Author's note:  Cadet Amos was named after my dad's friend Charlie 
Raines (no relation to Jess--at least, I don't think).  Cadet Bolen was 
named after our two new Ites :), and Cadet Brennan was named after a 
friend I met at camp, Lucy Brennan.  This part takes place a week to a 
week-and-a-half after "Acceptance".

Beloved B'Elanna, part 11 - Sacrifice
by (the one and only Gaelic Ite who also thinks Janeway and Chakotay 
should get hitched) Cheile

Dedicated to (oh, this should be obvious by now--the two greatest and 
always will be) Robbie and Roxann


      "Owen can be stubborn," Kathryn remarked.  "But you also have to 
admire him for his strength."
      B'Elanna nodded.
      "However, I'm glad that he and Tom have patched up their 
differences and that he's accepted you."
      Kathryn rose, moving over to where she had left a huge ball of 
yarn, two needles and a small, halfway knitted something in pale yellow.  
Retrieving her project, she moved back to her chair.  "Ten--fifteen 
years ago, he wouldn't have come to accept so easily.  But I think that 
losing Deanna has changed him somewhat.
      "You would have loved her.  She was so kind.  I met her once, 
right before the Arias expedition.  The kids were all away at school, so 
I didn't meet them, but Deanna was so nice.  She was warm, friendly--she 
reminded me of my own mother."
      "Tom was so upset when the admiral told him she had died a year 
after we disappeared.  According to him, when Voyager was declared lost, 
she gave up all hope that Tom could still be alive," B'Elanna said.
      The door chime sounded at that second.
      "Come in," Kathryn called, in the process of untangling her 
snarled yarn, but only succeeding in making it worse.
      Tom walked in, followed by Chakotay, who laughed at the sight of 
Kathryn literally tied up in a mass of yellow yarn.
      "Do you need help?" he teased gently.
      "Very funny, Chakotay."
      As Kathryn attempted to escape the yarn, Tom greeted B'Elanna with 
a kiss.  "Ready to go?  I told Lyss we'd back by one."
      "I'm ready."
      Kathryn bid them good-bye, then turned to Chakotay.  "Okay, now 
help me."
      Chakotay grinned.  "Anything for you, Kathryn my love."

*

      Tom and B'Elanna arrived back at the house to find the admiral 
waiting for them.
      "Good, you're early."
      "What do you mean, Dad?"
      "The Academy wants you to supervise a flight test for graduating 
cadets.  They've been informed of your warp 10 accomplishment."  Owen 
grinned proudly at his son.  "I always knew you'd become a legend.  Like 
Kathryn said--Wright, Armstrong, Cochrane, and Paris."
      Tom couldn't help but grin at B'Elanna.  She smiled back.
      "They want B'Elanna to go along, too.  One of the three cadets is 
minoring in engineering and the young lady has requested B'Elanna's 
presence to review some information during part of the trip."
      "Is it okay with you, 'Lanna?"
      "Of course."
      "When do we leave?"
      "The departure is scheduled for 0700 and you'll return by 2100."
      "Then we'll be ready."

*

      The next morning, Tom and B'Elanna met the three cadets:  Charlie 
Amos, a young man with a shock of brown hair and hazel eyes who was an 
aspiring pilot, Melissa Bolen, the engineering student and a friend of 
Serena's, with short black hair and silver-green eyes, and Syria 
Brennan, who had bright aqua eyes like Janeway's and waist-length ash 
blond hair and hoped to someday have her own command.
      "All right, let's get started," Tom said after introductions had 
gone around.  "Who's the first victim?"  He grinned at the three cadets.
      They exchanged a look.
      "I'm kidding," Tom laughed.  "Who's going to take off?"
      "Me," Cadet Amos said.  "I fly until we reach Titan, then Syri 
goes from there until we turn around and pass Jupiter again.  From 
Jupiter, Meliss brings us home."
      "Let's head out."
      The five climbed into the small craft, then Cadet Amos executed 
the liftoff.  As they headed into space, they were unaware of the danger 
that lay ahead.

*

      Five hours later, they were passing Saturn's moon Dione and Cadet 
Brennan had taken over the piloting.  B'Elanna had finished helping 
Cadet Bolen with her studying.  Now she and Cadet Amos listened as Tom 
regaled them with some of the tales of their Delta Quadrant adventures.
     "So without telling him, B'Elanna reprograms the Doctor's family.  
He comes home--to absolute chaos!  He was a good sport about it, 
though."
     Cadet Amos laughed.  "That must have been funny."
     "Even funnier was when Harry Kim and I pulled this trick on Tuvok.  
We--"
     Tom was cut off by Cadet Brennan's voice.  "Lieutenant Paris, I'm 
detecting a nearby ship.  It--seems to be on an intercept course."
     "Intercept course?" Tom repeated.  Getting to his feet, he moved to 
stand behind the pilot's chair and get a better look at the sensors.  
Sure enough, a bright red dot that marked the other ship was heading 
straight for the bright white dot that was them.
     "Can you identify it, Syri?"
     Cadet Brennan touched a few keys and a minute later, she turned 
wide eyes to Tom.  "It's Cardassian."
     "Should we hail them?" Cadet Bolen asked.
     "I think we should.  Maybe they don't realize that this is a 
training mission," Cadet Brennan answered.
     "Why are they following us, though?"  Puzzlement was written across 
Cadet Amos' face.  "The treaty still stands."
     "Maybe they're a rogue group, outlaws, left over from the war three 
years ago," Tom said, his blue eyes narrowing.  He glanced at B'Elanna.  
Though her face was expressionless, he saw a hint of fear in her eyes.  
He squeezed her hand briefly before turning to Cadet Bolen.  "Hail 
them."
     She did so, but shook her head.  "No response."
     "May I take helm, Cadet?"
     Cadet Brennan moved out of the pilot's seat and Tom scooted in.  He 
grinned at B'Elanna.  "Remember two years ago?  The Anderian chase?"
     "Do I ever."  She smiled back at him.  "Cadets, I suggest you hold 
on to something."
     "Initiating evasive pattern Paris-Torres Omega four," Tom called 
from his spot as his fingers flew over the controls.
     Almost immediately, the craft pitched downward, then sharply to the 
left.
     "Hold on," B'Elanna warned again as she slid into the seat opposite 
him.  "You concentrate on the flying.  I'll watch the sensors."
     Before B'Elanna could even turn to the senors, the craft was struck 
by phaser fire.  Alarms began to go off.
     "We've been hit!" Cadet Bolen exclaimed.
     "Damn it," Tom and B'Elanna both swore at the same time.  While Tom 
directed the craft through the second phase of the manuever, B'Elanna 
scanned the sensors.
     "We're near Miranda," she told him.  "See if you can land us there.  
If they don't pursue us on the moon, I can probably fix the engines 
enough to get us back."
     Though it was tricky, Tom managed to propel the craft through 
Miranda's murky atmosphere and land safely.  But their hopes of the 
Cardassians not pursuing were in vain.

*

     *Damn Cardassians*, B'Elanna thought darkly as she, Tom and the 
cadets dashed across the rocky plateau on Miranda.  *Why do they always 
have to bother me?!*
     "All right, everyone, stop," Tom said suddenly.
     "What?!" B'Elanna exclaimed.
     "I know of a way we can lose them.  There only appears to be two of 
them.  If we split up, they'll never be able to catch us.
     "When I say go, Cadet Amos, you and Cadet Bolen go to the right, 
toward the riverbed.  Cadet Brennan, B'Elanna and I will head toward the 
canyon.  You two stay together, no matter what."
     They nodded.
     "Go!"
     The two dashed toward the riverbed, while Tom hurried toward the 
canyon, B'Elanna and Cadet Brennan on his heels.
     Not far into the canyon, they realized that they were trapped.  It 
was a dead-end canyon, or so it seemed.  Tom spotted another way out, a 
small crevice in the rocks, but only one person could be up there and 
not make an easy target.
     "Cadet, when I say go, run for that crevice and try and get back to 
the craft.  Send a distress signal."
     She nodded.
     "'Lanna, you go the opposite way."
     B'Elanna nodded.
     "Now, 'Lanna," he whispered as the Cardassian drew closer.
     She immediately ducked down, disappearing a minute later.  The 
Cardassian was getting closer.
     "Go, Cadet!"
     Cadet Brennan took off on a run, her ash blond hair flying behind 
her.  Tom turned to face the Cardassian.
     And found that he was no longer there.  He was about a hundred feet 
away--and fifty feet from B'Elanna.  He could hit her with a phaser 
blast from that range.
     "B'Elanna, run!" he shouted.
     But B'Elanna seemed frozen.  She didn't move.  Seeing this, a slow 
grin spread across the Cardassian's face and he drew his phaser.
     Tom didn't wait to see him set it.  He began to run towards 
B'Elanna.

     B'Elanna couldn't believe it.  She couldn't move.  The Cardassian 
was only fifty feet away.  It wouldn't take that long for him to get 
near her and she was also within phaser range.
     "B'Elanna, run!" she heard Tom cry.
     *Move, damn it*, snapped the voice in her mind.  But her feet 
wouldn't obey her brain.  Every time she tried to turn and run, she 
found herself frozen.
     The Cardassian grinned at her, drew his phaser, set it and aimed 
directly at her.  Seconds later, a blast from the phaser came shooting 
across the short distance between them.  It was going to hit her.  She 
would surely die.
     Then Tom threw himself in front of her.

     Tom dashed across the distance separating him and B'Elanna.  Out of 
the corner of his eye, he saw the Cardassian set his phaser and aim it.  
He ran faster, but knew he wouldn't reach her in time to pull her out of 
the way.
     There was only one thing he could do.
     As the phaser blast burst out, he leaped, throwing himself in front 
of B'Elanna, taking the shot intended for her.  Searing pain hit him 
directly in the chest, so painful that he was paralyzed almost instantly 
from the shock.  He crumpled to the ground.  And the last thing he heard 
before the blessed darkness descended was B'Elanna's petrified scream.

To be continued.....

As always, legal B.S.  Paramount's characters, my story, you know the 
routine.  I only put this here so they can't sue me.  Alyssa 
Paris-Carson, Jennifer (Paris) DeLancie, Cadets Melissa Bolen, Charlie 
Amos, and Syria Brennan belong to me.  Copyright 1997, by Cheile.  
Comments, questions, something I left out?  Drop me a line:  
cheile@hotmail.com