Work Text:
Why weren’t they more careful? Now Seven was lying in her arms. After one week without rest, she wasn’t herself. B’elanna had carried her for the last few days, from the wilderness to Cargo Bay 5, where Seven fell, still standing under the green ray of her alcove. She didn’t let go of her hands.
‘Who cares for Benamite.’
B’elanna wasn’t sure why it crossed her mind, they had put themselves in such a mess for these few grammes. When Seven had called her over Astrometrics, weeks ago, to show her this little ray emitted by a distant star, it felt like joy was burning her guts. Too fragile a joy, there was so much room for disappointment, but it was a ray of light for an abandoned project.
Now, progress was at hand. Not only on their own path back home – both of them were distressed at the thought of returning anyway – but this could also be an invaluable contribution to engineering research teams all over the UFP. B’elanna and Seven had put in the work, and they knew the theory was sound : Their Enhanced Warp engine could do what Quantum Slipstream did without endangering the crew half as much. To make it work, they still needed stabilised Benamite, and Seven had just found some, in a distant solar system. Alpha Quadrant seemed closer, and as worried as they were, you could see stars in Janeway and Chakotay’s eyes. But Seven could have died.
“All right,” Janeway had said, “there’s naturally occurring Benamite in the heart of this star. We can’t mine a star. Not with these resources. It’s too far away.”
“Five bodies are orbiting this sun, one of them has a 70% chance to be a M class planet. When these bodies formed, Benamite was present in the system. It’s reasonable to assume that we will find traces of it on those planets.”
“It’s a gambit, ma’am. We know that. But we may never get another opportunity to try this drive.”
Janeway thought Voyager would stray too far away from her path, but she was willing to find an arrangement. They split up on the way to a Dilithium trading hub, and the two women were on their own.
As they entered the system and the readings became more precise, even Seven gasped. Their calculations were right, there was a deposite, hidden deep in the upper mantle of this sun's only telluric planet. When she steered down towards the ground, B’elanna felt nearly euphoric, Janeway allowed them a leap into the unknown and it paid off. They were right, and the possibilities ahead overwhelmed her: Sailing faster than Warp 9.99 without breaking the law of physics.
“We’ll land by the rock formations, near the shore. The plain will be perfect for setting up our camp.”
“A set of coordinates would have been sufficient, lieutenant.”
B’elanna clicked her tongue, but she held herself back. Chakotay had teased her about it when they were planning the expedition. Could she really work one-to-one with Seven? For two days, the two of them alone? How else could it be, the Enhanced Warp drive was their project, Seven had found the Benamite and B’elanna had planned the extraction. The theoretical reactor model never would have come into being without the two of them, together ; with the help of Harry, Janeway and all of Voyager, they'd built it.
As they dived through the atmospheric barriers, she allowed herself to smile at Seven. In a few seconds, the sunlight melted behind the lands, glowing red on the oceans, in the shuttle’s cabin, and in Seven’s eyes. She was looking straight ahead, barely acknowledging her colleague while beams of light sculpted her profile. B’elanna had to concentrate on the fast approaching ground but she was captivated by her colleague’s serene demeanour and the picture would stay carved in her memory as long as she lived. She wished she knew how to bond over their victory.
“Initiate transport.”
A beam appeared between the transporter enhancers, near the edge of a turquoise-colored crevasse which stood out, between the prairie and a small mountain. The metal container materialized on the grass.
“Damn," B’elanna said under her breath. "It’s destabilizing.”
“I assure you, the calculations were correct.”
“I know that. It’s the first time we work with raw Benamite, we don’t know how it reacts. Maybe there’s a stabilizing element we didn’t take into account. We should try to beam up a larger portion of the mantle."
Seven stopped to collect her thoughts. She wrote something on her PADD.
“It will be too large to transport on our own.”
“And it’ll drain our power. But I think it’s worth it. At least we can run more tests, then.”
The response wasn’t what they hoped for. Benamite decayed naturally, and the only reason there was so much of it here was the relative youth of the planet. She was only a few dozen million years old. At least the trip wasn’t in vain, they had found valid hypotheses on the metal’s formation, but even with these data, synthesis would ask for too much energy.
When the sun started closing on the mountain range, B’elanna approached Seven :
“We’ve already done a lot, I’m going to take a walk. You can come with me if you want.”
“We don’t have much time here. I still think we can find a solution to extract the metal."
“We need to keep our head clear, we’ve been on it for half a day. Hell, we’re the only two humanoids down here, don’t you want to see what it’s like? We have this whole planet just for us.”
It took some convincing, but Seven accompanied her to the shore. She had kept her PADD, and honestly, B’elanna herself was mostly thinking of their work.
“You could have gone on your own,” Seven said.
“We only have two days, can’t we do our best for them to go well?”
“Is it not going well? Are recreational activities needed for it to ‘go well’ ?”
“You know what, if it’s such a chore to walk with me for half an hour, you can go back to camp.”
Seven turned back: “We will see each other later.”
“You don’t think it’s stunning ?” B’elanna kneeled on a rock and pointed at the heather. She looked back to the sea.
“I imagine the proportions are appealing.”
“Not really. This green would have looked awful with this purple in any other context. This rock’s form is absurd. Well, now that I think about it, I don't even know... It doesn’t really matter. You know, I don’t want to fight you forever. This is our project and we’re working so well together. I hoped you’d enjoy the moment. Whatever.”
Seven had given her this infuriating look she often had, which carried the assurance of a middle-aged scientist and the arrogance of a young boy. Since they met, B’elanna thought these eyes were so heavy. They had the same weight Tuvok's eyes had when he first set foot on the Valjean. Maybe it was only fair. Seven couldn't like her too much, could she? She had been so rough to her, the first weeks, no, months, they knew each other.
“I will leave you alone, lieutenant. Enjoy the view.”
B’elanna swiftly got up a moment later, she yelled : “Wait, Seven. Will you be okay with the portable alcove? There’s also the doctor’s supplement, I can – “
“I have designed it with your help,” she cut her off. “There is no reason for me to fail. Hyposprays are designed to be easy to use, do not be alarmed.”
“I’m not alarmed, just don’t forget them.”
“My memory is quite good, I assure you. I will not regenerate just yet.”
B’elanna walked for a long time. She hated to do it alone, usually, it seemed like a waste of time and it was the lonneliest she ever felt. Often, it just took her, and she could carry on for hours. Like the horizon line was calling for her and she could never reach it.
Seven woke her up in the middle of the night. When she tried to ask her if she ever slept, she was met with a far too bright PADD as only response.
“I identified an element we can stabilize, up in the chain. Tendium. When it does destabilize, it brings about the cascade of reaction that will lead to Benamite's formation.”
“Can we reproduce it safely?”
“We can simulate the proper environment for it to happen. With adequate precautions, the danger should be minimal.”
“Well, let’s see what we can do in – she looked at her portable console – 4 hours. Good night, Seven.”
As soon as the sun rose, they resumed their work. Seven had done most of the preparations during the night, but they only had 12 hours to beam up and stabilize this mass of Tendium. Then, they had to be on their way to the rendez-vous point. The schedule was tight, it must have electrized them. They were both efficient workers, no question about it, and they had it done with one hour to spare.
That’s when things went downhill. They wired the sealed container to their shuttle’s system, and somehow she didn’t like it. A surge, and the reactor was fried.
It didn’t make sense. Neither of them could understand what happened.
She was getting on B’elanna’s nerves, now, why was she speaking so fast, suddenly, why was she panicking – that wasn’t her. They’d just have to figure it out. And, for fuck’s sake, this headache could have found a better moment.
It was bad. They had enough power for a heater and for Seven’s alcove, and they’d probably find a way to fit a subspace radio emitter in their emergency workflow. The red sky wasn’t so pretty suddenly, and the endless plain seemed to have closed its jaws on them. Voyager was so far away.
Seven was insistent that they’d shut down her alcove and reallocate the energy to continue their research. The engines were beyond repair, it was hit hard by… whatever had happened – if they weren’t alone here, they’d have thought sabotage – but they still had an emergency transporter. With the alcove’s energy, it was possible to fit it for mining.
“I’m your superior officer. I’m responsible for your safety. This is out of the question, your alcove is a primary need, get it?”
Finally, Seven spit it out: “Since we have landed on the planet, I have tried to regenerate two times. Both times, it gave me a migraine. It was working acceptably during the trip. I tried to diagnose it before the failure, but I found nothing.”
B'elanna took a deep breath, turned around, and moved away. She stared at the meadow for a moment, clenched her fist together, and let her head fall on her hands. This was a priority, she should have been informed immediately, and now they were stuck. “Comfort seemed irrelevant”, she said, and then, “this wasn’t a priority”. She couldn't have informed her. B'elanna buried herself so deep in her work that she was completely innacessible. She should have figured out that Seven didn’t spend her night working for no reason.
"We'll figure something out. Keep me informed of how you're doing. Please."
She wished she’d understand her, this weird woman and her icy eyes. They would have understood something was wrong, and they’d have abandoned the planet without the goddamn Benamite. Slipstream had nearly killed them before, and now it was the Enhanced Warp drive's turn.
Seven went through the first days well, you couldn't stop her from working as if this was any other day. She hid it, but she was getting more and more tired. They tried to fix her alcove, but it was bleeding her out of her energy and they both decided to give up the matter. One morning, she collapsed while trying to walk. Sleep, Hyposprays, plants ; nothing could help her to rest.
It seemed unfair. Seven’s condition was the only thing troubling B’elanna’s sleep: The silence was absolute and the climate, temperate ; the endless plain in the east was full of edible fruits and roots, and B'elanna even found some rodents that Seven refused to eat. She was well, while Seven woke up in the morning, and 3 or 4 times at night, twice as tired as before. She was withering away.
It seemed they tried everything, and the last resort was prayer. Who would she choose? The Gods’ Slayer or a forgotten prophet?
More of a trouble than anything.
“I do not require assistance, lieutenant,” she had said as B’elanna passed a warm towel on her face.
“Yes, you do. I'm sorry, I just want to keep an eye on your implants.”
She brushed at the warm metal with sterile compresses, gently circling the skin around her left eye. An infection was the last thing she needed, but as far B’elanna could tell, it looked fine. Her immune system was holding it together, maybe the nanoprobes in her body purposefully made her tired so she would take it slow.
She took her hand in hers and repeated a similar routine on her hand implants. She cleaned her arm, her hand, and took special attention to the place where metal was grafted to her flesh. Then, the other arm. She tried to focus on the metal, but when she arrived to the tip of her thumb, Seven’s hands was so close to her face and clasped in her own. B’elanna stopped, trown out of focus, everythink like a thick fog. She turned the hand around and observed it, she wasn’t sure why.
Seven pulled her hand back and spoke in a weak voice : “You had checked these implant yesterday, they are not at risk. You will also inspect my coastal and shoulder implant, today. It would be useful.”
B’elanna nodded. Seven's eyelids were shutting down at irregular intervals. She still had that insolent gaze, even with the three-meter-long circles under her eyes, even though her neck fell back when she had brushed her hair.
B’elanna wasn’t sure it was wise. It was using some of her energy, but regardless, she couldn’t and didn’t want to stay inactive. They had tried to analyse the surge, their attempt to refit the transporter all failed, and they thought about the ways to beam Tendium up safely. Without a working computer, there weren’t many things to do, and this small acts of care gave their days the appearance of normalcy.
On the seventh day, the radio crackled. They had to recalibrate their antennas to communicate properly, but there was no doubt. It was Voyager.
'Who cares about Benamite. Harry will manage'
Tuvok muttered something to her while she was checking on Seven, but B'elanna only gave him half an ear. There was a civilisation guarding this System, and neither B’elanna nor Seven or Tuvok were able to detect their presence in the neighbouring solar systems. They had trespassed on a natural reserve. The surge was a defense. There was no warning – it was the best way to attract people – and their technology was hidden from Voyager’s scanner.
While B’elanna was relieved that they had let them take some samples of Tendium, at the moment she had one duty : Taking care of Seven ; making sure that the nanoprobes flowed in nicely ; holding her hand tight at least a few minutes a day, until she recovered.
When the Doctor connected her to the alcove and her eyes shut down, Seven tried to pull her in her arms. It was probably a childhood instinct reappearing twenty years late, but it felt like a punch to B’elanna. The Doctor asked her to let go of the embrace, he thought it was a bad idea to keep such close contact.
He was talking of at least 5 days of regeneration. They had been careless. She had been careless and wasn't even reprimanded, she couldn’t understand why Janeway wasn't harder on her.
One day or another, Seven will wake up and they will work together again. B’elanna had progressed so much on the drive, with Harry’s help, and she was thrilled for the moment when she would show her how close they were. She felt guilty, working without her, but she could not justify the delay to the Captain. Or Seven for that matter, she’d rather not hear what she’d have to say if she learned B’elanna delayed anything.
She always visited her during the midday pauses and after her day’s work was done. The Doctor advised them to stay as silent as possible in the Cargo bay, and B’elanna abided by that, but she found herself dialoguing with Seven in her own mind. She tried to do so outloud, once, when they were alone, but she wasn’t able to.
Soon, a shudder will take Seven shoulders and her eyes will light, she will step out of her metal shell and resume working as if nothing happened. She wanted to hold her close then, and maybe Seven would reciprocate to the point where B’elanna couldn’t breathe.
Something was weighing upon her, down in her stomach. When Seven wakes up, will everything be just the same? B’elanna had invented a whole world in her mind, a world Seven was hopefully unaware of, a world destined to vanish when it will face reality. For all she knows, Seven could remember the weight of her palm around her fingers, and she will notice her elevated heartbeat the moment she sees her. She may be angry at her. The icy eyes she got lost in would open and look at her with contempt. Seven could wake up now, and B’elanna wasn’t sure how she would explain that she didn’t want to leave her alone, and that it felt right to hold her hand.