Star Trek Voyager: Frozen

Star Trek Voyager: Frozen (Chapter 1)

Seven sat at her normal place round the briefing room table, she was slightly early for the impromptu meeting the Captain had called. The sound of rapid human chatter warned her of Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim’s arrival before they came in and sat at their assigned places. They were arguing about something inconsequential, as was almost always the case and she allowed her mind to wander beyond them. “Penny for your thoughts?” Seven jumped and turned sharply to see Commander Chakotay sitting beside her, far from his normal position nearer the top of the table, gazing intently at her face.

“Commander?” she questioned, feeling that by now familiar nervous tension wash over her at his closeness.

“I was wondering what you were thinking about…you seemed distracted.”

Seven fought the blush that was threatening her face, what a strange intimate question. Well she certainly couldn’t be honest, since it had been he himself that had occupied her thoughts. How could she respond? Perhaps he was angry at her for not concentrating on the meeting ahead. “I apologise Commander, I will not permit such a lapse in concentration again.”

“I wasn’t telling you off Seven, we’re all allowed to daydream sometimes.” Abashed by how his attempt at friendly conversation had been taken, he fell silent.

Just then B’Elanna, Tuvok, the Captain and a male Ensign Seven dimly recognised but couldn’t name entered the room. She expected Chakotay to rise to join them but he stayed where he was, keeping his eyes focused on her. Desperately she searched around for what this could mean, yes they had become closer since the incident with the Ventu the previous month but his expression was one she hadn’t seen before. Mentally she began to berate herself, why should she be taking interest in his expression? Perhaps she had something on her face and he was too polite to tell her? Unconsciously she brushed at the side of her face facing him, finding nothing amiss. She glanced up and saw that B’Elanna’s face reflected her own confusion as she observed how close Chakotay and she were sitting with raised eyebrows.

Everyone was pulled from their own thoughts as the Captain spoke, standing beside the Ensign. “Good morning everyone, I’m sure you’re all aware that we are running low on deuterium…”

“Yes Captain.” Said everyone in well trained unison.

“I’ve called this meeting because Ensign Hendricks here…” she indicated to the Ensign beside her. “…has come up with an interesting proposal.” She smiled at him, “Go ahead and tell them yourself Ensign.”

Hendricks swallowed and stepped forward, “Well, I was thinking of a solution and I thought about my father’s experimental extraction methods…he was the foreman at a deuterium mine you see and I looked at Seven of Nine’s most recent maps of the area and I think there’s a planet 2.5 light years from here that’s a candidate for frozen deuterium…”

Seven stood up, “You know of a way to extract deuterium from ice?”

Hendricks looked very nervous of Seven and spoke shakily. “My father thought he had a way…he shared it with me.” He handed Seven a data pad and she read over it quickly.

“I believe this method is plausible Captain.”

“Good! I thought so too.” Said the Captain. “My suggestion is that we form an away team to go down to this planet and attempt the method on a small scale before we try to refuel the ship using it. Hendricks would go of course and you Seven but…”

“I’ll go Captain.” Chakotay volunteered almost immediately.

Seven tried not to let her discomfiture show but how was she supposed to concentrate on mining if Chakotay went with them?

The Captain of course did not share her concerns. “I was hoping you would Chakotay. Set out at 1500 hours.”

They all began to leave to start to prepare but B’Elanna caught Chakotay by the arm. “Why are you suddenly so desperate to go on this away mission?”

Chakotay tried to sidestep the question. “It sounds…interesting.”

“Oh? Are you sure it’s the mission you find interesting? You seem awfully attached to Seven of Nine all of a sudden.”

Chakotay fought the urge to gulp. “She’s…a member of the crew that’s all.”

B’Elanna looked at him seriously, “Not to you she’s not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he said as calmly as he could, though he could feel his blood pressure rising.

“Hopefully nothing.” She replied before turning and walking out the door.

1500 hours came and went and Chakotay, Seven and Hendricks were on a shuttle approaching the planet. Seven tried to concentrate on what Hendricks was telling her and keep her eyes from Chakotay’s back but was failing dismally. Chakotay was supposed to be piloting but was concentrating more on the exchange behind him. Hendricks sounds nervous, can I blame him? He’s not the only one nervous around Seven but for a completely different reason. Maybe his reasons aren’t too different, she’s an attractive woman. A stab of jealousy hit him; he’s too immature for her! Well, how old is Seven? Late twenties, much closer in age to Hendricks than you.

These trains of thought were interrupted by Hendricks shouting, “Look, there it is!”

The white sphere of ice and snow that made up the planet loomed before them. “Where do you think we should land?” Chakotay asked Seven.

“The far north west shows the highest concentration of deuterium.” She replied.

“Right, north west it is then.” He turned the shuttle and began to prepare for landing but as soon as they came into orbit the shuttle gave an ominous shudder. “What’s happening?”

“I am uncertain…” Seven started as the shuttle began to fall at ever increasing speed. Running scans she noticed something she had neglected to see before. “The planet’s core is too magnetic; we have to get out of orbit before…”

The warning came too late. After a few gut wrenching seconds the shuttle crashed to the surface, jerking them all forward as it came to a halt. Seven blearily lifted her head, but before she could react there was a sinister crack beneath them and the shuttle dropped again. Seven blinked awake and cried out in horror. There was a huge hole in the side of the shuttle and it was quickly filling with water. Lifting her legs out of the freezing water as quickly as she could she saw Hendricks slumped on the console head bleeding, up to his ankles in water. Ignoring a sharp pain in her left side she opened the emergency hatch and used all her strength to heave him out of the shuttle and onto the frozen ground below. She looked out to see that the shuttle was rapidly sinking into a lake of some sort but Hendricks had found solid ground. “Commander!” She looked for him desperately before seeing that he was face down in the water at the front of the shuttle. Grabbing his back she pulled up his lifeless body, having the presence of mind to grab the emergency medical kit before jumping out with him onto the snow covered ground.

Ignoring Hendricks, she spread Chakotay out on the ground, panic rose in her soul as she realised he had stopped breathing. On auto pilot she began giving him CPR, pressing on his chest and breathing into his mouth. Still nothing. A sob burst from her lips, “No, Commander!” Again she tried, but he remained lifeless. “Please Chakotay…” she began to plead tearfully, before deciding to give it one more go. Pressing her mouth over his she mentally begged him to breathe. A splutter and then a cough answered her and she pulled her face back as he coughed up water. Seeing Seven’s white frightened face so close to his set his heart racing. “What…happened Seven?” he spluttered in confusion. She was too overwhelmed to answer him, collapsing onto his chest with what he thought was a sob but then decided he must have imagined it, for he couldn’t believe Seven would cry over him.