The BLTS Archive - Unforeseen Circumstances
seventh in the Twist of Fate series
by Whoa Nellie (whoa_nellie40@hotmail.com)

---

Helpful tidbit of information:  Aalm is a Mayan word meaning heart
with a connotation of soul --the essence of a person so to speak.

Author's Notes:  This story does stand on it's own, not necessary to
have read the previous stories except for more detailed background
information on Ceshlyta and how she got there.  Previous stories from
the Twist of Fate storyline (in order):  Blessings of the Sky Spirits,
Wyrd, What Comes Naturally, Fresh Perspective, Culinary Delights and
Chaos Theory.

Background:  Ceshlyta is Chakotay's wife and soulmate.  She is
descended from the Inheritors through a different tribe and was joined
with Chakotay in a wedding at the Temple of the Sky Spirits before
they put her on Voyager.  She was a Professor of Botany on Earth when
the Sky Spirits joined their souls, intertwined their life paths and
put her on Voyager.  Her nickname, used by most of the other crew
members, is Sassy.

Timeline:  Twist of Fate picks up and takes off of the canon universe
early in season five just after the episode Timeless.

Acknowledgements:  As always Paramount owns all the marbles, we just
have a lot more fun playing with them.

Feedback is always appreciated,  posted or e-mail.

---

"Seven, do you have a minute?"  Harry Kim saw the Borg leaving the
mess hall as he exited the turbolift.

"My duty shift in Astrometrics begins in precisely six minutes.  As
it will only require four minutes to arrive there, I have two
minutes," she calculated and apprised him.

Catching up to her, he paused to collect his thoughts.  He had
finally finished his computations the night before and was ready to
make an absolute idiot of himself.  "I have something I'd like you to
look over."  He held out a PADD.  "According to my calculations, we
are 88.3% compatible with each other.  I based the computations on a
model of intrinsic and extrinsic qualities further broken down into
sub-categorizations such as intelligence, personality traits and
biological characteristics under the intrinsic group and professional
and social interests in the extrinsic category."

The Borg drone accepted the proffered PADD and began scanning the
data as she listened.

Harry took a deep breath before continuing.  "I had to guess at your
score on some of the items.  I calculated the probability of your
interest based on the degree of mathematical intricacy and precision
required.  My scores are there as well as a regressional means
analysis of compatibility for each factor, sub-category and overall
groups.  The intrinsic group yielded a higher score at 92.7% overall
than the extrinsic group at 83.9%.  The sub-category of professional
interests, further broken down by both areas of expertise and areas of
interest yielded the highest individual rating at 98.3%--I had to
deduct for differences in career ambition,"  he offered as a side
note.  "The area with the lowest ranking was in the extrinsic
interests at 69.5%, but if you divide them into solo and group
activities, the majority of the difference falls into the group
factor."  He took another deep breath, absently hoping that he wasn't
hyperventilating, and concluded his speech.  "Based on my
computations, I believe an interpersonal social relationship between
us makes statistical sense."  That was quite probably the most he'd
ever said to her at one time, not to mention the least romantic
request for a date he'd ever made.

Seven had also done an analysis of their compatibility although her
own estimate, revisited and revised after their interesting encounter
in Sickbay previously, had yielded an 86.1% match.  It might prove
beneficial if she were to compare their analyses.  "I will review your
data," she informed him before turning to stride down the corridor.

Watching her walk away, Harry resisted the urge to dance and shout.
That was definitely a possible maybe, no doubt about it.  With a bit
more spring in his step, he entered the mess hall for a quick
breakfast.

---

"Are you heading down to the surface for some shore leave, Sassy?"
Tom swallowed a bite of his breakfast before asking.  He had steered a
reticent B'Elanna over to join Chakotay and Sassy at their table.  He
knew that the two women weren't entirely comfortable together, but all
B'Elanna needed was to get to know the commander's wife a little
better.  For all of her tough independence, the Klingon was a fiercely
loyal friend; once she got past her distrust of the botanist,
everything would be fine.  This was a great opportunity for that since
Voyager was in orbit around Techora, an M-class planet with a
friendly, humanoid species and a thriving culture.  The captain had
authorized shore leave while they conducted some business and was
planning to remain in orbit for the next week, so everyone was in an
upbeat mood.

"Not today," Ceshlyta answered.  "Chakotay's on duty all day today.
We're going down tomorrow.  It'll be nice to set foot on solid ground
again."

A wonderful idea occurred to the pilot.  "B'Elanna's off and she's
planning to go down with a couple of others today.  Why don't you tag
along with them?"

"No" the women answered almost simultaneously.

"Why not?"  Chakotay looked to his wife.  "It would give you more
time on the surface.  It would also give you a chance to scope out the
local flora before you meet with their botanists at the end of the
week."

Tom pushed his plan to B'Elanna.  "It would give the two of you a
chance to get to know each other better."

The chief engineer's reply was drowned out by the arrival of Harry
Kim.

"Is this seat taken?"  The ensign indicated a seat next to B'Elanna.
He sat down amid the chorus of 'good mornings'.  "I wanted to thank
you, Sassy.  I took your advice."

"Did it work?"  Given the redness around the young man's ears,
Ceshlyta guessed that it had something to do with Seven of Nine.

Taking a bite of his breakfast, Harry simply shrugged questioningly
and nodded yes.

Suddenly B'Elanna was struck by a thought.  "We're going to be
heading down to the surface in about a half an hour, Sassy."  Actually
she was supposed to meet them in a few minutes, but she needed some
time to plan.  "You should definitely head down with us."

"Great," Chakotay patted Sassy's hand.  "Then it's settled."

'Apparently', she thought to herself, 'I'm the only person at this
table who doesn't want me to spend the day with Torres and her
friends'.  Guilt stabbed at her, 'grudges are heavier than a mountain
of boulders,' the old proverb colored her thoughts.  "You're right,
Tom, B'Elanna and I should get to know each other better."  She smiled
across the table at him before turning to the chief engineer.  "Thirty
minutes, B'Elanna?"

Standing, her tray in her hands, Torres nodded.  "Transporter Room
1."

"Well," Chakotay stood and eyed Tom.  "If we don't get going, we're
both going to be late."

"See you tonight, my love."  Sassy watched the two men exit just
behind B'Elanna.  She waved Neelix over with the coffee pot, she was
definitely going to need more caffeine.

---

Thirty minutes later Sassy stood in the corridor outside Transporter
Room 1.  She had changed into the jumpsuit and boots that she had been
wearing when she'd first arrived on Voyager.  It was more utilitarian
than her usual outfits, but since she'd only been working in the
hydroponic garden aboard Voyager, once the renovations had been
finished she hadn't really needed the sturdy, serviceable outfit.  She
had also braided her hair and she flipped the end off her shoulder as
she entered the transporter room.  Other than B'Elanna, she only
recognized one other member of the foursome--Mariah Henley.  Mariah
spent a great deal of time in the garden, usually early evenings.  The
ensign had even programmed several holoemitters to project nature
images such as a waterfall near the sitting area to improve the
ambience of the garden. Mariah looked a little discomfited and Sassy
hoped that the other woman wasn't upset at her presence.

"All ready?" B'Elanna chirped.  "Do you know everyone?"

"Just Mariah," Sassy indicated.

Pointing to the other two, the chief engineer made quick
introductions.  "That's Olandra Jor and the guy there is Tabor."  She
clapped her hands together and announced, "that's that.  Everyone on
the transporter pad."

"Who's handling transport?"  Sassy didn't see anyone else there.

B'Elanna waved nonchalantly.  "I've got it programmed.  Computer,
program Torres Alpha, energize."

Materializing on the surface below, Ceshlyta got her bearings and
looked beside her for the others; they were nowhere to be seen.  She
reached up to call the ship but her fingers encountered only the
smooth fabric of her jumpsuit.  "Oh, very funny Torres," she muttered
in irritation.  "I guess I should be grateful that you let me keep my
clothes on."

While she tried to decide what to do, she surveyed her surroundings.
She was standing in an open compound, encircled by various stands.
There were maybe six pathways that led into the open, common area.  It
was a market, of sorts.  It didn't look like the type of place that
visitors frequented, more like the neighborhood farmer's markets she
remembered her great-grandfather telling her about as a child.  Many
of the buildings appeared to be improvised from miscellaneous
materials, while some of the stands were nothing more than a board
sitting on crates with goods piled on every square millimeter.
Children ran and played throughout the market as both men and women of
all ages bought and sold and even bartered various items amongst
themselves.  People glanced at her, trying to seem like they weren't
staring at her.  At least they didn't act afraid, they just didn't act
as if they got all that many strangers.  Deciding that there was
nothing she could do about her situation for the moment, she began to
browse around the stands.

"What is this?"  Sassy asked the man at one particular booth.  It  was
a potted plant, a beautiful teal color; not exactly a flower but there
were no obvious indications that it bore produce either.  Idly she
wished that she'd thought to bring a tricorder with her.

"Q'ta mo hada kixn?"

Realization dawned at the confused face of the vendor and the
unintelligible string of words from his mouth.  Without her comm
badge, she also had no universal translator.  Exhaling sharply, she
just shook her head and waved at the man to forget it.  She turned
around to view the entire area.  There were other crew members on the
planet for shore leave; if she could just find one of them, she could
have them contact Voyager to have her beamed back up.

East looked like the most promising direction, rugged hills rose up
along the north-westerly edge of the market and to the south was a
fairly desolate view.  Already formulating the choice words that she
planned to share with the Klingon over her concept of fun, she set
off. She hadn't even made it out of the common area of the marketplace
when men at each path into the compound threw off the robes that they
had been wearing to reveal weapons.  They began yelling and
brandishing their knives, swords and one, at least, had a projectile
weapon of sorts which they used to herd everyone in the marketplace
toward the open common area.  Sassy tried to slip past the two
directly in front of her, but one of them grabbed her, shoving her
back toward the center of the compound.  Regaining her balance, she
saw other men separating out women and driving off the children, old
women, and men.  There were only about eight of the attackers, easily
twice as many men had been in the marketplace a few moments before.
'So much for chivalry,' she thought, watching the men fleeing in front
of the children and elderly. Instinctively she slapped at her chest to
call for help, remembering belatedly that she didn't have a comm badge
on.  "Damn it to hell."

The stand beside her was full of some type of tools.  There were  some
heavy wooden sticks, about the length of an epee with one end
sharpened to a point.  She grabbed two of them, probably stakes for
something, and whirled around to knock the knife from the hand of the
man who had grabbed her and knocked him unconscious with a follow-up
blow from the second stick to the side of his head.

"This isn't funny, B'Elanna!" she yelled as two of the raiders  rushed
at her.  "Get me the hell out of here."

The first man to reach her had a large dagger in his hand.  She used
the sticks to deflect his intended blow just as she noticed the
projectile weapon in the second man's hands.  Cracking one of the
sticks across the knee of the closer opponent, she forced him between
that weapon and herself.  It was just in time too, in that instant,
the weapon popped and the first man stiffened and dropped to the
ground. Shifting the stick into her hand like a javelin, she breathed
a prayer of gratitude for having taken the elective physical education
course as an undergraduate.  She heaved the impromptu spear as hard as
she could and quickly turned to locate the knife that the other man
had been holding.  It felt like an eternity before she got it pried
from his fingers underneath his body and stood, bracing for the next
attack.  The image that greeted her brought a wave of horror and
nausea.  Her shot had been straight and true--the stick she had
thrown, pointed-end forward, was buried in the second man's chest.  He
was lying on the ground, his hands weakly trying to pull it out and
finally dropping, lifeless, to his sides.

The noise and chaos swirled around her, but Ceshlyta was frozen.   She
had taken a life, ended the existence of another being.  For all of
her training and practice in the ancient arts, she had never used them
against another outside of sparring and tournaments.  "I'm a college
professor," she whimpered as he died right before her eyes.

A fleeing woman jostled her out of her shock.  "Come with me!" Sassy
yelled, survival instincts kicking in.

The young woman, Akala, didn't know what the stranger had said but
she'd taken down three of the raiders so she must be a powerful
fighter.  Following the dark-haired woman out of the marketplace, she
saw two of her friends, Tilki and Zathra, and called to them to join
her.

Korl noticed the four women escaping into the wooded hills beyond  the
market.  He had just decided to let them go, there was a strange ship
in orbit and he wanted to be gone long before the authorities even
knew that they'd struck, when one of his men reported in.  Rage filled
him as he learned that the woman leading the three others had killed
Sofex, his only son.  This was Sofex's first raid, he had only
recently reached the age of manhood.  Pointing to three of his men, he
sent them after the four with instructions to capture them and rejoin
the ship or return to base but to save the strange-looking one for
him.  He directed the others to load their captives onto one of the
two shuttles hidden beyond the market--they'd leave the other for the
men heading into the hills after the escapees.

---

"Well?" Tabor asked curiously when B'Elanna reappeared at the cafe.

Shrugging, Torres sat down and started eating her lunch.  "She was
gone, no human lifesigns anywhere near the coordinates we put her down
at."

"Do you think she's all right?"  The whole thing bothered Mariah,  the
commander's wife was pretty nice.

"She probably used some old Indian trick to get back to Voyager,"
B'Elanna sneered sarcastically.  "Or she started crying so hard that
someone called the authorities and they sent her back to the ship."

"Then why aren't we being chewed out by Chakotay right now?"  Jor
spoke up between mouthfuls.

"Who cares?"

---

Just as her lungs were about to burst, Sassy caught a glimpse of a
relatively secluded grove a short way off of the path.  She veered
off, holding her arms up to protect her face from the thorny brambles
that she crashed through.  Reaching the grove, she collapsed onto the
ground gasping for breath, her entire body trembling from the exertion
of her panicked flight up the mountain.  They had kept running,
stopping to rest only briefly from time to time.  From the angle of
the sun it looked like it was almost noon now and they needed to get
their bearings.

Akala and her friends entered the grove a minute later and dropped,
exhausted, to the soft loam at the base of the trees.  Nobody had ever
escaped the raiders before, none of them knew what to do next.  People
didn't go up into the mountains either, the terrain was rugged and
treacherous and wild animals hunted at night.  How would they ever
find their way back?

Slowly catching her breath, Sassy sat up and looked over at the  three
local women who had followed her into the woods.  They were bleeding
from scratches that covered almost every area of exposed skin.  She
held her arms out and realized that her hands were also covered with
scratches; her jumpsuit had protected the rest of her body.  The
wounds were stinging slightly and blood oozed out making her hands
slick. Slipping the dagger she held into her boot, she began
investigating the nearby plants.  She knew that nature provided almost
everything one would need to survive, often putting plants with
complementary or opposite properties near one another.  If there were
thorny bushes in this area, there should be something to soothe the
scratches and prevent infection with nearby.  There it was, right at
the edge of the brambles.  The acidity of the soil was right, the
physiological features of the plant looked right.  Breaking off a
leaf, she tore it open to reveal the viscous fluid inside.  She
carefully smeared one of her scratches, biting her lip as it stung
slightly but then immediately faded taking the pain of the cut with
it.  Satisfied that it was a natural antiseptic and topical
anesthetic, she motioned to the others.

"Over here, this will help your scratches."

The blank faces reminded her that she had no way to communicate.   She
held up the leaf and exaggeratedly rubbed the liquid over the rest of
her scratches.  When the three women joined her, she pointed out the
plant that she had used.  While they were tending to their injuries,
Sassy decided to take a look around.

The trees seemed fairly sturdy so she picked what was most likely  the
tallest one around and shimmied up into the foliage.  Hoisting herself
from one branch to the next, she tested each branch thoroughly before
trusting it with her weight.  About three quarters of the way up the
tree, the branches thinned out too much for safety.  As high as she
was able to get, she surveyed the vista below.  The four had actually
made it almost a quarter of the way up the mountainside, bless the
Spirits for the effects of adrenaline.  A flash of light caught her
attention. Focusing on that area a little ways further down from where
they were, she saw a couple of figures coming up the path.  There
might have been more, she thought she saw a third shadow on the ground
when the group passed across an open section of the path.  With the
adrenaline worn off, they needed to find someplace to hide from their
pursuers.

Swiftly climbing down, she dropped the final meter or so, landing
easily on the soft mulch.  The other three had finished treating their
wounds and the one who had bumped into her in the market turned to her
with a questioning expression.  Pointing to the ground Sassy went down
to one knee and brushed away the groundcover to bare a patch of dirt.
She sketched out a mountain with four dots a quarter of the way up,
indicating the four of them.  Then she drew two circles further down,
shrugged and added a third to indicate their pursuers.  Wishing that
she could reassure them, she took solace in the knowledge that
Chakotay would come for her as soon as he knew that she was in
trouble.  He'd already know if that Klingon half-breed hadn't pulled
her little stunt. Of course, if Torres hadn't pulled her stunt, she
wouldn't have been in that marketplace, wouldn't have killed . . .
Sassy quickly banished that train of thought.  They just had to stay
ahead of their pursuers until she was missed on Voyager.  The path was
definitely out but she had seen some caves off to their left and
further up a distance.  She quickly grabbed a handful of the plant
leaves and stuffed them in her jumpsuit pockets, just in case.
Motioning to the others, she started off through the underbrush,
carefully scrutinizing the trees and plants that they passed for
anything else that might be useful or edible.

---

"Incoming message, sir," Ayala announced from the Ops console.  Beta
shift had just begun barely five minutes before.

Tuvok put the PADD of reports he'd been reviewing down.  "On  screen."

The familiar, compressed features, short, bristly hair and swirled
skin mottling of the Security Minister appeared on the viewscreen.
"Ah, Commander Tuvok, it is nice to see you again although I do regret
the circumstances."

The Vulcan acknowledged the curious greeting.  He had spent several
hours reviewing the laws of the Techan culture as well as Starfleet
regulations with the minister before the crew had been granted shore
leave.  "What can we do for you, Minister Grisk?"

"Actually, this is an official notification.  Raiders struck one of
the local markets on the outskirts of the capital earlier today."  The
security minister paused, he hated making these calls.

Tuvok rose from the command chair.  "Do you have reason to believe
that Voyager crew members were involved?"

"According to the reports, there was a stranger in the market just
before the attack.  Descriptions of her arrival suggest the use of
your transporter method and the description of her appearance suggests
that she was one of your kind--like your captain."  It had taken most
of the day to sort the disjointed reports out.  The children and
elderly were easily confused but the men rarely gave complete reports,
not wanting to admit how easily they fled.

"Human?"

Grisk nodded yes.  "I'm sorry to inform you that your crew member  has
been abducted.  My condolences on your loss."

---

Chakotay arrived at his quarters, opening his uniform jacket as he
strode down the corridor.  It had been a long shift and he'd been glad
when the time came to turn the Bridge over to Tuvok for Beta shift.
The captain was having dinner with the Commerce Minister and the
Science Minister to discuss possible goods and information exchanges.
He was surprised that Sassy hadn't called to let him know when she'd
returned to the ship.  Entering their quarters, the lights were still
out so she obviously hadn't been back there since that morning.  He
figured that she had gone to the garden and lost track of time.  He
was about to activate his comm badge when it chirped under his
fingers.  "Chakotay here."

Tuvok's voice came through.  "Commander, could you return to the
Bridge?  We have just received a report from the Techan Minister of
Security regarding a possible missing crew member."

"Who?"  Alarm sparked in the pit of his stomach.

"Unknown, I have issued an order recalling all crew to the ship,"  the
Vulcan replied.

Already fastening his jacket, he asked.  "Has B'Elanna and her group
reported back?"

"Lieutenant Torres and her party returned almost two hours ago."   The
reply came after a brief pause.

Relieved, Chakotay left the quarters and headed for the turbolift.
"Contact the captain and assemble senior staff in the conference room.
I'm on my way."

---

"Ensign Kim."

Harry paused in the doorway of his quarters.  His shift was over and
he'd been planning to head down to Techora for a little while.

Seven of Nine briskly closed the distance between them.  She had
reviewed his data and found them to be within an acceptable error
range.  Immediately following her duty shift, she had sought out the
ensign to apprise him of her analysis.

"Seven . . . hi."  He was surprised to see her and wasn't sure what
it meant.

Handing him back the PADD that he'd given her that morning, she
stated, "I corrected some of your values; however, the results still
indicate an overall compatibility of 87.49%, a satisfactory result."
She was uncomfortable but uncertain as to why.  The thought of
spending significant amounts of time in the company of Ensign Kim was
pleasing, even something to be anticipated given their pleasurable
interaction in Sickbay and her dream.  Then why was her heart beating
3% more rapidly than normal?  "I have not had the opportunity to
review the database regarding human relationships," she offered,
somewhat hesitantly.  "So I am unsure as to the next appropriate
action."

Meanwhile, Harry was stunned.  If he was hearing this right, she   was
agreeing to a relationship with him.

"All senior staff report to the conference room."  Tuvok's voice  over
the intraship communications system interrupted their conversation.

'No!'  Kim's mind screamed.  'Five more minutes, I just need--'

"Perhaps we can discuss this later?" Seven asked, disappointed.  She
wanted to know what his response was but this was a personal
conversation and being summoned to the conference room meant that this
was no longer personal time.

Morosely, he nodded and followed her to the turbolift.  Just his  luck
it would be a temporal anomaly and this whole incident would get wiped
from everyone's memory.  Standing beside the beautiful, blonde
perfection in the lift, he muttered, "a date.  Next we go on a date."

"That would be acceptable," she replied as she exited the turbolift.

---

A muffled scream broke Sassy's concentration.  This section of the
mountain was rocky with juts of sharp crags and deep clefts within the
rock face.  The four had rested a bit before picking their way up
toward the caves.  Turning back, two of the women were looking over a
ledge.

Akala could only watch in horror as Tilki lost her balance and fell
into the darkness below, listening to her screams of fear.  Zathra was
right behind her and neither of them could catch her in time.  The
stranger came and immediately figured out what had happened.

Peering down the side of the mountain, Sassy could just make out
where the third woman had landed approximately fifteen meters below.
The woman was moving, trying to get up.  It just didn't seem right to
leave her down there like that, somehow she'd become the de facto
leader of this group.  It looked like a fairly routine climb down to
where the woman lay.  She motioned for the other two to stay put and
swung herself over the ledge.  "I'm just a college professor," she
whimpered softly, inching her way down the face of the rock.

---

Everyone on the senior staff was at the table in the conference room
except Janeway and Tuvok.

"Harry," Chakotay addressed the ensign while they waited.  "Were
there any interrupted communications from the surface during Alpha
Shift?"

"No, sir."

They all turned to look as the door slid open.  "What do we know?"
Captain Janeway strode in briskly and immediately started the
briefing.

Chakotay filled her in.  "The Security Minister notified us that one
of our crew members was abducted during a raid earlier today."

"Who?"

"That is, apparently, still unknown."  Tuvok had entered the room
just as Janeway asked her question.  Taking his seat, he explained.
"All of the crew have reported back, no one is unaccounted for."

Neelix looked from the captain to the security chief as he voiced
everyone's confusion.  "Then what makes the Techans think that a
member of Voyager's crew has been taken?"

"Minister Grisk received reports of a human female in the  marketplace
which was attacked," Tuvok replied.

"Where?"  B'Elanna had a bad feeling about this.

Pulling up a sensor chart of Techora, the security chief zoomed the
image in to focus on the capital city.  "This market on the western
outskirts of the capital."

Harry watched a curious mix of reactions cross the chief engineer's
face.  "Something wrong, B'Elanna?"

Not wanting to see the look on Chakotay's face, B'Elanna locked her
gaze on the surface of the table.  "It was just a joke, nothing was
supposed to happen to her."

"Nothing was supposed to happen to who?" Janeway addressed Torres.

"I went back and scanned for her a couple of hours later but I
couldn't locate any human readings so I figured she'd found her own
way back."

Tom made the connection.  "Sassy?"

The Klingon's response was a silent nod.

"Where is Sassy?"  Chakotay didn't wait for an answer, accessing the
computer instead.  "Computer, locate Ceshlyta."

"Professor Ceshlyta is currently in her quarters."

"Her comm badge," B'Elanna clarified, still focusing on the table.
"She was in the market that was raided."

Everyone flinched when Chakotay slammed his hands on the table.   "YOU
PUT HER ON THE PLANET BY HERSELF?"  He rose from his chair and leaned
over the table toward the chief engineer.  "She's a civilian with no
space travel experience and she's been unaccounted for, without
communication ability, for over eight hours?"

"I never meant--" she started to explain.

"That doesn't do Sassy much good now, does it!" the first officer
interrupted.  "If anything's happened to her . . . "

Janeway put a restraining hand on his arm.  "Tuvok, have Lieutenant
Torres secured in the brig.  We'll decide what to do with her once
we've found our missing member."

"Let me help find her," B'Elanna requested as the door slid open to
admit two security officers.  "It's my fault she's missing, let me fix
it."

"You've done enough."  Chakotay's jaw twitched, the muscles tightly
clenched in barely restrained fury.  "Get out of my sight."

"Bridge to the captain."  The exchange was overridden by a call of
Ayala.  The security officers quietly escorted Torres out of the
conference room.

Watching her first officer sit back down, Janeway responded.  "Go
ahead."

"Minister Grisk is hailing with more information," the ensign
informed her.

"Put him through."

The Starfleet symbol on the monitor was replaced by the image of the
security minister sitting at his desk in the Ministry of Security.
"Captain Janeway, may I once again offer my profuse condolences in
your time of sorrow."

"What can you tell us about these raiders?"  Janeway wasted no time
on pleasantries.

Grisk hesitated before answering.  "They're slavers, Captain.  They
strike randomly at all of the planets in this system, taking women but
leaving behind the very young and the very old.  It's been going on
for generations."

"Where do they live?"  Chakotay just wanted to find his wife.

"We don't know.  Our ships are cargo and passenger vessels with a  top
speed of Warp 2--on a good day."  The minister pointed out.  "Their
ships can do at least twice that.  All of the planets in this system
are inhabited and regular targets for the slavers so we have
determined that they do not inhabit our system."

Tom had a question.  "If it's been going on for so long, why haven't
you just built faster ships?"

"Cost effectiveness," came the chilling reply.  "They alternate
planets, never hitting the same one twice in a row.  A handful of
women every few years just isn't worth the expense of designing or
building a ship just to catch them."

"It's cheaper to be hunted, apparently."  The Doctor's remark was
only loud enough for the Voyager crew to hear.

Janeway shot a silencing glance to the EMH and addressed Minister
Grisk.  "Our ship is faster.  What can you tell us about their vessel
and when they would have left the area this morning."

"Don't waste your time, Captain."  Grisk shook his head to emphasize
his words.  "They've been in the hands of the slavers for more than
seven hours now."

"What's your point?"  Chakotay's tone was short and clipped.

"They're the property of the slavers now," the Minister explained.
"By now they've gotten to the next system and been marked and claimed;
once that's done, the women are their legal property according to the
laws of the other systems.  Your own Starfleet rules, as your
Commander Tuvok explained them, require you to abide by local law.  By
the property laws of any other system in this area, she is no longer a
member of your crew.  She'll probably be sold at auction in one of the
neighboring systems at some point in the next few months."

"NO!"  Chakotay's response was loud and immediate.

Janeway motioned for her first officer to calm down.  "We are
required to respect local laws but by your own admission she committed
no crime. She was abducted against her will and the Federation has not
recognized slavery for centuries.  We will retrieve our missing crew
member, Minister, with or without your help."  Her tone left no room
for discussion.

"Could I meet with the representatives from the other planets in  this
system?"  Neelix jumped into his ambassadorial role.  "Perhaps they
have some information that could help."

Yielding to the inevitable, Grisk sighed.  "I'll contact them and
have all of their information on the slaver ship transmitted to you as
well as all of our information."  He reached forward on his desk and
closed the transmission.

"We'll find her, Chakotay," Janeway assured him quietly.  Addressing
the rest of the staff, she began issuing orders.  "Harry and Seven,
review the sensor logs from this morning.  Account for every ship
within sensor range focusing on all traffic to and from the planet
surface from 0700 to 1500.  Plot probable courses for any ships
leaving the area or even passing through the area.  Neelix, you and
Tom start meeting with the representatives from the other planets.
They may be able to provide something not in the reports that might
help.  Tuvok, work with Minister Grisk to compile a report on these
sl--raiders."  She quickly corrected herself, thinking that Chakotay
didn't need to hear the word slaver any more right then.  "I want to
know as much as possible about what we're dealing with."

"Is there anything I can do, Captain."  The EMH hated feeling
helpless.

"Work with Tom and Neelix," she advised.  "Time is of the essence
here, people.  The faster we get this information together, the sooner
we get Sassy back.  Dismissed."  As everyone filed out to get to their
assignments, she studied her first officer.  "I'd ask if you want to
be excused but I know the answer to that already.  Sassy needs clear
heads right now, not rash emotions."  It would probably make more
sense to relieve him of duty, no doubt Tuvok with his Vulcan logic
would recommend that she do just that.  In her opinion, however, right
now he needed to do something.

"I know."

"Then take the Bridge and coordinate everyone's efforts.  I want
options as soon as possible."  Janeway stood.  "I'll be in my ready
room."

For a long moment Chakotay sat there in the empty room feeling more
alone than he'd ever felt before.  He turned his hand over and traced
his wedding ring marking.  "Aalm a aalm, seek and find,"  he whispered
in the silence.  "I'm coming, sweetheart, just hold on."

---

Letting go of her fingerhold, Sassy dropped down beside the injured
woman.  She had landed on a trail lower down that appeared to wind up
and around the face of the mountain.  Kneeling, she began skimming her
hands along the other woman's body to check for broken bones and
trying to be gentle over the scratches and fresh abrasions from the
fall.  The Techan was alert, that was a good sign.  The bad news was
her lower left leg--it was badly broken, the bone piercing the skin.
Even though she knew that the other woman couldn't understand, she
laid her hand on the woman's shoulder and reassured her.  "I'll be
right back.  I need to find some sticks for a splint before I set
this."

On this section of the trail, the treeline ended only a dozen or so
meters back.  Jogging the short distance, she reached the trees in no
time and began looking for two short, sturdy and relatively straight
sticks among the broken branches and twigs scattered on the ground.
Cutting the sticks directly from the trees was an absolute last
resort, she resolved.  A large limb was lying at the base of one of
the trees, probably felled by a storm.  It would be dark within a
couple of hours she guessed, judging by the patches of sky that she
could see through the tree tops.  Just in case Chakotay couldn't her
by then, she should probably prepare to spend the night.  Quickly
gathering roots, herbs and some fruits that looked safe, she tied her
belt around the tree section and pulled it along to the trail.

When she returned to the injured woman, she discovered that the  other
two Techans had found a way down and were sitting with their friend.
Wasting no time, she set out the sticks for the splint and carefully
cut strips from the bottom of the injured woman's dress for binding.
None of the women looked like they had any clue as to what she was
about to do.  "Damn you, B'Elanna," Sassy muttered about the lack of
communication.

Akala had been horrified at Tilki's injury when Zathra and she had
arrived below.  They were so far away from the medical clinics and no
way to call for assistance.  The stranger returned then, her pockets
bulging and dragging a large tree limb behind her.  From the gestures
that the stranger made, it seemed like she was going to try to fix
Tilki's leg and wanted them to hold her down.  She nodded to Zathra
and the two held tight, cringing as the stranger wrenched the leg
viciously.  Tilki screamed and struggled but the bone was no longer
jutting out through the skin.

Sassy found the moss and medicinal herbs that she's collected among
the other items in the pockets of her jumpsuit.  Adding herbs to the
moss, she laid the crude poultice on the jagged gash where the skin
had been pierced.  She tied it in place with a strip of cloth and
applied the splint around the bandage.  With the two Techans on each
side helping the injured woman hobble along the trail, she scouted
ahead and located a cave about an hours hike from where the woman had
fallen.

The sun was almost gone and Techora had no moon, so nighttime was
pitch black.  Working by feel, Sassy used the knife against the cave
wall to spark the dry leaves from the tree limb that she'd piled up
for tinder. In a short time she had a small fire going inside the
cave.  It was far enough back in the cave that it wouldn't blow out so
she left and headed back down the trail to find the three women and
lead them to the cave. Stars twinkled against the black canvas of
space as they worked their way up to the soft glow of the fire that
she'd started.

"Chakotay, mi aalm, where are you?  I need you."  The plea was
whispered into the night before she turned her attention to emptying
her pockets of the food and herbs that she'd collected.  They needed
to get the injured woman settled and all of them needed to eat, it had
been a long day.  If they were still here in the morning she'd have to
erase their trail to the cave, find a water source and collect more
food. She'd also have to find more of the moss and herbs for the
poultice. "I'm just a college professor,"  she sighed.

---

"Any luck?"  B'Elanna sprang from the cot when Tom entered.

Nodding to the security officer on duty, he excused the man to give
them some privacy.  "No, nothing yet.  None of the delegates were able
to tell us anything useful.  We're going to have to chase down every
ion trail in the area and hope we get lucky."

"Have you--?"

"What were you thinking?  Do you hate her that much?"  He hadn't  been
able to make sense of why she'd done this.  He also hadn't been able
to shake the feeling that it was all his fault for even suggesting
that the two spend the day together.  "Jor, Tabor and Henley have all
been confined to quarters for their part in this."

"It was all my doing, they weren't responsible."  She paced the
length of her cell.  "I didn't want anything to happen to her, I just
wanted . . ."

"What?"

Frustration exploded.  "I don't know!"  Taking a deep breath, she
continued.  "She's just so . . . Sometimes I want to . . . I just
don't like her."

Tom stood next to the forcefield separating them.  "Why?"

"She's taking my place."  She hated the petulant tone of her voice.

"You're an engineer, Voyager's best engineer, and she's a botanist.
How can she be doing that?"

Plopping back down on the cot, she shrugged.  "Not like that, I mean
. . . on the ship, socially.  Before she got here, next to Janeway I
was the top woman on the ship; people came to me about things.  Now
SHE's having coffee and spending time on the holodeck with Janeway and
calling her Kathryn, people go to the garden and talk to HER--even
Harry went to HER for advice about something.  And she's so simpering
and omniscient about it."  She did an exaggerated impersonation of
Sassy.  "All planets are merely bodies among the stars."

Tom wished that she'd told him this before he'd suggested their  shore
leave.  "Was that when you decided to do this?  When Harry thanked
her?"

The Klingon silently nodded.

"B'Elanna, she's just trying to fit in, to make a life here."  He
held his hands out to forestall the outburst that he could see coming.
"I'm not taking her side but I can't take your side either.  Whether
you meant it or not, Sassy is missing and in trouble.  Chakotay's
pretty upset and so is Janeway."

"Ensign Paris, report to the Bridge."  Chakotay's voice came through
his comm badge.

Tom had one parting comment.  "Take it from an experienced
troublemaker, think about what you did and why.  Chakotay will want an
answer and I don't think he'll like that one."  Just as the door slid
open, he turned back.  "I love you, B'Elanna, no matter what."

She ignored the security officer who had unobtrusively returned to
his post and laid down on the cot.

---

"Take the helm, Mr. Paris."  Janeway had resumed command and, while
Chakotay should have been resting,--he'd been up for close to
thirty-six hours at this point--he was determinedly sitting at his
post to her left.  Tuvok and Harry also manned their usual stations.

"Do we have something to go on?"  Tom quickly commandeered the
pilot's chair.

Harry answered.  "We've narrowed it down to eleven possibilities
along four different vectors.  One of those vectors leads deeper into
this system and toward more populated areas so that's the least likely
option.  That still leaves us nine ships in three different direction.
I'm sending you the first set of course coordinates now."  His fingers
danced across the console.  "Four of the nine went in this general
direction."

"Engage, warp six,"  the captain ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

---

Sassy searched the night sky.  "Chakotay, where are you?"  She sat
outside the cave in the darkness of the night.  A soft glow emanated
from the cave entrance a few meters behind her.  Involuntarily the
muscles of her mouth twitched, remembering the story Tom had told
about the time that Chakotay hadn't been able to get a fire going.
Score one for the Inihasa.

It had been a long day, but a productive one.  She'd located a  stream
nearby with fronds on its bank large enough to bring water back for
the injured woman.  She had also located more of the herbs and moss
necessary for changing the poultice.  One of the other women had
started to develop an infection in one of her scratches but Sassy was
fairly sure that she had gotten to it in time.  All day she'd been
expecting to see Starfleet uniforms or the inside of a transporter
room at any instant.  Now, after night had fallen and still no rescue,
she was exhausted.  She felt like breaking down and having herself a
good cry but there were three women in that cave who needed her to be
strong.

"Akoochimoya, I am far from the sacred bones of my ancestors," she
fingered her bracelet as she prayed.  "But perhaps there is a
benevolent spirit who will guide mi aalm in his efforts to find me."
Sitting in the quiet blackness, she also sought answers.  Should she
stay put until she was found and rescued?  Or should she head back
down the mountain with the other women and risk getting caught in
whatever conflict had begun in that marketplace?  Maybe if she knew
what had happened in the market she could make a better decision; but
without being able to communicate with the locals, she was on her own.

---

"Leave."  Chakotay stood in the doorway, staring intently at the
prisoner in the cell as he spoke to the security officer on duty.

Ensign Molina fidgeted nervously.  "I'm sorry, sir.  I can't do
that."

Turning his angry expression on the ensign, he barked.  "That was an
order."

"You're not to be left alone with Lieutenant Torres, Commander's
Tuvok's orders."

"I outrank him," the first officer pointed out sharply.

"Yes, sir.  Why don't I call him down here?"  Molina definitely
wanted some back-up.

Chakotay exhaled slowly.  "Never mind."  He walked over to stand in
front of the cell.

"Have you found her yet?" B'Elanna asked softly.  She could face  just
about anything except the silence of her friend and former captain.

"No," he shook his head never taking his gaze from her.  "We've just
wasted eight hours on a dead end and it'll take another six to alter
course to run down the next possibilities."

She couldn't stand to see the coldness in his eyes any longer.  She
spun around and began meandering around her cell aimlessly.  "I'm
sorry, Chakotay."

"Why?"

The one word asked a multitude of questions and B'Elanna heard them
all.  "I never meant for anything like this to happen.  I just wanted
to rattle her, give her a life experience.  I did try to beam her back
after a couple of hours but she was gone by then.  I figured that
she'd found her own way back."  She paused to sneak a glance at the
stoic Indian.  "Sassy's just . . . I don't think she's good enough for
you. She's too weak and I thought if I showed her--and you . . . "
There really wasn't any way to end that sentence since she'd never
thought that far ahead.

"So you were doing me a favor."  His tone was icy flat.

Put like that it didn't sound right.  "No," she sighed.  "I was  doing
something stupid and impulsive.  I don't like her and I let it get out
of hand."

"What about Tabor, Jor and Henley?"  He hadn't talked to them yet.

"They thought it was a practical joke.  Mariah wasn't really
comfortable with it but all they did was keep their mouths shut.  I
reprogrammed the transporter and set everything up."  There was no
point in getting the other three in trouble too.

Chakotay almost wished that the others had played a more active part
in all of this; it would have been less of a betrayal somehow.  "They
conspired to place a civilian from this ship in danger.  They'll be
disciplined appropriately."

B'Elanna couldn't bring herself to ask about her punishment.

"You'll remain in the brig until we find Sassy.  Once we've got her
back, we'll decide how to deal with you."  He wanted to deal with her
now, but the captain had convinced him to wait.  "She's my heart, my
soul."  His voice cracked.

"It was just a joke," she whispered.

He spun sharply on his heel to leave.  "It wasn't funny."

---

Sassy reached the wooded grove that she'd discovered the day before.
She was starting to worry about Voyager.  It shouldn't have taken them
a day and a half from when they discovered her missing to find her and
yet this was their third day in the mountains.  Maybe there was
something in the planet's geology that was interfering with their
sensors.  At least the injured woman was doing all right.  The
poultice was helping with the pain and preventing infection, there'd
been no fever or pus from the wound.  A small animal crossed between a
couple of trees just in front of her.  She'd thought about doing some
hunting the day before and had even found some supple wood that would
make a perfect bow and arrows with her bootlace for a bowstring.  Her
maternal grandfather had taken all of the kids in her family, at
different times, down to the jungles on Earth to teach them the old
ways-- survival, hunting and respect for nature's beauty and danger.
As soon as she'd started working on the bow, an image of the man she'd
impaled with that crude spear in the marketplace had flashed across
her mind.  Nausea turned her stomach and she'd flung the wood into the
fire.  They could survive on a vegetarian diet until they were
rescued, assuming that they hadn't given her up for dead and left
orbit.  Maybe, she surmised, digging up some tubers at the base of a
large, old tree, something had happened to B'Elanna and they don't
know what happened to me.  Something had better have happened to that
Klingon bitch or something would happen if and when she got back to
Voyager.  Stabbing the knife into the ground, she decided that they'd
start back down the mountain the next day.  It would probably take
them a couple of days to make it back to the city because of the
injured woman.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that it was a complete shock to
feel someone grab her left shoulder tightly and bark out something
unintelligible.  She'd forgotten about their pursuers!  The knife was
in her right hand and she twisted to her left, intending to slash his
thigh.  Unfortunately, her move threw the man off balance and, instead
of her original target, the knife drove into the bulge at the juncture
of his thighs.  To judge by the high-pitched squeal that he let out,
his kind must be fairly physiologically similar to human males.  She
jerked the knife free and the raider dropped to the ground holding
himself and whimpering.  She wiped the blade clean on his pants and
slid the knife into her boot.

Frantically, she stuffed the tubers into her pockets and gathered  the
moss and herbs that she needed to change the poultice.  She was out of
breath when she finally reached the relative safety of the cave.  The
three Techans eyed her hesitantly when she entered and she glanced
down to see bloodstains along her right sleeve and across the front of
her jumpsuit.  Too shaken and tired to even attempt an explanation in
the cross between sign language and charades that they'd been
communicating with, Sassy just slumped down against the wall of the
cave.  "I'm a college professor," she mumbled, tears blurring her
vision.

---

The garden was silent and dark at the early morning hour.  The  lights
were programmed to a twenty-four hour cycle and would begin increasing
the lighting in a few hours.  Chakotay wandered through the maze of
trees, plants and flowers.  He had been in the garden at the beginning
of the daytime cycle a few times.  It almost looked like a sunrise
with reddish-orange light rising slowly and brightening gradually to a
sunlight ambience.  Thinking back to the crude hydroponics bay that
they had before Sassy came, it was hard to believe how much she
brought to the ship--to his life.

There was a PADD sitting on her workbench and he picked it up,
scanning the information that it displayed.  Notes from several
crewmembers were there, detailing the chores that they had completed
in the garden. People were coming in on their own time to take care of
Sassy's garden in her absence.  He set the PADD back down, tracing
over the display screen in unspoken gratitude to those individuals
listed.  He wondered where she was, what was happening to her.  The
image of his soulmate, stripped, beaten and bound while those
animals--

His fist pounded the workbench as he forced his thoughts away from
that gruesome picture.  Instead, he focused on a memory of her wild
and unrestrained.  The first of many times that they'd gone horseback
riding together.  He'd met her in the holodeck expecting an afternoon
of riding horses and a picnic lunch.  Sitting down on a bench in the
garden, he let his mind wander.

She had ridden up, her long, black hair blowing free in the breeze.
Wearing a strapless sundress, she coyly informed him that she'd
planned for them to ride double.  After he'd mounted the horse, she
swung up in front of him.  Her small hand slipped between their bodies
to deftly unfasten his uniform pants.  She'd stroked the hardening
length with long, firm caresses.  Stripping his jacket and shirt off,
she'd run her hands up his arms and along his chest.  He shuddered as
he remembered how her fingernail felt as they lightly grazed his
nipples.  She had found his mouth with hers, slipping her tongue
between his lips to explore and tantalize him.  Without breaking the
kiss, she'd shifted herself up and mounted him in one fluid motion.

He still couldn't recall how he'd managed to stay on the horse let
alone nudge the animal into a walk.  Every step rocked them together,
creating a slow, erotic tempo.  The hardened tips of her breasts
stroked against his chest even through the fabric of her dress.  He
vividly remembered the feeling of her, hot and tight around him,
moaning in his ear, her hand running up and down his back restlessly,
sparking his sensitized skin with each caress.  He'd pulled her
strapless bodice down easily, baring her breasts.  He buried his hand
in her hair and bent her back, forcing the ripe, full mounds up to
meet his hot, questing mouth. Her small hands rested on his arms, he
remembered, a knot of emotion in his throat at the complete trust she
had shown for him to hold her securely.  She had come as his mouth
closed over a straining, tawny peak, his tongue lapping at the
hardened nipple.  Her lithe body had bucked against him as she cried
out with pleasure.   He hadn't stopped, continuing to lavish her body
with erotic pleasure as their bodies rocked together in time with the
pace of the horse.

After a second release gripped her, the frantic movements had  spurred
the horse to a trot, forcing him to release her and concentrate on
riding.  She'd sat back up and wrapped herself around him, her breasts
crushed against the wall of his chest.  She had been whimpering
ceaselessly in his ear even as her body still quivered, the pace of
the horse driving him into her even faster.  Her nails dug furrows
down his back in her mindless ecstasy.  Then he'd urged the horse into
a gallop. She was trembling uncontrollably around him, release after
release rippling through her.  When her mouth found his shoulder, her
sharp, white teeth digging into his skin . . .

"Chakotay."

Lost in his reverie, he hadn't heard the door to the garden slide
open.

"I thought I sent you to your quarters."  Janeway had gone to give
him an update and discovered that he wasn't there.

Starting to rise from the bench, he sat back down at her gesture and
motioned for her to join him.  "Actually, you relieved me of duty."

"You need to rest,"  she urged, worried about her first officer.

Chakotay rubbed his face briskly with his hands.  "How can someone
who's been part of my life for such a short time make those quarters
feel so empty with her absence?"

Yet another time that she wished for a ship's counselor.  "We got a
message from Techora, they were able to eliminate the question of two
of the ships, that leaves us three probables and two possibles.  That
should cut a few hours off the search."

"How soon?"

"We should intercept our next target in about three hours."
Interpreting his question, she gave the latest ETA.

He stared at the strawberry patch in front of him.  "I never said
goodbye, I didn't even kiss her before I walked away from her that
morning."

She didn't know how to respond to that.  If they ever got back to  the
Alpha Quadrant, her first recommendation would be mandatory psychology
courses for all command level officers.

"It's all my fault," he sighed.

Turning to him, Janeway put her hand on his shoulder.  "How can you
even think that?"

"I've been pushing Sassy and B'Elanna together since she got here,
including the shore leave on Techora together.  She wasn't planning to
leave the ship without me."  He had been mentally castigating himself
for that since her absence had been discovered.  "Of course, if it
weren't for me, she wouldn't be here anyway.  I left my path to pursue
vengeance, that's how I got here.  She doesn't deserve this life."

"She's very happy here,"  Kathryn spoke from experience after
spending long hours in Sassy's company over coffee, herb teas and
holonovels. She, too, was concerned about the loss of a woman who had
become her only real friend on a ship full of subordinates.

"It's only recently that she's been able to have the viewports open
without feeling uncomfortable,"  he pointed out.  "She's never lived
aboard a ship before."

"We'll find her,"  Janeway wished that she felt as certain about  that
as she tried to sound.

Chakotay turned his palm over to eye his wedding rings.  "But what
they're doing to her . . . she's been so sheltered her whole life.
She's a college professor, she won't be able to handle it."

Kathryn forced his eyes to meet hers.  "Then she'll need us to help
her."

"I pulled up her listing on the ship's roster,"  he strayed from the
subject.  "There's no record of our marriage.  If I lose her now--"

"You won't."

"If we can't find her," he reiterated.  "Officially our union would
never have existed.  None of what we have would have been real."

She had never considered their marital status.  When Sassy had come
aboard, appearing in Chakotay's quarters with a matching mark of
intertwined circles from their ethereal wedding, it had just been
accepted that they were husband and wife.  He was right, though;
without witnesses or any documentation, there couldn't be an official
record of their marriage in the ship's log.  "What the two of you feel
for each other is real, an entry in a log can't change that."

Searching the face of his friend and captain, he went on.  "If--when
we get Sassy back, I want an official wedding with witnesses and
everything.  Would you perform the ceremony?"

Kathryn had never seen her first officer as happy and content in
their first four years together as he'd been since Ceshlyta had been
in his life.  "I'd be honored."

Chakotay nodded, managing a brief smile, and returned to his
contemplation of the ripening strawberries, still slightly green.

"But first,"  Janeway stood.  "We have to find the bride and you,"
she leveled her gaze at him.  "You have to get some sleep, even if I
have to get the Doctor to sedate you.  Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."  He rose from the bench and followed her out of the
garden.  "Kathryn,"  he stopped her before the door opened.  "Thank
you."

"It's not often I get to give fate a helping hand," she noted,
exiting the garden.

---

Sassy tested the bindings on the makeshift travois one last time.
She wanted to get an early start down the mountainside, although it
would take them the better part of two days to travel the distance
they'd covered in a matter of hours in their flight from the market.
In her pocket were a couple of rocks with flint-like qualities--she
never thought she'd have ever needed the geology/mineralogy course
she'd taken as a college freshman.   Her other pockets were stuffed
with herbs for the medicinal poultices and some tubers and roots for
food in case they were forced to camp in areas with limited foraging.
Convinced that she was as ready as she'd ever be, she woke the other
women and put out the fire, scattering the ashes.

Three days on this mountain and beginning a fourth, she tried to not
think about what it meant that Chakotay still hadn't come for her.
What would she do if Voyager had left orbit and abandoned her on this
planet?  She gazed wistfully at her wedding bands on the palm of her
hand, at least she had their marriage and the memory of their time
together.  No matter what happened, nothing could ever take that away.

Shaking herself back to the moment, she motioned for the two Techan
women to help her move the injured woman onto the travois.  It had
taken hours the previous night to explain that she wanted to go back
down the mountain and how they would get the woman with the broken leg
down the mountain with them.  Carefully sliding her over, she checked
to make sure the woman was comfortable and gestured for her two
friends to grab the litter.  She picked her way down in front of them,
seeking a path that would jostle the injured woman as little as
possible.  She would scout ahead as much as possible for places that
they could stop, rest and change places at the front of the travois.
The grove that they had stopped at in their panicked flight before
would make a good place to stop for the night once they got there.

Briefly, she remembered the last time that she'd been lost in the
wilderness.  Well, not lost really, she'd gotten separated from the
rest of her party during a sabbatical studying endangered plants in
the jungles of Central America.  She'd taken shelter in the ruins of
an abandoned village, made camp and settled in to wait out an unusual
storm.  Instead, she'd gotten married at the temple of the Sky Spirits
and ended up on a starship in the Delta Quadrant.  Her life was a far
cry from the simple existence of the Professor of Botanical Sciences
for the Ohio State University that she once lived.

---

"According to the sensors, the ship that traveled along this course,
most likely landed on the class M planet approximately two light-years
away," Harry announced from Ops.

Chakotay perched forward in his chair.  Four days, four agonizing,
frustrating days since Sassy had disappeared.  This had to be it, this
ship had to be the one that had taken her.  After some fitful hours of
sleep and a hot meal, Kathryn had relented and allowed him to return
to duty.  "Life signs?"

"Unable to scan, sensors are detecting one settlement but they've  got
some sort of energy field around the entire site."

Janeway emerged from her ready room during their exchange.  "Let's
have a chat with them.  Hail them."

"Captain,"  Tuvok interrupted from the security console.  "If they
are involved in the commerce of females, perhaps our conversation
would be more efficacious if you were not part of the discussion.  No
disrespect intended."

The Captain turned to her security chief.  "A Vulcan suggesting
deception?  Tuvok, I'm impressed."  She nodded to her first officer.
"Can you handle this?"  Her look held a myriad of unspoken concerns.

Steeling himself, Chakotay stood resolutely.

After a brief delay, Kim nodded to the captain.  "They're
responding."

As Janeway moved back into the shadows, the commander took charge.
"On screen."  When the alien captain's face filled the viewscreen, he
adjusted his uniform jacket and introduced himself.  "I am Commander
Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager."

"Korl."

When no other information was forthcoming, he surged forward.  "I'm
looking for a woman.  I understand that you might be able to help me."

"Well, we don't normally do private sales, but for the right price  we
may be able to work something out.  I'll have the barrier lowered so
that you can come down to look over the merchandise.  It'll just take
a few minutes."  The viewscreen suddenly went black.

"He cut the transmission at his end,"  Harry explained.

Janeway was already working at one of the secondary consoles on the
bridge.  "As soon as he lowers that shield, Harry, give me a full
sensor sweep of the base.  Tuvok, locate their shield generator and
analyze options for disabling it."

Chakotay was already heading for the turbolift.  "He's invited us
down.  Tuvok, I'll need a couple of male security officers to meet me
in Transporter Room One."

Exchanging glances with the captain, Tuvok motioned for another
security officer to take his place and removed a phaser from the
console.  "Mr. Paris and I will accompany you."

Tom was out of his seat in a flash.  "I'll run by Sickbay and pick  up
a medkit and meet you in the transporter room."

---

A short while later, they materialized in the center of the compound
on the planet.  Chakotay looked around, noting the arrangement of the
buildings and defensive capabilities.  The alien who had answered
their earlier hail was walking toward them with two other males.
Nobody seemed to be paying them much attention, but the ones who
looked to be on sentry duty did take note of their numbers and
weapons.  There were women from more than a half dozen different
races, naked and trembling, chained to posts ringing the compound.
All of them bore long, red welts crisscrossing their backs and parts
of their arms and legs. Surreptitiously, he searched every face hoping
that he'd find Sassy but not wanting to see her in such a condition.

On Voyager, Janeway listened to every sound from the surface.  The
away team had an open comm link so that if there was any trouble, they
could be retrieved.

"The energy field went back up as soon as they appeared," Harry
reported.  "It doesn't seem to interfere with our communications."  He
sighed in disappointment.  "There were no human lifesigns detected
while the barrier was down."

"At the first sign of trouble," she commanded the officer manning
the security station.  "Target their shield generator and fire
phasers."

Down on the surface, Korl bowed in greeting to the strangers.
"Commander . . . Chakotay, I believe."

"Yes."

The slaver gestured around.  "Do you see anything you like?"

"The Commander's tastes are very unique," Tom spoke up quickly.
"Perhaps a private place to discuss the specifics?"

"Of course, come with me."  Korl led them across the compound to his
private residence.

Alone with the slaver, the images of what those women had been
through haunted Chakotay's thoughts.

"Now, what did you have in mind?"  The slaver brought out the
catalog of their current inventory.

"You raided a planet in the Quel-car system approximately a week
ago. Where is the human female you captured there?"  Tuvok wasted no
time with pleasantries or subterfuge.  He gestured silently to Tom who
slipped over to the door to guard it, his phaser drawn.

"How dare you make such accusations,"  Korl spluttered, standing.
"This is a legitimate business operation.  You have no right--"

His indignation was cut short by a massive fist connecting with his
jaw.  Reeling back, he stumbled and fell but was hauled back to his
feet by an enraged Indian.  Chakotay held the hapless slaver by a
fistful of his shirt in his left hand.

"Where is she?" he roared.  "What have you done to my wife?"

Without waiting for an answer, he slammed the man against a nearby
wall.  Visions of Sassy in the same condition or even worse than those
women he'd seen outside drove his rage as he pummeled the man's face
over and over with his fist.

"You filthy animal, where is my wife?  Where is she?"

Korl's face was bleeding in numerous places and broken in a few
before Tuvok managed to pull Chakotay off of him.

"I would advise you to provide the information that the commander
desires," Tuvok pointed out to the slaver.  "If you'd rather discuss
this with him further, I can certainly release him."  The Vulcan's
tone was matter-of-fact.

"She's not here!" Korl yelled, spitting blood and teeth.

"Where?" Chakotay roared again, struggling against the hands holding
him.

"The stranger on Techora, she escaped into the mountains.  I sent
some of my men after her but they haven't returned yet."  One woman
was not worth his life, regardless of what she'd done.  "They should
be on their way by now."

"Tuvok to Voyager."

"We heard," Janeway confirmed.  "I'll have Seven boost the long
range sensors to see if their ship is within sensor range yet."

Chakotay had calmed down enough to pick up on something that the
slaver had said.  "Captain, Chakotay here.  Sassy's a botanist and she
was raised on the old traditions of our people.  If she got into the
mountains, she'd have an advantage.  She may have been able to evade
the men chasing her."

The same thing had just occurred to the captain.  Why hadn't she
ordered a planet-wide sensor sweep for human life signs before
breaking orbit?  "It's not really our business but I don't like the
idea of leaving those women down there under those conditions.  We'll
contact some of the governments from the Quel-car system and see if
any of them are interested in the whereabouts of this place.  It's the
least we can do.  In the meantime, I'll send a security team down to
your coordinates.  You and Tom take the Flyer back to Techora to look
for Sassy while we take care of things here.  If you locate her,
contact us; otherwise, we'll set course to join you as soon as we
can."

During the exchange, Paris had located some controls for the energy
field and disengaged it.

"Acknowledged."   Two security officers materialized in the room and
shortly after that, Tom and he were enveloped in the shimmering of a
transporter beam.

---

She knew something was wrong as she approached the campsite,  there
was a male voice talking softly in an indecipherable language.  She
had been gone about an hour scouting ahead and gathering some food.
Approaching cautiously, she tried to figure out how many there were.
She found a melon-sized rock on the ground and slipped it into her
jumpsuit before quietly climbing into a tree near the glade.

There were two of them, one about four meters away and one a scant
meter from the tree she was perched in.  They hadn't heard her coming,
both men were relaxed and apparently taunting the women judging by
their sobs.  Pulling out the rock that she had picked up, she held it
over her head with both hands and slammed it down, aiming for the
nearest raider.  As he collapsed to the ground, the other man came
over to investigate.  Sassy jumped from the tree to land on the raider
and began pummeling him on the head and shoulders with the hilt of the
knife. "I'm a college professor of botanical sciences,"  she yelled,
punctuating each word with a blow.  The impacts barely fazed him.  He
managed to grab her left arm and jerked on it, trying to pull her off.

Struggling to maintain her balance, desperation finally won and she
used the blade of the knife to slit the man's throat.  Blood sprayed
out everywhere for what felt like an eternity before he slumped to the
ground.  Scrambling away, she sat, trembling, against the trunk of a
nearby tree for a long time.  Eventually she roused herself to check
on the man she'd hit with the stone.  What she saw made her gag.  The
rock had caved in his skull.

"I'm a college professor,"  she tried to explain to the two corpses
and the three women staring at her in horror.  "I study plants and
trees and flowers and other botanical life forms."  Tears streamed
down her face as she rocked back and forth willing herself to wake up
from this nightmare.

'Necessity is the mother of invention.'  Her mother's favorite adage
urged her out of her shock.  She slowly rose to her feet and went to
wash the blood off of her hands in the nearby stream.  Necessity, she
decided, is a bitch.

---

"Time to reach Techora?"  Chakotay completed the last of the systems
checks.  Neither Tom nor he had been inclined to spend time on
pre-flight before they had launched.  They'd checked the basic systems
first and launched the Delta Flyer, setting course for the Quel-car
system while the first officer completed the pre-flight checks.

Tom checked the navigational sensors.  "At current speed, it'll take
us about ten hours."

"I'm putting the sensors at maximum output.  If those men that Korl
left behind to hunt her has caught her, they'll have to pass somewhere
near here enroute to their base."

"Chakotay, about B'Elanna."  Paris wasn't really sure what to say,
but he had to say something.  "There was no way she could have
foreseen this happening.  She didn't think there was any danger, just
a harmless prank."

Logically he knew that, he didn't need the pilot to point it out.
In his heart, however, all he knew was that the woman who made him
feel complete was gone and B'Elanna was the reason.  "We're in a
quadrant of space where no Federation ships have gone before.  Our
being here is an unforeseen circumstance; everything that happens to
us is unforeseen. People need to realize that and stop acting as if
this were just a three hour tour."

"Everyone does understand that," Tom offered.  "You know that
B'Elanna would never do anything to hurt you.  She may not be fond of
Sassy but she knows that you are.  You can't think that B'Elanna would
ever intentionally . . . "

"I know."  But if they didn't find Sassy, he wasn't sure he would
ever be able to forgive the Klingon.

---

She was numb.  Her body was going through all of the motions, but
her mind was still in shock.  Something had to be done with the
bodies, they couldn't just be left to the wild animals no matter what
kind of men they were.  Without knowing what their particular beliefs
regarding death were, all she could do was to take care of the bodies
according to her beliefs.  Digging graves with nothing but a knife was
impractical so she built two funeral pyres a distance from the glade
that they had camped in.  The Techan women had just sat silently,
staring as she dragged the bodies one at a time and placed them on the
pyres.  The whole time that she spent gathering wood and clearing an
open area for the fires, she sobbed freely.  It took forever to get
the fires lit and burning strongly enough to completely incinerate the
corpses but even then it didn't seemed right to just walk away.  She
forced herself to watch as the bodies of the men whom she had killed
were licked by the flames.  Waiting for the fire to burn away the
blood from her hands, she sought strength from her own spirituality.
The parting ritual wasn't appropriate since she hadn't known them, so
she offered a simple prayer that their souls travel in peace through
whatever afterlife they believed in.  As horrible as she felt at that
moment, she couldn't help but wonder where the third man, the one she
had stabbed a few days earlier, was.  Would she have to kill him as
well?  Or had the stab wound that she'd inflicted on him already been
fatal?

Nothing would make her regret her choice to travel to her soulmate
along a new path but at that moment she was thinking wistfully of the
familiar security of her classroom and lab back on Earth.

---

"I've got human life signs," Chakotay informed Tom as the pilot
entered orbit around Techora.  "It's Sassy, I'm picking up the silver
and gemstones from her bracelet."

Paris set the autopilot to maintain orbital integrity.  "I'll send a
message to Voyager, let them know."

"There are three other people with her, Techan from the readings."
The first officer took out two phasers and tossed one to Tom.  "You'd
better grab a medkit too."  While the pilot and chief medic went to
the back to retrieve an emergency medical kit, Chakotay set the
transporter coordinates.

The control panel beeped and Paris stopped at a secondary panel to
check the readings.  "It's Voyager, they've received the transmission
and are already enroute.  They should arrive in a little over nine
hours."

"I've set the transporter to put us down about five hundred meters
from Sassy.  It's night on the planet so we'll have some cover."  He
handed Tom a wrist light.  "Let's go."

Down on the planet, Sassy was sitting against the trunk of a tree
and staring up at the sky wondering if Chakotay was looking out of a
viewport at the same stars.  The knife had become a permanent resident
of her hand, always at the ready in case there were more of them.
They had camped in the clearing, none of them eager to do any more
traveling after the earlier horror.  The funeral pyres had burned
themselves out a short while ago.  All she wanted to do was to get
home, back to Voyager and Chakotay's strong arms.  Tears blurred her
vision and she closed her eyes, picturing him.  When he smiled, his
dark eyes sparkled and the precious dimples in his cheeks gave him a
boyish quality.  His warm embrace made all of the loneliness and
awkwardness of adjusting to her new life melt away.  She could almost
feel his fingers combing through her hair and telling her that
everything was all right.

Chakotay and Tom approached the campsite quietly, the fire a clear
beacon in the darkness.  Using the tricorder, the first officer
motioned to Paris.  "The Techans are laying on the ground near the
fire,"  he whispered.  "Sassy is sitting against a tree on the east
side of the clearing."  They split up, Tom approaching the campsite
from the west and Chakotay circling around to enter the clearing as
close to Sassy as possible.

She should probably try to sleep but every time she closed her eyes,
she saw dead bodies piling up in front of her.  There was too much
fear and turmoil in her mind to allow her to meditate much less
achieve the Zen state to speak to her spirit guide.  Nevertheless, she
attempted to slow her breathing in an attempt to find some semblance
of inner peace. Without warning, a large hand clamped over her mouth.
She squealed in terror, the hand holding the knife was pinned by the
muscular body beside her.

"Shhh," Chakotay tried to calm her.  He put his phaser down and drew
her behind the tree that she was leaning against.  Leaving her there,
he found his phaser and provided cover for Tom who entered the
clearing yelling for the Techans to stay where they where.

A brief glimpse of the wonderfully rugged, handsome face was all
Ceshlyta needed to know that her husband had finally come for her.
Slipping the knife into her boot, she leapt up and threw herself into
his arms.  "Mi aalm, Spirits but I was starting to think I'd never see
you again."

"She all right, Chakotay?"  Tom kept a wary eye on the three forms
in the middle of the clearing as he called across to the commander.

For a long moment, the first officer couldn't answer.  His mouth was
seeking and claiming the soft, full lips of his wife, his tongue
reacquainting itself with the moist warmth of her mouth.  One arm
wrapped around her waist, pulling her luscious curves against his
body. Eventually, he reluctantly broke the kiss when his lungs
demanded air.

"I'm okay, Tom," Sassy answered, still a little breathless.  "But
the women could use some medical attention.  One of them has a broken
leg and some of their scratches have been trying to develop
infections. I've been treating them the best I could with herbs and
poultices."

"Women?" Chakotay lowered his weapon.  "They're not part of the
raiding force?"

She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the men whom she had
killed.  She dreaded the look that would cross his face when she told
him how she'd violently ended the lives of others.  For the time
being, she just concentrated on the immediate necessities.  "No, they
escaped from the marketplace with me.  We've been hiding here in the
mountains. I didn't know what was going on or who any of them were."

"I've got a compound fracture here,"  Tom had put his phaser away
and was running the medical tricorder over the women.  "It's okay, I'm
Tom Paris and that's Commander Chakotay from the Federation Starship
Voyager.  We're here to help.  I'm going to do what I can for you
until our ship gets here with our doctor."  Soothing the frightened
women, he prepared a hypospray of painkiller for the woman with the
broken leg.

"Should we beam everyone back to the Flyer and meet Voyager?"  The
first officer loosened his grip on Sassy, but didn't release her.  He
wasn't quite ready to let go of her after agonizing so long over
whether or not he'd ever see her again.

The medic pondered the timetable.  If they left orbit to intercept
Voyager, they'd get medical attention only a few hours sooner.  They
were reasonably comfortable at this campsite and none of their
injuries were life threatening.  It would probably be just as easy,
certainly less traumatic, on the local women if they remained here.
"No, we'll need a few things from the Flyer, but we can wait here."

"I am Akala,"  finally able to understand what was being said, she
took the opportunity to make introductions.  "The woman you are
treating is Tilki and the other woman is Zathra.  Your friend over
there saved us from the raiders and has been taking care of us here in
the mountains."

"My name is Ceshlyta, but most people call me Sassy."  It was nice
to know the names of the women she had spent the past week with.
Firmly clasping her husband's hand, she walked over to them.

"How is it that we can understand each other now?"  Zathra was
curious.

Chakotay pointed to his comm badge.  "Universal translators are
built into our communications devices."

"I was beamed down to the planet without my comm badge," Sassy put
in. "Speaking of which, where's B'Elanna?"

"She's been in the brig since we discovered you missing,"  the
commander informed his wife.  Closer to the fire, the light clearly
showed bloodstains all over the front of her jumpsuit and smears of
dried blood on her hands, face and throat amidst smudges of dirt.
"You're hurt.  Tom, Sassy's bleeding."

"It's not mine, well most of it isn't," she waved Paris off when he
opened the medical tricorder.

Rising, the medic approached her and began scanning her anyway.
"Humor me."  He snapped the tricorder shut and reassured his
commanding officer.  "Just scratches on her hands mostly, mild shock,
a few bruises here and there, same as Akala and Zathra.  I can fix the
scratches with a dermal regenerator but Tilki's broken leg will have
to wait for the Doc."

"Water," now that she knew everything would be all right, she could
feel herself losing control.  If she didn't keep busy she'd break into
hysterics.  "There's a stream not too far away.  If you've got
something to carry water in, I can--"

"Sit down," Chakotay admonished her.  "I'll find it and bring some
water back if you're thirsty."  He toyed with her braid, tendrils of
hair escaping all along its length after a week in the wilderness.
"You've had a long week and you're exhausted.  Let me take care of
you."  He shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her.  "Sit
over by the fire and relax.  Tom can beam back up to the Flyer and
bring food and blankets down.  I'll get some water."

Sassy didn't remember falling asleep, but she must have.  She was
standing in a field, dead bodies piled up all around her and covered
in their blood.  Chakotay was approaching her, wearing the outfit he
had worn at their wedding.  The look of horror on his face was
unmistakable.  There weren't any words to explain to him. . .

"Sweetheart, Voyager's here," he helped her to her feet, reluctant
to see the time end.  He'd been just watching her sleep, her features
illuminated by the light of the fire.  The feeling of relief when his
beautiful wife had thrown herself into his arms, safe and sound, was
indescribable.  "Tom beamed up to the Flyer to land it back in the
shuttle bay.  They're going to beam you and the women directly to
Sickbay.  I'm going to report in to Kathryn and then I'll come down to
Sickbay to take you home."

"But--"  Sassy didn't get to finish her objection because a
transporter beam enveloped her and the Techans.

Back aboard Voyager, Tom entered Sickbay just as the women
materialized.

"Mr. Paris, report."  The Doctor was already putting the women on
biobeds and beginning his scans.

"Tilki, the one with the splint on her leg, has a compound fracture
of her lower leg.  Sassy set it and has been using an herbal poultice
for the pain and infection.  I've given her two doses of painkiller.
The rest of them just have contusions and abrasions.  I've started
using the dermal regenerator on the worst of them."  The medic picked
up a dermal regenerator to continue working.

"What, no leeches readily available?"  The EMH grimaced as he peeled
away the moss and unbound the splint.  "I'll have to disinfect this
before I get started with the osteo-regenerator."

Sassy bit back her comment even though tears stung her eyes; she had
handled everything the best she could.  It wasn't her fault, she
hadn't asked to be stranded on that planet.

"Where do you think you're going?"  The Doctor noticed the botanist
leaving.

She ignored the EMH and stopped at a computer interface station
outside of Sickbay.  "Locate Lieutenant Torres."  She'd been through
hell for the past week, taken three lives by her own hand and
seriously injured other men.  All because of that Klingon.  Clutching
the knife that had become so important to her safety, she erupted from
the turbolift when it stopped on the Bridge.

"Sassy,"  Harry was startled by her sudden appearance.  "I'm glad
you're back."

She spared a quick nod of acknowledgement before heading toward
Kathryn's ready room.

"Do you want me to let them know you're out here?"  'Apparently
not,' the ensign thought to himself as he watched her storm off the
Bridge.


---

". . . carelessly and with no thought to any consequences, you put a
civilian in danger without any ability to call for help."  Captain
Janeway was lecturing Torres on the error of her ways.  "You are a
command officer and, quite frankly, I expect better than that.  What
should I do about this?"

Her disciplinary action was interrupted.  "You bitch!" Sassy   yelled,
spotting her quarry.  Her momentum carried her across the room and
before anyone had a chance to react, she landed a solid punch to the
engineer's jaw.  Watching the Klingon fall to the floor, she flipped
the knife from the hand she had just punched with to her left
hand--blade up.  Her right hand was broken, that she could tell, but
she was too angry to let that stop her.  "Do you have any idea what
I've been through because of you?"

Chakotay moved quickly to put himself between the two women.  He  knew
Ceshlyta was upset but he didn't want her to do anything she'd regret
later.  "An angry word is like striking with a knife."  He immediately
cringed at his choice of wisdoms given the large dagger that his angry
wife was brandishing.

Watching B'Elanna pick herself up, still holding her face, Sassy
replied.  "Speak softly but arm yourself well."

"Do not seek trouble, it will find you in its own time."  That was
better, although he didn't have time to congratulate himself as she
came right back.

"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, strike first."
Unfortunately, her well-meaning husband was preventing her from
getting in another shot.  She didn't want to risk hurting him.

"Knowledge cannot be gained through conquest but by understanding,"
Chakotay countered with, trying not to think about what would happen
if he lost this round.

She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders as she waved the knife.
"One must learn from the bite of the fire to leave it alone."

He held his hands up warningly.  "The greatest strength is
gentleness."

Taunting B'Elanna who was standing silently behind the first  officer,
Sassy almost sneered.  "It is easy to be brave from a safe distance."

Her barb had the desired effect, Torres screeched and launched
herself at the other woman.  As Chakotay held the two women apart, he
shot back, "In anger a man becomes dangerous not only to others but
himself."

Wishing he would just shut up and get out of the way so she could
kill the conniving bitch who got her into that whole mess to start
with, Sassy threw back, "The way of the troublemaker is thorny."

"No one else can represent your conscience."  Maybe he could keep  her
exchanging proverbs long enough for her to calm down.

B'Elanna was still trying to get at Ceshlyta, blood trickling down
her chin.

Kathryn came around the desk and restrained the chief engineer.

Her husband's last comment hit closer to home than he realized.
"Show respect for all but grovel to none."  Sassy really wasn't in the
mood for this and tried to slip past Chakotay to finish the fight.
Her wrist was caught in an iron grip as he intercepted her.

"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless  as
a mouse," he offered calmly, not releasing his grip.

The man was trying her patience, but she couldn't bring herself to
hurt him.  "Even the small mouse has anger."

"The mightiest beast cannot survive anger's poison."

Glaring over his shoulder at the Klingon fighting against the
Captain's grip, she bit out.  "Only two relationships are possible--to
be a friend or to be an enemy."

"She who wears the captain's pips has the last word--Enough!"
Janeway decided to end the exchange.  She shot a glare at B'Elanna who
immediately stopped fighting.  She understood that Ceshlyta was
furious and had every right to be but she couldn't allow physical
violence on her ship.  "We were just discussing Lieutenant Torres'
punishment for her actions.  I was going to assign her to work duty
shifts in the garden but now I'm not so sure."

Still breathing heavily, Sassy relaxed in her husband's grasp.  She
nodded, somewhat reluctantly, her capitulation and he released her.
The right hand was definitely broken, as the adrenaline began to wear
off she could feel sharp, throbbing agony working its way up her arm.

"Regardless of provocation, Sassy, you cannot attack members of my
crew.  If you were part of my crew, I'd put you in the brig for
fighting."  Kathryn contemplated the situation.  "I'm inclined to
leave the decision up to the two of you.  Professor Ceshlyta, what
would you consider a fair punishment for B'Elanna with regards to
stranding you on that planet alone?  Lieutenant Torres, what would you
consider a fair punishment for Sassy for punching you?"

The two women exchanged long, angry stares.   Stepping back from
Chakotay slightly, Ceshlyta flung the knife across the room, burying
it in the control panel by the door to activate it.  As the door slid
open, she spoke up.  "I'm done.  It's over."

Startled and silently impressed with the throw, Janeway looked to
B'Elanna who nodded in agreement, not able to answer because of her
jaw.  "All right then, the matter is closed.  Any further problems
between the two of you, I will resolve.  Am I understood?"  After the
two women acknowledged her, she looked at her first officer.  "I'm
going to escort B'Elanna to Sickbay so the Doctor can examine her
face.  I'll leave you to finish up here and follow in a few minutes
since it doesn't appear that your wife waited for the Doctor to treat
her much less check her out after her time on the planet and I think
she may have injured her hand anyway."

Once the other two had gone, Chakotay strode over to retrieve the
knife.  "Not that I condone it but nice throw.  Where'd you learn to
do that?"

"Lucky shot," she shrugged, still breathing heavily.  "My sister and
I used to throw for chores, the loser did the winner's chores in
addition to her own.  It was good incentive for accuracy."

"The zoologist?"  He made a mental note to have maintenance repair
the panel.

"Surgeon."

Chuckling, he crossed back to stand in front of her and gazed down
into her impossibly soft, brown eyes.

Before her husband had a chance to speak, Sassy blurted out, "I'm
sorry.  I know she's your friend and I probably haven't helped her
feelings for me any but she put me down there--helpless--on purpose."

"Somehow I don't think you're ever helpless,"  Chakotay muttered in
admiration.

Stroking his cheek softly, she continued.  "I didn't want you to get
caught in the middle of this,"  her voice rose as she completed the
sentence, "but she almost got me killed!  I know, she never intended
for this to happen--let me guess, it was just supposed to be a joke.
She sent me to an alien world without any means of communicating with
them much less Voyager; what did she think would happen?"  She took a
quick breath and jumped back in.  "I know she doesn't like me, she's
made no secret of that, but she went too far.  I admit that I've
baited her in the past, I just never dreamed things would get so . . .
"

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"  He had been silently
cursing himself for days, remembering all of the times he'd thrown the
two together, the double dates that Paris and he had spent duty shifts
planning.

Tears brimmed her eyes.  "I figured she'd warm up to me eventually,
especially when she saw how happy you were.  That's not happening.  I
don't want you to fight my battles for me, I can hold my own for the
most part.  It's just that B'Elanna's a lot tougher than I am.  I'm
just a college professor in botanical sciences, she's a half-Klingon
former resistance fighter and she's playing for keeps.  Before my
little adventure on that planet, I'd never even been in a real fight
outside of tournaments, now I've killed three men."  The tally of dead
just slipped out, a bare whisper.  "I don't think I could beat her in
a serious fight."

"You were giving it a pretty good try a few minutes ago," Chakotay
noted dryly.  That explained her behavior earlier, he still remembered
the first time he'd been forced by circumstances to kill.  He wished
that she'd told him on the planet about the men she'd killed.  If she
had, he'd have left B'Elanna's discipline to the captain rather than
leave her alone.

"I was upset, mad, tired, sore and scared; besides, I think her jaw
broke my hand."  She cradled the injured hand gingerly against her
chest.

"If it's any consolation, I think your hand broke her jaw," he
offered.  Reaching out, he tilted her chin up.  "In the future, if
you're having problems with a member of this crew I want you to come
to me, okay?"

Sassy relaxed into the welcome warmth of his embrace.  "The Doctor  is
a pain in the--"

"He's not programmed for violence," Chakotay interrupted, "just
annoyance.  Speaking of which, let's get you back to Sickbay."

"Oh goody,"  but she allowed him to lead her out of the ready room.

---

"B'Elanna, what happened?"  Tom hurriedly finished treating the last
of Akala's scratches when the captain brought Torres in bleeding from
her mouth.

Janeway helped the Klingon onto a biobed.  "She had an altercation
with Professor Ceshlyta in my ready room."  Leaving Tom to tend to
B'Elanna, she turned to the Doctor for a report on their guests.

"The Techan women have all been treated.  I'd like to keep Tilki  here
overnight but the other two can return to the surface at any time."
The EMH indicated the woman whose leg he had just finished treating as
he spoke.  "Mr. Paris, what's Lieutenant Torres's condition?"

"Hairline fracture along the left side of the mandible, no signs of
concussion," the medic called out, already reaching for an
osteo-regenerator.

Just then the door slid open to admit the first officer and his  wife.

"Ah, the prodigal patient returns," the Doctor observed.

Chakotay lifted Sassy to sit her on a biobed.  He kissed her softly
on the cheek and whispered for her to wait there.  Crossing over to
where the captain stood with the EMH, he grabbed the holographic
doctor by the arm and dragged him into the office.  "Not today,
Doctor, she's had a very long week.  Those slavers who stayed behind
to hunt her, found her and she was forced to kill them.  She's never
been in a real fight much less taken lives before and she's still in
shock.  Just do what you need to do and let me take her home; skip the
acerbic wit."

"Is she all right?"  Kathryn couldn't even imagine what her friend
was feeling.  Killing someone in hand-to-hand combat was much
different than shooting them with a phaser.

He looked through the window where his wife sat nursing her hand.
"It'll take some time but she'll be all right."

"Perhaps I should sedate her and keep her in Sickbay for a while," the
Doctor suggested.  His offer was met with a withering glance from the
commander.  "Perhaps not."

"Just be nice."

Picking up the tricorder sitting on his desk, the EMH managed to
sound insulted.  "I am perfectly capable of being sensitive to the
needs of my patients. "  He brushed past the two officers, ignoring
the look they exchanged, and crossed the room to where Sassy waited.

"I got the bracelet unfastened, but I can't get the ring off."
Ceshlyta looked up at the hologram when he approached.

Chakotay was right behind the doctor and heard her.  "Let me try to
get a lock on it with the transporter and beam it off."  He swung
around the computer workstation and tapped a few keys.  In less than a
minute, the ringed bracelet appeared in front of him, on top of the
console.

She shot her husband an expression of gratitude before addressing  the
EMH.  "How are my new friends doing?"  After the past week, she felt a
sort of responsibility for the three local women.

The Doctor scanned her as he replied.  "Actually, quite well.  In
fact, I was very impressed with the condition of that broken leg.  I
was expecting a serious infection and complications after a week in
primitive conditions with no medical treatment, but she was in fairly
good condition all things considered. They said that you treated their
injuries with local herbs; if I may ask, how did you know which herbs
to use without a tricorder to analyze them with?"

"I'm a botanist," she shrugged.  "My areas of expertise are plant
physiology and plant pathology.   You don't receive advanced degrees
in those areas without being able to analyze plant properties to a
certain extent without technological assistance."

The captain, meanwhile, had gone over to check on her chief  engineer.
"How is she, Tom?"

"Her jaw is all fixed."  The medic snapped the osteo-regenerator off
and set it on a nearby tray.  "Sassy broke her jaw?  Sassy, the
gardener married to Chakotay?"

Janeway motioned for him to keep his voice down.  "That knife she
threw,"  Kathryn met B'Elanna's gaze, not noticing the astonished
expression on Tom's face at that tidbit.  "She apparently used to kill
several men down on the planet this past week.  She was a little
upset."  Addressing both of them, she continued.  "I don't think
anyone should say anything to her about it for the time being.  Am I
clear?"

The first officer had picked up the bracelet and moved to the other
side of the biobed.  He slipped the binding off her braid and combed
out her long, black hair with his fingers.

"I would be interested in learning more about the medicinal
properties of plants at some point."  The hologram what wasn't willing
to admit that he was entirely wrong about herbal potions and
concoctions, but what was the use of an adaptive matrix if not to
learn new things.

"Anytime," the botanist nodded.  It felt so good to have Chakotay
near her.  Even after what she'd told him, he still wanted to touch
her.

The Doctor prepared a hypospray.  "You've crushed two phalanges and
broken the other two in addition to the broken metacarpals.  About the
only thing in your right hand that you didn't manage to break is your
thumb."  He pressed the hypo to her neck.  "This will help the pain
until I can repair the damage.  If you'll lie down, I also need to run
a full bio scan on you after your time on the planet surface."

Sassy swung her feet up and stretched her legs out on the biobed.
The painkiller worked fast, the sharp throbbing was already starting
to fade.  Before she laid down, she raised her left hand to caress her
husband's strong jaw.  She moved her hand around to cup his head and
drew his face down to her.  His firm, full lips were warm against
hers, opening pliantly to her tongue as it slipped into his mouth to
stroke the coarse texture of his tongue.  He responded passionately to
her kiss, she could feel that and almost cried with relief.  It was
probably ridiculous to think that he wouldn't have been able to even
look at her after what she'd done, still it was comforting to know for
sure.  His hands entwined themselves in her hair, pulling her deeper
into the kiss.

"I would advise you to not get too excited, either of you."  The
EMH's voice intruded on their passion.  "Ceshlyta is going to be in
Sickbay for several hours at least while I repair her hand and finish
my scans. I would restrict her from any strenuous activities for a day
or so if I thought she'd listen."

Breaking the kiss, the first officer heaved a deep sigh.
"Understood, no strenuous activities."  He brushed his lips across the
tip of her nose and eased her back onto the biobed.  "As long as we're
together, we have all the time in the world."

Safe, warm and back aboard Voyager, Sassy quickly fell into a deep,
dreamless sleep.

Chakotay saw B'Elanna getting up to leave.  He stopped her at the
door.

"Don't say anything,"  the Klingon cautioned him.  "You've got her
back and it's over.  I can't promise that I'll ever like her but I
will admit one thing."  Torres rubbed her jaw.  "She's not as soft as
I thought she was."

"You have always been a loyal friend to me and a valued crewmember.
She is my soulmate and my wife.  Don't ever force me to choose between
the two of you."  With those soft words, he let her walk out.

---

In her cargo bay, Seven prepared her alcove for a regeneration  cycle.
She had forgone regeneration during the search for Commander
Chakotay's missing wife.  With Professor Ceshlyta successfully
recovered, she felt fatigued and in need of regeneration.  Making the
last adjustments to the cycle duration, she stepped into the alcove.
Before she could initiate the cycle, the cargo bay door slid open.

"Seven, I know you're probably tired and need to regenerate, but  this
will just take a minute."  Harry was on his way to the Bridge for his
bi-weekly night shift command.  He hadn't meant to stop by the cargo
bay, a voice sounding a great deal like his had stopped the turbolift
on Deck 4 and his feet had just walked themselves here.

She knew she should have delayed regeneration long enough to  research
human courtship rituals.  Perhaps Ensign Kim had altered his
perception of her suitability and wished to rescind his request.
Trying to appear composed, she inclined her head in tacit
encouragement for him to continue.

He crossed the cargo bay and stood on the floor looking up at the
blonde Borg.  "Our personal discussion was interrupted earlier."
'Keep it cognitive,' the nervous ensign reminded himself.  "There was
one thing which I did not have the opportunity to properly complete."

"Please explain," Seven requested, her voice modulated to a lower
decibel than normal.  They had spent hours together working on the
sensor logs during the search for Professor Ceshlyta.  She had been
somewhat concerned that her performance would be adversely affected by
the personal relationship that they had begun to negotiate; however,
they had both worked with their usual skill and efficiency.  Mr. Kim
had, in fact, worked with noticeably greater efficiency than he
generally did.

Harry stepped up onto the alcove platform, standing bare inches from
her.  He swallowed hard, steadying himself.  "It is customary to seal
an agreement for a romantic date with a kiss."

"I wish to experience a proper human courtship, Ensign.  If it is
customary to kiss, then perhaps we should proceed."  His physical
proximity was affecting her sensory functions.  His scent was clean
and masculine, the tanned skin of his face was perfectly smooth as if
he had just recently shaved and his brown eyes appeared larger and
darker than normal.  A sense of anticipation sparked in her stomach.

"Call me Harry," he whispered as he reached around to find and  remove
the pins holding her silky, blond hair.  Her hair fell down around her
shoulders, framing her big, blue eyes.  Entwining his hands in the
satiny tresses, he cupped her face and gently tilted it up to him.  He
brushed his lips over hers in a barely-there promise of a kiss to
come. When he heard her sigh softly under his feather-like caress, he
captured her full, lush lips in a gentle, warm kiss.   His tongue
licked at her lips, softly urging them apart.

Seven found the sensations from his tender attentions immensely
pleasurable.  She moved closer to him, enjoying the feeling of her
body pressed into his at every point, from her breasts crushed against
his chest to the intertwining of their legs.  Unsure of what to do
with her hands, she rested them on his hips.  Their firmness intrigued
her and she explored them, sliding her hands around to test their
tautness.  As her lips and tongue began to respond to his urgings, the
fluttering in her abdomen increased in intensity, the sensation
spreading throughout her body causing the tips of her breasts to
harden and throb uncomfortably.

Blood roared in his ears as he felt the lush, fullness of her lips
open pliantly under his own, her body pressed against his.  His tongue
began a thorough search of the warm, moist depths of her mouth to find
and coax her tongue out of hiding.  One hand moved around her back,
pulling her tighter into his body and deepening the kiss.   Somewhere
in the back of his mind he knew he'd have to stop this soon but her
innocent response to his kiss was firing his desires.  Her soft curves
fit perfectly against his painfully hard body, every muscle straining
to be closer to her.  The physical contact wasn't enough.

Tentatively at first, but then steadily getting bolder, her tongue
began to answer the demands of his.  Everywhere that their bodies
touched felt like an intense heat was consuming her.  His hard,
muscular form was a welcoming anchor in the swirl of eroticism that
was overwhelming her.  She pulled his hips closer, feeling a curious
bulge at the juncture of his hips that pressed into her in a most
exciting manner.  A tight knot in her stomach was aching, sending
streaks of electricity through her body with every beat of her heart.
Wanting more of this delicious sensation, she caressed his tongue with
hers before plunging it into his mouth to caress and explore the moist
orifice as he had done with hers.  This desire was beyond her
experience, but she felt certain that he knew what he was doing and
that this was right.

When his lungs demanded air, Harry forced himself to break the kiss
but didn't release her.  His heart was pounding, with each gasping
breath he could feel the full roundness of her breasts crushing into
his chest. He nuzzled the soft skin under her ear as his breathing
slowed to normal.

Seven moaned aloud at the lost contact when he pulled his mouth away
from hers.  She started to open her eyes but then his lips and tongue
found a spot near the pulse point at the top of her neck which was
apparently extremely sensitive to stimulation.  Her eyes drifted shut,
lost in yet more intense sensation.  She was gasping and whimpering at
the passionate onslaught of his tongue as he flicked it against the
sensitive skin.  Her small hands were clutching and kneading the hard
muscles of his posterior, pulling him into her.  Her hips rocked
forward in synchronization with the motions of her hands,
instinctively pressing their bodies together in an erotic simulation.
Instead of alleviating her frustration, her actions only inflamed the
need that Harry had caused.

Dropping one, last, brief kiss on those swollen, red lips, he
reluctantly released the soft, incredible body and stepped off the
alcove platform.  "I'll get back to you with details of our date."

Opening her eyes when she felt him leave her alcove, she could feel
her breasts tingling, the hardened crests visible through her
clothing. Still breathing hard, she could only nod at his statement
and watch him turn to leave.

"Oh, and Seven," Harry paused and turned back toward her.  "Pleasant
dreams."

---

continued in the eightth story in the Twist of Fate series 'A Difference of Definition'