Survivors - Past and Present
by
Nicol Leoraine
and
Anon
aka VirtualQueens
Disclaimer:We do not own any of the recognizable/original characters, places or made no profit off of this story and meant to disrespect to the writers/owners of said do own this plot and any new characters/places/things.
Title: Survivors - Past and Present
Genre: Adventure/Angst/Action
Warnings: None
Rating: PG (possible some cursing)
Archive: Sure, but ask the authors first
Chapter 2
Darkness. Silence. Pain.
For what seemed like eternity, that was Tom's world. Then the dull throbbing pain grew into a sharp knife, cutting away at the darkness and silence and bringing him back to the conscious world.
Slowly he registered the uneven rise and fall of his chest, and the sound of his own gasping breaths. It was not a comforting sound, hearing ones self struggling to draw in air, and with a groan Tom forced his eyes to open.
But the darkness remained. Panic hit almost immediately. He couldn't see. He was blind, helpless.
Nothing was making sense and with the absence of light Tom was becoming increasingly claustrophobic, his already irregular breaths coming faster and shorter, making his head spin in a sickening circle.
A sharp grunt from off to his right pulled him back to reality. He let out a slow breath, and inhaled with equal slowness. It hurt, and his chest still felt heavy, but he could breath. This realization went far in calming his shattered nerves, and Tom turned his head in the direction the grunt had come from.
"Harry?" He asked hopefully.
"Don't you wish Pairs." B'Elanna snapped, struggling to her feet. Though her voice was anything but happy it did hold the tiniest bit of relief at hearing the pilot´s voice.
Tom groaned again, more out of annoyance than pain, and asked "How come I can't see"
"The lights are off." B'Elanna said simply, her voice closer this time.
"What about the emergency backups?" Tom asked, wiggling the fingers of his left hand experimentally.
"They went off when we hit the ground." B'Elanna said with another grunt.
"Are you hurt?"
"No." Torres replied, then cursed.
"What?"
"The flashlights aren't working. Chakotay?"
Silence.
"Kim?"
A slight moan was their only answer.
"Harry? Come on, talk to me." pleaded Tom, raising his voice as much as he could. He would have gone on but a violent coughing fit stopped him, sending hundreds of tiny, painful needles through his chest.
Distantly he heard B'Elanna asking if he was hurt, but he couldn't answer. He didn't even know if his eyes were open any more, it was impossible to tell in the darkness. Cool fingers on his cheek abruptly pulled him back to consciousness and he gasped, feeling air flood his lungs again.
"Paris!"
His eyes flew open and he saw the shadowy shape of Torres kneeling beside him.
"Are you alright?"
"Didn't know you cared." he replied with a groggy smirk. He was rewarded with a firm slap.
"Hey!" Tom protested, pulling away. "What was that for?"
"Just making sure you're lucid." B'Elanna replied, making no effort to hide the satisfaction in her voice.
"Bet you enjoyed it." Tom broke off suddenly. Something was different. The weight on his chest was gone. The pain of bruised ribs stayed, but the mere act of breathing was now much easier.
"What-" he started to ask.
"You had a ceiling panel on you." explained B'Elanna in a matter of fact voice. "I took it off."
"Thanks."
"Don't think I did it for your blue eyes, pig. Chakotay and Kim are both injured and I need your help."
Paris fought the overwhelming urge to launch himself at B'Elanna in a fit of rage. Instead he slowly sat up, wincing.
B'Elanna was right. If Chakotay and Kim were hurt she'd need his help, not his complaints.
Paris stood slowly, using the wall to support himself, and took a mental inventory of his body´s status. His ribs were painful, but probably not broken and the bruises that covered the rest of his body were far from debilitating.
Tom ran a hand over his face, and groaned when it came away sticky with blood. Gently he used his fingers to explore his scalp, quickly finding the gash over his right temple. The blood was almost dried and his head didn't hurt half as much as his ribs so Tom concluded that he was, considering, in pretty good condition.
"How're Kim and Chakotay?"
"Unconscious. I don't think they broke anything, though Chakotay might have a sprained wrist. Luckily it's not his shooting arm."
"Luckily." Tom muttered, wondering if Chakotay would turn a phaser on him for letting the shuttle crash.
Moving slowly Paris searched the shuttle's interior for his younger friend. Whoa, when had Harry gone from kid to friend? Tom shook his head slowly. Bad things happened to people who were his friends, he knew that by now. Moving forward again his hand brushed what felt like a uniform.
He knelt down and felt his way to Kim's neck, where he checked the ensigns pulse. After a moment Tom sat back on his heels, relieved to have found a strong, steady pulse.
"Come on, Harry. Wake up." Tom said, shaking the other man gently.
"Don't wanna go to school" mumbled Harry as he rolled over. "Got a headache."
"I bet you do." Tom said with a slight smile "But you gotta wake up." Lowering his voice Tom whispered "You wouldn't leave me all alone with B'Elanna would you!"
At that Harry groaned and rolled over again.
"Huh? Tom? Wha-"
"Careful, Harry. I'm pretty sure you have a concussion."
"How come I can't see?"
"Because there're no lights. Give your eyes a few minutes, they should adjust a little."
Quickly Tom explained what had happened, despite the fact that he wasn't too clear on that himself. Meanwhile B'Elanna had successfully roused Chakotay, who was now leaning dazedly against a wall.
"Is everyone alright?" Voyager´s second in command asked slowly.
"Mostly bruises." B'Elanna answered, leading a swaying Chakotay over to Tom and Harry.
"Status?"
"We're without energy, not sure how long it's been out though. The flashlights aren't working and the computers are dead and I don't have any idea why because I can't run a diagnostic" It seemed that B'Elanna's voice rose proportionally with her frustration. "Even the tricorders don't work."
That surprised Tom, who'd been planning on using the medical tricorder in the near future.
"What about the dermal regenerator?" asked Harry,glancing atthe gash across the back of his right hand.
"I doubt it." replied B'Elanna with a sigh.
"Phasers?" This time it was Tom who spoke, but the answer was only silence.
"Ok." Chakotay said slowly, sounding slightly more alert. "First we need light, then we can see what sort of shape the shuttle's in."
"Anyone have a lighter?" Tom asked.
No one answered. Smoking was banned on Earth, and Voyager, and as such none of the crewmembers possessed a lighter, despite the fact it would have been very useful in their current situation.
"If the phasers worked-"
"They don't." snapped B'Ellana.
Tom was silent, one hand wrapped absently around his sore ribs, as if physical contact could ease their pain. Distantly he wondered if the hypos were working. He doubted it.
The magnetic storms seemed to have damaged everything technological. As to how, Tom didn't know. The shuttle was well shielded and should have withstood the storm.
"-should look around."
Tom´s head snapped up, and he realized that while he'd been contemplating their situation the others had continued talking.
"But the storms..." Harry was saying in a worried voice "they could be dangerous."
"No more so than sitting here, waiting for Voyager to find us." B'Elanna said.
"Why? They'll be looking for us. We were due to report back five hours after landing. Maybe they're already on their way." Harry replied in an optimistic tone.
"Yeah and they'll probably find out about that big magnetic storm that our sensors registered only a little to late" said B'Elanna in a sarcastic tone. "And guess what, Starfleet-they'll wait it out in the safety of Voyager. There'll be no rescue team until the storm ends, whenever that may be."
"And how do you know it hasn't already?"
"I don't" admitted B'Elanna. "That's the reason we need to look around."
"But what if we get caught in the storm." protested Harry, his voice tinged with more urgency than the situation required. The kid was scared, though he hid it well.
"I don't think the shuttle is going to offer much protection from the storms. All the shielding is off line. Not to mention the fact we'll run out of oxygen in a few hours." Chakotay said in a reasonable voice.
Tom readily agreed with the commander. The shuttle's dark confines was doing nothing positive for his mental state, and he was starting to feel claustrophobic again. Not of course that he'd ever admit it.
In the end it wasn't much of a decision. The ventilation and oxygenation systems had been disabled in the crash and their air disappeared at an alarmingly rapid pace. Thus Chakotay hesitated for only a very brief second before manually opening the shuttle's hatch and stepping out. The rest of the team was close behind him.
The first thing that hit them was the clear, amber color of the sky and it's swirling, orange clouds. The second was the strong winds that blew over the sandy ground, whistling in their ears as it tore past. But there was an oxygen rich atmosphere not unlike earths and it eased their lungs. Once the initial gasping breaths and coughing fits were over with the four humans examined their landing place with a cautious curiosity.
The shuttle was half buried in the ground and for some paces in all directions the grassy ground covering was charred black. To their left a majestic range of mountains soared out of the gently rolling ground and Tom silently thanked whatever god was listening that they hadn't crashed there. Silvery snow coated the mountains peaks, promising fridged weather.
To the right there were more gently rolling hills, a few rocks and the faint glimmer of blue that indicated a substantial body of water.
Tom, always an explorer, walked around the flyer, and jogged a few yards down a small hill. When he looked up from the ground, which he'd been watching in order to avoid any rocks, he let out a gasp. And for the next few moments Tom Paris was completely and utterly speechless.
Eventually he managed to call out for Chakotay, but his blue eyes never moved from their point on the horizon. More gasps announced the arrival of the others, but still Tom didn't look away. For him the only thing that existed was the glittering city before them.
It was at least a mile away, set at the base of a large cliff and was uniformly built out of some pale blue material that glinted enticingly in the waning sunlight. None of the buildings looked more than five or six stories high, and as far as Tom could tell they were all interconnected. It wasn't a large city, pressed up against the cliffs as it was, but its rounded architecture was beautiful. And yet it was dead. There was no movement, no shuttles zooming about, no people walking around. There was nothing.
A distant crackling sound broke the spell that had held the away team entranced and as one they turned to look behind them. Dark, angry orange clouds were moving swiftly across the rolling hills, and after a moment Tom realized why they looked so odd. They were sparkling with blue bits of pure energy. Tom shivered, feeling the air physically change as the storm drew even closer.
"We need to move." he said urgently. Nobody argued.
"I think the scans showed a cave system over that way." Chakotay said, waving one hand to the left of the city.
"You think!" Tom asked sarcastically.
"Caves will protect us from the storms, but we'll have to move fast." Chakotay replied, ignoring Tom. "Harry, B´Elanna, you can start towards the caves. I´ll help Tom to get the supplies from the shuttle. We´ll catch up with you."
B´Elanna was about to protest, but Chakotay threw her a commanding look, and for once, she paused.
"You need to find the caves, B´Elanna. We can´t lose time arguing."
B´Elanna nodded shortly and pulled Harry by the arm, while Chakotay and Tom made there way back to the shuttle. With a slightly worried glance at Harry and B´Elanna, who were helping each other stagger towards the caves, struggling with the growing wind, Tom followed Chakotay. He grabbed a medkit and some blankets, while Chakotay pocketed two phasers, even though they didn´t currently work, a small knife with a retractable blade, and a tricorder. They also took some food from the emergency stocks.
Then, with a quick look around the shuttle, they stepped back outside.
The world had disappeared. Or rather, the storm was hiding it. Harry and B´Elanna were no where to be seen, and the city and supposed caves were hidden in a swirling dust storm.
xxxxTBCxxxx
A/N-Anon:
Paris angst ahead. -) Please drop a review, and tell us what you thought. -) Chapter 3 should be along shortly.
Extra note:
For some reason some of our punctuation (question marks mainly) have been disappearing. I think it's fixed now, but I'm not sure.
A/N-Nicol:
Thanks for all the reviews-) The story still isn´t closed, so you can send us ideas-)