, there may
be a connection between the flares and the transporter problems."

"Mr. Kim, signal the other teams to finish up as soon as possible. If
there is interference from the atmosphere, we want everyone back up
here before it gets any worse. Better to be safe than sorry."

"Chakotay to Janeway."

::::"Yes, Commander."::::

"We need you on the bridge."

---

"Got it, Neelix?" Tom spoke into his hissing comm badge.

::::"Yes, Tom. I'll put this bag along with the rest of the transport.
Are you going to be beamed up from the cliff, or will you be coming
down here with us?"::::

"Rappelling down a mountain is the fun part of climbing! You know
that."

::::"It wasn't so much fun for me last time, you know. You be careful,
now, Tom. B'Elanna, too. Don't trust that Federation technology too
much!"::::

"Don't worry, Neelix. We haven't forgotten about your fall. We'll be
down in a few minutes. Paris out." He tapped off his comm badge. "Boy,
there sure is a lot of static. Well, ready, B'Elanna? Time to . . .
fall like a stone, how's that one?

"Paris, please!" Her grin conveyed her good humor, despite the bad
puns. A successfully completed mission always put her in an expansive
mood. Carefully checking her lines one last time, B'Elanna nodded her
readiness to her partner. Cautiously at first, then with more
enthusiasm as they found their rhythm, the lieutenants pushed their
feet off the side and slipped down the cliff in a fraction of the time
required to climb it earlier in the day.

Later, Tom could not say what made him look down at the valley floor
when they were still less than halfway down. Neelix and Larson were
standing in a trampled field strewn with what appeared to be strands
of straw scattered around them. A few sacks and some digging tools lay
by their feet. The flickering blue light of the transporter beam had
already grabbed hold of them. He and B'Elanna were still about 20
meters above the base of the cliff when he turned around again.
"B'Elanna, what's going on here? Look at Neelix and Larson."

The two crewmen were still standing where they had been, surrounded by
an uneven glow of transporter beam that sputtered unevenly, as if in a
titanic struggle with the valley itself for possession of the foraging
party.

Impulsively jumping down the last few meters to the valley floor,
B'Elanna pounded her chest to initiate communications with Voyager.
"Torres to Transporter Room. What's going on?"

The badge crackled ominously, and the response was fragmented. ::::" .
. . trouble wi . . . the transpor . . .  can't kee . . . a lock . . .
."::::

"B'Elanna, they're still trying to transport the supplies as well as
the crew," noted Tom. She could hear the concern in his voice.

"Don't worry about anything but the people, Ensign!" she yelled into
her badge to the transporter technician at the other end. B'Elanna and
Tom watched as the figures of Neelix and Larson completely coalesced
on the surface again for several seconds before the beam enveloped
them again. This time, the bags and equipment at the feet of the short
Talaxian and tall human were being ignored, like the piles of straw
scattered around them on the ground were. Several more agonizing
seconds passed before a last pulse of blue light surged and erased the
figures of Neelix and Larson.

"Tranporter Room. Do you have them?"

::::"They're he . . . ., yes, Lieut . . . nt Tor . . . ."::::

"The interference is getting worse, B'Elanna." Tom pulled his
tricorder off his belt and checked the area. "Look at that--there's
rough weather ahead." The sky that had been a clear bluish purple all
day now roiled with angry orange clouds swirling out of the western
horizon. Pointing the tricorder away from his body, Tom slowly
pivoted, taking readings of the entire area while B'Elanna's comm
badge continued to sputter.

"Torres to Janeway. Captain? Can you hear me?"

---

"B'Elanna? Tom?" Several more seconds of crackling ensued before the
low-pitched feminine voice of Captain Janeway demanded, "Mr. Kim,
narrow the wave frequency and boost the gain on this transmission. I
don't think they can hear us any better than we can hear them." A few
seconds later, after Harry bobbed his head, the captain tried again.
"B'Elanna, can you hear me."

::::"Just bare . . . aptain. There's lots . . . static. I don't . . .
.want to try . . . ansport under these . . . ditions. Tom found evide
. . . .ave nearby . . . .wait . . . out."::::

"Captain, another solar flare has formed and is shooting out of the
star's corona. The nebula field again is igniting. We will have to
raise shields if the ship is not to sustain further damage to the
electronic systems." Tuvok's voice was as impassive as always, but the
furrow between his eyebrows was deeper than usual.

Janeway nodded her head while raising her right hand in a gesture that
Tuvok knew meant that he was to raise the shields. "B'Elanna, I'm
sorry, but we won't be able to transport you off the planet. We've had
to raise our shields. The solar flares are wreaking havoc with all our
systems. I don't even know how much longer we can risk maintaining
orbit. We can try sending you a shuttle." Even as she said it, Janeway
knew from the looks exchanged between Harry and Tuvok, not to mention
the feeling in her own gut, that sending a shuttle was wishful
thinking on her part. With Voyager having trouble with the conditions
in orbit, how much worse would it be for a craft as small as a shuttle
trying to get down to the surface of the planet?

Tom's voice crackled over the comm line. ::::" . . . too late for  . .
. uttle flight . . . never make it ba . . . oyager."::::

"I was going to send the shuttle down to serve as shelter for the two
of you."

::::"Don't wor . . . a cave here we can . . . shelter. We'll be . . .
.right.":::: Tom's voice was fading now, as well as being obscured by
static.

"Mr. Kim, did Paris say that there was a cave there?" asked Chakotay.

"Yes, sir. We picked up evidence of at least one cave in the area
during our initial scans. Tom must have found it."

"B'Elanna, Tom. Take shelter. We'll pick you up as soon as the
conditions permit." She waited a moment for acknowledgment of her
message, but there was none. With a pained look on her face, the
captain added softly, "Janeway out," to the harsh static rushing out
over the comm lines.

A few seconds later, everyone on the bridge had to grab hold of a
console or their seat as Voyager shuddered. Tuvok reported, "Captain,
we can no longer remain in this system with any safety. The conditions
within this nebula are too dangerous."

"Agreed." Janeway turned to her first officer. "Commander Chakotay,
take the helm and get us out of here."

"Aye, Captain." As he stood before moving down to Tom Paris' usual
station, Chakotay's eyes met those of Janeway. Leaving any of their
crewmembers to fend for themselves under the hostile conditions facing
them on this planet was painful to both commanding officers. To leave
their personal reclamation projects Torres and Paris behind was
torture.

---

"Did they say they were leaving orbit, Tom?"

"Sounded like it. It was pretty hard to hear. If the conditions are as
bad as that static suggests, I don't think they have much choice."

"I wonder how much damage there was to the ship when they had to leave
the shields down for so long during the transport."

"At least they got back, didn't they?"

"Yes, but just barely. Look." B'Elanna held up a knapsack that either
Larson or Neelix had had with them. The contents spilled out over the
ground from a clean hole sliced in the bottom by the failing
transporter beam.

"I thought that isn't supposed to happen with modern transporter
technology. Wasn't 'All or nothing' supposed to be built in as a fail
safe for the system?"

"It is, normally," she answered. "Whatever happened here obviously was
*not* normal."

"We'd better bring as much of this stuff back to that cave over there
as we can, B'Elanna. I don't like the looks of that sky."

"I don't think I like this place. Brrr." Torres shivered. With the sun
now being obscured by clouds, the temperature was dropping rapidly.

Stooping down, they each grabbed a couple of bags of tubers and their
own knapsacks. B'Elanna carried the damaged pack that she had found.
Tom hoisted Neelix's picnic basket, the abandoned tools, and the last
bag of dilithium crystals they had dug out of the cliff. They started
to trudge to an opening in the cliff about two kilometers distant,
their earlier cheerful mood gone. The sky that was now pulsing red and
orange might have been beautiful if the brilliant colors had been due
only to the sunset. Tom decided to raise their spirits with the one
comment he was sure would get a rise from his companion:

"So Torres, what is it with us and caves, anyway?"

---

TBC in Warmth 1: Shelter