Title:  Aurora: Changes
Author:  Julie Evans
Email:  Juli17@aol.com
Rating:  PG13
Codes:  AU, P/T, J/C, All
Summary:  Alternate universe, further adventures of the 
former Voyager crew, now colonists on the Delta quadrant 
planet they named "Aurora."  Sequel to "Down the Rabbit 
Hole," "Into the Looking Glass," and "Founding Aurora."  

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."  They are archived on the ASC and at the PT 
Collective website, 
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6533.  

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.

Aurora: Changes
by Julie Evans

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 he 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.


^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

(continued in Part Two)