The BLTS Archive - Changes
Fourth in the Aurora series
by Julie Evans (Juli17@aol.com)

---

Archive:  Okay to archive to the ASC, PTCollective Archive, and the
BLTS.  All others please ask author for permission.

Disclaimer:  Star Trek and its characters are the property of
Viacom/Paramount.  I am borrowing them for fun only not profit.

General notes:  This is the fourth story in the "Aurora" series.  The
previous stories in this series are "Down the Rabbit Hole," "Into the
Looking Glass," and "Founding Aurora."

It's been two and a half years since I've written in the Aurora
alternate timeline.  In the meantime the characters on the TV series
went places that I didn't necessarily foresee from my mid-season 4
perspective (the period when I finished "Founding Aurora").  I see the
characters differently as colonists on a planet where they expect to
live out their lives than I see them as Starfleet officers on a ship
juggling their personal lives with their sense of duty, and always
with the constant goal of getting home on their minds.  I think they
would be different people, in both subtle and dramatic ways, in two
such different scenarios.  But the characters in the two timelines do
share the same pasts.  The emotional scars that they carry and the
issues that affect their lives in the series timeline would exist in
the Aurora timeline too.  As she has on the series, I figured at some
point even on Aurora, B'Elanna in particular would have to face
herself and her long-standing insecurities and resentments about her
past...

Timeline notes:  This story takes place about 14 months (Earth
calendar) after the conclusion of "Founding Aurora."  In relation to
the series timeline, the events in this story unfold during a period
concurrent with the early sixth season of Voyager, shortly before
B'Elanna experienced the Klingon afterlife (or a vision of it) in the
episode "Barge of the Dead."  Let's just say ;-)

Acknowledgements:  Thanks to Patti, who graciously allowed me to
reference her version of how B'Elanna acquired Toby the stuffed targ
(relayed in her wonderful story "No Good Deed").  Thanks also to Jim
Wright for his Delta Blues reviews, which are always the ultimate
reference to verify those little facts and points of accuracy from the
episodes.  And a big thanks to Janet for beta reading, and for her
invaluable comments and suggestions.


Credits:

"The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss.  Copyright 1957 by Dr. Seuss
Enterprises.

"Someone to Watch Over Me" by George and Ira Gershwin.  Copyright by
WB Music Corporation.

---
November 34th, Aurora calendar.  Early morning:
---

She'd awakened to find his side of the bed empty, and cold.  He had
left without waking her.  His boxers and t-shirt were crumpled up on
the floor next to the bed, as if he'd quickly stepped out of them, and
the closet door was wide open.  His cobalt blue jumpsuit, the one he
liked to fly in, was gone.  So was his flight bag.  There was no note.
Nothing.

He was gone.  And for several moments she thought that he'd simply
left them.  Then she remembered, but the sudden racing of her heart
had flared her temper again, and she threw the covers back furiously
as she got out of bed.

B'Elanna slammed the closet door and stomped into the other bedroom,
her bare feet slapping on the cold hardwood floor.  She stopped just
inside the doorway.  M'Kaela was asleep in her crib, curled on her
side.  She invariably pushed her blanket off during the night, but now
it was tucked snugly around her.  Her teddy bear, the rather seedy
teddy bear that had once been her father's, sat on one side of her,
and her arm was wrapped possessively around the other little bump
whose head poked out from under the blanket.  Toby.

B'Elanna frowned.  Obviously Tom had come in here earlier, before he
had slipped out of the house completely.  She hadn't felt or heard him
get out of bed.  But then they'd gone to sleep last night as far away
from each other as possible in the confines of their shared bed.

Tom had stopped see his daughter, to tuck her in again and kiss her
cheek.  Far more than he'd done for his wife.  It was an unfair
judgment, but she figured with the way things had been going between
them lately that he'd gotten out of bed without sparing even a second
glance at her.

B'Elanna slipped out of her daughter's room and walked slowly back
into her own, her gaze falling on the bed in question.  The sheets
were rumpled and the blankets were thrown back from either side and
gathered in an elevated lumpy line in the middle of the bed, rising
softly like some impenetrable separating wall.

B'Elanna bit her lip hard at the unwelcome emotion that suddenly
welled up in her, then she turned away from the bed, pulling her
nightgown over her head and letting it fall in a heap to the floor.
She stared down at the snowy white folds of the heavy cotton gown, the
one Tom had given her after they'd come home from Aurora's first
official Christmas party at Neelix's last year.  Even if she didn't
see herself as the long white gown type, she had appreciated that it
was very warm.  And she'd found Tom's arousal when she wore it amusing
if a little bizarre.  Tom had called it a "bastion of purity" that
screamed "hands off" so loud that he couldn't see her in it without
getting aroused and immediately wanting to "breach the barricade"...

She kicked the gown out of her way.  He certainly hadn't tried to
breach anything last night.  She'd worn the gown admittedly to bait
him, to remind him of what he wasn't going to get.  He'd known what
she was doing and had returned her defiant look with a deliberately
indifferent look of his own before crawling into bed and turning his
back to her, settling in as close to his edge of the bed as possible.
She'd told herself that was what she wanted as she'd gotten into bed
then, leaving enough space between them to accommodate several bedless
people.

B'Elanna strode to the bathroom and shoved the shower curtain out of
the way.  It was what she had wanted.  It wasn't as if she'd lain
awake for hours, wondering if he was asleep, wanting desperately to
hear him say something--anything.  It wasn't as if she'd held her
breath at his every movement, wondering if he would reach for her and
touch her in reconciliation, unwilling and unable to stretch her own
hand across that gulf between them for fear that he would push it
away.

And it wasn't like she would admit that, to him or to herself.  She
gave the shower knob a vicious jerk and a hard steady stream of water
poured out.  He hadn't reached out, he'd simply gone to sleep while
she'd tossed and turned.  Then he'd left this morning without a word
to her.  Well, to hell with him.  He could stay gone for all she
cared.

With that angry and completely untrue thought, she stepped under the
full spray of water and winced at how hot it was, but she didn't
adjust the controls.  She focused on the hard pelting of the scalding
water on her skin, welcoming any way to bury the emotions that were
alternately making her hot and cold inside.

---

"Good morning, B'Elanna."

Kathryn greeted the younger woman who strode toward her with M'Kaela
strapped securely to her back.  Kathryn smiled at the child, who was
peering over her mother's shoulder, her amazing dark blue eyes, the
color of deep sapphires, appraising her surroundings with alert
curiosity.  "And hello to you, M'Kaela."

M'Kaela's red bow mouth, so like her mother's, turned up into a
delighted smile.  She uttered one of her several dozen mastered words,
"hi," followed by a quickly babbled succession of mostly
indecipherable words, with "Kat," her term for Kathryn, somewhere in
there, as B'Elanna came to a stop in front of Kathryn.  Kathryn
chuckled at M'Kaela's enthusiastic greeting and ruffled her cap of
soft dark curls, then pulled her hand away before M'Kaela's small
fingers could latch onto it.  She knew from experience just how strong
M'Kaela's grip could be.  Kathryn looked at B'Elanna at that moment,
and her smile slipped a little.

B'Elanna's mouth definitely was not turned up into a smile, and she
looked tired.  She and Tom sometimes did in the way parents of a child
fourteen months old in human developmental terms were apt to look,
especially two parents whose skills were critical to the colony right
now and who put in as much work as they did.  Still, Kathryn could see
it was more than that.  B'Elanna looked troubled.

B'Elanna must have recognized the concern in Kathryn's gaze, because
her mouth did turn up then into a small smile, though it was far from
reaching her eyes.  "Good morning, Kathryn.  We're just on our way to
breakfast."

Kathryn nodded.  "I'll join you then.  I was just on my way there
myself."

Kathryn fell into step beside B'Elanna as they walked toward the Mess
hall.  Cafe Neelix, she reminded herself ruefully.  Neelix had renamed
the place during the surge of renaming that had occurred during the
previous summer, from names that were functional and reflective of
their Starfleet origins, to names more suited to the planet-bound
village that was now their home.  And since food production had
stabilized at a level comfortably above mere subsistence, and the
original functional housing they had built had been slowly transformed
into comfortable and technologically proficient, if still simple
individual homes, communal dining was no longer a necessity.  Even so,
the social interaction gained from dining in a communal atmosphere was
a pleasure most indulged in at least once a day, and often more.  Cafe
Neelix was never without several dozen customers at meal times.

Kathryn and B'Elanna stepped into the grassy square, now renamed
Voyager Common, carefully making their way over the blue-green grass
still slick with morning ice.  The New Sonoma site was located in a
dryer, warmer area of the northern temperate zone, and winters there
were not so harsh.  And while it was almost winter here, summer was
approaching there.  Tom and B'Elanna would be among the first to take
up residence there, in a week if all went according to plan.

Kathryn snuck another glance at B'Elanna's set face.  "B'Elanna, are
you all right?"

The question was asked softly, an invitation to share, and B'Elanna
hesitated briefly before she answered.  "I'm fine."  Her voice was
quiet but firm and she didn't look at Kathryn as she spoke, but stared
straight ahead.

They walked past the several plumfruit trees with their few leaves
that hadn't fallen poking out from their spidery branches.  Kathryn
wanted to say something, but she knew B'Elanna didn't react well to
being pushed, so she remained silent as they stepped onto the
duracrete pathway that surrounded the common.

"He just...left."

Kathryn barely caught B'Elanna's softly spoken words, and it took her
a moment to realize who she was talking about.  Tom had gone with
Chakotay and Tuvok to the New Sonoma site this morning in the Sagan.
Kathryn had gotten up early to have breakfast with Chakotay, but they
had become otherwise occupied and hadn't quite gotten around to
breakfast.  She hadn't felt like eating alone after he'd gone, which
was why she now found herself on her way to Cafe Neelix.  Kathryn
heard something angry but also oddly bereft in B'Elanna's tone now.
She stopped abruptly, and B'Elanna, surprised by the action, stopped
too and stared at her.

"B'Elanna, you knew Tom was leaving to go to New Sonoma with Chakotay
and Tuvok for a couple of days," Kathryn said quietly, not sure why
B'Elanna would be so bothered by Tom's departure.  He'd been shuttling
people back and forth to the colony site on a regular basis for
months, though he'd only stayed overnight on occasion.  "We all talked
about it the other day."

"Dada," M'Kaela said, recognizing her father's name.  Her fingers were
curled in her mother's hair, and she yanked hard.  B'Elanna didn't
wince; she just shook her head once and pushed her daughter's hand
away distractedly.  "No, M'Kaela."  She looked directly at Kathryn.
"I remembered after I woke up and he was gone.  He didn't even say
goodbye."

Kathryn heard the hurt in B'Elanna's voice.  M'Kaela apparently sensed
her mother's distress.  She frowned and murmured "Mama" as her hand
that had previously tugged B'Elanna's hair rested lightly on her
mother's cheek.  B'Elanna reached up and absently stroked her
daughter's hand.  It had obviously been a more serious fight than
usual.  "B'Elanna, everyone fights sometimes--"

"I know," B'Elanna said, cutting her off.  She shook her head, and
forced a smile.  "Forget it.  It's nothing."  She pulled her
daughter's hand from her cheek.  "Come on, M'Kaela, let's go with Aunt
Kathryn and see if Neelix has any of that applesauce left that you
like so much."

B'Elanna turned and marched away, leaving Kathryn to match her stride.
Kathryn had assumed that B'Elanna hadn't been at the shuttle landing
field to see Tom off because she hadn't wanted to expose M'Kaela to
the chilly dawn air, and that she and Tom had said their goodbyes at
home.  That was obviously not the case.  Kathryn was used to seeing
Tom and B'Elanna's strong personalities and tempers clash, and she'd
certainly seen them flare up with each other on little notice, but
their quick tempers usually cooled just as quickly.  She'd always
suspected that their temperamental natures probably led to some pretty
satisfying make up scenes.  Not this time, apparently.

"Hey, Mick!"

M'Kaela's uncharacteristic somberness disappeared, and she erupted
into several small squeals as Harry pecked her cheek.  She reached out
and grabbed his hair and pecked him back.

"What a grip you have little girl," Harry said, grinning at her as he
gently disengaged her hand from his hair.  He smiled at B'Elanna and
Kathryn.  "Good morning, ladies."

"Doo," M'Kaela said, reaching down and squirming against her mother's
back, as B'Elanna and Kathryn exchanged greetings with Harry and Kes
and young Andrew.  Though Andrew was actually two months younger than
M'Kaela, he was already at a developmental level equal to that of a
human three year old, a testament to the contribution of the genes he
had inherited from his Ocampan mother.  Andrew smiled sweetly at
M'Kaela from his mother's side.

The group walked together through the brightly painted yellow doors of
Cafe Neelix, and after quick greetings were exchanged with the two
dozen or so other colonists breakfasting there, they found themselves
an empty table.  Neelix had not only changed the name but had made the
place his own by substantially altering the original functional decor.
Gerron and Michael Ayala had refashioned the existing long tables, and
added some smaller, more intimate tables, made from the same strong
hardwood trees that populated the local forests, these of the blonder
variety than the reddish wood that had been used to build most of the
housing.  Each table was covered with a bright yellow and blue
tablecloth, and adorned with a vase filled with the blue and white
teardrop shaped wildflowers that bloomed in the nearby grassy meadows
in the spring, and that Megan and Kes had replanted in the colony's
greenhouse for year round enjoyment.  The walls were now covered with
several murals painted by Sue Nicoletti, vaguely impressionistic
street scenes from her hometown of Sorrento.

Neelix rushed over as they seated themselves.  M'Kaela crowed, "Neex"
and he immediately cooed over her, and ruffled Andrew's dark hair.
"I've got several baskets of waterfowl eggs," he announced cheerfully
after he'd effusively greeted them all, and had set a pot of coffee on
the table.

Neelix had discovered that the duck-like birds that frequented a calm
inlet of the nearby Bajor river, and a larger lake now called Rynax
Lake ten kilometers distant, laid very edible eggs, with a flavor only
slightly stronger than that of Earth's chicken eggs.  Additionally,
the birds were quite mild-natured, and unafraid of the colonists, as
were almost all the animals on Aurora.  With the help of Tabor, Neelix
had constructed a small pond several hundred meters behind his cafe,
and had added "coops" to house the birds in cold weather, when they
would normally fly north to warmer climes.  Sure enough several dozen
of them had remained there throughout the last winter, and were now
quasi- domesticated.  Neelix took their eggs as they laid them, and
like blissfully unaware chickens they simply laid more, adding one
more item to the colonists expanding diet of local foods.

After Neelix left them with promises of omelets garnished with
tomatoes and local mushrooms, Harry initiated the conversation as
Kathryn inhaled the sweet aroma of coffee from the pot and began
filling everyone's cups.

"I guess Tom, Chakotay and Tuvok are well on their way to the New
Sonoma."

Kathryn was watching B'Elanna strap her squirming daughter into the
high chair next to hers, one of the several Neelix had commissioned
from Gerron for the growing number of additions to the colony.  Andrew
sat on a small booster seat between his mother and father, watching
M'Kaela's struggles placidly with his dark eyes, as passive a child as
M'Kaela was active.  "They left two hours ago," Kathryn finally
answered Harry's question, pulling her attention from the two
children.

"And I'm left here to finish the diagnostics on the Cochrane's new
helm controls," Harry said with a mock pout.  "Tom has a knack for
escaping tedious situations."

Kathryn knew Harry's gibe was a meaningless one in a long series of
them, and that Tom and he enjoyed knocking each other in jest, but she
saw B'Elanna's head shoot up, and a quick look of irritation crossed
the engineer's face before she could control it.

"He'll be back tomorrow," Kathryn said to Harry, though her eyes were
on B'Elanna.  "I'm sure anything he left...unfinished will be fixed
then."

B'Elanna met Kathryn's gaze for a long moment, and her face relaxed
just a little as she turned to her daughter, who was happily flipping
her spoon off her tray.

"Harry doesn't mind working on the Cochrane," Kes said, giving Harry a
gently admonishing look.

"I don't mind it," he agreed.  "I'm just a little jealous of Tom
getting to go back and forth to New Sonoma so often.  I can't wait
until the transporter is ready and we can hop over there in a few
seconds instead of a few hours.  I miss my buildings."

"*Your* buildings?" Kes asked, her husky voice dry with amusement.

Harry shrugged.  "I helped design and build them," he said. "I didn't
get a chance to do that here."  He'd spent all his time then with the
computer core they had managed to salvage from Voyager, modifying and
adapting it to make its systems and applications more attuned to the
needs of the new colony.  "I didn't know how much I'd enjoy that, or
that I would be good at it."

"We've all discovered hidden talents and abilities in ourselves,"
Kathryn said.  Certainly many of the skills useful on a starship were
wasted on a fledgling colony, and skills not needed on Voyager were
vital to survival on a new planet.  "I suppose that had to happen in a
situation where we had no alternative but to adapt.  Though sometimes
it does amaze me that we've done it so easily."

"It's not amazing at all," Kes said in a soft unequivocal voice.  "I
wouldn't have expected anything less from anyone here.  It's not
surprising that we are building something good and enduring."

Kes rested her hand lightly on Harry's arm, and he smiled contentedly
at her.  Kathryn knew it was because of Kes that Harry had adapted so
quickly here.  Harry had a strong sense of family, a need for that
kind of connection in his life, and Kes's ability to infuse his life
with that deepest sense of belonging had allowed Harry to more readily
accept the loss of his family he had counted on seeing again in the
Alpha quadrant.

One family replaced by another.  It had been that way for everyone.
None of them were any different from Harry in their need for closeness
and connection.

"It's not surprising," Harry finally agreed with his wife's
assessment.  "But I still can't wait to start building our house in
New Sonoma.  And there is plenty of other work to do.  Jesse and Shaun
have finished the plans for the winery and press building."

Kathryn had seen Jesse Molina and Shaun Mulcahy's plans for the
hacienda style building, set to be erected within the next year as the
first grape and olive harvests would be ripening.  Jesse had already
stepped into the position of resident vintner.  Two more of her former
crew who had unveiled personal talents untapped in Starfleet, but
invaluable on Aurora.

"I for one am quite fond of the haphazard design of New Lourdes,"
Neelix said from behind Kathryn's shoulder.  He began to set the
plates of hot food he was carrying on the table.  "It has charm.  And
the red wood gives everything a nice rustic flavor."

"We did a pretty good job considering that we had no time to preplan,"
Kathryn agreed as Neelix set a steaming omelet in front of her.  "It
may be a mix of local woods, duracrete and pre-fab, but it did turn
out pretty well, even if it lacks 'theme'..."

Harry grinned at Kathryn's teasing use of that word.  Both Tom and he
liked to refer to New Sonoma's building plan as a "theme."  "Hey, I
love New Lourdes.  Neelix is right, it does have a sort of rustic
charm, even if we just erected everything haphazardly.  But it is fun
to plan a whole new town, with a cohesive design."

Kes traded tolerant smiles with Kathryn.  Harry was as detail-oriented
as he was enthusiastic.  Even B'Elanna looked mildly amused as she
settled M'Kaela with her bowl of applesauce and scrambled eggs.

The conversation stalled a bit as they all dug into their omelets with
appreciative gusto, then eventually drifted to the subject of the site
to site transporter that was nearly ready to be put into use.  Harry
managed to drag B'Elanna into that conversation as they discussed the
final tests she and Joe had planned for the transporter, and how it
might eventually be expanded into a fully functional transporter
system capable of beaming them anywhere on the planet, once the
ryanamite extraction was complete and it had all been converted into
usable form.

Kathryn listened to them as she finished her breakfast, and her
thoughts centered on the aura of contentment she sensed among everyone
now, including herself.  After two and a half years here--or two years
by the planet's rotation, as they were slowly starting to rethink the
passage of time--Aurora had truly become their home.  There were
occasional moments of melancholy, and spats among friends and lovers,
but they all passed quickly enough.  She looked at B'Elanna, who was
involved now in her conversation with Harry, comfortable as always
with her technical data and equations.  Whatever had happened between
Tom and her, Kathryn was sure it was temporary too.  It would be
straightened out once Tom returned.

---
November 34th, late morning:
---


"Tom, is it possible that you are going to shut up any time soon?"

Tom stared at Chakotay, who was seated beside him in the co-pilot's
seat of the Sagan.  Chakotay wasn't looking at Tom, he was looking out
the front viewscreen at the landscape passing below them.  They were
flying along the eastern edge of the Northern Temperate Sea, the
second largest body of water on Aurora after the Western Sea that
covered a significant area of the equatorial and southern hemisphere
of the planet.  Neither was near the size of Earth's greatest ocean,
the Pacific, since Aurora was nearly fifty-five percent landmass
compared to Earth's thirty percent.  On Aurora it was the land that
surrounded the bodies of water, rather than vice versa.  The Northern
Temperate Sea they were shadowing right now was a fairly shallow sea,
and along the shore the water pooled into the rocky coves in shades of
clear turquoise.  Further out the water was deeper, transformed into a
shimmering cobalt blue.

Tom turned over one of the rocky tree-dotted promontories, reminiscent
of the topography of California's central coast, or areas of the
Italian and Greek coastlines along the Mediterranean, and steered
their course inland.  "I was just trying to pass the time, Chakotay.
Tuvok hasn't complained."

"I would prefer that you desist from speaking," Tuvok replied
immediately from his seat directly behind Tom.  "You have indulged in
inconsequential chatter without pause for nearly three hours, and
without allowing Chakotay or myself to speak."

"I'm sorry, Tuvok," Tom said sarcastically.  "Did you want to add
something 'inconsequential' to the conversation?"

"It has been a dissertation, not a conversation, and no, I have no
desire to discuss any of the generally frivolous subjects you have
broached."

Tom rolled his eyes at Tuvok, then glanced at Chakotay.  "Have I been
boring you too, Chakotay?"

Chakotay shrugged.  Truthfully he couldn't disagree with Tuvok's
assessment of Tom's extreme loquacity since they'd taken off on the
Sagan.  It was in marked contrast to his somber silence when he'd
first approached the Sagan on the landing field.  While it was true
that Tom was rarely at a loss for conversation, particularly idle
conversation, he'd been outdoing himself this morning.  "I don't mind
conversation, Tom, if you'd actually like to discuss something of
consequence."  He could have added, "like what's bothering you" but he
had a pretty good idea, and he knew Tom would rather cover with
meaningless chatter than actually talk about it.

Tom's eyes remained on the landscape they were gliding over now, the
straw-colored hills dotted with trees and separated by small valleys
that surrounded New Sonoma.  "Nothing comes to mind."

"I do agree with you about the bay we passed a while ago," Chakotay
said as Tom cut speed for their imminent descent.  "It did look like a
woman's profile."  In reality it only bore a superficial resemblance
to a humanoid profile, but he'd known where Tom's thoughts were.  "I
think it looked a lot like B'Elanna in fact.  We should name it
B'Elanna's Bay, now that we've started adopting more personally
meaningful names, instead of 'western' this, or 'greater' that.  I
think B'Elanna would be flattered."

Actually Chakotay thought B'Elanna would probably be annoyed, but his
words did get a reaction.  Tom snorted.  "B'Elanna, flattered?"  He
shook his head.  "I wouldn't count on it, Chakotay.  She hasn't been
in a very receptive mood lately."

Chakotay met Tuvok's impassive gaze.  They were a small, close colony,
and there certainly wasn't anyone who didn't know that there had been
tension between Tom and B'Elanna during the past couple of weeks.
Tension wasn't unusual between them, in fact it was a given
considering their intense personalities, but it was usually
short-lived.  Adding in the stress of adjusting their lives to raising
a bright and active almost toddler, he'd expected that they were
simply experiencing a difficult phase not uncommon in relationships, a
small rift that would heal itself naturally.  He looked at Tom again,
but before he could speak, Tuvok did.

"If you wish to unburden yourself and seek advice to foster the
stability of your relationship with B'Elanna, that would be an
acceptable topic of conversation."

Tom's head jerked around and he stared at Tuvok, his mouth dropping
open slightly.  Chakotay barely managed to keep his own mouth closed.
Although Tuvok had become more and more adapted to living with
predominantly human companions since they'd been on Aurora--after all,
Tuvok knew that he was now stuck with them for his lifetime--a
willingness to discuss the emotional turmoils of those around him was
more than Chakotay had expected.  He couldn't help wondering
facetiously if an advice column could be far behind.

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the quick grin Chakotay couldn't quite
suppress.  "It would be a preferable subject to more idle
conversation, and if we might be of assistance to Tom, it would serve
a purpose."

Chakotay was sure he heard a very slight hesitation in Tuvok's voice
when he used Tom's first name.  The Vulcan still had some difficulty
shedding his lifelong habit of formality and addressing his former
crewmates, now fellow colonists, by their first names.  He glanced at
Tom, who had now closed his mouth.  "Tom?"

"Thanks for the thought, Tuvok," Tom said shortly.  He turned once
more to face the viewscreen.  "But everything is fine.  Since I've
been talking too much, I'll just shut up now."

Chakotay sighed.  He hoped it really was only a small rift between Tom
and B'Elanna, and that they wouldn't let it go any further.  With the
emotional scars they both carried, he was well aware that small
problems often loomed large, especially when they both fell back on
their established withdrawal patterns and let the wounds fester.

"We're coming to New Sonoma now," Tom said, sounding relieved.

The low whitewashed buildings of the village came into view as they
approached over a broad hill west of the site, a hill that Jesse
Molina had flagged as the perfect vineyard site.  Other gently sloping
hills where future fruit orchards would stand surrounded the new town.
The weather here was drier and milder than in New Lourdes, and would
be more suitable for certain crops, like grapes, and olives and nuts,
and citrus fruit trees.  To the south was a wooded ravine where a
small river flowed by, a river they had named Ktari River, the new
colony site's source for water.

They approached the site and flew over the residential section, where
two dozen houses in the low rambling style Tom jokingly called
California-Mediterranean-Spanish were gleaming with recent whitewash,
and bright red or blue tiled roofs.  Then they flew over the center of
the village with its cluster of newly constructed buildings arranged
around a central plaza.  The move in phase would be staggered, but
within the next several months a third of the colonists would be
living here primarily, though with the site to site transporter in
operation, primary residence wouldn't be much of a factor.  The
colonists could come and go between the two villages as often as they
pleased.

They passed the still empty outer warehouse buildings, and descended
toward the marked landing site just past the new shuttlebay hanger.  A
few moments later, with deft handling of the recently upgraded helm
controls, Tom set the Sagan down on the short grass without so much as
a bump.

---

The Meeting hall in New Lourdes had been transformed in the past year
also.  Harry and Tuvok had updated and added to Voyager's original
secondary computer core, and two walls was now taken up by the
computer complex, containing all the information they had saved from
Voyager's database, along with controls for the force fields,
satellites, and the remote sensors they had placed around the planet
as they'd slowly mapped it.  They'd also linked the individual
residences with remote monitors to access data from the main computer
core, an improvement over their early reliance on datapadds.

The large table from Voyager's senior officer's briefing room still
dominated the middle of the main room, and a short corridor off the
back wall led to the latest addition to the Meeting hall, another
large room dominated by a transporter platform.

A transporter wouldn't eliminate the need for shuttles entirely, and
in fact Tom was in the middle of designing a new one with the input of
several colonists, including B'Elanna, Harry, Pablo Baytart, and Gerry
Culhane.  But it was important for the growth of the colony to have
instantaneous access to the new site.  B'Elanna, Joe and Sue had
cannibalized the transporter relays and parts from their dwindling
fleet of original Voyager shuttles, and had spent months transforming
them into a new transporter system.  It was currently limited to site
to site transport between New Lourdes and New Sonoma, but B'Elanna was
sure that eventually they would be able to transport to any
coordinates on the planet.  It had been the ryanamite, and B'Elanna's
considerable engineering skills, that had revived the most complex
technology the Federation had to offer, that they had originally
thought lost with Voyager.

"Margin of error is .00000000312," Kathryn said from her position at
the main console, reporting on the latest test.  B'Elanna stood at
Kathryn's side closely scrutinizing the readings, and Joe stood next
to the transporter where several small containers had reappeared,
concentrating on the scanner in his hand.

That margin of error was lower than one out of three billion,
virtually zero in practical terms.  It was better in fact than the
margin of error had been for Voyager's own transporter system, and far
superior to the transporters the Federation had relied upon less than
a hundred years ago.  But no one wanted to take any chances at all
when it came to transporting the colonists, particularly B'Elanna, who
was very much a perfectionist about her work.

B'Elanna made a small "hmmph" sound now, of approval or disapproval,
Kathryn wasn't sure.  "What is the residual reading?"

Joe looked up from his scanner.  "Twenty seven percent below norm."
He closed the scanner and looked down as M'Kaela tottered out from
beneath the control platform, where she'd been amusing herself
chattering nonsense and banging her fist on one of the supports.  She
lost her balance as she tried to negotiate the raised transporter
platform and landed on her rump.  Joe grinned at her as she stared up
at him with her deep blue eyes, her expression annoyed rather than
teary.  He reached down and ruffled her curls.  "Hey, princess."

"Why doesn't anyone ever call her by her name?" B'Elanna grumbled as
she made a minor adjustment to one of the transporter controls.

"Nobody ever calls kids by their names," Joe said.  "Well, except
you."

B'Elanna gave Joe a sharp look though he didn't see it.  He was still
busy trading smiles with M'Kaela.

"It's just a matter of personal style," Kathryn said.  "My father
called me pet names even when I was grown.  And my grandmother never
called my anything but Kathryn Elizabeth from the day I was born."
She smiled at B'Elanna.  "It didn't have any relation to how much
either of them loved me though."

B'Elanna looked at her daughter, who had one fist curled tightly into
one of Joe's pantlegs and was busy trying to use him as leverage to
get up onto the transporter platform.  "I'm not sure Tom knows her
real name.  He's too busy calling her 'angel' or 'sweetie' or
'pumpkin'."

"Tom's never at a loss for an affectionate name for his daughter,"
Kathryn agreed.  He wasn't at a loss for affectionate terms for his
wife either, and she'd heard him speak them when the two had assumed
no one else could hear their conversation.  Kathryn didn't add that
observation though, not only because she knew B'Elanna struggled to
maintain some sense of privacy under very communal living conditions,
but because she was also aware that B'Elanna and Tom were not on the
best of terms at the moment.

"Tom does love this little angel," Joe said, still grinning at
M'Kaela.

"And I don't?" B'Elanna snapped.

Both Joe and Kathryn looked at her in surprise.  "Of course you do,
B'Elanna," Joe said quietly.  "I didn't mean to imply anything else.
I was just thinking in the terms of...a father's love."

Joe's suddenly pensive gaze moved back to M'Kaela, who had released
him and began toddling toward the control platform again.  Kathryn
knew he was thinking of his own two sons, whom he would never see
again.  Although Joe had begun to rebuild his life here, most recently
with Sam Wildman, Kathryn knew he could never completely recover from
that loss.

B'Elanna must have realized what Joe was thinking too, because she
said softly, "I'm sorry, Joe."

Joe shook his head quickly.  "Don't be."  He paused, and when he spoke
again his voice was wistful.  "I'll always miss my boys.  But I enjoy
seeing all the children being born and raised here.  Tom's a good
father to M'Kaela, and you're a good mother, B'Elanna, even if you
sometimes doubt that."

B'Elanna looked at her daughter, who was crawling around under the
control console again.  M'Kaela looked up at her mother and Kathryn,
her expression mischievous, and she murmured a stream of babble,
punctuated by a few recognizable words like 'mama' and 'no.'

"No?" Kathryn asked dryly, smiling down at her.

"No," M'Kaela repeated forcefully.

B'Elanna sighed.  "That's her favorite word."

Joe chuckled.  "Of course it is."  He moved his gaze from M'Kaela, who
began pounding one hand on the console imperiously, to B'Elanna.  "I
do know that it's a hard job raising a child, and it certainly makes
for some adjustment in a marriage."

B'Elanna shot Joe a sharp look, but Kathryn's look on him was more
thoughtful.  "Are you going to be needing my services as a former
Starfleet captain one of these days, Joe?" Kathryn asked.

Joe clearly understood Kathryn's meaning.  She only performed one
service bestowed on her by her Starfleet captaincy --officiating
marriage vows.  "Maybe," he said noncommittally.  He turned toward the
transporter platform and played with the settings on the scanner in
his hand, and murmured again, more softly and more definitely,
"Maybe."

Kathryn and B'Elanna shared a pleased look with each other, and
B'Elanna actually cracked a genuine smile, albeit a small one.
Samantha was a good woman, and very good for Joe.  The losses they'd
both suffered had created a bond between them.  And over the past
several months Naomi had come to consider Joe her surrogate father.

"Tuvok to New Lourdes."

"Kathryn here."

"Kathryn," Tuvok's deep voice floated over the commlink.  "I am ready
to commence the transport sequences."

No "hello," or "we arrived safely," or any other gratuitous
pleasantries from their Vulcan friend, Kathryn reflected with
amusement.  Of course their safe arrival was implied by Tuvok's
contact.

B'Elanna made no move to indulge in pleasantries either.  She got
right to the point.  "I'll initiate the sequences here first."  Her
fingers skimmed over the controls as M'Kaela chose that moment to grab
at the leg of her mother's jumpsuit, wanting to be picked up.

"Up!" M'Kaela demanded.

"No, M'Kaela," B'Elanna said firmly.

"We have several small containers that we just sent and retrieved on a
test run," Joe said.  "We'll send those over again."

"Very well," Tuvok agreed over the link.  "Receiving transponders are
at optimal levels."

"Good," B'Elanna replied.  "I'll boost the signal now--M'Kaela!"

Kathryn reached down and scooped up M'Kaela, who had been tugging
insistently at B'Elanna's pantleg again, undeterred by her mother's
"no."  B'Elanna flashed Kathryn a grateful look as her hands moved
over the controls again.  "Look, M'Kaela."  Kathryn pointed as the
containers on the transporter platform began to shimmer.  M'Kaela
followed Kathryn's gesture and her small mouth fell open slightly as
she fixed her fascinated gaze on the growing sparkles on the platform.

"The signal is received--what...?"

Kathryn and B'Elanna looked at each other as Tuvok's voice rose
uncharacteristically in surprise.  A second later Tuvok spoke through
the link again, his voice abrupt.  "Stand by."

B'Elanna pulled back on the signal and the shimmering effect of the
transporter faded as the small containers took their completely solid
shape again.  M'Kaela looked at Kathryn in confusion, clearly upset
that the light show had ended.

"Tuvok?"

Tuvok didn't answer Kathryn's query, and Joe moved over to the control
platform, his look on B'Elanna questioning.  B'Elanna shrugged.  "The
signal was fine."

"More?" M'Kaela asked, pointing to the transporter platform.

Kathryn shook her head distractedly, wondering what had happened to
divert Tuvok's attention so suddenly, and for a moment she wished she
had initiated some gratuitous pleasantries and had asked about
Chakotay and Tom.  She would like to know where they were at the
moment.

"Hey!"  Harry burst in from the main room, followed closely by Celes.
"One of the satellites in the northern hemisphere just picked up an
intermittent signal.  The readings indicated a small ship, but the
signal was masked, either by unknown substance in the hull or by some
sort of cloaking device."

"Near New Sonoma?" Kathryn asked, already suspecting the answer.

"It looked like it was headed in that general direction before the
signal disappeared," Celes said.  "It either recloaked, or crashed."

B'Elanna turned and spoke again into the commlink, her voice tense
now.  "Tuvok, what is going on over there?"

Surprisingly Tuvok answered immediately.  "Something crashed nearby.
The satellite feed here indicates that it was most likely a small
ship."

"That's what the readings here indicated too," Harry said.  "But we
couldn't tell for sure.  And we weren't sure if it crashed or cloaked
itself."

"It crashed," Tuvok said firmly.  "We will investigate from here."

"Tuvok, we can send back up--"

Tuvok cut off Kathryn's reply.  "The crash shook the ground heavily
here.  My tricorder indicates that the site is approximately one and a
half kilometers from here, near the river.  We can reach the site
quickly, and we will exercise appropriate caution.  I will report back
shortly."

"Tuvok, are Tom and Chakotay with you?"  B'Elanna's voice was rushed,
as if she was afraid he might cut off communications.

"They are here," Tuvok replied.  "We will contact you within the hour
to update you on the situation.  Tuvok out."

"Tuvok--damn!"  B'Elanna slapped the console at the unmistakable sound
of the channel being closed.  "Tom and Chakotay have their
commbadges," she said.  She quickly readjusted the signal.  "B'Elanna
to Tom."

There was no answer, only static.  Harry squeezed in next to B'Elanna
and ran his fingers quickly over the comm station.  "There's some sort
of local interference--magnetic resonance, and some residual
radiation, probably from the crash.  It may be only temporary--"

"Radiation?" Kathryn asked.

"Only in small amounts according to the initial readings," Harry said.
"But we can check again to make sure the remote transmitters haven't
picked up any serious leakage."  He patted B'Elanna's shoulder, and
smiled at Kathryn.  "Don't worry.  A tricorder will detect any
dangerous radiation, and I'm sure they'll take appropriate
precautions, as Tuvok said."

"I'm sure they will," Kathryn agreed.  But she couldn't help a feeling
of disquiet.  If there was only a little radiation leakage then the
ship was mostly likely intact.  They'd become used to being isolated
on Aurora, and the thought that someone else had come across their
planet, intentionally or not, was a little unnerving.  Should anyone
on the ship have survived.

M'Kaela, who had been surprisingly quiet and still in Kathryn's arms,
whimpered a little in the tense silence, as if she sensed the sudden
grave moods in everyone around her.  B'Elanna took her from Kathryn
and she brushed her lips over her daughter's forehead before hugging
her distractedly.  Her thoughts, like everyone else's, were clearly
elsewhere.

---

In fact Chakotay and Tom weren't "here" in the way Tuvok knew his
answer might have been interpreted.  They were here in the more
general sense of the word--somewhere on the colony site.  They'd gone
to inspect the new duracrete walkways in the residential section that
had recently been laid, to verify that they had set properly in the
spate of late spring rains that had fallen during the previous week.
Tuvok had remained in the Meeting hall to check the status of the
recently installed computer system, and to assist with the additional
transporter tests B'Elanna had scheduled for today.

The seismic survey Ryan Mackenzie and Lindsay Ballard had conducted
when they'd first been considering new colony sites had shown that
this area was prone to occasional though usually moderate seismic
activity.  It was nothing that plexisteel mixed in with the stucco
they'd used to construct the buildings in New Sonoma couldn't
withstand.  And a temblor had been Tuvok's first suspicion when the
ground shook briefly beneath him.  But the roar just before it had
sounded different than the roar of the ground as a temblor rumbled
through.  His quick foray outside after he'd told Kathryn to stand by
had confirmed that something had crashed.  The smoke from the impact
was visible to the southeast.

Tuvok made his way back through the Meeting hall, stopping at the main
storage locker to retrieve several items, and then winding around
clusters of crates and boxes and even pieces of furniture waiting to
be moved to the main buildings of the village, and to the adjoining
residential section.  Over the past few months most of the colonists
had either been directly involved in constructing the new colony's
buildings, or had helped install the underlying cables and conduits
for the electrical grids, lay pipes, or make furniture for both the
main village and the new residences.  Only the cadre of engineers like
B'Elanna and Joe, who had spent most of their time refining the
ryanamite and then working on the transporter system, had been
excused.

Despite the number of items that had been beamed to New Sonoma in the
past couple of weeks since B'Elanna had deemed the transporter ready
for inanimate objects, Gerron and Michael's hastily constructed
warehouse behind their shop in New Lourdes was still filled to
capacity with more furniture waiting to be beamed over to New Sonoma.
Tuvok had built several pieces of furniture in the traditional Vulcan
style himself, a craft that he found both relaxing and conducive to
deeply focused thought.  He would be one of the forty-three colonists
who would move into the first phase of the residential section in two
weeks, just in time to escape the cold winter that was already
starting to set in at New Lourdes.  Vulcans had no predilection for
cold, damp weather, though they had more resilience to deal with it
than Klingons or Bolians.

Tuvok stepped outside again, surprised that Tom and Chakotay hadn't
already burst into the Meeting hall.  The residential section was to
the west, so he'd known immediately that they'd been in no danger.
But they had certainly felt the impact.  He looked up at the sun, to
the north and not quite overhead yet since the summer solstice was
approaching here.  The sun shone many hours longer here now than in
New Lourdes, but the hour, shortly after noon, was virtually the same
at both sites, since they were situated within a hundred kilometers of
each other's longitude, by intent.  He rounded the side of the white
stucco and duraglass Meeting hall, and almost collided with Tom.

"Tuvok."  Tom said his name almost distractedly, then glanced across
the round expanse of Sacajawea Plaza that was covered with the fine
yellowish grass indigenous to this region.  The trees were scarcer
here, and the few that adorned the plaza had slightly twisted gray
trunks with wide branches and sparse foliage similar to Earth's
cypresses.  Tuvok followed Tom's intent gaze to the narrow plume of
smoke that was visible over the roof of two warehouse buildings across
the plaza.

"It looks like it's near the river," Chakotay judged.

Tuvok silently agreed with that assessment as Chakotay and Tom both
turned to him.  Though they were no longer on a starship there was
still a tendency to defer based on their previous positions.  Some of
those positions had translated usefully to Aurora.  No one doubted
that Tom was the best pilot on Aurora, or that B'Elanna was the most
gifted engineer.  But Tuvok's position as security chief had no real
place here.  Security on Aurora consisted merely of safety measures
against the weather and the few dangerous animals that inhabited the
same space.  At least it had until now.

"It will be most expedient to go on foot," Tuvok stated.  It would
also be prudent not to immediately expose their technology to any
possible survivors, even the lesser technology contained in a shuttle.
"It will be necessary to be armed, since we do not know what or who we
will find."

Tuvok handed out the phasers he had collected in the Meeting hall, and
then gave Chakotay the tricorder.  "The radiation leakage appears to
be minimal but we should monitor it regularly."

Chakotay nodded as Tuvok turned to Tom.  "I also retrieved a field
medikit in the event that there are survivors who require treatment."

Tom took the medikit Tuvok offered him with a frown, not looking happy
at that possibility.  The doctor had given several of the colonists
recurrency training as medics, and Tom had been one of those chosen.
He was the best equipped of the three of them to deal with any
potential injuries.

"Tuvok, did you talk to anyone in New Lourdes?" Chakotay asked.

"I spoke to Kathryn and apprised her of the situation.  The satellite
feed there also monitored the crash.  I told her that we will make
contact within the hour with further pertinent information."  Tuvok
glanced at Tom.  "B'Elanna was there also."

Tom nodded, and fingered his commbadge for a moment, frowning.  Then
he dropped his hand.

"Let's go then," Chakotay said.  "The sooner we get a look at the ship
the better."

Tuvok led the way as they headed across the plaza toward the plume of
smoke.

---

Less than fifteen minutes later, after a brisk pace set by Tuvok
through the lightly rolling grassy fields, they came to the Ktari
river that meandered from the low hills east of New Sonoma to the
Northern Temperate Sea ten kilometers to the west.  Its meandering
course formed nearly a half circle around the new colony site at a
three kilometer distance to the east and half that distance to the
south.  In the mid- summer and fall it was more a stream than a river.
After the winter rains it swelled into a small river.  As they moved
out of the lightly wooded area that lined its banks, the site of the
crash became clearly visible on the other side of the river.

Tuvok led the way into water.  The riverbed was twelve meters wide at
this spot, and fortunately the water rose no deeper than mid-thigh as
they crossed on foot.  Tom was glad he'd worn his lighter weight
flight jumpsuit instead of the jeans Tuvok and Chakotay had chosen to
wear.  Though the weather was warm as befitted late spring, and their
clothing would dry, it was still uncomfortable.  A bridge would be a
good idea in the near future.

They moved past several trees on the opposite bank of the river that
were singed, and past more trees had been flattened by the ship as it
crashed.  Smoke continued to rise from the charred ground, and from
the front of the ship that was now visible as they came upon it from
the port side.  It was far smaller than Voyager, though several times
the size of a standard shuttle, and Tom noted that it was still in one
piece despite the heavy damage.  It had crashed at a steep forward
angle--not surprisingly--and the forward section of the ship was
severely mangled.  The aft section was dented and bruised, but it
appeared to be intact.

"The radiation level hasn't changed," Chakotay said.  He'd run a
radiation scan several times as they'd approached, and had reported
that leakage was minimal.

Tom's attention was on the medical tricorder he carried.  "I'm reading
lifesigns in the aft section of the ship," he said.  "Maybe two dozen,
humanoid, species unknown."

Tuvok was already searching for a way to get inside the ship.  There
was a closed panel next to what appeared to be a large set of bay
doors.  The cover was partially buckled, and Tuvok wrapped his fingers
around the edge and pulled.  Even with his strength, it barely budged.
He aimed his phaser at the upper edge of the panel cover and sliced
across the dented metal.  Chakotay joined him and they pulled
together, forcing the panel cover off to reveal a dozen control
buttons and switches inside.

"I'm reading another lifeform," Tom said.  He hesitated for a moment,
as he tried to interpret the reading, hoping he was wrong.  "It's
faint, but it has mechanical components...and it looks like a Borg
signature."

Tuvok continued testing the control switches without pause, but
Chakotay looked at Tom.  "Is it Borg?" he asked with some alarm.

Tom frowned at the tricorder.  "I don't know.  It's so weak that if it
is, it must be injured.  Can a Borg be injured?"  He'd always heard
that if a Borg drone was injured, it was immediately deactivated and
cannibalized for parts.

"I thought they either regenerated, or were destroyed," Chakotay said,
echoing Tom's thought.

"Speculation is pointless," Tuvok said.  "We will know the answer when
we get inside."  He tried the final switch, to no avail.  The power
source had clearly been interrupted.    "We can use our phasers on the
bay doors, but such an effort would likely drain most of their
energy."  Tuvok continued to inspect the control panel as if a logical
answer would come to him.  "However, it may be our only option--"

"There must be a manual override code," Tom said impatiently.
Eschewing Tuvok's methodical approach, he pressed his fingers over
several of the top row of buttons, alternating the pressure of his
hand against the panel.

"That is not likely to produce any--"

Tuvok's words were interrupted by a painfully loud screeching noise
that made them all wince.  The bay doors began to slide open.  The
space widened to about twenty centimeters before their progress was
halted by the severely buckled condition of the doors.  But it was
enough.

Tuvok looked at Tom, and Tom smiled triumphantly, even though he knew
it had been sheer blind luck.  "I guess I just have the magic touch,
Tuvok," he quipped.

"You were the recipient of fortuitous chance," Tuvok corrected, and
then he stepped through the partially open bay doors.

Tom and Chakotay followed closely behind, and Tom's smile faded once
they crossed the threshold.  They entered into a narrow bay with
several lifepods lining the walls, some still in their holds, some
jarred loose from the impact.  Obviously there hadn't been time for
any of the crew to get to the bay area and escape in the lifepods
before the ship had crashed.  Tom found that odd, given that the ship
had entered the atmosphere intact, and that all the damage appeared to
be from the impact rather than from any previous collision.

"The lifesigns are concentrated past those doors," Tom said, pointing
to the double doors that led out of the bay and into the interior of
the ship.  They were damaged too.

Tuvok stepped over some debris that had fallen from the partially
collapsed ceiling, following Chakotay, who had already begun moving in
that direction with his tricorder.

"These doors have been fused shut, from the other side," Chakotay
reported, his voice perplexed.

Tom looked at Chakotay.  "You mean someone did it on purpose?"

"It looks like it."

Tuvok glanced down the two other corridors that went off in opposite
directions in front of the doors, perhaps to other lifepod bays, or
cargo bays.  "Is there another route we can take to reach them?"

Chakotay shook his head, studying the map the tricorder provided.
"Looks like the doors separate this bay along with several other
compartments--storage or cargo bays maybe--from the rest of the ship.
There are several access tubes that go to the engine section, but they
appear to be collapsed."

Tuvok nodded and aimed his phaser at the doors.  Tom and Chakotay
understood his intention and did the same.  Together they cut through
the fused section of the doors.

"I hope they're not feeling too hostile to visitors," Tom said as
Tuvok pushed at the cutaway section.  Offhand he couldn't think of
very many Delta quadrant species they'd met who *weren't* hostile to
visitors, which was not a comforting thought.

Tuvok led the way through again, phaser loose in his hand, but
obviously ready should he need it.  Tom followed suit, his hand
resting near his phaser, and Chakotay brought up the rear.  They were
greeted by the sight of at least two dozen humanoid beings, huddled
along the two walls of a wide corridor, some with obvious injuries and
coral splotches of blood on their clothing.  An adolescent poked his
head out from behind two adults, who spoke to him in anxious tones in
their own language.

"We are here to assist you," Tuvok told them immediately.  Like Tom
and Chakotay, he was wearing his commbadge, a precaution whenever they
traveled from New Lourdes, despite the fact that the comm signals were
sometimes lost in the magnetic interference the blanketed Aurora.
Universal translators were imbedded in the commbadges, though up to
this point they'd never needed them.

Tom didn't know if the brief words spoken to the adolescent had been
enough for the universal translator to grasp their language since none
of the group responded to Tuvok.  Tuvok spoke again, in a calm, even
voice, "We are the inhabitants of this planet.  I am Tuvok, and this
is Chakotay, and Tom.  We observed your ship's descent and impact, and
we wish to offer our assistance."

Two of the men were standing slightly forward of the rest of the group
as if they might be the de facto leaders.  The taller of the two men
took a step forward.  His loose layered clothing was in muted brown
and green tones that would provide camouflage on a planetary surface.
It didn't do too badly against the drab brown interior of their ship
either.  "We appreciate your assistance in freeing us from our damaged
ship.  We require nothing further."

Tom held up his medikit.  "It looks like some of you are injured.  We
have medicines, and regenerators that can mend broken bones."  His
gaze strayed to a woman sitting on the floor with a blood soaked cloth
wrapped around her head.  She leaned heavily on the man next to her,
moaning softly.  "We also have a doctor who can take care of any
serious injuries."

"We have medical knowledge," the tall man replied shortly.

"But our medical supplies are in the infirmary," the man supporting
the injured woman said.

The tall man frowned, and his dark eyes in his leathery face flashed
with annoyance, but he said nothing as Tom moved to the woman's side
and began scanning her with a small medical scanner he pulled out of
the medikit.

"If it's past the end of this corridor, I doubt you'll be able to
retrieve anything," Chakotay said.  "Everything forward of this
section is just tangled metal."

"Was there anyone else on board?" Tuvok asked.

The tall man understood his meaning.  "Our two pilots stayed at the
helm trying to control the crash so that the rest of us might
survive."

"They succeeded," Tom said softly.  And paid with their lives.  They
all knew there was no way the pilots had survived in the crushed
forward part of the ship.  "She will be okay," he said, nodding to the
injured woman.  "It's a superficial cut, and she has a concussion."

"You were fortunate that your pilots controlled the crash," Tuvok
said.  "And that this section sustained minimal damage.  The lifepods
would have ensured your survival.  However, it appears that the doors
leading to the pod bay were fused shut intentionally."

The tall man nodded at Tuvok's pointed observation.  "It was necessary
weeks ago to separate that area of the ship from the main living areas
and the engine room."  A hard look crossed his face.  "We found
ourselves stuck with unwanted passengers."

Tuvok's eyebrow rose, and he looked at Tom.  Tom recalled the other
lifeform, the possible Borg, and he immediately began scanning with
his medical tricorder.  "There it is.  In a storage or cargo area
maybe...one level above the pod bay.  It's the same one, faint, and
with both biological and mechanical components..."

"Is it Borg?"

Tuvok addressed the tall man, but the shorter man next to him spoke
for the first time.  "It *was.*  We are not sure what it might be now.
It was already partly disassembled by the other one when we last saw
it."

Tuvok's eyebrow rose.  "The other one?"

"The alien creature," the tall man said.  "We did not seal off half of
our ship because of one Borg drone."

Tom adjusted the scans on the medical tricorder.  "I don't see..." he
paused, as an anomalous reading flashed across the tricorder screen.
"There is something else that might be a lifesign.  It is some sort of
biomatter, but it's not like any I've ever seen.  It also keeps
disappearing, like it's phasing in and out or something."

"It is not like anything we have ever seen either," the tall man
replied grimly.  "Or ever want to see again.  It is from...someplace
else."

Tuvok moved close enough to Tom to look at the readings, which were
inconclusive, but biological.  There for a moment, then gone.  If it
was an animal, it was of a species unlike any other.  Tom met Tuvok's
gaze and Tuvok murmured, "Interesting."

"The Borg, when it still could speak, called the creature 'Species
8472.'"  The second man's mouth twisted into a harsh smile. "The Borg
threatened to assimilate it, but was not successful."

Tom looked at Chakotay and Tuvok.  If the Borg gave it a species
designation, that implied that the "creature" was intelligent.  And
something was tugging at Tom's memory, but he couldn't quite pin it
down.

"How did it get aboard your ship?" Tuvok asked.

"The Borg assimilated much of our home planet six decades ago.  The
few hundred of us who survived and were not assimilated hid in a vast
system of old mines.  It was a safe haven for us.  Then, several
months ago the Borg returned, this time with some of these creatures
chasing them.  They were involved in a battle, part of a war between
them.  They were too busy fighting each other to notice us, and we are
adept at hiding.  But their battle was poisoning our planet's
ecosphere and eventually we knew we had to leave.  We took several
small ships that we had hidden carefully, and we escaped, each ship
going in a different direction in the hope that we might maximize our
chance of survival.  We did not know that one of the creatures had
invaded our ship until we were over a day away from Sikari.  It killed
twelve of us, painfully, before we were able to seal it off in the bay
section.  It has been there for over a week now, with the Borg."

Tom remembered now something that B'Elanna had said, about Voyager, in
the alternate timeline she'd briefly visited.  That Voyager had come
across a species that had taken on the Borg and was winning, until
Voyager had helped the Borg chase them back out of the galaxy.  He
recalled that the species had no known name, simply a Borg designation
number.

"How did the Borg drone get here?" Chakotay asked.

The tall man shrugged.  "It was left behind by the Borg, or it was
looking for raw materials...we do not know.  It hid from the creature
for a while, but finally they must have met.  For whatever reason the
creature has not killed the Borg, and the Borg cannot assimilate the
creature.  When we viewed the Borg drone through our video monitors in
the cargo bay recently, we saw that it was partially disassembled, but
alive.  It does not speak as far as we can tell.  But neither does the
creature."

"It may communicate in some other way than speech, perhaps
telepathy--"

"It only kills!" the shorter man interrupted Tuvok sharply.  "You
cannot communicate with it.  It will only kill you if you try."

"If it becomes necessary, then we will kill it," Chakotay said, and
Tom looked at him, a little surprised.  The alien was obviously
dangerous, but it wasn't like Chakotay to think about killing it
without considering every other option.

"It is difficult to kill," the tall man warned.  "We tried with laser
weapons and compression grenades and we were unsuccessful.  We only
managed to injure it when it invaded the engine room and one of our
engineers tricked it into the warp matrix field by leading the way."

Chakotay and Tom looked at each other.  Leading the way?

"The engineer died, but the creature escaped.  Even injured it moves
quickly.  And it does not need to breathe as we do.  It spent much of
its time crawling on the outside of the ship."

"Crawling on the outside..." Tom's voice was incredulous.  "In space?"

"Yes.  We think that is how it damaged the engines after we sealed off
the engine room.  That is what caused us to eventually crash here."

Tom looked at his tricorder again and frowned at Tuvok  "The
tricorder's completely lost the reading."

"Maybe it's dead," Chakotay suggested, sounding as if he hoped it was.
Tom couldn't help but agree.

"Or it has left the ship," the tall man said darkly.  The rest of the
Sikari looked alarmed and Tom realized that they hadn't secured the
outer doors into the pod bay, though they hadn't had any reason to
think of doing it.

"The readings are erratic," Tuvok pointed out impassively.  "We do not
know that it has left.  But we must find it now.  Do you have any
weapons?"

The tall man pulled a menacing looking rifle from the folds of his
clothing.  Tuvok's eyebrow rose, and Tom would never have guess it was
there.  "We are not a people inclined to war," he said.  "We avoid
contact with others to avoid conflict.   But we will defend ourselves
if necessary."  He shook his head.  "However, we used up most of our
weapon power trying to fight the creature.  This is all we have left,
other than hand weapons for hunting food, but they are in the sleeping
quarters that are now unreachable."

Tuvok looked at Tom.  "Chakotay and I will go search the bays for the
alien," he said, and Chakotay nodded his agreement.  "It may be dead.
If it we can't find it, we will deal with that problem when we must."

Tuvok looked at the tall man again and raised an eyebrow.  "It would
facilitate conversation if we knew your name."

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered.  "My name
is Larem." He motioned to the shorter man next to him.  "This is
Timbeti."

"Larem, I suggest that you gather what you can and prepare to leave
the ship now.  The radiation leakage is minimal but prolonged exposure
is not advisable.  It may be several days before it tapers off and you
can begin any salvage operations."

"We will accept this course of action since we have no other option."
Larem turned to Timbeti, and handed him the rifle.  "I will leave you
in change of protecting the others, while I accompany Tuvok and
Chakotay to search for the creature."

Tom watched Tuvok nod slightly, accepting Larem's offer without
comment.  "Tom will accompany your people off the ship and offer
medical assistance," Tuvok told Larem.

Tom was agreeable but he had something else on his mind.  "We should
call New Lourdes," he said quickly.  Despite the fact that they'd been
almost at each other's throats for the past few days, a fact he was
sorely regretting right now, he knew that B'Elanna would be worried
about him.

Tuvok tapped his commbadge, and it issued forth only static.  "As I
expected.  Though the radiation is minimal, it is enough to interfere
with communications.  We can try again outside the ship, but I suspect
we will have to wait until we can use the comm channel in the Meeting
hall to contact New Lourdes."

Tom nodded none too happily.  He watched Tuvok and Chakotay leave with
Larem to search for the alien, and to retrieve the Borg drone if it
was alive.  Though Tuvok hadn't said it, Tom knew he and Chakotay
wouldn't leave it here.

As Tom helped the injured Sikari woman to her feet with the assistance
of the man he assumed was her mate, he tried to push down the guilt he
was feeling over the way he'd practically snuck out of the house this
morning, hoping to avoid a continuation of the argument he and
B'Elanna hadn't finished last night.  He had other things he should be
thinking about right now, like the fact that if this Species 8472
creature was as dangerous as the Sikari implied, and as his hazy
recall of B'Elanna's description of that alternate Voyager's encounter
with them would indicate, it could be disastrous if it got loose on
Aurora.

---

B'Elanna wanted to howl in frustration.  She wished she could do
exactly that, but there were a dozen people in the Meeting hall now,
and giving vent to her temper wasn't an option.  It had been almost an
hour and still no word.  "Isn't there any way to reach them?"

Harry started a little at B'Elanna's sharp tone, and looked at her.
"Our signal's fine.  But you know how unreliable the commbadges can be
on Aurora.   Add to that the crashed ship's residual radiation.  It's
obviously interfering with their reception."

Everything Harry said B'Elanna already knew, and she sighed.  "Sorry."

Harry squeezed her shoulder.  "They'll be okay, B'Elanna.  It's only
been forty-five minutes.  It's just signal interference."

B'Elanna nodded.  "I know."

"And whatever you and Tom are fighting about, you'll both solve it
together."

B'Elanna scowled at Harry.  Did *everyone* know she and Tom had been
fighting?  "And what makes you think--"

"Gotta go, B'Elanna," Harry said, stopping her.  "Mort's signaling
me."

B'Elanna growled a little as Harry pushed past her.  She looked across
the room, where Mortimer Harren was pointing out something on a
display to Ahni Jetal.  Probably some new satellite data, since he'd
become their satellite expert in recent months.

She shook her head.  On Voyager the man had driven B'Elanna to
distraction with his rotten attitude until she'd finally exiled him
from main engineering to deck fifteen.  When they'd first arrived on
Aurora, he'd been just as antisocial, hardly talking to anyone, doing
only as much as was required of him, then using the computer system
half the night to study his exotic particle physics theories.   A year
or so ago Ahni had taken it upon herself to draw him out, practically
forcing him to join in the activities of the colonists.  She'd proven
to be as stubborn as he was, ignoring all his rebuffs until he finally
gave in.  A few months ago he had started to get involved with the
satellite program, and now he was in the midst of doing a complete
upgrade and redesign, one that both Tuvok and Harry found impressive.

Well, Mortimer had always been smart.  But B'Elanna still couldn't
figure out what someone as cheerful and social as Ahni saw in someone
as belligerent and hostile as Mortimer.  And now they were moving in
to one of the newly built houses in New Sonoma together.

B'Elanna frowned.  Tom hadn't been surprised at all.  He'd just said
that opposites attract and that everyone wants to be loved, even the
ones who spend a good part of their lives trying to run away from it
until the right person finally convinces them to take a chance.
B'Elanna had pretended not to recognize the similarities, but of
course she had.

Ahni moved away as Harry arrived, but she trailed her fingers across
Mortimer's back as she did, and his hand reached back and caught hers
for a moment as he began to talk to Harry.  B'Elanna rolled her eyes
and turned around, and almost bumped into Kes.

"They make a good couple, don't they?"

B'Elanna looked at Kes.  And Kes looked right through her, as usual.
She shrugged.  "She puts up with him for some reason."

"He puts up with her too," Kes said, with one of those thoughtful
smiles on her face.  "They both have strong personalities but opposite
temperaments.  They balance each other I think.  And even though they
fight like..." her brow furrowed.  "What's that phrase Tom uses?  Ah,
yes...even though they fight like cats and dogs, I have no doubt that
they make up with just as much passion afterwards.  I hear that can
work quite well."

B'Elanna narrowed her eyes at the deliberate implication she knew Kes
was making.  Kes just gave her an innocent look in return, and then
she changed the subject.  "They haven't been in contact yet?"

Kes didn't have to use names.  B'Elanna shook her head.   "No," she
said shortly.  "Interference."

"They'll be okay."

B'Elanna nodded at that reassurance.  Again.  "I'm going back to the
transporter room.  You coming?"

"Yes."

Kes said that after an odd little hesitation, and B'Elanna looked at
her closely.  It occurred to her that it was kind of strange that Kes
was here. "Is something wrong, Kes?  Shouldn't you be finishing your
doctor exams or whatever in Sickbay?"

Kes smiled a little.  "I can't do them all in one day," she said as
they walked into the transporter room.

Joe was at the control console while Kathryn was on the transporter
platform letting M'Kaela play on the dozen round brightly lit pads.
"Your daddy called this a giant twister game, M'Kaela," Kathryn was
saying as M'Kaela tried to straddle two pads with both hands and feet,
her bottom in the air.  "That was some twentieth-century kind of game
or something.  You know all about your father's fascination with
Earth's twentieth-century, or you will--"

Kathryn looked up and smiled as she saw B'Elanna and Kes.  She left
M'Kaela playing on the transporter platform and joined them next to
Joe.

"The transporter is ready for the final field test," B'Elanna said
abruptly.

Joe, Kathryn and Kes all looked at her, only in mild surprise.

"We've performed every check possible," B'Elanna added, in a tone that
dared anyone to comment.

"That's true," Joe said agreeably.

B'Elanna knew Joe wasn't the type to rub it in, though he'd said the
same thing to her several days ago when she'd insisted on setting up
one more series of tests as an extra precaution.  She knew he and the
rest of the engineers wondered why she was taking so long to give the
system her final approval.  Harry had told her teasingly that she was
being very particular, and even Chakotay had hinted that maybe she was
being overly cautious.  Oddly, Tom had been the one who'd told her
that she should go at her own pace, and give her approval when it felt
right.  "There's no reason to wait," she said now, a little brusquely.

No one argued with that, and they all knew why B'Elanna had suddenly
moved up her timeframe.

"You can beam me over for the field test," Joe suggested.

"I'll beam over," B'Elanna corrected him.  A 'field test' beam-over
was a formality, since none of them had any doubt the transporter was
in prime condition and completely safe.  But it was tradition for the
designer to beam over first, to inaugurate the system and prove its
safety.  B'Elanna had designed it, so she would do it.

"Okay," Joe acquiesced easily.

"And then we can find out what's going on over there," B'Elanna added
with determination.

"Let's give them a few more minutes to contact us," Kathryn suggested.
"In the meantime we can get a team together in case they do need our
assistance with the ship, or with any survivors."  She looked at Joe.
"Joe, why don't you have Harry round up a couple of volunteers who can
be ready to beam over right after B'Elanna."

Joe nodded and headed back to the main room of the Meeting hall, and
Kathryn looked at Kes.  "Kes, I'm glad you're here.  We might need
your medical expertise if there are any injuries--"

"We don't even know if there are survivors," B'Elanna said sharply.
Harry had already tried to use the local satellite sensors to scan the
downed ship, but the satellite sensors were not powerful enough to
detect lifesigns.  It did confirm that the ship was heavily damaged.
"That ship sustained a lot of damage--"

"I did sense something a while ago, when the ship first crashed."

Both Kathryn and B'Elanna stared at Kes.  Though Kes had been working
with Tuvok to enhance her telepathic skills, they knew Kes's skills
were generally short-range.  "Something?" B'Elanna asked Kes sharply.
"From whoever is on the ship?"

Kes nodded.  "The impression I got was brief and indistinct.  I sensed
anger, darkness, doom...but I couldn't separate the emotions or tell
whether they were from one entity or many."

"You sensed this while the ship was crashing?" Kathryn asked.

"Yes.  When I called Harry from Sickbay, he told me the satellite grid
had just registered the ship's descent, so I knew that you were
already aware of it.  I didn't have a chance to mention what I sensed,
and it was so vague I wasn't sure that it means anything."

"Anger and doom..." Kathryn repeated.  "Obviously they knew they were
going to crash and weren't happy about it."

As if anyone would be, B'Elanna thought.  Kes hadn't mentioned fear.
Being angry rather than afraid might be admirable, but it also alarmed
B'Elanna.  "They were angry that they were crashing?"

"I honestly couldn't tell how the emotions were directed," Kes said.
"I assume so," she added uncertainly.  "For me to even be able to read
them at all at this distance must mean the alien or aliens aboard that
ship are strongly telepathic.  Or may have been."

"Do you think they're dead?" B'Elanna asked, her voice hopeful.  If
there was any chance that whoever was on that ship might be hostile,
dead hostiles were far easier to deal with than live ones.

Kes shook her head.  "I don't know.  I got only that brief burst of
emotion, then it was gone.  I don't know if they--or it--simply
stopped broadcasting, or died."  She looked rueful.  "I'm sorry I
can't be more specific, but it happened so fast--"

"It's all right, Kes."  Kathryn put her hand on Kes's shoulder.  "Any
information you can give us is better than none."

"I thought if I came here, I might get a better impression, if there
is anything to read."

"Doo?"

Kes looked down at M'Kaela, who'd gotten tired of playing on the
transporter platform and now stood staring up at them.  Kes squatted
and smiled at her.  "Andrew's with Sam and Naomi, M'Kaela.  I left him
there since Uncle Harry is busy with the satellite data, and I thought
he might get in the way here."  She patted M'Kaela's head.  "Not that
you are in the way, sweetheart."

"Oh, never," B'Elanna said dryly.  Truthfully she'd gotten used to
having M'Kaela underfoot, and she could usually find something around
for her daughter to amuse herself with while she was working.  Though
as often or not M'Kaela was with Tom, or sometimes playing with Naomi
at Sam's.  Or with one of a dozen other people in New Lourdes.

"I did bring some medical supplies with me," Kes said as she set the
bag she'd had over her shoulder on the floor.  "And I have something
for you, M'Kaela."  She reached into it and pulled out a kala fruit,
an indigenous fruit that looked like a large strawberry but had a
banana-like flavor.  "I thought you would be here with your mommy and
might like this."

"Fuit," M'Kaela declared, accepting it from Kes and showing it to her
mother.  B'Elanna smiled briefly as M'Kaela sat down happily at her
feet and began eating it.

"If there are any survivors to be treated, I'll go over with the first
team," Kes said.

Kathryn nodded.  "Let's recheck the sequences then," she suggested to
B'Elanna.  "That will take a few minutes."

"Right," B'Elanna agreed, moving her fingers rapidly over the control
console.  "If Tuvok and Tom and Chakotay haven't gotten back to New
Sonoma and called us by that time, then we'll just go over there and
see what the hell they're doing making us wait so long."

"I'll go check on Joe's progress," Kes offered.

"Good idea," Kathryn said.  "Tell him to see if Michael is back yet."

B'Elanna looked at Kathryn.  Even if Michael Ayala's specialty on
Aurora was furniture making, and growing corn, he had been Tuvok's
second in command on Voyager.  B'Elanna appreciated Kathryn's sense of
precaution.  In fact, she planned to bring a phaser herself and join
the team when they beamed over after her.

"And if you sense anything else, no matter how vague, let us know,"
Kathryn added.

It was an unnecessary request, but Kes nodded before she stepped
through the door.  B'Elanna watched her leave, and then began
rechecking the sequences with Kathryn, pushing down the apprehension
she was beginning to feel.

---
November 34th, mid-afternoon:
---

They'd found no sign of the unknown alien in the cargo bays of the
Sikari ship, but they had found the Borg drone--or former Borg drone.
A female, stripped of most of her Borg implants, apparently by the
unknown alien.  Or not so unknown.  Chakotay couldn't help but
recognize the designation Species 8472 from what Kathryn had told him
after her encounter with the Traveler.  He knew Kathryn had been left
with the impression that the species that would decimate the galaxy
had come from somewhere else--somewhere outside the galaxy.  And he
knew Kathryn didn't expect any of them to ever show up on Aurora.  He
wondered now if the Traveler had thought this too minor an incident to
mention, or if Kathryn's memory of that night had been too fuzzy to
recall this detail.

Of course, Kathryn had been given the impression that they would
remain alone on Aurora for many years, yet here were two dozen
refugees.  Perhaps the Traveler had kept certain developments to
himself for his own reasons.  It was a disquieting thought.

The Borg stumbled, and Chakotay steadied her, though she seemed not to
notice his touch at all.  He looked at her closely again.

She was clearly human.  That was odd enough, in the Delta quadrant.
Her pasty skin was mottled and scarred where the Borg circuitry had
been removed recently and with little finesse.  Small tufts of blond
hair grew from the several spots on her head that weren't scarred from
the Borg hardware.  Her left eyepiece was partially torn out, and the
lens was dark.  The neural implant remained, but how fully it was
working was questionable, since she didn't respond at all when
Chakotay or Tuvok spoke to her.  She appeared to be in a completely
catatonic state.

He was disappointed that she couldn't communicate, and tell them more
about this Species 8472.  Since they hadn't found the alien alive or
dead on the Sikari ship, that meant only one thing.  It was now
somewhere outside the ship.  Which was one reason why he kept his hand
on his belted phaser as he walked.  The other reason was just in case
the Borg drone unexpectedly became aware of her surroundings.

"They are at the river," Tuvok said.

The Sikari leader, Larem, pointed at the same time.  He had searched
with them for the Species 8472 alien, but he had made no move to
assist them with the Borg drone.  In fact he had watched them from a
distance, disapproving.  Now he led the way toward Tom and the rest of
the Sikari, some of who were using the river water to wash their
wounds.

Timbeti stood with the Sikari's laser rifle watching the trees as they
approached.  Tom was using a dermal regenerator on the woman with the
head injury.  Chakotay was glad to see that everything around them was
undisturbed.  It was clear now that the alien had left the ship while
they'd all still been inside.  They just had no idea where it had
gone.

Some of the Sikari looked up as they reached them, and one uttered
something in a loud voice, a word that didn't translate--probably a
curse. Several of them backed away when they saw the mutilated Borg
female. Tom looked up also, and his expression ranged from dismay to
pity.

"She is catatonic," Chakotay said to the obviously alarmed Sikari.
"She can't hurt you."

Larem brushed past the Borg drone, giving her a look of disdain.  His
lack of fear seemed to translate itself to the rest of the Sikari, who
relaxed, if only marginally.

"We should return to New Sonoma immediately," Tuvok said, as he
scanned the trees surrounding them.  "We are wide open to attack from
the alien, should that be its intent."

That was enough to make everyone tense again.

"It is not dead?" Timbeti asked redundantly.

"No." Tuvok's answer was blunt.  "It is advisable to seek shelter."

Tom helped the woman he'd been treating to stand while her Sikari mate
supported her.  He glanced warily at the surrounding trees himself as
he approached Tuvok and Chakotay.  When Tom reached them he ran his
medical tricorder over the Borg woman.

"Human," Tom said with surprise, verifying Chakotay's suspicion.
"Dehydration, malnutrition, abscesses where it looks like the Borg
components were just...ripped out.  Jeez, this was pretty vicious."
He shook his head, giving the Borg drone another pitying look.
"Incipient breakdown of several biological functions, and little
higher brain activity.  I can't tell if that's permanent, but her
neural implant is only functioning at base levels."

"Why does she not have the eating alive disease?" Timbeti asked,
sounding angry.

"The what?" Tom asked.

"It's from the creature," Larem said grimly.  "Those who were not
lucky enough to be killed outright when the creature attacked us on
our ship developed a disease that ate away at their flesh.  They died
after several days of intense pain and deterioration."

"Charming," Tom muttered.

Timbeti glared at the Borg.  "We saw Borg drones on Sikari with the
eating alive disease also.  Why did the creature allow this one to
survive?"

"I'm not sure she's going to survive," Chakotay said.  They would
leave that for the doctor to deal with.  Right now they had other
problems.

"We should leave it here," Timbeti said.  "Maybe it will draw out the
creature."

Tom looked sharply at Timbeti.  "That's a little heartless, don't you
think?  She may have been Borg, but right now she's pretty helpless.
She can't hurt you."

"It is unwise to tarry here any longer," Tuvok said abruptly.

Chakotay agreed.  "Let's go."

Tuvok led the way, his keener senses alert to every move around them.
Chakotay waited for most of the Sikari to fall in line behind Tuvok
and then brought up the rear with Tom, who joined him after checking
that the injured woman was steady enough to walk with her mate's
assistance.  Chakotay guided the unresponsive Borg drone, after
several of the Sikari went to great lengths to avoid any accidental
contact with her.

They crossed the river, and moved through the dense trees near the
riverbank, carefully watching everything around them.  The Sikari male
closest to the rear glanced at the Borg several times.  Finally he
spoke to Tom.  "I suppose you do think we are heartless," he said,
motioning toward the Borg.  "But the Borg destroyed our civilization
and left us with no choice but to hide on our own planet."

"Those of you who weren't assimilated," Chakotay pointed out before
Tom could speak.  "Whoever this woman was, I doubt she asked to be
assimilated either."

The Sikari shrugged.  "Perhaps not.  But whoever she was, that person
is gone.  That was destroyed forever by assimilation.  What is left of
her now is not capable of sympathy for us, nor can we feel much
sympathy for her."

Tuvok chose that moment to stop the group as they came out of the
trees and into the more open grassland.  The whitewashed buildings of
New Sonoma a kilometer away gleamed in the midday sunlight.  "I
suggest we use caution as we approach the village."  Tuvok looked at
Larem, who had been walking almost abreast of him.  "From your
description of the fight between the Borg and this Species 8472, we
must assume the alien is intelligent and technologically adept.  It
may well look for refuge in one of the buildings."

Chakotay heard Tom's murmured "great" at that unpleasant possibility
and he echoed the sentiment.  Chakotay knew just how technologically
adept this Species 8472 was.  It was no simple "creature," as the
Sikari referred to it.  It was vastly intelligent and resourceful, if
even a small part of what Kathryn had been told about their future
actions were true. In short, it was far more dangerous than a wild
animal.

Tom pressed his commbadge as they resumed their course, and a brief
surge of static issued from it.

"I think you'll just have to wait until we get to New Sonoma, Tom,"
Chakotay said.

"Yeah." He actually growled a little in frustration.  Chakotay
wondered if he'd learned that from B'Elanna.

"You know, whatever it is, there's an easy solution."

Tom looked at Chakotay, nonplused, and then suspicious as he realized
what Chakotay meant.  "Really?" Tom drawled coolly.

"Hug her."

Tom's mouth dropped open and Chakotay couldn't help but smile

"That's your easy solution," Tom asked sarcastically.  "A hug?"

"Yep."

Surprisingly Tom didn't smirk; he just shook his head slowly.  "Some
issues aren't solved that easily, Chakotay."

"No, but hurt feelings can be soothed that easily," Chakotay said.  He
suspected Tom knew that, but reaching out and putting himself on the
line wasn't something that came easy to him.  Or to B'Elanna.  "And if
you hug B'Elanna, she'll hug you back, and it'll go from there."

Tom just gave Chakotay a skeptical look, not about to give even a
millimeter.

The Borg woman stumbled a little over a branch, and Chakotay steadied
her, pulled into the present again.  He felt a little guilty almost
forgetting about her presence, even though she was unaware of the
slight.  He met Tom's eyes again.  It wasn't his business, but he
decided to fire one more salvo.  "Since I know you love B'Elanna, and
wouldn't do anything to really hurt her, I'm sure you'll take care of
it as soon as we get back to New Lourdes."

Tom held Chakotay's gaze for several long moments, before he dropped
back slightly, bringing up the rear.  Tom's face still gave away
little, but Chakotay was sure beneath the coolness in Tom's eyes he'd
also seen a slightly contrite flash of acknowledgement.

---

Chakotay looked at the whitewashed buildings in the distance.  At
their modest pace the village was less than fifteen minutes ahead.  As
much as he didn't want to confront this Species 8472, Chakotay found
himself hoping the alien was waiting for them in the village.  He'd
rather face it down now than have to live with the possibility of its
unexpected reappearance hanging over their heads if it disappeared and
remained free on Aurora.

---

"Okay, everything checks out," B'Elanna said impatiently, switching
off the diagnostic mode.  "Let's just do it now."

"Joe will be back any minute," Kathryn said.  "He should be at the
controls.  He's the one who's helped you build this."

B'Elanna frowned.  "If he doesn't get back soon--"

"He will," Kathryn said.  Hopefully with Harry and Michael and several
others.  Not that she was really concerned yet, she told herself, but
just in case they needed help with the alien ship--

"I should have done the field test days ago," B'Elanna said, sounding
both regretful and frustrated.

Kathryn shook her head.  "B'Elanna, I know you're worried about Tom."

B'Elanna's expression stiffened, then she shrugged.  "Tom can take
care of himself.  And he's with Tuvok and Chakotay.  Why would I be
worried?"

"Because you love him," Kathryn said simply.  "The same reason I'm
worried about Chakotay, even though I know they are both with Tuvok,
and they are all resourceful and self-sufficient."

B'Elanna didn't speak for a moment.  Then she shook her head.  "One
minute he's thoughtful and sweet, and the next minute he's being pushy
and annoying, and acting like a..."

"Pig," Kathryn supplied.

B'Elanna's lips quirked just a little.  "Yeah," she muttered.

Kathryn knew that was what B'Elanna used to call Tom in all
seriousness when she'd first met him, until she'd gotten to know the
real man underneath all the posturing.  Then the word had become an
affectionate joke between them.  Most of the time, anyway.

"What did you fight about?"

Kathryn expected B'Elanna to deflect her bald question, but to her
surprise B'Elanna answered.  "How to decorate M'Kaela's room."

Kathryn's eyebrows rose, and B'Elanna immediately looked a little
sheepish, as if she hadn't meant to blurt that out.  Kathryn followed
B'Elanna's gaze as she looked down at M'Kaela, who had wrapped herself
with the blanket her mother had given her and was now asleep

"Her room in New Sonoma," B'Elanna clarified.  She looked away, and
her mouth twisted a little in disgust.  "I guess that sounds pretty
silly."

Kathryn shrugged.  It did, but she'd been in enough relationships
herself to know that arguing over the most inconsequential things
could escalate to the point where deeper issues reared their ugly
heads.  "I've heard of sillier things, believe me, B'Elanna."

"I guess it got a little out of hand," B'Elanna said.  She sighed.
"We...moved on to other things."

"To the things that are really bothering you?" Kathryn asked softly.

"Or bothering Tom," B'Elanna muttered.  "If he wouldn't be so..."

B'Elanna's voice trailed off and she slapped her hand lightly on the
console in obvious frustration.  "So it was pretty much Tom's fault?"
Kathryn asked.

B'Elanna stared down at console she'd just hit for a moment, then
shook her head slowly.  She looked at Kathryn, and sighed again.  "No.
It wasn't all his fault."

"Well, I can only think of one thing to do then."

"What?"

"Hug him and tell him you're sorry."

B'Elanna stared nonplused at Kathryn.

" If you do, so will he.  And he'll mean it."

"You know that for sure?" B'Elanna asked sardonically.

"Don't you?" Kathryn asked gently.  She knew Tom, and B'Elanna knew
him better.

B'Elanna looked startled for a moment, and then a little chagrined.
The door slid open then and they both turned as Joe walked in,
followed by Kes and Harry.  Kathryn was sorry that ended her
conversation with B'Elanna.  "Later," she murmured, getting a quick
nod from B'Elanna before her attention turned to the new arrivals.

"Michael should be here in a couple of minutes, with Gerron," Harry
said.

"Good," B'Elanna said, not disguising her eagerness.  "Let's get
started."

B'Elanna was already around the console and on the transporter
platform by the time Joe got to the controls.  He smiled.  "In a
hurry, Chief?"

"Kes?"

At Harry's anxious tone, everyone looked at Kes, who was gripping the
end of the control console.  Her brow was furrowed as if she was
concentrating intently--on something unpleasant.  Harry wrapped his
hands around her shoulders, steadying her.

"No...." Kes shook her head as if clearing it.  She looked at the
curious gazes around her.  "I sensed  it again."

"It?" Kathryn asked.  "As in just one?"

"Just one that I can sense," Kes said, her voice a little shaky.  "I
think it was trying to contact me, to tell me something, but I pushed
it away."

"Why?" B'Elanna asked sharply.

Kathryn was curious herself.  If there was a telepathic alien on that
ship they certainly wanted to know its intentions.

"It was too powerful," Kes said.  "If I didn't block it, it would be
too strong for me."  She looked at Harry, confused.  "I don't know how
I know that, but it's dangerous to me."

"Great," B'Elanna said angrily.  "If it's dangerous to you, then it's
probably dangerous to Tom and Chakotay and Tuvok."

That unfortunately made sense.  She'd assumed a small ship couldn't
hold too much danger, especially a heavily damaged ship, but now
Kathryn felt the first stirrings of real foreboding.  "Did you sense
anything about its intentions, Kes?"

Harry was rubbing Kes's shoulders as she shook her head.  "Yes.
Something about...the weak perishing."

"Maybe it's dying," Harry said hopefully.

Kes looked unsure.  "I don't know--"

"Whatever's on that ship, we need to get over there!" B'Elanna said
sharply.  "We can't wait any longer for them to contact us."

Kathryn was definitely inclined to agree.  "Michael and Gerron will
be--"

"Initiate the sequence, Joe," B'Elanna said, as she hopped onto the
transporter platform.  "By the time I'm over hopefully Michael and
Gerron will be here."  She shoved the phaser she'd retrieved earlier
into her belt.  "We'll find out what's on that ship, and make sure Tom
and Chakotay and Tuvok are okay."

Kathryn saw no reason to argue with B'Elanna joining the team.  She
planned to do so herself.  "Chances are as soon as you beam over they
will show up in the transporter room," she said, trying to believe her
own optimism. 

"Just fashionably late," Joe commented lightly as he moved his fingers
over the controls.  "Initiating primary sequence."

Kathryn watched Joe's fingers work, recalling how they'd all felt
about the transporter coming online, and finally having the ability to
move back and forth between New Lourdes and New Sonoma
instantaneously.  Under the circumstances she couldn't enjoy this
moment as much as she'd expected to, but she still appreciated it.

"Initiating secondary sequence," Joe said.

Kathryn looked at Kes and Harry.  Harry had one arm around Kes and was
saying something in low tones to her, perhaps reassuring her.  She
looked unhappy and apprehensive.

"Okay, buffers are set...and...active transport now--"

"Joe!"

Kathryn's head shot up at B'Elanna's shout, and she realized that it
wasn't only B'Elanna's voice.  Harry had shouted at the same time. 
B'Elanna was already shimmering in the state of mid-transport--and so
was the small figure on hands and knees behind her.

Kes gasped and Joe cursed, but he didn't reverse the transporter.
"It's all right.  It's perfectly safe."

Kathryn knew that was true, and that Joe believed it whole-heartedly.
But his voice still shook a little.  Kathryn's heart beat wildly in
her chest, but she knew that was just the momentary shock.  No one had
noticed that M'Kaela was even awake, let alone moving around.  They'd
all been too intensely focused on Kes, and then B'Elanna's quick
decision to transport, to hear M'Kaela rousing.  And though there was
nothing in reach that could endanger M'Kaela in the transporter room,
including the transport process itself, Kathryn knew they were all
silently berating themselves for their momentary inattention.  And
B'Elanna would be too.

Joe removed his fingers from the controls as the shimmering figures
faded away entirely and looked at Kathryn.  "Transport complete."

---

B'Elanna materialized on the transporter platform at New Sonoma.  One
part of her mind registered the effects--the brief sense of
disorientation that years of transporting had desensitized her to
unless she was deliberately focusing on the effect, and the flash of
blankness of being "between"--momentarily not existing at all in form.
It had all been within the expected parameters--in fact she had felt
it less than even on Voyager's transporters.

The other part of her mind had been focused on her last sight as the
transporter effect had taken her--M'Kaela crouched on the edge of the
platform.  Though the transporter could be security locked to only
transport specified lifeforms and objects--as starship transporters
could and were--there was no need for such security measures on
Aurora.  It was less energy intensive for the transporter to transport
everything on the platform, whatever number of people or objects might
be in range.  So M'Kaela had automatically been pulled into the
effect.

And as the transporter effect dissipated M'Kaela's mouth opened in
astonishment and dismay.  She had never experienced a transporter and
the sudden disorientation had not surprisingly confused and frightened
her.  B'Elanna picked her up just as she let out a wail.

"It's all right, M'Kaela," B'Elanna said over her daughter's loud cry.
She rubbed one hand soothingly over her back.  "It didn't hurt you.
If you were a little more patient I would have carried you through the
first time so you wouldn't have been frightened."  She shook her head
as she stepped from the platform to the floor.  "But I don't suppose
patience is something you inherited from either side of your family,
is it?"

"Kathryn to B'Elanna."

B'Elanna had reached the control console just as Kathryn's voice came
through.  She activated the two-way link.  "I'm here.  I'm fine, and
so is M'Kaela."

"I'm sorry about that B'Elanna," Joe said, his voice contrite.  "I
didn't even see her until it was too late."

"Neither did I," Kathryn said.  "I thought she was still asleep--"

"No harm done," B'Elanna said roughly.  "I didn't see her either."
She looked at her daughter, who had quit crying, though tears still
shimmered in her blue eyes.  "I didn't know you could move so fast."

M'Kaela looked confused at the near admiration in her mother's voice,
and murmured a close approximation of the word "fast" as B'Elanna
ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead.

"The beam over was textbook from here, B'Elanna," Joe said.  "M'Kaela
was never in any danger."

B'Elanna snorted.  "Of course not."  She smiled triumphantly at her
daughter, who smiled back.  "It worked as perfectly as I knew it
would."

Joe chuckled, and B'Elanna heard some additional commotion on the
other end.

"B'Elanna, Michael and Gerron are here."

That reminded B'Elanna of why she was in New Sonoma.  To go look for
Tom and Chakotay and Tuvok.  And give them all a piece of her mind if
they were fine.

"Kes will beam over with us and we can send her back here with
M'Kaela," Kathryn said.

"That's fine--"

A sudden rustling noise made B'Elanna whirl around.  She'd barely
acknowledged her surroundings when she'd arrived.  She'd simply picked
up M'Kaela and moved to the control console.  Now she looked past the
transporter platform to the far side of the room, where boxes and
crates were piled haphazardly along two walls.  She also hadn't
noticed how dim the room was, set at low illumination as it was right
now.  There were shadows everywhere among the boxes, and her eyes were
still adjusting from the brighter light of the New Lourdes transporter
room.  But she was sure she'd heard something.  Maybe some small
animal had gotten in here--

B'Elanna registered the low conversation going on through the comm
link again just before Kes shouted.

"B'Elanna!"

Harry spoke urgently.  "Kes, what is it?"

"B'Elanna, beam out!"

Kes's voice was alarmed, almost frantic.

"Kes, what--"

"It's there!"

B'Elanna reached for the transporter controls just as there was
another rustle across the room.  Her eyes scanned the shadows again.
She couldn't see it, but she could sense it now.  It was no small
animal that had wandered in.  A shiver crawled across her skin as
every alert went off in her mind and body.  M'Kaela sensed danger too,
or she felt her mother's sudden alertness, because her arms that had
been relaxed around B'Elanna's neck tightened, and she whimpered as
Kes shouted over the comm link.

"The weak will perish!"

B'Elanna turned to set the transporter controls for timed beam out
when M'Kaela let out a sudden squeak.  B'Elanna whirled around.  In
the shadows something was watching her, something with a slitted
yellow eye.

"B'Elanna, get on the platform!  I'll beam you from here!"

B'Elanna's muscles tensed to move the handful of steps to the
transporter platform, but before she could even take a step the eye
shifted, and the rustling erupted into a full-blown explosion of
noise.  Something leapt out, moving in a blur, faster than B'Elanna
would have imagined possible.  A fraction of a second later it landed
on the transporter platform right in front of her.  M'Kaela screamed.

"B'Elanna!"

"Don't activate the transporter!" B'Elanna hissed.  She shifted
M'Kaela and pulled her phaser out of the belt of her jumpsuit, and
aimed at the...creature.  It was huge, reptilian, and its yellow eyes
looked at her with shrewd intelligence.  And cold calculation.  Much
of its body looked...scorched, as if it had been injured, but it could
clearly still move just fine.  B'Elanna knew it had come from the
ship, and she tried not to think about the fact that it had probably
already crossed paths with Tom and Chakotay and Tuvok getting here.
"Daddy's all right," she murmured to M'Kaela, and to herself.

"Something's on the transporter, and it's not B'Elanna!"

B'Elanna heard Joe's voice over the link but her attention was trained
on the alien as she started to move, not toward the transporter
platform but down into a crouch next to the control platform, pushing
M'Kaela behind her into the open area below the console.  M'Kaela
didn't want to go, and B'Elanna ruthlessly jerked her daughter's arms
away from her neck, shoving her under the console.  She inadvertently
smacked M'Kaela's head on the underside of the console, and M'Kaela
howled in outrage and pain.

"B'Elanna!"

"Beam it over here, Joe!"

B'Elanna heard Kathryn's cry and then Michael's terse order, but her
attention was diverted.  Her eyes had stayed locked on the alien
creature as she'd kept her phaser trained on it while she pushed her
daughter to safety, or as much safety as she could provide.  The alien
had paused, perhaps wary of her weapon, but now it tensed again, its
whole body preparing to move.  B'Elanna flicked the phaser setting up
to its highest setting, not even considering taking a chance on
anything lower, and fired, aiming at the scorched area.

The alien's screech was earsplitting as the beam hit it, and it leapt
again with lightning speed off the platform, in the opposite direction
from B'Elanna.  She'd winged it, barely.  And now it stared at her
with unconcealed malevolence.

"It's not on the transporter."

"The weak must perish.  It must kill to survive!"

B'Elanna ignored the voices over the commlink.  She spared the
briefest glance toward M'Kaela, who was huddled under the console, her
eyes wide with apprehension, too stunned by what was happening or too
frightened by the alien's screech to move.  "Stay there, baby,"
B'Elanna murmured as she sidled toward the door, intent on diverting
the alien's attention.  If she could get it to follow her out into the
main hall, it would be away from M'Kaela.  And maybe she could beat it
back in here and beam M'Kaela and herself out.  "Come on, you
bastard," she hissed.  "Follow me..."

The alien crouched to leap toward her, and B'Elanna fired again as she
moved, and again the alien shrugged it off, not even slowed down as it
leapt at her.

"Joe, now!"

B'Elanna ran for the door just as Michael shouted over the commlink,
but the alien was on her before she was halfway there, its weight
slamming her across the floor and knocking the breath out of her.  The
phaser flew from her hand, and she smelled its sour breath, and felt
its body crushing her--then it leapt off her.  She felt a burning
sensation as heat spread across her stomach, heat and wetness.  The
alien's eyes looked at her triumphantly before it turned away.  She
heard M'Kaela scream again, more in outrage than fear, and she tried
to reach for her phaser.  She had to get up, to save M'Kaela, but her
arms were too heavy to lift.  In her fading consciousness she heard
the hum of a transporter, and voices, and the loud whine of phasers...

---

They'd heard M'Kaela's scream just as they'd stepped into the main
room of the Meeting hall.  The two Sikari who'd come in with them to
look at the transporter system, whose workings Tuvok had begun to
explain, stopped dead in their tracks.  Tom was momentarily stunned at
the sound of M'Kaela's scream, but he was only a moment behind Tuvok
as he ran toward transporter room that was connected through a short
corridor at the back of the room.

Several things raced through Tom's mind as he followed Tuvok, not the
least of which was how M'Kaela could possibly be here.  He realized
immediately that B'Elanna must have decided to do the final test run
now.  He'd thought she had a couple more adjustments in mind before
she was going to give it her final okay, but they hadn't spoken very
civilly to each other in the past day or two, so maybe she'd moved her
schedule forward.  Or she'd decided to move it forward at the last
minute because they'd been out of contact with New Lourdes for longer
than expected.  But that still didn't explain why she'd bring M'Kaela
with her on the first test run, especially since it wasn't safe with
the 8472 alien loose, though B'Elanna didn't know yet--

The horrifying realization hit him just as Tuvok burst through the
door, at the same time that he heard a high-pitched angry screech.

The alien was already here.

Tom almost ran into Tuvok as the Vulcan halted just inside the
doorway, aiming his phaser.  Tom stumbled around Tuvok, noticing that
several people stood on the transporter platform, including Kathryn,
Gerron and Michael.  Michael was firing a compression phaser rifle and
Tuvok fired his phaser in conjunction with Michael's beam, as did
Gerron and Kathryn.  Tom blindly joined in, and he saw the alien then,
as it was hit in the midsection by the concentrated phaser fire.  It's
screeching scream as it leapt away was almost loud enough to make Tom
drop his phaser and cover his ears.  It moved with amazing speed for
something so large and landed on the other side of the control
station, backed against the wall.

There was a movement under the control console, and Tom realized with
horror that it was M'Kaela.  She looked right at him as she crawled
out, her face streaked with tears as she stood up on shaky legs and
held her arms out.  She said a word he couldn't hear over the phaser
whine and the alien's repeated screeching, but he recognized it
anyway.  "Dada."

Tuvok moved quicker than Tom could have, ducking around the
transporter platform toward M'Kaela, firing as he went.  The alien
tried to leap, but this time it only made it a meter or so away, right
into the far corner.  A half dozen phaser beams coalesced on it again,
including Chakotay's, who was now behind Tom.  The beams sliced deep
into the blackened and scorched midsection of the alien, the old
injury from the warp matrix encounter, Tom assumed.  It tried to leap
again, but the combined and relentless assault was finally too much
for it, and it collapsed into the corner, scorched and burned, its one
eye visible to them slowly closing as it apparently died.

M'Kaela was in Tuvok's arms, not a place where she spent much time,
but she seemed comfortable enough with her arms wrapped securely
around the neck of someone safe and familiar, considering the uproar
that had just occurred.  Though it had all happened in less than a
minute, the time had seemed to stretch as it played out.  Tom saw Kes
for the first time as she walked toward the alien, her concentration
intense, and her expression almost trancelike.  But he paid little
attention to that as his eyes roved quickly the room.  He'd had no
chance to look anywhere but toward the alien and M'Kaela in its path.
So it wasn't until now that he finally saw B'Elanna, sprawled on her
back against the near wall past the control platform, covered in blood
and perfectly still.

"B'Elanna!"

Tom's phaser dropped from his hand, and he ran toward her, his heart
in his throat, and his vision blurring for a moment.  He dropped to
the floor, barely noticing the blood that soaked into the knees of his
flightsuit, though he couldn't help but see how quickly it was seeping
out of her body, pooling on the floor beneath her.

Her jumpsuit had been shredded across her abdomen by the claws of the
alien, the teal blue one that was her favorite--she'd be ticked about
that, he thought absurdly in some distant corner of his mind.  Her
skin was shredded too, though the severity of the damage was partly
concealed by the amount of blood.  He saw the rise and fall of her
chest, though the movement was slow and shallow, and he bit his lower
lip viciously to force down the panic that welled up in his throat,
not noticing the stinging pain he inflicted.

He had only peripherally registered conversation around him,
B'Elanna's name being said, and Kathryn calling out Kes's name loudly,
as he frantically pulled at the sleeves of his flight suit.  Before he
could get to his t-shirt, another shirt was placed gently over
B'Elanna's wounds.  Tom glanced blankly at Chakotay, who knelt on the
other side of B'Elanna.  Then he used the shirt to quickly apply
pressure with one hand while he reached for his medikit with the
other.  A moment later, a much smaller hand closed over his.

"Tom, move the shirt away."

Tom immediately moved the blood-soaked shirt as Kes ordered.  She
knelt on the other side of B'Elanna as Chakotay moved back, setting
the controls on a vascular regenerator, one more powerful than the
small field one he'd been reaching for in his medikit.  Her face was
pale, but her voice was calm and firm as she spoke.  "Chakotay,
Gerron, get something to lay B'Elanna on--a plank of wood, a duraplas
panel, something with solid support.  As soon as I stabilize her we'll
get her to the transporter platform.  Kathryn, tell Joe to be ready,
and tell Harry to have the doctor waiting."

Everyone moved to do Kes's bidding immediately as she positioned the
vascular regenerator against B'Elanna's abdomen, all trusting
completely in her judgment.  She was about to take her final medical
exams, and was nearly as skilled as the doctor now.

"Tom, give B'Elanna twenty cc's of platelisin."

That was in his medikit and he quickly prepared a hypo as Kes worked
on B'Elanna.

"I sealed off the vascular damage temporarily," Kes said after several
more seconds, tossing the vascular regenerator unceremoniously back
into her bag.  "But she's dangerously low on blood."  Kes reached for
a hypo from her own bag.  "I'll have to give her a hemo-stimulator."

Tom knew from his own lesser training that a hemo-stimulator could
dangerously speed up the heart, but as he pressed his hypo against
B'Elanna's upper chest, he could feel how faint her breathing had
become.  The priorities were clear

"Done."  Kes slipped the hypo back into her bag.  "She's stable for
the moment."

Stable, maybe, but her breathing was still shallow and her face was as
pale as Tom had ever seen it.  He hugged her briefly and gently even
though she couldn't hug him back.  "You'll be okay, B'Elanna," he
whispered against her too cool cheek.  He swallowed and blinked tears
away, not caring much if anyone saw them.

"Chakotay--"

Chakotay and Gerron were already there as Kes spoke, with a flat
duraplas panel they'd wrested from base of the control platform.  Tom
slipped his arms gently beneath B'Elanna's head and back, taking most
of her weight as Kes kept her legs steady.  They had B'Elanna on the
panel in a handful of seconds, and Chakotay and Gerron carried her
quickly toward the transporter platform.

"The doctor is here," Harry's voice said over the comm link.

Joe's voice followed quickly.  "Ready to transport."

Tom had one hand cupping B'Elanna's head and the other resting over
her hip, trying to keep the jostle from affecting her as Chakotay and
Gerron moved up onto the platform.  Tom quickly took Chakotay's place
while Kes remained at B'Elanna's other side.  He saw as they took
their final position that Kathryn was holding M'Kaela now, soothing
her and trying the keep her face averted.  Tuvok had moved over with
Michael to examine the alien in the corner.  The transporter effect
started to take hold of him and his jaw clenched as he realized that
no one had said for sure that the alien was dead.

He just knew it had damned well better be.

---

"It is dead," Tuvok said as the transporter effect dispersed behind
them.

Kathryn heard him and looked past the control console.  She'd tried to
keep M'Kaela's gaze away from the alien and from the transporter
platform, but she'd seen her parents being beamed out at the last
moment, and her eyes were still focused there.

"What did Kes say to it?" Chakotay asked as he moved to join her.

"I think it said something to Kes," Kathryn murmured.  Kes had walked
toward the alien almost as if she was in a hypnotic state.

"Kill first," Tuvok repeated the words that Kes had spoken.

Which was strange, Kathryn thought.  Kes had said something like "it
must kill to survive" right before they'd beamed over.  The alien had
seemed to think it was acting in self-defense.  "Did you sense
anything from it Tuvok?"

"No," Tuvok said.  "However Kes's telepathic abilities far outdistance
my own."

"Kes said something else," Kathryn recalled.  Right before she'd
gotten Kes's attention, when she'd seen Tom run toward B'Elanna and
had shouted at Kes to help her.  Thank gods that had broken whatever
trance Kes had seemed to be under.  "Kes said it wanted to go home.
Whatever that meant."

Chakotay shook his head.  "I'm not sure I care about what it meant.
Right now all I'm worried about is B'Elanna."  He hit the commlink.
"Chakotay to Joe."

Joe didn't wait for the question.  "They're here and on their way to
Sickbay, Chakotay.  The doctor was hovering over B'Elanna telling Tom
that she'd be fine."

"She was attacked by the creature?"

Kathryn turned and stared at the two figures standing in the doorway.
They were tall and humanoid, with craggy faces, and they were wearing
loose, dark clothing.  They caught M'Kaela's attention and she stared
at them with equal curiosity.

Chakotay introduced them.  "Kathryn, this is Larem and Timbeti of the
Sikari.  It was their ship that crash-landed.  They and twenty-three
more of their brethren were on the ship.  The alien...stowed away with
them."

Kathryn saw their looks of relief and satisfaction at the sight of the
dead alien, and figured that the alien had made itself no more welcome
on their ship than it just had here on Aurora.

"We express our sorrow for your loss."

Kathryn looked hard at the taller man, Larem.  "She was only injured.
Our doctor can heal her wounds."

"Your doctor cannot repair the eating alive disease that will consume
her."

Kathryn stared at Chakotay as M'Kaela squirmed in her arms, having
suddenly lost patience.  "Mama!" she demanded, pointing at the
transporter platform.  "Dada!"

Though M'Kaela had caught sight of them leaving mercifully Kathryn
knew she didn't understand her mother's condition.  Kathryn had tried
to keep her from seeing the blood, but M'Kaela still knew something
was wrong, and she wanted her parents.

"We'll go back over now, M'Kaela," Kathryn said soothingly.  "Your
mommy and daddy are talking to the doctor and Kes for awhile.  I can
take you over to see Naomi.  You can play with her and Flotter."

Though M'Kaela loved playing with Naomi and her pet rabbitdog, she
showed no interest now.  She looked at Kathryn with a mutinous
expression and shook her head.  "Mama."

Kathryn sighed and the one named Timbeti nodded at M'Kaela.  "Is she
the daughter of the woman who was attacked?"

"Yes."

"It is good that she is too young to know that she has lost her
mother."

Kathryn glared at the man.  "She *hasn't* lost her mother," she said,
her voice icy.

Larem placed a hand on Timbeti's shoulder, and spoke to Kathryn.  "He
does not mean to be unfeeling.  It's simply that in our experience one
does not survive an encounter with the creature Species 8472.  The
disease it afflicts has always been fatal to us.  We hope that your
doctor is more skilled than ours and can save her."

Kathryn stared at Chakotay, and he nodded slightly.  He'd already
heard the name and had obviously recognized the reference.  She looked
at the "creature" again.

"We are only aware of the progress of the condition among your
people," Tuvok pointed out to the Sikari.  "And among the Borg.
B'Elanna is human and Klingon.  Her reaction may be different."

"The Borg?" Kathryn asked.

"The Borg have apparently encountered this alien species and have not
been successful assimilating it," Tuvok told her.  "They have also
been susceptible to the infection caused by contact with the alien."

M'Kaela squirmed as Kathryn looked at Chakotay again, rubbing
M'Kaela's back as she did so.  They would have to talk about this
disturbing turn of events later.

"A Borg drone also ended up on the ship," Chakotay told Kathryn.  He
looked at Larem.

"She is standing where you left her," Larem said, with an apparent
lack of interest.

Kathryn decided that she was starting to feel dizzy with all these
revelations.  What had started out as a normal day on Aurora was
becoming crazy.  She looked at Chakotay almost accusingly.  "Are you
telling me there is a Borg drone here?"

"Yes," Chakotay said.  "But most of her Borg technology has been
removed, and she's basically catatonic.  She's also human."

Kathryn stared at Chakotay, nonplused.  "Human?"

"Mama," M'Kaela said, wriggling harder in Kathryn's arms.  "Go!"

"It's a long story," Chakotay said.  "I'll tell you all of it, as soon
as we figure it all out."

"Can this Borg drone make contact with the Collective?" Kathryn asked.

"Unlikely," Tuvok answered.  "Her neural implant is severely
hampered."

"The Borg have been very busy fighting this war with the Species
8472," Larem spoke.  "And they do not seem to be winning."

Kathryn gave Chakotay another disturbed look.  There was no time to
talk about it right now though.  She wanted to stay, but she knew she
would be playing catch up compared to Chakotay and Tuvok.  She'd have
to let them deal with this for the moment.  "Come on, M'Kaela," she
spoke to the restless child in her arms.  "Let's get you back to New
Lourdes."

"Joe, stand by to beam over Kathryn and M'Kaela," Chakotay said over
the link as he walked to the transporter platform with Kathryn.

"We'll figure out everything here, and I'll bring the Sagan back to
New Lourdes," Chakotay said, kissing her quickly before she stepped
onto the platform.  "Let me know about B'Elanna."

Kathryn nodded, glancing at Tuvok and Michael, who still stood alert
next to the downed alien--the Species 8472 alien.  She looked at the
two Sikari men, who with two dozen others of their kind were now
stranded here on Aurora too.  A hundred questions swirled her head,
but right now she had to get M'Kaela taken care of, and find out about
B'Elanna.

"Ready, Joe," Chakotay said.

"We're going for a ride now, sweetie," Kathryn said as she hugged
M'Kaela.  "I'll be back shortly," she promised Chakotay right before
the transporter effect took her.

---
November 34th, mid-evening:
---

Tom stood by B'Elanna's bedside, his expression unreadable.   Kes had
seen that expression on his face many times, since the earliest days
on Voyager.  She knew he'd had long experience at hiding his feelings,
at masking his emotions whenever they threatened to overwhelm him.
But Kes could see deeper than his expression.  She could literally
feel the turmoil inside him.

She looked at B'Elanna, who lay motionless on the bed, still
unconscious.  It had been a close call.  She had lost a lot of blood
from her injury, and despite the quick measures they had almost lost
her again getting her from the Meeting hall to Sickbay.  But the
doctor had stabilized her again, and after two hours of surgery he had
repaired all the damage, including the nick to her lower aortal
artery.

"B'Elanna..." Tom murmured her name as he brushed his fingers over her
cheek.  Then he reached down and smoothed the thermablanket that
covered her, and his hand lingered for a moment over her abdomen.  Kes
knew he was recalling how she'd looked when they'd first found her--
when he'd first seen her--after the alien had attacked her.  His hand
tensed and he shuddered a little.  He turned to look at Kes as he
pulled his hand away, finally sensing her presence, and the anguish he
felt was clear on his face for a moment.

"Tom, the surgery was a complete success," Kes said, touching his arm.
"The doctor repaired the internal damage.  Her skin will be red and
probably sore for a few days, but that will go away."

Tom nodded, his expression composed again, with effort Kes knew.  The
doctor had told him about B'Elanna's condition already, and now his
gaze moved to the bioreadings above B'Elanna's bed.  "What about
that?"

Kes knew Tom was referring to the indicator of the alien cells in
B'Elanna's body.  There had been half a dozen in her blood stream when
the doctor had started the surgery, and the doctor hadn't been able to
remove them, even so few of them.  In almost three hours time they had
multiplied to two dozen.  The doctor had spoken with one of the Sikari
over the commlink, and the doctor had told Tom that in fact the
progress of the cells very slow compared to the experience of the
Sikari.  He considered that a good sign.  "So far they aren't
affecting B'Elanna the way they affected the Sikari, Tom."

"So far," Tom said, his voice grim.  Kes knew he'd already heard the
details from the Sikari about the "eating alive" disease.  "But the
cells are multiplying."

"Very slowly," Kes said.  "Her immune system is fighting the invasion
with some success, and the doctor is analyzing that reaction right
now, along with the structure of the alien cells."  Tuvok had taken
several skin and fluid samples from the alien at the doctor's request,
and had holoimaged the alien's body before he and Michael had burned
it.  The doctor had immediately put the computer to work on the
samples.  "The doctor will find a way to eradicate the alien cells
from B'Elanna's bloodstream."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Tom and Kes turned from their perusal of B'Elanna's bioscans at the
sound of Kathryn's voice.  She walked over to Tom, and though he
looked stiff and unreceptive she hugged him anyway.  A moment later he
hugged her back, his face crumpling just a little before he pulled
away again.

Kes knew Kathryn had been busy dealing with the beam over of the
Sikari, but she had kept tabs on B'Elanna's condition over the
commlink.  Now Kathryn glanced at the bioreadings, and then looked at
B'Elanna.  Her hand was still on Tom's shoulder and she squeezed it
gently.  "B'Elanna knows how to win a battle when she sees one."

Tom looked cautiously hopeful at the optimism in Kathryn's voice.
"Where's M'Kaela?"

"She's with Sam and Naomi," Kathryn told him.  "I dropped her off
there before we started beaming the Sikari over.  She's fine, Tom."

Tom was silent for a moment.  "Did she see..."

Kathryn clearly understood Tom's reference, and she shook her head.
"I don't think she saw anything, Tom.  There was so much commotion,
and I kept her gaze averted.  She only saw B'Elanna when you were
beaming out, and Kes was blocking most of her view."

Tom looked relieved.  "Thank you," he said softly to Kathryn.

"But she has been asking for B'Elanna.  And for you."

Tom glanced at B'Elanna.  "I'll go over there and see her as soon as I
can."

"Andrew is over at Sam's too," Kes said.  She could see the indecision
in Tom's gaze.  She knew he wanted to stay with B'Elanna, but he
didn't want to leave M'Kaela without his support either.  "I'm sure
Naomi is keeping them both occupied for the moment."

"Naomi does take her responsibility as older sister to the rest of the
children quite seriously," Kathryn said, smiling a little.

Kes knew Naomi saw herself in that role with the other six children on
Aurora who were all younger than her.  She'd forgotten to ask Harry if
the Sikari had any children among them.  "Did you convince any of the
Sikari to come to Sickbay?"

Both Kes and the doctor had offered to treat them for any injuries or
any other conditions they might have incurred during their travel on
their small ship, but Tuvok had informed them earlier that the Sikari
had declined further medical assistance.  And Kathryn shook her head
now. "They expressed appreciation for the medical aid we gave them, or
should I say, that Tom gave them, but they said they required no
further treatment."

"Their injuries were mostly cuts and bruises," Tom said.  "There was
one broken arm, and the woman named Thallan had a hairline skull
fracture and a concussion.  I did suggest to her husband that the
doctor take a look at her, but she seemed to be okay."

"They seem to be an independent-minded people," Kathryn said dryly.
"They accepted our offer of the old dormitory building for shelter,
but I'm not sure how long they'll stay."

Harry had given Kes the same impression of them when he'd stopped by
Sickbay right after B'Elanna's surgery an hour earlier.  He'd had
brief contact with several of them as they'd beamed over to New
Lourdes, and he'd said they were a reclusive bunch.  Her own contact
with them had been even briefer.  In the transporter room at New
Sonoma she'd sensed their presence in the next room, and she'd felt
their fear of the 8472 alien, and their disdain of the Borg woman, but
she'd sensed no ingrained hostility in their nature and no antagonism
toward the colonists who'd assisted them.  But she'd been too
overwhelmed with the attempted forced telepathic contact by the 8472
alien to spend much time reading the Sikari.  She pushed away that
last memory.

"It will probably be a day or two before we have a chance to work
something out permanently," Kathryn added.  "I have told them that
they are welcome to join our colony if they wish to stay."

Kes had expected nothing less.  "Maybe they will stay then.  If they
are in the old dormitory, I will stop by later and with my medical bag
and check on them."

"Let them come here like everyone else if they want medical
attention," the doctor groused as he approached.

"I'd just be making a house call, Doctor," Kes said.  She knew the
doctor was still annoyed at their refusal of his services.  "I
wouldn't mind."

Tom's attention had only been half on the conversation, but now it was
focused on the doctor.  "Did you discover anything?"

The doctor's mildly annoyed expression disappeared as he looked at Tom
soberly.  "The alien's cells are extremely complex.  They have the
most densely coded DNA I have ever seen.  I'm not sure how long it
would take me to decode them--"

"Do you have a guess?" Tom asked sharply.

The doctor hesitated for several moments before he answered flatly,
"Years."

Tom's eyes widened, and his expression fell.  "You mean you haven't
figured out a way to get the alien cells out of B'Elanna's body."

"No," the doctor admitted.  "However I am pursuing several different
possibilities."  He moved to the other side of B'Elanna's bed, and
pulled a hypo out of his coat.  "B'Elanna's immune response is far
stronger than that of the Sikari, or the Borg.  If I can isolate the
exact components of that strong response perhaps I can enhance it."

"Enough to eradicate the alien cells?" Tom asked as the doctor pressed
the hypo to B'Elanna's arm, taking a blood sample.

"I hope so."

Kes heard the uncertainty in the doctor's tone, but Tom either didn't
hear it or wanted to believe.  He touched B'Elanna's arm as the doctor
moved away, rubbing her skin gently where the doctor had pressed the
hypo. "Your immune system is fighting them, B'Elanna."

---

Kes had felt Harry's presence before he entered the main Sickbay ward,
and now she saw him pass the Borg woman, who lay as motionless as
B'Elanna several beds away, before he moved across the room to join
them.

Harry gave Kes a quick peck on the cheek, and looked at B'Elanna.
"She looks good," he said, pleased.   He moved his gaze to Tom.
"She's going to be just fine."

"Of course she is," the doctor said haughtily, as if there was no
doubt at all.

Kes saw an opportunity.  "B'Elanna is stable and sleeping peacefully
right now.  Tom, why don't you go see M'Kaela."

Harry as always seemed to read her mind, in that odd way humans had
with their mates that was both less and more than telepathy.  He
immediately joined in her complicity.  "I'll go with you, Tom.  We can
stop by Cafe Neelix too.  Neelix cooked up a gigantic pot of stew
tonight.  He figured with all the new arrivals and all the commotion
going on today that he would just make enough for everyone on the
planet, and then some."

Kes met Kathryn's amused smile.  That was Neelix--when in doubt, feed.
But Harry's effort at lightness fell a little flat with Tom, who
looked at him blankly.

"That is an excellent idea, Harry," the doctor said enthusiastically.

"I'm not really hungry--"

The doctor speared Tom with one of his uncompromising looks that
preceded a lecture.  "Given all this 'commotion' today, I assume you
have not eaten since breakfast, Tom.  It will not do B'Elanna any good
if you pass out at her bedside from lack of nourishment, and it would
certainly irritate me.  Go get something to eat."

Tom was hardly likely to pass out, and Kes knew his concern over
irritating the doctor was nonexistent.  He gave the doctor an
obstinate look, and it was Kathryn who offered the argument that
swayed him.

"I'm sure Neelix will whip up something for Andrew and M'Kaela too,"
Kathryn said.  "That way you can spend some time a little time with
M'Kaela and reassure her."

Though Sam had no doubt fed the children, the mention of reassuring
M'Kaela did it.  Tom frowned and looked at B'Elanna.  Then he nodded
reluctantly.  "All right."

"I don't expect B'Elanna to wake up for several hours yet," the doctor
said, in a milder tone.  "If she wakes up, or anything changes I will
contact you."

"Knowing B'Elanna, by the time we get back here she'll be awake and
she'll be giving you hell for keeping her here, Doc," Harry said with
a grin, and the doctor harrumphed.  Harry stepped around Tom and
dropped a quick kiss on B'Elanna's forehead.  "See you later, Maquis."

Tom leaned over too and kissed B'Elanna gently on the lips.  He
whispered something inaudible before he straightened.  Kes didn't have
to hear the words to know that he'd said, "I love you."

Kes squeezed Tom's arm as he walked by and smiled at him
encouragingly.  She watched Harry and Tom leave, Harry's arm draped
companionably over Tom's shoulder, though Kes knew it was there as
much to gently prod Tom out of Sickbay.

"Do you really think B'Elanna can fight this off?" Kathryn asked, once
they were gone.

The doctor looked suddenly grim.  "It's possible," he said.  "But not
probable.  Although something in B'Elanna's immune system is impeding
the alien cells' progress, it hasn't actually eradicated any of them,
or even penetrated the cell lining in any way.  If I can enhance that
resistance of her immune system, it might at least halt the progress."

Kathryn frowned.  "You mean she might have to live with these aliens
cells permanently in her?"

The doctor hedged.  "They are very active and virulent.  Her immune
system would have to remain in a permanent fighting state--"

"Which it can't," Kathryn said curtly.

"No," the doctor admitted.  "But I'll come up with a solution."

"When will she wake up?"

The doctor was starting to look a little frustrated at Kathryn's
endless questions.  "I don't know.  Soon, maybe.  But if I do enhance
her immune response, she could remain unconscious while her body's
fighting harder."  He sighed, and looked at B'Elanna.  "Believe me,
I'm doing the best I can, Kathryn."

Kathryn nodded.  "I know, Doctor.  I know."  She glanced at the Borg
woman.  "What about the Borg?"

Kes followed Kathryn's gaze across the room.  The doctor had assessed
the woman's condition an hour ago, after B'Elanna was out of surgery
and settled.  Though the woman was not aware of her condition, and
bore no pain from it, Kes felt sympathy for her mutilated state.

"She's not much of a Borg now," the doctor said caustically.  "She's
in pretty sorry shape.  I can fix the physical damage, though the
neural implant is a problem.  Even though it is only functioning at
autonomous levels, I don't think it can be removed."

"I seem to recall that Picard's neural implant was removed," Kathryn
said, her gaze on the Borg woman thoughtful.  "He was the captain
of--"

"I am familiar with the case," the doctor interrupted her sharply.
She speared him with a flinty look.  "The information is in my
database," the doctor continued smoothly.  "But my scans of this woman
indicate that the connections of her neural implant are entangled very
deeply with the synapses of her human brain.  My guess is that she was
assimilated as a child.  She probably spent time in a maturation
chamber, and the resultant combined growth makes it very difficult to
separate all of her internal Borg components from her human organs."

"It looks like most of them have already been separated," Kathryn
said, her voice harsh as she looked at the Borg woman.

"The outward components, and not with any finesse or mercy, I can
assure you," the doctor said with disgust, though that fact was
obvious to them all.

"So will she survive?"

The doctor nodded at Kathryn's question.  "Despite her appearance
now...yes.  She will survive.  As I said, I can halt the organ
degeneration, and replace her ocular implant with a prosthetic eye.  I
can repair the cosmetic damage.  And I can realign her neural implant
so that she will regain her higher brain functions, and her memory.
But I will have to design a way for her to regenerate her few
remaining Borg components, including the neural implant, on a regular
basis."  He gave the Borg woman a curious look.  "For some reason the
alien didn't infect her with its cells."

"Why not?" Kathryn asked.

The doctor shook his head.  "I don't know.  Maybe it was gathering
information, trying to find another weakness to exploit, though
apparently it already had one of those.  Or it was curious, and trying
to know its enemy."

Kes shook her head at Kathryn's glance.  She'd learned nothing about
that in her brief contact with the Species 8472 alien.  Kathryn didn't
press her and she was glad of that.  Instead Kathryn looked at
B'Elanna, then back at the Borg woman, and her lips compressed
tightly.  Kes knew what she was thinking.  However bad she looked
right now the Borg woman would survive to build a new life on Aurora,
whether she would appreciate the fact after being a Borg so long or
not.  And B'Elanna, who looked healthy right now except for her
pallor, did not have the same assurance.

"It will be a couple of days before the regeneration of her human body
is complete," the doctor said, still looking at the Borg woman, and
not noticing Kathryn's conflict.  "I have asked Kes to start that
physical process.  Then I will repair her neural implant." The doctor
turned back to Kathryn.  "But at the moment I have something else that
requires my concentration."

Kathryn looked mollified as the doctor held up the hypo with
B'Elanna's blood sample.  And though Kes felt for the Borg woman, she
too wanted the doctor's skills focused on B'Elanna first.  "I will
take care of that, Doctor," Kes said.  "I will also start searching
the Federation database to see if we can find out who she was--is."

"A human Borg out here in the Delta quadrant," Kathryn said
thoughtfully, shaking her head.

"What's odd about that?" the doctor asked.  "The Borg are in the Delta
quadrant."

"It's odd if she was assimilated as a child," Kathryn said.  "That had
to have been fifteen or twenty years ago.  And I don't recall any
known contact with the Borg before the Enterprise's initial contact."

"Perhaps we can wait for her to regain consciousness and ask her how
she got here," the doctor said dryly.

"If she was a young child she may not recall her human history,
Doctor," Kes said.  "And we will have to call her something when she
wakes up."

The doctor rolled his eyes.  "Fine.  Feel free to do your research.
In the meantime I am going to get back to work."

"I'll be right here, Doctor," Kes assured him before he could ask.
The monitors in the lab would inform him immediately if there were any
changes in B'Elanna's condition, but none of them wanted to leave her
alone, even for a minute.  She could begin the Borg woman's
regeneration and research her origins on the monitor here in the main
ward.

"I think I'll sit with B'Elanna for a while also," Kathryn said.  "I
told Chakotay to check for me here when he gets back."

The doctor nodded.  "Good."  He turned to leave, then looked back at
Kes as if he had remembered something.  His eyes narrowed.  "Are you
feeling any after-effects, Kes?"

Kes shook her head.  "I'm fine, doctor."

The doctor accepted that silently and took one more automatic glance
at B'Elanna's bioreadings before he walked away.  He paused at the
foot of the Borg woman's bed and paused, his brow furrowing as he
looked at her with an oddly thoughtful look on his face, as if
something had just occurred to him.  Before Kes could ask him if
something was wrong he turned away and strode into the lab.  She
looked at Kathryn, who wasn't watching the doctor's departure.  Her
gaze was focused on B'Elanna.

"B'Elanna." Kathryn murmured the name with obvious concern and
affection as she reached down and touched B'Elanna's still hand.

Kes knew how close Kathryn and B'Elanna had become on Aurora.  On
Voyager, B'Elanna had seen Kathryn Janeway as her captain and perhaps
her mentor, and Kathryn had seen B'Elanna as a brilliant protege and
maybe something of a willful daughter.  But on Aurora, those barriers
of status and position had disappeared and had left them with the
opportunity to relate to each other as equals--two women with very
strong personalities to be sure, but with much in common--and a strong
friendship had resulted.  Kes had no doubt they would be friends of a
sort had they remained on Voyager, but that barrier of status would
have remained, and she doubted their relationship could have had the
same intimacy.

Kes suspected the same would have been true with Kathryn and Chakotay.
As captain on a starship she would never have allowed herself to
pursue her feelings for Chakotay as long as he was her first officer.
How much they would have missed, and now it was hard for Kes to
imagine them without each other now. Though not as impossible as it
was to imagine Tom and B'Elanna being without each other.  Despite
their volatile relationship, and the particular tension that had
infused it lately, she'd come to believe that Tom and B'Elanna would
have found each other no matter the circumstances, on Voyager or
otherwise.  However the paths of their lives had crossed, they would
have inevitably merged together.

Kes also knew without a doubt that Tom would be devastated if B'Elanna
died, and her own sense of how strong Tom's despair would be hit her
and made her wince.

"Kes, are you sure you're really all right?"

Kes met Kathryn's concerned gaze.  She knew Kathryn suspected that she
was still affected by the unwanted communication with the 8472 alien,
so she addressed that instead of her real thoughts.  "I'm fine.  It
was disturbing at the time, but I'm okay now.  Thanks to Tuvok's
training."

It was true.  Tuvok's lessons had taught her how to discipline her
"gift."  Even a year ago Kes didn't think she could have repelled the
8472 alien's efforts to force itself completely into her mind.  Or
that she would have recognized in some instinctive way that she needed
to protect herself from its full power.

"I'm glad Tuvok trained you then," Kathryn said.

Kes sighed.  "I just wish I could have been stronger.  I might have
been able to understand the alien's motives better if I could have
communicated more directly with it, but I knew it was too powerful for
me.  The isolated thoughts that I got ended up being so...enigmatic."
Her first impression that it intended only harm had changed into the
impression that it believed its aggression was truly a matter of self-
defense.  And there was its final desire to go home.  Worst of all,
she'd sensed one more thing about it.  It was a juvenile of its
species, in some adolescent stage of its development.  She'd left that
out in her recall to Kathryn and Tuvok, and even to Harry.  "If I
could have...talked to it, maybe things could have been different--"

"Don't apologize for that, Kes," Kathryn said.  "It all happened so
fast, none of us could have changed anything, including you.  And I
would much rather the alien be left something of a mystery to us than
for you to have been hurt by it too."

Kes nodded, and Kathryn's gaze drifted to B'Elanna again, who lay
there so unaware of the conversation around her.  Kes noticed on the
bioreadings that several more alien cells had appeared in B'Elanna's
bloodstream, and she looked away from the monitor, forcing resolve
into her voice.  "She'll be all right, Kathryn.  The doctor will do
whatever it takes, and so will I."

"Good," Kathryn said flatly, as if that settled it.  "M'Kaela needs
her mother.  And Tom..." she smiled a little sadly at Kes.  They both
knew how much Tom needed B'Elanna, and vice versa, fighting or not.

Kathryn pulled the chair against the wall over to the B'Elanna's bed
and sat down.  "I'll sit with her until Tom gets back.  You can do
whatever you need to, Kes."

Kes nodded and watched Kathryn brush her fingers gently over
B'Elanna's cheek.  So far there was no outward sign of the alien cells
very slowly spreading inside her.  She looked peacefully asleep,
unaffected by the slow alien invasion of her body, as if she might
wake up at any minute.  She was holding her own right now.

"Stay that way, B'Elanna," Kes wished silently.  "Stay that way."

---
November 35th, late evening:
---

An entire day had passed since the doctor had taken the sample of
B'Elanna's blood the previous evening, and the sense of frustration
that had built in him now made him wonder if he should excise all the
emotion subroutines from his program.  It would certainly be easier to
treat his patients if he didn't care about them so much.  Especially
when the treatment was barely succeeding.

B'Elanna's condition had remained stable for several hours the
previous night, while the alien cells had only slowly multiplied,
though she had remained unconscious.  But in the dark early morning
hours, with Tom by her side again, her immune system had started
losing the battle, and the alien cells had begun to multiply with
increasing speed.  Then the invasion started to make its presence
known in the way the Sikari had described.  B'Elanna had become
feverish, and had started to moan in distress.  The doctor knew the
agony must be intense indeed for B'Elanna to react so strongly given
her high pain threshold.  Tom had spent most of his time stroking her
flushed skin, and his touch seemed to calm her, more than the pain
suppressors the doctor had administered, which had no discernable
effect at all.  B'Elanna had become semi- conscious, but delirious,
and not truly aware of her surroundings.  She'd murmured fevered words
occasionally, some unintelligible.  More than once she'd spoken Tom's
name, and M'Kaela's.

The alien cells had also made their way to the surface, and tendrils
of alien biomatter had appeared on B'Elanna's face and body,
suffocating her own cells.  The doctor had made no progress decoding
the alien DNA, but he had isolated the T-cell behind B'Elanna's early
resistance to the alien cell invasion.  He'd quickly formulated a way
to multiply the presence of that T-cell in her bloodstream, and had
administered the formula in the early afternoon.  The result had been
positive as far as it went.  The progress of the alien cells had been
halted, and no more were forming.  But those already present remained.
It was a stopgap measure at best, a temporary line held inside her
body between the alien cells and her immune system.

Now, ten hours later, the doctor was convinced that no biological
reaction could destroy the incredibly dense alien cells.  He had to
find a way to penetrate those alien cells, which weren't only packed
with DNA, but seemed to exist in a fluid state, constantly changing
their structure.  No biological cell or reaction known to Federation
science could keep up with their mutations.  But he'd come to the
conclusion that perhaps something non-biological could do it, if the
proper adjustments were made.

The doctor walked into the main Sickbay ward, toward B'Elanna's bed.
Her condition remained the same, except for the fact that she'd lapsed
into deep unconsciousness again once her immune response had kicked
up, and her fever had abated.  Though he knew from the high endorphin
levels in her body that the pain remained, her comatose state kept her
from feeling its effects, which the doctor could only consider a
blessing for her, and for Tom.

Tom sat beside her now, her hand clasped firmly in his.  He'd left her
side for only brief periods of time over the past twenty-seven hours,
and the doctor knew he wouldn't have done that if it weren't for his
daughter.  M'Kaela needed her father's comfort, since she didn't
understand why her mother didn't come to her, and she certainly
couldn't be allowed to see B'Elanna in this state.  Someone or other
had managed to get Tom to eat a couple of meals during that period, in
the guise of feeding M'Kaela too.  But he hadn't slept at all and the
exhaustion was very apparent in the deep lines on his face.

"Tom."

Tom turned and looked at the doctor, asking immediately, "Anything?"

The doctor knew that every time he checked on B'Elanna Tom was waiting
to hear him say that this was it.  That he'd found the cure, the way
to eradicate the alien cells from B'Elanna's body.  He could only
shake his head.  "Not yet.  And I've come to the conclusion that
nothing biological can eradicate these alien cells."

"There has to be something!"  Tom sprang up and dropped B'Elanna's
hand, his expression angry, and as frightened as the doctor had ever
seen him.  "She's fighting it off!"

"Her body is resisting the alien cells right now because I've elevated
the T-cells in her immune system.  But the alien cells are not being
eradicated.  And at some point her resistance will start to weaken
again."

"Then elevate her T-cells more," Tom said, almost frantically.

"I've enhanced her immune system as much I can," the doctor said.
"It's the Klingon part of her immune system that is resisting so hard.
But B'Elanna is genetically half-human and unfortunately those human
cells show virtually no resistance at all."  In fact he'd also
suppressed the response of her human immune cells, since they seemed
to actually assist the speed of the invasion.  If someone fully human
had been infected by the alien cells, the doctor was sure he or she
would be nearly "eaten alive" in the sense the Sikari had described at
this point.

"If she was fully Klingon could she overcome this?"

The doctor didn't like the intent, almost manic look in Tom's eyes.
"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but it's very--"

"I give you my permission to do it."

The doctor's brow furrowed.  "Do what?"

"Replace her human genes with Klingon genes."

The doctor didn't know what to say for a minute.  Clearly forty hours
plus without sleep was keeping Tom from thinking straight.  That and
the fact that he was beside himself with worry.  The doctor spoke
gently. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Tom asked.

"Genetic manipulation is a very complicated process," the doctor said.
"It's one thing alter genes in a fetus to correct abnormalities, but
to alter genes to the extent you're suggesting in an adult is almost
impossible."

"The Vidiians did it," Tom pointed out.  "And you did it to B'Elanna
when you reinserted her Klingon DNA afterwards."

"I don't have the Vidiians technology," the doctor said sharply,
immensely glad of that fact.  "And there's a big difference between
gene insertion and removal.  On Voyager I returned B'Elanna to her
natural state, which is a hybrid.  If you recall she couldn't live
then without her Klingon DNA, and she can't survive in the end without
her human DNA either."

Tom closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.  He looked at the
doctor bleakly.  "Look at her, Doctor.  Is this surviving?"

The doctor looked at B'Elanna.  "In fact, that's exactly what it is,
Tom.  And even if I *could* replace her human DNA and make her fully
Klingon, and *even* if a full-throttle immune response could destroy
the alien cells, both of which are a very long shot---even with all
that, as B'Elanna is now there is no chance that she could survive the
transition."

"Besides, how would B'Elanna feel if she woke up to find out she was
fully Klingon?" a voice asked behind the doctor

The doctor turned and looked at Chakotay, whom he hadn't heard come
in.  He knew the answer to that question.  He remembered how B'Elanna
had reacted to taking back her Klingon DNA years ago after the
Vidiians had experimented on her.  And though Tom had no issue at all
with B'Elanna's Klingon side, he knew that B'Elanna certainly did.

Chakotay's question was a meaningless question one, since the doctor
had just pointed out that it couldn't be done, but Tom looked hard at
Chakotay, who met his gaze with equanimity though not without
sympathy.  Tom turned his gaze away first.  He touched B'Elanna's
forehead, brushing his fingertips over her ridges, one of the few
areas on her face that hadn't been affected by the alien cell growth.
He pressed his lips tightly together for a moment, and then he turned
back to Chakotay, his emotions under control, though barely.  "At
least she would wake up.  And the doctor wouldn't be just giving up."

"Tom..."

The doctor interrupted Chakotay, his voice irate.  "I am *not* giving
up on B'Elanna!  I've been her doctor since...well, since I've been in
existence!  I delivered her baby.  I consider her a friend, and I'm
not going to let her die.  I've come up with a new approach, and I
will make it work!"

Both Tom and Chakotay stared at the doctor.  It was Chakotay who asked
the question.  "What approach, Doctor?"

"I was trying to tell you this before we got sidetracked," the doctor
told Tom, his voice still a little aggrieved.  He looked at Chakotay.
"Borg nanoprobes."

If Tom and Chakotay had been startled at the doctor's first outburst,
they were positively speechless now.  The doctor would have smiled
with triumph at their expressions if the situation weren't so
critical.

"They adapt far more quickly than individual living cells," he
explained.  "If they can be modified to attack the alien cells, they
may be fast enough and efficient enough to infiltrate them and destroy
them.  I simply have to reprogram them to hide their intent so they
can penetrate the alien cell wall before it knows what is happening
and mutates.  I've already started experimenting with some of the
nanoprobes from the Borg--from Annika," he amended, recalling the
woman's name Kes had uncovered.

"There's no chance they could be harmful to B'Elanna?" Chakotay asked

The doctor wanted to tell Chakotay to take a close look at B'Elanna
right now, but he held his reaction to a scoff.  "The nanoprobes?  Of
course not.  Once I've modified them they won't hurt B'Elanna at all."

"Then do it," Tom said, without hesitation.

The doctor knew Tom would have no objection to using Borg technology.
Tom's only concern now was saving B'Elanna's life.  "I'm working on
it," he said mildly.  "It will probably take me another twenty-four
hours to modify the nanoprobes."

Tom's face fell a little.  "Twenty-four hours..."

"Her immune system will hold out that long, Tom," the doctor said.
"I'm not worried about that at all."

Tom nodded slowly, obviously not happy that B'Elanna would remain like
this for even another day, but he accepted it.  "Are you sure this
will work?"

"I think it will," the doctor said honestly.  He added reassuringly,
"It's absolutely her best shot, Tom."

"Then I know she'll take it, Doctor," Chakotay said, perhaps as much
for Tom's benefit as his own.  He looked at Tom.  "B'Elanna's nothing
if not a fighter."

Tom's lips quirked just the tiniest bit, and he looked at B'Elanna,
with some private emotion on his face.  "Yes, she is that."

"I have to get back to work on the nanoprobes," the doctor said,
feeling a satisfying sense of purpose.  He couldn't tell Tom that he
was a hundred percent sure this would work, but to the depths of his
programming he was sure he could make it work.  He *would* make it
work.

"Tom, I came here to get you," Chakotay said, as if he'd just recalled
why he'd suddenly shown up in Sickbay.  "M'Kaela is very restless
tonight."

"She's not asleep yet?" Tom asked.

"No.  She's asking for you...and for B'Elanna."

The doctor thought he understood Chakotay's intent.  "Tom, B'Elanna
is..." he hesitated saying unconscious, "resting comfortably," he
amended, though they all knew that wasn't completely true.  "Nothing
is going to change anytime soon, and I'll keep monitoring her--"

"I don't want her to be alone," Tom said flatly.  "I know she's not
conscious, but I want her to know I'm here. That someone's here--"

"I understand," the doctor said.  Kes had left two hours earlier at
his insistence after spending twelve hours in Sickbay with Tom and
B'Elanna, and with their other patient, Annika.  Before the doctor
could come up with an alternative plan, Chakotay spoke again.

"I don't want her to be alone either, Tom.  In fact Tuvok should--"
Chakotay modified his statement, "is here."

"Tuvok?" Tom's voice was surprised as he turned and saw Tuvok
approaching.

"I understand that M'Kaela requires your presence, Tom," Tuvok said.
"I will sit with B'Elanna and monitor her condition while you are
gone."

"Uh, you don't have to do that, Tuvok--"

"It is not an imposition," Tuvok said, forestalling Tom's objection.

The doctor couldn't quite see Tuvok carrying on a conversation with
B'Elanna while she was unconscious, as Tom and most of the others who
had stopped by to see her were apt to do, but he knew Tuvok's
attention would not waver.  Tom glanced at B'Elanna, still looking
undecided and a little troubled.

"Children need the reassurance of a parent's proximity when the other
parent is unavailable for a period of time," Tuvok said.  "B'Elanna
would want you to comfort your daughter."

Though Tuvok's tone was impassive, the doctor thought he detected a
personal note in that comment.  Sometimes it was easy to forget that
Tuvok had left a family behind whom he would never see again.
Whatever pain he felt over that loss he kept deeply buried beneath his
stoic Vulcan exterior.  And it was unlikely that his loss would be
alleviated by another relationship, which was happening for others
who'd suffered similar losses.

Tom seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he looked a little
remorseful.  "You're right, Tuvok."  He leaned over and touched
B'Elanna's cheek, barely seeming to notice the alien cells discoloring
her skin.  "I'll be back soon, sweetheart."

"Tuvok volunteered..." the doctor murmured as Tom kissed his wife, and
Tuvok settled into the chair.

"Several people volunteered," Chakotay said in a near whisper.  "Tuvok
just did it with the most resolve."

Any and all of the other one hundred fifty two colonists volunteering
wouldn't surprise the doctor at all, since they were all one extended
family now, but Tuvok volunteering did surprise him a little.  Perhaps
it shouldn't.

"I'll be back shortly, Tuvok," Tom said.  "As soon as I get M'Kaela to
sleep."

"I will stay whatever length of time is required," Tuvok replied.

Tom nodded.  "Thank you, Tuvok."

"Gratitude is not necessary," Tuvok said.  "However, you are welcome."

After one last look at B'Elanna Tom joined Chakotay.  Then he turned
back to the doctor.  "Doc, about before...I'm sorry."

"I understand your frustration, Tom."  And for all his annoying quirks
and his often impudent attitude, the doctor knew how much Tom loved
B'Elanna.  Still, he gave Tom a parting glare for good measure.  "And
I meant what I said.  I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

"I know," Tom said softly.

The doctor watched Tom leave with Chakotay, then he looked at Tuvok.
The Vulcan's impassive gaze was focused on B'Elanna.  "You know that
if Kathryn and Chakotay's devious plan works and Tom falls asleep, he
won't wake up for some time."

Tuvok quirked an eyebrow.  "I would expect not, Doctor, since to my
knowledge Tom has not slept for over forty hours.  He is only human
after all.  As I stated, I will stay as long as necessary."

The doctor nodded.  "Good."  For Tom's sake, he hoped Tuvok was here
all night.  "In the meantime I have a lot of work to do to get the
nanoprobes ready to save B'Elanna."

"I have no doubt that you will be successful, Doctor," Tuvok said
assuredly, and with that he returned his full attention to B'Elanna.

---
December 1, early morning:
---

//"B'Elanna, what is the big deal?"

"I'm tired of having this argument, Tom!"

"Fine.  All you have to do is be reasonable--"

"*What* did you say?"

He wasn't intimidated by her silky tone.
"I...said...be...reasonable--and don't slam the door--"

She slammed it anyway.

He followed her outside.  "Drop it, Tom," she warned him.

"I don't understand your objection, B'Elanna.  It's part of her
heritage, just like it's part of yours, even if you want to pretend it
doesn't exist--"

"It doesn't MATTER, Tom.  Haven't you noticed that we're in the Delta
quadrant?  What difference will it ever make out here?"

"If it won't make any difference, then why won't you let me have Sue
paint the mural on the wall?"

"I let you recreate that book of Klingon fairy tales--"

"Oh, yes, that was big of you to *let* me."

She fumed at him.  "It's ancient history--"

"It's your history, B'Elanna.  And it's M'Kaela's.  That's all any of
us have of our homes now, of our heritage in this galaxy.  History.
And it does matter.  I'm not going to let you deny M'Kaela just
because you deny yourself."

"It's not denial," She said icily.  "Why should M'Kaela have to suffer
through what I did trying to figure out where she belongs?  It's only
confusing.  If I could have saved her from it altogether, I would
have."

"What's that supposed to--B'Elanna..."

He sighed and followed her back into the house.

"The answer is no, Tom," she said flatly.

"It's not only your decision, B'Elanna.  She's my daughter too."

She stared coldly at him.  "I'm done talking about this right now."

"Fine."  He shook his head in disgust.  "Fine.  So am I."  He stalked
off.

They didn't speak to each other again the rest of the evening.  Or the
night.//   //He needed to talk to her now.  No matter what had
happened before he had to make her hear him.

"B'Elanna?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you awake?"

"I don't think so, Tom.  I'm in a coma right now."

"Oh.  Right.  B'Elanna..."

"Yes?"

"I need you to wake up."

"I'm trying, Tom."

"You know I'll do anything if you'll wake up.  Anything."

"I know."

"B'Elanna..."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry we fought."

"Me, too."

"And no matter what I've said, or how much we've argued, you know..."

"What, Tom?"

"That I love you, so much."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Tom..."

"Yes?"

"I do know that.  I've never doubted it.  Ever."

"Good.  M'Kaela misses you too.  She needs you."

"She has you right now."

"Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"She needs both of us.  B'Elanna..."

"Hmmm?"

"We need you to wake up.  Soon."

"I will.  Soon...."//

"B'Elanna..." Tom murmured her name in the darkness as he woke up.
For a moment he thought she was there, and that everything was fine.
Then he remembered, and his heart plummeted.  She was in Sickbay,
fighting for her life...where he should be.  He almost jumped up, when
he realized that a small warm body was curled up against his side.

M'Kaela.

He'd lain down next to her...how many hours ago now?  By the dim light
coming in the window it was almost dawn.  He'd only intended to cuddle
her and comfort her until she fell asleep, and then get back to
B'Elanna's side.  Instead he'd fallen asleep too, and he suspected
that had been someone's plan all along.  Maybe several someones.

He brushed his fingers over M'Kaela's silky curls.  Her eyes were
closed and her lips were slightly parted.  She was breathing in soft
even breaths, still sound asleep.  Her bottle was on the floor next to
the mattress, the mattress Chakotay had taken off the bed in their
spare room for M'Kaela to sleep on--and as it turned out, Tom.
B'Elanna had quit breastfeeding a month ago, and M'Kaela was on solid
foods, along with the doctor's baby formula made especially for her,
in a cup now.  She only got a bottle at night.

Tom put his arm around M'Kaela and hugged her gently so he wouldn't
wake her, and smelled the baby scent that still clung to her, the
mixture of sour milk and baby soap and powder.  "Mommy will be home
soon, angel," Tom whispered into his daughter's hair.  His daughter
who looked more like her mother each passing day.  His heart twisted a
little, and he gently kissed the top of her head.  "I know you miss
her.  So do I. I dreamed about her--"

He frowned.  That argument they'd been having for days...he dreamed
about that.  That stupid fight.  And the last words they'd spoken to
each other--

M'Kaela murmured in her sleep and turned, pressing her face against
his shoulder, and resting one small fist on his chest.  He waited for
her to settle for a moment, and kissed the top of her head again.  "It
was a good dream, pumpkin," he said, recalling the last part.  "Mommy
said she's going to wake up soon.  She's knows how much you need
her--how much we both need her.  And right now I'm going to go be with
her and make sure she comes home, okay?"

He carefully extricated himself and repositioned M'Kaela's head on the
pillow as he spoke soothingly.  She accepted the change and snuggled
deeper into the blankets.  He brushed her hair away from her cheek and
arranged the top blanket closer around her to ward off the slight
chill of the room.  "I'll see you later, angel--"

Tom was halfway off the bed when he realized that someone was standing
in the doorway.   He stood up all the way, still in the rumpled
clothing he'd worn the day before.

"Good morning, Tom."

"Kathryn."

He didn't mean to sound cool, but it occurred to him that he'd been
asleep for six or seven hours, when he should have been with B'Elanna,
and neither Kathryn nor Chakotay had bothered to wake him up, on
purpose he was sure.

"It's five fifteen," Kathryn said almost conversationally.

Tom ran a hand through his hair.  It felt sticky.  He looked at
Kathryn accusingly.  "I should have been back in Sickbay--"

"I just spoke with Tuvok five minutes ago.  He said B'Elanna is the
same.  She's holding on just fine, and the doctor is making progress
with the modification of the nanoprobes."

"Thanks," Tom said, a little grudgingly.  He glanced at M'Kaela.

"Don't worry about M'Kaela, Tom," Kathryn said.  "We'll take care of
her."  Her voice softened.  "She needed you to be with her last night.
You're her father, and your presence soothes her."

Tom nodded.  "I know," he said.  He smiled a little ruefully,
remembering the way he'd hugged her when she flung herself into his
arms last night.  He'd buried his face in her hair, feeling absurdly
comforted by her need for him.  "She soothes me, too.  But we both
need B'Elanna."  He picked up his shoes.  "I have to go."

Kathryn took a couple of steps forward.  "Take a shower first."

"I don't have--"

"You smell, Tom," Kathryn said bluntly.  She raised her eyebrows.
"Chakotay brought some clean clothes from your house.  They're in the
bathroom.  Go."

Tom's eyes narrowed a little at Kathryn's commanding tone.  Once a
captain, always a captain, he thought silently.  But he'd been wearing
these clothes for two days now.  And he was sure he did smell.  He
walked past her, keeping his gaze on her hard to let her know that he
wasn't doing it just because she said so.

She didn't bother to contain her smile.  He shook his head as he
entered the hallway.  "I'll be quick."

"Tom..."

He turned around.

"I have coffee and some rolls.  You can take them with you."

Her voice brooked no refusal.  He knew better than to bother arguing,
but he smirked a little.  "Yes, *maam*."

"And Tom..."

He stopped at the bathroom door and turned around again.

"Whatever happened between you and B'Elanna, you know that she loves
you as much as you love her."

He met Kathryn's knowing gaze silently for several moments.  When he
spoke his voice was low but certain. "I know."

---
December 1, early afternoon:
---

Chakotay and Kathryn walked out of Cafe Neelix.  Neelix had had a full
house for lunch, and the place had been almost too warm.  Outside it
was cloudy and not warm at all, and they both pulled their thermal
jackets tighter to ward off the chill.  From the sky it looked to
Chakotay like the first snow of the season might be arriving soon.

Chakotay didn't mind winter at all.  He'd grown up on a colony with
severe winters.  Kathryn was used to them too.  So they hadn't
included themselves in the first phase of house building in New
Sonoma, electing to let some of those who really wanted to relocate to
the warmer climate of New Sonoma go first.  Like B'Elanna, who was
looking forward to not having to deal with the cold New Lourdes
winters on a regular basis anymore.

Now that the transporter was operational, moving between the two
colonies would be as quick as walking across the Voyager Common from
the Meeting hall to Cafe Neelix.  It would be easy enough to maintain
two homes, as they all eventually would.  If there was a severe winter
storm in New Lourdes, they could go to New Sonoma in a minute, and
enjoy the summer sunshine.  And regardless, they could work, eat, and
sleep in both villages during the same day--he could eat breakfast
with Kathryn at home, go over to New Sonoma to help build the next set
of homes, meet Kathryn for dinner at the restaurant Mario Gennaro was
planning to open in his friendly "cooking rivalry" with Neelix, then
join in an impromptu game of soccer or baseball on New Sonoma's
Sacajawea Plaza, and return home for coffee and a good book snuggled
up next to Kathryn in front of the fireplace.

In reality, being linked through a transporter now was like living in
one big village, with the freedom to move about at will.  Or it would
be.  But those pleasant thoughts of the linked villages had been
temporarily suspended.  Despite the readiness of the transporter, no
one had actually started moving their belongings and themselves to
their waiting houses in New Sonoma, least of all Tom.

Kathryn paused in the middle of Voyager Common to adjust her jacket
against the cold.  "I can't believe they really want to live in the
mountains," she said, shaking her head.  "In caves."

The Sikari had left early in the morning, after spending two nights in
the original women's dormitory.  They'd expressed their thanks for the
medical assistance and shelter, and had accepted a small store of
grain and other nonperishable edibles from the food warehouses in
addition to what they'd been able to salvage from their ship so far.
But they'd refused all Kathryn's offers to join the colonists either
at New Lourdes, or at New Sonoma.  "They lived for years as refugees
on their own planet after the Borg decimated their civilization,"
Chakotay said.  "I suppose they've become comfortable with their own
reclusiveness."

Kathryn turned and started walking across the common.  "But the
mountains in the Northeast Sector?  They're not exactly hospitable.
And what about the zebra cats?"

Chakotay couldn't help himself.  "They're more hospitable than the
Southern Transarctic Mountains."

Kathryn stopped and turned, giving him a sharp look.  He smiled
knowingly, and he was sure he saw a hint of a reluctant smile in
return.  "Apparently the Sikari are used to living in the mountains,
and in caves.  And we told them about the zebra cats.  They seemed to
think they could handle them."

Kathryn shrugged.  "Well, I suppose if they choose not to accept the
obvious advantages we can offer them, we can't change that."

Chakotay shrugged back.  "No, we can't."  He looked across the common
in the direction north of the residential section, where the mountains
of the Northwest Sector were just visible in the far distance.
"Aurora has nearly twice as much habitable land as Earth.  Yet the
Sikari chose to settle only fifty kilometers away from New Lourdes."
He turned back to Kathryn.  "Interesting that they chose to remain so
close, don't you think?  Maybe they'll prove to be less reclusive than
they appear once they get used to being here, and get to know us a
little better."

"Maybe," Kathryn said, her own gaze taking in the mountains in the
distance past the planted fields of the colony.  "You and Larem did
seem to hit it off."

"I understand the position he's in, feeling responsible for a group of
people who have no home to call their own any more."

Kathryn looked at him for several moments, then nodded.  "I guess you
do."  She slipped her arm around his back.  "But they've found a home
now, just as you did--as we all did."

Chakotay couldn't agree more.  He wrapped his arm around Kathryn's
shoulders and kissed her forehead.  "That we did."

She was studying him thoughtfully.  "Still, I think you missed your
calling.  You're a natural born diplomat."

Chakotay's lips quirked.  "You think so?"

"More so than I am."  She smiled at him ruefully.  "That was always
the hardest part about being a Starfleet captain to me.  I've never
been much for pussyfooting around the truth, or worrying about taking
people's feelings into account.  I'd rather just lay the facts on the
line, and let the chips fall where they may."

Chakotay laughed.  "I think you're being a little hard on yourself,
Kathryn.  Determination and sticking to your principles come in handy
for a Starfleet captain.  And you were very good at getting people to
bend to your will."

"Is that your way of saying I'm headstrong?" Kathryn asked archly.

Chakotay grinned.  "Kathryn, I'm not sure I've met anyone more
headstrong than you.  Except maybe B'Elanna.  You two have a lot in
common, you know."

"I suppose we do," Kathryn agreed.  She smiled.  "Of course, you and
Tom have a lot in common too."

Far less in common in personality than Kathryn and B'Elanna, Chakotay
thought, but he nodded sagely.  "We both love stubborn and intractable
women."

Kathryn's eyes narrowed at his teasing smile.  "Very funny."  She
looked across the common at Sickbay, and she was silent for several
moments  "I'm not sure how Tom would survive without her."

Chakotay knew how, though he dreaded to think of the possibility.
He'd watched Tom with M'Kaela when Tom had come over to put her to
sleep.  Tom had clung to her almost as much as she'd clung to him.  He
adored his daughter.  It would be hell for him to lose B'Elanna, but
he'd survive for M'Kaela.

"He'd hang on for M'Kaela," Kathryn said softly, mirroring Chakotay's
own thought.

"It's immaterial, Kathryn," Chakotay said.  "B'Elanna will be fine."

"Of course she will," Kathryn said firmly.  "She's stubborn and
intractable after all."

Chakotay smiled at her sly look.  "Exactly.  And her spirit guide is
as fiercely stubborn as she is."

Although Chakotay knew Kathryn still had her reservations about the
value of spirit guides, she smiled.  "I suppose it is, if she couldn't
kill it."

"And the doctor has the cure almost in hand," Chakotay added.

Kathryn nodded.  "I do wonder how B'Elanna will feel knowing that Borg
nanoprobes saved her."

Chakotay knew that B'Elanna had a strong sense of ethics, and a fairly
rigid sense of right and wrong.  She had no love for the Borg, no more
than any of them did, but he suspected that she would accept the gift
for what it was, given the payoff.  "When she's holding M'Kaela again,
and Tom--grateful."

"As I will be," Kathryn said.  "I wonder how grateful Annika will be
when she wakes up."

Since Kes had discovered the Borg woman's name and previous history,
they'd all begun to refer to her by her human name, Annika.  It was
certainly less awkward than "the Borg woman."  And it was inevitable
that she would join their colony.  She had no where else to go.  But
there was no way to know how she would react when she woke, since
she'd been Borg almost all her life.  Probably badly.  If she had any
memory of her human life before she was assimilated, it would be vague
at best.  "It will be disorienting for her at first, but she'll
adjust."

"I guess she won't have much choice," Kathryn noted, not without
sympathy.  Then she shivered a little.

"Cold?" Chakotay asked, squeezing her shoulders.

"A little.  But it's bracing."

They'd been standing in the common for several minutes, and Chakotay
noticed that the wind was starting to pick up.  "Let's get over to the
Meeting hall."

"There's Harry."

Chakotay followed Kathryn's gaze.  Harry was stepping out of Sickbay.
They crossed the rest of the common to meet him.

"How's B'Elanna?" Kathryn asked immediately as they came abreast of
Harry.

"The same," Harry replied.  His tone was sober but his expression was
encouraging.  "She's hanging in there.  Kes says the doctor is pretty
close to finishing the modifications on the nanoprobes.  He thinks he
can have them ready to insert into B'Elanna's bloodstream within the
next few hours."

"Good," Kathryn said, pleased.  "Tom?"

"He's hanging in there too," Harry replied.  "At least he doesn't look
like he's going to collapse any minute since you managed to trick him
into a few hours sleep."

Kathryn gave Harry a stern look.  "Why does everyone think I tricked
Tom?"

Chakotay shrugged.  "Because you did?"

That earned him an equally hard look.  "I did not trick him, Harry,"
Kathryn said.  "M'Kaela *was* restless.  Yes, I knew if Tom laid down
next to her to get her to go to sleep he'd pass out, he was so dead on
his feet.  But I simply made the suggestion, and then let nature take
its course."

"I applaud your suggestive powers then," Harry said, grinning.  "And
you did Tom a favor.  I'm on my way over to Megan and Gerron's right
now to get Andrew.  M'Kaela's there too, so I told Tom I'd check on
her."

Chakotay and Kathryn had dropped M'Kaela off there this morning before
they'd met with the Sikari.  Megan had offered to watch her, and
playing with Megan's and Gerron's nine month old son Daelen would
hopefully keep M'Kaela from yearning too much for her parents.

"We're headed for the Meeting hall to go over the transport schedule,"
Kathryn said.  "Gerry and Amanda are getting ready to move their
belongings tomorrow."

"I guess they want to get settled in pretty quick," Harry said.

Chakotay didn't doubt it, since Amanda Lang-Culhane was eight months
pregnant.  Tom and B'Elanna had originally planned to follow right
after them, but now that schedule would likely be altered.

"I'll see you in the Meeting hall later," Harry said.  "Mort and I are
finishing up on the satellite upgrade.  In a few days it should be
several times more sensitive.  Hopefully we won't be surprised by a
ship again."

"Hopefully not," Kathryn murmured as Harry raised a quick hand in
farewell.

They watched him walk into the common, and Kathryn frowned.  "We
shouldn't have been surprised by a ship at all.  And if we'd known
more about what was on it, B'Elanna would never have beamed over to
New Sonoma alone.  *You* wouldn't have gone over there without more
backup."

"We had no way to know," Chakotay said, his expression grim  "But more
to the point, if we could have communicated over the commbadges we
could have warned you.  And warned B'Elanna."  Chakotay shook his
head.  "I didn't think of anyone transporting over--"

"You're right, Chakotay," Kathryn said abruptly.  "It's pointless to
second-guess ourselves now.  But we do need to do something about
making the commbadges more reliable through the magnetic fields, or
other kinds of unexpected interference, so the next time someone isn't
close to a main commlink in town or in a shuttle, they can still
communicate if they need to."

It didn't happen often, but she was right.  "Harry has started
tinkering with some new redesigns, and B'Elanna thinks they have
definite merit."

Kathryn nodded.  They both knew that strengthening the signals in the
commbadges was high on B'Elanna's project list.  "It won't be any time
too soon."  She shook her head.  "I still don't know how that ship
ended up here, when there weren't supposed to be any ships..."

It took a moment for Chakotay to realize what she meant.  "Because of
what the Traveler said."

Kathryn nodded, looking troubled.  "I got the impression that we would
be alone here for many years."

"Maybe he didn't know everything.  Or maybe he didn't tell you
everything he knew."

Kathryn shook her head.  "I wish I could remember it all better."

"It was just one small ship," Chakotay said.

"With a Borg in it," Kathryn said.  "And Species 8472."

Chakotay knew Kathryn had been brooding about that, though they'd had
little time to talk about it yet.  "It was only one, and Kes got the
impression that it was left behind, separated from its kind.  I don't
think we'll ever see another one."

Kathryn nodded.  "I'm glad Kes protected herself, but I can't help
wishing that we could have talked directly to it--"

"So we could convince it that we aren't its enemy?" Chakotay asked.
"That no one in the galaxy is?"

"If what the Traveler said is true, there might have been a chance..."
Kathryn's voice trailed off.

"*If.*  We can't be a hundred percent sure what will happen," Chakotay
said.  Though with the Sikari's mention of the Borg losing the war, he
didn't hold out much optimism.  He knew the Traveler's dire
predictions still haunted Kathryn.  They haunted him too.  "And we'll
never know if it, or more of its kind might have reasoned with us.  We
can't change anything now, Kathryn, except what we do here on Aurora."

Kathryn nodded.  "I know."

Another gust blew at them, definitely the harbinger of a storm moving
in.  Chakotay put his arm around Kathryn again, and by mutual consent
they headed for the shelter of the Meeting hall.  He remembered
something he'd wanted to ask her.  "Speaking of Sickbay, Kathryn..."

She smiled up at him.  "When B'Elanna's better, I'll check in with the
doctor.  Don't worry."

"Good enough," Chakotay said.  Despite the tensions of the past two
days, that had never been far from his mind.  But he could wait until
everything else was back to the way it should be before focusing on
that hopeful possibility.

Chakotay ushered Kathryn into the Meeting hall ahead of him.  Fighting
the wind that slapped at his face, he shot one last glance at Sickbay,
where soon the doctor should be delivering a cure to B'Elanna.  He
recited a quick silent invocation, drawing on the power of the
talismans and the lore of his own faith, entreating B'Elanna's spirit
guide to keep her strong and protected until then.

---
December 1, early evening:
---

Tom was glad to be alone with B'Elanna.  Almost everyone in New
Lourdes had come into Sickbay at some point over the past two days, or
had stopped him to talk briefly when he'd left Sickbay to see M'Kaela,
always with words of optimism for B'Elanna and words of comfort for
him.  Kathryn and Chakotay had come by several times, and Harry had
stopped in at least half a dozen times a day, ostensibly to see Kes,
but always coming to sit with him by B'Elanna's bedside for a few
minutes.  Tom appreciated the sentiments.  He appreciated the fact
that everyone cared deeply about B'Elanna, and that they cared about
him.  He appreciated all of their support, especially for M'Kaela, but
he was starting to feel like he was suffocating under all the concern
and sympathy.

He didn't want sympathy.  He wanted results.

He was even glad that Kes had gone to the lab for a while with the
doctor.  He knew what she'd been doing.   He didn't completely
understand the scope of Kes's telepathic and empathic abilities, but
he knew she had learned to harness and focus that power under Tuvok's
tutelage, until it was a palpable aura around her that touched others
when she wanted it to.  He'd felt that calm and serenity blanketing
him when she was nearby.  He knew she projected it because she thought
he needed it, and maybe he did.  But he didn't *want* to be calm.  He
wanted to be angry, to fight against this.  To fight for B'Elanna.

He reached out and smoothed her hair back from her forehead, as he'd
done a hundred times in the past two days.  Her skin felt cool and
dry, as it had since the doctor had elevated her immune response over
twenty- four hours ago, which had produced some sort of truce in her
body between her immune system and the alien cells.  Before that her
skin had been hot and feverish, and she'd moaned and twitched in
obvious distress.  The few times her eyes had opened, they'd been
glazed with fever and pain even though she hadn't really been aware of
her surroundings.  He wasn't sure she had even been aware of his
presence though she'd moaned his name more than once.  He'd stroked
her gently and murmured soothingly to her, wanting to do anything that
would lessen her suffering as the tendrils of alien cells started to
creep across her skin.

He'd been so relieved when the doctor had injected the immune booster
and it had stopped the alien cells from growing further and had halted
B'Elanna's agony, that he'd had to turn his head away for a moment so
the doctor wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.  He didn't know if the
pain was really gone, or if her unconscious state was so deep that she
simply couldn't feel it anymore.  He was just glad she couldn't feel
it, though it was almost as hard seeing her so motionless and silent.
It was so unlike her.  B'Elanna was rarely still; she radiated energy
and intensity.  Even when she was ostensibly relaxing, he could almost
hear her mind working, and he could feel the vitality coiled in her
that was almost like a force she exuded.

Tom took her hand in his.  "I know you're in there somewhere,
B'Elanna, fighting, and refusing to give up.  Even if you can't see me
I'm right there next to you, bat'leth swinging, fighting with you.  I
want you to know that."

Though doctor had said that B'Elanna probably couldn't hear him, nor
would remember anything he said to her, Tom had kept talking anyway.
If there was anything that projected a sense of normalcy to B'Elanna,
he figured it was him talking too much.  He smiled at that thought,
then sobered.  "I know you probably don't like the bat'leth reference,
but it just keeps entering my mind.  Maybe because it's your Klingon
DNA that has resistance to the alien cells."  His lips quirked, though
his eyes remained serious.  "I always knew there was something I loved
about your Klingon side.  It's keeping you alive."

He rubbed her palm, feeling the rough tendrils of the alien growth,
and he frowned.  "Confession time, B'Elanna.  I told the doctor to
replace all of your human DNA with Klingon DNA if it would save you.
Don't worry, he didn't do it, mostly because it wouldn't work.  And I
figure if you ever find out about that, you'll kill me."  He looked at
her still hand in his.  "But you'd have to be alive to kill me,
B'Elanna, and that's all I care about.  I hope you can understand
that."

Tom was silent for several moments, and then he cleared his throat.
"Anyway, it turns out that Borg nanoprobes may be the key.  I know
that won't make you much happier."

He looked at the Borg woman several beds away.  Her left eye had been
replaced with a prosthetic, and Samantha had helped Kes repair all the
outward physical damage.  Now she looked almost completely human,
except for the neural implant that still remained above her left
eyebrow.  Kes had even stimulated her hair follicles, and her head was
covered with a soft cap of blond hair.  In a day or two, once the
doctor rewired her implant, she would regain consciousness.

"Her name's Annika," Tom told B'Elanna.  "She was human before she was
assimilated.  One of us.  Now she's going to be human again.  Which
will probably be a hell of shock to her when she wakes up, since the
doc says she was assimilated as a child.  But when the doctor cures
you, it'll be partly thanks to her that you're back with me, and
M'Kaela."

Tom sighed.  "M'Kaela misses you, B'Elanna.  Everyone has been so good
about taking care of her so I could be here in Sickbay with you.  Sam,
Kes, Harry, Kathryn...she's with Megan and Gerron right now.  You know
how she likes to try and teach Daelen to walk.  Of course you know..."

He smiled a little sadly.  "She's always happy to see me, about as
happy as I am to see her.  But I'm not enough.  You're her mother.
She needs you.  So you have to wake up for her, do you hear me? Soon,
like you promised."

Tom shook his head.  "Okay, maybe I dreamed that.  But it felt like
you were really there.  So I'm holding you to it.  You said soon.  And
I need it to be soon, because M'Kaela needs you, and so do I.  I miss
you so much."

He kissed her hand gently.  "B'Elanna, I'm sorry for everything.  I
don't care how we decorate M'Kaela's room.  We can put 'Alice in
Wonderland' and 'Peter Rabbit' all over the walls if you want.  And
M'Kaela doesn't have to learn about Klingon history.  The past doesn't
matter to me.  Just now.  As long as you and M'Kaela are with me here
on Aurora, that's all that will ever matter to me."

Tom pressed his forehead against B'Elanna's hand for a moment.  A soft
sound behind him made him pull away, and turn around.

The doctor and Kes stood at the foot of B'Elanna's bed.  Tom didn't
know how long they'd been standing there or how much they'd heard.  He
only noticed that Kes was smiling, and then he saw what the doctor was
holding in his hand.  A hypo.

"Is that it?"

The doctor held up the hypo, a broad smile on his face.  "This is it.
I've modified the nanoprobes and run them through several trials.
They kill the alien cells every time."  He moved to the other side of
the bed.  "One dose should do it.  I predict that in an hour's time
B'Elanna will be completely herself again."  The smile was still on
his face, and he added smugly, "I'd predict half an hour, but I
wouldn't want to be too presumptuous about my talents."

Tom was more than fine with the doctor's arrogance.  "Either way, Doc,
I'll spearhead the campaign to name a continent after you."

"You don't need to go that far," the doctor said, as he positioned the
hypo.  Then his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.  "Though that is an
intriguing thought..."

"Shall we just get on with it, Doctor?" Kes said from Tom's side.

The doctor gave Kes a brief, reproachful look as he pressed the hypo
against B'Elanna's upper arm.  "It should only take a minute or two to
start seeing the first results."

Tom felt Kes's hand on his shoulder and this time he welcomed the calm
that seemed to blanket his tense body.  He entwined his fingers in
B'Elanna's slack ones.  "Come on, sweetheart..."

"Doctor."

"I see."

Tom heard the terseness in Kes's voice, and the same in the doctor's.
Kes moved her hand away from his shoulder as he looked up at the
bioreadings.  Every indicator was dropping.   "Doc, what's going on?!"

The doctor didn't even acknowledge Tom's alarmed question as Kes moved
to tray at the foot of the bed.  "Kes, ten cc's of cordrazine."

"Doctor!"

"Her body is adjusting to the nanoprobes," the doctor said quickly to
Tom as he took the next hypo from Kes.

"Adjusting?!" Tom almost shouted.  The indicators were all still
dropping--quickly.  He watched in horror as B'Elanna's vitals bottomed
out into a flat line.

---

B'Elanna stared at her surroundings, curious and slightly perplexed,
though it didn't immediately occur to her to ponder anything but what
she was seeing at the moment.  She was in an immense hall, its floor
and walls made of ancient looking gray stones.  A mist rose
everywhere, shrouding the ceiling--if there was one--and making the
place warm and humid, not unlike Q'onos could be.

And this place was Klingon.  That much was obvious from the extensive
array of weapons that hung everywhere on the walls--ceremonial
daggers, bat'leths, dirkas, swords, battle axes, even very ancient
looking spears and spiked clubs.

She was not alone in the hall.  Figures moved around, some mere
shadows in the mists, though others passed by close enough for her to
see them more clearly.  Klingons, of course, all wearing the
traditional leather and metal of warriors.  They didn't seem to notice
her presence as they moved about, some wandering alone, some in pairs
speaking guttural Klingonese in low tones.

Her eyes were drawn to another movement in the mists.  Something was
prowling there.  It was large but carried itself low to the ground,
and as it moved into view she saw that it was a targ.  Its eyes looked
straight at her as if it knew her, and she felt a tingle of
familiarity.  It couldn't be...

Though she glared at it, the targ kept its gaze locked with hers, and
its eyes were shrewd and alert.  "I almost killed you once," B'Elanna
growled.  "Don't tempt me again."

Her voice echoed against the nearest stones, and though the targ was
too far away to hear her, it gave her an imperturbable look.  Two male
Klingons passing by paused in front of her.

"New one," one of them barked.

The other gave her a disparaging look.  "Half-breed by the looks of
her."

"Mongrel," the other spat contemptuously as they walked away.  She
aimed a venomous look at their retreating backs before she turned back
to the targ.  But it was gone, slunk off somewhere into the shrouded
mists.  Even though she couldn't see it, she had the eerie feeling
that it was watching her.

She'd paid little attention to the Klingon woman walking toward her as
she scanned the mists, trying to spot the targ again.  It wasn't until
the woman was almost upon her that she looked closely at her.

"Mother?"  B'Elanna's mouth dropped open in astonishment.  "What...?"
her voice faded away in stupefaction.

"Hello, daughter," Miral said, her deep voice just the way B'Elanna
remembered it.  And the sarcastic edge was still intact too.  "It's
nice to know that you recognize me after all this time."

"It's only been ten years," B'Elanna said, with her own edge of
sarcasm.

Miral's eyebrows rose as she looked her daughter up and down.  "I see
you've been in a battle."

B'Elanna looked down, and for the first time noticed what she was
wearing.  Klingon body leather that tightly hugged her slender form,
much like her mother was wearing, and the other Klingons she'd seen
here.  But hers was dirty, and stained in several places with blood.
Red blood faintly tinged with purple, that she knew with a skip of her
heart must be her own...and something else too.  She touched some of
the yellowish fluid that was smeared on her sleeve.  It felt greasy,
and it looked more like some kind of electromagnetic fluid than blood.

"And you now wear your hair in the Klingon style."

B'Elanna's hand flew to her head.  Her thick hair was curly, and
untamed.  "I don't wear my hair like this," she said sharply.  "And I
haven't been in a battle..."

B'Elanna paused as a memory tugged at her.  She *had* been fighting
something.  For her life.  Something relentless, determined to defeat
her...and she couldn't afford to lose.  Tom had been there, by her
side, encouraging her--

Tom.

M'Kaela.

Her life--it all came flooding back to her in a rush.  Why wasn't she
on Aurora?  *Where* was she?  She looked at her mother, who was
watching her with grim curiosity.  "What is this place?"

"You don't recognize it?"  Miral shook her head, and gave her daughter
a look of mild disgust.  "Why should I be surprised?  You never
listened to anything I told you--"

"Mother!"

"This is the Hall of Transient Souls."

Though B'Elanna had done her best to avoid listening to most of her
mother's endless recitations of Klingon lore, especially those about
the endless permutations of the Klingon afterlife, she hadn't been
able to forget all of them.  They had given her nightmares as a child.
She recalled now that the Hall of Transient Souls was some sort of
waystation, a place for those whose final fate was undecided.  Her
eyes widened as the implication struck her.  "I'm dead?  You're dead?"

Her mother, who looked quite alive and healthy, shrugged.  "I suppose
I must be."  She looked around the hall.  "Though I can't recall how
long I've been here.  Perhaps quite a while..." She looked at
B'Elanna.  "Waiting for you."

"Me?  Why would you be waiting for me?"

"To find out if I will be allowed into Sto-Vo-Kor," Miral said.

"Are you saying *I'm* holding you back?" B'Elanna demanded.

"Unfortunately you were never much credit as a Klingon," Miral said
sharply.  "And you are my daughter."

B'Elanna rolled her eyes.  "Right," she said derisively.  "My actions
reflect on you.  Another ridiculous point of Klingon honor."

Miral's voice was cold.  "Whatever your opinion of Klingon honor,
B'Elanna, your inability to achieve it stains me."

B'Elanna snorted in disgust.  "Fine.  I absolve you of family
obligation.  Disown me if you want."

"That's the second time you've offered me that option," her mother
said, her voice surprisingly more sad than angry.

B'Elanna remembered those words she'd thrown at her mother the last
time they'd spoken.  She wondered why her mother didn't just take her
up on it.  "I mean it, Mother.  I don't want to hold you back."

Miral didn't answer; she simply looked at B'Elanna keenly.
"Truthfully, I'm surprised I'm not on the Barge of the Dead being
taken to Gre'thor.  You must have conducted yourself with some small
amount of honor since I last saw you."  She glanced at B'Elanna's
clothing again and frowned.  "Or you died honorably."

"I'm not...dead."  B'Elanna's automatic denial trailed off.  She
couldn't be.  She didn't remember dying.  She'd just been in New
Lourdes...yesterday?  The day before?  "I was on Aurora..."

"Aurora?"

"It's a planet in the Delta quadrant that we colonized after Voyager
self-destructed," B'Elanna said quickly, her mind still distracted.

"Voyager...that was the Starfleet ship that disappeared, along with
the Maquis ship on which you served."  Miral's expression was
inscrutable for a moment.  "You were presumed dead."

"Sorry to disappoint you," B'Elanna said caustically.  "I wasn't--I'm
not dead."  Her declaration sounded unsure even to her.  "This must be
a dream, or an illusion."

"A Kos'ara?" Miral asked skeptically.  "It looks pretty real to me."

B'Elanna touched the wall beside her.  It felt solid, as solid as
everything on Voyager had felt when she'd switched timelines briefly.
She looked around for something different here, something that would
tell her this wasn't any kind of reality, that it was all in her mind.
Maybe the mists that hid anything beyond a few dozen meters, the
shifting shadows beyond...and the targ.  They could all be a dream,
though how did she really know what the afterlife looked like?  Maybe
the reality of the afterlife was a dream.  She grasped for something
to reassure herself.  "I can't remember how I got here."

"Neither can I," Miral responded.  "But does that really mean
anything?  I also cannot remember where I was right before I was
here."

Neither could B'Elanna.  She'd been in New Lourdes, carrying M'Kaela,
talking to Kathryn--but was that yesterday, or days ago now, or
longer?  Everything after that was a haze, permeated by the sense that
she'd been in a fierce battle, fighting for her life.  A battle that
she might have lost.

She shivered.

"I never thought you would be afraid of dying, B'Elanna," Miral said,
with less scorn than surprise.

B'Elanna wasn't afraid of dying.  This was just a bad time.  What
losing her do to M'Kaela?  And to Tom.  "I have a daughter," she said
shortly.  "She needs me."

"A daughter..." Miral echoed.  Her surprise transformed into a flicker
of pride that crossed her face for a moment.  Then her lips twisted.
"I hope she really does need you, more than you ever needed me."

B'Elanna scowled at her mother's harsh response.  Whose fault was
that?  "I did need you, Mother," she said angrily.  "I needed you to
love me and accept me for who I was.  I needed you to accept the part
of me that was human!"

"What makes you think I didn't?"

B'Elanna glowered at her mother.  "You tried to make me a Klingon.
You force-fed me all your endless Klingon rituals and lore.  You
wouldn't let up, no matter how much I refused to do your bidding!"

"Maybe it seemed that way," Miral said sharply.  "But what need was
there for me to glorify your human side when you already reveled in
it?  It was your Klingon heritage you wouldn't accept."

"Because you tried to ram it down my throat!"

"All I tried to do was make you accept who you are!"  Miral's voice
rose to match B'Elanna's, and her voice hissed between bared teeth.
"Hiding from it, wearing a scarf over your head trying to pretend that
you were something you're not, didn't make it go away!"

"I wore a scarf because the other children--" B'Elanna stopped in mid-
shout.  What was the point?  Her mother had never been someone she
could go to for sympathy or comfort, then or now.

"Called you 'turtlehead'," Miral finished for her.   She shook her
head at B'Elanna's startled expression.  "Did you really think I
didn't know about that, B'Elanna?  Human children can be cruel.  All
children can be cruel."  She frowned.  "But perhaps I forgot that you
were a child too, and weren't old enough to dismiss such childishness
for the ignorance it was."

That sounded almost like an admission of fallibility from her mother,
something B'Elanna had never heard.  She recalled what she'd thought
all those months ago when she'd first held M'Kaela as a tiny
baby--that her own mother must have wanted the best for her, even if
they'd never agreed on what was best.  "Maybe you were trying to do
what you thought was best--" 

"And you never believed that I might know better than you," Miral
said, with some haughtiness.  "I pushed you, but not because rejected
part of you, or wanted you to be only Klingon.  I just wanted you to
accept that part of yourself and draw strength from it so you could be
happy, and proud of who you are."

"Who I am?"  B'Elanna gave her mother a bitter look.  "Who I am,
mother, is a hybrid.  A half-breed."  She'd just been reminded of that
again.  "Not Klingon enough for you, and not human enough for my--"
she bit back the word, "For everyone else. You never understood what
it was like to be a...a mongrel, neither one or the other.  The truth
is, I didn't belong anywhere.  And if I was still on Voyager, on my
way back to the Alpha quadrant, I would have saved my daughter the
pain I had to go through."

Miral's eyes narrowed.  "What does that mean?"

B'Elanna had never even told Tom what she'd thought about when she'd
first found out she was pregnant, what part of her had wished she'd
had the power to do.  "I would have removed her Klingon genes, so she
could be something besides a mongrel."

Miral looked at her daughter, appalled.  "It is a good thing the
Klingons here cannot read what you hide in your heart, B'Elanna, or
there wouldn't be any question of your destination.  Or mine."  She
turned and stalked away several steps, as if she was about to leave
for good, then she whipped around, piercing B'Elanna with an accusing
look.  "You say you weren't good enough for me, and that I denied part
of you.  But it was you who denied *me* by being ashamed of your
Klingon heritage.  It was *I* who wasn't good enough for you."

B'Elanna saw the injured look that cross her mother's face briefly,
and she wanted to deny the accusation.  But was true.  She had been
ashamed of her mother, of her strident Klingon ways on Kessik that
earned snickers behind her back.  Sometimes she'd hurt for her mother,
but mostly she had blamed her mother.

"Just as your own daughter isn't good enough for you," Miral added
harshly.

B'Elanna's eyes widened.  "That's not true!"

"You would have killed her so you could have a different child--a
*human* child--"

"It wasn't like that!  I just thought to spare her..." B'Elanna
paused, and swallowed, faced suddenly with the knowledge that her
mother was right.  If she had been on Voyager with the technology
available she might have followed through with her wish, and M'Kaela
wouldn't even exist.  Some other child would.  "I don't know if I
would have done it," she said quickly, terrified that she might have
given the chance.

Miral shook her head.  "Perhaps I did fail you, if you believe I would
have rejected any part of you, B'Elanna, or that I would have loved
you more if your genes were only Klingon," she said, only sadness in
her voice

"I never said I believed that," B'Elanna denied, though she knew in
her heart she had thought it, often. 

"Or perhaps you think your human mate would love his child more if she
was only human," Miral said, making her own assumption.

"No," B'Elanna said immediately.  Tom couldn't love any child more
than he loved M'Kaela.  He didn't care about her Klingon genes; he'd
never cared.  If B'Elanna had ever suggested altering their child's
genes, the fight they'd had recently would have been nothing--  "Why
do you assume he is human, Mother?"

"I know of no Klingons in the Maquis or on the starship Voyager,"
Miral said.  "Or in the Delta quadrant.  And I know your overwhelming
attraction to all things human, so whom else would you choose as a
mate?"

"Tom is my husband," B'Elanna corrected sharply.  And her mate.

"And you no doubt consider him worthy to be your husband simply
because he is human," Miral said derisively.

"I consider him worthy because he's a good man," B'Elanna said
shortly.  "He has a past.  But so do I."  She'd never deny that to her
mother.  It didn't matter.  Living with it and surmounting it had made
him the man he'd become.

"A dishonorable past?" Miral guessed scornfully.

"A past is just that," B'Elanna said.  "People can change, and
overcome dishonor.  Even Klingons have done so."

"On rare occasions," Miral acknowledged, then added sharply, "And with
much effort."

"Exactly."  B'Elanna knew how much effort Tom had put into overcoming
his past.  She shook her head.  "The funny thing is, he'd like you,
Mother.  He's the one who wants to teach M'Kaela about Klingon
culture."  And she'd stopped him at every turn.  She recalled now how
intensely they'd fought about that.  She frowned.  "He's always wanted
me to embrace it too."

"That is commendable, for as long as it lasts." Miral's tone left no
doubt of her skepticism.  "Tell me more about this perfect husband of
yours."

B'Elanna snorted at her mother's sarcastic tone.  "Tom is not perfect,
Mother.  Not even close.  He's done things in his life he regrets, as
I have.  He's stubborn and pigheaded, and sometimes we fight a lot."
Sometimes?  Her lips quirked.  "But he's also loyal and dependable.
And he loves me."

"Perhaps he does," Miral conceded.  "Now."  Her expression on her
daughter was both regretful and cautionary.  "But it doesn't mean he
won't change his mind later."

B'Elanna knew her mother was using her own marriage as a base of
reference.  "Tom will never change his mind."

Miral laughed harshly.  "Maybe not.  If you're on a planet in the
Delta quadrant with no ship on which to escape again, I don't suppose
he *can* leave you."

"He *could,*" B'Elanna said flatly.  He'd left this morning--or was it
a day or two days ago, or even more?  The concept of time eluded her
at the moment, but even though he'd left without saying goodbye, and
that had hurt a little, she realized now that she hadn't doubted in
her heart that he would come back.  "But he won't."

"You sound very sure, B'Elanna," Miral said.  "Nothing in life is that
certain."  She gave her daughter a shrewd look with a surprising hint
of compassion.  "You should know that."

"Some things are certain, Mother," B'Elanna said.  She'd doubted that
too, for a long time.  She'd trusted in very little, because of her
father's active departure from her life.  But she knew that no amount
of persuasion or threat could make Tom leave his daughter, and never
see her again.  Even if they'd remained on Voyager, or had made it
back to the Alpha quadrant, even if unthinkably she and Tom just
couldn't make it together, she knew he would never walk away from his
daughter.  He'd give up his own life before he'd hurt M'Kaela.  "For
instance, nothing short of dying could tear Tom away from his
daughter."

Miral heard the absolute conviction in B'Elanna's voice.  "You believe
that, don't you?"

"I know it."

"I hope you are right," Miral said, her tone almost gentle in its
gruffness.  "If you are, then I am glad for you, daughter."

B'Elanna realized her mother truly meant it.  "Are you giving me your
blessing, Mother?" she asked incredulously.

"I would not go that far," Miral said, with a note of dry humor in her
voice.  "Besides, you do not need my blessing, B'Elanna.  But I am
pleased that perhaps this human husband of yours does have some
honor," Miral granted.  "More honor than--many humans."

B'Elanna knew her mother had been about to say "your father" before
she'd stopped herself.  She'd rarely considered how her mother might
have felt, being deserted by her husband.  She'd been too busy with
her own pain, even when she wasn't a child any more.  And she'd blamed
her mother for chasing him away, for being too Klingon, though her
mother had never in her life pretended to be anything she wasn't.  Her
father had known who she was when he'd married her.  "I'm sorry that
Father didn't stay."

Miral snorted.  "Do not be sorry for me, B'Elanna.  I recovered.  I
was angry with him for leaving me, even hurt.  For a time.  But it was
for leaving you that I never forgave him."

B'Elanna understood that now.  She looked around.  "If I really *am*
dead, at least I know that M'Kaela has her father, and that she will
always be safe and loved."  As much as she would miss them both, there
was that knowledge to comfort her.  They would have each other.

"YOU!"

Both Miral and B'Elanna started at the sound of a booming voice behind
them.  They turned to find a tall broad Klingon male standing a meter
away from them, his dark gaze on B'Elanna.  His tangled hair fell
nearly to his waist, and a dozen weapons hung from his belt.  Even for
a Klingon he was imposing.  Miral's eyes narrowed on him.  "There is
no need to shout when we are standing right here."

The Klingon male gave her a measured look, then returned his
implacable, derisive gaze to B'Elanna.  "I am Naktor, doorkeeper of
the Hall of Transient Souls.  It is time for you to go."

---

"Doctor!"  Nearly a minute had passed and Tom's voice was frantic.

The doctor's voice by contrast was completely calm, while B'Elanna's
vitals remained fixed.  "Ten more cc's of cordrazine, Kes."

"She's dying!"

"Her body is adjusting to the nanoprobes.  Her immune system was
overstimulated and is trying to reject them--"

"Then take them back out!"

"Give it a minute, Tom."  The doctor kept his voice level, not
bothering to tell Tom that he couldn't take them out.  He looked at
B'Elanna's vital signs and willed them to move.  "Come on,
B'Elanna..."

---

B'Elanna looked at the fierce Klingon who stared at her with
indifference.  "Go where?"

Naktor looked at her as if she was half-witted.  "To battle of course.
To where else does a *Klingon* go?"

"I will go with my daughter," Miral said.

Naktor turned and speared Miral with prohibitive look.  "You will not.
Your paths are not joined.  Not yet anyway."

"What battle?" B'Elanna asked, wishing now that she had listened to
more of her mother's stories.  She wondered what weapons she would
need.  A wide variety, from the looks of Naktor's weighted-down weapon
belt.

Naktor looked contemptuously at her stained and bloodied clothing.
"Back to the battle you have not yet finished," he said brusquely.
"It is not your time to be here yet."

Not her time... Did he mean that she was going back to Aurora?  "I
don't understand--"

"Of course you don't understand!" Naktor barked.  "You know nothing of
this.  It would be advisable if you *learn* something about it before
you return again."

"If you are sending me back to Aurora--"

"Are you questioning my judgment!" Naktor bellowed.

She glared at him.  "I never said--"

"There is no need for you to speak at all," Naktor cut her off.

"I want to know what is going on," B'Elanna demanded.  "If I am not
dead, why am I here--"

Naktor laughed, and it was not a particularly friendly one.  "Dead?
You are dead, but you will not stay that way, however you might wish
you could take the easy way out.  The battles here are nothing
compared to the battles of the living.  Those you shall not escape so
easily."

"Who said I wanted to escape?" B'Elanna replied hotly.  "I never asked
to be brought here."  She wanted to go back to Aurora.  She had
unfinished business with her daughter.  And with her husband.  But
there was also one other person--  "What about my mother?"

"She is not your concern.  I will deal with her once you leave."

"She *is* my concern, and I want to know--"

"LEAVE!"

Naktor roared right in her face, and that the last straw for
B'Elanna's temper.  She stuck her face even closer to his and shouted,
"Go to--"  She stopped abruptly and her snarl faded as she realized
what she was about to say.

Naktor bared his teeth in a feral grin.  "I have been there.  And you
may go there yet!"

"I think not," Miral told the doorkeeper coldly.  She looked at her
daughter with an expression that was mostly tolerant amusement.  "I
see some things about you will always remain the same, B'Elanna.  Your
stubbornness...and your blind courage."  There was satisfaction in her
voice.  "I am--"

"Enough of this!"

Miral turned to Naktor.  "I have had enough of you interrupting me!"

"I see the qour-fruit does not fall far from the tree," Naktor said
with a scornful smirk.

"I will say goodbye to my daughter."  Miral's tone was uncompromising.
Naktor's eyebrows rose and the two squared off, glaring at each other
with eyes flashing and sharp teeth bared.

Finally Naktor grunted.  "Make it quick.  You have your own battle to
complete."

With a final dismissive look at B'Elanna, Naktor stepped away.

"Daughter--" Miral's voice softened.  "B'Elanna.  I am pleased that my
grieving for you those years ago was for naught."

Her mother had grieved for her.  B'Elanna was both gratified and
regretful.  "I'm sorry you didn't know--"

Miral shook her head.  "It is of no consequence now.  You have a life
to go back to...and a daughter to raise."  She looked pensive for a
moment.  "I hope you will do for her what I could not do for you."

"You did your best for me, Mother," B'Elanna said softly.  "I know
that.  Wasn't it some Klingon philosopher who said that intention is
the cornerstone of honor?"

Miral's eyebrows rose and her lips twitched.  "I am appalled that you
would call a Klingon a philosopher.  But I am impressed that you
recall the saying."

"I guess some of your lessons did get through to me," B'Elanna said
with a small smile on her face.  "It just took a longer time than you
thought for them to sink in.  And I will pass them on to my
daughter--to your granddaughter."

Miral looked at B'Elanna thoughtfully for a moment.  "It is another
dictum of Klingon honor that there is nothing more honorable than to
put your child's welfare above all other consideration.  You have
learned that, B'Elanna, and have chosen a father for your child who
places that above all else also.  Doing so you honor me."

B'Elanna was speechless for a moment at her mother's open praise.
"Thank you, Mother.  I'm just sorry you can't meet your
granddaughter."

"As am I," Miral said.  "But I think we will all meet again one day,
when our battles are honorably won.  Perhaps I will even meet that
husband of yours..."

B'Elanna smiled at her mother's dry tone.  "He will look forward to
it."

Naktor cleared his throat loudly and then spit copiously on the stone
floor.  He raised his heavy eyebrows and nodded with satisfaction,
clearly impressed by his own effort, before he glared at meaningfully
at Miral and B'Elanna.  B'Elanna rolled her eyes.

"Males," Miral said with disgust.  She gave her daughter a
conspiratorial look.  "Are they not the same everywhere?"

B'Elanna smiled.  In many ways, both good and bad, they were.

Miral looked at her daughter for a long moment.  Then she raised her
left hand and dropped it heavily on B'Elanna's right shoulder.  "I am
proud of you, B'Elanna.  *All* of you.  If you have doubted it, do not
any longer.  Q'pla."

Instead of twisting her right arm around to Miral's left shoulder in
the traditional Klingon mother/daughter gesture, B'Elanna stepped
forward and hugged her mother.  "Q'pla, Mother," she said, smelling
briefly the familiar scent of her mother, a scent she had known all
her life.  A scent she had missed for too long.

Miral returned the hug without restraint for several moments before
they pulled away from each other.  Neither spoke as Miral turned and
walked away.

It was Naktor who looked at B'Elanna again, his gaze stern.  "When you
return, B'Elanna, daughter of Miral, perhaps you will understand fully
the concept of Klingon honor.  Winning a battle is not always having
the strength and courage to achieve a victory against outside enemies.
Sometimes it is having the strength and courage to win the battle
within yourself."

With that, Naktor turned and followed in her mother's wake.  As the
two disappeared into the shadowed mists, B'Elanna felt a momentary
urge to run after her mother, to join her in her battle.  But she knew
she could not.  She had somewhere else to be.  And others who needed
her--

B'Elanna's eyes narrowed as something slunk in the shadows where her
mother and Naktor had disappeared.  She knew before its form cleared
the mists that it was the targ.  It looked at her again, its eyes
knowing and expressive, as if it was trying to tell her something.  It
stared at her for several long moments, its gaze beckoning, before it
turned away.

Somehow she understood what it wanted, and she didn't hesitate.  She
ran after the targ, ignoring the curious looks of the Klingons milling
nearby, determined to catch up to it.  She could just make out its
form ahead as she moved into the mists, expecting them to part for
her.  Instead the mists deepened and moved over her like a blanket,
enveloping her...

---

"Doctor, something's happening!"

The doctor nodded at Kes's words as they watched B'Elanna's
bioreadings.  The readings crept up just slightly.  "That's it,
B'Elanna," he said encouragingly.  He spoke to Tom, "Her immune system
accepting the nanoprobes..."

Tom held B'Elanna's hand tightly in his as he watched her vital
readings moving slowly but steadily upward.  "Come on, sweetheart..."

"The alien cells are starting to fade from her skin," Kes said from
the other side of the bed.

Tom looked at B'Elanna's cheek, where one of the tendrils of alien
matter was visibly fading away.  "It's working."  He looked up at the
doctor who stood next to Kes.  "It's working!'

The doctor smiled broadly at Tom's fervent words.  "Of course it's
working.  B'Elanna's Klingon cells tried to protect her, but once they
recognized that the nanoprobes were attacking the alien cells, they
quit fighting against themselves."  He looked up at the bioreadings
again.  B'Elanna's vitals were back to near normal levels, and number
of alien cells was dropping rapidly.  "It's progressing more quickly
than even I expected."

Kes brushed her hand over B'Elanna's arm.  "They're almost gone
already.   She's on her way back, Tom."

Tom managed to return the Kes flashed at him.  He was happy--
ecstatic...and a little shaky.  He pressed his forehead to B'Elanna's
shoulder for a moment, blinking back moisture and swallowing the lump
in his throat, before he looked up again.  He brushed his fingers over
B'Elanna's cheek.  The alien cells were gone, and her skin felt
neither too hot nor too cool to the touch.  It felt warm, and alive. 
"Thank you, Doctor.  I owe you."

The doctor cleared his throat before he spoke.  "I was just doing my
job, Tom."  Then his eyes narrowed contemplatively and he added,
"Though I believe you did mention a continent..."

Tom grinned openly at the doctor's droll tone, and the spontaneous
ease of his reaction felt good.  He felt...light.  "It's yours, Doc.
As soon as you give yourself a name."

Kes let out a low, husky laugh, and the doctor gave her a sharp look.

Tom noted with relief that B'Elanna's vitals were now normal.  And the
alien cells were all gone.  Then she twitched, and Tom grabbed her
hand again.  "B'Elanna--"

B'Elanna sat up quickly, as if something had startled her.  She stared
right at Tom, fully conscious though her eyes were clouded with
confusion.  But she was very, very much alive.

"Hey," Tom said softly to her, his voice trembling just slightly.

Recognition dawned in her eyes.  "Tom...?"

He took the force of her movement easily as she launched herself at
him and hugged him tightly.  "I'm alive," she murmured happily against
his shoulder.

"Of course you're alive, B'Elanna," the doctor said.

B'Elanna pulled away from Tom and looked at the doctor.  Then she
closed her eyes for a moment.

"Lie down," the doctor demanded, pressing B'Elanna's shoulder from the
other side as Tom gently lowered her to the bed.  "You need to rest.
You've been through quite a battle."

B'Elanna opened her eyes and stared at the doctor.  "I know," she said
simply.  She looked at Tom, her eyes still a little dazed.  "Where's
your bat'leth?"

"My..." Tom stared at her.  "B'Elanna, did you hear me talking to
you?"

B'Elanna looked bewildered.  "I was in a battle.  You were there.
Then I was in the Klingon Hall of Transient Souls.  I thought I'd
died..."

"You were in a deep coma, B'Elanna," the doctor told her.  "It's
possible that you were dreaming in that state, and that you even heard
some of Tom's words."

"It wasn't a dream," B'Elanna said.  "I died."

"Your heart did stop for a minute or so," the doctor acknowledged.
"But you didn't die.  And you're here now, on Aurora, where you've
been all this time."

B'Elanna frowned.  "It seemed real."

"Sometimes dreams are very real," Tom said gently.  "I dreamed that
you promised me you would wake up soon."

B'Elanna looked at him.  "I did," she said.

Tom kissed her cheek.  He wasn't sure if she meant that she'd
promised, or that she woke up.  He didn't know if she'd heard him
somehow in her unconscious state, or if she'd had some sort of vision,
but it was all the same to him.  She was here, now.  "Yes, you did."

"My mother was there," B'Elanna told Tom.

"Your mother?"

B'Elanna nodded.  "She was waiting for me, to find out if she would go
to Sto-Vo-Kor.  My dishonor was affecting her."

Tom had read about the scope of Klingon honor, including the way an
entire family might bear one member's dishonor.  Though he found many
tenets of Klingon culture intriguing, even admirable, he didn't like
that one.  He said vehemently, "B'Elanna, you did not dishonor your
mother."

"I did," B'Elanna disagreed.  "By not accepting my Klingon heritage.
You said it yourself."

Tom shook his head.  "B'Elanna, I never meant-"

"It's all right, Tom," B'Elanna interrupted him.  "I know what you
meant.  And my mother and I...we worked it out."

B'Elanna looked amazingly happy about whatever had transpired.
"Good," Tom could only murmur, feeling confused but gratified to see
that look on her face, and sorry that he hadn't done anything to put
it there recently.

"It wasn't my time," B'Elanna said.  "I was sent back to fight my
battles here."

Tom frowned.  "With me you mean?  B'Elanna, I'm sorry about
everything--"

B'Elanna squeezed Tom's hand.  "Not with you.  With myself."

He didn't quite know what she was getting at, but he didn't really
care at the moment.  "I'm just glad you came back, B'Elanna," he said
fervently.

"The targ..." B'Elanna murmured.  "I followed it..."

Targ?  For a strange moment Tom thought of Toby, but then he
remembered her spirit guide, the one she told him she'd tried to kill
the first time she'd met it under Chakotay's guidance.  She'd been
furious that it was a *Klingon* spirit guide, and a targ at that.
He'd never put much store in the concept of spirit guides, but he
supposed anything was possible.

"I knew I had to come back, for M'Kaela, and for you--Tom!"

B'Elanna lurched forward and her eyes on him for a moment were wild.
Despite her illness, her grip on his hand was almost punishing.  "That
creature..." her gaze was fearful.  "Where's M'Kaela?"

"She's fine, B'Elanna," Tom reassured her.  "You distracted the alien
long enough for us to get there.  M'Kaela was still safe under the
control console.  You were the only one it hurt."

B'Elanna relaxed at his words.  "I want to see her," she said softly.

"I believe Kes is taking care of that, B'Elanna," the doctor told her.

Tom hadn't even realized that Kes had left.  He gave the doctor a
grateful look, then turned back to B'Elanna.  "She really is fine,
B'Elanna.  I've been with her as much as possible.  But she's missed
you."

"I know," B'Elanna said.  She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand.
"I know you'd never let anything hurt her.  And you'd never leave
her..."

Tom looked at the doctor, who nodded, letting Tom know that B'Elanna's
fading in and out a little was normal.  He kissed her brow.  "Not her,
and not you, B'Elanna.  Ever."

"Tom."

Tom looked up at Harry and Kes.  They were both smiling, and Kes was
holding M'Kaela, who was looking at her mother a little
apprehensively.  She held her arms out to Tom as Kes walked around the
bed.  Tom took her, and rubbed her back soothingly as she wrapped her
small arms around his neck.

"Mama?" M'Kaela murmured the word hesitantly, her head cradled in the
crook of Tom's neck as she looked at her mother.

Tom knew M'Kaela sensed something was different.  She'd been in
Sickbay before, but she'd never seen her mother on a bed here.  And
right now B'Elanna looked...frail.  "Mommy is okay, angel.  She's
feeling much better."

B'Elanna opened her eyes then, and saw M'Kaela.  She smiled with both
welcome and relief, and raised her arms.  "Hi, baby..."

That was enough for M'Kaela.  Though her mother rarely called her
anything but her given name, she had no doubt that those raised arms
were just for her.  She nearly jumped out of Tom's arms before he
could sit her down on the bed.  Then, with almost deliberate care
given her naturally exuberant nature, she draped herself over her
mother, her small arms stretched across her mother's body as if to
shield her, and her head resting on her mother's chest.  B'Elanna's
arms closed firmly around her daughter, holding her there.  They
stayed that way, as if neither of them had the slightest intention of
moving.

"Well, it is pretty close to M'Kaela's bedtime," Harry murmured, his
hand squeezing Tom's shoulder.  They traded a look, and Tom returned
Harry's happy smile.

The doctor however rolled his eyes.  "I suppose you'll be expecting to
stay here all night too," he said irritably to Tom.  "This is not a
hotel you know--"

"I'm sure Tom will be fine in the bed next to B'Elanna's," Kes said,
giving the doctor a measured look.  They all knew his grousing was
mostly for show.  She set the bag she was carrying on the
aforementioned bed.  "Here are M'Kaela's things, Tom.   Her bottle is
in there."

Tom smiled.  "Thanks, Kes."  He looked at B'Elanna, who was already
asleep, her body resting from her ordeal.  M'Kaela was awake, but her
blue eyes were content and a little drowsy.  She rarely wanted to go
to sleep at her allotted bedtime without a fuss, but he had a feeling
that she would doze off easily tonight as soon as he gave her her
bottle.

"I could stay a little longer," Kes offered.

"Go," the doctor said brusquely.  "You've been here all day.  Get some
dinner, and spend some time with Andrew.  And Harry."

"Gee, thanks for adding me in, Doc," Harry said.

"You're welcome," the doctor replied dryly.

"Tom, we'll stop by the Mess hall, and have Neelix send you something
over."  Harry held up his hand before Tom could protest.  "Everyone
will want to hear the good news anyway.  If they haven't already."

"I'll be back in the morning, Doc," Kes said, as Harry draped an arm
around her shoulder.  "By then B'Elanna will be awake and more alert,"
she gave Tom another encouraging smile, "and we can move on to our
other patient."

Kes looked across the room, and Tom followed her gaze.  He knew Annika
was almost fully recovered, except for the final restoration of her
neural implant.

Tom looked at the doctor again as Kes and Harry took their leave,
fully expecting some sarcastic comment or another complaint about the
crowds in his Sickbay.  Usually he enjoyed trading acerbic jabs with
the doctor, but the last couple of days were catching up with him and
he just felt exhausted.

"Do you have everything you need?" the doctor just asked solicitously.

"Uh...yeah," Tom said, stammering just a little.  "Thanks."

The doctor smiled a little smugly, obviously deriving a moment's
satisfaction out of catching Tom off guard.  "I'll be in the lab
working on Annika's neural implant, though I don't expect you'll need
me tonight."  He glanced at B'Elanna, with M'Kaela curled half on top
of her, and his eyes softened.  Then he cleared his throat and looked
at Tom again.  "B'Elanna is perfectly fine.  All she needs now is
sleep."

With that pronouncement, the doctor departed, leaving Tom with
B'Elanna and M'Kaela.  M'Kaela's eyes were heavy, and once Tom gave
her her bottle her eyes closed as she snuggled in comfortably next to
B'Elanna, one arm still over her mother's stomach.

A short while later Kathryn and Chakotay brought his dinner, looking
happy and relieved at the sight of B'Elanna, healthy and peacefully
asleep.  He ate with surprising relish while Kathryn and Chakotay
relayed delighted messages from the rest of the colonists.

After they left Tom stretched out on the bed next to B'Elanna's,
resting on his side.  Tired as he was from the past couple of days, he
didn't fall asleep immediately.  Instead he watched B'Elanna and
M'Kaela sleep for a long time, thinking that he could do just that
forever, until he succumbed to exhaustion himself.

---
December 6, early evening:
---

The setting sun streaked pink across the sky as Kes and Annika walked
into the common.  It was cold, and there was a thin layer of snow on
the ground, the first of the season.  The storm that had broken on
them the night B'Elanna had turned the corner toward recovery had been
surprisingly strong, though the forcefield had kept most of the wind
and the heaviest part of the snow out of New Lourdes.  Kes was bundled
in her thermal jacket, which kept most of the cold out.  And the
sunset was beautiful.

She noticed that Annika barely looked at it, let alone appreciated its
beauty.  She stared straight ahead, toward their destination, bundled
in her own warm green thermal jumpsuit and jacket.  Beauty was
"irrelevant" to the Borg, and despite three days of attempted
orientation by Kes and the doctor, Annika clung hard and fast to her
Borg sensibilities.

It was to be expected.  She couldn't change overnight what she'd been
for twenty years.  It would take time, and patience.  Like anyone
ripped from a familiar existence and faced with adapting to the
completely unknown, Annika resisted.  Kes could sense the walls that
enclosed her emotions.  Emotions that were foreign to most of her
existence, but that were part of her human genetics.  Emotions that
she didn't understand and that scared her, even if she'd never admit
it, or perhaps didn't realize it.  She covered that fear with a cool
cloak of indifference, seeking comfort in rational Borg observation,
usually tinged with her Borg sense of superiority.  Annika dismissed
most of what she was told as "irrelevant," but Kes knew that she did
not forget any of it.  One effect of her long Borg existence was an
eidetic memory.

Kes smiled at Joe and Samantha, who had spotted her across the common,
as both now raised a hand briefly in greeting.  She returned Naomi's
enthusiastic wave.  Annika didn't respond to their gestures, though
Kes knew Joe and Sam, and Naomi, included her.  Quite a few of the
colonists had stopped by Sickbay in the past couple of days to welcome
Annika.  Annika had remained remote and haughty, discouraging their
overtures.  But Kes knew her friends.  They would keep trying.

"That's Cafe Neelix," Kes told Annika again.  They had already walked
around the village once the day before, when Kes had shown Annika the
layout of New Lourdes.  But she always liked how Cafe Neelix looked at
night, with the warm yellow light shining out of its windows.
Welcoming.  A symbol of community and camaraderie.  She tried to
impart that to Annika now.  "You can always find thirty or forty
colonists in there eating dinner, sometimes more.  It's our primary
place to socialize with each other.  Neelix is almost always there.
And he loves to throw parties.  In fact, next week there will be a
Founder's Day party.  We've started commemorating the day we landed
here, unintentional our arrival was.  I hope you'll decide to come."

"I do not anticipate an interest," Annika said in her deliberately
pitched and carefully modulated voice.

Kes noticed that Annika's eyes followed Joe, Sam, and especially
Naomi, as they entered Cafe Neelix.  "Well, if you change your mind,
you will be welcome."

Kathryn and Chakotay stepped out of Cafe Neelix at nearly the same
time, greeting Joe, Sam and Naomi.  Then they spotted Kes and Annika
as they crossed from the common to the duracrete pathway.

"Good evening, Kes," Chakotay said.  "And Annika," he added, giving
her a warm smile.

Annika's nod was barely perceptible.  As the informal leaders of the
colony, though they might discount such a role, Kathryn and Chakotay
had come to see Annika several times.  The main topic of conversation
each time had been Annika's request to be returned to the Collective,
or to be given a shuttle to attempt the return herself.  A request
that was always refused.

"Annika, I'm glad to see the doctor has finally released you."
Kathryn gave her a sympathetic smile.  "I'm afraid he can be a little
overprotective of his patients."

Annika ignored Kathryn's friendly overture.  "I dislike that form of
address."

"Annika?  It is a very beautiful name--"

"It is not my name," Annika stated sharply.  "I am Seven of Nine,
tertiary adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One."

"That is not a name," Kathryn said, her voice patient but firm.  "It
is a Borg designation.  I think you can see that calling you Seven of
Nine, tertiary...whatever would be a little too much of a mouthful for
us.  I think you'll get used to your human name.  Your parents chose
it for you, after all."

Annika gave Kathryn a decidedly cold look, which didn't faze Kathryn
in the least.  "I understand that you will be moving into Chakotay's
old house," Kathryn continued.  "I think you will be comfortable
there."

"It's small, but it's cozy," Chakotay said.  "And if you have any
questions or need any help finding anything, you can ask me."

"That will not be necessary," Annika said coolly.  "It will no doubt
be...sufficient."

"Once you get familiar with the colony we can build a house to your
specifications," Chakotay told her.  "That's one of our ongoing
projects on Aurora, building houses.  And if you don't like the cold,
you may want to make your permanent residence in New Sonoma--"

"The weather is irrelevant," Annika said.

"Not to everyone," Kathryn answered dryly.  She smiled again.  "If you
decide to give us a chance, Annika, I think you'll come to like
Aurora.  We're building a good life here."

Annika looked around her critically.  "It is simple, lacking in
technological sophistication."

"True," Chakotay agreed amiably before Kathryn could speak.  She gave
him a narrow look.  "But simple can be good nonetheless."

"Simple is inferior," Annika said flatly.  "In the Collective--"

"Annika."  Kathryn held her hand up.  Her voice was not unkind but
there was a hint of steel in her tone as she spoke.  "The Collective
no longer matters.  I know this is new to you, and you did not choose
to be here.  It was certainly as much of a surprise to us.  But we
cannot return you to the Collective--"

"I can return without your assistance, in a shuttle," Annika said.

"We can't spare a shuttle," Kathryn told her.  "And if we could, it is
unlikely that you would ever find the Borg.  By your own admission
they have endured heavy casualties as a result of their war with
Species 8472."

Kathryn did not state the third reason, that if the Collective still
existed and Annika found them, Annika might lead them back here,
willingly or not.  No one on Aurora could or would take that chance.
Kes suspected that Annika was aware of that unspoken objection.  And
Annika had not offered assurance of the colonists' safety should she
return to the Collective, because she could not assure it, and as a
Borg she had no experience at lying.

"I know it's difficult for you now, Annika," Kathryn said more gently.
"But I hope you will eventually be content here.  You were very
fortunate to have survived at all, and it would be irrational for you
to dismiss this chance at a new life when there is no other option
open, wouldn't it?"

Annika raised an eyebrow at that appeal to reason.

"Everyone here would like to be your friends," Chakotay added.

"I do not require friends."

Kathryn smiled at Annika's pronouncement, unoffended.  "Perhaps not.
But someday you may want them.  When you do, you'll find plenty of
them here."  She slipped her arm through Chakotay's.  "Goodnight, Kes.
And Annika."

Chakotay repeated the farewells, and Annika watched the two of them
walk away, her face expressionless.  Finally she turned back to Kes.

Kes rubbed her arms and gave Annika a friendly smile, the kind she
knew she would have to offer hundreds or maybe thousands of times
before Annika one day returned it.  But patience was a virtue Kes had
in abundance.  "Shall we go?  I know the cold is irrelevant to you,
but I'm beginning to feel it myself."

Annika kept pace with Kes easily as they walked quickly into the
residential section.  "That is Megan and Gerron's house across the
street," Kes pointed out, "and Sam and Naomi's next to it, then Tom
and B'Elanna's, though they are residing primarily in New Sonoma now.
And here is the house I share with Harry and Andrew."

Kes had stopped momentarily in front of her house.  The lights were
on, and she knew Harry and Andrew were there waiting for her.  "Yours
is the next one, right past ours."

Annika's hesitation as they reached the walkway to Chakotay's old
house--now hers--was barely noticeable, but Kes saw it.  Kes led the
way up the walk, and pushed the door open.  "There is no lock on the
door since we've never used them on Aurora.  But if you do want one,
I'm sure Tabor or even Harry could make one for you."  Kes pressed the
light panel in the entryway.  The living room lit up.  It was small,
but the red wood paneling made it feel warm and cozy.  That, and the
fact that Harry had turned on the thermostat.  "I'll give you the
tour."

"That is not necessary--"

Kes ignored Annika's protest.  The tour was brief, as there were only
four rooms, including the small bathroom.  Chakotay had left behind
most his original furniture when he'd moved in with Kathryn.  In the
bedroom, Kes pointed to the open closet.

"The doctor gave Mark Chapman your size, and he replicated some basic
clothing.  There are several jumpsuits like the one you're wearing,
and a robe.  In the drawers there should be several sweaters, and
jeans, and some undergarments.  Mark was a little unsure about the
latter items." Kes smiled, remembering Mark's reaction to replicating
even the most modest undergarments.  "If they don't suit you, you can
recycle them for something else.  In the summer you may want to
replicate some lighter dresses and shorts, though by that time we
should have our first cotton crop in and Jenny Delaney and Golwat will
be taking orders for clothing."

They ended in the kitchen.  "There are some basic foodstuffs in the
cupboards and the refrigerator," Kes said.  "But you are welcome to
eat at Cafe Neelix any time.  Many of the single colonists eat almost
all of their meals there."

"I have observed that most of the colonists have formed paired
relationships," Annika said, speaking for the first time since they'd
started touring the house.  "Sex is the typical method of moderately
advanced species' to facilitate reproduction, though it is
inefficient."

Kes tried not to smile.  "It is the most enjoyable method though."

Annika frowned.   She had nothing to say to that.

"We've also been here two years in Aurora's calendar, longer by the
Federation calendar most of the colonists knew," Kes said.  "Humans
and the others here, including my own people, the Ocampa, are social
species.  We form relationships because we desire close companionship,
and emotional intimacy."  She added thoughtfully,  "Though there are
still over four dozen colonists who are unattached, including
yourself."

Annika gave Kes a suspicious look.  "I have no desire to form an
attachment."

"You may someday," Kes said.  "And you may want children."

"I have no interest in children."

Kes had seen Annika watching the children curiously--Naomi, Andrew,
M'Kaela, and the others.  Though she'd only seen them briefly, Kes had
noticed that Annika seemed to soften just a bit around them.  She
planned to use that, but right now she let the subject drop.  "Later
this week the doctor will move your regeneration chamber in here so
you won't have to go to Sickbay every day."

Annika looked at the bed.  "Sleep is wasteful and undesirable."

"But it is enjoyable when you are tired," Kes said.  And even more
enjoyable when someone else was there to share your bed, but she kept
that thought to herself.  "You'll experience biological fatigue now,
though the doctor said that you may only need three or four hours of
sleep in conjunction with an hour's regeneration."

Annika followed Kes back into the living room.  Kes walked to the
small desk in the corner by the window, with its computer monitor
Harry had brought over at her request earlier in the day.  "This is
hooked up to the main system that includes the entire database of
Federation knowledge and the cultural archives."

Annika looked at the monitor dismissively.  "I have access to the
combined knowledge of eight thousand four hundred and seventy one
civilizations, including most of those within the Federation."

"I know you have access to Federation science and technology through
your implant," Kes replied.  "But the Federation database also
includes cultural history, literature, art, and music from over a
thousand civilizations.  Though that information was irrelevant in the
Borg Collective, you might find it valuable."

"How so?" Annika asked.

Kes was surprised that Annika didn't outright dismiss the idea.
"History and the arts are very important aspects of life for most
cultures. Learning about them will help you understand those around
you better. And help you understand your own humanity."

Annika looked disdainful at the thought.  "I have no desire to
understand my humanity."

"Art, and music, and literature also have intrinsic value.  They bring
enjoyment on their own merit."  Which Kes knew would also be a step in
Annika's understanding of her humanity.  "Though you can also study
them simply to further your accumulation of knowledge."

"I will consider that," Annika said after several moments.

Kes hid her smile.  She would mention the information on Annika's
family history later.  One step at a time.  "I think I've shown you
everything.  I have to get back home now, since Harry probably has
dinner ready."  Though she'd already asked, Kes had to try one more
time since she hated leaving Annika alone.  "Are you sure you won't
join us?"

"I do not wish--" Annika paused and Kes wondered for a second if she
was going to say "to intrude." Instead Annika's expression froze and
she finished, "for company at this time."

Kes nodded.  "When you do, you know where to find me.  You're welcome
anytime."

"Thank you."  Annika said the word hesitantly, as if she was
unfamiliar or uncomfortable with it.  "Perhaps I will accept your
invitation another time."

That was progress to Kes.  She decided to take her leave.  Annika
followed her to the door.  "Goodnight then," Kes told Annika as she
opened the door.

"Goodnight," Annika said, almost as reluctantly as she'd said thank
you.

Kes could sense Annika's disquiet that she was leaving.  She knew
Annika wasn't ready to indulge in social niceties that she didn't yet
understand or appreciate.  But neither did she want to be alone, in
silence and solitude that was so different from the multitude of
voices in the Collective that had always been there for her.

"I have found Earth's classical music, and the concertos of the Vulcan
postmodern period to be soothing company," Kes told Annika as she
stepped onto the porch.  "They are on the database."  She waved and
walked down the path, leaving Annika watching after her.  When she
turned onto the duracrete sidewalk and looked back, Annika had closed
the door.

Though Kes felt sympathy for Annika on her first night of truly
individual existence, away from not just the Collective, but the
buffer of the often frenetic atmosphere in Sickbay, she knew Annika
would have to reach out in her own time.  She could be encouraged, and
welcomed-- and Kes knew everyone here would do that--but she would
have to take that step to reclaiming her life from the Borg by
herself.  All she needed was time, and there would be plenty of that
ahead for Annika.

---

"Here's your mom."

Kes smiled at Harry as she entered their house, and at Andrew as he
ran toward her.  She swung him up in her arms and walked across the
living room, noticing the multi-colored wooden blocks on the floor,
many of them piled into a neat tower.  "I see you've been busy,
Andrew."

"I'm building," Andrew said solemnly.

"When you grow up, we'll let you build the next colony site," Harry
told his son as Kes came into the kitchen.  He gave his wife a quick
kiss.

"Dinner smells good," Kes said.

"Yellow salmon," Harry said, referring to the fish in the Bajor river
that spawned upstream, as a fish called salmon did on Earth, though he
had told her that Earth salmon was more orange than yellow, and had a
heavier consistency.  "Sautéed, with new potatoes and banya beans."

Kes smiled, suddenly hungry.  As much as she enjoyed socializing with
everyone at Cafe Neelix, some nights she liked it when it was just
Harry and her, and Andrew.  She set her son down.  "You can finish
building if you want, sweetie."

He nodded happily and skipped off to the living room.

"So how is our newest colonist?" Harry asked.

"Adjusting," Kes said.  "It will just take some time."

"She couldn't have anyone better than you helping her," Harry said
gallantly.

"She'll need all of us as friends," Kes said.

"She'll have us," Harry said.  He grinned.  "We are one big happy
colony after all.  How will she ever resist us?"

"Eventually she'll succumb," Kes agreed with a small smile.  "Did Tom
and B'Elanna get everything settled?"

"Yeah," Harry said.  "They are now officially living in their house in
New Sonoma."

Harry sounded vaguely glum about that.  "Harry, they're only a few
minutes away by transporter," Kes reminded him.  "Not to mention a
fraction of a second by commlink.  And with all the crossover work,
we'll probably see them almost every day."

Harry smiled ruefully.  "I know.  It just seemed odd a while ago to
look out the window and not see their lights on across the street."

"In a few months we'll be building a house there too," Kes reminded
him.

Harry nodded, brightening a little.  "Oh, and Tom did invite us to
dinner next week."

Kes arched an eyebrow.  "Are you and Tom going to cook?"

Harry grinned.  "How does a barbecue sound?"

"Dangerous," Kes said, teasing him.

Harry frowned.  "Hey, we only almost burned down the house once," he
said glibly.  "And speaking of cooking..." he turned his attention to
the fish he was sautéing.  "Dinner in about ten minutes.  Why don't
you rest on the couch and watch Andrew build a colony from a handful
of blocks, and I'll let you know when it's on the table."

Kes nodded.  It had been a long week, and she'd spent a lot of hours
in Sickbay, willingly, but it had been tiring.  Sitting down for a few
minutes sounded nice.  "Okay."

She pecked Harry on the cheek, and a few moments later she was
stretched out on the couch, watching Andrew build his block tower.
She felt a rush of love for her son as she watched him, knowing how
lucky she was.  During her most recent physical the doctor had
declared her extremely healthy.  Compared to many of her Ocampa
brethren, who'd been enslaved and half starved, she had lived a
pampered life once she'd joined Voyager, always having plenty to eat
and excellent medical care.  The doctor told her she would live well
past the average Ocampan's nine years, perhaps to the nearly ancient
age of twelve or thirteen.

"Mommy."

Kes looked at Andrew and smiled as he pointed to his finished tower
and said, "All done."

"And you did a wonderful job, Andrew," she told him.  He crawled up
into her lap and cuddled comfortably in her arms, his eyes proudly on
his creation.  She kissed his dark silky hair.  "I'm proud of you."

When she was pregnant the doctor had told her that the individual
genetic influences in hybrid offspring could vary widely from child to
child.  Kes couldn't help being glad that Andrew's human genes so
strongly modified his Ocampan genes.  He would grow about three times
as fast as a human child, but far slower than an Ocampan child.  She
treasured the opportunity to fully experience each stage of his slower
development, though that meant he would be in his young adulthood when
they would be separated.  She might never get to know her
grandchildren should they come one day, but her time would be long
enough, and she would cherish every minute of it.  She already did.

Kes hugged him again as his satisfied gaze remained steadfast on his
constructed tower.  She glanced at Harry, who was busy juggling plates
and pans in the kitchen.  When she transcended to her next existence,
to the incorporeal realm of Ocampan evolution, she knew her only
regret would be that she would have to leave Andrew and Harry behind.
Harry would be in his mid-thirties then, very much in the prime of his
life as a human.  He would likely live another eighty years or more.
She didn't want him to live all that time alone, but as quickly as
everyone was pairing off in the colony, he might not have a choice.

Kes knew it was unlikely that the original colonists would ever have
anyone else with whom to form relationships and share intimacies.  She
couldn't be sure about the Sikari, of course.  They were reclusive,
but out of wariness rather than from a truly solitary nature.  There
was a chance that they would eventually seek social interaction with
the colonists in New Lourdes.  And other ships could follow in their
wake, though she'd sensed that Kathryn and Chakotay had doubts it
would happen any time soon.  Kes had also sensed that they knew more
than they said, but she didn't try to delve any deeper.

But not everyone on Aurora had formed a lasting relationship yet.
Some still remained alone out of choice, like Tuvok, or because they
simply hadn't connected with anyone yet, like Lindsay Ballard, or
because they weren't ready, like Annika.

Kes knew it would take Annika a long time to adjust to her own
humanity.  Forming friendships would be hard for her, let alone an
intimate relationship.  But somewhere down the line, once Kes had
moved on, if Annika was ready, and Harry was available, Kes would not
be averse to them finding intimacy with each other.

And Annika was not the only possibility.  Kes knew that Harry and
Lindsay Ballard had once had a brief interest in each other, one that
they had never made the effort to develop beyond their initial mutual
attraction, for various reasons.  If she and Neelix hadn't already
been at the point of falling back to the simple friends they were, and
her relationship with Harry hadn't subsequently happened so quickly
because of their unexpected arrival on Aurora, she thought Harry and
Lindsay might have rekindled their nascent attraction over time.  And
it could still happen one day...

Kes smiled, wondering what others would think if they could read her
thoughts, sitting here considering who should succeed her as her
husband's next wife.  But she loved Harry, and once she was gone
nothing would make her happier than to think that he was living the
life he deserved, a full life with a loving companion, and perhaps
even more children--

"Dinner is served."

Andrew scooted from her arms at his father's announcement and bounded
toward the dining room.  Kes stood, dismissing her own thoughts.  They
were just stray, undeveloped possibilities for the distant future.
That would come much later.  For now, it was the present that she
cared about and wanted to live as she always did, fully and savoring
every moment.

She walked to the dining room to join her husband and son.

---
December 6, mid-evening:
---

Tom looked at his daughter, who sat on the polished wood floor in
front of the double glass doors, already dressed for bed in her aqua
sleeper, engrossed in lining her stuffed animals in a row.  He smiled
as she chattered in mostly untranslatable baby talk, telling them
something only she could understand.  She didn't acknowledge his
presence--or perhaps she did, by her contented play.  She knew her
mother and father were both right here, all present in her world
again, available when she wanted them.

After a final glance at M'Kaela, Tom stepped out onto the veranda,
feeling the cool evening breeze brush over his arms.  In New Lourdes
winter was settling in, but here it was almost summer, and the day had
been warm.  Now that the sun was about to set, the air had cooled,
though it was far from cold.  B'Elanna obviously appreciated that fact
because her face was tipped up as if she was embracing the evening
air, and her lips were turned up in a small satisfied smile.

He stared at her for several moments as she leaned with arms braced
against the railing, her slim body outlined by the snug coral cotton
dress she'd changed into earlier.  Her feet were bare, and the breeze
teased at her hair, and played with the skirt of her dress that fell
into soft folds around her calves.  She looked relaxed and almost
serene, as if she was thoroughly enjoying the quiet moment, though he
knew her mind was probably sifting through a dozen different things at
once.  And though he also knew her appearance was deceptive, her small
stature and slender limbs made her look fragile, especially in the
light of recent events.  He shivered a little and pushed those
memories away.  He reflected instead that he'd kill him if he ever
suggested that she was in any way fragile.  Or challenge him to an
arm-wrestling contest to prove him wrong-- which she'd win.  She
always did.

She turned around and caught the smile that lifted his lips, and she
was silent as he walked toward her.  Some emotion must have shown in
his eyes, because she looked at him curiously, and then touched his
cheek.  "What?"

"You look beautiful," he said simply.

Even after all their time together she still often rolled her eyes at
his compliments, or made some dismissive remark.  But now she just
smiled, and he kissed her, almost chastely, letting his tongue just
trace her upper lip briefly.  After all, M'Kaela might come out at any
moment.

"What do you think of the view?" he asked as he pulled away
reluctantly.

She turned and looked out over their backyard.  To be precise, they
had no fence, and the whole of the countryside was their communal
backyard, shared with the other three dozen or so who were part of the
original settlers in New Sonoma, and with the rest who would
eventually follow.  The back of their house faced north, and the low
hills of golden grass rolled off into the distance, dotted with copses
of trees--the ones they called Aurora cypresses for their similarity
to Earth's cypress trees, the native yellow citrus trees with their
lavender blooms reminiscent of jacaranda blossoms, and even some
scraggly pines.  Soon enough they'd add groves of orange and olive
trees, and Bajoran kumsar trees.

Further in the distance, now only dark purple shadows in the low
sunlight, were the Bolian Mountains.  In the winter they were snow-
capped.  The slopes were gentle, not the craggy inclines of the
Northwestern Section peaks, and there were no zebra cats.  They had
great local ski potential.

"It is a nice view," B'Elanna murmured, echoing Tom's unspoken
sentiments.  "And I like the weather."

Tom knew how much she appreciated that.  "Even if it does get a little
cold and rainy in the winter, we're only a transport away from summer
in New Lourdes."

"The rain might not be so bad," B'Elanna said. "As long as it's not
snow."  She turned around and looked at Tom, resting her hips against
the railing.  "I love the house."

Tom smiled.  Though they'd drawn up the plans together months ago and
she'd come to see the construction in progress several times,
B'Elanna's engineering skills made her the busiest person on Aurora,
especially while she'd been determined to get the transporter on line.
She hadn't seen the completely finished product until after the doctor
had released her three days ago.   "So do I.  Even if it is a little
bare at the moment."

They'd left most of their furniture at the house in New Lourdes,
knowing that they might have occasion to stay there from time to time.
But some of the more personal things they'd brought with them, and the
few pieces of furniture Gerron and Michael had made for the new house
to get them started.  Even with the transporter and the air-sleds
Billy Tefler and Janice Lamont had designed and built for just that
purpose, moving their things had been a lot of physical work.  But
they'd all begun to appreciate that there was satisfaction to be found
in physical work, and few missed the complete reliance on technology
they had become accustomed to on Voyager anymore.

"We have what we need right now," B'Elanna said.  "The rest we can add
piece by piece."

Chell and Karen Jarvis had already moved wood and other supplies into
one of New Sonoma's waiting buildings to start a furniture-making
enterprise in New Sonoma.  Tom had spent a few hours with Gerron and
Michael back in New Lourdes, working on a rocking chair for M'Kaela's
first birthday.  He had little experience, but he'd found that he
liked making things.  He had the thought now that he would like to
make some of the furniture for their house.  "I guess we do have
plenty of time to get everything the way we want it."

B'Elanna seemed to hesitate for a moment, and her expression was a
little cautious when she spoke again.  "I talked to Sue about painting
the murals for M'Kaela's room."

Tom was silent for several moments.  Painting in any artistic sense
was certainly not a talent either he or B'Elanna possessed, and they
had always intended to take Sue up on her offer even before the murals
had become a subject of some acrimony between them.  Tom's mouth
twisted ruefully at the memory.  And though they'd talked around the
subject since B'Elanna had been released from Sickbay, neither of them
had brought up the murals directly, until now.  He had no intention of
letting something so trivial come between them again.  "M'Kaela is
pretty taken with the Alice in Wonderland characters."

"She also likes the pictures in Mar'chQ B'lagh," B'Elanna said.

"You don't have to do that, B'Elanna--"

"I want to," B'Elanna said firmly.  "You were right.   M'Kaela should
learn about both sides of her heritage."

During their first night together after B'Elanna had been released
from Sickbay she had told him about her experience in the Klingon Hall
of Transient Souls.  He knew how affected she'd been by seeing her
mother again.  Over the past three days they'd been so busy preparing
to move they'd had no time to talk any more about it.  What little
private time they'd had together at night before they fell asleep,
they hadn't spent talking.  But he knew she'd been rethinking her
rejection of her Klingon heritage and history because of that meeting
with her mother.  "I'm sorry I was so pushy about that, B'Elanna.  I
didn't have any right to keep--"

"I pushed as hard as you did," B'Elanna said, interrupting him.  "And
any decision that concerns M'Kaela is one we both should make."  She
put her hand lightly on his arm.  "I'm sorry I tried to shut you out."

Tom clasped her hand in his.  "I know you haven't always been
comfortable with your Klingon side, B'Elanna--"

B'Elanna snorted at that understatement.  "Truthfully, I'm still not
all that comfortable with it yet," she admitted.

"Does that mean we can't build a bat'leth battle court in the
backyard?" Tom asked teasingly.

B'Elanna gave him a narrow look, but there was a hint of a smile
playing around her lips.  "Let's save that for a while."  Then she
sobered a little.  "Talking with my mother did make me realize that I
have to come to terms with my...Klingon side.  It is part of me, and I
can't keep trying to hide from it."

"You know I've never wanted you to hide any part of yourself from me,
B'Elanna," Tom said softly.  "I love every bit of who you are.  And
who M'Kaela is.  I would never want to change any part of either of
you."

B'Elanna looked past Tom, into the house where M'Kaela sat still
rearranging her stuffed animals.  "Neither do I," she said almost in a
whisper.

There was an almost ragged edge of emotion in her voice, and Tom
tugged her hand, until she finally turned to face him.  "B'Elanna--"

"So we're agreed on M'Kaela's room," she said firmly.

Whatever had upset her for a moment had passed, and he sensed that she
wanted it that way.  He nodded.  "Right.  One wall will be Alice in
Wonderland, and the other wall will be Mar'chQ B'lagh."

B'Elanna's lips quirked at the droll tone in Tom's voice.  "It's a
contradictory combination, don't you think?"

Tom shrugged.  "Half human inspired creativity, half Klingon fierce
passion."  His gaze on B'Elanna was meaningful.  "Contradictory maybe,
but also endlessly fascinating."

B'Elanna shook her head.  "If you say so."

"I do," Tom said.  He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly over
hers.  "I do.  And I'm immensely grateful the doctor for bringing you
back to me."

"I am too," B'Elanna said.  Then she scowled a little.  "I just don't
like those nanoprobes inside me."

She'd asked--actually, demanded--that the doctor remove them but he'd
told her that once they were in her bloodstream, they would stay
forever.  "They're inactive, unless the doctor does something to
activate them," Tom reminded her.  "The doc says they'll probably be
in all our bloodstreams eventually, since they are so efficient at
delivering medication and shoring the immune system.  We'll be glad of
them if any more virulent strains of that fever Ken Dalby had should
reappear, or anything else unexpected.  The nanoprobes can fight off
microbes and viruses almost instantaneously."

"I know," B'Elanna said grudgingly.

"I'm grateful to Annika for that too," Tom added, "even if her
assistance was involuntary."

B'Elanna snorted.  "She needs to change her attitude."

Tom knew that B'Elanna was not completely sympathetic to the ex- Borg.
They had visited Annika two days ago because B'Elanna had felt honor
bound to thank her, as had Tom.  Annika had been coldly dismissive,
pointing out that whatever benefit B'Elanna had received from the
nanoprobes had not resulted from any intent on her part so gratitude
was irrelevant.  Or something to that effect.  That had been enough
for B'Elanna to roll her eyes and walk away, though Tom couldn't help
feeling sorry for Annika.  "She was a Borg for a long time.  It's got
to be hard for her to even remember how to act human.  But she'll get
used to us eventually."

B'Elanna's expression was skeptical.  "Maybe."

"And with all the Borg knowledge the doctor said she has retained,
she'll probably be an asset to the community," Tom added.

B'Elanna looked at him sharply.

He actually thought that Annika would be a great asset to B'Elanna,
and would help lighten her heavy workload.  The other engineers were
all very skilled, but none had B'Elanna's spark of creative genius.
With her Borg knowledge, Annika might come close.  But he decided now
was not the time to mention that.  He just noted offhandedly, "There's
always something that needs to be done here."

B'Elanna didn't comment on that.  Instead she looked puzzled.  "I
think she was on Voyager."

"Annika?" Tom asked, confused.

"Yes.  When I was on the other Voyager, there was a woman onboard who
had been rescued from the Borg, unwillingly.  I only saw her once from
a distance, but she had the same build and coloring as Annika.  And
someone--Harry I think, referred to her as Seven of Nine."

Shortly after M'Kaela had been born B'Elanna had told him in detail
about her experience on that alternate Voyager months earlier.  She'd
been uncomfortable enough with the concept that it had taken her that
long to even discuss it with him.  As unlikely as her experience had
seemed, he'd recalled how strangely she--the other B'Elanna--had acted
that particular night, and how she'd wanted to tell him something.  It
had all made an odd kind of sense.

"When we were in Sickbay the other day she told the doctor not to call
her Annika, that she was Seven of Nine, adjunct to some unimatrix
whatever."

Tom nodded, remembering.  "It could be a coincidence.  There are
probably seven of nine adjuncts to thousands of different unimatrixes
in the Collective."

B'Elanna shook her head.  "I'm sure it's her.  And I'm also sure the
Sikari was the name of the planet where that B'Elanna was infected by
Vorik's pon farr."

Vorik and his long-reaching pon farr, Tom thought.  B'Elanna had told
him about the log she'd read of that alternate incident, so similar to
what had happened on Aurora, yet with such a different end.  He'd been
immediately grateful for the way it had worked out here, emotionally
tumultuous as it had been for them, since he and B'Elanna had ended up
together.  Maybe that other Tom and B'Elanna had too--eventually--
though they would probably never know.  "The Sikari planet is only
eighty five light years from here.  And Vorik's pon farr happened in
both places only a couple of months after we landed here, so I guess
it's not so unusual that they've shown up on Aurora."

"Maybe," B'Elanna said.  "And that the Borg and Species 8472 fought a
war in both timelines?"

"We were the same people until two and a half years ago," Tom said.
He'd quit trying to wrap his mind around *that* concept, that one of
him had become two of him in an instant.  "It's not unlikely that we
would have a lot of similar experiences."

"Right down to the same Borg drone dropping into our midst?"

That one was hard to explain away.  He just shrugged.  "Maybe there is
some sort of strange convergence of events between our two timelines,
and maybe our fates do stay connected in some inexplicable way no
matter where or when we are."

B'Elanna stared at him.  "Tom, you scare me when you get
philosophical."

Tom smirked a little.  "Sorry.  Luckily it happens so rarely--"

There was a small noise behind them, and they both turned to find
M'Kaela staring up at them.

"Hi, pumpkin," Tom said, smiling at his daughter.

M'Kaela raised her arms to him, and Toby dangled from one hand.  The
little stuffed targ had become her favorite sleeping companion since
she'd spotted it at the top of her parents' closet a few months
earlier.  Once Tom had let her see it, she'd refused to let it go
again.  B'Elanna had been a little irked about M'Kaela's newfound
devotion to Toby, though B'Elanna had kept Toby secure herself ever
since Tom had given the stuffed animal to her during their second year
on Voyager, initially as a joke.  When they'd first moved in to their
house in New Lourdes, he'd been stunned to find out that B'Elanna had
even kept Toby, let alone taken the time to stuff him in her duffel
and bring him with her to Aurora.

Tom glanced at B'Elanna now as he lifted M'Kaela in his arms.  He knew
B'Elanna's objection hadn't been because she wasn't more than willing
to give her daughter anything she had, but because M'Kaela's
preference for a targ over a white rabbit, a pink pig, or his old
teddy bear implied a potential direction of interest B'Elanna would
have preferred M'Kaela never pursue.  Toby had been one more, albeit
minor thorn in their quarrel.

"Dada, toe."

"Throw?" Tom asked, understanding his daughter's request perfectly.
It had become a nightly ritual.  He tossed her in the air and she
squealed with delight.  Once she landed safely back in his hands she
demanded again, "Toe!"

"Higher?" Tom asked, and then he flung her straight up in the air.
She wasn't the least bit afraid, she never was.  She just screamed
gleefully again, though this time she lost her grip on Toby and he
fell to the ground.

"And we wonder why she doesn't want to go to sleep," B'Elanna said
dryly as Tom caught M'Kaela securely in his hands again.  There was a
hint of a smile on her lips as she leaned over and snatched poor Toby
from the spot where he'd plunked on the deck.  She made a small show
of brushing off Toby, and them handed him back to M'Kaela, who beamed
and tucked him securely under one small arm.

"Dada, toe."

Tom met B'Elanna's meaningful gaze and smiled before he spoke to his
daughter.  "No more, oh fearless one."  He bussed M'Kaela on the cheek
and she giggled.  "It's your bedtime."

M'Kaela's giggle faded.  She frowned mutinously and shook her head,
then pointed to the sun, its swollen lower edge just now touching the
hills to the northwest.

"I know it's still light, but that's because it's summer here," Tom
explained, even though M'Kaela couldn't understand the concept.  In
New Lourdes it would have been dark for nearly three hours now.  "It's
almost eight p.m.  After your bedtime, sweetie."

M'Kaela looked prepared to protest loudly, then she unexpectedly
acquiesced and rested her head on her father's shoulder.  She'd
toddled all over the house today while they'd been moving their things
in, without even a nap.  Tom knew she had to be tired.

"Boo..." M'Kaela murmured against her father's shoulder.

Tom looked at B'Elanna who raised her eyebrows.  "Ah, blackmail.
Okay, I'll read you one book.  Doctor Seuss?"

M'Kaela raised her head and nodded.  B'Elanna brushed her hand over
M'Kaela's hair and smirked.  "Your daddy's a pushover."

"And I admit it," Tom told M'Kaela.  He resettled her in his arms.
"Come on, angel.  We'll stop by the kitchen and get your bottle.  Kiss
mommy goodnight first."

M'Kaela twisted and stretched out her arms, clutching her mother
around the neck as soon as B'Elanna leaned forward.  "Goodnight,
baby," B'Elanna said as she kissed M'Kaela's cheek.

Tom used the opportunity to kiss B'Elanna's temple.  "Back in a few
minutes," he promised, as M'Kaela unwound her arms from around her
mother's neck.  "Doctor Seuss...how about 'Cat in the Hat'?" he asked
M'Kaela as he carried her in the house.  He didn't need the book.
"The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play.  So we sat in the
house all that cold, cold, wet day..."

---

B'Elanna watched Tom go, animatedly reciting Doctor Seuss from memory.
Tom had started reading to M'Kaela when she was six months old and
she'd been enthralled ever since.  B'Elanna was more than happy to
read to her daughter, but it was Tom who was the born performer,
reading with enthusiastic expression and pantomiming the characters
from Mother Goose, or Doctor Seuss, or Alice in Wonderland with ease.
He'd even produced a reasonable facsimile of a fierce Klingon growl
for Mar'chQ B'lagh, eliciting wide-eyed fascination from M'Kaela.

B'Elanna frowned a little at the memory of her recent objections to
Tom reading the Klingon fairy tale to M'Kaela.  It had been an angry
reaction incited by their original argument, and she regretted it now,
even though the matter was resolved between them.  They had both
apologized to each other profusely that first evening after she'd come
home from Sickbay, verbally and otherwise, and there hadn't been a
millimeter of space between them in their bed that entire night.

She heard Tom's voice through the open door still reciting Doctor
Seuss to M'Kaela, though it faded as he moved further down the
hallway.  She smiled a little and shook her head.  Harry had said it
months ago-- M'Kaela was a daddy's girl.  That innocent comment had
stabbed B'Elanna a little, and not because she doubted that her
daughter loved her.  M'Kaela had clung to her for two days after her
release from Sickbay, until she'd felt secure that her mother was safe
and wouldn't disappear again.  B'Elanna had felt the stab remembering
how her own father had once called her "daddy's girl."  And her mother
had used the term later and less kindly, though perhaps she'd been
derisive in an effort to break that bond that she thought was only
hurting her daughter.  For years B'Elanna had resented seeing the
other girls on Kessik with their fathers, fathers who saw and
applauded their daughters' every achievement, fathers who hadn't left
them and never would.

M'Kaela would be like those other little girls, growing up secure in
her father's love and acceptance, knowing that he would always be
there.  B'Elanna was fiercely happy for her daughter, and if she
sometimes felt the tiniest bit wistful when she watched Tom with
M'Kaela, she kept that to herself.  Though she suspected that Tom
knew.

B'Elanna leaned on the railing again and stared at the sun sinking
behind the hills, only a red sliver still visible.  Her mother had
been right.  She'd never allowed herself be completely happy, even
when she'd felt satisfaction in her passion for the Maquis cause, and
later pride in her position as chief engineer on Voyager.  Even the
love of a husband and daughter hadn't completely quelled the deep
anger from her childhood that had always been inside her.

She *had* found a measure of contentment on Aurora, but the resentment
and turmoil over her Klingon heritage had just been shoved down deep,
ready to erupt, as it had when Tom had suggested introducing M'Kaela
to more facets of Klingon as well as human culture.  The idea of a
mural of Klingons, that she would have to look at every time she
stepped into M'Kaela's bedroom, had been the final straw.

Since seeing her mother B'Elanna had realized that she didn't want her
daughter to do what she'd done--spend years mediating an internal war
between the two sides of herself, and losing.  She wanted M'Kaela to
find the balance between the two, to accept both instead of living in
the constant turmoil that she had.  And though she knew her quick
temper and her single-minded intensity would always be part of her,
for the first time she could feel that deep-seated anger and
resentment loosing its grip on her.  It felt liberating.

The sun disappeared, leaving behind glowing streaks of pink and purple
that stretched across the sky.  To B'Elanna's right the buildings on
the north side of the main village were illuminated by the low lights
that lined the central square--Sacajawea Plaza.  Right now it was
empty of people, as were most of the two dozen other houses around
them.  Only Gerry and Amanda, Ahni and Mortimer, and Chell and Golwat
had gotten settled in so far.  But in another week the rest of the
houses would be occupied, and the buildings of the village would be
bustling with busy people.

Funny that as busy as she'd always felt on Voyager, with some failing
part or system always in need of attention, she was even busier here.
The transporter, the satellites and commlinks, the engine designs for
a larger and more useful shuttle--along with the constant
construction, and growing crops--the work here for was never-ending.
And with the whole planet for them to spread out on, it would probably
always be that way.  But she'd never shied away from hard work.

The isolation was a little more difficult, but even Tom, who had an
even more restless soul than she did--and a natural desire to fly and
to see new horizons--had found something worthwhile here in the
security of community and family.  Something that soothed a part of
him that needed connection, the kind that he'd once forfeited because
he'd burned his bridges behind him and had had no place to call home.

B'Elanna knew her mother understood the attraction of colony life.
She'd stayed on Kessik to pursue her work even after her husband had
left.  But her passionate nature had never changed, even in the end...

"B'Elanna."

She turned at Tom's voice.  He stepped onto the veranda, carrying a
bottle of wine and two glasses.

"M'Kaela's asleep," he told her.  "I didn't get past the first story.
I think she was too tired from exploring the house today to fight it."

B'Elanna took the glasses from him as he popped the cork on the
bottle.

"Ktarian merlot," he told her.  "Hopefully next year we'll start
bottling our own wine, but for now this will do."

"For what?" B'Elanna asked, an expectant smile on her face.

"To celebrate the first night in our new house," Tom said as he poured
wine into both glasses.

"How are we going to do that?" B'Elanna asked slyly.

"Oh, I can think of a dozen different ways," Tom drawled, setting the
bottle on the wide railing.  "But they all end in the same place."

B'Elanna smirked at his provocative tone and the wicked smile on his
face.  This latest, most serious fight they'd ever had, along with her
illness, had been the longest period they'd ever gone without each
other, over a week.  But their passion had returned ten-fold over the
past few nights.  And it showed no signs of abating.  She licked her
lips slowly, her action completely intentional.

"But we do have all night," Tom said, his eyes glittering in the dim
light as he raised his glass to hers.

"That's good, because it may take all night.  Again."

Tom smiled, and kept his eyes on her as he took a long sip of wine, a
definite promise shining in their blue depths.  After a moment his
expression grew more serious.  "What were you thinking about when I
came out?"

"My mother," B'Elanna said quietly.  "I was wondering if she's really
dead."

Tom didn't offer her any false assurances.  "I don't guess we can
really know."

"I know the doctor thinks it was all a hallucination, but it was
real...well, some sort of reality," she amended.

"A vision," Tom suggested.  "You met your mother in spirit."

Tom wasn't teasing her; he was looking at her solemnly.  "I never
believed much in that stuff," B'Elanna replied.  She smiled a little
sheepishly.  "At least I didn't think I did."

"Maybe you should talk to Chakotay about it some more," Tom told her
seriously.

B'Elanna shrugged.  "Maybe.  I'm sure he'd love to know about the
targ."

Tom's eyebrows rose.  "Your spirit guide?"

B'Elanna saw the hint of a smile on Tom's face.  She had told him once
about her one spirit guide journey with Chakotay, cut sadly short.
"Maybe.  But I didn't try and kill it this time," she said dryly.  Her
eyes narrowed thoughtfully.  "Though it did stay out of my reach,
maybe on purpose."

Tom laughed at that, and she glared at him for effect.  "Maybe it
did," he agreed.  He shook his head.  "I'm just glad that your spirit
guide was there to watch over you."

She heard the gratitude in his voice, and his willingness to believe
in whatever had helped pull her through, without reservation.  She
supposed if the targ had been her spirit guide, it had done its job,
despite her animosity at their first meeting.  "So am I.  I'm not
happy that I nearly died, because I know how much it scared you."  She
touched his free hand.  "But I'm glad that I saw my mother again, and
got to talk to her.  It made me face some things about myself, and
about her."

"Then I'm glad for you," Tom said.  "But mostly I'm glad that it's
over."  He shuddered a little.  "You scared me out of ten lifetimes."

She squeezed his hand.  "I'm sorry."

Tom raised her hand to his and kissed it lightly.   He looked at her
with unusual gravity.  "If you had died, I would have regretted
forever that our last words to each other were so angry."  He shook
his head. "I was disgusted with myself because I didn't reach out to
you that night. I wanted to, but I stopped myself ten different
times."

B'Elanna looked at him closely.  Maybe he hadn't been sleeping as
soundly as she'd thought.  "Why?" she asked, knowing she might as well
ask herself the same question.

"I was afraid you'd pull away again," Tom said simply.

"I wouldn't have," B'Elanna said softly.

"Next time we fight..." he paused, and his look on her was almost
amused.  There was no point in him saying they wouldn't fight anymore,
because it was just in their nature.

"I know there will be a next time," B'Elanna said, smiling a little.
"Just don't leave again without saying goodbye."

Though she'd said it lightly, Tom looked at her searchingly for a
moment, and if he sensed some serious undertone.  He set his wine
glass aside and slid his arms around her waist.  "B'Elanna, even if we
get angry with each other sometimes, I love you.  And M'Kaela.  You
know I would never leave and not come back, don't you?"

She set her glass next to his and slipped her arms around his neck.
She did.  They kissed briefly, a quick melding of tongues, and she
tasted the wine on him.

"I'm happy with you, and M'Kaela," he said as they pulled apart a
little.  "And I'm happy with this house too."

So was she.  Amazingly they hadn't argued once about the design.
They'd both wanted the same things.  Open space, lots of windows, and
five bedrooms...  "We do have plenty of room to...grow," she said
wryly.

Tom grinned, understanding her meaning.  "You mean we'll eventually
fill all those bedrooms?"

B'Elanna smiled back.  "If you want to."

Tom gave her a definite "are you kidding" look.

"In a year or two," she added.

"That will be a lot of decorating to do," Tom pointed out.

"We'll get around to that eventually too," B'Elanna said.  "Once all
the other work here is done."  She remembered an offhand comment Joe
had made about the transporter.  Her glance strayed toward the
deserted village.  "I want to check those transporter buffers.  Joe
said something today--"

"B'Elanna!"

B'Elanna looked at Tom, startled for a moment.  He was shaking his
head, looking a little exasperated.  "I assume you don't mean tonight.
And the doctor said you should take some time off for a few days."

B'Elanna snorted.  "He just said that to annoy me."

Tom looked at her appraisingly. "We could always take a vacation."

"A vacation?"  B'Elanna echoed.

Tom made a small amused sound low in his throat.  "You make that sound
like an unheard of concept.  People do take vacations you know.
Though maybe not Klingons."

B'Elanna smirked.  "Actually they do.  They go on a nice bloody hunt."

Tom's lips twitched.  "I was thinking more along the lines of a trip
to the beach.  There's a beautiful white sand one only twenty
kilometers from here.  We could take M'Kaela.  She's only seen the
ocean so far from the vantage point of a shuttle."

B'Elanna had to admit the idea actually sounded nice.  And she did
have a fondness for beaches.  "I'll think about it.  Maybe in a couple
of weeks, when everyone's settled into New Sonoma, we can squeeze in a
day or two and take M'Kaela."

"Okay," Tom agreed readily.  Then an eager gleam entered his eyes.
"And once Pablo and I have time to build the ground cars, it will be a
lot more convenient getting across short distances than relying on the
shuttles."

B'Elanna's eyebrows rose.  They'd had this particular argument before.
As arguments went this was the kind that they thoroughly enjoyed, that
roused their combative instincts into good-natured banter.  She
frowned deliberately at him.  "Air cars are a lot more practical,
Tom."

"But not nearly as fun," Tom said.  "Besides, Gerry and Lindsay are
working on the air car design.  There are uses for both versions."

"Maybe."  B'Elanna conceded that point.  "But your design of a..." she
hesitated.  "What did you call it?"

"A hotrod," Tom said, his eyes lighting up.  "A '69 Camaro to be
precise. It was a classic."

"Right," B'Elanna muttered.  "And even in its day I'm sure it was
completely impractical."  She gave him a disapproving look.  "An
internal combustion engine, Tom?  Do you know what those things do to
the environment?"

"Okay, we can modify the engine for electricity," Tom said, being
surprisingly agreeable.  "It's the design that counts anyway.  And
just wait until you ride in it.  With the top down and the wind in
your hair--"

"The wind in my hair?" B'Elanna asked dubiously, wondering if that was
actually supposed to be an attraction.

"You can feel the speed that way, and the freedom."  Tom grinned
broadly.  "Trust me, you'll love it."

"Maybe," B'Elanna said grudgingly, though she knew she probably would.
It was hard not to be affected by Tom's enthusiasm sometimes.

"And by the winter I should also be able to start working on a
sailboat."

B'Elanna rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help smiling at Tom's eager
plans. Even though they'd had little time on Aurora to pursue hobbies
that weren't in some way useful to their survival on Aurora, now that
they were prospering, more leisure time would come.  Tom's ability to
relax so completely and have fun was one of the things that had
attracted her to him, even if it had made her a little envious back
when she'd first met him--enough to derisively dismiss his playfulness
as irresponsibility, despite the fact that he'd always come through
when it counted.  She hadn't often had much time or use for that kind
of fun for its own sake before she'd met Tom.  She gave him a
mischievous look now.  "I guess we do deserve a little...fun."

Tom's eyebrows rose at that.

She massaged his neck with expert strokes.  "And speaking of fun, we
have a brand new bed that we haven't...slept in yet.  Don't we need to
christen it or something?'

Tom smirked.  "We could break a bottle of champagne over the
headboard, but that might make it a little uncomfortable to sleep in,
with champagne all over the sheets."

"Then I guess we'll have to find some other way to christen it,"
B'Elanna said archly.

Tom smiled seductively back.  "I know four or five ways.  But
first..." He disengaged her arms from around his neck.  "Before we go
in, I have one more part of our new home inauguration to share with
you.  A small demonstration of the music system."

They'd included a music system in the plans, because Tom certainly
wouldn't be without one.  "I installed the it myself," he said as he
stepped into the house.  He paused just inside the sliding door, and
his hand disappeared behind the wall.  "And I added in a little
bonus."

A moment later the soft slow strains of music drifted around B'Elanna.

He stepped back out onto the veranda and looked at her expectantly.
"What do you think?"

She listened to the rich, full sound of the music surrounding them on
the veranda.  "Not bad."

"Not bad?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Okay, not bad at all," B'Elanna amended, with a droll look.

A low, sultry voice began to sing the lyrics to the music.  It was
something 20th century, which fit Tom's tastes, but she also
recognized the song now from the Doctor's summer "Concert on the
Common."  Though several colonists had participated, including Harry
playing his clarinet, and Sue on her oboe, it had mostly been a forum
for the doctor to impart his newfound interest and self-professed
talent at singing.  Besides several opera pieces he'd also done a
rendition of this particular song.


"There's a someone I'm longing to see,
I hope that he'll be
Someone to watch over me."


B'Elanna looked at Tom, who smiled and extended his hand toward her.
"May I have this dance?"

She took his hand and moved smoothly into his arms.  He slipped one
arm around her waist and she rested her head on his shoulder.  The
soulful, haunting words of the song drifted over them, and as they
began to sway together she could hear Tom singing along very softly
against her hair.


"To my heart she'll carry the key.
And this world would be like heaven
If she'll follow my lead,
Oh how I need,
Someone to watch over me."


Tom's hand crept slowly down, coming to rest well below her waist.
She smiled and followed suit, placing her hand firmly on his jean-clad
butt.  She squeezed lightly, pressing them more intimately together, a
promise for later.  He chuckled, knowing full well what kind of night
was to come.

But first they danced.

---

Kathryn was standing on the porch, wrapped in her thermal-lined
jacket, staring contemplatively at the sky when Chakotay walked
outside.  It took her several seconds to realize that he was there,
but when she did, she turned to him and smiled as he held out a cup
filled with steaming herbal tea.

"Thanks," Kathryn murmured, wrapping her hands around the warm cup.
She sighed.  "I'm not going to like this, you know."

Chakotay's eyebrows rose.  "The tea?"

Kathryn shrugged.  "It's all right.  But I meant, how will I live
without coffee for the next seven months?"

Chakotay grinned at her plaintive tone.  She wouldn't like it but he
knew she would do it.  Kathryn had no lack of determination.  "The
doctor said you can have half a cup a day."

Kathryn rolled her eyes.  "Just enough for me to be reminded of what
I'm missing."

"Neelix says his decaffeination process is just about ready," Chakotay
said.

"I guess that will be better than nothing," Kathryn replied.  She took
a sip from her cup.  "Thanks for the tea."

"Did the doctor say anything else?" Chakotay asked.

Kathryn shook her head.  "He said I'm healthy, and I shouldn't have
any problems at all with my pregnancy."  She was silent for a moment,
and an oddly vulnerable look crossed her face.

"What?" he asked gently.

Kathryn smiled just a little tremulously, and pressed her free hand
over her stomach.  "It's hard to believe that there's a baby growing
inside me."

Chakotay put his hand gently over hers.  "It's amazing, but I believe
it."

"I honestly never thought I'd be a mother," she said, with conviction
in her voice.  "Oh, I guess I fantasized on occasion that somehow I
would be able to do both," she amended.  "Be a Starfleet captain and
have a family too.  But I know how difficult that is in reality."  Her
voice was wistful.  "Deep down, I knew children would never be in the
cards."

"You were wrong about that," Chakotay pointed out softly.

Kathryn gave him a faint but genuine smile.  "I guess I was.  But I'm
also not a Starfleet captain anymore."

Chakotay looked at her curiously.  They'd never spoken much about
Mark.  Chakotay had no insecurities about Kathryn's past relationship,
but he'd wondered occasionally.  "Didn't you think that one day Mark
and you might have children?"

Kathryn shook her head without hesitation.  "No.  We had very mobile
lifestyles.  We spent more time apart than together."  She shrugged.
"Don't get me wrong, our relationship worked well for us they way it
was.  But it was what it was.  I don't think we would ever have
progressed to marriage or children."

She didn't sound regretful at all, and Chakotay was happy about that.
"I guess he didn't want kids then."

Kathryn looked at Chakotay oddly.  "I never actually asked him," she
said ruefully.  "If he did, and just never got around to saying so,
then I hope he found someone else more suitable for him.  I hope he
found someone else period."

"I'm sure he did."  Chakotay couldn't say he cared all that much one
way or the other, but he knew Kathryn would like it to be so.

"Cold?" Kathryn asked him suddenly.

Chakotay realized that he was rubbing his arms.  He hadn't bothered to
put on his jacket, and the cold was starting to seep a bit through his
flannel shirt.  "I'm fine.  Though maybe you shouldn't be out here."

Kathryn gave Chakotay a long look and obviously saw the teasing glint
in his eyes.  "The baby's plenty warm," she said dryly.  She looked up
at the sky again.  "And I was just looking at the stars..."

Chakotay followed her gaze.  Since they'd arrived he'd thought it
curious how much the sky here looked like the sky from Earth.  The
stars didn't form the same constellations of course, but the way they
were scattered across the sky rather than densely packed was similar,
as was the view of the Milky Way.  It stretched across the sky, a
distant band of light obscured here and there by dark regions of
stellar dust.  On the other side of that band, almost equidistant from
the center of the galaxy as Aurora, was Earth--

"I wonder if anyone else will come."

Chakotay looked at Kathryn.  Her face was still turned up to the sky,
and there was a little furrow in her brow.  He heard both apprehension
and curiosity in her voice.  "Eventually," he said.  "Or sooner."

When Kathryn gave him one of her patented exasperated looks at his
cryptic answer Chakotay just smiled.  "Does it really matter?" he
asked.  "Whenever they come, we'll just deal with it."

Kathryn slipped her arm around his waist.  "That's one thing I like
about you, Chakotay.  You live in the present."

"It's the best place to be," Chakotay said categorically.  He wrapped
one arm around her shoulders.

Kathryn smiled.  "I guess you're right.  Our life is working out quite
well here, surprises and all."

"It is," Chakotay agreed.  "We're prospering and growing, in more ways
than one."

Kathryn looked thoughtful for a moment.  "I wonder how Tom and
B'Elanna are enjoying their first night in their new home."

"You wonder *how*?" Chakotay asked meaningfully.

Kathryn pulled back a little and gave him an admonishing look.

Chakotay just grinned at her.

"Whatever they're doing," Kathryn stressed the word "whatever" primly,
"I'm just glad they are fine again."

"I think they're more than fine," Chakotay said.  "Whatever issues
they've been dealing with, what happened to B'Elanna put those into
perspective and made them realize again what is really important."

"It certainly scared Tom," Kathryn said, a sympathetic look on her
face.

"A close call like that is enough make you realize what you almost
lost," Chakotay said.  A sudden image of Kathryn unconscious in the
snow, so pale and white that he was sure she was dead flashed through
his mind. He pushed it away; it still came to him on occasion enough
in nightmares.  "And B'Elanna was affected too."  The edginess that
was such a part of her hadn't been as noticeable to him in the past
few days.

"She's seemed almost tranquil the last couple of days," Kathryn
agreed.  She looked at Chakotay.  "Whatever she experienced while she
was unconscious, it obviously made her reevaluate some things."

Kathryn spoke as if she understood that concept.  And B'Elanna had
told them a little about her experience in the Klingon afterlife,
about seeing her mother--or a vision of her mother.  "I guess dying
and seeing your mother in the afterlife might do that," Chakotay
agreed.

"Her heart stopped for sixty seconds," Kathryn pointed out, unable to
resist being precise.

"Who knows where the mind or soul can travel in what to us seems like
sixty seconds," Chakotay said.  "And a vision's not necessarily less
real than what we see around us now."

Kathryn's lips quirked.  "I suppose I do know that.  And I still feel
certain of one thing the Traveler said."

"What's that?" Chakotay asked.

She smiled up at him.  "That we're going to survive here just fine."

"We're going to thrive here," Chakotay corrected her.  "We already
are."  He shivered slightly.  "Though I have to admit I'll thrive
better if we go inside where it's warmer."

Kathryn laughed, and kissed him lightly on the lips.  "All right."
Then she glanced toward the sky again, and paused.  "The aurora's
starting."

He looked at the horizon above the trees.  Sure enough the bright
bands of the aurora were starting to ripple across the sky in shades
of green and yellow.  They played out almost every night of the year
in Aurora's strong magnetic fields, both here and in the northern
hemisphere.  If Tom and B'Elanna were outside, they were probably
looking at a similar display.  But he suspected that they were
otherwise occupied.  "Let's go in."

Kathryn let him lead her inside, and he closed the door behind them
while she hung her jacket on the rack.  He had already started a fire
in the fireplace and it was roaring nicely, and in less than two
minutes they were snuggled up together on the couch.

"I do love winter," Chakotay said into Kathryn's hair as she settled
next to him.

Kathryn snorted.  "I thought you were cold."

"I'm warming up," he said softly.

Kathryn pulled the woven throw that was draped over the back of the
couch down over their legs.  The sky patterns in azure, turquoise,
salmon, white folded together as she reached toward the coffee table
where she'd set her cup of tea.  She left that and picked up the
paperbound book next to the cup instead.

"Jane Eyre?" Chakotay read the cover.

"I haven't read it in years," Kathryn said.  "I replicated it with my
monthly rations."

Some things they hadn't got around to producing from raw materials
yet, such as clothing, electronics, and personal items like books.
The replicator came in handy for those things, and it was another
piece of vital equipment that Chakotay knew was on B'Elanna and
Kathryn's long list of items to be refined and expanded so it could be
used more freely.

"What about you?" Kathryn asked, glancing at the bookcase now half-
filled with the bound books they both preferred to read over a
datapadd.

"I think I'll just watch the fire for awhile," Chakotay said.

Kathryn gave him a thoughtful look, then she smiled and resettled
herself against him and opened her book.  He could almost hear her
sigh deeply with contentment, the same contentment he felt.  He
slipped his arm around her waist, letting his palm rest flat over her
stomach, and she pressed her free hand over his.

He did watch the fire, but he watched Kathryn too.  And he couldn't
help remembering the dream he'd had the night they'd spent in the
Southern Transarctic Mountains.  It wasn't unusual that he remembered
it, since he remembered most of his dreams.  To him they were full of
meaning.  They weren't always premonitions of the future; in fact that
was a rare occurrence for him.  But that night, in a cave sheltered
from the cold, he'd dreamed of sitting in front of a warm fire with
Kathryn, dreamed of them cuddling each other and laughing together.
He'd dreamed of holding his wife, and of a baby to come.

Perhaps that dream had been a premonition, and in it he had seen his
own destiny.  Or he had just wanted it so much that it had happened,
and he'd made his own destiny.

Either way, it was his life now.  He kissed the top of Kathryn's head
gently, though she was too engrossed in her book now to notice.  Or
maybe she did, because a fleeting smile touched her lips.  Then he
settled back and watched the fire some more.

---
Kathryn's Journal-- Tues, December 6 (Earth calendar, June 27, 2376):
---

I'm starting to get used to writing these new dates, but I can't quite
let go of the Earth dates yet.  It's the same for everyone on Aurora.
We still struggle between the two.  Most of us are just so used to
calculating in Earth/Federation time. Especially when it comes to
children's development we tend to think in Earth months and years.
Tom and B'Elanna celebrated first M'Kaela's birthday in conjunction
with the Earth calendar, on what would have been March 18th.  By
Aurora's longer rotation, M'Kaela was born a year to the day that
B'Elanna made her turnaround toward recovery in Sickbay.

But our focus is slowly changing, as we adapt more and more to the
natural order here.  One of these days we'll be totally conditioned to
Aurora's longer year.  One day I might even quit recording the Earth
date here.  Or maybe not.  It's still a way for many of us to remember
our origins, and those we left behind.

New Sonoma added three more colonists today, Tom, B'Elanna, and
M'Kaela.  It odd to think that they are 6000 kilometers away right
now, half way across the planet.  It's only a few seconds by
transporter, but it still feels strange not to all be in the same
small village.  And by the end of next week all the new houses there
will be full with forty-three colonists living in the northern
hemisphere.

Meanwhile the Sikari are now settled in the Northeast Sector,
somewhere in the labyrinth of caves in the mountains there.  Exactly
where we don't know with pinpoint accuracy, though we could pick them
up with sensors on a shuttle flyover.  But it's their choice right now
to remain secluded, and we'll respect that.  Tuvok and Jim Hargrove
did go with two of the Sikari this morning to remove several final
items from their downed ship.  Larem insisted that we salvage the ship
itself for metal and parts as payment for our assistance.  It wasn't
necessary, but we did accept the offer.  It's clear that they also
don't want to be beholden to anyone.

I suppose we may see the Sikari from time to time.  Chakotay thinks
so, once they feel more secure in their new surroundings and on Aurora
in general.  Kes agrees.  The Sikari have several adolescent children
with them, and it's certainly possible that they may have more
children.  Kes expects that they will be like almost all races, and it
will be the children who will facilitate more contact even while the
adults give up their cautiousness more slowly.

We shall see.

We also have our newest colonist, Annika Hansen.  She moved into
Chakotay's old house tonight.  She is not at all happy about being
here.  I sympathize with her, since it must be very difficult to
rediscover her human self and try to readjust to it after so many
years as a Borg.  Still, we have dropped her into our midst "cold
turkey" as the saying goes, and we'll expect her to immediately begin
contributing to our community.  Coddling her would only delay the
process, and I have a feeling that she would despise any sympathy or
special treatment from us in any case.  Though we all hope to
eventually be her friends, Kes is the one who has taken it upon
herself to befriend Annika first, and with her usual unwavering
determination.  Kes has such a persuasive way that I know even Annika
won't be able to maintain her distance forever.  I feel sure that
Annika will accept us, and herself, eventually.

We are growing as a colony in other ways too.  We have seven children
here now, from Naomi Wildman to Mario Gennaro and Lina Keoto's almost
two-month-old daughter, Roxanna.  And very soon there will be an
eighth.  Amanda Lang-Culhane is due to deliver her baby in three
weeks.  Billy Tefler and Tal Celes are expecting their first in four
more months.  And today the doctor confirmed that I am pregnant.  I
felt certain that I was, but I didn't want to write it here until the
doctor confirmed it.

That sounds superstitious of me, doesn't it?  Chakotay would be
amused.  But it just hasn't quite sunk in yet, that I will be a mother
in seven months.  Or six months by Aurora's calendar.  When I first
sat in the captain's chair on Voyager, ready to take her out from Deep
Space Nine on a short mission, I certainly never could have dreamed
where I would be a little over five years later.  I never would have
wanted to dream this as my future.  My hopes and ambitions back then
had a different focus entirely.  But I find myself now with no regrets
at all over how my life is turning out.  I even find myself wondering
sometimes about how my life would have gone if we hadn't ended up here
on Aurora.  And if I would have ever been successful getting Voyager
back home.  I know there would have been satisfaction in that, but I
wonder if I would have found the same kind of happiness in that
achievement.  And in my life afterwards.

Who knows?  Chakotay said it tonight, and he's said it before. 
Whatever comes, we just deal with it, and we go on from there.  That's
the only real control we have over our own lives, going on from those
moments where everything suddenly changes, and making our destiny over
again from that point, each time it happens.  As we are going on with
our lives here, adapting to changes once again.

Poets on Earth for centuries said that the three most meaningful words
someone can say are "I love you."  Two centuries ago a novelist in the
Orion sector said that the three most valuable words that can be
offered are "Let me help."  And a decade ago a Bajoran monk said that
the three most comforting words to remember are "life goes on."  No
matter what unexpected twists and turns life takes, many of them
painful, but as many joyful, it is true.  Life continues.  Life goes
on.

As it does for us here on Aurora.

---

The End