Work Text:
“All of our friends are gone B'Elanna"
Ever since the letters from home were transmitted, those words popped into her mind, at any time of the day.
At first she only thought of her friends every now and then. But Tom had been leaving her alone a lot lately. Cancelling dates, leaving her to entertain herself.
She wasn't sure what his problem was, but he certainly didn't seem to want to talk about it with her.
The more she was left alone, the more they crept into her thoughts, until eventually the loss of her friends, her former family, consumed her.
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Harry and Tom were gone too long. They wouldn't be able to withstand the atmosphere of the planet much longer. Gods. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't lose anyone else.
"Chakotay, take me with you"
"B'Elanna, I think you're a little too close to this."
"If someone you loved was missing on this planet, you would be the first one out that door, and you know it."
Find him Chakotay, please…
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"No, I have a better idea. Why don't we make a schedule? A fight rotation. We can optimize our resources. I can start one, then you can start one."
"I am really tired of these games"
"Well then don't play them"
And there he goes again, back to that damn holodeck. Let him stay there, petaQ.
Alone again.. fine. She retreated to her quarters, sat on the couch and pulled a pad out from behind a pillow.
She had her own holodeck program to work on anyway, and she was just about finished.
-----
She stood in front of them. Her friends. The Maquis, just the way she remembered them.
How is it possible she went so long without thinking of them? Months. Years even. She was so absorbed in her new life here on Voyager, she forgot about her old one - forgot about her friends.
She missed them more now that she knew they were gone, than when she thought they were still alive.
"Paris to Torres"
What was the time, how long has she been here?
"Go ahead"
"Planning on eating dinner tonight? I've got a slice of pizza with your name on it."
"Tom, I'm sorry. I got caught up with something in engineering, I lost track of time."
"No problem, how about I come down and give you a hand? Get the work done faster, salvage a bit of your evening?"
"N-no, that's alright. Really. I'll be right over."
-----
This was wrong. She shouldn't be doing this… but she needed to see them for herself.
"Computer, activate program Torres zeta one"
There are flashes of weapons fire, voices shouting, bodies on the ground.
"Paris to Torres"
She froze the program before tapping her combadge.
"Tom, I know we had plans tonight, I got caught up with something. I'm almost done and then I think I just want to go to bed."
"Okay, well. Let me know if you change your mind."
"Sure, Torres out."
She should feel some sort of guilt for lying to him, but how many times had he broken dates in the past? It wouldn't kill him to be on the receiving end for once.
B'Elanna allowed herself to shed a year for her fallen friends, and shut down the program.
-----
"Computer,activate holodeck program Torres two one six.
A cave setting appears, a Cardassian attacks her. She defeats him, and another grabs her from behind. The first one gets up again. He has a knife. She catches the blade to her upper arm.
That should have hurt…..
"Computer, freeze program. Reset, and disable safeties."
"Warning, disengaging safety protocols presents extreme risk of injury"
"Override, begin program."
A Cardassian attacks her….