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Recap from Chapter Forty-One
B'Elanna went to Kathryn and put her arm around her. "Don't worry Captain, They will get her." Kathryn patted B'Elanna's arm and stood ram rod still with her eyes glued to the transporter pad.
"Boosting the confinement beam." Harry adjusted the controls as the blue light intensified. "I've got it." When the blue light vanished, all that materialized on the transporter pad was Seven's commbadge.
"Noooo!" Kathryn stumbled forward, caught in B'Elanna's strong grasp. The raw exclamation from the captain pierced the silence; punctuating the shock they were all feeling.
Chapter Forty-Two
Tuvok was already scanning the planet's surface, not willing to accept that Seven was gone. Without a commbadge to lock on to, he initiated a long-range multiphasic bioscan for any and all life signs.
"Captain, I have detected humanoid life signs a little over sixty meters away from the beam out coordinates. It would appear that Seven is alive and moving away from the shelter toward the mining caves."
The relief was unmistakable on everyone's faces, especially Kathryn's. She turned to look at B'Elanna, using the time to blink back the tears and secure her command mask in place. She appreciated the smile of understanding and encouragement she saw in her chief engineer.
Tom went to the transporter pad to pick up Seven's commbadge. He tentatively moved toward the captain to hand it to her. Even in full Captain Mode, Tom could see the pain in her eyes.
The EMH materialized inside the doorway, tricorder in hand, to assess the age reversal results of his crewmates. When he did not see Seven among those assembled, his displeasure at being kept out of the loop was clear.
"Is somebody going to tell me what is going on here? Where is Seven? I expected an update by now. Instead I had to come here myself to see if everyone was okay." The doctor ran the tricorder quickly over B'Elanna and pronounced her reversal successful. He became concerned, however, when looking at the results for the Captain.
"Captain, your adrenaline levels are off the chart. Otherwise you seem like your old self, no pun intended. I will have to run a complete analysis on both you and Lieutenant Torres, but that can wait. Now where is Seven? Have you beamed her back yet?" His question prompted an uncomfortable silence.
It was B'Elanna who stepped forward to talk to the doctor. "It looks like Seven wanted to take a little more time before beaming back. She is still down on the planet." Giving the EMH time to digest this information, B'Elanna moved to join Tuvok and Harry at the transporter control console. She was grateful to be tall enough to see the display again, without the aid of a step stool.
B'Elanna and Harry bent over the transporter display, adjusting the scanners. After a minute, B'Elanna spoke up. "Captain, we have a skeletal lock on Seven. We can monitor her movements and beam her out in an emergency. We can also use it to set coordinates to beam down to her if necessary. This way we can give her some time to herself, but still keep tabs on her."
