Author's Notes: Hi! Welcome to chapter 10! Thank you to all who have made it this far with me! A special thanks to Scifiromance and Starshine for putting up with my obsessive notes, and for all the proof-reading and idea bouncing! Life would suck without y'all! Anyway, on to the chapter!

Obligatory Legalities: I don't own them, and I never will, and now I'm sad about that. Thanks, Paramount.

XXX

B'Elanna was becoming real sick, real fast, of being the first one to wake in the mornings. Just in general, waking all hours of the night made her grumpy. She knew once the baby came, she would definitely be up all hours of the night, and her time with her precious sleep was coming to an end. Perhaps the quarter Klingon inside her was preparing her for the bumpy ride ahead. The half Klingon groaned, trying to pull her blanket tighter around her body with no effect. Tom had rolled over in the night and taken his body heat with him, leaving her cold on the edge of the mattresses. When she attempted to turn to follow him, her back and hips screamed out in protest. Whoever had come up with the design for the emergency sleep mats had not had pregnant women in mind. Just as she decided to suck it up and try to go back to sleep, the baby decided it was time to practice her kickboxing skills.

Sleep was now out of the question entirely.

With another groan, B'Elanna forced herself to sit up, and threw back her blanket to pull around her like a cape. 'Well, this sucks.' she thought, leaning back enough to peer out of the aft and into the midsection and cockpit. It was still fairly dark outside. She would guess about four AM, planet time. She had nothing much to do- she couldn't turn on the light without waking Tom and Harry- not that she cared to wake them but she really wasn't in the mood for all the complaining it would stir up. There was NO going outside alone. Kahless knew what it was that was apparently stalking them in the woods. At least it seemed to leave them alone during the daytime.

Her eyes roamed over the aft section, adjusting to the low level of light inside. Klingon genes for the win, there. Finally, they settled on the shut doors above the broken lockers, and the wheels inside her head began to turn. 'If Tom really does have...'

XXX

"baQa! ...ghay'cha!"

Seven was slow to rouse. Sleeping was not nearly as efficient as a good regeneration cycle, and her consciousness was becoming more and more sluggish in its return the longer she went without it. Her headache still hovered around the periphery of her senses but the stinging needles were gone for now. The ex-drone curled tighter against the commander on their camp mattress. As his arm tightened comfortably around her waist, though, she figured that human sleep- at least with him- wasn't at all bad. She had to admit that, sick or not, his warmth beat her cold alcove any day. With a contented sigh, she blindly cupped his face with her metal-laced hand, stroking the prickly dark whiskers growing there.

"VA!"

The last dregs of sleep bled out of her mind at the sound of the voice. Seven finally blinked open her eyes. She was laying face to face with Chakotay, so close that she could feel his breath breezing over her chin. Her stomach was flat against his, his arm tight around her waist and his leg situated between her knees. She smiled, content, briefly, before turning her head to look up at the direction of the voice.

B'Elanna noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye, cursing again as the little wires held in her fingertips sparked off one another. "Sorry." she said quietly, knowing Seven could hear her. "I didn't mean to wake you guys." She turned to meet the blonde's eyes. "How's your head?"

Seven waved off her apology, carefully disentangling herself from Chakotay's arms. "It doesn't hurt much right now." she answered softly, tucking the blanket back around Chakotay's body before crawling the couple of feet to B'Elanna's side. "What are you doing?"

The half Klingon sat cross-legged beside the tactical console, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, obscuring the laser tools and the black box she was tinkering with. "Your conduit thingy gave me an idea." she whispered, flipping the box over to reveal a replica twenty-first century boombox. "I'm trying to use this power source to bypass the fused circuitry in this console. Maybe we can get something up and running. A diagnostic or something."

"That would be satisfactory." murmured Seven, shivering.

"Yeah." said B'Elanna. She gestured to her rounded belly. "This little one wouldn't let me sleep. I figured I may as well work on something." She glanced at the shivering blonde. "Cold?"

"Yes. The sooner we get some power back on, the better. I will assist you."

"Good." B'Elanna reached out and yanked Seven to sit close beside her. "Here, share my blanket." she said, putting the silver blanket around Seven's shoulder's, too. "If we can get this gel pack to power this console, we may be able to get some lights and heat on. Maybe even see if the computer core is junk or not."

"Have you attempted re-routing the power coupling?"

"First thing I tried. Now I'm trying to go directly into the motherboard." She handed Seven the gel pack, and focused on the wires she had coming out of it. "But these packs weren't made to work this way." She paused as she received a rather ruthless kick in the side. "I think she is getting antsy, too."

Seven scowled. "Elaborate. How could your fet- she.. have knowledge of our present situation?"

B'Elanna chuckled. "That's not what I meant." she explained, crossing another wire and screwing it into place. "She's just really active this morning. Makes me wonder if she can tell when I'm agitated or not." With the wire in place, she set down the laser screwdriver and grabbed Seven's empty hand. Before the blonde could react, she pulled it forward and pressed it flat against her rounded belly where her daughter's kicks were strongest. "Feel?"

Seven gasped in surprise at the movement under her palm, pulling her hand back like she'd been bitten. "Oh!"

The half Klingon chuckled again, taking Seven's hand back into her own and putting it soundly over her daughter's feet. "She can't bite you, Snugglebunny." She smiled at the surprise still painted on the blonde's face. "See?" The baby gave a few more good kicks beneath their hands.

"I did not realize that her movements could be felt from outside of your womb." Seven's voice was a hushed, almost awed, whisper.

"Oh, yeah. Why do you think Tom and the Captain are always rubbing her?"

"I.. I.." Seven pulled her hand back. "I thought it was a friendly gesture."

Again B'Elanna laughed. "I guess some people take it that way. I don't care to be pawed." She turned her attention back to the gel pack. "Now, if we can just tweak these little..." Her tongue just barely stuck past her teeth as she carefully soldered the last tiny wire. The console above them flickered to life, its screen nearly painfully bright in the darkened space. "Yes!"

Seven sprang into action, quickly reaching up to check that the console could read whether there was any life left in the main computer or not. The console beeped twice in response to her hand, then shorted, releasing a shower of sparks across their laps that lit the whole cockpit up like a streak of lighting. Both girls squealed in surprise, flinging themselves back from the exposed circuitry.

"What the hell?!" Chakotay jerked awake, sitting up and twisting around to see the two girls sprawled together on the floor.

"Damnit all!" B'Elanna groaned as Seven pulled her up to sit. She all but pouted at the gel pack dangling precariously from the one wire that didn't fuse in the short. "I was so close.."

Chakotay was across the cockpit in two seconds, checking them both for injuries. "What did you do?" He sighed in relief when the two girls were startled but not singed.

"Tried to get the power back on." B'Elanna said with a sigh.

Seven moved back to the wiring, taking the gel pack and snatching it off the wires before turning to the opps console and slipping beneath it. "The main computer isn't one hundred percent dead." she said, yanking the bottom cover plate off and tossing it away from her with a thud.

"It's not?" B'Elanna slid over to her side, grabbing up her laser screwdriver and joining the blonde beneath the console. "Hand me that wire. No, that one!" B'Elanna held up her tool to Seven. "Here, get that one!" She pulled the motherboard down out of the console and into their lap.

"Cross these two." Seven said, pointing out two tiny connections, using her cybernetic eye to follow their path across the motherboard. "Right here." When B'Elanna touched the little laser tool to the wires, the air vents in the ceiling began to blow air.

"We did it!" B'Elanna reached over and hugged Seven in her exuberance. "We've got HVAC!"

"How, without the console?" Chakotay asked, noting that the console was dead as a doornail.

"We bypassed it." said B'Elanna, gently setting the motherboard down with the little gel pack. "This gel pack will only last for a day or so. We will have to start harvesting the others tomorrow."

"So we can get power back?" asked the commander.

Seven shook her head. "The ship is too damaged for full power." she answered. "But we can bypass a few tiny things here and there maybe."

B'Elanna stood up, walking to the air vent above the door to the midsection. As she approached, the door itself slid fully open, dropping the heavy bent bar that had been propping it. It fell with a loud clang and rolled the two steps through the midsection and down into the aft, startling all five inhabitants.

"What the hell?!" Tom shot up out of his bed at the noise, Harry right behind him.

B'Elanna chuckled. "Looks like we've got doors, too." She opened the little door to the lavatory, poking her head inside. "Damnit, bathroom doesn't work though."

"What is going on?" asked Tom.

"Hey, it's not freezing anymore." Harry said, his eyes bright. "Did you get power back?"

The door to the cockpit shut behind B'Elanna as she walked down the two steps to the aft. "Just heat and doors, apparently." she answered. "Now we won't freeze!" The door slid back open for Chakotay and Seven to come down into the aft as well. "We can be a little more comfortable as we wait for Voyager to come rescue us."

"This is so much better." Harry was practically giddy. Tom chuckled along with him, enjoying the warmth returning to the room.

"Hopefully it holds out." said Chakotay. He glanced at Seven. "I'm still tired. What about you?" When she nodded, hiding a yawn behind her hand, he stepped back up the two steps. "Venga, chika." he said to her, then glanced at the other three already resettling down. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight." said B'Elanna, laying down between Harry and Tom.

"See ya." said Harry, happily curling in his blanket. Tom waved them off, curling around his wife.

Inside the cockpit, behind the now-closed door, Chakotay pulled his shirt off and tossed it over the back of the tactical console before retaking his place on the camp mattresses. When Seven knelt down beside him to take her place, he pulled her down into his arms, putting her head over his heart and giving the crown of her head a quick kiss. "Goodnight, mi amor."

The warmth from his skin, and the soothing sound of his heartbeat lulled her quickly back towards sleep. With a little smile as she curled closer to his side, she turned her head enough to kiss the skin over his heart. "Goodnight, Querido."

XXX

"Oh Lord..." Kathryn muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she turned from the dressing mirror to pull on her robe. "Let's get this day over with as fast as possible..." The last time she had worn this particular bathrobe, there had been a horny, insistent Q stalking her. Heaven help, she sure didn't need that mess all over again. She walked into her living area as the door chimed. "Computer, who is at my door?" 'It better not be Q... That's all I need to deal with today...'

*"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is outside your quarters."*

The Captain grabbed the robe's belt, pulling it tight at her waist. "Come in."

When the door swished open, Tuvok stepped in, eyes up and forward and as far away from her as they could be without him turning around. He, too was in a purple bathrobe and nothing else- bare calves and feet beneath, and a swatch of dark skin visible at the part beneath his throat. "Captain." he said by way of greeting.

"Tuvok." she returned, also avoiding his eyes. She unconsciously tightened the knot in her belt again, curling her toes into the carpet. "I assume you are ready to get this over with."

"Yes, Captain." he answered. "The Tinvariian council is waiting in the transporter room. I have requested they remain there while I came to retrieve you."

"Good thinking." said Kathryn. "It wouldn't do to have four naked Tinvariians traipsing about the ship. Think of the scandal." She managed a smirk, and he finally met her eyes. "Come on, Tuvok. Let's go on and be done."

"Captain." he nodded, turning back towards the door.

"Let's just hope the dilithium yield is worth it."

"Yes, Captain."

XXX

The Grand Church of the Seventy-Three Divines loomed hundreds of meters high, it's polished silver walls glinting in the light of binary suns. Stained glass windows portrayed the humors and tragedies of the seventy-three Divines and their Tinvarii compatriots, all played out in the bright shades of purple and green that dominated the planet and its inhabitants. Purple and green clothes kept the people warm- outside of church, at least- purple and green buildings housed them, and purple and green food kept their bellies full. The sky overhead had a purple tint to it due to the unique mixture of trace elements that made up the planet's ozone layer, and the grass below grew lush in a vibrant emerald.

Kathryn again tightened her belt, stepping up to the giant purple doors. She glanced at Tuvok beside her, keeping her eyes up. "Welcome to Oz, Tuvok.."

Tuvok nearly scowled. "Captain?"

"Old Earth movie.. ask Tom about it sometime." When Tuvok only gave her the same flat but slightly curious look, she smirked, gesturing to the doors. "Well? Shall we?"

"We shall." he returned, one eyebrow still slightly raised. "After you?"

"Such a gentleman." The Captain chuckled, stepping through the tall doors.

"Captain!" The High Rectress stood in the middle of a circle of seventy-three lesser priests that lined the room, her arms outstretched, purple and green robes pooling around her feet. She smiled, ushering the two Starfleet officers towards her. "Come! Come! The Grand High is awaiting you in the Interim Hall."

"We are eager to meet with him." said Kathryn, stopping just shy of the yards of purple and green fabric on the floor. Her bare feet were cold on the silver metallic floor.

"This way, please." said the High Rectress, gesturing to the long hallway behind her. "He is awaiting within."

Within was down a hallway at least fifty meters long, and as far as Kathryn could tell, had refrigerated flooring. At the end of the cold hallway was an even colder chamber lined with benches, cubby holes, and with hooks on the walls. It was now or never time.

"Here we go." Kathryn muttered, walking to the last hook on the wall, and untying her belt. Untied, she quickly pulled her robe off and hung it on the hook. The chill in the air immediately hit her body, raising goosebumps all down her bare belly and up her back. With a shiver, she turned around. Tuvok had just dropped his robe, facing away from her, inadvertently giving her an eyeful of his bare back end. Her eyes snapped up to the back of his head. 'Don't look down- don't look down- don't look down-'

"Ready, Captain?" he asked, his eyes looking over her right shoulder instead of meeting her own when he turned towards her.

"Er, yes.." she answered, gesturing to the door. "Lead the way."

"Yes, Captain." He nodded, walking ahead of her.

She took a step back, making way, and instinctively dropped her eyes to her feet. With a gulp and a jump in her heartbeat, she popped her eyes back up to the back of his head before she caught sight of something she didn't want to. 'Do NOT look down, Kathryn- don't you do it! Eyes up, feet forward!'

XXX

"And this," Tal said, trying to keep her voice loud and even as she ushered the group of ten Tinvariians into the room, "Is the mess hall. Our cook, Chell, does his best to come up with all sorts of delicious nibbles. If you would like, we can take a break, and you can try some of the refreshments he has prepared for you." She managed another smile before dodging into the galley. "Chell! Chell..."

The blue chef popped up from behind the last shelving unit, a grease-smeared apron over his uniform and a white chef's hat on his head. "Tal! How nice to see ya!" He blanched. "Oh, is it time? I thought the tour wouldn't be here for another thirty-"

"We went fast!" The young Bejoran hissed a whisper, her eyes just as wide and panicked. "I don't know what I'm doing out here, Chell! I know I told Harr- er, I mean, I know the Captain wanted me to give them the grand tour but they keep asking me all these quest-"

"Promised Mister Harry, eh?" The Bolian waggled his eyebrows. "And how is our Mister Kim, huh? More importantly, how are you doing without your little lover boy?"

"Shut up, Chell, and help me!" Tal's eyes took on the luster and hue of a puppy-dog's. "Please? Just throw some food at them and let me sit in here and hyperventilate for, like, ten minutes?"

Chell chuckled, setting down the bowl of Arelian fire fruit. "Okay, okay, hyperventilate away." He said, pulling his apron off. He steadied the panicky Bajoran with his hands on her elbows, gently placing her against the wall to lean. "Just don't breathe on my souffle- it'll deflate!" With a playful pat on Tal's cheek, he turned and walked back out to the messhall. "Chancellor! How lovely of you to pay our measly little mess hall a visit!"

Tal let out a sigh, slowly sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and sticking her thumbnail between her teeth. 'I'm gonna kill you, Harry...'

While the young crewman calmed down, Chell was in his element. The Bolian pulled off his chef's hat and set it on the counter as he held his hand out in greeting to the Tinvarii. "I half-expected you all to be in the buff! Pin a rose on my nose!" He shook the leader's hand. "I hope you came hungry, because I have prepared quite the selection of hors d'oeuvres for you!" He gently shuffled the group to the long buffet table. "Try the Bolian cheese curds- they are divine! And for the spice lovers I have some spicy stuffed olives! Yes, those black ones, there- here you go! Eat up!" With a final smile, he slipped back into the galley to check on Tal.

"Thanks, Chell. I owe you one." Tal said softly, head in her hands on the floor. She sighed, pulling her hands down and looking up at the smiling Bolian.

"Don't worry about it." said Chell, pulling a cup down from the shelf and filling it with light blue liquid. He handed it down to Tal with a gentle smile. "Here, just have a drink and get your bearings. I'll have them grazing for at least an hour if I have anything to say about it!"

"I'm glad you're so happy about it."

"Of course I'm happy about it! That last case of cheese from that little convoy we passed by a few weeks ago was starting to turn. This way, we make the locals happy and get rid of the cheese all in one go." said Chell, pouring himself a glass of blue. He paused, sobering, a thoughtful scowl on his face. "I just hope they aren't lactose intolerant..."

Tal grinned, giggling at him. "You better hope not!"

"See, there's a smile." Chell said, taking a sip. "You're gonna be all right. Everything is going to be fine!"

XXX

"Ayala! Ayala!" Chell sprinted from the lift onto the bridge, skidding to a stop at the railing before spinning around to the tactical station and the started ex-Maquis officer working there. "There you are!" the Bolian panted, grabbing the station with both hands.

"What's wrong, Chell?" asked Ayala, giving the blue man a smirk. "Set the galley on fire again?"

"That was one time, and-" Chell shook his head. "We have to get the Captain! Now!"

Ayala's smirk turned into a frown. "Why?"

"The Tinvarii are in the mess hall, and-"

"You didn't poison them, did you?" Megan Delaney asked from her station, smirking at the chef.

He scowled back at her for two seconds. "I'll have you know that they LOVE my food, thank you very much!" He turned back to Ayala. "One of the Tinvarii was talking to me about their dilithium market and I mentioned the planet that Chakotay and B'Elanna are on, and he said that it is a cursed planet! We have to tell the Captain, and then head back for Chakotay!"

"Woah, woah, woah." Ayala waved his hands in front of Chell, cutting his panic off. "Slow down. What about Chakotay?"

"The planet that Chakotay and B'Elanna and Paris and Kim and Seven of Nine are on? The one we left them behind to explore while we came here?" Chell tried to explain it like one would explain it to a small child. "The planet that was just chock full of dilithium and selinium or whatever the hell else its full of?" When Ayala nodded, rolling his eyes, Chell continued. "The reason that a freaking diamond is just sitting in space like a cherry ready to be picked off the tree is because the whole planet is a freaking DEATH TRAP!" He grabbed Ayala's shoulders. "Now would you PLEASE contact the Captain?"

Behind them, standing at the opps console, Icheb looked up, watching the Bolian with a more serious than normal expression. "Crewman?" When Chell looked his way, he continued. "What do you mean by the phrase 'death trap'?"

"Oh, you dear boy." Chell murmured. "Your mother is down there, too." He turned back to Ayala. "Get the Captain on the comm!"

"Crewman." Icheb would allow the crewman's slip for now if he would clarify. "Elaborate on the phrase 'death trap', please."

"The Tinvarii believe that there is a presence on the planet." Chell answered. "A thing that hunts and stalks until it gets you! They used to send murderers and rapists to the planet for execution by the creature, monitoring their lifesigns from their ship, and they would be picked off one by one- all dead within a week!"

"But surely these are superstitions. Seven and I scanned the planet before she brought the idea of the mission up to the Captain with Ensign Kim." said Icheb, a frown forming on his face.

"All the cultures we come across have some sort of demon story." Megan said dismissively, losing interest in the conversation and turning back to her console. "That doesn't make them real."

"We aren't talking about some kooky little horned midget running rampant in the streets to pick off sinners!" Chell grumbled. "We are talking about a planet that the Tinvarii use as a DEATH PLANET... Shouldn't the words DEATH PLANET be enough to contact the CAPTAIN over?"

"Look, even if I wanted to contact the Captain, she does not have a comm badge right now. She's in church!" Ayala explained. "Now, they will be done with whatever the heck church is in another couple of hours, and you can tell her all this then."

Icheb left his post, observing opps, and walked over to Chell. "Where is this Tinvarii that has told you these stories of the planet Seven is on?"

Chell gave the boy an almost guilty look. "He's in the mess hall."

"I would like to hear for myself the story of the planet. Permission to leave the bridge, Lietuenant?" Icheb asked, back ramrod straight as he stood before the two ex-Maquis officers.

"Granted." said Ayala. He gestured to Chell. "Take him with you. The Captain will be back in a few hours. No need to panic until then."

"Oh..Oh... YOU!" Chell hissed, turning from Ayala and stalking into the turbolift, holding the door until Icheb joined him.

XXX

"You'll only have about fifteen minutes before Ayala sends a team after you." Chell said, punching in the coordinants for the temple as Icheb took his place on the transporter pad. "Isn't that right, Ensign?" The young ensign nodded, standing leaned against the wall to count his newly acquired holodeck chips while Chell took over his console for a moment.

"Didn't see a thing." he commented, holding one yellow isolinear chip up to the light for better inspection.

"I will hurry, Crewman." said Icheb, standing to attention as the transporter took affect.

Outside of the temple, Icheb quickly got his bearings, pulling out a tricorder and scanning for the captain and Tuvok's lifesigns. They were definitely still in the temple. There were no guards to hinder him, and no one milling about seemed to pay him any mind whatsoever, so he quickly walked to the temple doors.

"Hello, Pilgrim." In the middle of the giant room inside the doors, a woman in purple and green robes stood in the midst of a circle of others. All stood at attention as Icheb stepped inside. The woman in the middle, obviously the one in charge, smiled at him. "You are a long way from your home. What may we help you with today?"

"I have come to speak to my Captain. She is down here visiting this temple." Icheb answered. "It is very important that I see her... Immediately."

"Of course." said the High Rectress. She lifted one arm, the rustle of several yards of purple and green fabric loud in the eerily quiet domed room. Pointing to the long hallway behind her, she spoke. "Your Captain and her Officer are in the Interim with the Grand High. The daily prayer has passed. You may now enter."

Icheb nodded once, taking off at a brisk pace towards the hallway. "Thank you."

"Pilgrim." The High Rectress held her arm out to him again. "There are customs to follow- a sacrament to be made."

"What?"

"No one who enters the Interim may do so with false flesh. All must be bare in the presence of the Gods." Her face turned to view him fully. "You are not yet a man. You may wear a covering."

One of the lesser priestesses around the room walked forward, holding out a thin bit of cloth on two strings. "Your clothes may be hung." she said finally, turning from him and back towards the doorway.

Icheb turned the bit of fabric over in his hands. "...okay. Thank you." he said, hurrying off down the long, cold hallway. He breezed into the cold locker room, thankful that his Borg enhancements kept him from feeling the chill as thoroughly as the next unassimilated person. Two robes hung on either side of the room on hooks. He assumed that they were the Captain's and Tuvok's. Glancing back down the long hallway towards the High Rectress, and seeing that she was no longer paying him any mind, he began to undress.

Without his pants and shirt, his Borg enhancements no longer kept him from feeling the lack of warmth in the chamber. Goosebumps bloomed up and down his arms as he pulled the ties of the loincloth around his hips. As he looped the cord around his finger, his hands began to shiver from the cold. After the fifth failed try at a bow, he pulled the loincloth from his body in frustration. "Irrelevant!" he muttered with a frown, dropping the piece of fabric on the floor and walking resolutely into the next chamber, nude as the day he'd been born.

He walked through five separate chambers- each larger and colder than the one before. Every room was silver-floored with a large domed ceiling hung with green and purple tapestries. Every chamber lead him deeper and deeper into the temple, until only a porthole skylight and pillar-hung torches lit the rooms. Finally, at the doorway to the sixth chamber, he could feel warmth radiating from the door he was about to cross, and could hear the soft slosh of water.

The double doors slid open, revealing a large set of stairs down into the next large chamber. At the bottom was a grand silver altar raised above a floor of cloudy teal water. Below him, the Captain and Tuvok stood naked in water up to their knees, speaking with three Tinvarii, also naked but for their ceremonial headdresses.

"Captain!" he called out, quickly walking down the steps.

Kathryn jumped, startled, as her name echoed off the silver walls. She and Tuvok turned as one to the staircase, staring open-mouthed at the young boy quickly coming down the steps.

"Icheb!" Kathryn turned from him, "What are you doing here?!"

"It is urgent that I speak with you!" said Icheb, sloshing into the water. He stopped behind his superior officers, and turned to the three Tinvarii. He bowed a little. "I apologize for my interruption."

"We were just finishing up." said one with a smile. "We will meet you in the Interim Hall once you are finished." The three bowed to the Captain and Tuvok, bowed to the altar, and filed up the steps and out the door.

"What did you need, Ensign?" asked Tuvok, facing the stoic young man, meeting his eyes. "Who authorized your transport to the surface?"

"I authorized my own transport." said Icheb, taking a step closer. "Seven could be in danger!"

Kathryn whirled around to face him, meeped, and then whirled back. "What do you mean Seven could be in danger?"

"The planet that they are on is the home of a creature that the Tinvarii use as judge, jury, and executioner for thieves, murderers, and rapists." answered the young man. "The longer they are on that planet, the more likely that they will also become prey to the creature."

"Creature?" Again, the Captain whirled around. She slapped one arm over her breasts, the other reaching down to cover her groin. Icheb met her eyes, unbothered. She scowled. "Damnit, son, turn around!" she half-yelled.

"Captain?" Icheb's eyes widened and he spun around.

"It's not right for you to come down here and see your Captain naked." groused Kathryn.

"I assure you, Captain, that I find nothing offensive by the human body." said Icheb, taking on his adopted mother's at ease stance as he studied the silver staircase he now faced. "Or the Vulcan body, Lieutenant." he added.

"Be that as it may, you are a minor, and this is not appropriate behavior, Icheb." Kathryn struggled to keep her voice even. "Turn to the wall." When the boy followed her order, turning ninety degrees, she stalked behind him and up the steps. "I'm getting a robe. Once I have a robe, I will listen to you. Not a second before."

"Watch your step, Captain." Icheb said congenially, staring at the wall and the purple and green tapestry hanging there.

Kathryn cringed. "Icheb!"

When the door slid shut behind the Captain, Icheb turned to Tuvok. "Why-?"

"Humans do not like to be viewed naked." Tuvok said, cutting the boy off.

The young man scrunched his nose for a heartbeat or two. "The Captain has as pleasing a body as the next human, Lieutenant." he said, totally nonplussed. "Seven does not hold similar reservations."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment.

"Humans are strange creatures, are they not?" asked the boy, turning and beginning to slosh his way back to the steps.

The Lieutenant watched him, forcing his eyebrow back down into place. "Indeed."

XXX

Chell tried not to look as irritated and nervous as he felt, standing at attention, eyes on the far wall, waiting. Beside him, Icheb was the epitome of calm and cool. The younger man stood as he always did without an ounce of emotion visible to the world around him. Chell rolled his eyes and grit his teeth, unable to hold back any longer. "Captain, don't you-"

Kathryn glanced up from her second cup of hot coffee since they had returned from the Tinvarii world. She was sure she would need at least two more to warm up from the cold temple, and at least two shots of whiskey in the last one to get over the awkwardness she felt every time she now looked at her pseudo-daughter's son. 'Ugh..' "I don't believe I gave you permission to speak, Crewman." she cut off the Bolian before he could get started again. "Coffee first- it's freezing in here."

Icheb scowled. "The ambient temperature of the room is-"

"Hush, Crewman." Kathryn took in the last swig of her coffee, and set the cup down on the desk with a satisfied sigh. "Now, one at a time, tell me why you two felt the need to bribe your way onto the planet, break planet-side protocol for away missions, and interrupt an important meeting between myself and the leaders of this colony-" She scowled at Icheb. "-Nude?" Both crewman began to speak at the same time, both voices impassioned in their own way. Chell wove his hands around as he spoke, inflecting his speech; Icheb stood fully to attention, speaking without looking at her directly. She waved them both into silence before pinching the bridge of her nose.

Tuvok, who had stood silently beside her desk, finally spoke. "Crewman Chell, as the more senior crewman, you may speak first."

"Thank you." Chell said in an exaggerated tone. "So I was serving the group Tal lead around earlier, and as they were enjoying the cheese tarts I made one of the Tinvarri started talking to me about the dilithium trade." He looked from Tuvok to the Captain as she ordered her third coffee. "And the planet we left Chakotay and B'Elanna on came up. The Tinvarri told me that the whole planet is a death trap- that's why it's just sitting there in space like the cherry on top of a sundae! We have to go back for them! Now!"

"You are basing this off of the speculative conversation you had with one Tinvarri?" Tuvok asked for clarification.

"No!" Chell scowled. "The whole group said the same thing. That planet is a death planet! They used it as a means to execute their worst criminals because everyone that sets foot on that planet dies!"

"Captain, Seven is-"

"Icheb." Kathryn cut him off again. Her own retort was cut off by a chime at the door. She glanced at Tuvok, and he crossed the Ready Room to answer the door.

Standing on the other side, was a tall, white-haired Tinvarri, dressed in a green pant suit with a purple lab coat. He stepped inside with regal posture, the bushy white mustache wiggling on his face as he licked his lips before speaking. "Captain Janeway, I presume." He offered her a little bow, coming to stand beside Icheb and Chell.

"Yes." Kathryn held out her hand in greeting, allowing him to give it a firm- if not curious- shake. "And you are?"

"I am Professor Menton." he answered. "I am the top biophysicist on Tinvari II. It was I who informed your... underlings.. of the Creature and the planet it resides on."

"Oh, I see." said the Captain. "Would you care to tell us what you told them?"

"Of course, Captain." said the professor, reaching up with both hands and holding the lapels of his lab coat. He straightened his back and prepared his speech. "Back several generations ago, as we were making our first long leaps and bounds off of our homeworld, we stumbled across the planet. It was rich in dilithium, mercurianium, and seven or eight other trace elements that we could use to power our ships, strengthen our hulls, and feed our people. Our Officials sent a complement of ten smaller ships with approximately twenty crewman each out to begin mining the planet. All was good and well that first trip. They loaded up the first five ships, and sent them back home, intending to quickly fill the last and follow them." He paused, dropping his hands to cross them over his belly. "They never made it."

"Professor?"

The older man smiled- or so it seemed behind the bushy mustache that hid his lips. "Space travel was still slow then without warp drives. It took a good month of waiting to realize that the last ships were not coming- that something must have gone wrong. When we recovered the ships many months later, there was no sign of any crewmen alive or dead anywhere on the planet. The ships themselves were destroyed- dismantled and broken, one burned so hot that the hull had melted away in places. There were no bodies, no skeletons to be found." He paused again with a sigh. "We later brought those ships back home in the cargo bay of our largest freighter- at that time, at least- to study them, but could gleam no valuable information from them. They were so damaged that all the logs were lost. It was as if our people had just disappeared. There was still a stock of food, water, and weapons on each ship, so we know they did not starve- and if they had, where were the bodies?"

"Did you scan the surface for your crewman?" Tuvok asked stoically.

"Our scanners were not as advanced then, and even now cannot map the entire planet. There are pockets of natural radiation the planet gives off that seem to move now and then over the surface. We found our ships. Nothing more. We sent another dozen ships again months later, this time with some of our best scientists, to study the planet and try to solve this mystery. They lasted a few weeks before the creature found them."

Kathryn perked up. "Creature?" She scowled. "What creature?"

"We don't know if it is indigenous to the planet, or if it was long ago lost there. We don't know if it is one or many. No one alive even knows what it really looks like. The only thing we do know about it is that it hunts. It will hunt you down, picking your group off one by one by one until it has you all, and no one is ever seen alive or dead afterwards." The professor looked from Kathryn to Tuvok and back. "Once upon a time, we used the threat of the planet as a means of punishing our murderers, rapists, and thieves- back when we were technologically advanced, yes, but not quite so civilized. We would drop a group of twenty down on the planet, and monitor them from above. No one lasted longer than a week."

"And you have no idea what happens to them once they are left on the planet?" asked Tuvok.

"No. Only what our scanners show- that they run, and hide, and then are gone."

"How do you know, then, that it is a creature?"

"A physical, tangible creature?" The professor's mustache wiggled again. "We cannot know. All we know is that there IS something down there. Something dangerous. Deadly. That is why we call the planet Decissis. It means 'death' in old high Tinvar. That planet, she hangs there in space, taunting us. It is a precious gem in a sea of nothing- attracting explorers to it like flies to honey- and then consuming them. If you left your people on that planet, they very likely are dead by now, Captain. I'm sorry."

"If this planet is as dangerous as you say it is, why are there no beacons or subspace transmissions set up to warn people from going there?!" Kathryn demanded, turning to begin pacing along the length of the room. She went to the replicator and punched in the code for another cup of coffee.

"You are in Tinvarii space, Captain." returned the professor. "No one else enters Tinvarii space that we are unaware of. There should not be any need for such warnings."

"Well, that may be something for your people to look into." Kathryn gestured for Tuvok to follow her. "With me." she said, leading him out to the bridge. The leaders in the temple would need to be contacted, the dignitaries returned, and the ship turned around. STAT.

XXX

"Go fish." B'Elanna smirked at Harry, watching him grab yet another card from the pile with abject glee. "Your turn, Tom."

"Got any fours?" he asked.

"Nope." said the half Klingon. "Go fish."

Seven was comfortably slouched over on the bench, watching the three play with the deck of cards Tom had found stuck in the bin where the now broken boombox had been. Beside her, Chakotay was reading one of the last PADDs with power when he wasn't laughing at B'Elanna beating the pants off Tom and Harry. "What is the point of this fishing game?" she finally asked.

"To be the first one without any cards." answered B'Elanna, holding up her last three with a smile. "I'm down to three. How many do you have, Starfleet?"

The young ensign harrumphed. "Eleven..."

Their day had been spent in the confines of the shuttle. They had lounged around most of the morning, enjoying the air conditioning on the hot planet, only leaving the shuttle to make group trips to the bathroom. Lunch had come and gone, and now it was late afternoon. Outside, the sky was beginning to pinken on one side, and darken with rainclouds on the other. The inside of the aft was beginning to dim from the limited light allowed in by the propped open doors to the cockpit. As the shaft of light had slowly began moving across the aft, so too had B'Elanna, Tom, and Harry, scooting down so they could still see the numbers on their cards.

"I'm surprised you're awake, Sister." Tom commented, drawing a card from the pile with a frown. "You've slept away most of today."

"You have slept as well." returned the ex-drone. "I remember you draped over B'Elanna and Harry, snoring away not two hours ago."

"Oh, I have napped." agreed Tom with a smile, pointing Harry in the direction of the pile to take on yet another card. "But you've been cat-napping all day." He smirked at her. "Been up all night?"

"No." Seven shook her head, ignoring his point. "Making up for lost time."

"Making up for lost time with the volume of that snore." teased the pilot. He laughed at the scowl that drew across Seven's face.

"I do not snore."

"Why don't we move to the cockpit and play a real game?" asked Chakotay, powering off the PADD and laying it down beside him on the bench.

"Like what?" B'Elanna asked.

"How about some poker?" the commander suggested, reaching out and nudging Seven until she changed directions and leaned on his shoulder. "That's more interesting than Go Fish. Preschoolers play Go Fish."

"I was playing Poker in preschool." laughed Tom. "One of the only things my old man taught me." He shook his head as if to shake the memory away. "Anyway, we don't have any chips. We're lucky I found the cards."

"We don't need chips." said Chakotay. "We can use something else in their place..." His eyes landed on the canister of food. "We could use the berries... Snozzberries are worth one, blue strawberries are worth ten, and the green fruit are twenty-five."

Harry beamed. "Yeah, that would work!" He leaned over and pulled the canister to him.

"Just don't bruise all the food- we need it to last til breakfast." said B'Elanna, using Tom's shoulder to help her stand. He mocked wincing, then ducked her hand reaching out to swat him, both of them laughing at his antics.

"Grab the cards." said Harry, picking up the Go Fish pile while Tom gathered the rest, and both men carried them into the cockpit.

Tom paused at the doorway to the cockpit. "Well, would you look at that.."

"What?" asked B'Elanna.

"It's starting to sprinkle." answered Harry, pushing past Tom with the cards.

"Vamos, mi amada." said Chakotay, standing. He waited for Seven to stand before moving into the cockpit, missing the slight wince as she put weight on her leg to follow him.

In the cockpit, B'Elanna had taken up residence on the edge of Seven's camp mattress while she watched Tom and Harry turn all the cards to face the same way before shuffling them. The windscreen above and around the cockpit was dotted with raindrops, several pooling together to make one fat drop and roll down the side of the shuttle. Chakotay squeezed back past Seven to get the lantern from the aft in case they needed it sooner than they thought. When he came back in, Seven was settled beside B'Elanna, and Tom was shuffling the cards while Harry watched the clouds rolling down from the mountains around the valley.

"Alright, let's get this game going." Tom said, going around the circle dealing cards.

Seven looked down at the card placed in front of her in dismay. "I do not know how to play this game."

Tom stopped shuffling. "Oh." he said uncertainly. "Well, uh, we can-"

"Here, I'll teach you." said Chakotay, handing his two cards back to Tom to be reshuffled. He sat down behind her, stretching his legs out on either side of her's, and looking over her shoulder. As Tom continued dealing, he reached around her and picked the cards up one by one. "Alright, now, the object of the game..." he began, lifting her hand up and fanning the cards in it so that they both could see.

"Is to win." B'Elanna supplied. "It's easy- place a bet, then hope you have a better hand than everyone else."

"Hand?" Seven raised her eyebrows, turning to look over at B'Elanna beside them in confusion.

"The cards in your hand- your hand." elaborated Harry. "It's okay- I'm not good at poker, so you won't be the worst one in the shuttle."

"Well, with me teaching her," said the commander with a smirk, "She will be beating the pants off of all you pretty quick."

"Is that so?" challenged Tom.

"Oh, it-" A loud clap of thunder cut Chakotay's boast off. The floor beneath them seemed to shudder with the sound. As all five faces turned to look out the windscreen, the skies opened up, and the rain began to beat down in earnest.

"Kahless, it's been so long since I've heard the sound of rain.." B'Elanna breathed, smiling as she watched the rain roll in rivulets down the windscreen. "Real rain- not just holographic rain." She looked over to Tom. "Let's go open the hatch."

"What? Why?" asked the pilot.

"So we can watch the rain- duh!" returned the half-Klingon. "Come on- we can play by the hatch while we watch the rain. We forgot to bring the canister of berries in here anyway." She mock-pouted at him.

Tom tried to look stern, but he couldn't resist the brown eyes staring at him so hopefully. "I'm down." he said. "Keep hold of your hands." He looked at Harry and Chakotay. "You guys okay with moving back?"

"Sure." said Harry.

The commander nodded, scooting back from Seven so he could stand up as they all began the move back into the darker aft. While the girls moved the bedding away from the hatch in case the rain blew inside, the boys unlocked and lowered it.

"With the overhang on the back of the flyer," B'Elanna said, leaning against Tom's side as she watched the rain picking up outside. "I could almost pretend I was at my Abuela's house sitting on her front porch again." With the force of the rain rising outside, she had to raise her voice a little to be heard. "We used to watch the rain and drink horchata together."

"Wow, it's really coming down." Tom muttered, watching the rain sheet down around the Flyer, running in a river across their campsite, drowning the firepit and washing the ash and kindling away. He glanced over at Chakotay. "Did you get up and dance while our backs were turned?" He chuckled. "Quick- someone tie his feet before he brings on a hurricane!"

Chakotay laughed. "Yeah, yeah, blame the indian." He sat down on the floor by the hatch, and gently pulled Seven to sit between his legs again with her handful of cards. With her back resting comfortably against his chest, he looked over the cards again, rearranging their order. "Last time I checked, B'Elanna was the only one around here called 'Chief'."

B'Elanna snorted, easing down next to the couple with a quiet grunt of effort, her rounded belly throwing off her balance. "They don't call me chief because I can do a mean rain dance."

Harry and Tom took up places beside B'Elanna, shuffling their own playing cards. Outside the open hatch, the rain continued to pour. Thunder rumbling loud enough to vibrate the shuttle walls accompanied bright streaks of lightning and wind that ripped leaves from the trees. The threat of the hatch needing to be closed before the water level rose enough to flow into the shuttle loomed over them as the rain rolled down into the crater they were in. Above them, the darker rainclouds were already blacking out the skies as the storm blew down from the mountains around them.

"Alright, guys," Tom began, fanning his cards with a playful flourish, "Jokers are wild. Who's going first?"

"What is a joker?" asked Seven, hiding a yawn behind her free hand.

"It's a card with a clown on it. It says Joker. You'll know it when you see it." answered Chakotay. "Since they are wild, they are the same as a number two card."

"Why are they the same as a number two card?" asked the blonde.

"Because they are wild." said Tom. "I'm going first. Starting at five snozzberries."

"I'm in." B'Elanna added her own handful to the pile Tom was starting on one of the canister lids.

Harry paused, his hand halfway to his mouth with the small berries. He swallowed the handful already in his mouth with a grimace. "Oh, crap," he mumbled. "I forgot we were betting with the berries.."

B'Elanna laughed, grabbing him another handful from the canister behind her. "Here. You owe the bank five."

"Okay, I'm in." he said, rolling the berries into the canister lid.

"We're in." said Chakotay, dropping a blue strawberry into the lid. "And raising you five."

"Oh, you are, are ya?" Tom raised an eyebrow with an amused smirk. "I'll take that bet.."

"Look at it out there.. The skies just opened up.." said Harry, holding his hand of cards against his chest to keep Tom from peeking while he watched the rain. "Think it will last a while?"

"I don't know." mumbled Tom, watching a piece of the broken shuttle bits float by the edge of the hatch door. "Oh look- that used to go to the replicator.."

B'Elanna pat his back in sympathy. "Yes, Baby, that used to be part of the replicator... and there goes a piece of the hull plating.."

The blonde man scowled, looking down at his cards. "This is depressing."

"Maybe we should rethink using the berries.." Chakotay mumbled, leaning his head over Seven's shoulder to look out the hatch, his hands dropping from holding her cards up to wrap his arms around her waist. He held in the satisfied smirk that threatened to bloom across his face when she sunk deeper into his embrace. "If it keeps up all night, it will be a mudslick hike to get more food tomorrow morning. We should substitute a few more ration bars."

"True." agreed B'Elanna, dropping her cards in the lid with the bet berries. "I have a crappy hand anyway." She leaned over Tom, looking at his hand before snatching it from his grip despite his protesting grunt. "So do you, Tom."

"But they didn't know that!" Tom grumbled, gesturing to Harry, Chakotay, and Seven. "You don't just yell out a guy's hand like that!"

"Look at that." Harry pointed down to the water slowly rising on the ground in front of the hatch. "You don't think it will flood, do you guys?"

"Oh shit." Tom blanched as the idea washed over him. After a second he shook his head. "Surely not- I mean, the water on either side of us isn't that deep, is it?"

"We are in a crater, but the valley goes deeper to the south." said Chakotay. "The trees around here- the ones we didn't fell- show no sign of routine floods. You'd see it in the bark."

"You sure you didn't start this rain, Chief Grey Temples?" teased Tom. "You seem to know an awful lot about it." Harry snorted so hard that it hurt, choking on his next breath before letting out a loud guffaw. B'Elanna chuckled more at Harry than at Tom's quip, moving back to make room for Chakotay to reach out and playfully thwack the young ensign's shoulder. "Don't choke, Harry."

Seven ignored them, soaking up the heat from Chakotay's body. She settled her cards down on his knee alongside her thigh, then held her hand out towards the rain pouring down off of the overhang just beyond her reach. She shifted to lean farther until her human hand made contact with the water sheeting down around them. When the back of her hand touched the water, she inhaled a short gasp. "It's cold." she commented softly.

Chakotay's hand reached out to join her's. He mock-shivered, shaking the water from his hand in Tom and Harry's direction. "Freezing!"

"When I was a kid, I would have loved to run through that." B'Elanna said a bit wistfully, lacing her fingers across her belly as she watched the skies pour. "I'd come back up to my Abuela's porch soaked to the bone and carrying at least two bullfrogs. Once she would talk me into letting them go, she'd wrap me in a big towel and then make a pot of horchata.."

"My mother would never allow me to run in the rain." said Harry. "She always said that I would catch my death."

"I had a bicycle once, and I remember riding through the big mud puddles after a rainstorm like this." said Tom. "When we were planet-side, anyway."

"I.." Seven began quietly, enjoying the tingly feeling the cold water brought her hand, "I have never experienced this particular weather phenomenon before."

"You've never been in.." B'Elanna cut herself off. "Not many rainshowers on cubes, are there?"

"No."

XXX

As soon as the doors had slid shut behind them and the lantern was set down, Chakotay pulled his grey shirt up and over his head, draping it over the back of the chair at tactical. He heard Seven yawn as she toed off her shoes by the door, and smiled at the soft happy sound she made as she laid out on the bedding. When he turned back towards the camp bed, she was laid out on her back, with her legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, one hand folded over the bottom of her ribcage and the other pink human hand curled on the bedding beside her face. Her eyes were dark, making a slow trip down his form, but snapped back to his when he turned. A faint blush rosed her cheeks as he smirked.

He settled next to her, laying on his side and propping his head up with his hand to look down at her face. "Hola, Bella." he whispered, leaning over and pressing his lips against the corner of her's. She smiled, turning her head so that he kissed her fully. When he pulled back, he pecked a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"I like the sound that this rain produces." she murmured happily, turning her head enough to look at the black windscreen. "It is.. soothing." She turned away from him to look up at the windscreen over tactical. After a few seconds of him not following her, she turned and gave him a shy smile, one eyebrow raised.

The lantern was quickly clicked off before he scooted up behind her so that their bodies were flush. Groping around behind him, he yanked one of the silver blankets up and over them, reaching down to make sure that it covered them both. He laid back down before reaching around her, finding her hand, and lacing their fingers. His lips couldn't resist finding the sensitive patch of skin beneath her ear, smiling against the side of her neck when she let out the softest moan and her body melted against his. A happy hum vibrated up her throat as his hand released her's to slip up inside her shirt.

Back in the aft, the sound of B'Elanna and Harry laughing rang loudly into the cockpit. Tom's laughter quickly joined them. Chakotay eased his hand back out of Seven's shirt, turning to look at the door as if he expected one of the others to come through it. Beside him, she shifted, turning her body to face him, and cuddling up against his chest. "Tired." she whispered with a yawn.

"Doesn't sound like they are." chuckled Chakotay, reaching his arm over the small of her back as he turned away from the door.

"Are you?" she hummed.

"I'm getting there." he answered, reaching down and cupping her butt, pulling her tighter against him. Once there wasn't a hair's breadth of space between them, he kissed the top of her head. "That's better. Goodnight, Querida."

XXX

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Special thanks to: Scifiromance, tmtcltb, Alester Boneman, and my three guest reviewers for taking out the time to review me! You are appreciated!

~LM