This is it, the last part….. For those wonderful people who reviewed and encouraged me, MANY MANY Thanks….. And an extra special Thank you hug for my Sister for her beta reading and her unwavering belief in me, and for having the courage to boot me out from under my desk (where I was quivering and hiding in self doubt and denial!!)

PART 7

The rock face was slick and cold with ice.  Even with the rope holding her, she felt uncertain of her footing.  Above her, Chakotay moved with a grace and ease that had her muttering enviously. The clatter of rocks and the heavily accented and badly mangled Klingon curse below, made her snort with laughter.

"York, do have you any idea what you just said?"  B'Elanna asked, looking down into York's sweating red face.

He grinned cheekily back at her. "No, but I'm hoping if I use it often enough, one day either you or the Commander will tell me." 

"Don't count on it."

Her muscles wept, it had been a long time since she'd put them through so much torture.  It was exhilarating.  The afternoon sun warmed her back and the cold wind cooled her damp skin as she found yet another foot hold and pulled herself up.  They had been climbing steadily now for about two hours.

Another colourful curse echoed through the air, this time from her as she scraped the wall for the hundredth time.  Her knuckles had very little skin left on them.  Chakotay shook with suppressed laughter, he'd tried to make her wear protective gloves.

B'Elanna huffed, for once he'd not argued with her.  In fact, since their talk he was treating her more or less the way he used to.  She just wished that this one time he had insisted.  But then again, if he had she would have been hell bound to fight him on it, and that would have led to a whole other kind of wrestling match.  She cut off that line of thought as the arrow of pure lust shot through her.  Looking up and seeing his excellent behind above her did nothing to quell the hum of desire that was firing up her blood.

"This climbing thing definitely has its advantages."

"Did you say something?" He shouted down to her, trying to move out a little so that he could see her.

"No, just admiring the fantastic view."

"Its better from the top."

"Oh, I don't doubt that."  She chuckled.

York choked back a laugh.  He was close enough to her to see exactly what she was admiring.

At the top Chakotay dropped his pack and leaning over grasped her hand, pulling her up beside him.  She was grinning like a kid at Christmas.

"Man, that was great. Come here." Grabbing him behind the head she kissed him, hard.  Chakotay's blood went from warm to incinerate in the space of a heartbeat.  Pulling back he fought the cloud of desire that was fogging his brain.

"If you two are quite finished, I could use some help here," came the amused laugh from just below the ledge.

"Sorry, climbing seems to have a strange affect on me."

"That's it, tomorrow I am moving the cabin up here." Chakotay swore.

It took them very little time to find his camp and set up their equipment.  The bombs were very simply made, using the Borg's own highly active fuel they built small plasters, that alone would make very little damage, but would be enough to ignite the gaseous envelopes.

The plan was simple.  Chakotay and York would set the charges in and around the camp while B'Elanna followed the trail, setting a few bombs along the way in case any managed to escape and head in that direction.

Chakotay used every ounce of will power to stop himself from trying to talk her out of going on her own.  Yet now that they stood there ready, he could not control the urge any longer.

"B'Elanna…"

Her ironic smile and quick shake of the head stopped him.  "Forget it." She said sweetly.

Damn the woman for reading his mind.  With a deep sigh he capitulated.  It wouldn't do him any good anyway.  She was too stubborn.  Too bad that was the thing he loved most about her.

York studied the terrain below, it was a constant surprise and wonder that he had picked up the technology so quickly.  Even now, as he used the binoculars, he did so as if it was something he had used often and not just picked up for the first time an hour ago.

Primed and ready, B'Elanna checked the bombs one last time.  Her own study of the terrain focused on the path around the grove.  It was the route she would have to take to get back to the village and it was the one unknown element in the entire setup.  They did not know the land and had no idea where it leads or how long it was.  Deductive reasoning gave the assumption that it would be simple to follow, with all the Borg traffic going over it in the last few years, it should be well worn.  Her decision to be the one to go had given Chakotay the greatest test to his will.  But even he had to admit she was the only choice.  Though York was agile and quick, he did not have the years of Marquee training that she did and Chakotay was not letting her get anywhere near that camp.

Preparation completed, they headed to the slippery slope.  The rope Chakotay had used before was still there.

York was the first to go down.  He would have to cover the outer parameter and head back up as quickly as possible.  He was the lifeline, once things started happening, Chakotay would need help getting to the top fast enough.

Once York was down safely, it was B'Elanna's turn to go.  Seeing the fear and worry in Chakotay's eyes, she grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him to her.  Lips fused to his, she let every ounce of passion and love pour into that one fleeting kiss.

"Stop panicking, I will see you back at the camp." Then, as she reached for the rope, she threw him a wicked glance over her shoulder.

"Oh and Commander, conserve your strength.  I have plans for you tonight, and here's a tip…  you're going to need every ounce of energy for what I have in mind."

Quick to recover, he cocked one eyebrow in challenge.  "Really Lieutenant? Just what did you have in mind?"

"I am going to give you the ride of your life." She laughed as she boldly hurtled herself down the path, barely holding back the whoop of sheer enjoyment.

It took Chakotay a few moments to beat his libido back into place. If there was a man alive that could resist an offer like that, it was not the former first officer of the star ship Voyager.

York watched the figure zoom down, fly into the air, flip and land on her feet in one smooth graceful dance. B'Elanna threw him a grin over her shoulder as she sprinted off to follow the path that lead around the mountain.

"Man oh man, that woman has some great moves." He sighed

"My woman!  If you don't stop admiring her moves I might just have to damage you," came the growl from behind him. 

York blushed crimson, but did not hide the cheeky grin for the older man.

"I wouldn't stand a chance there any way, she is crazy about you."

"Crazy period, but good answer." Chakotay sighed, cuffing his young friend gently up side the head. "Now lets get to work.  Use the tricorder to find the gas pockets.  There are a few around here.  Place the charges at the point where the gas condensation is the strongest.  The timers are pre-set for five minutes, that means I want you back up there in exactly three minutes, not one second longer."

York nodded, lowering his pack he took out his tricorder.

His wrist timer set, Chakotay headed for the newly repaired refinery.  The remaining Borg were moving around oblivious to his presence.  From the preparation going on, he realised that they were just about ready to invade the village again.  They must have assimilated the data from the drones that met their end in the village.

On the left, three drones were working on what looked to him like a weapon of some kind.  He wasted precious seconds unsuccessfully trying to get close enough to see exactly what they were working on.   All he could make out was that it looked like the Borg equivalent to a canon.  He had a feeling that this thing would not only take out the wall, but most of the village and surrounding forest.  The anger that threatened to choke him was forcefully swallowed back.  Evil came in all fronts, but none were as totally despicable as a species that would commit genocide as easily as he would swat a fly.  No remorse, no mercy and no pity.

Moving away from the hive of activity, he concentrated on the job at hand.  He had five charges; three of them went to the refinery and one the regeneration alcoves.  The last he placed right in the centre of the main gas outlet.  They were systematically placed to cause the greatest amount of damage over the widest possible area.  Combined with the gasses natural highly volatile nature and the perimeter bombs, it would completely destroy the surrounding area.  Though it was uninhabited by any life whatsoever, he felt a moments concern about the glacier.  Not knowing how the blast would affect it, and if any, what affect that would have on the planet as a whole.

Luck was with him and Chakotay managed to get out without being detected, reaching the rope with seconds to spare.  York, already at the top, felt the tug on the line and, using every ounce of strength in his young body, he started hauling Chakotay up.  The first explosion went off just as the Commander reached the top.  Not taking time to think as the big one hit and he felt the ground shudder and quake, Chakotay flung himself at York.   The tackle carried them both backwards just as the side of the mountain under them crumbled and slid away.  A massive dust cloud billowed up obliterating everything from sight, leaving them choking and gasping for air.

The destruction was total.  As man of nature Chakotay's heart wept for what he had done, though the warrior in him cheered at the destruction of his enemy.

There was nothing left of the Borg, the mountain had swallowed every trace of them.  Buried them under rocks rubble and dust.  A deep crater on the ice was the only reminder of what had once been a flat plain of sapphire blue.  There was no way they could go down now, it would take months before the jagged razor sharp sides were melted down enough to be safe to climb through.

Staggering to their feet, York grasped Chakotay's arm, panic and urgency in every line of his body.

"Some of them went along the path just before the explosion.  I saw them as I was pulling you up.  By all the Gods of Ramatan, they are headed for the Village." His fear escalated when he saw all colour drain from his idols face and terror fill Chakotay's eyes.

 "How many?" Chakotay asked fighting back fear.

"Three I think.  They were carrying something big, it looked like a weapon."

"The canon!  B'Elanna, she's alone!"

B'Elanna staggered to her feet.  The blast had sent her stumbling to the ground, scraping a good portion of skin off her palms and knees.  Aside from that, and being completely covered in dust, she was fine.

A quick look around showed that most of the damage from the blast had been contained inside the valley.  A few rocks and boulders had tumbled loose in the gorge, but nothing major.  The mountain pass she was on ran in a deep line right through the mountain range, as if a mighty axe had carved a groove.   Nature had many wonders, but this was one of the most unusual she had ever seen. 

Searching around, she found her tricorder where it had fallen and was relieved to see it still working.  Picking it up she continued scanning for cracks in the rock, or fissures big enough to put a few charges in.  The idea was to place them in natural weaknesses, that way the force of the explosions would cause a rockslide that would seal off the gorge.  The tricorder found a few that looked perfect about 100 yards ahead of her.  Hurrying to them, she started stuffing the charges in to them.  She was down to her last bomb when she noticed that something was not right.  Closer examination showed that one of the tiny wires had come loose, probably with the jolt when she'd fallen.

Muttering to herself in a mixture of Klingon and English, she dug in her pack for the clippers.

The hair on the back of her neck rose, a sixth sense warning her, it had saved her too many times to ignore now.  Hundreds of different moves ran through her mind in the split second she realised what was happening.  Only one had a chance of saving her.  Tucking herself into a ball, she rolled backwards.  As her shoulders hit the ground, she straightened her body, driving her legs up into the Borg that had managed to sneak up on her.  Berating herself mentally for being off guard, she flipped onto her feet and swung to face the oncoming danger.  There were three of them, one struggling clumsily up from where he had landed when her leg blow had sent him flying, the other two were busy loading a very ugly looking weapon and aiming it at her head.   By the look of the canon, she had no time to try and take them out before they shot her. For a Klingon, dying in battle was the best way to go.  She decided she had never been that fond of the Klingon beliefs anyway and swung around and ran.  Fighting back the urge to look over her shoulder, she zigzagged at a hunched over sprint, knowing how pitifully easy it would be for them to target her in this narrow confined space. The blast slammed into her, lifting her high into the air.  Hot air burned her back and singed her hair as the air was sucked out of her.

"Chakotay," was the last thought she had before her body was smashed into the side of the mountain.

Chakotay flew down the mountain.  There was no other way to describe his reckless desperate decent.  Pure luck saved him from loosing his hold and hurtling down to his death at least 100 times.  York tried valiantly to keep up but was still fifty feet up when Chakotay hit the ground running.

He made it to the entrance of the gorge when the explosion echoed from the distance.  The deep howl of pain and fury that rose from his throat reverberated over the land.  Once again the ground shook and he was engulfed in a billowing cloud of dust and smoke.  Insane with fear, he headed into it.  Twenty meters in the dust cleared and he came to a grinding halt.  His heart stopped, all thought frozen, as his life ended before his eyes.

"No, no! NO!"  It was a plea, a cry of torment and rage.  The agony ripped through him, his legs buckled and he fell to his knees.

The path had followed around the mountain was gone, obliterated by fifty tons of rock that rose over a hundred meters high, completely blocking what had once been.

"B'ELANNA!" Tears ran unheeded down his cheeks as her name was cried from his heart.

Suddenly, like a wolf that sensed its mate he froze, and then rose to his feet.  A figure was moving towards him.  Relief, joy and gratitude flooded in him, along with a healthy slap of anger.  The latter they would deal with later, right now he just needed to hold her.  B'Elanna ran into his arms, burrowing into his chest.

Never in her life had she heard a sound like that come out of a human throat.  It had been like the cry of a wounded tortured animal, and knowing it came from him had given her the strength to fight her way down from the small narrow ledge that had saved her life.  His arms clamped around her like vices, lifting her up while he buried his face in her hair.  She suffered with every shudder that wracked through his great body.

York found them warped around each other like that moments later.  Seeing they were both to engrossed with each other, he quietly headed back to the village.  Silently thanking his God that his beloved Lieutenant was alive.

"Don't ever scare me like that again! I thought I had lost you." Chakotay groaned, drawing back but still refusing to let go, he swung her up into his arms.  For once B'Elanna did not mind being cherished, she knew he needed it as much as she.  Just as she knew that later, when he got over the shock of nearly loosing her, there would be hell to pay.

"Chakotay, I want you to build us a house."

Chakotay frowned down at her, confused by the statement that seemed to come out of nowhere. "A house?"

"Yes, you know a roof and walls."

"I know what a house is. What I don't know is why?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like the cabin but I don't think it will be big enough."

He smiled down at her as he carried her back towards the village.

"You mean for those eight kids.  I don't know, it would have to be a very big house. Where exactly did you want it built?"

"In the clearing where you first kissed me." She hated to sound sappy, but it was just such a special place to her.  She could think of nothing that she wanted more than to spend the rest of her life living loving and fighting with him, in just that spot.

"You mean where you first attacked me."

"What better place." She grinned.

His laughter roared out long and loud.  They would have one hell of a life but, with her at his side, it would never ever be boring.

Over the mountain, in the centre of the crater, where it had lain undetected for a thousand years engulfed in glacier, the sleek lines of the ship felt the suns rays on it through the thin layer of ice.  Inside something had shifted, a light blinked on followed by a few more, weakly at first but gradually increasing in brilliance.  A metallic voice echoed through the empty corridors and levels.

"Computer back on line.  Automated repair units activated."

The End?