Seven studied her borrowed tricorder intently for a moment before refocusing her eyes on Chakotay and the villagers he was carefully directing to lift the main part of the shuttle. Chakotay must've seen the contemplation on her face for he shot her a gently questioning look, "Ready Seven?"
She held off from answering immediately, even for her quick mind interpreting the data the tricorder presented her with and correlating it with the real situation around her was proving a challenge, one she normally would have relished but was now tainted with worry for Chakotay and their helpers. Forcing herself to relax, the answer slipped confidently into her mind and out of her mouth. "Ready Commander. I need you to direct them to move it 1.5 metres directly ahead, almost where you're standing." She went to his side and showed him the details on the tricorder and he nodded briskly in understanding, allowing himself a small smile of hope.
"Right, I'll tell them." He assured her calmly, managing to move on his wooden crutch with an agile purposefulness Seven couldn't help but pause to admire. Stopping directly in front of the nose of the shuttle, still thankfully recognisable even after the impact of the crash, he signalled to the group that had gamely arranged themselves around the shuttle and were already holding it clear off the ground, their toughened but supple muscles straining but coping with the immense weight. "Over here, then lower!" he signed bluntly, wishing, as he knew a nervous Seven had since he'd proposed this effort, that he was able to give them more detailed, cautionary, instructions.
When they began to move however, he saw that however he'd mangled their language, they understood more than he ever could have explained. They bore their burden forward with a fluid, uniform calm, so in sync that no crew in Starfleet, or even members of the Borg Collective could've given them lessons in teamwork. In fact, Chakotay suspected that if the crew of Voyager had had to undertake such an endeavour there would have been muttered discord and griping rather than the proud and encouraging smiles these people exchanged. He heard a soft, awe filled, gasp from Seven as the shuttle was lowered to the ground on the spot she'd indicated and grinned widely at her, "Impressive aren't they?"
"Undoubtedly." She murmured in agreement before glancing down at the tricorder again, "That should be the correct position, if my calculations are correct…"
"Which they have an almost alarming tendency to be." Chakotay teasingly reminded her as he heard the doubt creeping into her voice.
Seven's only reply to that was a slight rise of her eyebrow before turning away from him to head for the shuttle. "Tell them to keep their distance at all costs!" she instructed him, her words echoing eerily as she disappeared inside the shuttle through an open gouge in the side.
"Easier said than done." Chakotay muttered to himself as he watched several of the fascinated people flocking to follow Seven inside, with many more continuing to scavenge curiously among the smaller scraps of debris. Eventually he had to resort to physically pushing the ringleaders back with his free hand, then scrawling out a "do not cross line" in the ground with his stick, which seemed to finally get the message across and they backed off. "How's it going in there Seven?" he called anxiously as he coaxed a playful young boy back to his mother.
"The relevant shuttle components have been recalibrated to emit a signal which should disrupt the shield." Seven reported as she clambered awkwardly out of her confined workspace in the shuttle, "I will activate now." Leaving a good distance between herself and the shuttle, leading Chakotay back with her, she remotely activated her contraption using her tricorder.
The effect was almost instantaneous. A sparking fizz resounded in their ears and Chakotay felt a sudden thickening in the air around them, now heavy, he knew, with whatever electromagnetic field Seven had set up to kill the shield. For a few sickening seconds, Seven feared that the technique had not given the desired results, but then violet, venous fissures appeared in the sky, widening, lengthening and blending together like ripples on a pond or cracks in a broken mirror. This visual spectacle, however amazing and barely believable, lasted only the blink of an eye and soon the forest had fallen back into its peaceful serenity. It was the scientist in Seven which propelled her to break the silence with a conclusion, "I believe it may have worked Commander."
"I'm pretty sure it did Seven." He replied firmly, his eyes filled with grateful admiration as he met her gaze, "If it hasn't, I'd like to see what it did do…" He added with an awestruck laugh.
Seven smiled at his astonishment, finding it endearing somehow. "Perhaps we should study the process more closely when we return to Voyager." She conceded thoughtfully, the tension in her gut beginning to unravel as his belief became contagious.
"I'm sure the Captain would give you permission in a heartbeat, Starfleet hasn't come across anything like this shield before." Chakotay answered warmly, "Give me your comm. badge and I'll try to hail Voyager."
"Of course Commander." She agreed politely, starting to pull her comm. badge free of her biosuit as she politely gave him back his tricorder, which he took back with an amused smirk. Just then however, Seven saw something which made her heart plunge in panic. Her young female companion, who had led to this place and helped her in so many ways, was innocently holding up one of the magnetised stones she'd collected earlier to the hull of the shuttle, her eyes fixated on the silver metal like a magpie's would be. "No!" Seven cried out in frantic warning, "Don't touch that…"
The girl spun around at Seven's tone, but the warning had come too late. At that moment her trinket stone came into contact with the shuttle and just as Seven had known it would, the electrified power of the field she had generated to free them was conducted through the stone and up into the girl's body, sending her flying backwards.
Chakotay heard Seven's horrified gasp, watched her hands flying unconsciously to her mouth, before he fully realised what had happened and stumblingly followed his stricken crewmate to the girl's side. "Keep them back…keep them back…" Seven whispered repetitively to Chakotay as she knelt by the girl's side and the girl's friends and family tried to crowd around in panic.
Chakotay had already taken control anyway, gently trying to calm and reassure the natives as he saw that the girl was breathing but also understanding that these people needed to care for her themselves. "Seven, let them take her back to the cave. We can all help her better there…"
Seven's elegant frame, hunched painfully over her fallen friend, shuddered in denial. "Moving her could cause more damage Chakotay!" she retorted sharply.
Chakotay ignored the accusatory note in her voice, realising that in her shock she was directing the bulk of her fear and guilt at him. He heard her breath catch as she finally remembered to breathe and slowly bent over her, straining to look into the eyes she held stubbornly away from him. "You could be right, but its dangerous for everyone if we stay here, you know that. We'll let them take her back to the cave and look her over properly, and if we can get through to Voyager from there we'll call the Doctor and get some help for her, okay?"
Seven's head lowered as Chakotay's considered and gently spoken but firm words sank in. "Yes Commander…" She mumbled faintly, only to be rewarded by the girl moving back into consciousness beside her, obviously dazed and with her hands burned but otherwise, by Chakotay's judgement at least, alive and well.
"See, she's okay. It mustn't have been a bad shock." He consoled Seven again as he signed to the people around them allowing them to come and gather the injured girl up in their arms. He was glad when Seven didn't resist and carefully put a comforting arm around her still quaking shoulders, although her face was disturbingly blank. "Come on." He coaxed in a soft whisper, leaning heavily on his stick to help them both stand up, but on feeling him strain Seven seemed to come to her senses and moved guiltily away from him, only giving him a tiny, ashamed, nod of acknowledgement before walking on ahead with the group, sticking close to the girl.
"How is she?" Chakotay asked anxiously, starting to rise from the rock he was resting on as Seven left the cave, gripping the tricorder so tightly that Chakotay could see that the skin barely visible under the metallic webbing of her cybernetic hand was white and bloodless.
"Your initial assessment seems to have been correct Commander, she is "okay"." Seven reported quietly, her ashen face not quite able to form a smile but her relief obvious in her voice. "I would prefer to monitor her for concussion, treat her burns and seek real medical advice however."
"We'll stay as long as we need to so that we can sort all of this out." Chakotay replied resolutely, not only thinking of the injured girl but of the remaining shuttle debris and whatever else they may have done to affect these people and their forest.
Seven exhaled, her stoic mask slipping for a moment. "I believe that would be wise Commander…"
She, and Chakotay's smile in return, were interrupted by the shouts of several unfamiliar voices nearby, then the crash of leaden, careless footsteps around them before the culprits showed themselves, a group of Ledosians chattering excitedly. The first one, wearing a ludicrously large sun hat and swiping intermittently at insects visible only to him, lurched forward and grabbed Chakotay's hand enthusiastically, "Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine from Voyager I presume?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes…" Chakotay replied cautiously, unsettled by the group's abrupt appearance, "And you are?"
"Dr Mildic Favor of the Ledosian Anthropological Development Council. I'm an expert on the shielded side of the planet, formerly shielded thanks to you, and the Ventu in particular."
"The Ventu?" Seven queried uneasily.
"The people that live here, that's what we know them as." Dr Favor explained impatiently, "They're a vital link in Ledosian evolutionary history! Now, thanks to you, we finally get to study them first hand…"
"And what does this "study" involve exactly?" Chakotay asked with cool politeness.
Favor must've picked up on something in his tone for he coloured slightly, "I'm not sure what you're implying but we won't harm the Ventu in any way, they'll be given every advantage the Ledosian Government is able to offer them."
"Yes…" Favor's colleague piped up, "They'll be offered every part of our civilisation, education, medicine, technology, spiritual guidance…"
Chakotay tried to disguise the frown he could feel forming on his face. "That all sounds…generous."
"What's generous is this forest!" A female scientist broke in, addressing Dr Favor, "All of these untapped resources…"
"Perhaps you are jumping to conclusions about the value of this area because you have been denied access for so long." Seven remarked stiffly as she watched the Ventu eye the intrusive scientists fearfully.
"Oh no!" Favor exclaimed, "We always knew the rich anthropological and geological data that lay here, we've studied it through remote scans for years, but thanks to you lowering the shield we can truly explore!"
"That's…very good to hear." Chakotay responded politely, moving closer to Seven as she backed away, her expression uneasy.
Suddenly, Seven's comm. badge crackled into life. "Chakotay, Seven, can you hear me?" The Captain's voice asked anxiously.
"Loud and clear Captain." Chakotay replied warmly.
"It's good to hear your voice Commander; we were searching for you until the Ledosians suddenly announced that the shield had somehow collapsed from the inside."
"That was my doing Captain." Seven reported quietly, still watching the Ledosians carefully.
"I thought so, good work." The Captain said approvingly, "Are you ready to be beamed up? Apparently the Ledosians have already sent a team down so I don't think there will be a problem…"
"I don't think I should leave yet Captain." Seven cut in, "There was an injury here while we were working on lowering the shield and I must monitor her. The Commander however, should be beamed back to Sickbay, he has fractured his ankle."
"Seven!" Chakotay intervened in frustration, "We'll both go back at the same time, you can't just be alone down here…"
"Do I need to remind you that rank has no consequence in medical matters?" Seven broke in, although her tone lacked her normal wry bite, instead sounding tired and mildly exasperated, "You are injured and require treatment."
The Captain, who'd heard this exchange with a mixture of incredulity and amusement, said, "I have to agree with Seven, Chakotay."
Air whistled irritably through Chakotay's teeth as he realised he'd been cornered. "Yes Captain." He acquiesced tersely before signalling Seven to cut the comm. line off. "I'm still not happy with you being down here alone, I'll get the Captain to send someone else down…"
Seven shook her head firmly. "Unnecessary. Bringing more people would only disrupt the Ventu more and you know I'm in no danger from them."
Chakotay gave the gossiping scientists a suspicious sidelong glance, "It's not the Ventu I'm worried about." He muttered.
Seven sighed heavily in agreement for a moment, "I will avoid them as much as possible." She admitted.
A/n: PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm really not sure about the characterisation in this chapter, or anything about it really!