A/n: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the final chapter of "A Raven's Ghost" and also to xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for updating her C/7 fic "Shreds and Shards". I beta-read it so I know that it's an awesome read, one of my favourites!
Chakotay let a restive, uneasy, sigh leave his lips as he completed the last of the pre-flight checks on the shuttle he was taking to Ledosia. Now that he'd done everything productive he could to fill his time, he'd just have to wait for Seven's arrival. The nerves that tightened around his gut at that thought as he left the shuttle to stand impatiently in the empty bay irritated him and he was starting to regret his impulsive decision to volunteer to take her to this conference. If the mere idea of spending a flight alone with her put him on edge, how was he supposed to relieve the burden of telling her about his, initially at least, unintentional spying, with any sort of composure that might lead to forgiveness?
He was just considering, in the more unscrupulous parts of his mind, how he could get out of this obligation he'd stumbled into with blind stupidly when the electrified swish of the shuttle's bay's large double doors heralded Seven's arrival. She somehow managed to walk into a perfectly straight line towards the shuttle without looking up once from the PADD clenched in one hand. It took Chakotay clearing his throat before she even registered his presence, but her reaction was strong when she did see him. Her head snapped up, her feet unconsciously stumbling back a step. "You're early!" she exclaimed.
Chakotay could've been offended by the incredulity of her tone, but when combined with her startled expression, such a contrast with her usual cool impassiveness, he couldn't help but be amused. "You don't have sole prerogative on being punctual you know Seven." He teased, surprised by how easily both the jest and his wry smile came to his lips so soon after being so confused over her.
Seven kept her eyes on him for an instant, her cheeks tingeing with the palest of blush pinks in that split second, before her head ducked downward as it did when she feared an error, occupational or social. "I meant no offence Commander." She said hastily.
Chakotay sighed guiltily; obviously she wasn't prepared for the gentle banter he'd coaxed out of her the day before. Sometimes he wondered if that conversation in the Mess Hall had been a dream, or even a holodeck programme of his own. "I know that Seven." He assured her softly, giving her a careful smile, "To be honest, you would have almost certainly beaten me here if I didn't think of doing the pre-flight checks beforehand."
Seven relaxed at bit at, taking a deep breath as her eyes swept over the shuttle. "An efficient strategy Commander." She said approvingly, only now really meeting his gaze, "I presume we can then leave earlier than expected?"
"As soon as you're ready." Chakotay answered simply.
Seven picked up the small case she'd left at her feet, Chakotay thought that it looked more like a toolbox that a suitcase, but knowing Seven it probably served as both. "I am ready." She told him brusquely, already striding for the shuttle's door.
Chakotay chuckled to himself as he followed her. "Okay then." He agreed, but when he saw her stiffen a little at the sound of his voice, seriousness came over him again and he reached out for her arm. "Seven…" He started, gripping her arm to snare her full attention, "You're okay with me taking you to this conference aren't you?"
Seven blinked at him in bemusement. "Of course I am Commander. I know you are a very capable pilot and your offer made my travelling to the conference feasible." Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinised his face intently, searching his expression for an answer to her own question which she didn't dare voice, why had he volunteered so fervently to give up his shore leave in favour of taking her to this conference? "Why do you ask?" she queried, her curiosity partially winning out.
Chakotay shrugged a little too quickly, dropping her arm like a dead weight. "No reason." He replied, cursing himself as a coward as he did so, "You just seemed a little…upset about it last night."
"Upset?" Seven echoed, biting her lip as she swallowed and tried to enforce a calm demeanour over her features. "Not at all. As the Doctor said, I was in need of regeneration, that's all."
"Yes, of course." Chakotay said quietly as he watched her turn sharply into the shuttle with un utterly unreadable expression on her face, sighing heavily himself he followed her. This was going to be a long three days…
"So…what are you planning to do down on Ledosia?" Chakotay asked awkwardly as he kept one eye on the autopilot's readings. It was almost time to take back the controls, within minutes they'd be ready to penetrate Ledosia's atmosphere and he wanted to draw some sort of conversation from Seven before his attention had to be fully diverted from her.
Seven gave an uncertain pause behind him as she looked up from her PADD. "Discuss warp mechanics." She finally responded, not really intending to be rude, she really wasn't sure what else he expected her to do at a warp mechanics conference after all, but if her lame answer caused him to desist trying to start conversation, then that was a bonus. The prospect of being alone with him for any period of time was uncomfortable enough without the strains of "small talk".
Chakotay sighed through gritted teeth and glanced over his shoulder at her. She was still sitting seemingly absorbed in her PADD, as she had been in silence for the last thirty minutes of the flight. If he hadn't already known she was just studying warp mechanics in preparation, he might've wondered which masterpiece of fiction could engross her so much. He undoubtedly would've found the ride insufferable if he hadn't known at least part of the reason why she was trying to avoid engaging with him, and also if he hadn't sensed her watching him every few minutes. Somehow that was a comfort, although it bothered him that he found the embarrassment of a woman around him something of an ego boost. "I meant for fun, outside of the conference." He clarified.
"I doubt I will have much time that is not occupied by the conference." Seven informed him coolly before sighing to herself, "Did the Ledosians last night strike you as much fun anyway?"
Chakotay laughed, glad to see a little of her dry, observant humour seeping through. "No, maybe you're right." He muttered, thinking of blowhards like Dr Mallon. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to have fun." He pointed out to her forcefully.
Seven's face had again closed up into a hard, impassive, mask, a habit that was really beginning to frustrate Chakotay. "Thank you for your advice Commander." She remarked with cold stiffness.
Chakotay blanched a little as he realised he'd again pushed her boundary too far, but he was unwilling to let her go completely, and as his eye caught the spectacular rainforest canopy that covered almost half of the planet, the other half being depressingly industrialised and not exactly inspiring, he didn't try to restrain his gasp of delight. "Look at that!" he declared excitedly, "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Beauty is irrelevant." Seven replied distractedly.
Chakotay spun in his seat to face her, rendered absolutely dumbfounded by that comment. "Beauty is irrelevant?" he repeated incredulously, anger sparking within him when she gave a sharp, disinterested nod. "How can you say that? Seven, you've called a lot of things irrelevant over the years, but…" He forced himself to rein in his rebukes as Seven regarded him stonily, watching his reaction rather than explaining herself. An idea struck him and he quickly dialled some new commands into the flight controls.
Seven jumped as the shuttle lurched to the left, curving over the unpopulated wilderness instead of soaring over civilisation towards the allocated landing bay at the conference. "What are you doing?" she demanded of Chakotay.
"Showing you some relevant beauty." He replied seriously as he swung the shuttle down lower towards the surface to get a clearer view of the landscape below them.
Seven gripped the edges of her chair as she stubbornly avoided looking out the window. "I assure you that I can better appreciate beauty after the conference Commander…" She began to retort through clenched teeth.
"We're here now…" Chakotay started to remind her, only to have his words unceremoniously cut off by a roar, the whole shuttle lurching and shuddering at the sudden impact. "What the hell was that?" Chakotay shouted over the near deafening groan of the struggling shuttle, trying to manoeuvre the best he could with fried controls.
"We hit some kind of forcefield!" Seven reported as she bent herself double over the sensor console. "It appears to be very similar to technology used by Species 167…"
"Did the Borg find out how to deactivate these forcefields? Because we're going to have to go through it, the engines are dying…" Chakotay said desperately as he got one last spurt from the engines which tossed them upwards but he knew they'd come crashing back down.
"I cannot even start to deactivate it from here…" Seven answered, fighting panic as she wracked through her mind for any solution. "We must fire phasers at the forcefield at a specific rate and strength!" she announced, immediately starting the process.
"Phasers? How will that…" Chakotay started to ask as he watched the red light of the shuttle's phasers hit but not fully penetrate the forcefield which was now visible to his naked eye.
"Just trust me and prepare to initiate emergency transport!" Seven shouted back, snatching up an emergency kit and clutching it to her chest with one arm as she used her other hand to direct the phasers for one final blast. "Now!" Chakotay's quick compliance with her instructions saved them both as he slammed his hand down to activate the transporter and they were carried off by it just as the shuttle tore violently through the gap the phasers had created.
The first thing Seven next became aware of was the pain of something poking her in the chest and upper stomach, then of the damp soil underneath her. Soil? Her memory, dazed by shock, returned to her and her eyes, which had been instinctively squeezed shut, shot open. She lay on a forest floor, on top of the emergency kit she'd thought to bring, but she could hardly discern anything else before rolling to the side and heaving air into her badly winded lungs. A sense of proportion quickly returned to her however and a chilling fear entered her heart. "Chakotay!" she cried out, forgetting to use his rank let alone disguise the complete panic in her voice, "Chakotay!"
A raspy, winded cough answered her before his words filled her with relief. "I'm over here Seven!"
Seven realised that his voice was, thankfully, very close to her and scrambled frantically up to her feet, almost breathing a hysterical laugh when she reached her full height and saw that he laid mere metres away from her. "Are you damaged?" she gasped out anxiously as she headed towards him.
"I think I've broken my ankle." He admitted, but was still nimble enough with his upper body as he sat up awkwardly to catch Seven as she stumbled in her haste to get to him. "Are you okay?"
Seven felt her face grow hot, even more ludicrous in this situation, as his arms steadied her but quickly shook him off and straightened up as she assessed herself for injury. Apart from where the emergency kit had slammed into her during transport, which was sure to leave a few bruises, and some tears to her biosuit, she was fine. "I am undamaged."
"That's good." Chakotay breathed in relief as she turned away from him to rescue the emergency kit. "That was a good idea back there."
Seven gave a bitter, broken sigh as she knelt by his leg, which was bent at a worryingly unnatural angle, and began to scan it with one of the two tricorders from the kit, handing him the other. "I should have been able to see that forcefield long before we…"
Chakotay was struck by the frustration and guilt in her voice and interrupted sharply. "Hey, we're alive aren't we?" He peered at her intensely, "You saved us both, don't beat yourself up over something you never could have predicted." His mouth twisted in anger, "The Ledosians didn't exactly warn us…"
Seven's head dipped, her face hidden by some of her golden hair than had been pulled partially loose by the chaotic transport. She was glad of that; she didn't want him to see how much his comforting words had affected her. "You were correct, your ankle is fractured." She said briskly as she stood up and moved back from him hurriedly. "As for the Ledosians, they must've known about the shield, but I highly doubt they control it, it is far too advanced and probably older than their civilisation."
"Someone, maybe Species 167 like you said, put this forcefield here and then left again?" Chakotay theorised.
"That is a possible explanation." Seven agreed before sighing again. "I think I may be able to use the shuttle wreckage to deactivate the forcefield, or at least break through it enough to transmit a message to Voyager."
"Great." Chakotay said; hope entering him again before he glanced around them in dismay. "Where would this wreckage be?" he asked, almost reluctant to know.
"Anywhere within the area the forcefield covers, which is half the planet." Seven answered mercilessly, although despondent herself. Taking a bracing breath however, she tried to think positively. "But it is most likely to be near the hole the phasers punched through, which should mean it is within a few square miles of our location."
Chakotay studied the dense forest around them, they'd be lucky to cover a mile a day in such conditions, and that was if his ankle wasn't broken and they knew where to look. "Well…" He began bravely as he tried to stand up, "I guess we'd better get a move on then if we want to make your conference."
Seven ignored his remark about the conference as she saw his left leg buckle on its damaged ankle and a groan of pain escaped his stubbornly stoic mouth. "You will need assistance to walk, I will help you."
Chakotay looked her up and down as he sank unwillingly back to the soft ground. She was an undeniably fit, even athletic, woman but he was still significantly taller, as well as several kilos heavier, than her and he doubted she could take his weight for long as they'd need to travel. The daunted flicker that crossed Seven's face told him she was the making the same conclusion, but she still resolutely came to his left side and slung her arm around his back. "My implants give me enhanced strength." She stated, addressing his doubts as if he'd spoken them out loud, "We also do not appear to have another choice."
"I'll give you that one." Chakotay muttered with a dry laugh, then a painful groan, as he put his arm around her and let her take his weight as he tried to hop forward, "Let's go."
A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D