DISCLAIMER: You all know the drill - Paramount is God.  All hail Paramount.  They own everything in the Star Trek Universe - I'm just using my overactive imagination to take their characters where they refuse to go.  All in the name of fun, not profit (I wish).

CAUSALITY

CHAPTER SEVEN: TRUTHS

Clawing through the last remaining rocks, Tom could hear voices on the other side.  He held up his hand at Ensign Molina and Lieutenant Rollins to stop digging at the rocks blocking the exit so he could hear.

"Hello?" he called.

"Tom?" came B'Elanna's voice from the other side of the rock.

He sighed with relief and began digging furiously.  His efforts paid off when a shaft of light broke through the wall.  Rollins and Molina helped him, and they slowly enlarged the hole until they could see crew from Voyager digging on the other side as well.

The hole was soon big enough to crawl through, and Tom ushered the two officers with him out of the cavern before he followed them, squeezing through the hole in the collapsed rock.

He squinted when his eyes met the bright light from one of the flashlights, and it was hard to make out anything around him.  He was grabbed by the arms and helped out of the small hole they had created.

He smiled at the first face he saw when his eyes readjusted to the darkness, and he stepped forward to wrap his arms around B'Elanna, pulling her to his chest almost frantically.

When he finally pulled away, he smiled and put his hands on either side of her head.  "I never thought I'd be so glad to see your face."

She seemed glad to see him as well, but had something else on her mind.  "Have you seen Chakotay?"

He frowned.  "No, we split up.  He took Ayala, Larson and MacAlister and went…"  His stomach plunged to the floor when he saw Lieutenant Ayala over B'Elanna's shoulder.  He looked back at his wife.  "Where is he?"

"We don't know."

"There was a cave-in," explained Ayala, stepping forward.  "We were separated from him and the Captain."

"The Captain?  You found her?"

Ayala nodded.  "The Mallorians fired on her before we even got to her."

"They what?"

"They said something about her blowing the reactor, then they just took off.  The Commander was trying to get her out of there when the whole roof caved in."

"Can we get a transporter lock on them?" he asked B'Elanna.

She shook her head.  "The radiation level from the core is too high.  We can't even scan the inside of the cave."

*

"You've been here…with the Mallorians…for five years?"

She nodded mutely.

"Were you…the only one?"

"Stranded here?"  She looked down at the ground.  "Yes."

He watched her try to hide the pain on her face, but couldn't think of anything to say.

She looked up, and there were tears brimming in her eyes.  "It's so good to see you again, Chakotay," she said, her voice cracking.

She slid closer to him on the ground and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He was too surprised at first to react.  He couldn't remember the last time he had been this close to Kathryn…if ever.  He could feel the heat from her body against his chest, and her soft hair gently brushed against his cheek.  Despite the fact that this was not really the Kathryn Janeway he knew, his heart still ached for her.  He could almost feel her pain, as if it was transmitted by the physical contact.

Slowly, he put his arms around her, and when he did she let out a sob and squeezed him tighter.

After a moment, she pulled away and turned her head, wiping tears from her eyes.  "I'm sorry, it's just…"

He put his hand on her shoulder.  "It's all right."

They looked around the cavern as it rumbled and a few rocks fell from the ceiling.

"Has this ever happened in any of the previous loops?" he asked.

She laughed softly.  "No.  To my knowledge I'm the first one to try actually holding myself hostage."  The small smile on her face evaporated.  "I wouldn't have done it if I thought this would happen."

"Why did you?  I thought you would try and stop the reactor from overloading."

"I have tried that.  The first time, Tom was thrown back as well and separated from B'Elanna.  The second time, B'Elanna was killed.  The third time…well, here I am.  I decided it was time for a change of strategy."

"So you kidnapped her?"

She glanced down at the ground.  "It wasn't supposed to be like this.  I was trying to spare her…from what I went through."  She ran her fingers through her hair.  "Can you imagine what it's like to have your entire life suddenly ripped away from you?  Everyone you cared about…gone in an instant.  Spending five years on an alien planet with nothing for company but your own regrets."

He couldn't think of anything to say, so he reached over and rested his hand on her knee.  She clasped it gratefully.

"You have no idea how much I've missed this," she said, running her thumb over his hand.

"I'm so sorry, Kathryn.  It must have been awful for you."

"For you too, having to command Voyager alone."  She looked up at him, and it felt as though her eyes were penetrating him down to his soul.  "You were still there when the reactor overloaded.  You were the only one who wouldn't leave."

"I would never abandon you."

"I know…and you never knew how much that meant to me.  I never got a chance to tell you…"  She removed her hand from his and reached up to rest it along the side of his face.  "There was never a day that went by that I didn't wish that things were different.  I was too proud and too scared and too damned stubborn to do anything but tell myself that there was no other way it could be.  I was the Captain.  There were certain boundaries that I had to maintain…no matter how much or how often I wished that I didn't.  But then…everything I had ever known, everyone I cared about, everyone I loved…"

Her voice trailed off as she gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips.

"When I woke up here…and you were gone…those boundaries seemed so unimportant.  It felt like they had cost me so many years that I…"

He rested his hand on her shoulder.  "Kathryn…"

"You think you have all the time in the world…until one day you wake up and that world is gone."

*

Tom leaned forward incredulously on the conference room table.  "You're not suggesting we just sit here and wait around?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow.  "That is precisely what I am suggesting.  It will be safer to wait until the seismic activity in the caves has subsided before we make any rescue attempt."

Tom jumped up from the table.  "They could be dead by then!  We have to do something now!"

The Vulcan stood as well.  "May I remind you, Mr. Paris, that in the absence of Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, I am in command."

"Fine.  Throw me in the brig.  Bust me down to crewman for insubordination if you want."  He leaned in closer so that his face was inches from Tuvok's.  "I'll scrub plasma conduits for the rest of the trip if it means we get them back in one piece."

Tuvok returned his stare for a few seconds before he answered.  "If you have a suggestion, Mr. Paris, then by all means share it."

*

"Did you hear that?"

Chakotay nodded as he looked around the cave warily.  "The tremors are increasing."

The cave shifted under their feet again, and rocks began to fall from the ceiling.

"We have to get out of here," he said, starting towards the inert form of the Captain.

"Moving her will aggravate her injuries."

He knelt beside Kathryn, gathering her in his arms.  "This cave is going to come down any minute.  We don't have a choice."

She thought for a moment, then agreed with a nod.  "We can't get out the same way we came in…but there's another access shaft about three hundred meters down the passageway.  We can use it to get to the surface."

"Let's go."

She took one last look around at the unstable walls before she followed him.

They made their way unsteadily along the half-collapsed passageway, stepping around rocks and coughing as the dust still hanging in the air irritated their lungs.  After they had been walking a little ways, there was another tremor and they both stumbled as the ground shifted violently under them.

Chakotay reached out with one hand to steady himself against the wall as the tunnel shook around them, keeping both arms around the limp form cradled in his arms.  Ahead of him, the Captain's double stumbled to her knees.

Before she pulled herself to her feet, the cave trembled again and they were both hard pressed to keep their balance.

"The tremors are getting worse!" he said over the clatter of rocks falling from the roof.

"We have to keep moving!" she yelled back.

Before they could take more than a few steps down the tunnel, part of the roof caved in, sending a shower of heavy rocks onto them.

One of the rocks struck Chakotay on the side of the head and he fell to the ground, momentarily stunned.  The unconscious Captain Janeway slid from his arms.

The torrent of rocks slowed after a few seconds then stopped.  As the dust began to settle, Chakotay slowly pushed himself off the ground.

He could hear her concerned voice before he saw her.  "Chakotay!"

He coughed before he found his voice.  "Are you all right?"

She emerged from the dust in front of him.  "I'm fine.  The Captain?"

He looked down at the unmoving form beside him.  He had managed to shield her from the worst of the falling rocks.  "I don't think she suffered any more injuries."

"I can't say the same for you," she said with concern, kneeling beside him.  She reached over and took his chin in her hand, turning his head to get a better look at the cut on his temple.

"It's superficial," he assured her.

She pulled back from him slightly to look him in the eye.  He reached up and rested his hand over his.  "Kathryn, I'm fine.  Really."

She pulled her hand out from under his and slumped to the ground, leaning back against the wall of the tunnel.  She slowly squeezed her eyes shut.  "You could have been killed," she whispered.  "Maybe she was right.  Maybe I am being selfish."

"I've never known you to be selfish."

"In my timeline, you haven't known me for five years.  I kept telling myself that I was doing this for her…but now she's dying, you're injured, who knows what happened in the reactor core…"

"I admire what you did, Kathryn.  Trying to spare her from the pain of being separated from everyone.  I don't think it was selfish…I just think that you were a little reckless, as usual."

She opened her eyes again and turned to look at him.  She reached over and traced his tattoo with her fingertips before laying the palm of her hand against the side of his face.  Slowly, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips.  As soon as the contact between them was broken, she kissed him again, deeper and harder.  He seemed to resist at first, but gave in after a few seconds.

She was the one who pulled away at last, moving her fingertips on his face.

"I never wanted to cause you pain, Chakotay," she whispered.

"I know that."

"I just…I needed…I don't know what I needed.  A good push, maybe.  But you could never push me."

"I thought it would make things worse."

"It might have, at first."  She smiled, and her eyes were drawn to the Captain, unconscious on the ground next to them.  "But I probably would have come around in the end."

"I wish I'd known that," he said sincerely.

"Now you do."  She returned her attention to his head, wiping away the blood with the edge of her sleeve.  "We should get moving," she said, standing up and offering him a hand.  He took it with his uninjured arm and pulled himself up.  Their eyes remained locked on each other for a few seconds before Chakotay turned away and picked up the Captain.  He grimaced as he lifted her into his arms, straining the injured muscles in his shoulder.

"Come on," she said, starting to make her way over the rocky terrain of the cavern.  "The access shaft should be just around the next bend."

*

Tom looked over Harry's shoulder at the map on the PADD one last time as he put his phaser in the holster on his belt.

"You're sure that will lead to the caverns?"

Harry nodded.  "Sensors show that is goes down at least a hundred meters.  The caverns are about a hundred and fifty meters down, so my guess is it's the same kind of lift that you used to get down there last time.  It should take us to within three hundred meters of their last known position."

Tom lifted up a bag and slung it over his shoulder.  "Well, I've got the rappelling equipment just in case we have to take the hard way down."

He stepped up onto the transporter pad and was followed by Harry and four security officers, all armed.

B'Elanna was at the transporter controls.  "Be careful, flyboy."

He nodded with a grin, and she smiled back before looking down at the console and energizing.

*

She grunted as she tried to force open the door of the access shaft.  She gave it another push, then slumped against it.  "You'll have to help me."

Chakotay gently set the Captain down on the ground.  He propped her up against the wall, her head rolling limply to the side.

He moved over to the doors and helped her push them open to reveal the small lift that was inside.  He picked up the Captain again and carried her onto the lift, joined by her double.

Living on Mallor for five years had allowed her to become familiar with their technology, and it only took her a few seconds to figure out how to operate the lift.  The rock shaft shuddered again as the lift moved slowly up the shaft.

"How far up is it?" he asked.

"About a hundred and fifty meters.  It should only take us a minute or two to reach the surface."

About halfway up the shaft, the lift suddenly stopped its upward progression.  It fell out from under them for a fraction of a second before the emergency brakes activated and it jolted to a stop, throwing them around the small platform.

She pulled herself up and examined the readouts on the small panel.  "One of the magnetic seals failed."

He started to go help her, but his attention was drawn to the Captain on the floor beside him when he heard her groan.

"Kathryn?" he said, moving to her side.

Her eyes slowly opened and she tried to push herself into a sitting position.  She let out a cry and fell back to the floor.

"You have fractured vertebrae," he told her.  "Don't try to move."

In incredible pain, she didn't answer him right away, gasping for breath.

"What's…what's going on?" she managed to ask after a few seconds.

"We're taking a lift to the surface," her double informed her.  "Unfortunately, we've hit a snag."

Chakotay could see the agony on her face.  "How bad is it?"

"I'll manage."

"I'm going to see if I can restore the magnetic seal," said the elder Janeway at the controls.  She hit a few buttons on the console and the lift moved up a few meters before it suddenly dropped again.

When the emergency brakes activated and jerked the lift to a stop, the Captain screamed as the violent movement jolted her fractured vertebrae.

Her double turned around with concern.  "Sorry."

Chakotay rested his hand along her face.  "Kathryn?"

There was a burning pain in her chest and pressure building in her lungs.  "I…can't breathe," she gasped.

He frowned and pulled his tricorder out of his belt.  His face clouded over as he scanned her.  "You've got two broken ribs.  One of them punctured your lung on that last jolt."

"Then I guess…we'd better…get out of here," she said, still short of breath.

"Looks like one of the power relays is offline," said the elder Janeway as she worked.  "That's why the magnetic seal failed."

"Can you bypass it?"

"I'll try."  She glanced over her shoulder.  "If it doesn't work we're going to be in for a bumpy ride."

"Understood," said the Captain through clenched teeth.

"Here goes nothing," muttered her double before pressing a button on the console.

The lift dropped out from under them and again jolted violently to a stop.  Beside him, Chakotay heard the Captain cry out.  He looked over at her just in time to see her eyes close and her head roll limply to the side.

"Kathryn?" he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She was unresponsive, so he returned his attention to her double.  "I take it whatever you tried didn't work?"

She was pulling herself off the floor of the platform, and turned to check the console.  Her shoulders fell and she rested her forehead on the panel in front of her.  "The power matrix is completely fused.  We're never going to get that last seal working."

Chakotay looked up the seemingly endless shaft.  "Are we going to have to climb this?"

"There's no way we're going to get this lift moving again."  She stared at her unmoving double, then turned back suddenly to the console.  "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"The other magnetic seals are still functioning, they just aren't giving the lift enough power to move with us on it."

"So?"

She stood facing the rock wall in front of her with her hands braced on either side of the console.  "So if there are only two people on the lift then it would probably make it to the top."

He stood up.  "What?"

"If there are only two of you on the lift the remaining magnetic seals should be enough to make it to the top.  If I get off -- "

"No."

"Chakotay…"

The shaft rumbled around them as another tremor shook the caverns below them.  "You'd never make it."

She stared back at him without answering, obviously having come to that conclusion herself.

"I'm not just going to let you die!"

"Chakotay…we both know I don't belong here."

"I can't leave you."

"Get her to safety."

"I plan to, but you're coming with me.  You said I didn't abandon you in your timeline.  I'm not going to in mine either.  We're doing this together."

"There's no other way."

"Kathryn Janeway would never give up.  Not even one from an alternate timeline.  We'll find a way."

*

The away team followed Ensign Kim as he made his way around the rubble in the atrium.  The seismic activity in the caverns below the city had caused structural damage to the entire power facility, and there were crumbled walls, pillars, and pieces of the roof everywhere.

The ground shook beneath their feet with another tremor, and they all had to grab something for support to remain standing.

"We're almost there," Harry assured them, turning into a corridor.  "It should only be another twenty-five meters --"

He was cut off in mid-sentence by Taman yelling at them from behind.

"What are you doing back here?" he demanded, standing farther down the corridor.

"Our commanding officers are missing," explained Tom, frowning at his hostile tone.  "We think they're trapped in the subterranean caverns."

"They deserve to rot there," snarled Taman.

"Excuse me?" said Tom incredulously.

"You heard me."

"You can't be serious," he said, glancing back at Harry, who gave him a puzzled shrug.

"You are responsible for our reactor overload."

"What?  We sent our away team down to help you."

"The device planted in the power matrix was your technology."

"We have no idea how it got there," said Harry, stepping up beside Tom.

"I know exactly how it got there.  Your Captain planted it."

Tom and Harry glanced at each other.  "What?" said Harry.

"That's ridiculous," protested Tom.  "Nobody has even seen her since we beamed in."

"And what reason would she have for sabotaging your reactor?" added Harry.

Taman stepped forward and glared at them.  "She's been trying to destroy it for years."

Tom and Harry looked at each other again, completely mystified.

"This is absurd," said Tom as the floor shifted under their feet again.  "We're trying to rescue our people.  We can discuss this all you want when we're finished."

He turned around abruptly and motioned for the away team to move ahead of him down the corridor.

Taman watched them leave, then tilted his head backwards to an unseen figure in the shadows and gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

A guard emerged from a doorway, and was trailed by a dozen armed Mallorians as they followed the away team down the corridor.