Neelix panted as he scrambled over the uneven rubble. Stumbling and reeling, he made his way overtop of the collapsed building to where the digging was still going on. The orange light of the setting sun blinded him and he had to squint to make out the silhouettes of the rescue team. He paused, leaning on a twisted metal girder to catch his breath and adjust the satchel he was carrying. With a grunt, he pushed off the girder and continued down towards the team. He, like everyone else, had been working hard since the quake, helping the trapped and injured. As the number of people needing first aid lessened, he had taken it upon himself to look after the rescue personnel. Someone needed to rescue the rescuers, and he knew he was the Telaxian for the job. Reaching the edge of the digging, he thumped down his bag full of food and water rations. "Good news, everyone: Dinner is served."
"Neelix, I could kiss you," said Lt. Torres as she wiped the back of her hand across her ridged forehead. Neelix blushed and handed her a bottle of water has she climbed out of the small pit they had dug. She tossed it down to Vorik in the hole below her and took another for herself. Streams of sweat streaked through the dirt caked on her skin. She gulped down half the bottle then pressed it against her cheek trying to coax the coolness of the remining liquid into her overheated body.
"How's the digging going?" asked Neelix as he handed around ration bars.
"Slowly," answered B'Elanna. "Interference is making our readings erratic, but I'm sure we've got two survivors down there. I think we're close." She handed the empty water bottle back to Neelix and turned to hop back down into the pit.
"Wait," said Neelix, tucking the bottle into his satchel. "Aren't you going to have something to eat?"
B'Elanna waved a dismissive hand at the Telaxian as she jumped down next to Vorik who was shoveling loose gravel out from around a twisted metal panel. "Later. We're too close to stop now."
"But Lieutenant," protested Nelix, "You haven't had a break in hours. If you exhaust yourself—"
"Lieutenant!" Vorik's sharp voice caught everyone's attention. He had stopped digging and was pressing his ear to the metal panel.
"You got something?" whispered B'Elanna crouching beside him. The ensign held up a finger while he strained his keen Vulcan hearing. B'Elanna held her breath as she watched him.
Vorik jumped to his feet. "They are alive and right beneath us." He dug his hands under the panel as best he could and B'Elanna did the same. Together pulled at the crumpled metal, trying to lift it. B'Elanna growled as she her muscles fought to shift the panel. She could hear Vorik grunting between his gritted teeth.
"I see them! A little higher!" She hadn't notice Neelix jump into the pit, but his cry encouraged her to pull. She let out a Klingon roar as she willed her body to lift the panel higher.
Neelix was on his hands and knees in the dirt, peering into the gap under the panel. In the darkness he could make out two bodies lying prone, their feet closest to him. Without hesitation he stuck his head and shoulders under the panel and grabbed the booted ankles of one of the bodies and pulled. Scrabbling backwards, he dragged the dirt covered person out from under the panel into the awaiting hands of other rescue personal and dived back under the panel to get the other body.
"Neelix! Hurry!" Neelix barely heard B'Elanna's hissed plea as he clawed on his belly toward the second person. He grabbed their foot. This one was smaller, just a child. He dragged them out into the open air.
Torris and Vorik dropped the panel with a bang and collapsed onto the ground panting. B'Elanna looked up to see Neelix beaming at her as he knelt next to the Astrudian father and son that he had pulled from the rubble.