A/N - Synopsis: Inspired mostly by the ideas of Year of Hell and the Hirogan takeover. I wanted to tinker with a Voyager that didn't get repaired within two episodes. Voyager and her crew can't quite catch a break until B'Elanna meets a stranger with an incredible gift. Unfortunately, her help comes with its own set of problems, like holes in Voyager, questions about her entire mysterious existence... and a certain half-Klingon discovering an attraction to Voyager's newest passenger.

Set somewhere after the Hirogan's holodeck games and before the Borg children. In-depth characterization and solid plots carry this tale!

Rated 'M' because I just can't write anything else. Violence, language, dark topics, and sexual themes.

xx

Welcome to my attempt to expand my head and its ability to write. I needed to break away from MRod fics for a little while :P And instead of telling a story from only one person's perspective, I thought to tell it from multiple third pov's. But, I still love OCs. Just, this time, you don't get to see inside her head ;) I hope you can enjoy it anyway.

This fic is already at 20k words on my hard drive, almost complete! It'll be 25-30k, no more.

Chapter 1

Unidentified

Neelix frowned at the almost barren cargo bay he used as a pantry. Aside from a couple dozen kilos of old vegetables that wouldn't last a week, there was leola root left. It was no secret how much the crew disliked the flavor of quite a bit of his food, especially leola root, but he knew most of them still complained purely out of affectionate habit. They had simply needed to learn to appreciate Delta Quadrant flavors. Keeping their bellies full and energy levels up was his job. Not to mention he also felt responsible for their morale. Food and morale were very connected; it was how he contributed to the ship, making sure both were in good supply.

But with the energy shortages and constant mechanical failures plaguing Voyager, including a malfunctioning replicator system, morale was at an all-time low. There weren't any possible sources of deuterium within sensor range. And they'd had some terribly bad luck with Delta Quadrant natives as of late. He muttered to himself, "I'd better tell the captain about the poor menu choices coming up."

"These merchants seem pretty questionable." Chakotay mentioned as he and the captain went over the plan. They had come across some wandering aliens who claimed to have various cargo Voyager badly needed, such as food and plasma relays. In exchange, the merchants wanted some high quality duranium and bio-circuitry.

The captain couldn't agree more. "We don't have much choice. If I don't feed the crew something besides leola root stew, there's going to be a mutiny."

Both of them chuckled. "You're probably right."

"Hopefully, B'Elanna's experiment will be a success and we won't have to worry about problems like this anymore." Janeway wished.

Her second in command made an expression she recognized immediately. Unwillingness to hope. She understood his reticence. Shortcuts home generally led to either disappointment or bittersweet success. Even Chakotay's abundance of optimism was beginning to lose strength in this matter. "It would be nice," he offered.

"Increase the particle flow." The chief engineer told Vorik, her attention focused on the screen before her. With the increase, the readouts became more promising. "It's working! Vorik, it's working!"

"It appears so, chief." The Vulcan replied blandly.

A long half second later, there was a stable connection to the Alpha Quadrant. It was a scant two micrometers in diameter, but it was a connection. Data could be sent through that, maybe a transporter signal. There was hope that help could be sent!

"There's a buildup of tachyon particles. Why are there tachyon particles?" B'Elanna growled in frustration. Tachyons hadn't appeared in any of the holodeck scenarios. There was no precedent for it in their wormhole experiment. "What the hell is going on?"

Various logical thoughts ran through Vorik's head, "Perhaps..."

Around them, the lights flashed to pulsing red, and that aggravating buzz alarm started.

"RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!" They could hear pounding boots in the corridors. "Computer, halt experiment." B'Elanna managed before running out of the science lab, Vorik right on her heels.

"Unable to comply." The computer answered to the empty room.

"What's going on?" Captain Janeway demanded as she strode onto the bridge from her office.

"Your instincts about the merchants were right, captain." Chakotay informed her. "As soon as their shuttle was aboard, we lost shields and propulsion. We're being boarded."

Harry cut in, "Captain, there's an unidentified gas in our ventilation system."

"Shut it down!" She barked.

"It's not working! We," he sneezed.

Tuvok sniffed, blinked, and collapsed. One by one, the rest of the bridge crew did as well. Throughout the ship, intruders with protective armor and rebreather units tromped around collapsed crewmembers. In the lab where the engineers had been tinkering with their idea of creating a wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant, the computer recorded the appearance of an unidentified intruder. The stranger struggled in the small space for a few moments until the sedating gas took effect on her as well.

Above, the sun was a cool, distant thing, casting meager light on the world despite it being high in the sky. The entire crew was piled onto an open transport that was floating over an almost black landscape. As B'Elanna's eyes focused, she could see how the foliage itself was black. It was unusual, but she wasn't a botanist, and she was more interested in figuring out how to escape.

The slavers thought their cargo to all be asleep. For the most part, they were. But the sedative they used didn't work so great on Klingons apparently. B'Elanna overheard one of the guards telling the others to keep a careful eye on the slaves. They'd be starting to stir about the time the shackles lost power. She kept a close look on the indicators and cautiously warmed up her muscles with small movements.

When they blinked off, she focused her attention on the guards, who were watching for their destination. Another guard complained about the time, and her friend told her to suck it up for the next seven minutes. None were paying B'Elanna any mind. Now was her moment; she rolled to the edge and pushed herself off the transport. She fell and tumbled in the dust and rocks. Picking herself up, she coughed and followed behind the thing. She would find some way to help her crew escape.

"Advanced technology doesn't work well up here." The head of the compound greeted his new batch of hijacked workers. "And the minerals that cause it are also what feed these plants. You'll be caring for them and harvesting their seed pods when they're ripe. You will work in details of three. Each detail will be given a section to work for the day."

He looked around at the couple hundred new faces. "The fence is electrified. It doesn't always work like it's supposed to, but don't get your hopes up. The electric currents are unpredictable, which means they're just as likely to disperse as to surge and kill you from two meters away. If you do happen to make it through the fence, there is plenty to eat in these hills if you like raw insects, rock algae, and poisonous snakes. Your shackles will work better the closer you get to the spaceport. Try to remove them without the codes, and they will kill you." He must have seen them all glance hopefully at their dead looking shackles. "Even up here."

"He's about as cheery as this half-dead star." Tom nudged Harry.

Giving the pathetic sunlight a grimace, Harry nodded.

At the end of the day, they lined up to receive their food cubes and water. Tom found himself separated from his shipmates and surrounded by grumpy aliens. The compound held at least four hundred beings, and the only ones who wanted to talk were his crewmates. It was disappointing to say the least. Not that it would stop him from trying to make a new friend.

"Hey there." Tom greeted an attractive woman who looked very human.

She peeled her eyes from the fence she was glaring at. "Hi."

"I'm Tom Paris."

"I'm hoping to leave soon."

Success! He crowed to himself and grinned winningly. "Me too. Have any plans for that yet?"

"Keep quiet and move it!" A guard shoved him. The woman shot the guard a nasty look, but turned her back on Tom. Sighing, he waited in boring silence until he was among friends again.

The next day, he found himself put on the same detail as the woman from before. "Hey again."
"Look, no offense, but I don't want to get to know you." She told him.

He grimaced. "That's brutal." Smoothly, he morphed it into a grin and leaned slightly closer. "I haven't even given you my worst pick-up lines yet."

It got a smile out of her even though she shook her head.

"Come on, we'll be working together all day. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to talk to when the guards aren't looking?" He pleaded, dreading the thought of yet another silent work day.

The stranger ran her fingers down the stem of one of the plants they'd been enslaved to care for. She studied the razor sharp edges of its fist-sized seed pods. "Do you know why the seeds are valuable?"

"Nope." Tom grinned toothily and quickly hid it by inspecting his side of the plant. "What's your name?"

"Do you think these plants evolved black before or after their sun starting dying?" She ignored his question.

"Who knows." Shrugging, he watched the way her gloved hands flipped a leaf out of her way. "What did you do before the slavers got you?"

Her body jerked and froze. Wide grey eyes flicked to him, and her reply was frosty. "Let's keep the topic to the here and now."

"Sure." Tom struggled with pushing down the terraquads of questions he suddenly had. "What do you think about this outfit?" He poked his butt out a bit, indicating the layers of scruffy clothes. "Does it make my butt look big?"

"Your-" She sputtered and stared at him. He gave his best innocent eye flutter. Light returned to her expression, and she guffawed, pushing his hips away. They worked in companionable quiet for a while, trading grins as they inspected their plants.

"Since you won't tell me your name, I'll have to come up with something to call you." Tom announced after a patrol stomped by.

His companion stopped what she was doing to look at him. A shielded look came over her, and her eyes looked down and away. "As you want," was her soft response.

He bulled on, "Mystery Girl seems about right."

It evoked an up-twist of her lips.

"Good to meet you, Mystery Girl."

She snickered lightly. "If you insist."
"Or maybe MG? Missy?" Tom kept going, happy to blunder on with his little challenge now that he'd gotten a laugh out of her.

Yawning, Tom failed to give proper attention to his task. He hissed as the black-leafed plant ripped open his forearm. "Never thought I'd complain about missing the Doctor."

His mystery friend sympathized. "I don't like doctors much either, but it would be nice to get bandaged up properly."

That night at meal time, he dragged her over to where Harry was sitting. "Harry, Mystery Girl. Mystery Girl, this is Harry."

Harry shook his head at his ladies-man of a friend. "Can't get her to tell you her name, huh?"

"Not yet." He grinned, knowing it was only a matter of time.

Again the next day, they were put on the same detail. They chatted about nothing until lunch, when they were given food and a chance to relieve themselves. Mystery Girl didn't return. During dinner, rumors flew around about a slave who had made it through the fence. Seven confirmed it, admitting she had seen it happen. She found it fascinating, the way the electricity stalled for approximately eleven seconds, then flooded the fencing again like water from a dam.

Tom scowled in the direction of the fences, and Harry reached out to grip his shoulder. The two friends met gazes. "Think she has a chance out there, Harry?"

"Why not? She's lucky enough to get past the fences. That has to count for something." Stoutly optimistic, he smiled.

Unable to say anything positive, Tom returned his gaze to the darkness. His thoughts went to his ex-lover, B'Elanna, who was also out there. Somewhere in the cold. He shivered.

"She'll be okay, Tom. She's strong." Harry whispered fiercely. "You know that it would take a little more than a hostile takeover and a frigid planet to keep B'Elanna down."

"Harry's right, Tom." Chakotay's voice carried over. "If anyone can survive out there, it's B'Elanna."