Snow

When Seven woke up, she was surprised that she had actually managed to sleep at all. Her internal body clock told her that she had been asleep for over six hours and that the injury to her abdominal implant was healing nicely.

Once her internal checks were completed, Seven opened her eyes and found herself staring into the back of B’Elanna’s head. Neither of the women had moved while she had been asleep. Seven was pleased to feel the heat radiating from the Chief
Engineer. The engineer was sleeping naturally, her breathing normal and the colour of her skin was less pale.

Reluctant as she was to leave the warmth of their shared bed and its intimacy, Seven knew that she had to get up and get food. B’Elanna would have lost a lot of energy from fighting the cold and the Astrometrics officer knew that she had to deal with her own nutritional requirements. The willowy blonde resisted the urge to squeeze the older woman closer into her for a moment and instead, moved her arms gently away from the still sleeping Klingon and wiggled her way out from the survival bag.
B’Elanna grumbled at the disturbance but did not actually wake up.

Once free from the covers, Seven gently pulled them back over the raven-haired woman but stopped as she noticed the angry red mark that covered B’Elanna’s shoulder. The wound had been healed cleanly enough but it looked to be showing signs of infection. Making a mental note to examine it when the engineer was awake, Seven replaced the covers and then searched the holdalls for ration packs.

B’Elanna snuggled into the warmth of the survival bag as she woke. She inhaled deeply and caught a faint scent that was reminiscent of Seven. It reminded her of the events directly after the crash and her eyes flew open, trying to recall what had
happened during the building of the shelter.

She found herself on one of the narrow ledges, tucked into a survival bag wearing nothing but her undergarments and vest top. She rolled over gently, wincing as she put pressure on her shoulder. The Klingon frowned slightly. She was sure she had treated herself correctly when she used the dermal regenerator. B’Elanna looked down and then towards the exit of the shelter, trying to locate her companion. She found her
crouching over one of the holdalls, obviously trying to locate something. “Hey,” she called softly.


Seven straightened up immediately. “Lieutenant,” she acknowledged. “How are you
functioning?”

B’Elanna grinned at the enquiry. “I’m feeling much better, thanks. I certainly feel warmer.” She noticed the blonde woman blush slightly. “Thank you for looking after
me,” she told her with genuine emotion.

“I did not give you much choice Lieutenant,” Seven replied wryly. “We both need to be fit if we are to survive for any length of tim thi this place.”

The dark Klingon squinted towards the exit. “Doesn’t look very hospitable out there,” she mused.

Seven stood up and handed a bundle to the engineer. “It is currently –30 degrees out in the open. I suggest you put this environmental suit on. It will keep you warmer than your uniform.”

As she stood, B’Elanna noticed that the ex-drone had also donned an environmental suit over her bio suit. “What happened to my uniform?” she asked as she sat up, shudderin she she lost the warmth from the survival bag.

“It was soaking wet and frozen,” Seven began. She blushed again and B’Elanna frowned as she shrugged herself into the suit. “So where is it?” she pursued, rubbing her shoulder absently once she was attired in the silver clothing.

“I attempted to dry it by heating a piece of hull wreckage with my phasor,” the tall ex-drone continued.

“And?” B’Elanna couldn’t help but prompt.

Seven looked uncomfortable. “I burnt it,” she admitted eventually.

The Klingon couldn’t help but laugh at the mortified look on Seven’s face. “I’ll just have to run around in my underwear in our new shelter then,” she teased, surprised to see the hue of Seven’s face darken again. Wondering why the younger woman would react that way to her comment, B’Elanna decided to drop the subject for now in favour of a more pressing need. “Have we got any food?”

“I packed a number of ration provisions,” Seven replied, relieved that the Klingon had changed topics. She searched the bag again and retrieved two packs, throwing one at the engineer who had now hopped off of the sleeping ledge to stand next to her. “They have an offensive taste but are nutritionally balanced,” she commented with a slight moue of distaste.

“Hmm, I’m looking forward to it all the more now,” returned the smaller woman sarcastically. It didn’t stop her devouring the food though and B’Elanna realised just how famished she had been.

While Seven finished her own rations, B’Elanna spoke again. “You’ve done a good job with the floor area,” she commended.

The end furthest from the entrance had been covered in a waterproof material that all their supplies were now resting on. There was enough room to sit on the material but it was quite cramped. Although it was colder in the gap between the sleeping areas, because both women had now recovered from their injuries and had warmed up, it was more bearable.

“I may need to excavate a bit deeper but I am reluctant to do so. The larger we make this area, the more difficult it is to keep it warm. While you were asleep, I dug out
another shelter a suitable distance away that can be used as a toilet area. I suggest that we head back to the shuttle and see what else we can salvage now that we are appropriately attired.”

“Sounds good to me,” B’Elanna concurred. “Let’s just be sure not to be out there too long. I’m not a fan of the cold,” she continued, scouting round for her boots. grimgrimaced slightly as she put her feet into them. They were cold, but they
were at least dry. “I see you were more successful in drying my boots,” she commented with a grin.

Seven blushed again but this time replied to the tease. “I learnt from my previous mistake and did not use as much heat to remove the moisture from your boots.”

B’Elanna nodded her approval before ducking outside the shelter and into the harsh winds and snow.

She was joined quickly by the blonde woman who handed her a now empty holdall. “It will be easier to carry supp wit with these,” she remarked blandly.

“Good idea,” the Klingon commended and squinted in the general direction of the shuttle crash. She could see a long line of footprints that indicated Seven’s previous journey. “Is there much more left for us to salvage?” she asked.

Seven was surprised. She had surmised that the engineer would want to fully inspect theagedaged shuttlecraft herself and not take her advice. As she looked at the
older woman, Seven could indeed see the Klingon’s face frowned in thought. “I made a cursory inspection when I went back to retrieve some materials. It would better if we assessed the shuttle comprehensively.”

B’Elanna seemed satisfied with the answer and began to follow the path Seven had already made when she was halted by an outstretched hand.

“I located these anti-glare visors. They will protect your sight.” Seven handed the raven-haired woman a pair of dark glasses.

Impressed by Seven’s anticipation, B’Elanna put on the glasses, feeling her eyes relax as the glare from the snow was instantly muted. “Thanks.”

Once back at the shuttle, B’Elanna was able to examine the wreckage at leisure. Unfortunately, her initial assumption was pretty accurate. The shuttle had been
almost completely destroyed by the landing and both women wondered how they had
survived at all. The mining equipment and analytical tools were still working.
B’Elanna gathered together every hand tool and power pack that she could utilise or had a hope of repairing while Seven studied the main instrumentation panels and systems.

As soon as the Klingon had completed her task she joined Seven at the main workstation and began her own examination, taking care not to repeat what Seven had already done. This consideration surprised the ex-drone and she couldn’t help but comment on it. “I believe this is the first time you have trusted my judgement
Lieutenant.”

The shorter woman snorted. “Seven, we have a compliment of two here. I don’t suppose it would be too difficult for you to call me B’Elanna would it?”

Seven’s eyes widened slightly at the request. “I can try,” she replied.

B’Elanna nodded. “Good. And there’s no point in me checking your work. Unless we’re doing anything that’s new to the two of us, your summations will not differ from mine.” The Chief Engineer knew that her admission was tantamount to a complete reversal in the way she had treated the ex-drone while on Voyager but B’Elanna had seen enough evidence of Seven’s accuracy and talent during the mining operation to recognise that she was wrong. She was also honourable enough to act on her findings and treat the tall blonde accordingly. She smiled impishly. “Besides, I don’t want to spend anymore time out braving the elements than absolutely necessary.”

Seven agreed and then, on the demonstration of trust that the half-Klingon had shown, adapted her own style of working by providing a comprehensive summary of the results
she had already obtained. “Engines and the main power supplies have been destroyed or are beyond repair, life support is irreparable, the hull has been compromised in too many areas to be viable and the shield generators and weapons array are unsalvageable.” She drew a breath before continuing, noticing B’Elanna’s frown deepen as the list of bad news lengthened. “Communications can be repaired but I estimate the time for completion to be in excess of seventy two hours.”

B’Elanna hissed her displeasure at the news. “We’ll only be able to work a few hours at a time in these conditions. It’s going to take a lot longer than three days for repairs,” she commented, folding her arms in front of her and hugging her body. “What about rations?”

“In ordinary circumstances, we would have food to last ten days,” Seven began.

B’Elanna picked up on her reservation immediately. “In ordinary circumstances?”

“Because of the climate, our bodies will need a much higher calorific intake. I estimate that supplies will last just four days.”

“Great.” B’Elanna licked her lips as she thought through the situation. There was a
short pause before she spoke again. “Have we got any power to the scanners?”

Seven frowned. She had not bothered to check the scanners as she had deemed them of no real immediate value. With elegant strokes of her fingers, she was able to glean the information from the onboard computer. “Short range scanners are functioning but
without main power they will not be usable.”

“We’ll have to get power to them, Seven. We need to locate an alternative source of food or we’ll die before we can contact Voyager.” It was typical of the Klingon hybrid not to assume that Voyager would find them without assistance.

“I detected no life-signs when I made preliminary scans of the planet, B’Elanna,” Seven
reminded her companion, feeling awkward voicing the lieutenant’s first name.

B’Elanna raised an eyebrow on hearing the ex-drone use her first name and was surprised at how pleasant it sounded from the taller woman’s lips. “I remember,” she responded. “However we need to locate anything we can that coul dee deemed edible. And I’m also hoping that anything living in this hell-hole will have dug in deep and may not have shown up on your initial scans. If we can take a closer look we might be able to find dinner.”

“How do you suggest we power up the scanners now that there is no Supply in the shuttle?”

“You said that main power was out. You didn’t mention back up and reserve. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to squeeze enough from them to get the scanners working,” B’Elanna replied, looking down at the console and beginning to run her hands over the
controls. “If I can’t get power from there, I’ll bastardise the power supplies for the hand tools and try and generate the power that way.” The engineer was already thinking far ahead into her plan and her voice had begun to take on the distant timbre that indicated that her mind was racing.

For Seven, it was fascinating to watch. If she was honest, she was envious of the older woman’s ability to improvise and innovate. It hadn’t even occurred to the younger woman to utilise the power from the other instruments they had the use of. Although unwilling to interrupt the creative flow of the Klingon’s thought process, Seven knew that it would be more efficient if she had involvement in the workload. “How can I be of assistance?”

“Can you repair the auxiliary power pathways to the scanner arrays?” B’Elanna immediately tasked the ex-drone with one of the most difficult aspects of her plan, without even looking up from her console.

Seven found herself to be surprised again. B’Elanna immediately assigning her with such a complex and crucial undertaking was once again breaking from the way she normally treated Seven and the ex-drone found herself responding to the task with extra vigour.

B’Elanna knew that Seven was perfectly capable of sorting out the power supplies and was honest enough to realise that if she didn’t share the difficult tasks, they would be
stuck on the shuttle for far too long and they would end up dangerously exposed
to the cold once again. As Seven worked on the power supplies, the Klingon tried to divide her time between realigning and refining the sensors, and trying to discover exactly how badly the communications systems had been damaged and what it would take to effect repairs.

Both women became immersed in their respective tasks and it was only when B’Elanna found that her hands had gone numb again, that she realised that they had been exposed to the elements for long enough. “Seven, we need a break and I need to get warm,” she told the younger woman, looking up and rubbing her shoulder absently. For
some on hon her shoulder was aching but the Klingon put the sensation down to
being hunched over a console in extreme conditions for so long.

Seven looked up and looked carefully at the older woman. B’Elanna looked pale again and her lips looked mauve from the cold. “Lieutenant,” she began and hurriedly
corrected herself when the raven-haired woman shot her a look. “B’Elanna, you must get back to the shelter. I can work for another hour yet…”

“No,” the engineer interrupted. “We work together and rest together. It’s safer,” she
justified. “I’m not having you work alone here.”

Seven found that her heart started beating faster. It appeared that the half-Klingon cared for her well-being, for there was real concern tingeing B’Elanna’s words.

“Very well. We can return later after rest and sustenance,” she agreed. Seven stood up
and located the holdalls that were now full of equipment. “I know that it appears inefficient but I believe that our equipment will last longer if it is less exposed to the
extreme cold.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” B’Elanna concurred. She hissed as she pulled on the handles of one of the bags.

“B’Elanna?” Seven was immediately at the shorter woman’s side.

“My shoulder’s hurting. I thought I’d healed it. I obviously missed a bit,” the Klingon
explained, trying to dismiss the problem.

“I noticed that it looked inflamed when I woke,” Seven commented, her face reddening when B’Elanna looked at her curiously.

“I’ll be okay. Just need a rest and something to eat,” B’Elanna decided, using the other arm to pick up her load.

“I will examine you when we get back to the shelter,” Seven told the older woman determinedly.

“Oh really?”

“Yes,” confirmed the ex-drone. “Suffering for the sake of your pride is illogical and will reduce your efficiency.”

B’Elanna stared open-mouthed for a few seconds before turning and exiting the shuttlecraft using the same hole they had used when they originally crashed, muttering as she left. Seven retrieved the remaining bag and followed the lieutenant through the opening and together they made their way back to the shelter.

Once again, by the time B’Elanna reached the shelter, she was shivering again but curiously, her shoulder was burning. Throwing the holdall onto one of the sleeping ledges, the half-Klingon unzipped her suit so that she could expose her shoulder for examination, knowing that any further argument with Seven would be futile.
What she wasn’t pred fed for however, was the le ple probing from cool hands over her fevered skin. The half-Klingon shuddered slightly and hoped that the woman behind her would attribute it to flinching from pain.

“Does this hurt?” Seven’s words were practically whispered into B’Elanna’s ear.

It took a few seconds for the engineer to respond. “It’s uncomfortable, and hot,” she described, willing herself to stand still as Seven continued to run her hands over the injury.

“It’s infected,” Seven surmised, stepping away from her patient almost reluctantly. “Let me get a hypo spray,” she told the other woman and she rummaged round in the storage area before locating the med kit. When she first touched B’Elanna’s shoulder, she had felt a spark of energy pulse through her and it had taken her a few seconds to regain her composure. Fortunately, B’Elanna hadn’t appeared to notice her lapse, possibly because of the pain the ex-drone had inadvertently inflicted on her. She knew that her attraction to the engineer was deepening but now was not the time to expose her feelings.

B’Elanna’s shoulder was an angry red with a darker red line running a jagged path across the blade. Seven frowned. The wound should have been completely healed
by the dermal regenerator B’Elanna had used on herself. What confused the Borg more was how the wound had become infected. There was nothing here that they hadn’t both been exposed to, and Seven had been careful to scan for any anomalies that would affect both humanoid and Klingon physiology.

Seven pressed the hypo spray gently into B’Elanna’s neck, enjoying their closeness again, even if it was only for a few seconds. “That should take care of the infection,” she reassured the smaller woman. She handed B’Elanna a ration pack and opened
one for herself. “You need to eat,” she told her unnecessarily, her face contorting slightly as she tasted the food.

“We have got to get sensors back on line,” B’Elanna replied, grimacing as she forced down her own food. Seven nodded in agreement.

When they had finished, the two women looked at the storage area to see how things could be re-arranged in order to accommodate the additional equipment that had retrieved from the shuttle.

“I will dig out a deeper area,” Seven decided, realising that there was no way that all the stuff could be placed in the original space.

“No, wait up,” B’Elanna stopped the Borg before she commenced work. “Look, Seven,” she started, hesitating as she struggled to find the words. “You said yourself that the
larger we make this place, the more difficult it becomes to keep it at a reasonable temperature.”

Seven nodded, wondering where the brunette was heading with her argument.

“Well we already know that there’s enough room on one ledge for us both to sleep, why don’t we just use the other shelf as an additional storage area?” B’Elanna wasn’t sure why she was blushing so hard, and she was also equally surprised to see Seven react in a similar manner. “It’s just an idea,” she added, trying to play down the suggestion now that she had seen Seven’s reaction.

“And it is logical,” the blonde woman concurred, settling the matter by placing her
holdall on the ledge next to B’Elanna’s. She extracted her survival bag from the shelf and placed it next to the brunette’s. “B’Elanna, your body temperature has dropped to near hypothermic levels. You should use the sleeping area to return your temperature to normal.”

“What are you going to do?” the engineer enquired, removing her suit completely before hopping up onto the shelf.

Seven hesitated. “I will wait until you are fit enough to return to the shuttle with me,” she replied.

“Seven, you’ve been affected by the cold too. It might be a good idea to get yourself warm,” B’Elanna suggested, suddenly feeling awkward again.

The tall Astrometrics officer nodded mutely and eased herself up onto the shelf and
wriggled into her survival bag. Once comfortable she lay back down and faced the smaller woman but could not think of a single thing to say.

“Just relax,” B’Elanna murmured, already drowsy and enjoying both the rise in temperature from the confined sleeping area and from Seven’s closeness.

“I will comply,” the ex-drone replied stiffly, eliciting a stifled giggle from B’Elanna.

“You do that.”

Seven sighed and turned over onto her back. She knew that she would be unable to relax. She was still unused to sleepis ops opposed to regenerating and was certain that
the only reason she had been successful earlier was due to her injured state.

She was still in a state of contemplation when B’Elanna threw an arm over her, rolling closer as she did so. Seven stiffened in alarm, unsure of what was going on until she realised that B’Elanna was asleep and had unconsciously moved closer to glean more warmth from her.

Perversely, B’Elanna’s action did begin to relax the blonde woman and she shifted her body weight to lean into the half-Klingon’s embrace. Within moments, she too was asleep.