The Colonel

by ray gower

In which Voyagers crew start with a mystery, which becomes deeper and gain a new passenger who proves invaluable...

3. 1-03 Friends are Made Like This?

1-03 Friends Are Made Like This?

A freak event leaves Voyager stranded and almost powerless. Seven of Nine and B'Elanna embark on a mission to find the materials needed to effect a repair and the strange soldier provides another facet of his abilities.

Voyager and characters (except the Colonel) in this story are copyright of Paramount. No resemblance is intended to any person alive or dead.

The story line and the Colonel are my own.

Constructive criticism and comments are welcome on e-mail story@rgower.plus.com

If like me you like to know why things occur like they do, I would heartily recommend you start at chapter 1-01 Castaway. Try my home page http://www.thestoryboard.co.uk

This story is rated PG

©R Gower 2001

"Bang!" The reverberations echoed through Engineering as the main power coupling from the anti-matter converter failed again, leaving Voyager drifting in space, as she had been for nearly twelve hours. They thought they had got away with it that time.

The whole of Engineering gazed at it in resignation and waited for the explosion.

It came but it was aimed at a new quarter.

"God dammit, Seven. Get out of my way!" B'Elanna snarled savagely at the slender figure of Seven of Nine as it darted past her towards the failed power coupling. "Better still, get out of my Engine Room and chat up your boyfriend!"

The power coupling she had been working on all morning had proven to be tempermental, tripping every time power was applied. Every time it tripped out she painstakingly pulled it out, rechecked the unit for new faults, adjusted and checked the circuit for overloads, then reinstalled it. Only to have it spat out again two minutes later. Her mood was best described as vile, even her engine room crew, used to their shift commanders tempers, were keeping well clear.

Interference from the Borg they realised would be as gratefully received by the Engineer as a sonic boom over a glass hot house in the snowy wastes of Rigel. It would be even worse if she was proven correct. Subconsciously they took cover from the blazing argument that was to come.

"Boy Friend?" Seven of Nine paused and pondered the term for meaning. "A male social companion, usually linked to the creation of a relationship of an intimate nature," she recited

"I am not engaged in such a relationship. There is nobody aboard this vessel suitable," she decided, before returning her attention to the coupling again.

"Then go back to your 'not a boy friend' Colonel," Torres snapped. "Perhaps he likes you, I don't!"

"The unit is faulty, it should be replaced," Seven argued, reaching for her tricorder, insensitive to the Klingons growing temper. "The continued reinsertion of the unit is inefficient and ineffective."

"I would replace it if I had one!" B'Elanna pointed out in exasperation. With the last vestiges of self control she continued. "But all I have is this second hand one from a one hundred year old Klingon troop ship, that only ever found how to get lost!"

"The Trilite coating inside the unit is imperfect," Seven interrupted, flourishing the tricorder in victory.

"And I'm sure you have one in your pocket?" B'Elanna sneered.

"My garment does not posses a pocket."

The last statement, devoid of emotion or humour, proved too much. Torres launched herself at the tall slim woman in a flurry of nails and teeth.

The surprised looking Seven of Nine stood and calmly repelled the attacks until Security arrived to break them apart.

Captain Janeway stood and gazed at her two crew errant members with barely concealed contempt after they had been frog marched in to face her. She sucked on her teeth hard before speaking, she could do without this.

"What happened?" Her voice was slow and quiet with willed self control.

It was B'Elanna that stepped forward to speak. "I was trying to get a replacement power coupling operational and it was proving difficult," she explained. "Seven barged in as it failed."

"The unit is faulty," Seven protested. "There is little benefit attempting to utilise the component."

The Captain looked back at her Engineer. "Is she right?"

Cautiously B'Elanna nodded. "But it is less faulty than the one I took out. I was hoping to get enough power through it to allow me to complete the replication a new one."

"That is a major power coupling," the Captain pointed out. "Why wasn't there a spare available?"

"The one I took out was the spare," B'Elanna said. "We lost one with the Vordun last week, trying to be a damaged ship. The spare failed during the Ion storm last night. There hasn't been the time for the replication of another one. The Klingon thing is all I have to get mains online again to finish the replication."

The Captain considered her next options carefully.

"I needn't remind you," she said carefully. "That brawling between my officers cannot go unpunished and not to be seen as unpunished. At the same time we are in a Star Ship in the middle of the Delta Quadrant without a warp drive or weapons and you two are amongst my most able crew in your fields and I need your services."

"I am surprised at you B'Elanna," she rounded firmly on her senior engineer. "After your performance last week with the Vordun, I had thought you had really conquered your temper!"

B'Elanna squirmed under the withering fire from her Captain.

"And I had thought that you, Seven, had learnt enough not to interfere with something that had little to do with you and hadn't been asked for help with. Why were you in Engineering?"

"I was looking for old warp components. The Colonel's comprehension is improved if he has items he can touch compared to simulations," Seven admitted.

The Captain softened a little at the mention of their Twentieth Century passenger. "Where is he?"

"He was studying in his quarters," Seven sniffed. She didn't approve of him studying out of her sight.

Captain Janeway turned away and stifled the small grin she could feel forming. The Colonel was Seven's student and she was taking great pains to ensure his education was perfect, but she didn't seem to realise the effects she was having upon him.

Finally she turned back. "Confined to quarters, two weeks. Loss of all privileges, two weeks. B'Elanna go over what needs to be done to get the coupling working with Vorik. Dismissed!" She snapped.

Even that punishment, harsh as it seemed, didn't sound as though it was going to do the trick, she realised. She quite plainly heard B'Elanna say, 'Come near me again and I'll break your nose!' to Seven of Nine as they marched crisply away. She would have to think of something else.

Resigned to that fact she left her Ready Room and headed for Deck 3 and the Colonels quarters, she would have to find somebody else to look after the Colonel, she didn't want him cooling his heels without something to occupy him. The anarchy that could spring from the powerful man, if he was too bored, would make B'Elanna and Seven's squabble look like a pillow fight.

He wasn't in his quarters as Seven of Nine had predicted. In alarm she activated her communicator to get the computer to find him.

"Colonel Samuels is in the Mess," the metallic voice informed her impassively.

A relieved Captain hurried on. Whatever her concerns were they were groundless, she realised, as she burst into the Mess. The Colonel was sat at a table in animated conversation with Tom Paris.

As she drew closer she over heard the subject of the discussion.

"I think you may be getting yourself confused," the Colonel stated firmly. "A lot of the music you have quoted doesn't actually belong to 1954, its actually from several years later. Certainly Bill Hailey didn't make it big until the later half of '58. The people you really need for your simulation are the likes of Buddy Holly, Lonnie Donegan, perhaps some early Elvis and terrifyingly Jim Reeves."

"But the records?" Paris protested.

"Inaccurate as usual," the Colonel deflected. "Remember I was there! They were days of Skiffle, Bee-Bop and ballads not Rock and Roll."

The young Lieutenant subsided into silence at the irrepressible conviction of the taller man. The Colonel smiled quietly in victory, but managed to be magnanimous all at the same time.

"If it is any help, they were getting it wrong long before I left. If you like the music, why don't you simply move the focus of this programme of yours?" He suggested. "The newspaper headlines would change, but you aren't there to read them. You can move the location so it is more Mid-West, then the car won't look out of place for the year."

He caught sight of the Captain approaching and leapt from his chair like a scalded cat, slamming to attention and saluting. "Captain, Ma'am!"

Grinning she waved him back to his seat. "You're supposed to be struggling with the finer points of star navigation," she chastised. "Not teaching my Pilot about Rock and Roll."

"Permission to speak in my defence, Ma'am?" He responded quickly.

"You don't have to gain permission to defend yourself, Colonel. This isn't a trial!" The Captain claimed, shaking her head in surprise.

"Don't I?" He sounded amazed, then recovered slightly. "Sorry, Ma'am."

"And stop apologising!"

"Ma'am!"

She shook her head in disbelief again, he was so strictly formal that he could make Seven of Nine look human at times.

"Permission to report that my studies for this morning have been completed, Ma'am. I was unable to contact Miss Nine for clarification, so I approached Lieutenant Paris for additional guidance, Ma'am," he explained formally. "I formally apologise if my action was incorrect."

She struggled not to laugh at his incongruous seriousness, so badly out of place it seemed, but so authentically 'Him'.

"I'm afraid Seven will not be able to guide you for a while," she explained, recovering. "I think I will have to put you with Ensign Kim for a couple of weeks."

He looked puzzled. "Not done something wrong have I, Ma'am?" He quizzed. "I thought I had been doing rather well recently?"

"No you haven't and yes you are doing very well," she assured him. "But she has been restricted to quarters after an argument with B'Elanna Torres."

"Very good, Ma'am," he didn't seem tremendously impressed.

"I have been assigned to your continued education!" Ensign Harry Kim brightly announced to the Colonel the following morning in Astrometrics.

The Colonel glared at him over the supercilious manner but said nothing. He did not want educating, he preferred to learn.

"I've checked Seven's logs and I think I've worked out how far she has got and we can pick it up from there," Kim continued, his enthusiasm unfettered by the Colonels hostile stare.

"Perhaps we ought to start with a refresher? Name two classic types of nebula?" He bubbled on.

Reluctantly the Colonel answered him. "Protonic, photonic and nucleonic. Is this bubbling enthusiasm for education necessary please, Ensign?"

"We have to teach you somehow!" Kim exclaimed in surprise.

"I suppose we must," he responded cautiously. This was going to be hard work, he never had taken to gentle and cheerful teachers.

They were both exhausted by the end of the session. Kim was trying to be a caring and understanding teacher, quick to help his struggling pupil. The Colonel, for his part, was a slow and recalcitrant pupil, only he wasn't trying to be.

"May I offer you a mug of tea?" The Colonel offered when they had finished, trying to be sociable. In truth he could feel something of a dislike for the young Ensign building, he didn't want that, hence the invitation, perhaps he could gently get him to amend his approach.

Kim refused and hurried off on his own.

Shrugging the Colonel followed him at a steady quick march heading for the bowels of the ship. He was stopped from entering Seven of Nine's quarters by a security guard.

"I'm sorry, Colonel. Seven of Nine is restricted to quarters, Captains orders," he explained nervously.

"Not a severe punishment, I would have thought," the Colonel commented. "Miss Nine is not a great socialist. Still as you insist." He turned and disappeared back up the corridor, to the obvious relief of the guard.

"It's not as if he is stupid!" Harry Kim complained to Tom Paris at their regular lunch time meeting. "But he struggles with the simplest concepts. I don't know how Seven gets to him!"

"He even uses a pen and paper," he added as if it was the most horrendous crime imaginable.

"Well it could be she approaches him differently," Tom pointed out. "Are you trying to teach him like old Crabtree or like Williams?" He suggested in a rare flash of inspiration, remembering the two extremes of the instructors at the Academy, one the beacon of light and understanding, the other the devil incarnate.

"Crabtree of course, nobody ever learned anything from Williams," protested Kim.

"You are forgetting that the Colonel has never been taught like a human being, Harry," Tom Paris interrupted. "It was still corporal punishment and blackboards when he was taught, I doubt he likes to be reminded about that or that we do it differently now."

"How else is there?"

"Whatever there is Seven has found the answer, she is obviously doing something you aren't," Tom suggested unhelpfully.

"I've got to take B'Elanna's dinner," he claimed getting up.

B'Elanna was fretting tremendously, she did not like being held in enclosed spaces, it held unhappy memories of her father. She desperately wanted to escape and almost mugged Tom Paris as he came through the door bearing her meal.

"One bowl of Neelix's finest slop," Paris prescribed, then added under his voice. "It tastes as bad as it looks, it was lunch today."

"Let me guess, the coupling is still out," she claimed.

He nodded his affirmation. "Would you like me to keep you company or should I leave you with it?"

"If you stay I may tip it over you," she snapped the warning then sagged into a chair to examine the meal presented to her.

"It is all Seven's fault. She rounded off a really lousy day interfering like that. Then Captain Star Fleet puts me on ice for it, because I attacked her favourite Borg," she complained bitterly.

"You aren't supposed to attack people, this is a Federation Ship!" Paris hazarded carefully.

"What was I supposed to do?" Torres protested hotly. "She doesn't understand simple phrases like 'You are in the way', or 'It is not your problem'."

"It's not as though Janeway has given her much of a punishment. Two weeks solitary doesn't mean much to her!"

This was a statement that was not strictly true of Seven of Nine. She was feeling the enforced solitude deeply. Without the constant murmuring of the Collective behind her ears Voyager was a very lonely and solitary place for an ex-borg. She used the alcove as much to prevent herself thinking about her solitude as to avoid the crew. Her opinion of them was that they had too many faults to be an efficient collective, but she still needed to hear the constant babble of banter, as pointless as it was, to prevent herself from feeling anymore alone.

The alcove was the first thing she tried to avoid the oppressive solitude getting to her, but it quietly and firmly ejected her twelve hours later and refused to embrace her again until the next regeneration was required. She realised in horror that would be at least another twelve hours.

She turned to the computer terminal in the bay to try and find something to occupy her mind for the time she had to endure being awake. Again her access codes excluded her from anything but the most trivial. She wondered if she could break into the system, so that she could continue with her Astrometrics work, but then realised that it would be detected and she would probably lose what little access she had left.

Captain Janeway, she realised, had effectively shut her away to endure the punishment.

She spent the next few hours cataloguing the contents of the Cargo Bay, then dejectedly returned to the console. She still had access to some parts of the system and she resolved to investigate those more thoroughly. One part was her personal logs, she ignored them for the time being on the grounds she knew what she had put there. Instead she investigated her collections of knowledge on the subjects that had interested her during her tenure with Voyager, starting to read at random and cataloguing what she found.

Her concentration was broken by a small sound from behind a storage bin in a far corner. Cautiously she approached the offending item. Not afraid, she knew exactly what was in the bay with her, simply curious. What she found was a small canvas kit bag. She stared at it uncertainly. It hadn't been there when she had catalogued the hold she knew, she had walked this way.

She picked it up and returned to her alcove to investigate. It contained a small pack of foodstuff a bottle of what she assumed was drink and a couple of notebooks. The last item gave a clue as to the mysterious bags owner. There was only one person aboard the ship who used pen and paper regularly, Lieutenant Colonel Samuels.

Curiously she looked around for him, but he wasn't there. It was baffling, why would he drop a bag containing his workbooks into the hold without joining them, it defied logic and kept her pondering in fascination for several more minutes. Finally she rose and moved towards a panel and lifted the latches to find the Colonel squatting in the access way.

"Thank you!" He stated simply as he crawled out of the small opening. "Those screws were taking simply ages." He handed her a small handful of panel fastenings.

"Why are you here?" She demanded coldly. "I am in solitary confinement."

"I know," he said simply. "Where did you hide my bag?"

"It is infront of my alcove," she admitted in confusion at his simple acceptance of the fact. "You are in violation of orders being in my company, you will suffer similar punishment if found."

"Only if you tell somebody, or give somebody reason to enter" he pointed out. "I deactivated the alarms on the hatches and as for the detector." He produced a can from his pocket and proceeded to climb up a stack of containers to reach a small box on the ceiling. Once there he smeared a small blob of goo across its face and climbed down.

"Voila! It wouldn't know the difference between one or a hundred!"

"You have know damaged the ships internal security system, the punishment for that is," Seven began.

"Three years imprisonment, unlikely," he breezed marching towards the Borg alcove. Seven of Nine followed, now thoroughly confused by the tall mans strange behaviour.

"State your intentions?" She demanded again, her patience running out.

"Didn't I say? Dreadfully sorry!" He exclaimed. "I thought I would come and ask some questions about the lessons I had today. Ensign Kim is too intent on educating me rather than letting me learn. I barely understood a word he said. I need to understand the tosh he gave me before I face it again tomorrow!"

"You have risked imprisonment to ask for an explanation for a lesson?" Her smooth face puckered into abstract amazement.

"I thought you might like a little company as well," he admitted. "I would rather hang somebody than give that sentence."

"You believe the sentence is wrong?" She queried again trying to make sense of the discussion.

"Not the one I would chose," he corrected her. "The one I used at home was to put the two protagonists in a boxing ring and let them slug it out, at least it provided entertainment for everybody else. The Captain made her choice to suit her wisdom's."

"Besides," he added. "Lieutenant Paris was allowed to take Lieutenant Torres her dinner and keep her company until she threw him out. As you don't eat, you weren't subject to the culinary torture Neelix offered and weren't given the option of somebody to moan at."

"Yet you have brought food," she pointed out.

"Nothing grand," he excused quickly. "A bottle of cordial, plain biscuits and some of that cheese Neelix is so proud of but nobody seems to like. Tastes like Wensleydale to me, perfectly acceptable."

"I also know that the one thing you are really terrified of is being alone," he added in a more reflective voice. "You need your fix of banal banter as much as, possibly even more than, the rest of us. It's just that you don't feel able to take part."

"The lack of distraction has been beneficial," she opined stoutly.

His raised his eyebrow at her in mock salute. "I'll go if I was wrong and you would prefer?" He offered.

She shook her head hurriedly. "You have some questions you wish answered?"

They sat together for the best part of two hours as they puzzled over the Colonel's spidery notes.

"Your company was appreciated," Seven assured him as he slipped back into the trunking he had entered by.

"It won't make the rest anymore bearable," he commented. "But I will try to visit tomorrow," he promised with a wink.

Captain Janeway was not a happy Captain the following morning. Despite Engineerings best efforts they had still not managed to get the power coupling working reliably enough to replicate a replacement. It meant she was the Captain of a vessel that wouldn't go anywhere and things were bleak. It was a problem that she put to her team in the daily meeting. In desperation she had brought Seven of Nine and B'Elanna up from their imprisonment, needing their wisdom, they emerged from their confinement looking wild eyed, pensive and studiously ignored each other. As a final act she had invited the Colonel to attend. She did not expect solutions from him but perhaps he might understand the seriousness of their plight.

"The lining is badly scored," Vorick claimed in his briefing. "There is no smooth path to prevent an earth leakage and a trip feedback."

"How much power can we get through it?" Chakotay asked.

"Approximately 15%. Enough to maintain ships systems," the Vulcan engineer admitted. "Attempting to transmit additional power causes a circuit trip."

"If we shut down systems would there be enough to run the replicator?"

"At reduced effectiveness," he responded. "We would be reduced to emergency life support only and we will require twenty days. Emergency power levels will be dangerously low on completion."

The Colonel had been listening to the argument rage around him. Finally he cleared his throat.

"Permission to speak, Ma'am?" He requested.

She looked at him sharply, she hadn't expected him to get involved in the discussion.

"Carry on," she granted.

"If I'm speaking out of turn, then please forgive me," he began. "I do not know what this part looks like. But is it the lining that is important or the physical shape?"

"It is the surface of the lining," Vorick explained patiently. "The lining forms a tube, that forms a path for plasma. The surface must be smooth, any irregularity causes a feed back which causes the converter to trip out given sufficient parameters."

"Is this rough surface on the inside or the outside. Is the material hard? Does it even have to be this Tri-whatever-it-is compound for the time needed to replicate a replacement?" The Colonel asked.

"What are you aiming at, Colonel?" Captain Janeway demanded. "This is an advanced Star Ship, we can't simply knock up a basic component from anything we want!"

"Forgive me, Ma'am," He apologised. "But we do have a part that has failed that you need to replace before it packs up all together. I have had some experience working metals and I was wondering if it would be possible to burnish the gouges you have, or possibly even reline it, just enough to get it operational?"

"It is not possible," she exclaimed. "The finish needs to be a near mirror!"

"It may also be possible to fabricate a replacement if we can locate suitable raw materials," Seven of Nine interrupted calmly. "The Trilite that the lining is produced from does not naturally occur, however there is a naturally occurring substance that may perform similarly. It is used by species 2467 in a similar configuration, they describe it as Kadhoz."

"A coupling could be roughed out and the replicator could finish it off if we could find something suitable," B'Elanna inserted eager for the chance to be allowed from her cell. "We could reduce replication time to less than a couple of hours."

"I thought these whizzy replicators can reproduce anything!" The Colonel muttered in surprise.

"Only if we have the raw materials," Kim explained in his ear. "But we don't."

"What do you need?" The Captain sighed in resignation. "And where can we get the natural equivalent?"

"Seven of Nine to the Captain. Report to Astrometrics!" Seven of Nine's voice echoed through the corridors five hours later.

"I have found a planet that has the geological features that suggest the possibility of Kadhoz," Seven of Nine claimed calmly as the Captain barrelled into Astrometrics, Chakotay hard on her heels.

Without a seconds thought the Captain assembled the rest of her staff officers.

"The geological structure is specific, the data required was only interpreted by the computer in the last hour. I have since attempted to tune the sensors to detect the presence of the mineral itself," Seven of Nine continued to explain. "It is present, but there are complications that may be impossible to circumvent."

"Go on!" Captain Janeway prompted uneasily.

"The planet is a light year away, an away team can only reach it by shuttle, the round trip will take upto five days," she stated. "The mineral only occurs deep below ground, but it is sometimes pushed into the cave systems that are also form part of the geological infrastructure by volcanic eruptions. Without the ships phasors it is impossible to recover using a transporter from it's native location. The planet also contains a primitive life form, it may be dangerous for the Away Team to land."

Captain Janeway sighed. The decision was not going to be easy.

"How soon before we have no alternative except to turn power off and concentrate on the replicator?" She demanded of B'Elanna.

B'Elanna shrugged. "The output is stable, but if it begins to fluctuate then we will have a problem. Perhaps a week, possibly ten days, I'm trying to charge some spare power cells from Cargo Bay 1."

"One solution will leave us on Emergency Power until the power banks are virtually drained, the power loss may be so bad that we cannot restart the engines. The other is to send an Away Team to a primitive planet where they might find a material that might allow us to physically make a replacement coupling. I don't like either, they could both leave us dead in space. Is there another option?" The Captain mused aloud.

"The extra time would give us the chance to ensure the Emergency Power systems are topped up and even charge a few power cells from the Cargo Bay, before switching everything off," Torres prompted.

The Captain looked around the room and came to a decision. "B'Elanna, take Seven of Nine and see if you can find some of this Kadhoz material. Vorik reduce power to all but essential services, start running up the replicator on reduced power, we might not be able to run it properly but we can start the process," she commanded.

"Permission to go along, Ma'am?" The Colonel immediately volunteered.

"I may be of more assistance to the Away Team. I can handle explosives, even done some mining in my career. Coal, I admit, but it may be of help. Plus they will almost certainly need my more attributed skills," he explained to the puzzled looks. "Besides I'm as useful here as the proverbial chocolate tea pot!"

"We aren't going to war," she pointed out, but grateful for his offer. "Mr Kim, you had better go as well, as commander. We can afford seven days."

"Before we disappear into the ether, could I put upon you to do a lap of Voyager please, Ensign?" The Colonel begged as the shuttle banked away from Voyager.

"I suppose so, why?" Kim demanded uncertainly.

"I have never actually seen the outside of the tub that is now my home. I'd like to know what it actually looks like!" He explained, blushing slightly.

"You've seen pictures," Kim protested.

"I have seen a lot of pictures," the Colonel confessed. "But the only ones I believe are the ones I've taken. You would be amazed at how well the camera lies."

"Do it Harry," B'Elanna urged cheerfully. "It will only take a couple of seconds."

"You had better take my place, Colonel," she grinned. "You'll get a better view. I'll point the features out for you."

"Much obliged Lieutenant," he thanked her as she gave up her seat to him.

Begrudgingly Kim performed a quick circuit of the ship, with the Colonel craning forward trying to view as much of Voyager as possible, whilst Torres leaned over his shoulder and pointed out parts of the ship. Finally he turned away looking slightly green. The feeling of what was to him a huge ship, hanging in nothingness, had railed against his mind.

"Thank you for your indulgence," he managed, pulling himself out of the chair unsteadily. "But I think the spectacle might have done more harm than good. Excuse me!" He darted for the head swallowing hard.

He emerged to find Torres and Kim grinning openly at him and Seven regarding him coldly.

"Not much of a spaceman am I," he grinned sheepishly. "Sea Sick the first time I see space."

"We've all suffered from it," B'Elanna consoled him. "It improves."

"So kind," he sighed wistfully, settling back onto a jump seat. He kept a keen eye open through the view ports, but finding nothing happening he nodded off to sleep.

"Commencing Magnetronic scans," Seven declared two days later as the shuttle entered orbit over a small yellow planet. "You should maintain an altitude of 150 kilometres and velocity of not more than 10,000 kilometres per hour, to allow an acceptable degree of accuracy."

"Okay Seven," Kim responded cheerfully, relieved that events were happening and people were talking again.

The previous two days of the flight had been trying. B'Elanna was obviously avoiding talking to Seven, Seven was characteristically tight-lipped with everybody, especially it seemed the Colonel. He could think of no reason for Seven's attitude to her pupil.

It had seemed that the only people able to talk freely to each other was the Colonel and himself and he wasn't entirely sure about the Colonel either. He had tried to continue the Colonels education for something to do, but quickly tailed of at Seven of Nines stern gaze and the Colonels obvious unwillingness. That error out the way he had encouraged the Colonel to talk about his life as a soldier. He found that the tall soldier was an entertaining story teller, full of wit and humour as he recounted some of what he suspected were less harrowing events in his career. But, he noticed, all the time he was talking he was nervously cleaning and recleaning his weapons.

The Colonel still preferred to carry his old and battered projectile weapons to the lighter and generally more powerful phasor rifle. It had been something Tuvok had challenged him over. The Colonel in turn had challenged him to prove the superiority in a target shoot out. The result had been close upto a simulated range of 50 metres, Tuvok coming out slightly on top, but after that the Colonel's rifle had proved to be quicker and more accurate as the range increased and atmospheric effects started to take effect upon the phasor beam. He had finally put the contest out of reach of any hand held phasor when he had picked up his snipers rifle, fitted a scope to the top and proceeded to place three out of five rounds in quick succession into a target 300mm diameter at a range of nearly 3,000 metres. Nobody had felt upto challenging the validity of the demonstration, especially after what they had witnessed with the Vordun.

Three orbits of the planet brought an exclamation from Seven. "I have detected a small quantity of Kadhoz near the surface. Co-ordinates 253.89. It appears to be approachable via a catacomb."

"Natives?" The Colonel asked quietly.

"There are three settlements within 50 kilometres," she responded after a quick recalibration of sensors.

The Colonel quickly worked out some mathematics in his head. "About six hours march," he mused. "Quite close if we're spotted."

"There is no other outcrop as convenient," Seven responded bluntly.

"We'll have to risk getting in and out before they see us, it will be dark so they may be asleep. Guide us as close as you can, Seven," Kim urged.

"Or watching for an attack from next door," the Colonel muttered quietly, cocking his rifle as the shuttle descended.

He was out of the shuttle and scanning the horizon through his rifles night scope, before the door had finished opening. Satisfied there was no immediate danger he stood up again and squinted in the direction Seven indicated for the native settlements, then took a closer interest in their surrounds.

The shuttle had been brought down on a small meadow of hip high yellow-green grass, in the middle distance at about 400 yards there was a ring of off-white rocks, whilst to the north and slightly over a three miles away stood a low cliff. It was there Seven confidently expected to find a way into the catacombs containing the precious Kadhoz. From there he started a closer examination of the ground, which appeared to be black sandy and damp, he felt it with his hand, it left an oily residue that he wiped of on his trousers absentmindedly as he continued to circle the shuttle.

"What is he upto?" Kim demanded as they watched him move quietly around them.

There was no reply from the others, they were as baffled by the Colonel's actions as he was.

The question was answered by the Colonel as he returned. "The good news is there is nobody with 400 yards and there is real food to be had," he claimed cheerfully.

"We could have told you that, and without the aimless running around." Kim pointed out impatiently.

"Perhaps you could," the Colonel admitted grudgingly.

He looked at the hand that he had used to feel the ground. It still felt damp, curiously he smelt it. "The bad news is that the soil is high with what smells like sulphurous oil and the rocks look as though they may be bird shit," he said. "Potassium Nitrate for my more learned friends. But I'm sure your tri-corders have told you that as well?"

"So?" Kim demanded. They hadn't checked the constituents of the ground.

The Colonel quietly placed a small pile of the local earth and white stone flecks on the shuttles boarding ramp and fired it with a splint. It burnt with a reddish flame, popping and spitting as it did so.

"So this place is a bomb!" The Colonel explained slowly, nodding at the primitive demonstration. "I just thought I'd point it out. Before you start playing with explosives and hot things."

"We should continue with the purpose of our mission," Seven pointed out quickly. "The rock strata is different by the cliffs, it will be safer."

Quickly they set off, Kim confidently leading the way, using his tricorder to scan the route ahead for awaiting primitives waiting to ambush them. The Colonel followed the two women, amiably bearing the majority of the Away Teams equipment. Despite the confidence the others showed in the electronic aides they carried, he couldn't share it, preferring his own senses, honed as they were by years of experience in action. At the moment they were content, the soil was drying out and that magic sixth sense of self preservation gained by so many combat soldiers that had survived years of combat was calm. He had been slightly put out by the dismissive attitude of Ensign Kim to his observations, then buoyed up considerably at the look of shock that had appeared on his face when he had pointed out the potential dangers of the shuttles location.

It was a victorious Kim that looked around as they reached the cliffs safely. "Not a single problem," he announced happily, looking accusingly at the Colonel.

"No there wasn't," he answered simply, then grinned evilly. "I'd say there hasn't been anybody here for a few days at least!"

"What makes you say that?" He asked defensively.

The Colonel silently pointed to a long scuff mark in the soil. "Somebody has pulled something large and very heavy through here. As we can't find or detect them it must have been a few days ago."

"Will you two men stop the hormones and stop bitching." B'Elanna demanded, tired of the power play between the two men.

The Colonel turned towards here as if to argue, but caught himself. Instead he bowed deeply to her. "My apologies, Ma'am," he intoned solemnly.

She laughed suddenly at the solemn and slightly ashamed look. "They say we are bad, Seven!" It was the first time she had spoken to Seven directly since the Captain had passed sentence.

He grinned at her sheepishly. "I've not tried to hit him yet though," he pointed out mildly. "And if Ensign Kim is lucky I won't feel the desire to," he winked at her.

Kim caught an implied threat and in no doubt as to the probable result of such an altercation, felt an urgent need to smooth the waters between them.

"I'm sorry, Colonel," he said quickly. "I've been trying to impress you haven't I? And not doing it very well?"

"You are better able to cope than me in many things, Ensign. Like space," the Colonel suggested with a grin. "But down here on the ground, you are a beginner. Let me teach you how you don't need your little electric boxes to do the thinking."

"What does Kadhoz look like please, Miss Nine?" He asked, spotting another small and unseen detail. "Not a smooth pale green, by any chance?"

"I have never seen the material," she answered honestly. "I am only aware of the unique properties. Your purpose for the question?"

The Colonel knelt down and picked up some small chips of rock from the floor, tested their weight and handed them to her. "Because I'm wondering why somebody has taken a lot of trouble to dig up a single large lump of rock and drag it away," he said quietly. "There must have been a purpose and it can't be for building, or there would be any number of people knocking lumps out of the cliff. It is as you would say 'inefficient'."

Uncertainly she examined the chips of rock with her tricorder, then looked up. "The stone is Kadhoz," she exclaimed. "How did you know?"

"I didn't," he confessed. "I don't even know for certain that the chips came off what they were dragging. Only that they don't belong just here. Shall we follow the tracks and see where they go?"

This time they followed the Colonel as he followed the track for another 300 metres and around a shoulder in the cliff into a small gully, there he stopped as the track disappeared under an overhang. Two small spoil heaps sat either side of the track and he made a quick investigation of those.

"How much do we need?" He asked, picking out some larger lumps of the green Kadhoz.

"To fabricate one it will have to be at least 500mm long and about 200mm diameter," said B'Elanna.

He looked at the lumps he had picked up and threw them down in disgust. "There was me hoping for a gentle ramble to pick up a pebble. You realise a lump like that is going to weigh nearly 200lbs?"

"We will transport it when it has been extracted," Seven dismissed the problem coldly, moving towards the cave intent on carrying out exploration.

"You had better stay here, Colonel and keep watch," Kim commanded, trying to put authority into his voice after his earlier chastisement.

The Colonel nodded. "Sir!" Snapping the Ensign a salute he turned on his heel and made his way back to the corner of the gully.

Kim watched him go until he faded from sight in the gathering twilight. "I thought he would argue," he commented aloud.

"You gave him an order, he will comply efficiently to orders without question," Seven pointed out without turning and headed for the cave that she could just make out in the rock face. "It is one of the similarities between the Borg and his army."

Shrugging the other two followed her silently into the cave.

The Colonel reaching the corner turned and scrambled up the side of the cliff until he reached a ledge some twenty feet above the floor. There he settled down, rifle on his knees and made himself as comfortable as possible. He looked up into the night sky, it was clear and cloudless, that would help, the few stars would offer some visibility, but without a moon it would be difficult to see anything moving.

Presently he pulled a small package from his webbing and nibbled on the contents of the ration pack it held and sipped water from a hip flask.

It was fifteen minutes later that a small noise from above him made him look upwards. It was only the small noise of pebbles knocking into each other, but it was enough for the hair on the back of his neck to prickle. Carefully and without making any noise he started to move towards it.

Seven of Nine led the others at a crisp pace down the passage they found at the back of the cave. One hand showing a powerful torch light ahead of them, in the other she carried her tricorder. The latter she referred to frequently as they walked. The passageway was heading downwards at a steep rate, the floor smooth and slightly slippery. It was however high and broad enough for them not to need to stoop.

Kim guessed that they had travelled nearly two kilometres before she finally stopped. "We are at the nearest source of Kadhoz," she said simply and shone the torch on a rocky outcrop.

It positively glowed in the light of their powerful torch beams and continued to glow as they removed the beams from it. It was a feature that prompted Seven of Nine to examine it closer, repeatedly recalibrating and adjusting her tricorder, trying to make sense of the readings.

"What's wrong, Seven?" B'Elanna asked quickly, sensing something wrong.

"The readings are illogical," Seven responded, a worried frown darkening her smooth face. "The rock is absorbing power then gives it off again at a slower rate. They are not the properties accredited to the mineral in the Borg databanks."

"The wrong rock!" Kim moaned in exasperation.

"The rock is correct, Ensign," Seven responded uncertainly. "The properties displayed are not as expected."

Curiously she reached out and touched it.

There was a scream of "Seven!" The next thing she was aware of was B'Elanna kneeling beside her with a medical tricorder, looking concerned and the rocky out crop three metres away from her.

"Seven, are you okay?" She was saying.

Weakly she nodded her head. "What happened?" she mumbled numbly.

"When you touched the rock it arced through you body," B'Elanna explained hurriedly. "Don't move until I've finished with this."

"I think we now know how it works," she added confidently. "If there is a power source it will absorb energy until there is a path for it to travel through then it lets go. You lit up like a christmas tree, lucky there wasn't more in the rock, it could have killed you."

"I was damaged?" Seven of Nine asked weakly, struggling to sit up.

"A bit singed but nothing serious."

"Where is Ensign Kim?" she asked looking around.

"Gone to get the charges," B'Elanna sighed, sitting beside the blonde. "We can't use phasors to cut it."

The silence between them deepened as they sat, each to their own thoughts.

After twenty minutes patient and careful climbing, Colonel Samuels breasted the cliff. Sensing nothing he rested for a moment before slowly raising himself to look around.

He could see nothing and was about to start the long climb down when he heard the chink of stone again. Aroused he moved towards the sound, keeping low and in the deepest shadows, relying on his dark uniform to keep him hidden in the night. A few minutes brought him to the top of another ridge of rock and he peered over the top.

A party of fifteen big humanoids, apparently clad in skins, was working silently. They appeared to move with a stoop, but were clearly over six feet tall and they were building an immense cairn. Puzzled he inspected the construction using the night sight from his rifle. Then he caught his breath as he spotted a series of long poles jutting from the base. It wasn't a cairn! He suddenly realised. They were planning to close the mouth of the cave with a landslide!

The realisation stopped him short as he tried to decide what to do. To start shooting would undoubtedly bring more of the strange beings into sight, he could hear others moving, and might lead them to pre-emptively push their landslide over the edge. In the dark he checked the glowing hands of his wristwatch, another old fashioned symptom of his life he thought in amusement. The landing party had been gone for nearly an hour. They could be close to returning and the workers didn't appear to be eager to deposit their load.

Slowly he backed away and tried the communicator, without success. He would have to get the creatures to leave their ambush, he decided and started to move again.

"Kim to the Colonel, where are you?" His communicator suddenly bursting into life made him curse and dive into cover again.

"If you are out, run!" He hissed, ignoring protocols. "If not, don't move until I say."

"I'm in the middle of the gully, Seven and B'Elanna are still in the cave. What is happening?"

The Colonel cursed silently.

"We have unfriendly company," he replied quietly. "Very slowly move into the shadows, they haven't spotted you yet!"

A shout nearby proved his statement wrong.

"Correction, run like buggery," he hissed leaping from his hiding place and bringing his rifle up.

In the sights he saw two creatures pulling on the poles that held the slide. He fired twice, seeing one drop and the other spring away hurt. Again he targeted another native as it looked on in stunned amazement at its fallen compatriot. He too fell screaming, but the Colonel had been spotted and more creatures were heading towards him from all directions.

He charged towards the cairn, firing at the two creatures nearest and spotting another three also heading for the levers that held the slide in check.

"I'm being attacked!" Kim's voice screamed at him from the communicator.

"So am I," the Colonel spat firing again. Then he groaned as the creature he had shot fell onto a lever. There was a deeper groan from the pile as it started to give way. Desperately he grabbed at another lever, trying to prevent the whole slide going, knowing it was a futile gesture even as he did so.

The world went black as he felt himself slipping.

Deep in the cave they heard the distant rumble of thunder. The two women sprang to their feet and looked at each other in alarm.

"What in hell is going on?" B'Elanna exclaimed.

"Come on!" She ran up the passage, Seven of Nine following closely on her heels.

They came to a dead halt as they found the end of the tunnel blocked.

"What has happened?" B'Elanna demanded uselessly. What had happened was obvious, the entrance to the cave had been buried under rock.

Seven of Nine found no requirement to state the obvious but reached for her tricorder. "Much of the debris is loose," she pointed out. "Perhaps we can remove sufficient to escape."

Without waiting to see if B'Elanna Torres followed her example she started to roll debris from the pile in front. Seeing Seven working so industriously B'Elanna moved up beside her and started to work as well.

They worked solidly for three hours and in silence, before the strain started to tell and they sank to the ground exhausted.

"I'm sorry for the incident the other day," B'Elanna said quietly. Seeking to start a conversation to break the strained silence. "But you can be very annoying."

"Your apology is acceptable," Seven acquiesced. "However your attempts to get the Power Coupling working effectively were inefficiently directed. The unit was not repairable."

"I know and I knew it then. It's just that there was nothing else available. Sometimes you have to make the best use of what you have," B'Elanna admitted ruefully.

"That is a statement that the Colonel puts into practice on a practical level. He is proving extremely adaptable," Seven of Nine commented.

She was impressed, B'Elanna realised in surprise.

"He isn't as unintelligent as people think he is, is he?"

"He is not unintelligent," Seven agreed. "He is learning about the ship and it's functions, but he finds them difficult to comprehend. His knowledge of our immediate surrounds is superior to our own, he identified more features of this planet than the tricorder."

"Nor has he demonstrated violent intent to members of the crew," Seven volunteered. "Many of the crew thought he might prove dangerous."

"There was Vordun," B'Elanna pointed out.

"His response was measured against the requirements of the situation. I have discovered that much of his life has been involved in similar actions, protection of the weak."

"You've found out a lot about him and his past?" B'Elanna accused lightly. This was proving to be an interesting discussion.

"It has developed from our 'Confessional', he sometimes tells me about events in his life that parallel my actions as a Borg."

"What exactly do you do in those 'Confessionals'?" B'Elanna asked in interest. Nobody, she knew, had ever wrung anything out of the Colonel, not even the Captain who had practically demanded to know.

"He helps me understand and accept the difference between being a Borg and a human. Sometimes he holds my hand because he thinks I am feeling distress," Seven of Nine admitted. "The interaction is pleasant and helpful."

"He is a handsome man," B'Elanna commented after a few more minutes of silence.

"Who is?" Seven of Nine asked in puzzlement.

"The Colonel."

"I hadn't noticed," Seven claimed calmly.

"You've noticed," B'Elanna asserted. "You keep watching him and trying not to look as though you are."

"He is my student, his welfare aboard Voyager is of immediate concern to me," Seven protested on the defensive.

"I suppose it is," B'Elanna admitted.

"I think you are falling in love!" She teased suddenly.

"I have no romantic intentions," Seven responded sharply. "I find him interesting."

"I bet your little Borg heart beats faster when you look forward to those 'Confessionals' and him taking hold of your hand though?" B'Elanna pressed.

"His approach to my needs has proved unique and of benefit," Seven replied hurriedly. "This conversation should cease. We should continue to excavate the landslide."

"I wish he was here!" B'Elanna moaned getting to her feet again. "He would be of great help getting this lot out of the way!"

"His physical presence here would be of benefit," Seven of Nine agreed readily.

The Colonel stirred slowly with the dawning of a new day, feeling battered, bruised, sore and very uncomfortable. He felt as if he was being hung by his arms. A situation he found was ostensibly correct as he started to look around him. His wrists were firmly tied to a horizontal pole, balanced between two vertical poles, though now he was conscious he was able to stand and take his weight off the lashings. He did so and gently wriggled his hands trying to bring life back to them.

Beside him stood Ensign Kim, similarly tied but looking in much better condition. They were being regarded by a skin covered child. He smiled at it and it screamed and ran off.

"Good Morning, Ensign. Sleep well?" He asked mildly, to receive an accusing glare from Ensign Kim.

"What happened?" He demanded in a scared voice.

"I think the natives decided to close their mine," the Colonel answered simply. "I think our appearance pre-empted the closure."

"But they weren't there when we entered!" Kim protested. "You can't have been keeping a good look out!"

The Colonel sighed deeply. "The landslide they set up was there before we were. I think they arrived to simply finish it off. That is why I was on top of the cliff because I heard them arriving."

"We do have other problems that are more pressing than recriminations though."

"What about Seven and B'Elanna? What are they intending to do to us?" There was panic starting to show in the high pitched tone.

"If they were in the cave then they are probably a lot safer than we are, but I doubt they will be coming to our rescue any moment. As for our fate, keep an eye open for iron pots," the Colonel kept up with cheerful banter as he continued to inspect the surrounds. They appeared to be on the edge of a temporary campsite, but apart from the child that had run off there appeared to be nobody else around.

"You think they are cannibals?" Kim screamed.

"Keep your head please, Ensign, before I kick you. And keep quiet," the Colonel hissed.

Kim glared at him in silence.

"I think it might be a good idea to get out of here, don't you? Before they decide it's time for dinner?" The Colonel continued quietly. "I don't suppose you are into gymnastics?"

Curiously Kim shook his head in the negative.

"That is a pity, it might have been a little easier if one of us was," the Colonel sighed. "Do you think we can swing against the uprights?"

"To what end?" Kim demanded in surprise.

"So that we can break something," the Colonel announced, wrapping his hands around the horizontal bar and lifting himself clear of the ground, simultaneously setting up a rocking motion. The frame creaked ominously.

"Your assistance would be appreciated, Ensign," The Colonel remarked in satisfaction as he felt the pole start to twist.

Groaning loudly Kim followed the tall soldiers lead and started to swing heavily. The cross beam started to twist.

"Keep going!" The Colonel gasped, changing his swing so that now his boots were striking the nearest upright. It too shuddered, but he saw the horizontal pole move in its lashings. He kicked out again then again as Kim kept up swinging back and forwards.

Finally with a squeak the horizontal came free of the vertical and they crashed to the ground, on their backs, stunned. They both groaned loudly as they sat up and glanced around.

"I think my pocket knife is still in my pocket," the Colonel commented quietly. "If you would be so kind as to co-operate, we might not need to be tied together when we run?"

Helping each other as much as they could and controlling the pole they were attached to, the Colonel managed to dig in his pocket, retrieved his clasp knife and extract the blade. Painstakingly he cut through the bond that held his wrist, before making quicker work of the other hand, then Kims bonds.

"As there doesn't appear to be anybody about. I'm going to have a look in the camp," the Colonel announced, standing up and grimacing. A hand trailed to his chest and felt it carefully.

Kim noticed the unconscious action. "You're hurt? We should return to the shuttle for medical supplies."

"And possibly run into those chaps again. I think I'd rather get some idea as to where they went first," the Colonel announced and set off.

He was back fifteen minutes later. "Come on," he hissed. "They have all gone off towards the shuttle and the kid has followed them. We need the pole!"

"What for?" Kim complained getting up.

"They have a nice big bit of that Kadhoz we came for, nicely cut up. I think they use it for making a totem of some sort."

"We're going to steal it?" Kim protested.

"Steal is a strong word, Ensign," the Colonel said reproachfully. "I think I'd prefer the term 'Imposing a fine'. It's not as if they can't get some more!"

"Come on it will need both of us!" He added slapping the younger man on the back.

Uncertain he liked the Colonel quite so jovial in the circumstances, Kim followed him carrying the pole.

The Colonel was right the settlement was empty, there was also a block of the magical Kadhoz only slightly larger than B'Elanna had stipulated. The Colonel was bending over it, threading a long length of rope through a hole that had been bored through the centre.

"Rather good of them to start work for us, don't you think, Ensign?" He quipped. "It will also make it easier to carry, you can pass the pole through the centre. The rope will stop it slipping."

Quickly Kim stooped to comply to the Colonel's command. "If they are heading for the shuttle where do we go?" He asked.

"I think the cave will do for the time being. Then we can get Lieutenant Torres and Miss Nine out, they must be getting a little bored by now," the Colonel replied easily.

"Won't the savages go there as well?" He asked turning to the Colonel.

"Undoubtedly they will, but not before the child has brought them back here," he answered busily stuffing a leather bag with the black sand and white stone chips.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"We are going to need explosives to shift the rock fall, but not I suspect something as powerful as the charges you brought; if they are still there," the Colonel explained as he worked. "These bags are almost gas tight, and when you burn nitrates they tend to explode. If this dirt is what I think it is we will get quite a good bang that can move big rocks."

"At least I hope it will," he added with a frown. "I think we might need those water bags as well," he pointed at several more skins. "Are we ready?"

Kim nodded in bemusement.

"You lead, quick march, Ensign," The Colonel ordered, picking up one end of the pole.

Kim picked up the second end and they trotted out of the camp with the heavy load.

Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Torres were not as the Colonel had predicted bored, they had passed through that, they were dispirited, physically exhausted and defeated. Silently they sank to the floor, each getting as close to the other as they could, desperate to fight off the feelings of despair that they were feeling.

"You don't like the idea of dying alone either, huh!" B'Elanna commented gently, as Seven shifted herself a little closer.

"For eighteen years I was part of the Collective. In permanent contact with the Collective. I find the lack of continuous communication with the Collective unnerving," Seven admitted, her voice quavering. "Our present position is unacceptable."

"Why do you find the situation unpleasant?" She asked slowly.

"It reminds me of when my parents shut me in my room so that they could argue. They thought I wouldn't hear, but I did and it hurt. My father walked out after one of those arguments. I never saw him again," B'Elanna explained softly.

They descended into companionable silence as their minds idly began thinking bitter thoughts about the location of the two missing members of their party and accepting that the cave was likely to be their tomb.

They had worked on the land slide until their nails bled, but in the end they found they were unable to move anymore rock. Their progress was blocked by a single large boulder which was wedged by smaller stones that could not be pried apart. The most annoying part was that they could see daylight around the top of the stone.

"I can't believe they would leave us here!" B'Elanna suddenly raged.

"I can find no trace of their life signs," Seven of Nine pointed out calmly. "They were not caught in the slide. We have not been able to contact them. There is no other logical explanation."

"Unless they were caught by the inhabitants," B'Elanna claimed hopefully.

"Their chances of survival with such a primitive live form would be doubtful," Seven prophesied. "Perhaps we should attempt to dislodge the captive rocks?"

"What with?" B'Elanna protested in defeat. "We've tried the phasor and it's nearly drained."

Seven of Nine rose and inspected the stone in the opening again with her tricorder.

"Perhaps we could use the Kadhoz to channel energy into the rock?" She suggested. "I am detecting a high copper content."

"But we don't have anything to cut it with!" B'Elanna protested tiredly.

Seven slumped defeated to the floor again, leaning against their tombs seal, drawing her knees upto her chest in a child like gesture. B'Elanna moved to sit beside her and they laid their heads against each other.

"I never thought I would die like this," she said softly. "Buried alive on a primitive planet and only an ex-enemy for comfort. Can we at least go as friends?"

Seven of Nine considered the concept. "We are ship mates," she pointed out. "I was unaware there was a difference between friendship and ship mate."

"There is a big difference!" B'Elanna began, but was interrupted by a call from outside.

"B'Elanna, Seven! Are you there?" It was Kims voice filtering to them from around the rock.

"We're here!" B'Elanna called thankfully and leaping to her feet. "Where have you been?"

"Take too long to explain!" He responded. "The Colonel is laying a charge to try and move the rock. But we only have the one photonic charge, it may not be enough, or it may be too much we don't know. You had better find some sort of cover."

Immediately B'Elanna grabbed Sevens arm and dragged her towards the pile of rock they had built, then pulled her down behind it.

It had taken Kim and the Colonel nearly two hours to travel the five miles to reach the cave. They had to slow down as they marched because the Colonel appeared to be struggling. Eventually he had had to stop.

"Help me with this please, Ensign?" He had gasped pulling some strapping out of his jacket pocket then divesting himself of both jacket and shirt.

Kim gasped to see his chest a mess of blood. He turned away quickly from the sight.

"It's only blood, Mr Kim. A little of that never hurt anybody," the Colonel pointed out calmly. "I think I received a cut or two falling down the cliff. But if we tape it up we should be able to prevent anymore damage for sufficient time."

Taking a breath Kim turned back to help him, fighting off the nausea.

"It needs proper medical treatment," he gasped as he finished the strapping to the Colonels specification. "It could be a broken rib. That could do severe damage!"

"Only if you do something silly, and there is nothing broken, merely bruised," the Colonel opined, sliding his jacket on again. "Shall we carry on?"

Reluctantly Kim helped bring the pole up onto the Colonels shoulder again. Carrying what must be approaching 150 Kilogrammes came close to his estimation of very silly indeed for a man with a chest injury.

The Colonel was gasping for breath by the time the completed their journey and had to sit on the floor.

"See if anything is left of the pack," he panted the order. "Then see if the others are talking to us. The natives should be on their way home by now. So they will be following soon. They won't be as slow as us."

Quickly Kim did as he was bid, the tall soldier was, he decided, stupid enough to carry on despite the injury.

He was right, the Colonel had crawled upto the blocked entrance and was slowly pulling loose rock from around what they could clearly see was a large centre boulder.

"It looks as though I did some good," he mused. "I don't think all of the slide came down, or they didn't aim this fall properly and it missed!"

"I found a charge," Kim offered, handing him the round disk of a photonic charge. "It is operational."

"Excellent! I wasn't wildly optimistic with our homemade stuff," The Colonel admitted candidly. "We need to place it where it will force the rock from the hole. Perhaps at the bottom on the other side? Get the others to find shelter."

Twenty minutes later they scrambled away from the cave entrance and crouched as their charge exploded. Hesitantly they looked back.

"It didn't work!" Kim exploded in fury. The rock was still in its original resting place, firmly leaning against the opening.

"Get back to the shuttle, Ensign," the Colonel growled in his displeasure and struggling to his feet.

"The natives will come running now so we haven't got very long." He stooped and picked up two of the leather bags containing the homemade explosives and the pole they had used for carrying the Kadhoz.

"What are you intending to do?" Kim demanded nervously.

"Move that bloody rock!" The Colonel hissed. "But they are going to need transporting with some urgency, when I get them out."

"What with, home made explosives that may not even explode! Or perhaps you're just going to say 'Open Sesame!' You're in no state to do anything else!" Kim demanded. "What happens if you don't get them out?"

The Colonel glared at him, his anger rising to boiling point. "Never, ever, doubt what I can or can't do, Ensign. I will get them out if I have to mine underneath the rock until it collapses on me!" He snarled in fury. "Now piss off and watch out for the savages as you go."

Kim fled in terror from the look the Colonel was giving him, whilst the Colonel stalked back towards the cave.

A quick investigation of the ground revealed what had gone wrong. The powerful explosive had blown a crater out from under the rock, rather than directing its force at the harder surface. The boulder was teetering on the edge of the hole. Carefully he worked his way around to the other side

"Good afternoon, Ladies!" He called, trying to keep his shortness of breath from his voice. "I'm sorry for the delay, the explosives backfired. I'm going to try again!"

"I thought you only had one charge?" B'Elanna's voice accused from inside. Both she and Seven had inspected the rock again to find it lodged as solidly as before.

"Mr Kim said we only had one photonic charge," the Colonel corrected her. "But he lacks faith in bloody mindedness!"

In alarm B'Elanna dragged Seven of Nine back to their shelter, whilst the Colonel dug his powder explosives into the base. Satisfied he lit the short fuse to the bags and leapt up the side of the rock face, searching for a lever point for the pole. Finding one he positioned himself and took the strain.

The bags exploded with a soft 'woomph!' and he put all his strength against the lever as he felt the rock shift. He felt it give a little more then give suddenly as it finally rolled into the crater left by the earlier explosives. With nothing to support himself against he fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.

Seeing the rock move, B'Elanna leapt to her feet, then grabbed Seven of Nine by the arm she dragged her towards the opening, finally tripping over the Colonel as the emerged blindly into the light. He screamed in pain as the tripped over him.

"Colonel! Are you alright!" B'Elanna gasped in alarm, dropping to her knees beside him.

He smiled weakly at her. "When you have both finished using me as a door mat, then I'll be as right as rain!" He promised in gasps. "Could you help me up?"

"Lay still!" Seven commanded kneeling beside him. "You are badly damaged. It will require emergency first aid."

Gently she pulled his jacket open to reveal the blood oozing through the earlier bandages. Desperately she tried to close the wounds with her hands.

"The locals will be along in a couple of minutes," he whispered. "There is a bag over there, full of the local produce. You may need it." He pointed towards where the Kadhoz lay.

B'Elanna scurried off to collect it as he had demanded.

"What do we do with it?" she demanded when she returned.

"In my pocket is a lighter," he panted. "Light the fuse. Count to twenty. Then throw it at them. Then run!"

"We aren't leaving you here!" B'Elanna snorted, looking for agreement from Seven.

"We cannot move him," Seven responded quietly, looking back.

"Will you both stop phaffing and sit me up!" He demanded weakly, struggling to sit.

Both women held him down firmly, until they were disturbed by a shout. Looking around they saw a number of the native savages running towards them, all appeared to be hefting spears.

B'Elanna dived for the Colonels pocket and retrieved the ancient lighter he had claimed was there. She looked at it dumbly for a moment as she tried to work out how the primitive device worked, then had it snatched from her hand by Seven of Nine. She thumbed the striker feverishly until it lit, then presented the weak flame to the grass wick from the explosive bag. She waited a moment to see if the wick would take properly as it hissed and smoked, then threw it with all her might at the rapidly approaching enemy.

The bag broke open as it hit the floor, spilling its burning contents in a two metre circle, catching four of the approaching enemy in its hot and hissing flames. They screamed in pain and ran blindly away. Those behind stopped and ran in panic as the frames seemed to spread outwards from the centre. That only left the three that were in front of the fire, they checked for a moment, then charged on towards them.

B'Elanna levelled her phasor ready, hoping that there would be at least one more good shot from the weapon before it died completely.

The leading savage hurled his spear at them. It missed, but landed close enough for the Colonel to grab. He used it to lever himself painfully into a kneeling position, then buried the end into the ground beside him leaning the point towards the oncoming enemy.

"Go!" He hissed. "I can deal with at least one."

Any further conversation was lost as they were beamed away.

Kim had run in blind panic from what he had seen in the Colonel's face. It had been blind hatred and fury. He didn't want to be the target for it, so he had run. The terror had carried him nearly halfway to the shuttle before he tripped and landed heavily. He lay stunned and panting for a few minutes, before a sound of running feet came to him. Carefully he propped himself up and peered through the tall grass he had fallen in.

A party of some thirty natives was running towards him. In alarm he looked around for somewhere to hide. He spotted a rocky outcrop 15 metres from where he lay and crawled desperately towards it, throwing himself down behind it as the first of the savages passed by, less than three metres from where he had lain.

He waited nervously for another five minutes, before raising himself again to look over and around the rocks. They had gone.

Quickly he rose to his feet and ran on towards the shuttle. It was still there and intact, they hadn't been able to work out how to open the door, he realised thankfully, as he opened it and dived in. His brief note of thanks was shattered as a spear flew over his head and buried itself into the back of the pilots seat. They had been waiting for him. Quickly he slapped the door control. Another spear entered and smashed into the door control, jamming the door in a semi-open position. He looked out in time to see three savages charging towards them. It was enough to have him diving for a console.

"Computer activate level nine force field across the entrance door!" He screamed in alarm as the first native hit the boarding ramp.

The doorway flickered momentarily, then the savage hit the force field at a dead run. He staggered as the force field stopped him, then fell back into the path of the other two. Leaving Kim to sink thankfully into a chair.

He waited for a couple of minutes to recover before moving towards the pilots seat. The spear had penetrated the metal and plastic of the seat, anybody who had been sitting there would undoubtedly have been killed. Still shivering from the close calls he pulled it out and sat down.

A bang from behind him made him look back in alarm. The savages were throwing spears at the doorway again and the force field was crackling as they struck.

Fearing that one of them by some freak would enter, he fired up the engines and deployed savage amounts of power until it lurched into the sky.

As his heart stopped pounding from the fright, he grew calm enough to take control of the shuttle again and pointed it towards where his comrades were. Or at least where he hoped they would be. There was a tall column of dirty smoke coming from that location now.

Fearing the worst he set the shuttle into a fierce dive and scanned the area nervously for their life signs. At 200 metres he brought the shuttle to a hover, picking up the three life signs he was searching for and hit the transporter controls. As they materialised he redirected the controls and expertly picked out the Kadhoz block that he and the Colonel had so painstakingly carried from the settlement.

"Everybody Okay?" He called nervously over his shoulder.

They nodded and crawled to the force field covered door.

"Does the term 'Setting the world alight,' mean anything anymore?" The Colonel asked sombrely as he gazed at the rapidly spreading fire that they had started with his bag of explosives.

B'Elanna shook her head. "No, I've never heard it," she admitted. "What does it mean?"

"In my day it meant doing something that people got very excited about," the Colonel sighed gently, sagging to the floor again. "In our case I think we may have achieved it literally. That fire we set off is nearly 800 yards in diameter and still spreading. Can we do anything about it?"

"What do you suggest, Colonel?" Kim asked from his seat.

"We can excavate a trench across the fire's path with phasors," Seven of Nine volunteered, catching the drift of the conversation.

"A fire break, that would do nicely," the Colonel agreed quickly

Kim considered the suggestion. "Tell me where," he demanded eventually.

Seven of Nine scrambled into her seat and scanned the terrain. "There are two outcrops of inert rock 800 metres to the East, 1000 metres apart," she announced quickly. "The fire will hit that location in twenty minutes. It can be stopped there!"

Kim set course to comply.

Thirty minutes later they watched the fire hit their hastily blasted trench and check it's onwards rush. "I think that will do it!" Kim stated smugly. "Setting course for return to Voyager!"

The shuttle soared away.

"Did somebody say there was a first aid kit aboard this thing?" The Colonel asked quietly. "I think that now would be suitable. I think I'd prefer you three handling it rather than face the blasted Doctor and his dumb questions!"

Seven of Nine slipped from her seat and wrested the medical tricorder from B'Elanna's unprotesting hand. B'Elanna grinned quietly and winked at Kim as he turned in his seat.

"I'll try and get the door closed, shall I?" She announced brightly.

"Acceptable," Seven claimed, examining the tricorders results.

"Lacerations and abrasions to the chest and back. Severe muscular bruising," she intoned.

"Your injuries are not as severe as originally suspected," she accused.

"Not disappointed I hope? And I won't have to face 'Him', will I?" The Colonel asked quickly, flashing a hopeful grin at her.

"The results will have to be confirmed by the Doctor. However I am pleased that there is no severe damage," Seven confessed. "The Sick Bay is not suitable for your continued education."

He groaned loudly.

"What made you think the black stuff would explode?" B'Elanna asked curiously as she settled back into her seat.

Carefully he dug into his jacket pocket and extracted a small handful of the dirt he had used.

"You tell me," he suggested, handing her the dirt. "I think if you use your boxes it will be something not unlike gunpowder."

"I suspected it was more powerful than I originally thought when I saw it flare on the step," he explained. "Originally I thought it would burn softly because of the oil. After that we had to the best we could."

B'Elanna looked at him sharply, then at Seven of Nine. "You're right, Seven. He does!" She laughed.

He looked at both of the women in confusion, lost at the new track of conversation.

Spotting his confusion, Seven of Nine attempted to clarify the situation. "We discussed your adaptability in difficult situations" she explained, deepening his confusion further.

"If your offer is still open, Lieutenant. I would like to accept. I wish to apologise for my actions aboard the ship. I will try to avoid repeating them," She added, talking over the Colonels head.

"We'll see how it goes!" B'Ellana grinned an acceptance.

The shuttle docked with Voyager 48 hours later. "Any problems?" Captain Janeway demanded as B'Elanna and Seven of Nine hurried an Engineering crew out with the Kadhoz.

"Nothing we couldn't handle!" Kim reported quickly. "The Colonel has a full report."

Her face flushed and she gripped Kim firmly by the arm and escorted him out of the Shuttle Bay.

"You were in charge of the mission. Why do I need to read the Colonel's opinions?" She demanded crossly.

"I'm sorry, Captain. But he wrote his as soon as Seven finished treating his injuries," Kim spluttered. "He had a better idea of what was happening than anybody else from the moment we landed. I'll provide my report tomorrow."

"He was injured? Why wasn't it reported?" The Captains voice rose an octave.

"Not seriously, more cuts and bruises when he fell off the cliff!" Kim stammered. "He doesn't want to see the Doc!"

Out the corner of her eye the Captain spotted the Colonel creeping away. "Colonel Samuels. Go and see the Doctor for a check up," she ordered with a sigh.

"Ma'am!" He responded unhappily and saluted.

"I want a full debriefing as soon as we get the power coupling working," she added quickly before he disappeared.

"Before we begin, how is the new power coupling, B'Elanna?" The Captain demanded in the debriefing two days later.

"The Kadhoz is proving better than the standard fitment, Captain," B'Elanna enthused. "It doesn't seem to need the same degree of finish as normal to transfer all the power we can produce. A new spare coupling will be completed tomorrow."

"Good," she sighed, before turning to the reports that had been presented by the Colonel and Ensign Kim.

"These two reports differ in detail," she accused.

"For instance, both mention that you created your own explosives to deal with the rock that blocked the tunnel," she continued. "But strangely, only one states who worked out how to make and use it. Both describe the trap that caused the tunnel blockage. Only one states it was anybody's fault."

"Why have you put yourself on report, Colonel?" She rounded fiercely on the tall soldier.

"I made a mistake, Ma'am. They override the level of benefit," he responded neutrally, seemingly unaffected by her stern gaze.

"Why?" She demanded. "Ensign Kim virtually claims you took control of that Away Mission the moment there was trouble!"

"I missed the building of the landslip, Ma'am," the Colonel pointed out. "I should have thought of it. It meant the Away Team was put in danger."

"Nobody could have foreseen that trap, even with a tricorder!" She exploded.

"I should have, Ma'am," he responded quietly. "That is what I was there for!"

"I am disregarding your report, Colonel," she declared, putting his notepad aside.

"You are implying I am a liar, Ma'am?" He questioned sharply.

"No!" She denied quickly in sudden fear of his reaction. "But you didn't tell the whole truth with regard to your actions, did you?"

"I do not wish to be included in your records, Ma'am!"

"Why not?" She demanded hotly.

"It makes me a target. I do not like being a target, people get hurt," he claimed.

She stared at him incredulously. Here was a man that was denying he had done anything remarkable on a remarkable mission simply because he didn't want to be noted for his successes.

"But you did see notable feats from others?" She commented, picking up his notepad again. "The rest of your report mirrors Ensign Kim's almost perfectly."

"Ma'am!" He agreed.

"If I continue to disregard your report, what will you do?" She challenged quickly, dark thoughts nagging at her mind.

"You have accused me of being a liar, Ma'am. There is only one action open for me. Or you for that matter!" he claimed quickly. "I will have to leave."

She sighed in defeat. "I'll consider what goes into the logs," she agreed reluctantly. "B'Elanna, Seven, based upon the combined testimony of both reports of your actions, your sentences are rescinded. Dismissed!"

Quickly they turned for the door.

"Before you go, Colonel. There is one other thing you can clear up for me!" She claimed as he approached the door.

He stopped and turned back towards her. "Ma'am?" He queried.

"There is a small matter of a bottle and some biscuits that appeared in Cargo Bay 2. You don't know how they got there do you?"

"Ma'am?" He questioned.

"Seven was in solitary confinement. She didn't have anything like that when she went in. But you did. Break my commands to a crewman again and I will put you off the ship!" She threatened.

"Ma'am!" He responded with a neutral shrug.

"Have you ever been in solitary confinement?" He asked quietly.

"I have," He continued quickly, before she could respond. "I was imprisoned in a corrugated iron box, 6 feet in all directions in a jungle clearing for five days before I escaped. You don't need or want to know what that was like in the heat of the day. But for Miss Nine solitary confinement isn't that far from that tin box. She needs company of some sort, or she will break."

"If you will excuse me, Ma'am. I have a dinner date with two delightful ladies," he grinned quickly.

"Who?" The Captain demanded quickly, fascinated.

"Lieutenant Torres and Miss Seven of Nine, Ma'am. It seems that shutting them up alone together had quite an effect."

She nodded an acceptance and he left, saluting smartly, leaving her to ponder the difference between the sentence she had set and the sentence that the two women had endured. Then about the man who could tell the difference.