Part 01
Title: If I could turn back time... (if I could find a way...)
No, this isn't a song fic, but I have been singing three lines of that song on an off for who knows how long now. It's about time I turned it in a title. :P
Ah, it had to happen sometime. This is the obligatory shuttle crash story. Which means that this is more a B/7 story than a Voyager story. Yes, often used plot line, but if you know my writings a bit you know that my thing is to take a well-known plot line and give it my own twist. I hope I succeeded. :)
Rating. NC-17.
Pairings 7/J (don't worry, it's only for a minute), J/F, But this story is really just mainly B/7.
If you are a World of Warcraft player, there is a species in here that is called Draenei. Yeah, and they look like them too. Why? Because I can. :P
But if are thinking right now, 'what the hell is World of Warcraft', then don't worry. Just picture them as the Alien species of the week. :)
But if you do know what they are, just know that I only borrowed their looks, and not their cannon. So please, no 'but that didn't happen in WoW'.
~~~
Edit notes. Anything indicated by a > is just a reminder for the writer. It is not a intricate part of the story. So, '>start' is not telling the reader that the story starts there; it's telling the writer a clue about that part of the story.
> Start.
"You'll catch flies if you aren’t careful," Janeway said amused.
B'Elanna closed her mouth with a click before finally saying, "You got to be kidding me."
Kathryn shook her head. "I'm not. You two are the best people for the job."
B'Elanna started to pace through Kathryn's ready room while the Captain decided to lean against the desk. She knew that B'Elanna was a person that liked to be in motion, only rarely just sat still. And even though she was giving the half Klingon orders, the setting was informal enough to allow for the pacing.
"Come on," B'Elanna urged. "Putting Seven and me together on a two week trip? In a shuttle... a normal shuttle, not even the slightly larger Delta Flyer? We will kill each other within a day."
"You two seem to get along better nowadays," Kathryn noted. "It's been months since I saw a complaint from you about her."
"Well, I didn't want to put you in the spot where you would have to reprimand your girlfriend," B'Elanna countered. Then an idea struck her. "Ha! That's why you are doing this. It took you six months, but you finally found the perfect way to get back at me for dumping you."
Kathryn pursed her lips slightly. "I would more say that we decided that it would be better if we didn't continue our relationship."
B'Elanna shook her head. "Nope, I broke up with you, and now you are getting back at me."
Kathryn walked over to the couch under the window and flopped down. "I'll grand you the first part. You did break up with me. But it was a clean break B'Elanna, remember? I knew that we had our time. Things were starting to become forced between us. I'm glad things went as they did. I may have lost you as a lover, but kept you as a friend. I'm pretty happy with that."
"Then why do this to me?" B'Elanna almost shouted.
"Because you and Seven are the right people for the job," Kathryn repeated. "Voyager will be at this starbase for the next eight days at least. It's the only neutral territory in this horrid sector,"
"Because everyone is fighting everyone and they all need a place to go where they can stay long enough for repairs to be done," B'Elanna interrupted. "This place is neutral territory only because nobody wants to piss off the owner and be denied access the next time they really need it. And that's just it; you need me here to oversee repairs."
"No I don't," Kathryn disagreed. "Carey is more than capable to oversee repairs. B'Elanna, if Seven is right than that planet won't just be our ticket out of this hornet's nest, but even our ticket to a fast way home. But this form of dilithium crystals is so rare that the Federation doesn't even have the pattern in the database to scan for it. We have to thank Seven for seeing the info flashing by."
"I was at the briefing," B'Elanna reminded. "A kind of dilithium crystals so pure that the Borg have fought wars over the few deposits they have come across. Just replace our normal dilithium crystals with them and recalibrate the antimatter flow a bit, and bam, instant warp 9.99 as cruise speed."
"Even faster than our current maximum rated," Kathryn reminded. "Shields will need adapting too, but Seven is sure that won't be a problem."
"And were you listening to your girlfriend telling you stuff, or were you listening as the impartial captain that's listening to a crew member?" B'Elanna scowled.
Kathryn shook her head. "I would be lying if I said it didn't matter. It does, but not in the way you make it sound now. It may come as a surprise, but Seven and I do talk to each other about stuff, and since we are on a starship, that ship is a point of casual talk. And that's where the difference comes in. Before Seven would hand me a proposal and that would be the first hurdle there; to see if it even sounded interesting enough to have a discussion about. If it did, we discussed it, she making the points, and the Captain listening and deciding. But now Seven talks me a lot of stuff while we are just chatting a bit... yes, she can do that you know? And since we are just chatting, I go along, talk about how it would influence the ship, and so on. So yes, it does make a difference in the fact that Seven gets more time to make her point now, so to speak. But when the decision is made, it is still the Captain that makes that decisions."
Kathryn pointed at B'Elanna. "And you, my dear, have been there so don't start crying foul now. You have whispered ideas into my ear while we were sharing the afterglow of some nice sex." Then she smirked. "I think it's more that you never did get over the fact that Seven and I got together only two months after you dumped me."
"We were together for almost five months," B'Elanna reminded. "Klingon tradition demands that you should have waited for at least that long after the relationship was over."
"Nope," Kathryn happily disagreed. "As you like to call it; you dumped me. But you didn't die. So I don't have to mourn you. Besides I'm not a Klingon." Then she added a bit more serious. "And, since I know you won't go telling anyone, depending on what your definition of girlfriend is, Seven is not and has never been my girlfriend."
"What?" B'Elanna said shocked, forgetting her pacing and just looking at her friend. "Everyone on this ship knows that you and Seven frequently enjoy the horizontal tango."
"And that's all they know," Kathryn pointed out. "But if you remember they were already whispering that when the two of us were still in a relationship. Simply because Seven liked to come over and share some philosophical conversations with me. Oh, they are alone in that room, they must be screwing like bunnies."
"True," B'Elanna was forced to agree. "Ironically enough, that softened my image a bit with the crew, at least those that cared enough to know that we were in a relationship. They thought that you were cheating on poor B'Elanna. And when I corrected them instead of killing you, they thought I was in denial and, hey, I must be Human after all since I'm reacting as a Human would." She hesitated for a moment before asking, "But if she isn't your girlfriend, then what is she?"
Kathryn sighed. "I had to reprimand Tom one for saying this about one of his friends while he was on duty and on the bridge, but since this is just us, I think it gets the situation across quite well. You could consider Seven and me 'friends with benefits'. We just let people think that it's a full relationship because it's easier for both of us. Can you imagine how it would be for Seven if people knew that there was no love interest between us?"
"The Captain's play Kitten?" B'Elanna guessed. But she knew that the crew would come up with names that were a lot less flattering than that. "So you two are just in it for the sex?"
"No, we are friends," Kathryn assured. "We do like do things together, just that one of those activities we like to do together is done between the sheets."
"So how did that happen?" B'Elanna wondered, having a feeling that her former lover would be willing to tell her exactly because they had been lovers once. "I mean, you said there is no love interest."
"There isn't," Kathryn assured. "Well there is the love of friendship. But not the kind of love you and I shared. As for how it happened." Now she chuckled. "Let's just say that I'm smarter than Harry. We had one of our philosophical discussions one day and the topic had turned to sex. She was only just starting to explore the idea that 'copulating' didn't only have to be for reproduction, but also could be simply for fun. I have to admit the talk turned me on a bit. And, well, then talk turned to the fact that if it's just for the joy of it instead of reproduction, there is also the option of having a partner of the same sex. And after that one thing led to another. And unlike Harry, when Seven offered to 'copulate' with me, I didn't run away."
"And you don't mind that there is no love?" B'Elanna asked amazed, to her there just had to be feelings in a relationship or else she could never be in it. "And she doesn’t mind either? You two have been seen together for the last four months now."
"We were seen doing stuff before that," Kathryn reminded. "It's just that Seven started to come to my quarters more at night, and eventually she will walk past the same people once too many and they see which door she goes to. And talk starts. But no, it benefits us both. I know that Seven is... well, using me. It started off with her wanting to learn. She wanted to know and enjoy sex without having to worry about a relationship. She discovered that she really liked it and simply cannot get into holographic people. She may be able to be tricked into feeling, but her optical implant keeps telling her all the time that the 'person' she is with is just a beam of light. It doesn't do anything for her. So after she learned what she wanted to know, she still enjoyed sex, and I was still around. As simple as that."
She winked. "And me? Well, I'm a forty-four year old woman. If a single, very hot looking woman I happen to like, which also happens to be seventeen years younger than me, wants to have sex with me. Well, I might be persuaded, you know?"
"Oh, I know," B'Elanna laughed. "You also didn't mind that I was fourteen years younger than you."
"Yeah, but you are thirty now, the dreaded three-zero. You are now too old for me, Now Seven, her I can enjoy for three more years before she hits the three-zero."
"You pig," B'Elanna grinned as she dropped down on the couch as well. She really liked the fact that this had stayed from their relationship. That behind closed doors they could interact so freely.
Kathryn grinned as well, only to have it change to a rueful look. "But in reality, I'm just keeping her warm... no pun intended. That's something our, um, interaction has taught her. She knows that she wants more. That she wants a real relationship. One where there is not just love, but where that love is accompanied by the word 'in'. But, with her Borg rationality she has decided that as long as there is no outlook for a relationship like that, why should we stop doing what we both like?"
Kathryn looked at B'Elanna as if an idea had just accrued to her. "Come to think of it, you might want to try and get to know her a bit. You two would make a great couple."
"Are you nuts?" 'B'Elanna asked, jumping up from the couch. "Look, we just reached the stage where I don't want to knock her teeth out as soon as I see her. I think that maybe, one day, we might be civil to each other and actually mean it instead of just doing it for the sake of the peace on the ship."
Kathryn shrugged. "Your loss, my gain."
Having calmed down a bit from the shock of the suggestion, B'Elanna narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Is that what you are doing here? Are you trying to play matchmaker again? You know you suck at it."
"Samantha and Neelix are still together," Kathryn reminded. " So are Witts and Kandell. Just because things didn't work because Chakotay and Jones, doesn't mean all my matchmakings sucks." She frowned. "I think that's called irony. Everyone assumes that I as a Captain have problems with relationships. I don't, I just don't go shoving the fact that I'm involved into everyone's face."
"True," B'Elanna agreed. "And the irony?"
"The irony is that everyone thinks that Chakotay is that easy to talk to, so calm, so nice. Everyone things he must be in a relationship all the time. But as far as I know, Seska was his last relationship. Well, I don't count his flings with strangers we come across that last only a few days. All of us do that if we aren’t involved and meet someone that isn't of the crew. It's a perk of space exploration, most Humanoid aliens are sexy as hell since they are just that bit different and we want to do a whole different kind of space exploration with them. But other than that, good old friendly Chakotay hasn't seen a woman nude in years."
"That's not irony," B'Elanna noted. "That's Chakotay being plain boring as hell."
"Well, there is that," Kathryn admitted.
"I consider him a friend," B'Elanna assured, "But I tell you, that guy is more boring than that wooden totem pole he had in that holodeck reproduction he showed us. A horny girl that wants to get laid might take the totem pole home and mistake Chakotay for the block of wood."
"Be nice," Kathryn chuckled.
After a moment of shared grins, B'Elanna sighed. "Alright, now that you got me yapping instead of being pissed for the mere suggestion of having to go on a mission with Seven, tell me about it. Why two weeks, that planet is only four days away. Come to think of it, why is nobody living there? It looks like a great base if nothing else. I mean with everyone here fighting everyone."
Kathryn patted the couch. "Sit down again." Once B'Elanna had done so, she continued. "The answer is combined actually. As Seven was scanning the planet more closely, she discovered a temporal anomaly. Time passes faster on the planet. If you are there it will feel like time passes normally, but time actually passes a hundred percent faster than it does outside the planet's sphere of influence. My guess is that this explains why nobody lives there. People land, they stay a few days and once they head back out they discover they stayed a few weeks."
Having a good idea what B'Elanna would ask next, Kathryn decided to beat her to it. "Now, if people actually knew about some of the stuff that the planet has to offer, they might be tempted to go there for short mining trips. But as you know, we are the most advanced 'group' in this area, and even we can only find those crystals with the help of Borg technology."
B'Elanna snorted. "Yeah, but being more advanced than them didn't stop them from being able to beat the crap out of Voyager. We can be lucky that we are fast and could run away once we got the engines back online."
"Brute force does not advanced technology make," Kathryn noted. "That's probably why they all have such powerful ships. They decided that bigger guns are the best option to be left alone or beat others. Anyway, since they don't see anything special on that planet, everyone sees the time shift on the planet as their life time being stolen. Nobly wants to go live on a planet that halves their life expectancy."
B'Elanna frowned. "But it doesn't. All our experienced with time fields have shown that. For the person time seems to pass as normal. Even if someone is on a ship caught in the event horizon of a black hole, time seems to pass normally for them. They can take a sip of a drink like normal. But for someone standing a light-year away it seems like you stopped moving and it actually takes a few centuries before you took that sip."
Kathryn chuckled. "That's almost word for word text from the academy starter classes."
B'Elanna waved her off. "Well, listening and remembering what was said was never the problem. I just thought that I sucked at what I was doing because nobody wanted to tell the tough half Klingon chick that she was actually doing a good job. Anyway, Klingons and humans can both live to be a hundred standard Federation years. Even on that planet it would feel like that to me. Just that on the outside I would seem to have died within fifty years. But to me it still felt like a hundred, I still did all the things I would have done in a hundred year life."
Kathryn lifted a finger, "Ah, but are you planning to go live there? As I said, people explore the planet and see that time passes faster there. And they just reach the conclusion that if they go live there, they would lose half their life. It's not true, but it sure looks that way."
"Ah, I guess I can see the point," B'Elanna admitted.
"And that also explains the two weeks," Kathryn continued. "Traveling to the planet will take four days, four to be back, that's eight. Then you have three days on the planet. One to find a good spot and set up camp, one to explore and begin the mining operation, and then one day full day of mining. But since you are on the planet those three days will be six to us. So in Federation time your mission will be fourteen days, in your time it will be eleven."
"But that's still eleven," B'Elanna began.
"And," Kathryn interrupted, "Seven needs to be on that team because she is the only one that can read the scanners. And I need you on that team because we are using mining equipment, which might need repairs, and a strong person that can lift stuff, and someone that is smart enough to actually understand the technical stuff Seven will be saying, and that is capable of surviving in the wild if needed. We don't know flora and fauna on that planet, I need someone there that is smart enough to not pick up a snake because it looks pretty. You really are the best choice. Anyone else might only fill two parts of that. Tuvok would be able to understand her and be strong enough for the physical work, but he won't be able to do potential repairs. Chakotay,"
"Would kill her by being even more boring than she is," B'Elanna interrupted with a grin, slowly accepting her fate. Now that she knew that there was a good reason for it. "And Tom would drive her insane with his flirting. So much so that she might kill him."
"Hmm, maybe that will be another benefit to this trip," Kathryn noted. "Since you will need to interact, you might find out that Seven isn't boring at all. Believe me, she is far from the Ice Princess as you like to call her."
"Her being hot in bed doesn't mean she is hot at interesting talk," B'Elanna smirked.
Kathryn opened her mouth to give a defense, and then decided to change what she was going to say. "B'Elanna, you have no idea. No idea at all. Trust me on this, there is nothing ice about her. More like fire; a fiery Succubus."
"Succubus?" B'Elanna asked surprised. "A demon woman that temps people into giving up their sous? That doesn't sound too flattering."
"Maybe not," Kathryn agreed. "But you have never seen the look in her eyes as she crawled up your body and you just know, know with every fiber of your body, that you have no defense against her and will do whatever she asks you to."
B'Elanna's eyes lifted. "And you, the control freak that you are, go along with it? I distinctly remembering you wanting to be in control in bed."
Kathryn shrugged. "That was you and me. There it was different. You like a little battle of wills to see who is on top in more ways than one. Seven doesn't like that. She likes to just have fun. And if she wants something specific she just looks at you and says please in a tone of voice that could set ice on fire." She signed. "Anyway, so will you play nice and just go on the damn mission, or will I have to threaten you with the brig... again?"
B'Elanna chuckled. "Fine, I'll go on your mission and I'll even try to play nice with your girl, how about that?"
Kathryn let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ah, if only all would take my orders this fuss-less."
"I knew I gave up too easily," B'Elanna shot back.
"Don't start," Kathryn warned. "If it was anyone else I would have kicked them out of my ready-room long ago with the warning to just follow the bloody orders."
B'Elanna started to get up, only to be pulled back by Kathryn. "Hey, stay a bit. Come on, you snooped about Seven and me, how about filling me in a bit about what's going on with you. I know that you are still officially single, but surely there must be someone you have some fun with occasionally."
"Can't say I do," B'Elanna said as she dropped back once more. "But unlike your girl I have no problem with having some fun on the holodeck. I discovered that taking it there is easier than starting another relationship."
Kathryn frowned. "A bit lonely though. Surely you must miss some human contact. I know that even you like to cuddle from time to time, like the simple fact of reaching up and....
~~~
.... and moved some of those blonde strands out of Seven's eyes. "I'm going to miss you," Kathryn admitted.
Seven leaned down and offered her a sweet kiss. "You are going to miss my vibrating fingers you mean."
"Well, them too," Kathryn admitted with a chuckle as she took Seven's Borg enhanced hand and placed a kiss on the fingers in question. "And of course your hot body to play with. I'm going to miss that too. But I'm also going to miss you as a person. We might not have a romantic relationship, but you are still my best friend, I'm still going to miss your company."
Seven rolled them over until Kathryn was on top of her. "You can be so nice if you want to. You should let more of the crew see that side of you."
Kathryn shook her head. "Nope, I'm the captain. If they want to get close they will try. Otherwise it's only going to be people that want to play nice with the captain. I don't need that."
Seven gently urged her further up until Kathryn's most intimate flesh was well within reach of a very skilled mouth. "But playing nice with the captain can be so much fun."
Kathryn chuckled and hummed her agreement as Seven started to kiss and tease. "Well, it would get kinda crowded in here is all played with the captain like you do, my dear."
Seven stopped what she was doing for a moment and look up. "True. Plus I would not be amused if we could only do this on appointment from now on because others would have to... fit in... the schedule. But promise me that you will try to have some fun while I am gone. Two weeks, Kathryn, that is a long time. See if you can find someone else to play with while I am gone."
Kathryn opened her mouth to reply, but then could only let out a satisfied moan when Seven clearly decided that her mouth could be put to better use than talking.
~~~
>B/7 travel.
Silence hang in the cockpit of the shuttle. They were underway for almost four hours now, and the only words exchanged between them had been a cool if polite greeting, and then the standard shuttle checks and talk to Voyager when leaving.
B'Elanna started to hum out of boredom, but then stopped when she saw Seven glance in her direction. She looked around for something to do and found nothing but the shuttles instruments. She started a scan of their surroundings. Not that it would show anything they didn't know. Still it paid to be prepared in this area where everyone was fighting everyone.
Their shuttle should be safe, they had been told on the starbase. Well, after telling them interesting stuff like that they were nuts to try and explore the planet. They would not survive it; nobody ever had, and so on. Still, on the journey they should be safe. More so because they didn't belong to any of the factions. Voyager had been attacked because it was clearly a ship that could be a threat. But all in all smaller ships under twenty-five meters long were normally ignored. Scanned to see if they were a disguised bomb, but otherwise left alone.
The reason was twofold. First, a faction could only have so many battle ships. If you were always hunting down smaller ships, you would not have time to fight a war. And second, planetary governments had disappeared centuries ago. Now each warring faction was controlled by either big families, or organizations that liked to call themselves business organizations. It would not do to destroy a small ship, and as a result have one of the factions that you aren’t at war with at that time, come after you because you just killed some leader's mother.
It didn't really make sense to B'Elanna. If it was her she would actually hunt down shuttles. If it was a friend, you could just let them go. But you could just as easily capture someone that you can hold for ransom, or even an enemy leader you could kill. But it was one of the strange little unwritten rules that seemed to have formed in this several sectors wide warzone, and who was she to argue with a way of behavior that was protecting them right now?
She remembered a story her father had once told her. Well, he had been talking to someone and she was allowed to hear it anyway. Back in the far history of Earth, during the war that was called the First World War, armies were involved in trench warfare. They were killing and butchering each other. But then Christmas came and at midnight they stopped shooting. Enemies went to each other's trenches, wishing a merry Christmas, exchanged rations and alcohol. Even joked. Then a few hours later they bid each other goodbye, the enemy waited until the others were back in their own tranches... and then the shooting started again. So how exactly was shuttles not being hunted down stranger than enemies sharing rations before going back to shoot at each other?
She started to tap her fingers on her legs. "Ta, tada, tada, tadum. Pom tiepom tiepom. Tadaa ta.... ehm." She lifted her hands a little. "Sorry. I'm just bored stiff."
"We were on an away mission before," Seven reminded. "You were not as fidgety then."
"No, because I had other things on my mind," B'Elanna agreed.
"Then maybe you should visit those memories again? Seven offered.
B'Elanna shrugged. "Nah, I don't really want to kill you that badly anymore. It would not be as much fun now to think of different ways for you to have an 'accident' and die a horribly slow death."
"I... see," Seven said slowly. "I could annoy you if you wish; it's not that hard."
B'Elanna sighed. "This is going to be a long week."
"Eleven days," Seven corrected. "For us at least."
"Well, it sounds better if I call it a week," B'Elanna countered.
"Feel free to retreat to the back," Seven offered.
B'Elanna looked over her shoulder at the door of the cockpit. When opened it would show a little two yard long corridor that served as an airlock with the back cabin if needed, but was mostly designed to house the shuttle's utilities in more normal use. On one side there was the shuttle's replicator and beside that the first aid station.
On the other side was the shuttle's 'wet' room. It housed a toilet and sink with faucet in standard setting. But with one push of a button the toilet would fold into the wall and you had a shower room where you could even have a hydro shower if you preferred; with the water coming directly from an extra line from the replicator. Behind that was an area used for cargo or crew quarters. It had four beds mounted to the walls that could be folded away, and a table with chairs that could be folded into the floor if the room was needed for cargo.
All in all it was small, but because they were only two people, it was more than enough room to survive for two weeks. In that regard they were actually better off in this standard shuttle. Even though the Delta Flyer was bigger, it had a dedicated cargo and a dedicated crew area. Which made for cramped crew quarters because you still wanted as much as possible cargo room. But now they had all the room to live in. And even when they went back they should have enough room. This rare form of dilithium was just that; rare. They would be lucky if they managed to find a hundred kilos. But even if they were really lucky and were to find double that, it would still fit into two cargo crates that could just be stacked against the wall.
"Neh," B'Elanna decided. "But since this is a four day trip one way, why don't we do this in shifts? You man the con eight hours, I do the next eight, and so on. That way the other can relax or sleep in the back."
"Very well," Seven agreed.
After a moment of silence, B'Elanna added, "So, um, I guess you are taking the first shift?"
"I am already monitoring the course and sensors," Seven pointed out.
"Right, right," B'Elanna said as she got up. "Such a damn long two weeks," She mumbled as she moved past Seven.
~~~
> B/7 arrive at planet.
Four days later, B'Elanna was glad to see the planet. They had survived, and hardly talked. It had really been nothing else than sleeping, reading a PADD in the back, taking the PADD to the front to man the cockpit and read some more, and then go back to sleep some more. Not counting small things like eating and taking showers of course. It was strange they had talked more when they still hated each other, even if it was just to argue. But now there just seemed nothing to talk about, or at least it seemed that way to B'Elanna.
B'Elanna looked at the readings of the planet. All in all they confirmed the readings that the long range sensors had given them. There were small differences, but that was normal if you could finally scan something up close.
The planet had a lush greenish color, broken up a bit by some softer blue. This because it existed out of sixty-one percent land and thirty-nine percent water, which resulted in the interesting paradox of the surface of the planet being mostly land, and yet have the big land masses surrounded with water and provide a global water flow system that was so needed for good heat distribution. Just that the continents were quite big compared to the water masses.
"I see a lot of big lakes though," B'Elanna said, mostly to her own thoughts.
"It is one of the reasons why the planet is so lush green," Seven informed. "The larger land masses would normally mean that the hearts of continents dry out. However, the rather big lakes provide enough water vapor to provide rain 'down wind' and therefore the entire land masses get rainfall. It provides the interesting phenomena that one can say with high levels of certainty that it will rain or not, all depending on the wind direction."
B'Elanna decided to not point out that she already knew that. After four days of pretty much all silence, she was glad for a conversation, even if it was Seven that was doing the talking. "It's about fifteen percent larger than Earth, but the denser core means that we will be faced with a gravity of two g instead of Earth's one g. For me that's not much a problem since that's what Qo'noS has as well, and my Klingon genes gave me a body that can cope with that. But will it be a problem for you?"
"It will not," Seven assured. "My implants will compensate for the difference. I will not even notice it, other than the fact that I will have to eat more nutrients to compensate for the increased calorie burn. Scans show still no sentient life on the planet. For some reason people truly seem to shun this planet."
"I had a discussion about that with the Captain," B'Elanna said thoughtfully. "She seems to think that it's simply that people think that they will lose half their life by going to live there."
"Kathryn told me about your discussion," Seven informed, and B'Elanna couldn't help but stumble a bit over just how easy the name rolled off the blonde's lips. She had a feeling that it was one of the reasons why Seven didn't say the captain's first name in public often. The way Seven said the name it sounded... private, intimate. "Her explanation seems logical." Seven finished.
"Yeah, well, I still don't think that's all there is to it," B'Elanna countered. "If that was all, eventually you would still get people that realize that they themselves would still feel like they lived a full life. And not being bothered by other people would only be a plus to some. In a war torn area of space like this, surely there must be some people that feel that living here in peace is better than living out there under attack. I think it's more stuff like back on the starbase. Remember when Kathryn talked to the base public relations officer?" B'Elanna felt a little twinge of guileful glee from seeing that Seven had clearly noticed that B'Elanna could also say the Captain's name in a way normally best suited for private conversations, and had noticed how easily and casually she had used it.
"Of course I remember," Seven pointed out the to her obvious. "Though I feel that the public relations officer was actually the highest ranking person on that base, save the owners."
B'Elanna chuckled. "Well of course. With so many factions with big guns, you bet your ass that the guy that makes sure that the base stays neutral is a high up guy. After all he just has to make one wrong comment and someone might decide that trying to take over the base might be a good thing. Anyway, I think it's more stuff like that. The remarks he made, like this is a suicide mission. All it takes is for a few first tries to go wrong because people underestimated the climate or the sharp toothed animals and everyone thinks you will die here."
"It is a... interesting solar system," Seven said after a moment. "One star, this planet, and then a gas giant a little further out that is so big that it can classify as a failed star; a brown dwarf."
"Which is a good thing for this planet," B'Elanna pointed out. "Every solar system where there is life on a planet better have a gas giant on the outside to capture all the asteroids and comets or else you will have a mass extinction every ten thousand years."
"True," Seven agreed. "However it does mean that even though this planet orbits the star, the mass of the brown dwarf assures that the star and the dwarf rotate around each other."
"Eh, more like the dwarf rotates around the star and makes the star wobble a bit," B'Elanna disagreed.
"And since that wobble is in a circular motion, it is classified as orbiting around the brown dwarf," Seven couldn't help but counter. "Plus, it is quite more than 'a bit'. I estimate that the 'wobble' measures a little over one astronomical unit."
B'Elanna shrugged, not wanting to get into an argument. "Still, it's good for the planet though. Two major rock catchers that make sure the planet doesn't get hit. And it tucked safely in the middle. I bet there is less chance of an impact on that planet than there is on Qo'noS or Earth. No moons though, which means, no tides."
"I believe there are," Seven disagreed. "The drown dwarf and the star are both tugging at the water, the closer the planet is to the brown dwarf, the more it will affect the water on the planet as well. I believe that the star's gravity will cause one tide during a day, as that side of the planet rotates towards the star. And as the planet gets closer to the brown dwarf that slowly a second tide will start, which will build and after its peak also will slowly decline. So there will be tides, just that they will be gentle ones; ones that you can out walk if you were caught in a place where there is normally water if the tide didn't pull it away. Plus there will be tide seasons. If the planet is far away from the gas giant there will only de the daily one, which will always be at the highest point mid day, and lowest point mid night. And then as the year continues and the planet rotates closer to the brown dwarf a second tide will start. Which will be harder to calculate when it will arrive during the day because it depends on at what angle the brown star is compared to this planet."
"Fair enough," B'Elanna conceded, but mostly just to get the subject to drop. She had just made a thoughtful comment; she hadn't expected to get a lecture on 'know that tide'. She pointed at the screen. "How about here for a landing place? It's smack in the middle of that continent, but pretty close to that big lake. The closeness of that big water mass should bring the temperature down a bit."
Seven frowned. "If you are worried about the temperature, then why pick a spot close to the planet's equator? Sensors indicate that the temperature in that zone is thirty-five degrees Celsius at the moment. And my guess is that it will only cool by ten degrees in the evening."
"It's not close to the equator," B'Elanna disagreed. "Ten degrees latitude off the equator, in fact. Inside the tropical belt, yes, but halfway down to the edge of it. I just remember what you said; we can't scan for the dilithium from here. The temporal anomaly of the planet means that the sensors simply don't have the time to pinpoint the deposits. By the time they noticed that there are deposits, the planet already rotated and the only thing you know for sure is that it 'won't' be in the spot the sensors indicate."
"True," Seven agreed, all but adding the 'so' by the way she had said it.
"So we need to land and do scans from there," B'Elanna continued to explain. "Once we are in tune with the planet's time. I figure that we should take a spot to land that is kinda in the middle; easy to get to other places. And before you point it out, a planet is round; all places are in the middle. But the way I see it, I much rather land in a nice and warm spot instead of on the planets frozen poles." She tapped the screen with a finger. "And that's the biggest continent, so a lot of landmass within reach, so to speak."
"Very well," Seven agreed. "Should I start the landing procedure?"
"Sure," B'Elanna agreed as she leaned back in her chair.
Seven put on the seatbelt and upper torso straps, and saw that B'Elanna had only bothered with the seatbelt. "And the rest?"
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. "Look, the seatbelt is more than enough to keep me in my chair alright? I hate the torso straps; they prevent me from reaching buttons."
"You will be sorry," Seven said, and B'Elanna could sooo fill in the singsong tone that should have accompanied it.
"Yeah, if something happens I'll be sorry for letting you do the landing. Now get to it or else I will."
"Very well," Seven said as she already started to move the shuttle closer.
~~~