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keep-it-i-resign · 3 years ago

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Fic Writer Asks

tagged by the lovely @vampcoffeegyrl23 I am soooo sorry this has taken over a week! I promise I was just busy away from my computer and using mobile is not the way to go about answering these! 😅

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

6 on AO3 and 6 on ffn.net. I haven't used the ffn.net account in years, i.e 2013 (and therefore my user name isn't even the same) so those 6 stories are different from my AO3 ones. I don't post most of what I write and now that I'm in my mid-20s with a few published papers behind me - I'm much more confident in my ability to write a cohesive and interesting story so expect more posted!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

17,425 words which isn't bad for only 6 fics with two of those stories having additional chapters coming soon.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

On AO3? Just 1, which is The Flash and by extension Stargate SG-1 for the crossover I did for Snowells Week this year. Counting ffn.net that's 3 more with Castle, Doctor Who, and Firefly. Over my lifetime of writing fic for myself? I think only 7 more. Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary, Harry Potter, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: TNG, and Left 4 Dead. Left 4 Dead isn't much of a fanfic but I did use the zombie types as place holders in an original story until I developed my own.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'll Be Waiting (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

Well... This is Awkward (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry, Frost/Nash, Caitlin/Nash, and Frost/Harry)

Rewind Time (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

Through the Gate (The Flash/Stargate SG-1 - Caitlin/Eowells)

Harvest Season (The Flash - Caitlin/Harry)

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I don't write angst much and I haven't posted many stories yet but of the ones posted I guess "I'll Be Waiting" is the angstiest.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

"Well...This is Awkward" has a pretty happy ending with everyone alive and together. Or maybe "Twilight of the Gods" because ReverseSnow/ReverseFrost happens and there is hope of bringing everything lost back and balance the universe again. I guess it depends on your definition of what constitutes as a happy ending. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I've only written one - The Flash/Stargate SG-1 crossover. I don't normally think about crossovers just because the shows I watch are so vastly different they can't really work or they are already in the same universe with the canon crossovers. I'm also not always a fan of reading them because they can get chaotic quick and characterization takes a dive in order to fit characters into other universes/situations. I admire anyone who can write it well though!

As a side note: I did have a thought about a Snowells into the Arkham universe fic just because I have been replaying the Batman Arkham video games which I might give a shot at.

8. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

👀I wrote one smutty story years ago and it's terrible because I was young and naïve. I haven't tried recently but I'm not opposed to giving it a shot now. I have a few ideas on a prompt list I have for Snowells already so it's really a matter of when will I get to it!

9. Do you respond to comments. why or why not?

I do when I can! I like to get feedback from my readers and having an open dialogue of what they liked or disliked is important for me! I want to know what my audience enjoyed and what to improve on! Responding to them also shows them I saw that they said and appreciate what they had to say! 🥰

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Surprisingly - no, even on my old and terribly written stuff. I'm perfectly open to criticism but hate? If you don't like it, you don't like it but others might. Why spend the time spreading negativity when the world has enough of it?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know - no.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but given enough time I could probably translate mine. It would be grammatically atrocious because I rarely translate from English into any of the languages I know. It's normally the other way around! I'd definitely need a Beta who is fluent to correct my mistakes.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but it's definitely something I'd try! I co-wrote an original story with a few friends of mine years ago in high school and enjoyed it. I like the idea of getting to talk and bounce ideas off of someone who enjoys the same fandoms and character as me! I haven't really done that since I grew apart from one of my friends from high school who I did that with.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

What kind of question is this? Do people actually have an ultimate ship? Is that even possible? I have ships from several fandoms and sometimes multiple ships within a fandom. Most of the time I have a main ship from a fandom but that doesn't mean I discount any of the other ones that I or others enjoy as well. I'll throw out a few that I still got out and read for in order of what I read most often (either new stuff or re-reads) to what I read occasionally, at least according to my AO3 favorite tags.

Snowells (all variations) - The Flash

Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter - Stargate SG-1

Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla - Sanctuary

Harry/Hermione - Harry Potter

William Murdoch/Julia Ogden - Murdoch Mysteries

Phil/ Melinda - Agents of SHIELD

Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris - Star Trek: Voyager

Kate Fleming/Steve Arnott - Line of Duty

I will occasionally go check what kind of fics the fandom writes when I start a show just out of curiosity. Sometimes you can tell if there is fandom hate between ships by doing so and I know to steer clear, especially if I ship a lesser ship/non-canon ship. Also - the number of canon-divergence or rewrites will tell you if the shows writers start being ridiculous *cough* The Flash *cough* and whether it's worth getting attached at all.

15. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Hoo boy. I have a drive full of them. Most of which aren't even close to being posted. My biggest one right now is a complete re-write of The Flash dealing with a what if scenario of Earth-1 Tess Morgan being pregnant the night that Thawne kills them both and he chooses to birth the kid rather than let it die with her. It's set a few years earlier (so 18/19 years stuck in the past rather than the original 15 that the show has it) so the kid isn't Jesse but it changes how season 1 plays out and definitely how season 2 plays out when Harry finds out about the kid while dealing with the Jesse/Zoom issue. Plus it's Snowells too and I want to deal with Barry's mistakes and the consequences of them better than the show did since the show just kind of brushes them off? For some reason? I wanted things to have a little more consequence because some of the mistakes made are egregious and then they acted like it never happened which bothers me. It's a beast of a project and I'm - unfortunately- a perfectionist and a completionist. I'm thinking an episode per chapter rewrite but right now it's in bits and pieces and a lot of notes on how episodes would play out differently with an added character and dynamic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and scene positioning. I can write out the dialogue for a story quickly with the bare bones of the scene and movements playing out. After that, it takes me ages to expand the scene and fill in the bits between speaking lines because I can see the piece play out in my head and putting that to paper accurately and engagingly without being overwhelming is a multi-layered process.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Some of this is normal, you know, like grammar and spelling. My brain moves faster than I type so words or bit of phrases end up missing and I later have to fix it. I'm also a Southerner who grew up watching a ton of British shows so a lot of the way I phrase things isn't commonly used anywhere. I have to spend a lot of time double checking things like that. I think my biggest one is not knowing how to end stories satisfactorily. I haven't posted many fics because it's hard to post them when you don't know how to wrap everything up.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It depends on whether it's an established part of a character or story and whether or not I'm comfortable with the language. Like with Sherloque - it's established he'll say something in French and then repeat it in English. I took 3 years of French so I'm comfortable writing it and it fits the character and situation. But take Cisco, we know he speaks Spanish, but it's never really shown in the show. So fics that I've read where he breaks into Spanish can be distracting as we've never seen him do it - even in dire circumstances. I also never took Spanish in school and I only know rudimentary pieces (I took Mandarin and Latin instead), so I'm unlikely to use it in any fic I write unless the circumstances warrant it (say - Cisco is talking to a grandparent or a meta struggling with English).

But again, it depends on the situation, what we know of the character, and how comfortable I am with the language enough to get it correct and in character. Any fic writer who can get the situation and character down while using a secondary language, and not make it distracting deserves applause!

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Hit me with a hard one why don't you? 🤣 I think it was Stargate SG-1 or maybe it was Stargate Atlantis. You're asking me to think back over a decade and a half ago to when I started reading and writing fic at the tender age of 7 or 8. I'm fairly certain it was one of those two fandoms and it might've been a crossover. I do remember writing part of it on an old Gateway computer running Windows '98 with a glass monitor that was mine and my sisters. The other half was written on an electric type-writer that I owned because this was before laptops were widely available and affordable.

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

It's a tie between "Twilight of the Gods" and "I'll Be Waiting". "Twilight of the Gods" because I got to show off a few of my degrees (History and Classics, I couldn't shoehorn in my others but they are science related and that doesn't quite fit that story). "I'll Be Waiting" is a favorite because it's a big middle finger to whoever / collective group wrote The Flash season 7. I'm still pissed off at how the Wells plotline was dealt with and let's not get started on the whole Chillblaine/Kramer/Forces as kids of WA plots (ewwwwwww 🤢). I'd need a whole new post to talk about how tired I am of the WA kids showing up (because screw how that'll effect the timeline, right?) and the reliance on the future to drive what decisions are made (because, again, screw how bad that would be for the timeline - it's not like we have seen how much that effects things before right?) 😒

Phew.....That was longer than I expected, honestly, but a lot of fun!

Tagging whoever wants to talk about their works because you are all wonderful people who should get a chance to share!

#20 questions #writer asks #fandom things #fanfic #Snowells

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 12

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

WARNING: This chapter contains segments of character death. (SPOILER’S FOR CHAPTER : It’s fine tho I swear)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

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CHAPTER TWELVE

B’Elanna watched Janeway’s laboured breathing as she slept. Even though she was sleeping, the Starfleet Captain’s expression was anything but peaceful. Her pain, it seemed, was potent enough to follow her into unconsciousness. Voyager’s Chief Engineer brushed her knuckles gently over the woman’s cheek, and watched as her expression softened ever so slightly.

The touch, despite how soft, was enough to jostle her from sleep. Her eyes face contorted as the full force of the pain came back. She opened her eyes a crack to see her Lieutenant smiling down at her.

“Sorry, Captain. I didn’t mean to wake you. You can go back to sleep if you’d like.”

Kathryn huffed, starting to sit up. Immediately she regretted it as the whole world went out of focus, and black dots danced at the edges of her vision. She fell un gracefully back down with a thump, and closed her eyes.

“That’s all right… I don’t… I don’t think… I’ll be going… back to sleep… anytime soon.”

Torres furrowed her eyebrows in sympathy. “Do you want a pain killer? We have used them for a while. I took one this morning when I woke up for my shift.”

Kathryn shook her head slightly, the best she could manage in her agony. “They don’t… help.”

The engineer placed a gentle hand on her Captain’s forehead. She winced at the heat of the Captain’s skin, and turned to pull out the woman’s water.

“Here,” she murmured, pouring some of the cold liquid onto the woman’s face, “this should help a little. Drink some too.”

B’Elanna helped sit Janeway up enough so that she could comfortably drink. When she’d had enough, the engineer set her bottle back down, and lowered the Captain into her lap.

“Thanks,” Kathryn breathed, blinking groggily up at her companion. The feeling of the cool water on her skin was an instant relief, but it was short lived as the area slowly warmed up again.

“Anytime.”

Kathryn closed her eyes again as her breathing returned to its heavy, slow rhythm.

“I wish there was something I could do to make you more comfortable.”

Janeway inhaled deeply before responding, “you’re… doing… your best… Voyager… be here… soon.”

B’Elanna couldn’t help but wince again as the Captain spoke. Every one of her words seemed to take a little more out of her. Torres couldn’t even begin to imagine what sort of pain the woman was in.

“Yes, they’ll be here soon. Just save your strength. I’m not going anywhere.”

The Captain hummed, and swallowed harshly in response.

“I hate to break it to you, Captain, but I don’t think you’ll be able to jump right into work after this. I know you really miss looking over the system's reports, but the Doctor’s gonna be on your ass about resting for at least a week.”

B’Elanna was reworded by a couple of small, barely audible chuckles that jostled the Captain’s body.

“I’m still looking forward to that sonic shower. And after that, you’re welcome to join me on the holodeck or you like. I was thinking of forcing Tom to write me a new program. Or, I supposed I could do it myself, but- who has the time for that? Nothing too spectacular, thinking a nice, long quiet beach with soft white sand, big blue waves, and no tunnels of caverns in sight. Maybe a couple people out in the water, just having fun and living in the moment.”

As Torres spoke, Kathryn allowed herself to get lost in the words. She imagined herself on such a beach, and the thought made her smile. The warmth of the sun on her, the cool breeze blowing in from the sea as the setting sun turned the sky pink. Big waves on the horizon, where you could just make out a couple of surfers getting the last of their waves in before turning in for the night. It was where Janeway wished she was right now.

“It sounds… nice…” she rasped.

“Yeah? I thought so too. With you on my side, maybe you can order Tom to make it.”

The Captain smiled at this, and B’Elanna took it as a win.

After a couple hours, the Captain’s breathing really started to shallow out. B’Elanna had taken to holding her hand firmly as she struggled to stay awake.

“Just hold on a little longer Captain. Help is on the way.”

The only sigh that Janeway both heard and understood the Lieutenant was a small squeeze of her hand. B’Elanna squeezed back, running a hand across the woman’s face.

“Give me one second, okay? I’m just gonna check to see if the homing beacon is still active.”

Gently, B’Elanna let go of the Captain, and took off her comm. badge. Amazingly, even after all the floods and spider-attacks and rock climbing they’d done, it had remained stubbornly pinned to her Starfleet uniform. Speaking of said uniform, it had seen better days. There were several holes in the fabric, the biggest ones being on her chest and around her back.

Upon inspecting her badge, she was able to confirm that the homing beacon was still indeed active. That was good. It meant Voyager would know just where to find them when it arrived.

She placed the badge back on her uniform, and grabbed the Captain’s hand again. Not even bothered with how covered in sweat it was.

“Good news, Captain. Looks like our luck hasn’t completely run out yet. The badge is still working.”

The woman’s lips twitched, B’Elanna took at as the best the attempt woman could muster at a smile. She brushed her thumb across Kathryn’s forehead, sending a silent plea to her ship as watched her energy dwindle. Please, Voyager. Hurry.

At this point, B’Elanna had given up on keeping track of the hours passed. All she knew was they had been sitting here forever, and there was still no sign of Voyager.

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon. They’re probably just trying not to overreact.”

B’Elanna was alarmed by the lack of response from Kathryn. She’d been chatting to her idly on and off for the last little bit, and the woman had always at least managed a twitch of her fingers. Now though, there was nothing.

“Captain?” She asked, giving the woman a slight jostle with her knee.

No response.

She tried again, pumping the woman a bit harder.

“Captain! I told you not to doze off on me again!”

But B’Elanna knew that wasn’t what this was. Not this time. As she watched the woman’s chest for any sign that she might be breathing, she was alarmed to be greeting by a complete and utter stillness.

“No!” She gasped, sitting up and laying the woman’s head on the ground beside her.

“No, no, NO!”

She started chest come pressions.

“Come on, Captain! Don’t do this to me again!”

Tears streaked her eyes as she pushed the palms of her hands deep into the woman’s chest. She knew she was probably going to break her ribs with pressure like this, but she would take broken ribs over a dead Captain any day.

“Come on, please! Please, you can’t leave me! Not now!”

Two inches deep, one hundred beats per minute.

“We’re in this together, remember?!”

Help will be here soon.

“You promised!”

They have to be here soon

“Please, just hold on!”

Then, the worst thing that could have possibly happened, happened. Faintly, at the very edge of her senses, she heard the sound of scuttling.

B’Elanna’s chest compressions stilled as she listened to confirm what she was hearing.

No! Not now! Please, not now!

Fat tears dripped from her eyes, and down onto Kathryn’s face as she leaned over the dying woman. Desperately, she placed one hand on her cheek, and the other one in her hand. She leaned down until she was nose to nose with Janeway’s slack face. “I’m not leaving you,” she whispered. “You hear me? I’m not leaving you! So don’t you dare leave me!”

No response.

A sob racked her body as she pressed her hand firmly into Kathryn’s face.

“Please!”

No response.

She heard the sound of a hiss behind her.

All the despair in her face fell away at the sound. The tears still poured down her face as she drew her phaser and turned around.

Eight of the Arachnomen faced off against her. Each of their eyes locked on in hunger, madness, and intent to kill.

Looking at the creatures, B’Elanna was overtaken by a blinding, thick blanket of unimaginable fury. This, all of this was their fault. One of their kind had killed her Captain. Her friend and all these creatures cared about was food. They were disgusting, and retched, and the purest form of evil that, other than the Borg, no other species ever came close to.

And they were not going to take her Captain away from her when they were this close to getting home.

“YOU WON’T TOUCH HER!” B’Elanna roared, but the Arachnomen didn’t seem phased by her fury.

With one final hiss, the hoard lunged, and B’Elanna started firing.

In an instant, a cascade of pincers, hands and fangs engulfed B’Elanna and the Captain. The half-klingon fired her phaser like a mad woman, doing everything in her power to keep the creatures’ fangs from biting her, and to keep all of them away from the lifeless form of her Captain underneath her.

Pretty quickly, B’Elanna’s rage subsided just enough for her to realise that she could never right off all these aliens at once. So, thinking fast, she improvised.

The engineer shot her phaser right at the base of one of the stalactites. The large spike came crashing down, impaling one of the Arachnomen, and covering the area in a thick, quickly dissipating layer of debris.

Using the opening, B’Elanna threw Janeway over her shoulder and fled towards the nearest tunnel. Her feet carried her even faster than they had the day before. It didn’t matter anymore that Janeway was dead weight, Torres’s survival instincts were kicked into too high a gear for her to be slowed down.

The aliens ran after her as she clambered up the tunnel, dodging their long, outstretched limbs and shooting blindly behind her as she continued her beeline through the tunnels.

The Arachnomen were gaining rapidly, their brief moment of surprise not nearly enough to keep the Chief Engineer in the lead for long. She pushed her legs to run faster, practically throwing herself down the passageway as it began to twist and turn.

After five minutes of running for her life, B’Elanna’s felt her eyes widened as they gazed upon her next obstacle. The ground veered up in a sudden slope, approximately seven feet tall, and with very little ways to jump up it. Not unless you had spider limbs.

With a pounding heart, the engineer used all of her strength to throw Kathryn up the the top of the wall, before leaping up as high as she could and draping her arm over the ledge.

One of the aliens grabbed a hold of her leg, and began to drag her back down towards the ground. B’Elanna kicked and screamed as the others piled on. She managed to tear her leg free of one, and used the face of another to shove herself further up the ledge.

One of the aliens jumped up towards the ceiling, and made a frantic grab at her shoulder. It missed, however, and its long spider-limbed hand shot past B’Elanna and managed to grab hold instead of the Captain’s arm. It dragged her body backwards, and B’Elanna shrieked in protest as she held the body of her comrad on top of the ledge.

She rammed her arm out, smacking the spider's own limb hard against the corner of the ledge. It shrieked, letting go of the Captain in its pain.

As hard as she was fighting, Torres’ heart lurched as she felt the seemingly endless sea of grasping limbs starting to drag her back down the ledge. She clawed desperately to the tunnel floor, kicking mangled legs back at the spiders, but it was no use. There were too many of them.

Just as she was convinced that there was no way out of this, a voice came through on her comm.

“Voyager to away team, do you read me!”

B’Elanna kicked one of the aliens off her, giving her just enough leeway to reach up and press her badge. “Chakotay!” She shouted, her voice riddled with pure terror as she was pulled further away from Janeway, “I can’t hold them off anymore! You gotta get us out of here!”

“Stand by for transport.”

“Sick bay, Chakotay! Both of us!” B’Elanna ordered

“Acknowledged!”

B’Elanna screamed as she lost her grip on the tunnel ledge. Just as her body was dragged into the commotion of the Arachnoman’s frenzy, her and Janeway’s bodies dematerialized into the transporter beam.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #pissed off b’elanna #protective b’elanna #sick janeway #it’s rlly scary for a moment there #nurturing b’elanna torres #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #character death #whump #heavy angst #it’s fine tho #it’ll be fine #CPR

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in this Together - Ch. 1

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER ONE

“Captains log, stardate 50658.85. Lt. Torres and I’s shuttle just touched down on a small, M-Class planet. Scans show that the surface contains limited amounts of dilithium, and B’Elanna suggested it would be a good idea to harvest some. While we’re here, Voyager has headed off on a diplomatic mission to the homeworld of a species that controls this sector of space. The planet is located approximately two light years from here, so if all goes well, we’ll be meeting up with them in about a week.”

As the shuttle craft engines whirred to a halt, Captain Janeway joined her Chief Engineer in the hull. Over the next week, the two would be spending a lot of time together. While both parties weren’t too keen on being cramped in a shuttlecraft for that long, it would be a nice chance to get to know each other more. The Captain intended to make the most of it.

“Ready to get a move on, Lieutenant?”

B’Elanna looked up from where she had been collecting her mining equipment. “Aye, Captain. According to the shuttle’s scans, there’s a pocket of dilithium not far from here. Unfortunately with all the uneven terrain, this was as close as I could get us.”

Janeway smiled, grabbing a tricorder, a phaser, and an equipment belt. “Well then, I hope you don’t mind walking.” She remarked, tossing a phaser to the half-klingon.

B’Elanna rolled her eyes, smiling, and the two set off in search of the crystalline material.

As the duo approached a small stone butte, both women's tricorders started going crazy. Exchanging a glance, they each split up, going separate ways around the rockface. Several spike-like pillars jutted out of the ground around and atop the butte, making navigation slightly difficult.

While the Captain tried to locate the dilithium’s source, she was distracted by a strange scuttling sound coming from behind her. Quickly, she spun around, putting her tricorder into the belt, and pointing her phaser towards the source of the sound.

Her gaze fell upon a small tunnel opening at the base of the hillock. Emerging from the gap was one of the… strangest things the Captain had ever seen. It was humanoid, with long slender legs covered with some sort of legging-like material. The legs seemed to be the only part of the alien that was covered. That, however, wasn’t what shocked her. Because instead of arms, this creature had four spider-like limbs sprouting from its shoulders and shoulder blades. The two front appendages had hands attached at the end, however the limbs coming from the shoulder blades ended in sharp, menacing pinchers. There were four, yellow eyes on the creature. Two large ones located on the typical place for a humanoid, and two smaller ones placed in the centre of the face, not too far above the first pair. Instead of lips, this creature had the mouth of a spider, with long curved fangs extending from the dark flesh. The rest of its body seemed relatively normal, with ashen-grey skin and scraggly black hair.

Long story short, it was horrifying. Each of its eyes looked around, apparently trying to find whatever it was that had drawn it from its hole. That’s when its gaze landed on Kathryn. Immediately, it made a surprised hissing noise, scrambling back a step or two despite the fact that Janeway wasn’t even all that close to it.

The Captain held her hands up, phaser pointed at the sky now. The creature tilted its head as she spoke. “My name is Captain Janeway, of the Federation Starship Voyager. If you can understand me, I promise you, I come in peace.”

A strange clicking sound began to emit from the creature’s throat as it took a few weary steps forward. Although it was difficult, Janeway could make out the tones of a voice through the harsh sounds.

“I do not know you.”

“I come from a long way away. We are here hoping to use some of your resources. You see, we are lost and are trying to get home.” The Captain explained. She kept her grip firm on the phaser, but still kept it pointed upwards.

The whirred, clattering voice spoke again, it’s one of its right hands reaching out towards Janeway’s face. Crusty, nail-broken fingers drifted across her cheek, and Kathryn did her best not to flinch at the gritty, sandpaper feeling. “You are an outsider.”

Kathryn nodded, smiling a bit. “That’s right.”

“You are not from here. You are not like me…”

The Captain watched as the creature seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. She relaxed a little as it pulled its hand away.

“I’m so glad we could come to an understa—“

“You are food.”

Faster than she had ever seen anything move, the creature lashed out and knocked the phaser out of the Captain’s hand with its hand-ended-arm. It tucked its human legs to its chest, used the spider-like appendages to lunge forward.

In an instant, it was on top of Kathryn, its pincered mouth snapping dangerously close to her face. The Captain let out a yelp of surprise as she grappled with it. All at once she was trying to keep its mouth away from her, while also battling the swiping that was slicing the air dangerously close to her abdomen.

Then, from father down the rock formation came a voice. “Captain!”

A stream of phaser light connected with the alien’s face, and it was thrown off Kathryn and onto the ground. The creature made a loud shrieking noise, and it fell to the ground with a thud. As it tried to scramble back up B’Elanna shot it again, rendering the creature unconscious.

Janeway let out heavy breaths, sitting up as her Chief Engineer ran over.

“Are you alright?” She asked, helping the Captain to her feet.

Kathryn nodded, “I’m fine. It didn’t manage to hurt me at all, thanks to you. Great timing.”

B’Elanna blazed past the praise, obviously frazzled. “What the hell was that thing?! Scans didn’t indicate any life signs on the planet’s surface.”

Janeway shook her head, and nodded towards the hole it had crawled out of. “Something tells me these things don’t live on the surface.”

The half-klingon put her hands on her hips, looking around as if to try and spot any more exit points that the creatures could emerge from. After a moment of collecting her thoughts, she looked back at her Captain. “And you’re sure you’re okay?”

Janeway raised her hands, “I’m alright, promise.” She thought for a moment, before nodding to the engineer, “did you find the dilithium?”

B’Elanna’s eyes lit up at the reminder and she nodded. “Yes, I did. There’s a small vein barely visible on the eastern face of this rock formation. It shouldn’t be too hard to mine out.”

The Captain nodded, “right. Let’s get to it then. I want to be off this planet as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.”

With that, the Captain followed her Chief Engineer towards the dilithium source. On her way out, she made sure to grab her phaser. Something told her she’d be needing it.

Harvesting the dilithium took longer than either woman felt comfortable with. With the knowledge of a new threat, neither one wanted to be taken by surprise again. The speed on the creatures had been a shock, and there was no telling when another one might emerge. So they took turns, one would work on extracting the dilithium from the rock face while the other kept watch of their surroundings. Every half-hour or so they would switch.

By the time they had gotten it all and started making their way back to the ship, two hours had passed. It had been a pretty generous amount of the ore, and they decided that would be good enough. They were acutely aware all the pounding would probably draw more creatures to the surface, and they didn’t want to take their chances hunting down another vein.

Just as the shuttle craft came into view, about one hundred feet away, their fears were confirmed. The skittering, scraping sound of many kegs on stone caught both women's attention. The sound was coming from behind them, and it didn’t sound all that far away.

“Run.” Janeway ordered, her voice was eerily calm. Not having to be convinced, B’Elanna and Kathryn both started sprinting towards the shuttlecraft.

About halfway to the shuttle, a small herd of the spider-aliens came into view behind them. Jumping out from behind the many clusters of rock formations and barreling towards the two star fleet officers. Janeway was able to count seven of them after a couple glances behind her, and they were gaining fast.

Like the other one, when trying to move fast they didn’t use their human legs. Instead, they curled up their body, and used their spider-like appendages to throw themselves across the rocky terrain. It seemed like a pretty effective tactic.

“Captain!” B’Elanna yelled worriedly.

“I know!”

“They’re gaining!”

“We’re almost there! We just have to get to the shuttle!”

Both girls seemed to run even faster. The shuttle was close now, and even though their lungs were burning, Adrenalin spurred them onwards. The terror of being caught by the arachnoids outweighs the pain of sprinting over one hundred feet with a load of dilithium slung over their backs.

They neared the craft, the aliens were dangerously close now. Practically right on their tails. They breaths came in heavy, panicked bursts. The Captain’s heart rammed inside her chest, and the blood rushing through her ears was almost enough to drown out the fear enduring clacking that thundered behind her. As she ran for her life, she prayed on whatever deity controlled the Delta Quadrant that neither of them would trip.

Finally, after what seemed like both hours and milliseconds, each raced into the shuttlecraft. B’Elanna entered first, so Janeway yelled out towards her. “CLOSE THE DOOR!”

B’Elanna slammed her hand down on a control panel as Janeway reached the shuttlecraft, and the door began closing. But not fast enough.

“Fly the shuttle! Get us out of here,” Janeway ordered as she pulled her phaser out. Three of the spider-aliens launched themselves into the air, and slipped through the small gap between the closing door and the rest of the shuttle.

The Captain fired her phaser as the first one landed, hitting it once in the chest, and once in the face. As the alien crumpled to the ground with a shriek, the second one lunged at her. She shot but missed as its hands wrapped around her shoulders and slammed her back towards the front of the shuttlecraft.

“Captain! The aliens on the outside are clinging to the shuttle! I can’t shake them!”

Kathryn yelled in frustration as she kicked the creature off of her. It clung on to the sides of the shuttlecraft with its pinchers, cutting through control panels, shuttle walls and internal wiring as it was flown back.

“Structural integrity at fifty percent!”

The third spider-alien tried to take a lunge at B’Elanna. The Captain, not having any of it, put herself between the creature and her crew man, sending out a phaser beam that knocked the creature sideways and into the side of the shuttle’s windshield.

She cried out in pain as the other arachnoid’s pinches sank deep into her hips, pulling her back and towards it and tearing through her flesh as it did so.

“Captain!”

“Keep flying!”

“They’re tearing through the outer hull!”

Janeway twisted in the spider-aliens grip and kicked out, hard. Her heeled boot connected with a sickening crack with the alien’s chin, and it let out an ear piercing shriek. Sensing that its friend was in pain, the other alien recovered from its crash and lunged forward. Its pincers sunk into her arms, clamping down and causing her to cry out in pain.

“Something’s torn through the impulse engines! We’re starting to descend!”

“Try to level us out!”

“I can’t!”

Gritting her teeth, the Captain ripped her right harm out of the pincer’s grip. A large gash opened up, and blood gushed from the wound, but she didn’t care. As the alien’s hand tried to reach for her phaser, she took the whole of its arm into her grip and twisted as hard as she could.

The creature shrieked, relaxing its grip with the other pincher just enough for her to twist free. The spider-alien with the broken jaw lashed out with one of its limbs, but Janeway was faster this time. She levelled her phaser and sent two quick beams at the beast. One shot the arm just as it was about to slide through her chest, and the other shot it right in the forehead. The creature was sent backwards again, and knocked unconscious.

Suddenly, a pain unlike anything the Captain had ever felt in her life erupted from the back of her left shoulder. It was a cold kind of pain, shooting down her arm and causing her whole body to cramp up. In her deliriousness, it took her a moment to figure out that the remaining alien had bitten her. It’s fangs sinking deep into her flesh and causing her arm to spasm in agony.

The Captain gasped, wrenching her shoulder away, and sending the butt of her phaser right into the alien’s temple. The force of the blow sent it crumpling to the ground, and the Captain fell down right beside it. Her breathing heaved, and her body still twitched from the sensation of the bite.

“Captain, we’re going to crash!”

Janeway hauled herself off the ground with her right arm, tucking her left gingerly into her side as she looked out the windshield. B’Elanna was right. The shuttle was going down. Whatever those aliens had done it had compromised their engines. As she looked on in horror, a dark shadow on the side of a large plateau caught her eye.

“B’Elanna! There, that opening in the cliffside!”

“It’s too small, the outer walls will be completely shredded!”

Kathryn nodded, “and the aliens along with it!”

That’s when Torres seemed to understand the Captain’s plan. Her eyes lit up, and she veered the shuttle steering to direct them towards the tunnel.

“Captain, maybe you should do this! I’m not exactly a fancy flyer like Paris.”

Janeway shook her head, “It’s too late to switch controls now, we’re almost at the opening. I believe in you, B’Elanna! You can do this, you’re more than capable!”

B’Elanna grimaced as they rocketed towards the opening. “We’re about to find out! Brace for impact!”

Both women grit their teeth, gripping hard onto their seats as the shuttle crashed into the cave. The loud, sickening sound of metal scraping against stone filled the hull as the exterior of the shuttle was torn apart. The shuttle rattled violently as it bounced off the floor and ceiling of the tunnel and came to a slow, screeching halt buried inside the tunnel.

Both women sat there for a moment, stunned and shaken as they tried to take in everything that happened. After a moment, B’Elanna looked over at her Captain and gasped hard at the sight.

“Captain! You’re hurt!”

Janeway opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of weakened, desperate scratching on the shuttle bay door. Apparently the creatures had survived, but their attempts to get inside didn’t seem as effective as they had been on the shuttle’s engines.

“We have to go.” The Captain instructed, forcing herself to her feet. She stumbled over to the side of the shuttle and pulled out two backpacks. Each held two 1L canisters of water, a week’s rations, flashlights, phasers, a fire starter, and tools to set up a homing beacon. “Go get the med kit, and put it in one of these.” She ordered.

Not seeing any choice in arguing, Lt. Torres stood up and made her way across the shuttle hull. The door to the medkit’s buddy had a large gash through it, but when B’Elanna pulled, she found it was still able to be opened. She grabbed the med-kit and stashed it into one of the bags, before throwing the back over her shoulder.

“What about the dilithium?” B’Elanna asked, her gaze falling on the sacks of ore lying in the wreckage in the ground.

“Leave it. When Voyager comes we can beam it abroad from there. Carrying it will only slow us down.”

The Chief Engineer nodded. That was true, and as much as she’d like to protect the ore she figured these creatures wouldn’t have much care for it. They only seemed interested in hunting the Captain and herself.

Kathryn grimaced as she tried to sling the other backpack over her shoulder. Every wound on her body screamed as they were pulled, and she still couldn’t move her left arm enough to catch the other strap.

B’Elanna stepped forward and grabbed the bag out of her Captain’s hand. “Here, let me help.”

The half-klingon lifted the bag up, allowing the Captain to simply weave her arms through the straps, and haul it up onto her back. Once it was on, she turned to the engineer and nodded.

“Thank you.”

A scrape, much louder than the previous ones, caused both women to jump.

“We should get going,” B’Elanna suggested. Kathryn agreed, and the two made their way to the front of the shuttle. B’Elanna smashed through the windshield using a stray piece of debris, and the two helped each other out of the shuttlecraft.

When they’d each set down onto the hard stone of the tunnel, the Captain looked back at the shuttle with a slightly irritated expression.

“So much for an easy outing,” she muttered. With that, the two women pulled out their flashlights, and set off into the dark unknown of the planet’s tunnels.

Little did they know, the trouble was just beginning.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like Admiral Janeway #They have no idea what they’re getting into #I wrote this and twelve other chapters in three days #Help #I’ll post chapters separately cuz I’m new and idk if tumblr has a word limit

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 13

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

Alright folks, we made it to the end! This is the final chapter of WITT, and I’m happy to be posting it (I say as if I haven’t been spam posting all of these chapters over the last hour). I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment! This was such a blast to write from start to end, and even tho there were times where I had no clue how to continue the story, I pushed through and am now delighted to share it w/ all of u.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A faint noise tugged at the back of her mind as Janeway swam through the darkness. At first, it was just a light buzzing. Barely audible and easy to ignore. But, as she floated there, her mind stuck between one state of being and the other, she was aware of the sound slowly growing louder. The buzz was amplified to a wave of static, and then as she sat even longer, it grew into the muffled sound of voices.

As she focused on the sound, she began to become aware of her other senses too. She could feel the light pressure of something soft pressing against her back and legs. Her nose began to pick up on the scents around her. There was a metallic smell, coupled with the indistinguishable aroma of several people.

Then, finally, audio in her head cleared up enough for her to hear a single word.

“Kathryn.”

Her name.

Her eyelids twitched as more words began to appear in her head. It was difficult for her to surf through the fog, and figure out what was being said, but she tried her best.

“Kathryn. Can you hear me?”

A small, barely audible noise escaped her throat. There wasn’t any nuance to it, just a sound. But it was enough.

“Kathryn, it’s Chakotay. Do you understand me?”

Janeway squeezed her eyes tight for a moment. As her brain adjusted to all the things her senses were picking up, she felt the deep lull of a headache beginning to form in the back of her mind.

The pain, so familiar if not less severe, was what made her remember.

Her eyes flew open, and she shot up upright from where she’d been lying down. Her heart hammered in her chest as she looked around. Scanning the room for any signs of the Arachnomen. As she did so, however, she became aware of the fact that Lieutenant Torres was nowhere in sight.

The Doctor came over, and both he and Chakotay started fighting desperately to force her back into the bed.

“Captain, please lie down! You’re fine!” The Doctor ordered, but she barely heard him.

“It’s alright, Kathryn, you’re safe! Everything’s fine!”

“Where’s B’Elanna?!” She gasped out, looking around the room again frantically.

“She’s—“ whatever the Doctor was going to say was cut off by the sound of Sick Bay’s doors opening. Standing on the other side of those doors, was Voyager’s Chief Engineer.

In an instant, B’Elanna took in the scene, and raced towards the biobed. “Captain!” She exclaimed, feelings of relief overwhelmed both of them as she engulfed Janeway in her arms.

Kathryn hugged back, finally calming down now that the girl was in her arms. She was safe, she was alive. She was here, and they were together.

As her body finally relaxed, she was aware of the Doctor continuing his sentence beside them. “She’s fine.”

The Captain embraced her Lieutenant for another minute longer, running her arms in circles across the woman’s back. Her brain began to slow down as she did so, and she began to remember a little more about the caverns. She’d been lying in B’Elanna’s lap, holding her hand, and listening to her talk on and off about whatever came to mind. Then… then…

She couldn’t remember anything after that.

Reluctantly, Janeway pulled away, her face etched with confusion as she met the eyes of the people around her.

“What happened?”

Nobody really knew how to respond to that at first. Mainly because they weren’t quite sure how much they had to explain. So, Kathryn elaborated, “I was in the cave with B’Elanna, lying down, but I don’t remember anything after that.”

The engineer’s facial expression dropped. Sorrow coated her expression as she sat down next to Janeway in the bed. She held out her hand, and Kathryn took it gratefully.

“You stopped breathing. Your heart… stopped beating.”

The Captain was silent, taking a moment to process the information. She was able to fill in the unsaid blanks pretty quickly.

“I died?”

“In a medical sense, yes.” The Doctor provided, making sure to keep his tone gentle. “You were dead for almost ten minutes by the time you were beamed to sick bay.”

Kathryn nodded, but she could tell by their expressions there was more to the story. “What else happened… after I died.”

“A group of aliens attacked us.” B’Elanna explained, pressing closer to the Captain to remind herself she was there. “At first I was angry… really angry. I tried to fight them all but… there were just too many. So, at the first opening I could get, I picked you up and ran.”

The Lieutenant’s eyes clouded over as she remembered. Her sheer panic as she booked it down the tunnel, and the moment of despair when she came upon the ledge. Dozens of hands grabbing at her as she clawed desperately to reach the top of the incline.

“I almost didn’t make it… we almost didn’t make it.”

Chakotay decided that was the time for him to take over. “Voyager arrived just in time to beam you both to sick bay.”

“I was able to tend to Lieutenant Torres quite quickly. Although her injuries were numerous, and quite severe, they were nothing I hadn’t seen before. You, on the other hand…” the Doctor explained, trailing off as he looked at Janeway.

The Captain could only imagine. She had been infected by an unknown venom agent with an unknown way of treating it. Her heart had already stopped beating. It was a miracle whatever the Doctor did she worked at all.

She held up her hand, “you don’t… have to get into the details.”

He nodded, and she watched him walk away to grab a medical tricorder. Meanwhile Chakotay continued talking. “You gave all of us quite the scare. Especially B’Elanna. I had to threaten to call security on her just so she’d leave your bedside to rest. You two must have been through… quite a lot down there.”

The Captain and her Chief Engineer exchanged a glance.

“We did.”

Chakotay stepped out of the way as the Doctor returned. “Well, I’ll leave you guys in peace. With the Captain on bed rest, I’ve got a ship to run. The crew will be happy to know you’re awake.” He turned around, but stopped just as he reached the bay doors. After a moment, he turned around again fondly, “they’re all be… very eager to see you.”

With that, the Commander exited Sidk Bay.

Kathryn turned her attention back to the Doctor. “How long was I… out of commission?”

“Five days.”

“Five days?!” Kathryn exclaimed.

“Here we go,” B’Elanna muttered, knowing full well that Janeway was about to become an extremely difficult patient.

“After a full week of being gone?! That’s way too long for a Captain to be out of service! I’ve gotta get back on top of things?!”

“What you need,” the Doctor insisted, giving the Captain a stern look, “is to rest. By order of your Chief Medical Officer, you are not to do any sort of work until I say you’re feeling better. Even though it’s been five days, your body’s going to take a while to recover from the effect of the venom.”

As he was talking, Janeway could tell what he meant. Her limbs felt heavy, and her eyes threatened to close on her. She was exhausted, and she could feel a small ache making itself known in her affected shoulder.

Kathryn sighed. She knew he was right. She just didn’t like being away for that long.

“The crew has your back, Captain. Everything’s going to be fine. Besides, not a lot has happened since you’ve been away. The locals refuse to let our ship go anywhere until they meet its Captain.” B’Elanna comforted, slowly lowering the Janeway back down onto the biobed.

She brushed her hand across Janeway’s forehead. She still had a mild fever, but for the first time in days, B’Elanna wasn’t concerned about it.

“Rest, Captain. Voyager will still be here when you’ve recovered.

And with one final smile sent towards her Chief Engineer, Kathryn closed her eyes, and let sleep take her.

Everything was going to be okay.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #chakotay #the doctor #mild angst #fluff #happy ending #potential room for spin-off one shots or fics #But also just a nice conclusion to the story #These girls deserve a break #They get one #Bonding experience complete!#no beta we die like admiral janeway

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 11

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

WARNING: More cannibalism. This time it’s only mentioned/implied. Once again tho, the creatures doing it are more animalistic than humanoid DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER ELEVEN

As time passed, the Captain’s health only got worse. Two hours in she all but collapsed as the path abruptly dropped beneath her feet. B’Elanna had to stumble to keep her from ramming her face into the tunnel wall. Then, after another hour, she tripped going up one of the steeper segments of the trail. Her whole body radiated heat, and Lieutenant Torres was starting to become detrimentally concerned.

Half an hour after that, B’Elanna decided to take a quick break. They set down in a small, open portion of the tunnel to catch their breath.

“Well, we’ve been walking for a bit now, there’s gotta be a cavern coming up soon,” B’Elanna mused, trying to keep her thoughts optimistic as the Captain laid against her.

She wrapped her arm around Kathryn protectively, keeping her ears open for the tell-tale sound of scuttling. “Don’t worry Captain, I’ll find us someplace safe.”

Janeway murmured, looking up at B’Elanna with a conflicted expression, “I thought it was… the Captain’s job… to look after the crewman.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes the Captain needs a little help too. I don’t mind, it’s nice having an excuse to boss you around.”

Janeway glared, which only caused the engineer’s eyes to twinkle.

The Chief Engineer allowed them another few minutes to rest, before hauling the Captain up, and continuing up the tunnel.

An hour later, the sound of hundreds of Arachnomen caused B’Elanna’s hair to stand on end. She doubled back, ducking into the cover of a nearby cave nestled into the tunnel wall. Janeway tried to mutter something about how this didn’t look like a very good place to camp when B’Elanna shushed her.

A minute later, columns of aliens began walking past the entrance. The half-klingon pressed herself and her Captain against the cave, pressing a firm mouth around the lethargic Janeway in case she tried to talk again.

As they passed, B’Elanna noticed that several of the Arachnomen were dragging the bodies of their dead along the ground. She was reminded of something the aliens had said back in the ruined city

“Where is food?”

“The fighters will bring it soon.”

“They always take it to the bottom.”

“We only feast on the unworthy!”

She guessed that this was what they had meant. The bottom must be the cave with all the bones in it. The place the water had swept them to. The place where the Arachnomen ate their fellow species.

The fights… the fights must be the big pit that the pair had stumbled across with the two Arachnomen sparring in the centre.

If her interpretation of the aliens’ words were correct, that meant whoever lost those fights… was…

B’Elanna shuddered as another carcass was dragged right past the entrance of the cave. Its four red eyes blazed as its face was frozen in a permanent snarl of anger.

Or, well, not permanent she supposed.

It took over half an hour for all the Arachnomen to pass, and another ten minutes after that for the clacking of their feet to fall away.

As soon as they did, B’Elanna jumped out of their hidey-hole. A new sense of urgency invigorated her body, and she felt the strength of fear starting to flood through her veins. A plan began to form in her mind as she turned around and unzipped her backpack. She transferred all the essential items - med kit, remaining rations, full water bottles - from her own bag to Janeway’s.

Then, she turned around, draping Kathryn’s arms around her shoulders,

“Alright Captain,” she huffed, “time for a piggyback ride.”

With a surge of strength, she pushed up off the ground, and hauled the Captain up onto her back. Torres staggered for a moment, adjusting to the weight of the woman. She was grateful when Kathryn instinctively used what strength she had left to hold herself up a little bit. It would make the whole plan go a lot smoother if B’Elanna didn’t have to haul around dead weight.

As soon as she felt comfortable enough, she exited the small cave. She knew they probably didn’t have much time before they returned. She knew if all these monsters caught them they were dead in the water.

And so, she did the only reasonable thing she could think of at the moment.

She ran.

Three hours later, right as she swore her lungs were about to burst, B’Elanna struck gold. She almost missed it. In her panic and desperation she almost ran right by it. But right as the ground sloped up in another steep incline, she noticed it.

Right next to the bend in the ground, nestled neatly between the tunnel wall, and the upward slope in the floor, was an opening. A small opening, just barely large enough for one humanoid to slip through, but an opening. Casting a paranoid glance over her shoulder, B’Elanna dropped to her knees, setting the Captain down gently before crawling forward to look inside.

As she poked her head through, she noticed two things.

One: the space was extremely cramped. It definitely wouldn’t be able to comfortably house two humanoids.

Two: there was another opening on the left wall.

Curiosity thoroughly peaked, B’Elanna pulled her head out and looked to Kathryn.

“Captain,” she asked, jostling the woman’s shoulder. She got a hum in response to show that the woman was listening.

“Do you think you have enough energy for a quick crawling expedition?”

Janeway sat up a bit, head tilted. “That depends… what am I crawling to?”

“If I’m seeing what I hope I’m seeing, a place to settle down.”

B’Elanna watched the Captain’s eyes light up. In an instant, they turned from lethargic and unfocused to determined and fully present. That was all the answer she needed.

“Well then, follow me.”

With that B’Elanna turned, and squeezed her way into the opening.

Now, B’Elanna had never been claustrophobic. She was an engineer, climbing into cramped spaces kind of came with the job, but even she had to admit that the small cavern inside the opening was tight.

The half-klingon could feel her own breath bouncing off the walls beside her as she forced herself through the cave. There were quite a few times where she was afraid she’d gotten herself stuck. Eventually, though, she was able to make her way through to the other opening. As soon as she was within arms reach, she grabbed hold of the wall surrounding the opening, and pulled herself through.

Coming out the other side was like coming up for fresh air after an extremely deep dive. As soon as she was free, she reached her hand back through, and pulled the Captain out as well. Helping the woman to her feet, she turned around and barked out a laugh at what she saw.

It was a large cavern, with short walls and a wide ground area. The entire right wall was broken up by a big ledge cliff running from a few feet above the ground, and going up until it almost touched the ceiling. The roof of the cavern was scattered with spikes, small amounts of the highly condensed rock were embedded into the stalactites and sent beams of pale purple light bouncing off the walls. The ground was pretty bare, with a few small stalagmites, and a couple large boulders scattered around the edges of the cave. Running from the centre of the cave, to the back left corner was a big stone arch, with several big sheets of stone holding it up in the middle

The only problem, and at this point B’Elanna considered it a very minor problem, was the two tunnel openings of the far and right walls. Other than that, though, the place was perfect.

B’Elanna helped Janeway over to a cluster of boulders that pressed up against the cliff, and slowly lowered her to the ground. The Captain leaned against the rock, taking in the space with a groggy, fever-ridden wonder.

“I have to say… after all the different types of nebula, space phenomenon… and bioluminescent caves I’ve witnessed… right now, this… is probably the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Janeway breathed, laying a hand across her lap as she looked around. The cave really wasn’t all that impressive, but the sight of it after all the hardships they’d been through really was beautiful.

Torres laughed, sitting herself down next to the woman.

“You know, Captain. I have to say that I agree.”

An hour later, after eating and fully taking the time to get to know their surroundings, the pair finally decided to rest. Or, at least, they tried to decide to rest, however they couldn’t decide who would take the first watch.

“You’re like— completely brain-ridden with spider-induced venom fever! I should take the first watch, you need the sleep.”

“You’ve carried me all day! You deserve a little rest. I think I can handle staying awake for a couple of hours while you rejuvenate.”

“I have not been carrying you all day! That piggyback was only a couple hours! And I’d do it again!”

Kathryn took a deep breath. Getting worked up about sleeping schedules was not making her body all too happy right now. Unfortunately she was too stubborn to admit defeat either.

“Listen,” she sighed, although it was really more of a cough, “if the Arachnomen come through one of those tunnels…, I’m not going to be able to fight them. No matter how much I sleep. You… are going to have to fight… for both of us. We don’t know when or… or if they may come. So, you should… you should rest and recover while you can…. You can take the next shift…, but… I think… it’s a good idea to allow our only token for survival the chance… to gather… her strengths before she may… need to use them.”

The irritation in B’Elanna’s eyes quickly morphed into sympathy as she watched her Captain fight to get the words out. She was right, B’Elanna knew she was. But… she was just so damn worried about her. Still, she decided it would be best for both of their help if she let the Captain win this one.

“Hey, hey! Okay. Okay, you’re right. You know, if you’re willing to give yourself an asthma attack over this, I suppose you may have a point. I’ll sleep. You just… focus on staying alive for me, okay.” The Chief Engineer placed a gentle hand on her Captain’s shoulder, who smiled weakly in response.

“You… you got it.”

With one more reluctant glance at Kathryn, B’Elanna laid down on the stone, head in the Captain’s lap, and closed her eyes.

As her Lieutenant drifted off, Janeway tipped her head back against the rock. Hot tears pooled in her eyes as every feeling in her body became sharper all at once. Focusing on B’Elanna’s voice, on her presence, had helped the Captain to ignore her pain. To push through and keep going as B’Elanna dragged them up the tunnels.

Now, though, there was no distraction. Nobody to listen to. And Janeway became acutely aware of just how much everything inside her hurt.

Every breath rattled in her chest, sending a shockwave of pinpricks across her body that she could do nothing to avoid. Her shoulder was practically unusable at this point. Every time she moved it, even if it was just a tiny bit, she felt like she was dying. Sharp pain shot down her arm, up her neck, and down towards her heart. Her entire body felt like it was made of lead. Even sitting down, she could feel the constant pull of every muscle inside her towards the ground. Every ounce of her just wanted to give into the pull, to collapse in a heap on the ground and never move again.

But, she couldn’t. She had a Starship to Captain, and she had a crew member that she needed to ensure get home.

At that moment, she was reminded of her near-death experience earlier that month. What if she fell asleep, and the alien came for her again? What if the venom made her too weak to resist this time.

She remembered B'Elanna’s words at her funeral. Even though it had only been a vision, an illusion of the vulture alien’s creation, they still hit home every time she thought about it.

“The first thing I thought was that I couldn’t do this without her”

No. Kathryn wouldn’t die. She couldn’t. She couldn’t do that Voyager. Chakotay would be forced to take up command. And, knowing first hand what kind of job that was, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. In the state of transition, Voyager would be left vulnerable. What if they were attacked while they were still mourning? Still trying to adjust? They might not survive.

It was Kathryn’s job to get Voyager home. She couldn’t do that job if she was dead. But, the pain that racked her body didn't give her much hope for the alternative. Despite that, despite her agony and grief and exhaustion, she knew she had to keep fighting. For B’Elanna, for Voyager, and for herself. Because she couldn’t live with herself if she died.

So, the Captain would keep fighting. She would fight and fight until she either survived, or just couldn’t hold on anymore.

She could only hope that Voyager would come before the latter.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #nurturing b’elanna torres #sick janeway #Like #very sick #she’s not doing well #Look how far they’ve come #Hopefully nothing bad happens!#angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #implied cannibalism #Janeway is one stubborn bitch

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 10

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER TEN

For a moment, there was nothing but the black emptiness of unconsciousness. No noise. No worries. No thoughts. All that existed was the darkness, and the vast endless void that came with sleep. Time didn’t matter here. It didn’t matter whether hours had passed, or months. It was all the same here. Nothing mattered. It was as close to time travel as humanity would - likely- ever get.

Then, with a jolt, B’Elanna lurched back into consciousness. Coughing violently as a sea load of water was expelled from her lungs. As the light rushed back in, so did the pain. Every muscle in her body ached, and she felt like she’d gone through the Klingon Rite of Passage Ceremony fifty times over.

For three whole seconds, she had no idea where she was. No recollection of what had happened. Of the flood, of the Arachnomen, of the mission for dilithium.

Then, it all came flooding back to her. The force of her memories rivalled that of the current itself, crashing through her without mercy.

The water. Them crashing down towards the bottom of the ravine. Janeway—

The engineer gasped. With a surge of panic, she sat up, looking around frantically for her Captain.

Scanning the room, her eyes quickly landed on a figure splayed across the ground on the other side of the cavern. B’Elanna pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the thrumming of her head, and the aching of her ankle as she surged towards the unconscious woman.

She pressed her fingers against the Captain’s neck, hands shaking as she desperately searched for a pulse. Her panic only deepened as she found none.

“No!” She gasped, getting on her knees, and starting to apply chest compressions.

“Come on, Captain! Don’t give up on me now!”

She leaned down, giving one rescue breath before returning to CPR.

Two inches deep. One-hundred beats per minute she told herself as she worked.

One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Breath!

“Please, Captain! Don’t tell me you’re gonna let a little water get the best of you?!”

One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Breath!

“Please!”

To her relief, just as she was starting her next round of compressions, Janeway convulsed. B’Elanna turned her Captain onto her side as she coughed up water onto the ground beside her. Her body shook violently both from the effort of the coughs, and the energy snapped out of her from the whole ordeal.

B’Elanna rammed her hand hard into Janeway’s back, helping her to expel the last of the water. When it became clear that there was nothing more in her lungs, Kathryn slowly rolled back onto her stomach. She was breathing heavily, and she closed her eyes as the entire world seemed to swim around her.

A harsh blow to her right shoulder forced her eyes open though. She looked up to see a thoroughly pissed B’Elanna Torres sitting over her, arms crossed.

“I told you not to do that to me again!”

Janeway laughed, pushing herself up onto shaky elbows as she did so. Her Chief Engineer smiled in response, helping Kathryn sit up as she chuckled.

Once she was upright, though, B’Elanna grew serious again. “Why didn’t you let go?”

Kathryn sighed, reaching out and taking the engineer’s hand in her’s, “I wasn’t going to leave you.”

Her Chief Engineer let out a teary, relieved, exasperated sigh, “pardon me, Captain, but that was incredibly stupid.”

Janeway smiled, suddenly feeling very tired as she leaned forward onto the Lieutenant’s shoulder, “I’ll blame it…” the woman took a deep, wheezy breath “..on the venom.”

B’Elanna frowned, placing two firm hands on her Captain’s shoulders.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Janeway nodded tiredly, responding with an “I’m fine” almost on instinct.

Lieutenant Torres pulled Janeway off her shoulder, taking her face in her hand, and examining it thoroughly. As she did, her expression deflated, “no you’re not. You’re really pale, and you’re still burning up.”

Kathryn blinked slowly, her head lolled forward as she raised her hand in a nonchalant gesture.

“It’ll be fine.” She breathed.

B’Elanna took a deep breath, giving the room another sweep with her eyes. As she did, she noticed dozens of bones scattered around the cave. Immediately she thought of the Arachnoman in the ancient ruins, and her stomach churned. Pushing the thought aside, she threw the Captain’s arm over her shoulder and hauled the both of them up.

“We better get you out of here. This is a pretty open space, and I don’t want to get attacked with you not feeling well.”

Kathryn tried to keep her feet under her as they started walking. B’Elanna was grateful that even now, with the Captain as sick as she was, she still had enough fight to try and walk herself. Even the little amount of help did wonder’s for B’Elanna’s somewhat sprained ankle, and definitely concussed brain.

The cavern they were in was a dead end, meaning there was really only one way for them to go right now. Up.

As they walked past the droplets of water scattered across the ground, B’Elanna laughed.

“I guess next time we ask for more water, we should be a little more specific, huh?”

In response, the Captain let out a weak, breathy laugh. B’Elanna could tell she wanted to say more, but the words were too much effort to try and form.

So, instead, Torres kept talking. Hoping to fill the void where the Captain would normally respond. “I mean, if you’d have told us yesterday that the tunnel’s would flood, I probably would have celebrated. Saying something super clever like ‘good! We need the water’ or something… crazy to think how quickly things can change.”

And she kept talking.

“And you know, I know I should be at least somewhat grateful for the ability to rehydrate. But you’d think fate would try to be a little less aggressive with its gifts, you know?”

And she kept talking.

All the way up the tunnel.

All the while Janeway listened, grateful for B’Elanna’s voice to distract her from the cloud of venom clogging up her mind.

It was right then when she was certain she’d made the right choice in letting go. The flood had been scary, and it had hurt them, but they were able to stand up and keep going because of each other.

With that comfort in mind, Janeway forced her body to continue on.

A distance that normally would only take about an hour to travel, took three. But, eventually, they made it to a place suitable enough to stop and reevaluate. It wasn’t fancy, just a small cave with some stalagmites to hide behind, but it was heaven to Torres. Now, she wasn’t about to complain, she’d carry Janeway all the way to the surface if it would keep the woman alive. But damn if the woman wasn’t heavy.

They collapsed on the ground behind the stone spikes, both grateful for the chance to rest their limbs.

They had no idea what time it was, or how long they had been unconscious for. It could have been a day, or it could have just been a couple of hours. But, judging by the degradation in the Captain’s health, B’Elanna decided to take a safe bet and guess it was at least the next day.

She pulled out their rations, handing one pack to Janeway and keeping the other for herself. The Captain thanked her, and slowly began eating.

Naturally, B’Elanna finished first. As waited for the Captain, she took both of their water bottles and began to fill them up using several of the puddles littered around the floor. Now, it might be a little late, but she was just now considering the fact that the water on this island would not be good for drinking. Alternatively, she and the Captain had both drank water from a stream several days ago and they were both fine.

Okay, well, they weren’t fine, but nothing that was wrong with them was because of the water. So, B’Elanna figured they’d take their chances. Besides, they’d just gotten a lungfull anyway so if the water was toxic it didn’t really matter at this point.

The Lieutenant returned to find that Kathryn had finished her rations, and was putting the contained back into her back. She handed a half full bottle to the Captain with a smile. “Drink up, then we can get moving again.”

As the Captain drank, she began talking again.

“So, I was thinking. At this point, I don’t think there’s any chance of us making it to the surface in time for Voyager’s arrival. I know that’s been the plan since we got here, but… we’ve got at most a day or two left and you— well… you’re really not in much shape for hiking.”

Janeway lowered the bottle, shooting B’Elanna a raised eyebrow. She didn’t say anything, though.

“So, I was thinking… instead of trying to get to the surface, what if we just keep going until we find a place with good enough cover where we can spend the rest of our time here. We’D set up camp there. No more hiking, no more wasting energy. We just stay there, conserving our health until help arrives.”

The Chief watched as her Captain mulled the idea over in her brain. She could practically see it being torn apart, dissected into segments to be looked at from all possible angles. After a moment, Janeway met B’Elanna’s gaze and nodded.

“Yes, that… seems like a sound plan. Good thinking, B’Elanna.”

The Lieutenant smiled, standing up. “Great! Well then… why don’t we get moving again?”

In response, Kathryn lifted a hand and held it up towards the engineer. B’Elanna took it, and with one big heave, she pulled Janeway off the ground, and draped her arm over her shoulder.

“Alright then, off we go!”

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #nurturing B’Elanna Torres #It seems the roles have been reversed #She’s doing so well #Such a girlboss #Janeway is NOT doing so well #CPR #Rescue breaths #Drowning #they care so much #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 9

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning, Kathryn made the executive decision that they would be staying in the cave for a while. They were up on a ledge, far out of eye sight from the entrance, and there would be no reason for the Arachnomen to climb said ledge. Neither of them were in any state to travel, and even though they needed water, the Captain figured they’d lose less if they just stayed put for a while.

The venom was really starting to get to her. Halfway through the night, she’d started shivering. It was so bad that B’Elanna had to wake her up because she thought she was having a seizure. Now, she was alternating between shivering and hot flashes. One would come on without warning, going on for a range of minutes to hours, before immediately being replaced by the other again.

B’Elanna had thrown up in her sleep. She would have choked to death if the Captain wasn’t there. After that she’d basically just felt like shit. It felt like she was just slightly out of phase from her own body. She could see what was going on, but was never quite present enough to really feel anything.

Then the mood swings started. For any human they would have been intense, but being half-klingon, hers were volatile. One minute she would be extremely happy, bursting at the seams with excitement at all the new challenges they’d faced. Next, she’d be terribly inconsolable, hopeless with misery and convinced that they were never getting out of here. Then she’d be livid with anger, boiling to the point where the Captain had to hold her down for fear she’d blow their cover with her yelling.

Now, though, she was just homesick. Clinging desperately to Janeway as she longed for the soothing lull of Voyager drifting through space. It was strange, in a way, that she longed for Voyager rather than Earth. She guessed that part of her brain was thinking rationally enough to wish for something within reach, rather than 70,000 light years away.

Kathryn was just holding her, carding absent fingers through the Lieutenant’s hair, when B’Elanna began to talk.

“Captain?”

“Hm?”

“Why did Voyager leave us?”

Janeway tightened her grip on the woman, running a hand down her arm. “They’re on a diplomatic mission, remember? They’ll be back.”

“No they won’t.” B’Elanna despaired, pressing her face into Janeway’s chest, “they don’t want me anymore.”

“Now, I know that’s not true. Everyone loves you.”

“No they don’t! I pushed them all away and now they hate me!”

“Hey, look at me.” Kathryn removed her hand from B’Elanna’s hair, turning the engineer’s chin up so that she was gazing up at her through tearful eyes. “They don’t hate you. Nobody on Voyager hates you. You’re smart, and capable, and have gotten us out of our fair share of messes.”

“I’m sorry.” Torres pleaded, looking desperately at Janeway.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I- I pushed them all away. I got mad and they left because of me, and now- now- now you’re stuck here too.”

“Oh, Lanna. No. No, I promise you, they didn’t leave us. They’re coming back. In a couple of days when we don’t show up, they’ll be back. They wouldn’t leave just because you get a little upset sometimes. They care too much. This is not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. It just happened.”

B’Elanna shuddered in distress, pressing her face back into Janeway. Kathryn let out a long, sympathetic sigh as she returned her hand to the girl’s hair.

“We’ll get through this, Lanna. I promise. Just hold on.”

She continued to cradle her crewman in her arms, hoping upon hope that she could fulfil that promise.

Several hours later, B’Elanna seemed to come out of whatever state she was in. Her mind slowly floated back into alignment, and her thoughts once again became clear. She pulled herself out of the Captain’s arms, and felt her heart flutter as the arms around her felt limply to the ground.

The Captain’s form was slumped against the wall, her eyes closed and her face slack.

B’Elanna shook the woman’s shoulders vigorously. A million worse-case scenarios flooding through her mind at her Captain’s limp form.

Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead—

“Captain?!”

Janeway’s eyes fluttered open, and she let out a long, drawled out groan.

“Captain! Oh, thank god!” B’Elanna gasped, flinging her arms around the woman in relief.

“Lanna?” Janeway slurred, mind still groggy as she was embraced, “is everything alright?”

Torres only gripped her tighter, the fear in her heart not having quite subsided. “You dozed off! I just- I saw you lying there and didn’t know what to think. I thought- I thought you were—“

Janeway returned the embrace, lacing her own arms around the Lieutenant and promptly cutting off her frantic attempts at an explanation.

“It’s alright, it’s okay. I’m right here. I’m here. I’m okay.”

B’Elanna pulled away with shaking hands so she could see her Captain’s face. As their eyes met, another bout of relief washed through her as she was profoundly reassured that Kathryn was indeed alive.

As soon as she knew the Captain was healthy, she smacked the woman gently on her right shoulder. “Don’t do that! Holy shit, you scared me!”

Janeway laughed, leaning back against the wall as the Lieutenant recovered her dignity. “It’s nice to know you care!”

Torres pouted, looking away irritably as her Captain continued to laugh. She couldn’t pretend to be mad for long though, she was just glad Kathryn was alive. After a few minutes, the small signs of a smile tugged at her lips as she turned back towards the woman.

Janeway’s laughter died off, and her gaze became more thoughtful as she examined the Lieutenant. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, thanks. I think it was a good idea to stay here for a while.”

Kathryn nodded, “what do you remember?”

The engineer shrugged, “oh, bits and pieces. Nothing really coherent: me getting angry, me feeling lonely. But mostly, I just remember you being there.” She explained, pausing for a moment. She was grateful for her Captain. The truth was she had no idea what she would have done without her. So, after a moment, she added, “thanks for that.”

Janeway smiled, reaching forward and squeezing B’Elanna’s arm lightly, “of course.”

They fell into silence, each just taking in the other's presence.

“Hey, Captain?”

“Hm?”

“If I had to be stuck on a completely barren, god-forsaken planet with a bunch of monster-spider-cannibal-people hell bent on eating me alive… I’m glad it was with you.”

Kathryn beamed, “I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be stuck here with, either.”

“And, B’Elanna.”

“Hm?”

“We’ve been stuck down here long enough… feel free to call me Kathryn.”

The half-klingon laughed, “ha! Thanks for the offer, but I’ll stick to Captain. Calling you by your first name might just be a little too weird for me.”

Janeway smiled fondly, “fair enough.”

They ended up spending a couple more hours in the cave. Engaged in idle, light conversation and basically just conserving their energy for when they finally had the courage to climb down.

Now, after having returned to full strength - or, we’ll, as full of strength as they could get - the pair decided it was time to set out. Kathryn was leaning heavily on B’Elanna as they walked. Her movements were even more lethargic and staggered than they had been the other day.

“We really need to find water. Going another day without it would be…”

B’Elanna didn’t have to finish her sentence for both to know what she was implying. They let the unsaid words hang in the air around them, pushing them onwards in the onslaught of their doom.

“I’m sure we’ll find something here. As we get closer to the surface there’s bound to be some sort of water source.”

As they marched onwards, both women decided to hold on to that fraction of hope. It was better than imagining the alternative. However, as they trekked on, praying to Voyager to come across even a small bounty of water, they forgot one of the most important unspoken rules of survival:

Be careful what you ask for.

An hour into their upward hike, the pair was forced to stop on account of a strange noise coming from a ways up the tunnel. At first, they assumed it was more Arachnomen, and promptly drew their phasers. But after a moment of listening, they realised that the sound wasn’t sharp enough to be that. Instead of the harsh, cutting clack of pincers on rock, this sound was more distant, grand, roaring. It swept across the tunnel with an almost eerie softness despite the increasing noise.

B’Elanna, having the clearer mind of the two, was the first to figure out what it was.

“FLASH FLOOD!

As the words escaped her mouth, a column of water came crashing down through the tunnels. The starfleet officers ran down the tunnel, stumbling down the steep path as the mountain of water surged after them.

Unsurprisingly, the water caught up first. It seized both of the women in its grip, dragging them along in its wake as it rushed down the tunnel at an incomprehensible speed. The humanoids inside the current thrashed violently. Their heads periodically broke the surface just long enough to take a breath, before they were slammed back down under the unforgiving force of the water.

In an instant, they swept past the cave they’d just spent the night in, and lurked back down the winding tunnel.

After being hurled against stone wall after stone wall, Janeway was relieved to see the current finally straighten out as it hurtled her towards the entrance of the cavern with the ravine. Just as she was about to be spat back into the open over, the Captain managed to grab hold of a small ledge at the top of the tunnel entrance. The second she did, a flash in the water caught her eye. With the speed of a viper she thrust her hand down into the furred, and grabbed hold of the Lieutenant’s hand.

B’Elanna lurched to a halt, the wave of the flash flood continuing to ram into her as the Captain tried desperately to keep her grip. Janeway was pulled forward, the small handhold that she clung to threatened to give way as she fought desperately to pull B’Elanna out of the water.

It was a useless battle. One human, dehydrated, and exhausted and at the mercy of the poison in her veins didn’t stand a chance against the endless strength of the tide. Still, though, she refused to let go as the lip in the entrance began to crumble.

“Captain! YOU HAVE TO LET ME GO!” B’Elanna yelled over the roar of the flood, her brown eyes full of despair as she watched her Captain battle with all her strength to save her life. It hurt too much to watch.

“I’M NOT LEAVING YOU!” Janeway responded, pulling harder against the current, ignoring the cracks that formed around her quivering hand.

“Captain—“

“We are in this together! We are down here together!”

“The ledge is about to give way! You can’t hold on forever! You have to let go!”

The ledge crumbled even more, and Janeway felt every essence of her being torn between saving herself, and saving her friend.

They had been through so much in these tunnels together. Comforted each other when they were down. Healed each other when they were hurt. Kathryn didn’t think she would have been able to get nearly this far if it weren’t for B’Elanna, and she would bet that the same could be said vice versa.

They were in this together. They had to stay together. But Janeway’s grip was weakening, arms shook with the effort of keeping them there, and she could feel her concentration clouding.

But the Captain wouldn’t leave her Lieutenant. Not now. Not ever.

She looked down at B’Elanna, a new found resolve washing over her as she met the engineer’s gaze. Torres must have seen it in her eyes. The choice she’d made. Because she immediately began to protest.

“Captain, wait, don’t—“

Her plea was cut off as Kathryn let go of the ledge. Immediately both women surged forward, and the Captain pulled B’Elanna tightly into her arms. The tide swallowed them into its watery depths. Their bodies were smashed, thrashed and tossed around as they slid into the cavern, but the pair held fast for each other.

The current took them both, throwing them over the cliff together. And, as their heads broke free of the water just enough to see ground below come rushing forward, the Captain closed her eyes. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

They were in this together.

They live together, they die together.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #sick janeway #maternal janeway #concussed b’elanna #mood swings #emotional b’elanna #Kathryn is there #They’re doing their best #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #shit’s about to get real #Title drop #no beta we die like admiral janeway

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

Text

We’re in This Together - Ch. 8

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER EIGHT

Even though they had left the ruins, the Captain didn’t think she’d be able to get the image of the Arachnoman attacking its friend out of her mind. Not for a long, long time. She was grateful when B’Elanna told her that she’d only heard what happened. Kathryn didn’t want her Chief Engineer to be going through what she was.

It was hard to tell if the nausea was from the venom in her system, or from the sign of the creature’s remains. Either way, it was taking all of the Captain’s willpower to keep it down. She couldn’t afford to lose the little amount of food that she had inside her.

Somewhere along the path, B’Elanna had looped an arm around the Captain’s waits for support. All the walking had seriously irritated her ankle, and she could practically feel her foot swelling inside her shoe.

Long story short, neither one of them was doing great. What else was new?

They continued walking. For three and a half hours all they did was walk. Staggering onward down the long, winding, endless tunnel. They pushed onward though, renewed by a new sense of hope as the floor seemed to slope upwards. And even though the incline made their journey harder to bear, neither one dared complain.

So far, the tunnel had shifted directions twice. Looping once until it seemed they were going the same direction they’d come from, and then again a little further down the path, putting them back the way they were originally headed. After that, the ground had become more uneven. Weaving up and down in varying degrees of steepness as they walked. But even as it did, there was no question to the fact that they were travelling upwards.

Now, though, the ground levelled out as they came across yet another cave. About a metre in, the ground beneath their feet slanted down in an almost completely vertical drop. The bottom of the pit was over fifty feet down, creating a large, vast canyon between both sides of the cave.

Tall, flat pillars of stone spanned the gap of the cavern, creating an imperfect path of stepping stones across the great expanse. The distance between each pillar was just narrow enough to be able to jump from one to the next… or at least, narrow enough for an Arachnoman to jump from one pillar to the next. A human and a half-klingon, though, that was a different story.

“Are you kidding me!” B’Elanna yelled, her voice echoing down the canyon walls, before bouncing up the other side, and curling back across the roof of the cave. The amplified noise sent a fresh racket of agony pulsating through the Captain’s head, and she raised an instinctive hand towards her ear.

“There’s got to be another way across.” Kathryn reasoned, looking around the cave for any sign of a bridge or an outstretched ledge.

“Why would there be?! The Arachno-stupid-aliens wouldn’t need it! So there would be no viable reason for them to—“

“—There!” Janeway exclaimed, pointing down the side of the canyon.

Now, it was worth noting that the length of the chasm far exceeded the length of that singular cavern, with each side of the cave pressing right up against the canyon’s edge. Almost to the point where there was no distinction between the two as the canyon expanded onwards.

Almost.

At the border of the canyon and the cave, there was a lip just big enough for a foothold. It seemed to run all the way along the edge of the canyon, before going out of sign behind a bend in the wall. And, not too far from the wall of the cave, was a very small, very thin bridge running from one side of the ravine to the other.

A way a cross.

“Oh.” B’Elanna startled, “oh, there is.”

They looked at each other, each sporting a hopeful, optimistic gaze. A smile broke across the Lieutenant’s face, and the Captain’s expression quickly mirrored it. With a renewed spark ignited in their hearts, they made their way towards the wall.

B’Elanna allowed the Captain to go first, professing that she didn’t have too good of a track record with climbing. Accepting this, Kathryn slowly inched her way onto the narrow ledge. Even with her back pressed firmly against the cave wall, her toes still poked out into the open air.

Halfway to their destination, her brain reminded her that she was not as fit as she was when they’d gone rock climbing, and one bout of dizziness could send her hurtling off the edge. That wasn’t even considering how hard it would be to cross the bridge.

For a moment, Janeway’s hope began to dwindle.

“Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Oh it definitely was a bad idea!” B’Elanna exclaimed, keeping her eyes trained on the far side of the ravine. She refused to look down. “Unfortunately, it’s our only idea.”

The Captain sighed, continuing to shuffle down the ledge. The engineer had a point, there.

Far too soon for the Captain’s liking, they made it to the bridge. It didn’t look as tiny as it had from the cavern, but it still wasn’t a promising sight.

B’Elanna, immediately seeing the issue, looked back and forth between her hesitant Captain and the bridge.

“Ohh… yeah, this was a bad idea.”

Janeway looked back at B’Elanna, a mischievous glint in her eye as she responded. “It’s our only idea.”

The Captain took one determined step onto the bridge. The fast movement made her world spin for one terrifying moment, before she restabled herself. She shot her Chief Engineer a winning smile, which did not go very well received.

“You’re gonna fall!”

“I am not gonna fall! Watch!” She took another step. Now, she was completely off the wall, and balancing on the bridge, which was just barely wider than one of her shoes.

“Captain!”

“Relax!”

“I am not relaxed!” B’Elanna yelled. Although, despite herself, she found her smile returning. This was completely dangerous. Extremely reckless. But oh, so Janeway. It was ridiculous.

She watched as her Captain took another step. Bringing the foot from behind all the way around and setting it in front of the other. Her arms swayed as she did so, allowing her to keep her balance as she repeated the process with the next foot.

“Wait for me!” B’Elanna said, forcing her own body away from the safety of the ledge. “Someone has to be there to catch you!”

“I’m not gonna fall!”

“If you say so!”

Not two minutes later, Janeway did, indeed, almost fall. A fresh bout of dizziness flooded over her as she looked up from her feet to see how much father they had to go. Her body tipped, and her arms flailed as her feet lost their hold.

In the fog of her mind, she didn’t even process what was happening until it was over. B’Elanna reached forward and grabbed the woman’s backpack, pulling her back on the ledge.

They were silent for a moment, remaining still as both women regained their nerves.

“Told you you were gonna fall.”

“I didn’t fall.”

“You were falling!”

“But I didn’t fall!”

If B’E’lanna wasn’t using her arms to balance, she’d facepalm. Instead, she settled for a deep, loud exhale, “You’re the worst!”

“Careful! Wouldn’t want you to be hanged for insubordination.”

The Lieutenant rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything as they continued their perilous shuffle across the Madman’s Tightrope.

Half an hour later, the pair reached the over side of the cave. The minute they were able to step away from the canyon’s walls, they collapsed.

Also immediately, B’Elanna started giggling. “You are so lucky I was with you.”

“I was fine!”

“You nearly feel like four times!”

“Actually, it was five times.”

“That’s not any better!” The Lieutenant laughed, all the terror she had felt over the past thirty minutes coming out as one, big fit of humour.

The Captain listened to the engineer’s laughs for a moment before responding, “we made it didn’t we?”

“Barely!”

Unable to help herself, Kathryn joined in with a few chuckles of her own. “Yeah, we’ll, I suppose I could have been a little more careful”

“You think?!” B’Elanna cackled, looking at her Captain with wide, exasperated eyes.

Their joy carried on for a few more moments before it was indubitably cut short by the far too familiar sound of scuttling.

In an instant, they were on their feet, phaser’s drawn. This sound was more urgent, much faster. If either of them had to guess, they’d say that a couple of the Arachnomen had heard them.

Four aliens came running out of the tunnels, their eyes blazing in desperation as they spotted the Captain and her Chief Engineer.

“Food!” They hissed, all at different increments as they charged.

B’Elanna fired her phaser at the two on the right, while the Captain focused her fire towards the ones on the left. The former, having a much clearer head and far better health currently, was able to subdue hers in a matter of seconds. Janeway, however, was interrupted by another dizzying spell at the quick, sporadic movements of the creatures, and the harsh noise of the phaser fire. She managed to down one, but the other was a different story.

The spider lunged at Kathryn, and B’Elanna jumped forward into action. She pushed her Captain out of the way, making herself the target of the creature’s attack instead. It rammed her to the ground, ramming her head hard against the floor. For a moment her world spun, leaving just enough of an opening for the Arachnoman to slice its pincers across her chest.

As B’Elanna cried out in pain, Janeway felt her world click back into focus. With a fuller sense of clarity than she had in days, she reached for her phaser. It had skittered out of her grip, and was dangling dangerously over the edge of the chasm. The Captain of Voyager wrapped her fingers around the device, and turned it towards the alien attacking her friend. With two flicks of the trigger, it was on the ground.

Kathryn shoved herself off the ground, grabbing the limp body of the Arachnoman and pulling it off her Lieutenant.

“B’Elanna!” She cried, a paralysing fear twisting in her gut as she looked at the downed woman.

Torres groaned in response, slurring out a murmur of incomprehensible words. Not wasting any time, Janeway unzipped B’Elanna’s backpack and pulled out the med kit. She worked quickly, using the trauma kit to repair the chest wound with fairly decent efficiency. It was strange. All day she’d been feeling uncoordinated and out of it. But right now, when her friend and colleague was in need, her focus was obsolete.

After she’d finished with the chest wound, which took approximately twenty minutes, she shoved the med kit back in the bag, and heaved B’Elanna over her shoulder. The Lieutenant was still conscious, but she was disoriented and groggy, with a sea of confusion layered across her face.

Time seemed to pass in a blur as the Captain carried her crewman. Inwardly, she was kicking herself. This was her fault. B’Elanna had jumped in to save her, and now she was hurt. What if it was really serious? What if she dies because Kathryn was too out of it to shoot a phaser?!

Janeway shook her head. She couldn’t worry about that now. All that mattered was getting B’Elanna somewhere safe so she could more thoroughly examine her.

B’Elanna groaned as she slowly came back to her senses. The world came back into focus, the slush in her head separated into coherent thoughts, and she was able to make out the world around her. As she tried to sit up, a roaring pain in her head protested with great intensity.

A pair of hands gently pressed the woman back to the ground.

“Lie down, B’Elanna. It’s alright. We’re safe.”

Torres looked over to see Janeway hovered over her. Her eyes warm and her gaze gentle as she lowered her friend back down.

“What happened?” B’Elanna croaked, bringing a hand up to massage her forehead.

Janeway’s eyes darkened for a moment, but her smile and warmth remained. “You hit your head. I think you might have a concussion.”

The half-klingon groaned, that would explain the headache. And the confusion. And the kind of out-of-it feeling she had.

“How long ago?”

“Three hours.”

B’Elanna nodded, and allowed her eyes to wander around the area. She realised they were no longer by the cavern, nor were they in one of the tunnels. Instead, the area around them looked like a little cave, way smaller than any of the places they’d stayed in before.

“Where…?” She breathed, trailing off as the word rattled her brain.

“A small cave, about an hour from the canyon. It seemed a good enough place to spend the night.”

As the pain in her head subsided, B’Elanna tried again to sit up. This time, the Captain helped her. Bringing her up slowly so as to not aggravate her headache, then leaning the Lieutenant’s body against her own.

“I don’t remember walking for an hour,” the Chief Engineer remarked, getting a better look of the cave they were in.

It turns out it wasn’t as small as she thought. The walls were close together, but it was tall. The Captain and herself were posted on top of a ledge about halfway up the wall. “And I don’t remember climbing up here.”

Janeway smiled, “that’s because you didn’t. I carried you.”

This got B’Elanna’s attention. She snapped her head towards the woman, the quick action causing her world to tilt for a moment. She didn’t care though, she was too surprised.

“You carried me?! For an hour?!”

“And up the ledge, yes.” Janeway added, helpfully.

Torres sputtered, looking at the clearly exhausted, sickly, fever-ridden figure of her Captain. “B-But you’re sick! That’s not even— How—?”

Kathryn held up a hand, an amused expression settling on her face. “I’m a Captain, remember? My crew comes first.”

B’Elanna was still shocked as she looked away, gaze turning out infront of her.

“That’s some superhero level shit, right there!”

Kathryn ran her hand soothingly across B’Elanna’s back. “Why don’t you eat some of your rations, then get to bed.”

“Bed? But I just slept for like—“

“You weren’t asleep. You just weren’t aware. You still need to rest, because unlike me, you may actually feel better after a good night’s sleep.”

Although it was difficult for Torres to wrap her head around, she decided it would be best to listen to her Captain.

“You’ll still wake me up when it’s my shift, right?”

“Of course. It would be unwise not to. I’m not so far gone yet that I can’t use my judgement.”

B’Elanna nodded, a far away look in her eyes as a set of rations was delicately placed in her lap.

“Eat, Lieutenant, then sleep. You’ve been through quite a lot today.”

The half-klingon complied, chewing mechanically on her rations, before settling down to sleep. Her head unashamedly nestled in the Captain’s lap. Just as she was about to close her eyes, Kathryn spoke again.

“And… B’Elanna.”

The girl in question looked up.

“Thank you.”

The engineer smiled, and closed her eyes.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #sick Janeway #protective b’elanna #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #concussion #concussed b’elanna #Mood swings #This chapter was so fun to write #They’re both idiots #and I love them #but seriously it was a terrible idea

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 7

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

WARNING: This is the chapter has a scene containing barely described, but it’s definitely present animalistic cannibalism. It’s not humans doing it, and nature has stuff like this happen a lot so it’s not AS disturbing. But still, be for warned.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Captain and Chief Engineer of Voyager were quickly discovering that bad mornings and being trapped on Planet Arachnoman went hand in hand. The world spun as Janeway opened her eyes, and she immediately groaned as a stabbing pain hit right behind her eyes. Slowly, the woman sat up. As she did so, the pain increased, and her vision became even more distorted.

“Captain, you’re awake.”

Kathryn looked towards the source of the voice. She waited as the image of Lieutenant Torres came into focus. Finally, when she was able to fairly easily make out the woman’s brown eyes and forehead ridges, she blinked, and sat up straighter.

“Lanna,” the Captain murmured, her tone heavy and unclear. The sound of her own voice ricocheted through her head, and she raised a hand to press against her temple.

Gently, the Lieutenant pressed the back of her hand to Janeway’s forehead. She didn’t need a medical tricorder to tell that the woman’s temperature had drastically increased. Her eyes squinted sympathetically as the Captain shuddered.

“Looks like your fever has gotten worse. Think you’re gonna be able to walk?”

Janeway took in a deep, sickly breath. She felt like she was under water. The pressure buzzed inside her ears; no matter how hard she tried or how far up she saw, she couldn’t get rid of it. After a couple minutes to take stock of her condition, she nodded slowly, “I’ll be fine.”

“Here,” B’Elanna began, voice soft as she unscrewed the lid on Kathryn’s water bottle, and handed it to her, “drink some water. It’ll make you feel better.”

Kathryn didn’t protest, she took the water bottle in her hand, and carefully raised it to her lips. The cool liquid did wonders in rejuvenating her mind. And even though she was careful not to drink too much, she became uncomfortably aware as the last of the water was drained from the bottle.

“What time is it?” She asked, rummaging around in her bag to locate her rations.

“I’m not sure. But if I had to guess I’d say it’s around… 1100 hours?”

The Captain’s eyes widened, “that late?! Why didn’t you wake me up earlier? We should have been moving by now.”

“I know, but… I wanted to let you sleep a little. I had hoped some rest would help the whole… situation.”

The Captain sighed. She didn’t like that they were getting a late start, but she also couldn’t really fault B’Elanna for what she did.

“No matter. Let’s have our rations for today, and then we can head out. It’s not like we’re missing anything.”

Torres nodded, and unzipped her backpack.

Nearly two hours of walking later, the girls heard skittering coming down the tunnel behind them. They were in a fairly open section of the tunnel, where the walls opened up abruptly before gradually narrowing back out.

The Captain signalled for B’Elanna to press herself against the wall. Hopefully, it would provide enough cover for them to coordinate an ambush attack on the aliens. As predicated, the aliens grew closer, the sound of their footfalls remaining consistent. There was no sign that they had detected the humans as they shuffled into the open area.

As soon as they came into view, the Starfleet officers attacked. Phasering the aliens in the back and eliciting clicketing of surprise from the pair of Arachnomen. One of them whirled around, catching B’Elanna with one of its pincers before being disabled by another shot to the head delivered by Captain Janeway.

Enemies neutralised, Kathryn stumbled her way over to the Lieutenant. “Are you alright?”

“Fine!” B’Elanna informed, looking down to reveal only a small cut in her side, “it just grazed me.”

The Captain nodded, looking in down the tunnel. “Let’s get moving again, then.”

Knowing the drill at this point, B’Elanna pushed herself off the wall and fell into step beside Janeway. The good news was, they were getting a little better at handling themselves with the Arachnomen. That, or, they’d just gotten lucky the last couple of times.

As they marched onwards, B’Elanna Torres found herself hoping that their luck would last.

Kathryn was getting seriously tired of walking. Every step sent a shockwave of pain careening down her arm, and thundering in her skull. Every minute they spent trekking down the endless roads of dirt and earth forced her mind deeper into the fog. It was becoming harder to keep her bearings. She’d spent the better part of the last hour with her hand braced against the tunnel wall just so she knew which way was forward. Her body was completely coated in sweat, every one of her muscles ached, and she was really just not having a good time.

So, when they finally came upon another cavern, Janeway made no argument when B’Elanna ordered that they rest. She practically collapsed on a crumbled, stone block. Reaching mindlessly for her water before remembering that she’d just ran out this morning.

The blood rushed through her skull, and a cloud of fever threatened to pull her under completely.

It took her a full minute to realise that B’Elanna was talking.

“..—tain? Captain?!” A worried hand landed on her shoulder, and it took all of Janeway’s energy just to pick her head up and look the engineer in the eye.

Deep, unfettered worry was painted across the Lieutenant’s face, and Janeway did her best to give a reassuring smile. B’Elanna was not amused.

“You’re getting worse.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“No you won’t! The longer that venom stays inside you, the worse off you’re gonna get!”

Kathryn placed her hand over the Lieutenant’s, and spoke gently. “We both know there’s nothing we can do about that.”

The half-klingon sighed, sitting down next to her Captain irritatedly. “We need water.”

“I know.”

“We need better medical supplies! We need to get out of here! We need Voyager!”

“I know.”

“Where are they! They should be here! They should have sensed that something was wrong! They should be here! I want them to be here! I want to go home! I hate it here!” All at once tears were spilling down the Lieutenant’s cheeks. Tears of rage and fear and hopelessness. She just wanted to leave. She didn’t want to be here anymore.

Janeway pulled her Chief Engineer close, wrapping her arms firmly around B’Elanna as worked through her emotions. Whispering comforts softly into her ear as they sat there.

“Shhh, I know. I know. It’s okay. We’re gonna be okay.”

They sat there for a while. Even after the quick bout of emotions had died off, neither one wanted to move. This level of human contact, being held so tightly in each other's arms… it was nice. It felt safe. Safer that either of them had felt in days.

As Kathryn was soaking it all in, she allowed her gaze to wander around the room. What she saw completely captured her attention.

“B’Elanna. Where are we?”

Torres reluctantly pulled out of the embrace, her curiosity peaked as she too looked around the room. Her eyes widened as she took in the structure and stone around them. It was nothing like the rest of the caverns.

Large, carefully carved stone pillars filled the room. Connected to big rectangular blocks stacked ontop of each other, each one with elaborate designs engraved on its surface. Roadways and sidewalks lined the cavern, broken up and covered by the scattering of broken debris and decades worth of erosion.

They were sitting on top of some sort of ruined civilization.

“This… is…” B’Elanna couldn’t find the words.

Kathryn stood up, walking over and running her hand along one of the ancient stones. “This… must be the remnants of what the Arachnomen used to be.”

Lieutenant Torres walked over behind her Captain, following the train of thought, “before it became a giant, stone wasteland.”

“Scans showed signs of previous life on the surface. A variety of ancient, abandoned cities scattered across the surface… They looked a lot like this.”

“Something must have happened to force the people living here underground.” B’Elanna inferred.

Kathryn nodded, pulling her hand away and looking around. “Then, the longer they lived underground, the more they changed into…—”

Right on cue, the sound of spider claws licking against stone forced both women to turn towards a tunnel on the far side of the cavern.

“Hide,” Janeway whispered, ducking inside one of the ancient buildings.

The world grew quiet as the aliens entered the ruined cavern. The click-clacking of their spider-human voices still managed to send shivers down the Captain's spine from here.

“I am hungry.”

“You are always hungry.”

“We’re all always hungry.”

“Where is food?”

“The fighters will bring it soon.”

“They always take it to the bottom. I am hungry here. I am hungry now.”

Kathryn listened intently. Every muscle in her body was tensed, and she hardly dared to breathe as they walked past the building entrance. There were three of them.

“You will have to wait. Like all of us.” Said the alien on the right. It worse grey-blue leggings

“Oh, will I?” The alien middle hissed. It turned its menacing red gaze towards the alien on the left. Janeway watched as the smaller alien, with yellow-green leggings, took a couple steps away.

“What are you doing?!”

“I am hungry.”

“We only feast on the unworthy! You know that!” The blue alien scolded.

“Or those outsiders, if anyone could find them.” Pointed out the smaller Arachnoman. The mention of herself caused Janeway to tense even more.

The red eyed Arachnoman didn’t seem to be listening. It paced threateningly towards the small alien. “I. Am. Hungry!”

Kathryn watched in horror as the alien launched itself at its companion. Its hands grappled the creature to the ground as its pincers ripped into its back. The alien on the right tried to intervene, yanking ferociously at the red-eyes Arachnoman. It was no use. The attacker made quick word of its green-legginged friend, and within a few moments, the creature fell limp.

“Now I feast!”

The other Arachnoman broke away as the red-eyes one tore into the other creature. It’s jade eyes blazed with anger, but it knew there was nothing more to be done. It gave one more statement of sheer disgust, before turning and scuttling away. “You have disgraced our people. May you never know the mercy of the hoard!”

Janeway averted her eyes, unable to watch as the Archnoman feasted on its brethren, on its own kind. It was revolting to say the least.

It took only half an hour for the job to be done. Once it was, Kathryn listened as the scuttling of footfalls died away down the other end of the cavern. Then, and only then, did she emerge from her hiding place, feeling unbelievably nauseous.

B’Elanna came over to her, steadying the Captain as they looked at the bones of the unfortunate alien.

“That… that was…—“

“—Don’t,” the Captain pleaded. She could still hear the sounds of flesh being torn from bone. “Please… can we not talk about it.”

The engineer nodded.

“Why don’t… why don’t we get out of here.”

No more words were spoken as they exited the cavern through one of the adjoining tunnel entrances.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #mutual support #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #this is the chapter w/ cannibalism #A bit of alien lore just because?

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 6

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER SIX

After another hour or so of walking, the Captain’s interest peaked when she noticed some sort of light starting to shine at the end of the tunnel. At first she thought -or hoped - that it was daylight. Perhaps they’d come across some sort of crater in the planet that the tunnel led inside of.

Her hopes were quickly disproven, though, when she noticed the unnatural colour. Natural light didn’t really have a hue, aside from the golden appearance it took on in the early morning. This light had a purplish tint to it.

As the pair drew closer to the source, they found themselves having to shelter their eyes.

B’Elanna immediately grumbled at the sudden change of scenery. “Is there a way to turn it off?”

Janeway’s eyes twinkled as her eyes adjusted enough for her to look around freely, “not unless you want to bring the whole cavern down on us.”

“I’ll take my chances,” the Lieutenant remarked, pulling her own hand away so that she could look around. What she saw stunned her.

“Woah!”

The tunnels had opened up again to another cave. This one, however, wasn’t just a plain boring pocket of earth. It was bright! Scattered across the entire room were clusters of glowing, light purple rocks.

Almost immediately, both women pulled out their tricorders. The scientific wonder of this cave had thoroughly managed to capture their attention.

As the Captain walked over to one of the walls, that interest was only deepened. According to the tricorder, the wall and the glowing stones were made up of the exact same elements.

“Captain,” B’Elanna said, walking over. “I’m not sure but… it looks like these stones are just… highly condensed versions of the planet’s crust material.”

Janeway nodded, “yes, it would appear so”

“I always kind of thought it was strange how light the tunnels were. I mean, obviously not as bright as this, but—“

“I get what you mean,” the Captain said, staring at the wall. Who could have known that beyond all the terror and dread these tunnels held, they actually had their own little bits of wonder.

“We should probably keep moving.” B’Elanna whispered. Her tone seemed far away, disconnected, but the reminder of their mission seemed to snap both of them out of their trance.

“Yes,” Janeway murmured, looking to her companion, “yes, of course.” Her tone held a little more weight this time, and she forced her brain to snap back into line.

As the starfleet officers exited the cave, back into the shadows of the tunnel system, they held onto the bliss brought about by the crystals.

“When we get back to Voyager, you’re going to have to remind me of that place. Otherwise, I might start thinking it was some kind of fever dream.”

“Of course, Captain. Something tells me I’ll want to remember anyways.”

A little over an hour later, the tunnel they were travelling through began to start winding. It seemed like every ten steps or so it would bend one way, and then after a little bit it curved back the other way.

The Captain and Lieutenant shared a look. If they got caught here, manoeuvring would be difficult. Without saying a word, the pair quickened their pace.

A couple minutes later, the wall to their right began to break up. At first, there would be random holes opening to another tunnel not too far away. Then, as the tunnels grew closer, the thick wall of stone morphed into large pillars. Then, the pillars broke up into spikes coming from the floor and ceiling.

Almost instantly, they heard the scuttling echoing towards them from the other tunnel. B'Elanna and Janeway backpedalled, trying to keep their own footfalls as silent as possible. Just as they were reaching the pillared section, a herd of five Arachnomen came into view. The starfleet officers quickly pressed themselves against the pillars, hardly even breathing as the creatures passed no more than a couple feet behind them.

To say that every hair on Kathryn’s arm was standing up would be an understatement as to how terrified she was. She chanced looking over at B’Elanna, who had gone stiff as a board against the stone. Gripping her phaser tightly in her hand.

As the aliens passed by and made their way through to the joined passageway, Janeway motioned for B’Elanna to hide behind the side of the stone between the pillars. They waited, listening and waiting for the skittering to die to a faint shuffle, before daring to come out from their hiding place.

Suddenly, the Captain and her Chief Engineer were faced with a dilemma of choices. Did they follow the aliens down the tunnel, hoping to not be detected as they trailed behind the creatures for who knew how long? Or did they go the way the Arachnomen had come, and hope that it didn’t lead to even more spider-people.

They both looked at each other. Neither one was really certain of the best course of action. On one hand, the aliens could be heading to another one of the congregations. On the other hand, they could be coming from one.

After a couple moments of consideration, Captain Janeway inclined her head in the direction the aliens had come from. She decided that the immediate threat of these Arachnomen outweighs the potential threat of heading downwards. They had no idea what was down this tunnel, or what direction either one went. All they knew for certain was one had a threat, and one might have a threat.

B’Elanna gave a curt nod before falling into step with the Captain down the tunnel. Even through all of this, if anything else, she trusted Kathryn’s judgement.

Both starfleet officers hesitated slightly as they walked, taking one more moment to look behind them, before fully committing down the tunnel.

They could only hope they’d made the right choice.

The further they walked, the more they started to realise that this tunnel did not lead upwards. There were several instances where the ground would start declining, and the Captain would look back,wondering if they should turn around.

Three hours into the whole ordeal, she was really beginning to regret her decision. The pair had come across yet another fork in the road. The tunnel they were in carried on forward, but another one intersected it, creating a sort of four-way stop.

Janeway felt her heart rate increase slightly at the precipice of another decision. Suddenly she was aware of the head radiating from her skin, and both her’s and B’Elanna’s laboured breathing. She remembered her vow the other night, and so far the odds of fulfilling that promise were becoming more and more bleak. She’d already made one bad decision, how long until she made another? What if she made one right now? What then?

She shook her head, “we should go back.”

“We can't,” B’Elanna reasoned, “in a few hours we’re going to have to take shelter for the night. In the three hours we’ve been walking this way we know there aren’t any good spots. There’s no telling how long it will take to reach somewhere suitable going the other way. We have to keep going.”

Kathryn knew her Lieutenant was right, but she hated it.

Nevertheless, they couldn’t dwell on that now. Taking a deep breath, Kathryn walked up to the intersection point. She knew they were too far underground to be able to use any sort of air current, but perhaps getting a view of all the tunnels at once would make the choice easier.

As fate would have it, however, the decision was made for her. As she stepped to the opening of the tunnels, she caught the faint, but present sound of scurrying down the front and left tunnels.

Kathryn had never been so happy to hear that noise.

As the clicking of Archnomen voices grew louder, B’Elanna and Janeway quickly slipped down the right tunnel, walking as fast as possible without making enough noise to alert the creatures. All at once Kathryn feared that some of the aliens would veer down their tunnel, and they’d be stuck having to fight them. Her only response to that was to walk faster.

As they continued walking, B’Elanna limping, and Janeway pushing through a cloud of fever, it became apparent that that’s exactly what happened. Most of the Arachnomen’s footfalls fell away, but the distinct clacking of a small number of individuals still remained.

It was pretty apparent at this point that the Arachnomen didn’t have any sort of supersences that would alert them to the earthling’s presence. No heightened sense of smell or hearing. That was good. It meant so long as the pair stayed out of sight, they’d be fine. Unfortunately it was hard to stay hidden in a long, relatively straight tunnel.

As the Captain and Chief Engineer came upon a long straight portion of the tunnel, Janeway came up with a plan.

“We need to get as far into this section as we can. I’ll keep watch behind us. As soon as the first one rounds the corner, start firing,” she whispered in a low voice. In response, B’Elanna raised her phaser, and smiled daringly.

Halfway down the tunnel, a singer pincer came into view. As soon as it did, both women wheeled around and began firing.

To their luck, there were only two Arachnomen, and both were fairly easily subdued. Being taken by surprise with no way of reaching the duo quick enough, it didn’t take much for them to fall to the ground.

Certain that the sound of the phaser fire would attract at least one more alien to the scene, B’Elanna and Janeway quickly moved on.

Three and a half hours later, there was a large dip in the terrain. The ground dropped rapidly, creating a three foot tall lip in the ground. As B’Elanna and the Captain leaped down, the former careful not to land on her injured foot, they noticed a small opening at the base of the lip.

Carefully, the Captain poked her head through the gap to discover a fairly spacious little cavern. The ground around the outside of the cave was just a little lower than the floor of the tunnel. In the centre, however, a large slab of stone jutted out from the ground, reaching halfway to the ceiling.

Exchanging a hopeful glance, the girls climbed inside. It seemed like a pretty nice set up. And, as they got closer to the slab in the centre, they realised that it was shaped like some sort of crater. The outside stone reached up, but quickly curved back down to create a nice little divot in the centre. The dip was just big enough for Torres and the Captain to fit somewhat comfortably inside.

As she got herself situated, Kathryn smiled. This was probably the most comfortable camp they’d discovered yet. The stone in the middle of the lip was much softer, and sandier than that of the walls and tunnel floors. The Captain got into a fairly comfortable reclining position as she pulled the rations from her bag.

B’Elanna followed Janeway’s example, pulling out her rations and beginning to feast idly on them. As she did, she took notice of the Captain's slow, slightly hesitant movements. She didn’t suppose that stomaching rations with a fever was much fun, so she decided to offer up a distraction.

“Captain.”

Janeway hummed in response, lifting her head to look at her Chief Engineer.

“What would you say has been your favourite part about the Delta Quadrant?”

Janeway thought about this for a moment, “I’m not sure. We’ve been through so many things in the past years…”

Torres smiled, “I know what you mean.”

“I suppose I’d have to pick just one thing… it would be the chance to experience all these things. Life in the Alpha Quadrant, although full of its own surprises, could never compare to all the firsts we’ve experienced here. We’ve discovered more cultures, more phenomenons and more types of technology than anyone back home could even dream of. In a way, knowing that even the Delta Quadrant is full of so much diversity… It makes the universe feel a little less lonely.”

Lieutenant Torres nodded along slowly as Kathryn spoke. It was true. They had been through a lot. Recorded more data than any one singular starship would normally receive on a single mission.

And yet…

“I don’t know. It feels pretty lonely to me.”

The Captain didn’t say anything, just kept looking at B’Elanna. The half-klingon took her silence as an invitation to elaborate.

“I mean, we are all alone out here. The only humans in seventy-thousand light years! We have no idea what’s ahead, or if we’ll even make it home at all.”

Kathryn nodded, “but we still keep going.”

Torres rolled her eyes at this, “well, obviously. But, seriously Captain, you can’t honestly say you’ve never felt lonely out here, can you?”

Janeway’s face darkened, and she suddenly found great interest in the ground next to her. B’Elanna, deciding to use the woman’s tactics against her, decides not to say anything. Instead, she waited as the Captain found her words.

“Of course I have,” she glowered, tone defeated. Immediately she regretted it. She should not be admitting this. She was the Captain, these were the cards she’d been dealt. She shouldn’t complain about it to her subordinate. She shouldn’t complain about it to anyone. It was her problem. Her burden. B’Elanna didn’t need to hear about—

B’Elanna stopped the inner turmoil in its tracks. “Captain… It's alright. You… you can talk about it.”

It felt really weird to be the one reassuring her Captain. It wasn’t something she’d ever imagined herself doing. What could she say to make someone so composed, so much larger than life, feel better when they were upset. But the last couple of days had changed something between them, and she was all too aware of it as she asked the woman to open up.

Janeway sighed. “Do you know how… difficult it is to run a starship all by yourself? This was my first assignment as a Captain of Starfleet, and now I’m trapped halfway across the galaxy with no means of support. Everyone, every two-hundred members of this crew’s lives lie in my hands. I am solely responsible for getting them home in one piece. And sure, I have Chakotay, and Tuvok, and all my senior officers here to guide me… but… none of them have to go home, look the family of our fallen crew members in the eye and admit they failed them. I do. I am… all alone out here, and I—“ she took a deep breath, composing herself enough to not cry, before continuing, “I am so lonely. All the time.”

The cave was suddenly very quiet. B’Elanna didn’t know what to say, and Janeway was trying her hardest in her fever ridden brain to stay together. Things were only going to get worse, and here she was making herself look weak and dumb and sensitive.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, that was completely inappropriate of me. Just-x forget I said anything—“

“No!” B’Elanna blurted out. Without even thinking she reached forward and grabbed the Captain’s hand. “No I— it’s fine. It’s comforting, actually, knowing that you’re just as affected by this as the rest of us. But… you don’t have to feel alone, you know? You don’t have to keep it to yourself. Everyone on Voyager would understand if you just needed to talk about it. We care about you just as much as you do us.”

Janeway laughed a little, a genuine one. All breath. “I’m sure Starfleet would get a kick out of that.”

“If starfleet doesn’t like it, then maybe they should try spending three years alone in the Delta Quadrant!” Torres shot back. Her eyes glimmered with a dangerous, reassuring defiance.

“The truth is, Captain… Starfleet has no right to judge anything you do out here. Because, they don’t know what it’s like. They never will. So if they don’t like that, in all of this chaos, you have to lean a little more on your crew, who cares?!”

Janeway’s eyebrows went up as the Lieutenant spoke. Not in shock -that sort of attitude was just what she expected from her Chief Engineer - but in amusement.

“Yes… I suppose you have a point there.”

B’Elanna’s eyes sparkled, “of course I do. Now finish your rations, then get to bed. I’m taking first watch tonight.”

Kathryn, despite giving a disapproving glare, didn’t protest. Quietly the girls finished their meal and packed them back into the bags. As the Captain lowered herself deeper into the crater, B’Elanna came over so that she was sitting beside the woman’s head.

“Sweet dreams, Captain.”

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #protective B’Elanna #mutual support #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #look at the babies getting along #Also I sprinkled a little nonsense science at the start cuz I was bored of regular caves and I’m sure you were too

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 5

For more info or chapter index see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FIVE

The Captain and her Chief Engineer collapsed behind a false wall of sediment. It was attached to a fairly spacious cave. The wall ran from floor to ceiling, but fell just short of reaching the edges of the cave. As soon as they were on the ground, B’Elanna took off her bag and pulled out the med kit.

After a quick debate, Torres let the Captain treat her first. The woman was much more skilled with a trauma kit than the engineer was, so she would be able to get the job done faster. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t painless, but soon all of B’Elanna’s larger injuries were treated, and the Captain was able to use a dermal regenerator on the more minor cuts. There wasn’t much to be done about B’Elanna’s ankle, though.

“I think it’s just sprained. I can still put pressure on it, but it hurts like hell.” The woman admitted, experimentally pressing the foot on the ground with a wince.

The Captain leaned back, wiping a line of sweat from her forehead. “We’ll just have to make due.”

The pair switched, B’Elanna pulling the med kit towards her and starting in on her Captain’s injuries.

“How’s the bite holding up?” The engineer asked, trying to find anything to distract herself from practically mutilated skin on the Captain’s side.

Janeway grimaced as her shirt fabric was pulled away, ripping a little as it detached from the semi-dried blood.

“Oh, it’s fine.”

B’Elanna raised an eyebrow as she worked. “What, like Janeway fine or actually fine?”

“Which do you prefer?” Kathryn asked, her voice slightly straining as the bite in question sent a new pain down her arm, and into her chest. In truth, it hurt. A lot. And the pain was starting to make her dizzy. Then again, that factor could also be attributed to the blood loss, so really it was hard to say.

They fell into silence, the weight of their breathing filling the small area as B’Elanna continued repairing the Captain’s skin.

When she was finished, she was back on her heels, and dug into the med kit again. She loaded two hyposprays of pain meds. One for her, and one for the Captain. Her ankle was really hurting, so she figured she would be a little indulgent.

“You know what I was thinking?” Torres asked as she administered the medication. Packing up the med kit as the Captain responded.

“What?”

“We need to come up with something to call these guys. I’m getting sick of saying ‘spider-alien’”

The Captain huffed out a laugh as she sat up, taking the comment into consideration. “We could call them Spidenmen.”

“Wasn’t Spider-Man like- a really popular superhero in the 21th century?” Yeah, she’d definitely been hanging around Tom too much to know that.

The Captain shrugged, “I’m not sure. But… just in case we, we should think of something else.”

The Chief Engineer agreed. Both women sat in ponder for a moment, before B’Elanna’s face let up. A dangerous glint in her eyes that told the Captain that this was not going to be good.

“What about Arachnomen.”

There was a beat, then the cavern filled with soft laughter. Janeway shook her head in disbelief. “It’s perfect.”

Their laughter continued on for several minutes. It would slowly fade out, until it was no more than a couple short breaths, then each woman would look at each other and the whole process would start up again. It was the stupidest thing, not even that funny. However, coupled with the blood loss, pain, and the fact that there had been very little to laugh about in the past few days, the pair relished in the humour.

Finally, when the last of their chuckles fizzled out, the starfleet officers decided it would be best to keep moving again.

“We’ve still got a couple hours left today. We may as well make the most of it,” The Captain offered.

Lieutenant Torres nodded as she and the Captain slipped out from behind the wall. “Yeah, I want to spend as much time as we can trying to get ourselves out of here.”

They stopped at the exit to the cave. It was located to the side of an adjacent tunnel, so they had to check both ways before deciding it was clear for travel. Once they had, they quickly slipped into the tunnel, and continued their journey to the surface.

An hour and a half later, they found a suitable place to settle down for the night. They took stock of how much food and rations they had left. Still enough rations for them to make it to the end of the week. However, their water supply was dropping, with each of them having moved on to their second bottle.

B’Elanna sighed. “Hopefully we find more soon. We can’t exactly go back to the stream.”

Kathryn didn’t respond, but she agreed with the sentiment. Instead, she moved on to matters they could control.

“Why don’t I take the first watch tonight. You need to rest that ankle.”

The engineer was about to protest, but thought better of it. It didn’t really matter who took the first watch, she supposed. They would end up doing it eventually. Besides, a little sleep right now would be nice. Shrugging, the Lieutenant settled down on the hard stone floor, and tried her best to fall asleep.

Kathryn leaned her head back on the stone wall. Despite the pain medication B’Elanna had administered earlier, her shoulder throbbed excruciatingly. She was also able to confirm that the slight lightheadedness she was feeling was indeed from the venom. She hadn’t lost that much blood, and there’d been ample time to recover.

Today’s attack had shown just how much danger they were in. That had only been a portion of the Arachnomen’s population. What if they ran into more? A whole herd of them coming down the tunnels? The truth was they were screwed. They had no clue where they were going, and no way of fighting that many monsters at once.

Tears pricked Janeway’s eyes, and even though nobody was watching she quickly wiped them away. She was responsible for B’Elanna. If anything were to happen to her, it would be her fault. They were alone down here. Even more alone than Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant. If the Captain survived but Torres didn’t… Janeway wasn’t sure she could live with herself.

Not to mention her shoulder was killing her. Just thinking of it now caused her entire left arm to twitch. She could still remember vividly the feeling of fangs inverting into flesh. It made her shudder.

Instinctively, she gripped the phaser in her hand tighter.

No! She told herself as more tears spilled down her face. We are getting out of here. We have too much to live for. Voyager needs us. Our friends need us!

A new sort of resolve washed over the Captain. All at once she understood just how important it was to stay together down here. B’Elanna was all she had, and she’d be damned if she was gonna let that go. Janeway looked down at the sleeping figure of her friend. Her chest rising and falling evenly, and her face overcome with peace.

Before she could even think about what she was doing, Kathryn reached out a hand, and brushed it idly through the Lieutenant’s hair. A maternal gesture. One to assure herself that she was not alone down here.

“I’ll get you out of here, Lanna. I promise.”

The next morning, the Captain woke up with a fever. It took several attempts of B’Elanna shaking her for the Captain to open her eyes, and when she did, the world swam. Torres knew instantly something was wrong. She dug out the med kit, and scanned her Captain using the medical tricorder.

It wasn’t a bad fever, not yet anyway. Just enough to make Kathryn feel like shit.

“The venom’s making its way through your system,” B’Elanna stated. That fact was rather obvious if you asked Janeway, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“Wonderful.” She muttered, pulling out that morning’s rations.

B’Elanna put the tricorder away, and followed the Captain’s lead. But she kept looking over at the woman with worried glances.

This wasn’t good. Three days in, and the Captain was already developing a fever. That brought up a whole package of potential problems. How long until the fever got worse? How much would it slow them down? Would it get so bad that they’d have to quit travelling all together?

B’Elanna supposed that, worse comes to worse, they could find a little cave, block off all the entrances and wait.

But they didn’t have enough water for that. And even if they did, it was obvious that the Arachnomen built this whole tunnel system. Eventually they would be able to dig through the blockage. Then they would be cornered.

No, they just had to keep going. The Lieutenant was willing to bet that Janeway would push herself to the very final shred of her sanity before she stopped. As detrimental as that kind of strain would be on her health, it would have to do.

First things first, they had to find water. Considering that after this morning they’d managed to drink three quarters of their supplies, it wasn’t looking great. The Captain would need even more to keep her strength up, and there was no telling what other obstacles they’d encounter.

Once they’d had their rations and packed everything into their bags, the duo started travelling.

Janeway, despite her discomfort, was able to keep a steady pace. B’Elanna limped a little on her sprained ankle, which meant they had to go a little slower but other than that they were in good shape.

A majority of their morning was spent just walking through the tunnels. There were a couple of points where the passageway they were on split, and they had to pick which one was most likely to lead up. Other than that, though, it was a relatively uneventful morning.

By mid afternoon, Kathryn’s head was pounding. Her entire world felt like it was just a decijoule off kilter. Everything felt that much more detached, as if she were wading through her own consciousness. She kept pushing, though, determined not to let the venom inside stop her.

B’Elanna could tell the Captain was tiring, though. And despite the Captain’s resolve, she wasn’t prepared to push the woman too much yet. She needed to conserve her energy for if the fever got worse. So, the next time they came across a semi-decent spot, B'Elanna requested they rest.

The Lieutenant was careful not to mention the night before. Despite what the Captain thought, she had still been awake when Janeway made her promise to Torres. She hadn’t said anything, and she hadn’t moved. Just pretending to sleep at the Captain came to some sort of conclusion about their time on this planet. Nevertheless, it was comforting.

As they ate, she decided to make an indirect reference to the moment though. “You know, my mother used to call me Lanna.” She admitted.

This caught the Captain off guard a little. The sudden openness from Torres was… definitely a shock. “Really?”

B’Elanna nodded, “You’re a lot like her, you know. You’re both tough. Stubborn. You never let anyone push you around. Although, credit where it’s due, you tend to be a little nicer about it.

Janeway was quiet for a moment, before she responded. “When I… called you that the other day. Did it make you uncomfortable?” Now, at this point, the Captain was talking about when she’d said it while they were walking. Not when B’Elanna was sleeping.

B’Elanna, realising this, was careful not to give herself away as she responded. “No! Not at all. It was nice, actually. Reminded me of the good times I had with her, which were… few and far between.”

Kathryn smiled, “that’s good. I’m glad…” she thought for a moment, what was she glad for? “I’m glad I remind you of her. The good parts.”

The Lieutenant smiled. “Me too.”

They continued walking, each feeling a little lighter than they had before.

And, in all honesty, a little closer too.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #crying in forgotten tags #It’s okay I can always come back later #Look #they’re bonding!

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

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We’re in This Together - Ch. 4

For more info or overview post, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FOUR

Kathryn’s heart pounded and she and B’Elanna sprinted down the narrow tunnel. There was only room for them to travel one at a time, and the aliens were right on their heels. The beasts had spotted them just as they were entering the narrow passageway, and started on a peruse course. Until there was a little more space to manoeuvre, the Captain and Chief engineer’s best chance was to keep running. Torres in front, Janeway in the back.

“Captain, I can see the tunnel opening up!” B’Elanna informed as she ran, noticing how the walls bend outwards just up ahead.

“Phasers ready!” Janeway ordered, squeezing the one she had in her hand tighter, and placing her finger on the trigger.

As soon as the girls broke through to the open, they spun around and fired at the aliens. They were close, so the starfleet duo aimed for their back pincers as discussed. They watched as the limbs broke free of the creatures, causing pain enough for them to falter in their attack. Not wasting any time, the two women sent more shots toward the monsters’ heads, disabling them. Luckily this time, there had only been two pursuers.

Heaving breathing filled the air as each of them slowly regained their breath. The Captain rolled her shoulder, mildly aware that her pain meds from last night were wearing off.

After leaving the den, Janeway and B’Elanna had travelled for five more hours before they found another place to set down and take shelter for the night. They’d only been on the move for about one hour when the two spider-aliens had come after them.

“That was close.” Torres huffed, looking towards the Captain as she spoke.

Janeway smiled, “nothing like a little predator-prey chase in the morning to get your blood pumping!”

The half-klingon rolled her eyes, “these aliens are really giving us a run for our money.”

“It’s about time! Voyager was getting boring.”

They shared a moment to laugh, keeping their senses sharp, and eyes trained down both sides of the tunnel as they regained their composure.

After a minute of catching their breath, the pair continued walking. The good news was this tunnel didn’t seem to be leading down. The bad news is, it didn’t seem to be leading up yet either.

Now that the tunnel had widened out, they were able to walk side-by-side again. B’Elanna gave a cautious glance to her Captain. A thought stirred in her mind, and she wondered if it would be… appropriate to say. Then again, she couldn’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t be. Besides, after the yesterday, she didn’t feel as awkward around the Captain. Still unnerved and eager to prove herself, but not as awkward anymore. So, she figured she may as well go for it.

With a deep breath to brace herself, she started talking. “I have to say Captain. Even though this whole situation kinda sucks… it’s been nice getting to spend time with you.”

Janeway smiled, looking over at the Lieutenant with a sparkle in her eyes, “you know, I was just thinking the same thing. I don’t give you nearly as much attention as I do some of the others…” she faltered for a moment, and turned her gaze back down the tunnel before them, “I’m sorry for that. I guess I just always assume that if you need anything, you can go to Chakotay.”

“Well, you’re right about that. Chakotay and I are close, and he’s always there if I need him.” B’Elanna offered, but there was a certain edge to her voice. Not hostile, just… suggesting.

Kathryn filled in the blanks pretty easily. “But it would be nice if your Captain would show the same amount of interest in you as she does the others.”

B’Elanna didn’t say anything to that, but her averted gaze and suddenly tense shoulders were proof enough.

Janeway raised a hand, “it’s alright, I don’t take offence. You’re right. I should be more considerate with how I treat each of my crew members. I can’t nurture one while neglecting another.”

Torres shrugged, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. Time to start backpedalling! “Well, I mean, I understand! I- it’s just- you’re busy. You can’t possibly be expected to Captain a starship and cater to every crew member’s need for attention!”

Janeway inclined her head a bit, raising her eyebrow to this point. She’d give her that, but she’d also counter. “No, but I could at least give all my head officers the time of day.”

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Neither one was certain on how to continue, B’Elanna especially. She wasn’t great with feelings, especially when they came from her Captain. But, she also wasn’t sure she just wanted to end the conversation there either. Somehow it felt… important to talk about. Or at the very least it was a distraction from all the spider people hunting them.

So, she tried again. “You know how you have that weekly dinner thing you do with Chakotay?”

The Captain nodded, looking back over at the engineer. “Yes.”

“Well… maybe you can do something like that with all the senior officers? It- it doesn't have to be dinner all the time. But like… have an allotted time each week that you spend with one of them. Or, maybe every other week if you’re that busy.”

Janeway considered this, allowing the idea to fully settle in her mind.

“I’d always considered doing something like that,” she admitted, “but I just wasn’t sure it’s something everyone would want.”

The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow, “why not?”

Katheyn shrugged, she knew the answer, but she wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to admit it. Then again, what else was she going to do down here? It’s not like she could pretend to have a lot of paperwork and retire to her ready room.

“Well, I just, I’m the boss. I’m the one in charge. And, in most work environments, the boss is the person you want to get away from at the end of the day. I mean, you’ve been there whenever I join you all on the holodeck. When I’m around, everyone seems to get just a little bit… stiffer. Less casual.”

“Yeah, but that’s the holodeck! That’s different.”

Janeway shrugged, “the principal's still the same. When I’m around, the crew feels like they're not allowed to have fun.”

“Or maybe they’re just not sure how to act because you don’t spend enough time socialising with us.”

The Captain’s steps faltered at this, and she turned her gaze completely on her Lieutenant, who kept walking forward. She hadn’t considered that. She’d always just assumed that her presence ruined everyone’s fun, so she should stay away. Never had she thought that spending more time with the crew could be the solution. It was an interesting thought.

With a new perspective forming in her brain, she kept walking again, quickening her pace to catch up with B’Elanna.

The next couple hours were spent travelling in relative silence. Partly because both women were processing the inclinations of their last conversation, and partly because the tunnel had begun to slope uncomfortably downwards. Every sound had B’Elanna reaching for her phaser, and Janeway turning her gaze to the tunnel behind them.

After three hours of this mindless paranoia, the Captain was slightly fed up.

“Oh this is ridiculous! Look at us, jumping at every sound like we’re in some sort of haunted house. We’re being paranoid!”

B’Elanna agreed, but she still couldn’t help but defend her actions. “I mean, can you blame us? We know we’re gonna meet more aliens as we go down. And if your shoulder is any indication…”

At the reminder of the wound, a slight electric pang shot down the Captain’s arm, causing her left fingers to twitch.

“If we’re both this on edge, we could always turn around.”

But even as she said it, both of them knew it wasn’t an option. They’d already come this far, and there was no way to tell if the spider’s were following their trail or not. Besides, this had been the most likely tunnel to lead up, and going all the way back to randomly pick another tunnel just seemed counterproductive.

They just had to keep moving.

Lieutenant Torres set her jaw, looking at the ground irritably. This whole thing was so stupid! They should be on Voyager! Safe, and happy, with the only fear in their minds being what Neelox was cooking for lunch. Not stuck underground running scared from every little scratch in the earth. It was pathetic! And now, with the tunnel heading downwards, who knew if they would ever reach the surface!

Janeway, seeming to sense B’Elanna’s inter turmoil, placed a steady, firm hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Lanna, listen to me. I know the last few days have been hard, and I know things don’t seem great right now, but we will make it out of this. We’re due back on Voyager in about four days. When we don’t show up, Chakotay will notice we’re missing and come find us. Voyager’s been through worse… we’ve been through worse. And we’ll get through this. Together.”

The Lieutenant let the words sink in. Part of her knew that Kathryn was probably reassuring herself just as much as she was the engineer, but it was enough. Looking her Captain in the eyes, B’Elanna gave a firm nod, placing her hand over top of the Captain’s. “Together.”

With their spirits rejuvenated, and courage reignited, the pair continued on their way down the tunnel.

As they did so, B’Elanna smirked, thinking back on the Captain’s words.

“Did you just call me, Lanna?”

Janeway smiled, “I suppose I did.”

Half an hour later they found a spot to break for lunch. Kathryn’s shoulder had really started to bother her again, but she refused to let B’Elanna administer any more pain killers. She wanted to save them for when she had to sleep. Pain while walking she could handle, but she couldn’t risk being kept awake by it.

After that, it didn’t take long for them to come across the next big spectacle of their underground adventure. All at once, the tunnel opened up again, and the ground fell away below their feet. The walls were steeper here than they had been in the layered tunnel, but that wasn’t really an issue. Several tunnel openings littered the side of this cavern, each of them connected by one large winding ledge that dipped and inclined across the edge of the cave.

But that wasn’t what drew their attention. At the bottom of the pit, sitting nearly thirty feet below them, was a hoard of spider people.

There couldn’t be less than fifty, all clustered at the bottom of the large cavern, making the entirety of the floor below look like it was moving. They all looked like one cohesive bluer of ashen grey skin and blackish-brown spider limbs. The only thing separating one individual from the other was the differing colours in their eyes and leg garments.

In the centre of the chaos, two creatures faught. One was larger, with crimson leggings and turquoise blue eyes. The other was smaller, with bright, rose coloured eyes and green leggings. The fight looked brutal, with each creature grappling each other, and rolling around the arena. Kicking out with their human legs, and using their pincers to slice at their opponent. The onlooking creatures shrieked with pleasure whenever one of the fighters took a hit.

The pair of humanoids quickly pressed themselves back against the cave wall, but it didn’t seem like any of the creatures had noticed them. They were too fixated on the battle.

“What do we do now? There’s so many of them. If they see us—“

“We’re just gonna have to go back the way we came.” Janeway responded. She and B’Elanna both began to retreat back into the tunnel, but they were stopped in their tracks as they heard the all too familiar clicking sound coming from the passageway.

“Shit!” B’Elanna breathed, “what now?”

“We’re just going to have to quickly, carefully, make our way to the next tunnel.”

It wasn’t ideal, and any wrong move would set the whole mob off to attack them, but it was their only option.

Quickly, the girls began to pick their way along the ledge. They tried to stay as quiet as they could, and they kept their shoulders pressed against the cavern wall. The fight, it seemed, provided a decent distraction for them. None of the creatures below had any idea they were there.

They had almost made it to the nest tunnel when shir hit the fan.

Janeway watched with unspeakable horror, as two aliens exited the tunnel they were heading for. Only a heartbeat later, three came out of the tunnel they were trying to get away from. They were trapped. But, more terrifyingly, they were spotted.

Acting quickly, Janeway levelled her phaser at the pair of aliens in front of them and fired. B’Elanna followed suit, shooting at the second alien. Each of their targets were knocked away from the tunnel entrance, shrieking in anger as they did so, and all hell broke loose,

Both women made a break for the tunnel, but the shrieking of the aliens had drawn the attention of the audience in the pit. In their clittery, broken up voice, Janeway heard several of them yell: “food!” As they clawed up the walls of the pit.

It was terrifying, the creatures piled on top of one another. Each of them wanting to get a piece of their new found meal, all the while tearing into each their own companions.

The unpredictable winding of the ledge made it hard for the humanoids to move fast, while their arachnoid companions had no problems manoeuvring through the familiar terrain. Naturally, the aliens behind them reached the pair first, and each did their best to fire their phasers without losing their focus and falling into the pit.

With their attention divided and pulled in so many directions, it didn’t come as much of a shock when B’Elanna lost her footing. Well, in hindsight it didn’t. In the moment however, it was quite the turn of events!

A sudden dip in the ground below her feet caused the engineer to lurch forward, landing awkwardly on her foot, and yelping out in pain as it rolled. In the same instant, several things happened. One of the aliens climbing the wall reached the ledge and reached out for B’Elanna. An alien behind them jumped forward, its hand outstretched to grapple the downed klingon. And Janeway brought her hand down to latch onto the back of the Lieutenant’s collar.

With a heave, not once breaking her stride, Janeway pulled B’Elanna back to her feet, keeping hold of the woman as she regained her step. The alien reaching up from the ledge was pulled down because another spider jumped on top of it, and the alien behind them only managed to get a loose grip around Torres’s knee. B’Elanna kicked back at it angrily, throwing the grip off before it could latch its fangs into her skin. The spider lashed out angrily with one of its pincers, slicing the back of her thigh before crashing onto the ground with a shriek.

Another alien had managed to clamber onto the behind them, and it promptly charged. Digging its pincers into the ground, it pushed off and sailed towards Janeway with outstretched hands. The beast grabbed a hold of her with its shoulders, and wrapped its humanoid legs tightly around her as if she were giving it a piggy back ride. The pinchers slicked quickly, flailing and desperately ripping through her flesh as she stumbled.

Seeing this, B’Elanna drove the butt of her phaser hard into the creature’s face. It shrieked, and in its moment of disorientation it didn’t see as she turned the phaser around and shot a beam right through its skull.

Janeway and her Chief Engineer veered right as they reached the entrance. They stumbled into the tunnel, knowing full well that the only reason they were still alive was adrenaline and pure luck. Thinking fast, the Captain turned around and fired her phaser at the ceiling again. That’s all it took for the entrance of the tunnel to collapse in on itself. The stone broke apart, clattered down and smothering the cave with debris. Three of the aliens were able to get to the other side of the entrance before it collapsed. They slipped under the falling stone and launched themselves at the Captain humanoids at full speed.

The first one grabbed the Captain. Her heart, impossibly, seemed to beat even faster as it grappled her for her phaser. Before it was able to do any real damage, though, B’Elanna shot its hand off.

This left her vulnerable from an attack by the second alien. The force of its attack sent both of them to the ground in a heap of arms and spider limbs. One of its pincers struck a blow across her stomach, while the other reached around and dug deep between her shoulder blades. B’Elanna fired her phaser right into the alien’s sternum. Angling the blow just above where the exoskeleton of the spider limbs ended.

Meanwhile the Captain had subdued her first peruser - after B’Elanna had shot its arm off, it wasn’t hard - and moved onto the third alien. Currently, no part of her was touching the ground. One of her hands was wrapped around a pincher arm, while her legs pressed harshly into its face, keeping the fangs away from any part of her. Pain shot down her arm, but she just used it as a means of keeping her grip on the alien tight. Her phaser had been knocked out of her hand, and was lying on the ground just underneath her.

The alien’s other pincer was doubling down its efforts though. It thrashed madly, slicing its way through her arm, side and back. As it brought the pincher back to deliver another blow, the Captain took her chance. She released her grip on the alien, and allowed herself to fall. Twisting in mid air, she just barely managed to wrap her fingers around the phaser before hitting the ground. A gravelly hand latched onto her leg, and pulled her back up towards the beast. Turning quickly, she fired a fell aimed shot at the top of its nose. It hit its mark expertly, making contact with the point between all four it’s its eyes.

The alien flew backwards, catching itself on the edge of the tunnel. It was just about to throw itself forward again when B’Elanna shot from behind the Captain, and caused it to fall limp on the ground.

Janeway laid her head back on the ground, panting wildly as scarlet blood painted the yellow-grey stone around her. B’Elanna fell to her knees beside the Captain, sporting her own fair share of wounds. They met each other's gaze, and came to the same understanding.

They couldn’t stay here.

After a moment, each woman forced themselves to their feet. They had to find a place with enough cover where they could set down and properly react to their wounds. Until then, the only thing keeping them going would be the constant support of another person’s body leaning on theirs.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #maternal janeway #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #this fic is probably missing so many tags already but idc

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

Text

We’re in This Together Ch. 3

For more info or chapter index, see overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THREE

It didn’t take long the next day for the pair to get moving again. They had swapped out approximately five times throughout the night with no sign of any more aliens. Unfortunately, though, Janeway hadn’t really gotten much sleep. About halfway through the night the bite on the back of her shoulder began to irritate her. At first it was nothing but a light sting, something easily ignored. However, by the time morning arose it had begun to throb.

The Captain didn’t say anything about it, though. During the night she wanted to let B’Elanna sleep as much as possible, as it was uncertain when they’d be woken up. Then, in the early morning after they’d eaten that morning’s rations, she figured they had more pressing manners. They’d been here long enough, and she didn’t want to put them at risk any longer. So this time, when she threw her backpack over her shoulder she ignored the pain. The Captain grit her teeth as she reached back and hooked the strap over her left shoulder.

There was no telling how much longer they’d be underground, but both women silently agreed that the quicker they got moving, the quicker they’d be out. As they exited the far side of the cavern, they took up idle conversation. It was sporadic, picking up as one of them thought of a new topic, then dying down again as they listened for scuttling down the tunnel.

“What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when we get back to Voyager?” Kathryn asked, readjusting the pack on her back.

Without missing a beat, B’Elanna answered, “sonic shower. I can’t imagine all the grime that’s gonna be on me after a week here. Then, I’m probably gonna take a long nap. Or maybe I’ll pay a visit to the holodeck, see what Tom’s cooked up while we were away. What about you?”

The Captain thought for a moment, “oh, I’ll probably clean myself up. After that, though, I’d like to meet the Nelurians. See how negotiations are going. Then of course I’ll have to file a mission report, and check in to make sure everything’s running smoothly. See if I missed anything important.”

B’Elanna rolled her eyes. Of course. It wouldn’t be Captain Janewaynif she had plans to actually relax before jumping back into work.

The conversation pittered out, and the pair went back to travelling in silence.

Two hours later, Janeway and B’Elanna reached the end of the tunnel. The world opened up again, and the women entered into another cavern. This one was larger than the last, way larger. It also stretched downwards in the shape of a giant, misshapen cone. The radius of the cavern became smaller the further down it went.

There seemed to be several layers to the cave. One layer was where the Captain and Chief Engineer stood. A ledge jutted out below their feet and circled all the way around the cavern’s perimeter, leaving just enough room to walk comfortably. The second layer had a wider rim, with two crisscrossing stone bridges stretched across the centre. Beyond that it was hard to tell, the bridges obstructed the view further down and it was hard to make out just how many layers there were.

It didn’t really matter, though, because the thing they needed was just one section down. From where they stood, the Captain could make out at least three other tunnel entrances around the edge of the second layer.

B’Elanna drew out her tricorder, flipping it open and sweeping it around as she walked along the ledge. “Fascinating! According to these readings, most of this cavern was dug out.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Those pinchers tore through our hull like it was nothing! They were probably made to cut through the rock.”

B’Elanna angled the tricorder downwards, trying to get readings further down. What she saw she didn’t like.

“Captain,” she said, lowering her voice a touch, “I’m reading life signs. Lots of life signs. They’re not near us, but there's enough to show up on scans from here.”

Janeway nodded, looking down. “My guess would be that the majority of the alien population lives deeper underground.”

B’Elanna nodded grimly, putting the tricorder away. “Which means the further down we go… the more we’re going to see.”

Janeway inclined her head, it wasn't great. But right now it could be avoided. “All the more reason to try going up.”

Of course the irony of the situation was that they had to go down first in order to do that. Not leaving any time for dread to work its way into her brain, Captain Janeway began to start making the climb.

As she looked around for a way to reach the second layer, Janeway made two observations. One, these spider people obviously didn’t know how to build a proper staircase. Two, there were several places along the wall where Kathryn could make out distinct foot and hand holds.

“How good are you at rock climbing?”

Okay, so, Captain Janeway had come to a conclusion. When she got back to starfleet, she was going to demand that Admiral Paris implement a mandatory rock climbing course into his Survival Skills Class. Because this shit? This shit was hard.

The pair had only made it halfway down the cliff face, and the Captain’s fingers hurt. Several tiny cuts littered across her hand, and her arms screamed with the effort of holding her up. On top of all that, her the bite wound just grew more painful the further down the cliff they climbed.

B’Elanna wasn’t doing much better. She was at about the same point on the wall as Kathryn, just a couple inches to the left. Her body was covered in sweat, and part of her just wanted to drop the pack on her back to lose a couple extra pounds.

As she searched for a foothold, B’Elanna was suddenly aware of just how sweaty her hands were. She was practically digging her nails into the rock as she found a place to set her foot. Grimacing with the effort, she released her hold on the rock with her other hand, and quickly moved it down to another hand hold.

That’s when things went wrong. The half-klingon pulled the foot below her hand off the wall, and lowered herself onto a small lip of stone jutting out from the wall. To her horror, as she set her weight down on the stone, the ledge crumbled away. Her body lurched downwards, and with the amount of sweat faking her hands it’s no mystery how she managed to lose her grip on the wall

For one, sickening moment, B’Elanna was falling. Reaching desperately to try and find another hand hold as she began fire falling down the rock face. Her heart leaped into her throat and for a moment she was sure she was about to die.

Then, she stopped. Something grabbed a hold of her wrist, squeezing right as she dangled off the cliff face.

It took several breaths for B’Elanna to dare move enough to look up.

Kathryn Janeway breathed hard as she fingernails duh into the Chief Engineer’s skin. She’d just dared to glance over at the woman when the foothold had given way, and she’d acted fast.

Now, neither of them moved, taking a moment to get over their immediate feeling of terror, and realise that B’Elanna was not going to fall to her death.

“Captain…” B’Elanna breathed, slightly dazed.

“I’ve got you. Now get back on the wall, and keep climbing.”

With visible effort, B’Elanna forced her body to plaster itself back onto the wall. The second she felt safe enough to let go of the Captain’s hand, she jammed it into a small crack in the rock face. Did it hurt? Yes. Did it make her feel a little more secure? Oh yeah!

They continued climbing down the wall, and when they finally reached the bottom B’Elanna didn’t waste any time. The second her feet touched the ground, she threw herself at Kathryn, wrapping her arms tight around the woman.

Was she aware that this was completely out of character for her? Maybe. But right now her nerves were too strung out to care. Her entire body shook with both the fear of almost dying, and the effort of the climb, and she just needed something sturdy to grasp onto. If that happened to be the Captain, then so be it.

“You saved my life,” she breathed, fingers digging into the woman’s back.

Janeway didn’t say anything. She knew that was not what B’Elanna needed. So, she just let the woman hold her. Squeeze her tight and remind herself that she was alive until the engineer felt safe enough to let go. Just like on the wall, she would hold on until B’Elanna was ready.

It took a couple minutes of just being there with each other for the half-klingon to process everything. All at once her senses returned, and she found herself thoroughly embarrassed by her behaviour. She was the Chief Engineer! People on voyager saved each other's lives all the time! It wasn’t a big deal!

“Sorry,” she gasped, “sorry, that was-“ she exhaled, shaking her head, “I’m alright now. Sorry.”

Janeway smiled warmly, keeping a lingering hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder. “That’s alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

B’Elanna nodded, clearing her throat awkwardly before walking past the Captain to look around the second level. “Right! So, um… which tunnel do we take?”

Kathryn just stared at her Chief Engineer for a moment, taking in their moment for another heartbeat, before following her in observing their options. After looking around, scanning and surveying each tunnel, they decided on the one closest to where they’d climbed down.

“Alright Lieutenant, after you.” The Captain inclined, gesturing towards the opening.

Torres took a long, deep breath. Then, giving her shoulder one good roll, held her chin up and stepped forward into the unknown.

Three and a half hours later, give or take, they encountered a rounded out section of the tunnel with a small stream. It was only a foot wide, cutting across the tunnel from the walls on either side.

Upon seeing the stream, the Captain piped up. “We should probably refill our water while we can. We may not find another source for a while.”

B’Elanna, seeming to have had the same idea, began pulling water out of the side pocket of her pack. “I agree.”

Janeway did the same, pulling her water out, and using her right hand to twist the lid off. Crouching down in front of the stream, Kathryn absently reached the bottle towards the water with her left arm. As the wound on her shoulder pulled, the Captain felt a familiar rush of pain shoot down her arm and gasped. Instinctively she reached her other hand around to the back of her shoulder, clutching the area as the pain subsided.

“Captain!?” B’Elanna questioned, slightly alarmed by the woman’s actions.

Kathryn shook her head, “it’s nothing.”

She switched the bottle to her right hand and began filling it up. The engineer stared at her worriedly, clearly not letting the subject go.

“It doesn’t look like nothing. Maybe I should—“

“B’Elanna, I’m fine. We have more important things to worry about.”

The half-klingon set her jaw, glaring at her Captain. “If you’re hurt, I should look at it.”

Kathryn turned, meeting B’Elanna’s glare with one of her own. “There’s no telling when one of those spider-aliens will stop by for a drink and I want to be long gone by the time they do. We don’t have time to get comfortable and pull out the med kit. I’m ordering you to drop it.”

For several heartbeats, neither one backed down. They were both stubborn as mules, unwilling to relent when they felt strongly about something. However, after a couple moments, B’Elanna gave in.

“Fine, I’ll drop it. For now. But the next time we find cover we’re setting down and you’re letting me look at it. Deal?”

Janeway smiled, standing back up and screwing the lid back on her water. “Deal.”

As it turns out, it didn’t take that long. Half an hour later, they came across a small opening in the tunnel wall. Taking a peek inside, they found that it was a quaint little cavern. It was a little taller than Janeway, and there were several wide pillars that the pair could hide behind.

Picking one of the ones furthest from the entrance, the B’Elanna and Janeway sat down and pulled out the med kit. The Captain sat with her back to the engineer, who carefully pulled the fabric of the Captain’s shirt back to reveal the wound. What she saw wasn’t pretty.

There were two puncture wounds, each the diameter or B’Elanna’s thumb, plunged deep into Kathryn’s shoulder. They were almost raindrop shaped in appearance, round at the top and thinning downwards where the fangs were ripped from the flesh. The found was red and swollen, with a slight purple-ish tinge forming right around where the fangs entered.

Torres pulled out the medical tricorder first, opting to scan the affected area. The purple colour was giving her a bad feeling, so she figured she should get information before trying to treat it. Her fears were confirmed when the tricorder gave her the results.

“Captain…” B‘Elanna said, uncertain of how to break the news.

“Yes, B’Elanna? Is something wrong?”

The engineer lowered the hand scanner, and looked at her Captain for a moment. Then, she decided it was best to just rip off the bandaid. Get it over with. No sugarcoating.

“The bite… it was venomous.”

Janeway’s heart skipped a beat. Venomous? No wonder it felt so different from her other wounds. “How bad is it?”

B’Elanna shook her head. “I’m not sure. Whatever kind of venom it is… the tricorder’s never seen it before.”

There was a moment of silence, before she decided to add a little more, “it says it’s slow acting, though. How slow, though, I don’t know. I also don’t know…” she hesitated for a moment, swallowed, then continued, “if it’s lethal or not.”

Kathryn listened, gaining a small bit of hope at the words. Still though, she shook her head. “Is there… any way you can treat it?”

B’Elanna shrugged, despite the fact that Janeway couldn’t see her. “I mean… I can repair the wound, and probably give you a pain killer. But, other than that… I don’t know what will help and what won’t.”

The Captain nodded slowly. “Alright. Do what you can.”

The air grew quiet as B’Elanna pulled out the dermal regenerator. She used one hand to keep the Captain's shirt out of the way, and the other to pass the device across the skin. The Lieutenant was careful not to press too hard, not wanting to cause Janeway any more discomfort.

When the puncture wounds were healed, B’Elanna reached into the kid and pulled out a hypospray. She pressed it gently against the Captain’s neck, and listened gently to the small wish of the mini-transporter being activated.

“There. That should ease the pain a little.” She said, packing everything back into the kid and closing it.”

Kathryn turned around so that she was facing B’Elanna again. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

B’Elanna nodded, and the two sat there for a moment before the engineer suddenly sat upright.

“The Signalling becan!” She gasped, pulling off her comm. badge and reaching into her backpack for the appropriate tools.

Kathryn practically kicked herself. That should have been the first thing they did last night after they set down. But, after six hours of walking and the ordeal they'd been through the Captain had completely forgotten.

It didn’t matter, though. They were doing it now.

While B’Elanna fiddled with her comm. badge, the Captain pulled out another thing of rations for each of them. She watched as the engineer, picked at the food while she worked, and smiled fondly as she began eating herself.

Once all that was finished, they packed up their supplies once more, threw their backpacks on, and exited the little makeshift den.

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #maternal janeway #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #Oh yeah #they went rock climbing this chapter #That was fun

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shsy7573 · 1 year ago

Text

We’re in This Together - Ch. 2

For more info or chapter index, see the overview post

DISCLAIMER: I do not own own Voyager or any of the characters in this fic (except for the aliens. Those were my creation.)

*This story is not beta-read and has not been edited or proof-read in any way! This was just something I threw together over the past three days and decided to post as my first entry on this site!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER TWO

As it turns out, they didn’t really need the flashlights. While walking down the passageway it became quite clear that the caves had some sort of natural light inside them. It wasn’t as bright as sunlight, but it was enough to keep the underground dim rather than pitch black. How that was even possible, neither of them knew. However, with the threat of the Captain’s injuries, the matter of lighting was quickly forgotten

About half an hour after the starfleet officers left the shuttle, the Captain stumbled. She’s been trying to put pressure on the worst of her injuries, but it wasn’t doing her much good. The puncture wounds where one of the alien’s pincer’s latched onto her sides bled freely, and she tried desperately to get the blood from the gash on her right arm. But nothing compared to cold, shooting pain radiating from her shoulder. Janeway was trying to focus on her other wounds, because even just thinking about the bite set a new shockwave through her. The phantom sensation of it shooting down her arm made her whole body twitch.

B’Elanna reached out an arm to steady Kathryn as she lost her footing. Her brow furrowed, and she pushed the pair to the side of the tunnel.

“Alright, that’s it. We’ve gone far enough. Let me look at your wounds.”

The Captain, ever concerned with everything but her health, shook her head. “We have to keep moving.”

Not listening, Lieutenant Torres set her backpack down and pulled the med kit out.

“You can barely walk. We’ll move a lot faster once I’ve treated you. Now sit down… Captain.” The engineer seemed to remember herself just as she was finishing. Really she shouldn’t be ordering her Captain around, but she also wasn’t just going to watch the woman suffer either. Besides, she figured she had made a pretty good point.

Apparently the Captain thought so too, because she relented and lowered herself to the ground. B’Elanna smiled, and crouched down in front of Janeway. She opened the med kit, pulled out one of the devices, and slowly began to treat the woman’s injuries.

For a few minutes, it was quiet. Calm. With the only noise being the sound of their breathing in the empty tunnel. It was probably the most peaceful they’d been since they arrived.

Then, B’Elanna sighed, “I’m sorry, Captain.”

Janeway tilted her head, “what for?”

“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t suggested we harvest the dilithium, we’d still be on Voyager and none of this—“

Kathryn held up a hand, causing B’Elanna to stop talking. “No, B’Elanna, don’t do that. This is no one’s fault. You were right to say we should come here. We do need dilithium, and we got it. There’s no way you could have predicted that a bunch of ground-dwelling spider people would want to try and eat us! They didn’t show up on scans, there was no indication of surface life and no reason to scan below it. This is no one’s fault. It just… sort of happened, and now we have to live with it.”

The Lieutenant stopped her work for a moment, staring at the Captain before relenting, and nodding. “Right, you’re right. It’s no one’s fault.”

As if on cue, the sound of skittering came echoing from up the tunnel in the direction they’d come from. It was faint, but growing steadily.

“I guess it’s time to keep going.” B’Elanna remarked as she put the med kit away, and slung the pack on again. She reached a hand down to help the Captain up, “feeling any better?”

Janeway brushed some of the dust off, and found that she was in a significantly less amount of pain. Her wounds still hurt, and there hadn’t been enough time to look at all of them, but at least she wasn’t bleeding everywhere anymore. “Much better, thanks.”

The Captain reached up her right hand to pat Torres gratefully on the shoulder, and the pair continued on down the tunnel.

Not too long after they’d set off again, the aliens caught up. B’Elanna and the Captain had run in order to get around the bend in the tunnel, hoping to use the slight second of cover to their advantage. To their delight, the tunnel opened up a little here too, meaning there would be more space to fight.

The Captain fired her phaser as the first one rounded the bend, launching itself off the corner towards its supposed prey. It didn’t even make it half way. The second one, though, wasn’t so easy. It was able to use the falling body of its comrade as cover, before reaching out towards Janeway with its hand.

Thinking fast, B’Elanna shot the outstretched limb with her phaser, severing it from the beast’s body with a well placed shot as Janeway backed up.

However, the star fleet officers quickly lost the upper hand. They were outnumbered and in unfamiliar territory. The aliens were faster and stronger than them, so it wasn’t hard for the two to become overwhelmed.

Knowing they couldn’t risk any more serious injuries, an idea formed in the Captain’s mind. “B’Elanna, group them together!”

Not questioning it, B’Elanna fired her phaser as one of the spider’s lunged at her, sending it flying back into one of its friends. The Captain, currently pinned up against the wall, kicked the remaining alien off her before running to join B’Elanna.

“Aim for the ceiling and run!” The Captain ordered, turning and sending a long, powerful beam right overtop of the monsters. B’Elanna did the same, and when the stone above the tunnel began to collapse, both women turned and fled.

It only took a couple moments for the tunnel to collapse, but it did its job. Dust filled the tunnel, causing both humanoids to cough as they looked back upon the rubble. Limp spider limbs stick out from between various rocks. Confirming that their horrifying friends had been caught and killed underneath it.

B’Elanna and Captain Janeway looked at each other, each seeming to come to the same realisation. That tunnel led back to the shuttle, and now it was gone. They had just destroyed their only known way back to the surface.

There was no going back now.

After about six hours of gruelling, seemingly endless walking, B’Elanna and the Captain found a place for them to set up camp. It was a small cavern that opened out from the tunnel in both directions. Stalagmites littered the ground around them, and stalactites stretched down from the ceiling. On the far side of the cavern, another tunnel stretched out into the unknown.

The stalagmites provided a decent amount of cover, and there was just enough empty space on the ground for the pair to make camp. The temperature underground was fairly warm, which they were happy about. Starting a fire ran the risk of attracting the aliens towards the smoke, and neither of them wanted that.

So, instead, they settled down between the pillars, and pulled out some of their rations.

As the Captain fished one of the water bottles out of her bag, a thought stirred in her head.

“You don’t think any of our spider friends know how to make coffee?”

Those got a laugh out of the half-klingon, “yeah, something tells me our friends aren’t exactly the brewing type. Even if they were, I don’t think they’d want to share.”

Kathryn shook her head, chuckling to herself, “no, I suppose not.”

Voyager’s Chief Engineer smiled. Even though this whole situation kind of sucked, it was nice to be alone with the Captain. No prying eyes. No Voyager nonsense. No lower rank officers to set an example for. It was just them.

Them and a bunch of spider-people, that is.

“Sorry Captain, looks like you’re gonna have to go the week caffeine free.”

Don’t get her wrong, Be’Lanna loved Voyager, over the past couple years it had become home in the Delta Quadrant. But, the constant reminder of their differing ranks made it a little difficult for B’Elanna to connect with Janeway. Here though, where the Captain didn’t have to worry that she was ruining everyone’s fun by being around, and when B’Elanna didn’t have to feel like she was a kiss-ass for spending time with the woman, they could just be.

Kathryn inhaled for a moment, taking in the moment of peace, before putting her game face back on.

“Alright, so, how are we gonna get out of here?”

Both women pondered this for a moment, and B’Elanna was the first to speak up. “Well, we need to get back to the surface. Underground is where the spider-alien-monster things live. We’re sitting ducks down here.”

Janeway nodded as her companion spoke, “I agree. Going back to the shuttle isn’t an option, and at this point I’d say we’re pretty well below the plateau we entered through. So that means we’ll have to try and follow the tunnels most likely to lead to the surface.”

“Which is, obviously, easier said than done. Tricorders won’t really tell us which ones go up, and it’s kind of hard to tell which tunnels lead where on our own.”

“We’ll just have to do our best.” Janeway responded. “Follow the tunnels with air currents, or the ones that seem to slope upwards. It won’t always be a given we’re going the right way, but I’d rather keep moving than sit still.”

B’Elanna was happy with this game plan. However, there was still more to go over. “And what if we run into the aliens again? We’ve gotta figure out a better way to fight them.”

“Phasers seem to be pretty effective, but when they rush up on us like that they’re not much help.”

“Right,” B’Elanna nodded. “They’re pretty easy to hear coming, so that gives us lots of warning. And as for right, now we know they’ll only be coming from in front of us.”

The Captain pondered this for a moment, her brain working to find weaknesses, strengths, etc.

“I say, when we hear them coming, we try to either hide if we can, or put as much distance between them and us as possible. Shoot them with phasers, and if they seem to be getting too close, start aiming strategically. They’re pincers and their fangs do the most damage, so we should try to shoot the back pair of arms if they get too close for comfort.”

“Agreed.”

The pair both simultaneously took a deep breath. With a game plan in mind, their chances of survival suddenly seemed a lot less bleak. The spider-aliens may be fast, and they may be strong, but had nothing on the determination of two Voyager crew members trying to get back home.

B’Elanna looked at her Captain, and the woman looked back at her with the same stubborn courage that had allowed them to overcome every obstacle they’d faced in the Delta Quadrant.

“We’ll make it out of this B’Elanna. We have to.”

The Engineer nodded firmly at this, a small smile forming on her lips. “Why don’t you get some sleep, Captain, I’ll take the first watch.”

#star trek #star trek voyager #kathryn janeway #b’elanna torres #platonic #maternal janeway #angst #fluff #hurt/comfort #no beta we die like admiral janeway #this probably will be fine #There’s probably more I have to tag but whatever

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