Chapter 8: Blood & Bonds SD 7610.12 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Shuttlebay 1 "Now, don't worry, Mulder, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself, you know. And the captain and Tuvok will be with me," Dana said, squeezing her lover's hand. "Worrying? About you?" Mulder feigned innocence, a very easy thing for him to do when he wanted. "Nah. I'm just worried you aren't going to get back in time for some birthday fun." "Well, if I don't, you can go on ahead and play without me, ok?" He pouted. "But it won't be any fun if you're not there!" he whined. "Glad to hear it," she laughed. "Now, come on. I've got to get moving." Mulder glanced around. "Oh...." Everybody else was apparently ready to go. "I don't see why you couldn't just transport down to the planet." Dana smiled. So that was what was bugging him. "Because of the atmospheric interference. It's much safer to take a shuttle down." "Well, I'd feel a lot better if Tom was piloting." "In case you haven't noticed, Tom's a little busy up here," Dana said. "Besides, the captain's a pretty decent pilot herself." Mulder nodded. "I know. I just get this feeling that something's going to happen down there." "Mulder, we're out of the twentieth century now, you can stop being paranoid. Cancerman's not here." "But his great-great grandchildren might be." Dana chuckled. "Goodbye, Mulder. I will see you tomorrow." She kissed him lightly, then walked off towards the shuttle. "Goodbye," he replied as the shuttle took off. SD 7610.12 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Tom & B'Elanna's quarters "B'Ella, honey, where do you think the crib should go?" Tom asked, glancing around the cramped bedroom. B'Elanna popped her head through the doorway from the living room. "I don't know. In a corner somewhere?" Tom frowned and walked over to her. "B'Elanna, this is our child, not a warp coil. We can't just stick it in the corner." "I guess not," she conceded, resting her head on his shoulder. "But this ship isn't equipped for families." "You think I don't know that? Now, where are we going to put the dresser? And the hamper?" B'Elanna lifted her head up off his shoulder and gave him a look that said, 'Let's deal with it tomorrow'. "C'mon, Tomkin, I've gotta get some work done." He kissed her. "You sure about that?" he mumbled into her lips. She broke contact and smiled at him, nuzzling his nose with her own. "Yes. Otherwise Janeway might rethink her decision about letting me work until the last possible moment." Tom pouted. "But Captain Janeway is on an away mission. I think work can wait a while. Especially since you're off duty." "OK, if you insist," she laughed, and let herself be led to the bedroom. SD 7610.12 Delta Quadrant Atmosphere of an Unknown Planet Delta Flyer "All systems functioning normally and within specified parameters," Tuvok droned. It wasn't that the mission so far was a bust. And it wasn't that he didn't like droning; he did. It was just how logically predictable it was of Captain Janeway to ask for a status report every five to ten minutes, and how he didn't like droning everytime she wanted an answer. "That's good," she replied. Eight point nine five minutes later, she wanted another report. "All systems functioning normally and within specified parameters," he replied. Was it just him, or was he turning into a computer? Obviously not just him. The captain seemed to notice it too. "Anything wrong?" Kathryn asked, keeping her eyes on the console in front of her. "I might ask the same of you, Captain," Tuvok replied. "You seem anxious about something." "Nonsense, Tuvok." She punched a few buttons. "Why would you say that?" "Considering you do not glance up from the console even to speak clearly, you ask for reports every five to ten minutes, and you brought a medic on this mission, I would say you seem anxious." "I just felt that it was time for Dana to go on her first away mission, and this one felt safe enough." "Gee, thanks," Dana said wryly from the seatee area in the back. Kathryn grinned. "You know what I meant. Now, how about a status report?" If Tuvok hadn't been a Vulcan and trained since his youth to repress any expressions of emotion, he would have sighed in exasperation. "All systems functioning normally and within-" He broke off as he spotted something on sensors. "There is a 25% increase in the atmospheric interference." Kathryn nodded. "Keep an eye on it." A jolt hit the shuttle, and the lights flickered. "What happened?" Kathryn asked. Tuvok punched a few buttons on the console in front of him. "The atmospheric interference increased by 47%," he said. "Does it pose a danger to the shuttle?" Dana asked. Another jolt caused the lights to shut off completely. The consoles went dark, and for a few seconds sound was the only way the occupants of the shuttle could tell they were not unconscious. Then the emergency systems came back on. "I'd say that's a yes," Kathryn replied, punching a few of the buttons on the console in front of her. "Shields have been brought down 64%," Tuvok said. "Interference is now increased by 87%." "Dammit! I've lost helm control!" Kathryn shouted, now pounding frantically at the console. "Attempting to send a distress signal to Voyager." The beeping told everyone what they dreaded to hear, and though it did not need to be said, Tuvok said it anyway. "Communications are being blocked by the interference. Voyager cannot hear us." "What does that mean? We just sit here and wait to crash?" Dana wasn't about to admit it, but she was sure that the others could hear her fright in her voice. "Hold on! We're beginning to descend much faster to the planet than we originally intended." Kathryn wasn't above the fear, either. Tuvok was the only humanoid within that shuttle to remain calm, though the others did remain levelheaded. And had he not been Vulcan, he was sure that his calm emotions would not have been so pacifistic. The shuttle spiralled downward, closer and closer to the surface in a speed one would have thought not possible in a class two shuttle. Kathryn held onto her armrests tightly until her knuckles turned a ghastly white, and she silently wished that they had brought the Delta Flyer. But that had been impossible, since B'Elanna was taking it apart and tinkering with it, trying to figure out how she could improve it even more. Dana shut her eyes and tried to think of raspberries, wine, and, most especially, Mulder. She had never been a very good flyer, and the fact that it was the twentyfourth century and she was sitting in a shuttle that was about to crash very far away from her birthplace was not helping any. The emergency systems that lit the emergency lights flickered and went out as the shuttle crashed into the unknown. SD 7610.13 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Mulder's quarters He woke up and rolled over onto his stomach, expecting the presence of another warm body to stop his from rolling off the bed. Instead, his momentum kept him going until he hit the floor. "Oof," Mulder groaned sleepily. He yawned, the got up slowly and started scratching his back. Stripping off his clothes, he headed for the sonic shower. He had just stepped in when he realized that he didn't have soap. Then he realized that it was the twenty fourth century, and soap was not needed when one had access to sonic showers. After his shower, he realized another thing. Scully was not there. She had promised she would be there in the morning to wish him a happy birthday. He began to panic. "Computer, locate Scully." "Insufficient data," the computer toned back. Apparently he hadn't gotten the hang of things as well as he had thought. "Locate Dana Scully. Dana Katherine Scully. Locate her, now!" "Dana Scully is not aboard Voyager." "Damn!" Mulder let out a string of expletives that would have made even a sailor blush. He dressed himself hurriedly, then headed out the door to the bridge. "Anything, Harry?" Chakotay asked the Chief of Ops. He shook his head. "No, nothing. We can't get through the interference." "Keep trying." The first officer then turned his attention to Mulder, who had just exited the turbolift. "Mulder, I was just about to call you up here." "What's going on? I thought they were supposed to be back already," he said, deciding to cut right to the chase. Chakotay took a deep breath. "We're not sure. They were supposed to leave the planet at 2330." "It's 0800. What could cause them to be so late?" "Sensors have shown a dramatic increase in the planetary interference since about 1700 last night. That could have interfered with the shuttle's systems and prevented them from leaving the planet," Harry offered. "Could have?" Mulder asked. "Can't you know for sure? Can't you contact them or something?" "B'Elanna's already working on getting through the interference. Until she manages to get through, we can't contact them. They're all alone down there." SD 7610.13 Delta Quadrant Planet Surface Crash Site Dana lifted her head from the floor- how the hell had she wound up on the floor? Perhaps Mulder had accidentally kicked her off the standard Starfleet cot during the night. It wasn't easy sleeping on those things with two people. But if that was so, why hadn't she felt it? She felt it now. Her back and head ached, and her wrist throbbed with shooting stabs of pain. Glancing at it, she saw that it was bent at an odd angle and was very swollen. Blinking a few times, she came to realize how she had so badly injured herself during the night. Everything came rushing back to her; the quick goodbye to Mulder, the shuttle flight, the increasing interference, and finally, the harrowing crash. She realized she was the only one apparently conscious and glanced around the room for the ohers. Sure enough, there was a pale hand sticking out from behind a console. That must be Kathryn. Rushing to her side, she found the captain unconscious, but with a strong pulse. Turning, she looked for Tuvok. His dark form was still, somehow, in the chair it had occupied before the crash. A thin trickle of green blood flowed from a superficial head wound. Dana felt for a pulse. Also strong. After looking around for a med kit and finding none, she decided there was nothing else to do but wait. She didn't have to wait long. A moan came from Tuvok, and she hurried to his side. "Tuvok? Can you hear me?" The Vulcan straightened from his slumped position on the chair. "Of course, Ms. Scully. Are you all right?" She held out her wrist for him to view. Even the slight movement pained her, and she felt herself wince despite what she had told herself not to do. "I think my wrist's broken, but I can't find the med kit to be sure. And I can't set the bones." "Why not? I have heard the Doctor say that you are very skilled at medicine." Tuvok's eyebrow, apparently, wasn't damaged. "If it were my ankle, I would be able to. But I can't set bones one handed." "I will assist you. What should I do?" "It can wait. First, how do you feel?" He touched the green blood oozing from his wound, and Dana, remembering the alien/human hybrids from some of the cases she and Mulder had pursued, had to stop herself from drawing back in fear of the dangerous gas that came with the bleeding. "I believe, except for a few bruises and scratches, that I am uninjured." She nodded. "You fared better than the captain, then. I'm not quite sure how hard she must have hit her head, but I'm pretty worried. She hasn't moved in the time I've been awake." "What is wrong with her?" Tuvok, for a Vulcan, seemed concerned. "I can't tell," Dana explained, shaking her head. "All I can figure is she bumped her head pretty hard. Other than that, she has no other injuries that I can tell just by looking at her." "We did pack a med kit," he pointed out. "I know. But it's not where I saw it last." His eyebrow shot up again. "Perhaps we should look again." So they did. But, like Dana's previous search, they turned up no sign of the kit. And Captain Janeway still hadn't woken up. Dana sighed and sat down. "How badly damaged are the shuttle's systems?" "Damaged enough so that we cannot send a message to Voyager." He looked at her closely and noticed the way she held her wrist cradled to her body. "We should set your wrist now." "No, it'll be fine." "May I remind you that I outrank you, and, if necessary, I will order you to have it set?" "Reminder taken under advisement. But the answer's still no." "Then I will have to order you to set it. Now, I will go search for a splint and something to tie it with. You will stay here." He left the shuttle, heading outside for a straight stick. "Yes, sir," Dana muttered, glancing back over to the captain's prone form. He returned a few minutes later with a couple of branches and some sort of stringy stuff. "I found a vine and scanned it with the tricorder. My scan revealed that it is not poisonous, though the tricorder was sufficiently damaged during the crash." Dana nodded. She didn't care if it was poisonous, as long as it would hold the sticks to her arm as a makeshift splint. "Do you know what you have to do?" Tuvok nodded. "I believe so. If not, you will instruct me." "Snap the bone back in place." She didn't look forward to the pain, but it was necessary, especially if they would be there a while. "Very well. Try to hold still." He held her wrist gingerly, and prepared himself to perform the task at hand. "One, two..." He snapped it back into place. Dana howled in pain. "Dammit, Tuvok, aren't you supposed to wait until three?" He shrugged slightly. "Logic dictated that I count to two and then perform the task, allowing you not to be prepared for it and fight against me." She glared at him. "Logic. Is that what you're all about?" He merely raised his eyebrow again. "I am unsure as to how to answer that question." "Forget it. Just place the sticks along my wrist and tie them there with the vines." After all was said and done, there was nothing more. They sat and stared at the captain, hoping that soon she would awaken. The more time that passed, the more worried they grew. "Tuvok, can that tricorder of yours be used to scan the captain for her injuries?" "Possibly. I will attempt it." Dana wanted to tell him that she wasn't completely inept, and that she could do it, but her concern for Kathryn outweighed her stubborness. Tuvok would probably get the task done faster, anyway. "It should be able to work," Tuvok said after a few moments of playing with the tricorder's controls. He handed it to her. She took it and began scanning the captain. A gasp came from her lips before she could stifle it. "She's injured pretty badly. Aside from the concussion, she's also bleeding internally. It looks like it's nearly stopped, but unless we can get her into surgery..." She drifted off, unable to finish the sentence, even if she wanted to. Tuvok's lips pursed together, and, for the Vulcan that he was, he looked pretty worried. "Perhaps I can get the communications array working." Dana nodded and glanced outside the shuttle. "It's going to be dark soon. Perhaps you should try getting some of the emergency lighting back on." "I will attempt to accomplish that, too." "That's a lot for-" Cough. "-even a Vulcan to accomplish," a weak voice called from the floor. Tuvok and Dana turned to look at Kathryn and immediately crouched at her side. "How're you feeling?" they asked simultaneously. Kathryn glanced between them, not exactly wide-eyed but definitely confused. "Like I just got run over by a-" Gasp. "- starship. What happened? Where's-" Gasp. "-Voyager?" "Calm down, Captain. Save your energy." "I agree. Do not attempt to ask that many questions. We were in a shuttlecrash. Voyager is in orbit of the planet. We are unable to contact them, and they apparently cannot cut through the interference." "Oh," Kathryn sighed and slipped back into unconsciousness. "This isn't good," Dana whispered harshly to Tuvok. She stood from her crouching position and began to pace around the shuttle fearfully. "Do you not think I am aware of that fact?" His normally calming monotone was only acting as an irritant. "I don't know what you're aware of, Tuvok! I am not a mind- reader! All I know is that this person that I've recently become very close to is going to die if we don't do something right now!" She was close to tears, which was unusual in and of itself. They weren't tears of grief, but tears of anger at the injustice of it all. She was mad at Kathryn for injuring herself, mad at herself for not being able to do anything, mad at God for bringing her to the future and the Delta Quadrant like this and getting her attached to everyone there, and even mad at Mulder for ever finding the X-Files, becoming a kook, and needing a partner in the first place. Yes, if she thought about it long enough, it was all Mulder's fault. "You do not have to get so emotional, Ms. Scully," Tuvok intoned. "Uggh!" She made an angry, exasperated groan and sat down, not talking to him until well after night had fallen. SD 7610.13 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Bridge {Mulder to Chakotay} the commander's comm badge chirped. Chakotay fought to suppress a sigh. Mulder had been calling every hour, wanting to know exactly how the search was going. Before he had been allowed on the bridge, but at times he grew frustrated with the lack of progress and became emotional. Then he had started shouting something about conspiracies and how everyone on Voyager were minions of Cancerman, whoever he was. It had then taken an entire security team to drag him away from the bridge to the brig, where he had stayed for half an hour. The only reason he had been released was because he had kept throwing himself head first into the forcefield, despite the pain it was causing him. "Yes, Mr. Mulder?" he replied. he reminded himself mentally. {I was wondering if you had found anything yet?} He sounded optimistic, like he had every time he had called before. "I'm sorry, Mulder. We haven't found anything. I will alert you the minute we do. B'Elanna's still working on getting through the interference." {Thank you, Commander. Mulder out.} Now there was that pessimistic tone that crept into his voice at the end of the conversation. Chakotay nodded. Now that Mulder was out of his hair for another hour, he could get to concentrating more on the search. His comm badge chirped again. "Gods damn it! I'm going to take this thing apart later!" he shouted. The bridge crew turned to stare at him. {B'Elanna to Chakotay. I've found a way through the interference..} "That's the first bit of good news all day," he replied. "Send instructions to Harry and he'll try hailing them." {Will do. B'Elanna out.} Chakotay looked to Harry. "I've got the instructions. Opening hailing frequency 4.7 now," the ensign said. "Voyager to Shuttlecraft Bolling. Shuttlecraft Bolling, please come in." He waited a few seconds, then looked to Harry. "I'm not getting a reply. Either it didn't work and they can't hear us, or their systems have been damaged." Chakotay set his lips in a thin line. This had not turned out to be a good day. Now he had almost no options. He could try to continue hailing them and hope that they would eventually receive the communications and reply. Or he could send down a rescue team, but without knowing the exact conditions down on the planet, it could be an unneccesary risk. "Keep trying, Harry." He decided that, if they did not reply in an hour, he would send down a rescue team on the Delta Flyer. Chakotay didn't want to have to put up with Mulder's incessant questions for too much longer. SD 7610.13 Delta Quadrant Planet Surface Crash Site Kathryn woke up again, but it was only for another few seconds before she drifted off. Dana envied her; she wanted to be unconscious for the whole ordeal too. If she were unconscious, she wouldn't have to think about missing Mulder's birthday. Tuvok continued to work on the communications array, but seemed to work very very slow. "Can't you hurry up?" Dana urged. "I thought Vulcans were supposed to be efficient." "I am working as fast as I can. And unless you can offer your skills to make the job go faster, I suggest you concentrate on the captain." She took that as a Vulcan's way of telling her to shut up and mind her own business. Except her business was healing people, and she couldn't do anything more for the captain except make her comfortable. It was a worthless cause. Depressed, she decided to look for the emergency rations she knew were stored somewhere onboard. Strangely enough, she couldn't find any. A series of beeps went up from the console Tuvok had been working on. He glanced up at her. "I believe the comm system is fully functional now." {...Bolling, please come in...} Chakotay's voice drifted in. "Chakotay..." Kathryn called out as she slipped in and out. "Tuvok to Voyager. Voyager, can you read me?" A pause, then a staticky reply. {Finally. What's your situation down there?} "Not good. Requesting immediate beam-up if possible. We've crashed, and we have injured." {I'll have B'Elanna try to beam you directly to Sickbay. Stand by.} Tuvok nodded, and he and Dana waited for the blue tingle to envelope them and beam them to sickbay. B'Elanna stood at her console in Engineering, cursing. She had to use the way to get through the interference and try to beam up three officers. It had been easy once she had found the way through the interference to project the comm signal to the planet; the problem was applying the solution to the transporters. She wasn't even sure it would work. First things first. Punching some buttons, she reset the pattern buffers, then reconfigured the transporter locks to lock on to any and all lifesigns within the vicinity of the shuttlecraft crash site. Once that was done, she started up the transporter. Boosting the energy signature, she was about to hit the button that would bring Kathryn and her away team back on board when the baby kicked, making her lose her balance. Her finger nearly hit the button that would lose the lock and make her start all over, completely erasing all the work she'd done in the last half hour, but luckily she stopped her momentum first. B'Elanna's mind wandered as she hit the button and monitored the tranporter closely. Perhaps this was a sign, telling her she should stop working before something bad happened, to her, to her baby, or to someone else. Then she told herself she was just being silly. After all, nothing bad had happened this time. "B'Elanna to Sickbay. Did you receive your patients?" The Doctor replied quickly. {Sure did. I've got no time to chitchat though. Where is Mr. Paris?! He should have been here the moment he knew we were receiving casualties. And what the hell is this? Doctor out.} A faint smile touched her lips. Everything was going to be okay again, until next Wednesday anyway. Now, if she wasn't mistaken, she was off duty and about to head to Sickbay to keep a pre-scheduled appointment. SD 7610.13 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Sickbay Darkness. Complete and utter darkness. All she could sense were sounds and something that strangely smelled like emergency rations. "Happy birthday." Kissy sounds. That must be Mulder and Scully. "Gee, if this is my present, I want another one." Definitely Mulder and Scully. She'd have to remember to say happy birthday to Mulder later, though in not quite the same way as Scully did. Still more darkness. She wondered if she was going blind. And then she realized that no, she wasn't blind. She just hadn't opened her eyes yet. Slowly, she opened her eyelids, afraid to behold the sight that would great her. The Doctor, Tuvok, and B'Elanna were arguing over something, but she couldn't tell what. And, on another biobed, Mulder and Scully were making out. "You have got to get that filthy thing out of my Sickbay!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Doctor. We'll just have to live with it. I was lucky to be able to transport the away team back to Voyager. ANd because I did so, the transporters are malfunctioning now. I can't send it back," B'Elanna replied. "Voyager is not equipped to handle such a thing," Tuvok intoned. "What thing?" Kathryn rasped. The others finally noticed she was awake. The Doctor picked something furry up between his forefinger and thumb. "This thing! B'Elanna transported it in here along with you and the others." "It was the only way I could beam them up! I didn't know I was transporting that too!" Kathryn squinted at it. It looked almost like an otter, except its fur was longer and it was gray. It had the med kit slung about its small shoulders, and, from the looks of its fur, it had been at some of the emergency rations. "What is it?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged and dropped it to the floor. "As far as I can tell, it's some sort of indigenous animal that just got picked up along the way." It scrambled away to the far corners of Sickbay, taking with it a hypospray. The people watched in fascination as it did this. Chakotay chose that moment to come in. He held one hand in the other. "Hello, everyone," he greeted. "Doctor, I seem to have had an accident. If you're not busy, could you possibly patch me up?" "What seems to be the problem?" the Doctor asked, all business now, as he took the hand Chakotay was obviously sheltering. Blood seeped out of his fingers. "Um, well, I seem to have closed the turbolift doors on my finger," the commander explained. The Doctor stared at him for a moment, then shook his head and began to get to work. Soon Chakotay was all patched up. "Thank you Doctor-" he began to say. Suddenly there was a screech, and a gray streak flew through the room, attaching itself to Chakotay's leg. He looked down, confused. "Hello there," he said to the animal. "Just a hitchiker we've picked up, Chakotay. We'll be depositing him back on the planet as soon as the transporters are functioning again," B'Elanna explained. The animal screeched again, and clung tighter to Chakotay. "I think he likes you," Kathryn laughed. Chakotay made a wry face and bent down to be closer to the animal. "Hey, what'cha doing?" He made the mistake of bringing his hand close to the thing's mouth. "OWWWW!!!" After Chakotay's hand had been patched up once more, the animal came out of hiding and once again clung to his leg. He glared at it, but it just stared back at him, unblinking. "Aw, can't we keep him?" Chakotay asked suddenly. "Voyager needs a mascot." Kathryn raised her eyebrow. "Huh? No, CHakotay, no." At his puppy dog eyes, and the puppy dog eyes of everyone else in the room (with the exception of Tuvok), she conceded. "Fine. But you train him. You take care of him. I want no part in it." "His name," said Chakotay, "is Ralph."