Chapter 6

***Tom punched a button on the remote controller and watched the cartoon for about thirty seconds before turning the TV set off.  "I've seen that one a dozen times already," he said as he tossed the remote onto the sofa.   He walked over to the replicator.  "Computer, one slice extra cheese pizza.  Belay that order.  One bowl buttered and salted popcorn."  He popped a few kernels into his mouth as he carried the bowl over to the sofa.  "Maybe there's a western on.  Or an action movie," he said turning the TV on.   He flipped through all the channels, but nothing held his interest, so he turned the TV off and paced the room.  "Come on, Harry.  Where are you?"

Harry was supposed to have reported in over an hour ago to let Tom know that he and B'Elanna had gotten to the woods safely. 

Maybe they're being chased and can't stop to contact me, Tom thought.  "Who am I kidding?" he asked aloud.  "They've been captured.  In any case, you know what you have to do, Lieutenant."  He sighed and tapped his commbadge.  "Paris to the Captain.  I need to talk to you."

***Loyden stood outside his guesthouse.  "Everything's ready, Sir," a security officer's voice said in his ear.  "You can go in now."  Loyden turned and glanced at the security shuttle across the street before heading for the house.  As he neared the door, he dug out his key.  Stealthily, he opened the door and walked in listening for voices.  He walked into every room of the house, ending up in the den, where he stood confused. 

"What's going on, Sir?  We can't hear anything," the officer said.

"No one's here," Loyden whispered.

"What was that?"

"No one's here."

"Stand by."  After a few minutes, the officer said," Let us in.  We have orders to search the place."

***As Shyla, Tamil and Blin neared the edge of downtown Plon, Shyla sped behind a building and slammed on the breaks.  

There was a blockade before the sandy area between downtown and the woods.  Some officers were on foot; others were in shuttles.  All were heavily armed.

"Is all that for us?" Blin asked.

"Yes," Shyla replied.  "And it can only mean one thing.  My friends didn't make it."

"Which makes it more important that we do," Blin said. "The best option I see is to charge them."

"Are you crazy?" Tamil sounded panicky.  "They're armed.  And, they'll chase us." 

"They'll just have to follow us to the mountain region.  How good are you with evasive maneuvers, Shyla?"

"I've had some practice recently.  But, once I get into the woods, I won't know where to go.  How good are you with weapons?"

"I had a little training in secondary school several years ago."

Without another word, Shyla and Blin switched places.  Shyla opened a compartment in the back of the shuttle and removed two parts of a weapon.  She assembled the weapon and checked it for power.  "Ok," she said getting into firing position.

"Tamil, get down as low as you can," Blin instructed and moved around the building. 

***No response. 

"Paris to Janeway."

Silence.

"Computer, locate the Captain."

"Captain Janeway is not on Voyager."

"I know that!  Can you locate her commbadge on the planet?"

"The signal is coming from an area with 367 bio signs.  248 Plon bio signs, 50"

"She must be in the downtown area.  Computer, what time did the Captain leave Voyager?"

"Captain Janeway transported to the surface at 1500 hours and-"

"What's the current time?"

"Current time is 1536 hours and-"

Tom's door swooshed closed.

"14 seconds."

***"Please tell me you've got interesting news," Chakotay said as Tom entered the bridge.

"Bored?"

"I've been on the bridge for 4 hours, 22 minutes and 12 seconds, and the only thing that's happened is the computer beat me in a trivia game."

"What game?" Tom asked grinning.

"That's not important.  What's up?"

"Actually, I need to speak to the Captain.   Do you know where she could be?"  I'll keep that trivia game question in mind to ask later, he thought.  If I make it to later.

"She mentioned one of the relaxation halls she wanted to try.  Is there anything I can do? Anything?"

"Alert the doc to an impending medical emergency."

"What's going on, Tom?"  Chakotay was serious now.

"I may have violated the Prime Directive and endangered the crew."

Chakotay whistled.  "I'll inform the doctor."

***"Oooh," Janeway breathed as the alien's three hands massaged her back.  Maybe I can convince this guy to become part of the crew, she thought.  Of course, there's always the holodeck.  Or, the doctor again.  Definitely the holodeck.  What should I do after this massage?  Something stimulating.  I've had enough relaxing for one afternoon.  Maybe I'll try glidening.  Or, -

"Paris to Janeway."

She sat up quickly, almost knocking the alien over.  "Sorry," she said wrapping the towel snuggly around her and sliding off the table.   Rifling through her clothes, she found her commbadge.  "Janeway here."

***"What?" captain Janeway rounded her desk, eyes snapping, lips pressed into a straight line.

"I know what you're going to say."  Tom stood with his hands behind his back.  "We should have consulted you before –"

"You're damn right."

Tom opened his mouth to continue, but she stopped him by raising two fingers.  "Not only have you violated the Prime Directive, you've put members of this crew in danger."  She started pacing her office.  "Granted, they're the ones who did the violating.  But, you didn't do anything to stop them.  Did you, Mr. Paris?"

"No, ma'am."

Janeway sighed and sat on the sofa, crossing her lags and leaning back to drape one arm over its back.  "This will disrupt diplomatic relations.  And everything was going so well. Aside from our new friends being secretive regarding the Great Earthquake.  Which I was willing to overlook.  But, I can't now."

There was a moment of awkward silence.  Tom shifted his weight.  He wished he could say something to ease the tension, but he couldn't think of anything.   It's been a while since I've made her this angry, he thought.  Anything I say at this point will make things worse.

***As Blin rounded the building, he pushed the thrusters to max and drove straight for the two guards near the woods edge of the sandy area.  They stood their ground with weapons aimed at the shuttle until at the last second they dove in opposite directions out of the way.

"You almost hit them," Tamil shrieked.

"Stay down," Shyla and Blin commanded.

Blin entered the woods still at max and swerved just in time to miss a huge tree.  The bottom of the shuttle scraped across a knobby root.  Blin chanced a glance back at Tamil, who was crouched on the floor with her hands covering her head.  Thank goodness she didn't see that, he thought.  I'd never hear the end of it.

Blin worked as the leader of a mining team that went through the woods mining sap from glicka trees.  The glicka sap was then delivered to a tank in downtown Plon where a team of engineers purified it and combined it with other minerals to produce fuel for shuttles.  Blin had been through every section of the woods at least five times in his fifteen-year stint with the company; therefore, he knew the woods like the he knew the curves of his wife's body.  By the time the two guards got to their shuttle and entered the woods, Blin had turned down a little used side trail unknown by security.

***Silando and Kilando watched the first shuttle zip by from their cover of trees.  They watched it turn and knew exactly where it was headed.  They watched the second shuttle zip by, narrowly missing the huge tree, and knew it would never find the first one. 

"How long do you give them?" Kilando asked.

"Estimating their speed and knowledge of the woods," Silando replied, "90.3 seconds."

90.1 seconds later, the pair watched fire, smoke, shuttle and Plon parts rise into the air.