Sometimes, Things Just Work Out

A/N: Oops, set the wrong day for the chapter, but I'm not going to take it down. Hope you guys enjoy!

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"Argh, come on! I need some ideas! I'm begging you," I whined.

We were stuck at the beginning of an episode which I had seen coming a few days ago when I 'smelled' the hormonal imbalance coming off of Ensign Vorik, a Vulcan engineer. I had noticed it when I stopped by Engineering to talk with Raven, and my hunch had been confirmed this morning when we detected gallicite on a seemingly abandoned planet. Vorik had started his first pon farr, which was why he had not noticed it yet himself, and by now, he had accidentally transmitted his condition to B'Elanna via a telepathic mating bond.

Katye and I had been drafted into helping with the mining operation in the morning alongside B'Elanna and Tom, but that was why I was stressing out now. This episode had been the first clear spark of the relationship between Tom and B'Elanna, which was something that I desperately wanted to happen this time as well. The problem was that there was no Neelix to fall and get injured, while also angering B'Elanna enough that she storms off and leaves Tom and Neelix behind. With us there, no one should get hurt, and even if they did, I could heal them with ease. I had no idea how things would play out, but it was doubtful that things would end up the same.

"There isn't much that we can do at this point other than play it by ear," Katye replied as she sat down at the table. "She already has the pon farr, if your memory is correct, so as soon she starts getting frisky, we can just seal Tom and her in a tunnel for privacy."

Echo and Raven chuckled while I rolled my eyes and retorted, "As soon as she starts acting crazy Tom will want to call the ship, and it's not like she's going to be able to storm off like she did in the show, so they will figure out what's wrong with her, and Tom is too noble to take advantage of her in that state."

"Then you just need to block communication from the planet to the ship. We can replicate a device that the Voyager's sensors won't be able to pick up," Raven commented.

"That... could work," I said, trying to think of any other problems, but not coming up with anything at the moment.

"Then stop your whining and eat your meal," Echo said.

I smirked, shaking my head, while Katye and Raven chuckled. Katye had made Echo's favorite tonight, so my concerns were annoying her and ruining the meal; I had heard the complaint before. We ate our meal and then retired to our nightly training. The next morning Katye and I headed to Transporter Room Two, where we met Tom, who was already there.

"Good morning, Tom," Katye said as we walked in.

"Good morning, Katye, Becca," Tom greeted with a casual smile.

He was in a silver uniform with a single red streak that circled his chest and shoulders at the level where the red would stop on his traditional red and black uniform. The style of uniform was meant for intense activities like spelunking and mining since it was more durable, and surprisingly, stain resistant. Katye and I, however, were in our normal uniforms since nothing was really going to be intense for us.

"Ah, you three are awfully prompt," B'Elanna remarked as she walked into the room.

"Impressed?" Tom asked with a smile.

"Oh, it'll take a little more work than that to impress me, Lieutenant," she retorted with a smirk.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied in a flirtatious tone.

"All right. Let me show you our target area," B'Elanna said as she led us over to the transporter console. "This seems to be the most accessible vein of gallicite. We'll beam to the surface, then go down through this passageway until it dead-ends in this chamber. Then we'll descend almost fifty meters, almost straight down. Do you see any problem with that, Tom?"

"Um..." he said, awkwardly, "well, as long as we go slow and easy, we'll be fine."

{She does remember we're here, right? Like, she said 'the three of you',} Katye sent silently to me.

"Good. You're all set, Becca and Katye?" she asked, turning to us.

"Yeah, we're ready," I replied then sent back, {She definitely has the pon farr; her hormones are tickling my nose. Tom and the mission are probably the only things that she can think about right now.}

"Great! Let's get going!" B'Elanna exclaimed.

Even without my enhanced sense of smell, it was easy to tell that something was off with her. She was always a bit high strung and quick to anger, but the level of excitement in her voice was more than it should be for such a simple mission. Of course, no one was going to ask what was wrong with her, since her being excited was better than her being annoyed or angry.

We followed B'Elanna onto the transporter pad then beamed down to the planet. We were placed in the middle of a forest, on an overgrown sandy road, though it was barely recognizable. Not too far away, there were ruins that were little more than a few carved, broken pillars, and some stone steps. Everyone pulled out their tricorders and started scanning, but only I was interested in the ruins.

"This way," B'Elanna said, taking the lead.

"Look over here. This must have been the colony," I said, walking in the opposite direction of B'Elanna.

"Not more than fifty or sixty years ago... hardly enough time for these structures to decay so badly," Tom remarked, examining one of the broken pillars.

"They must have suffered some kind of a disaster, or an attack," I replied.

"Well, we'll send down an archaeological team later on. Right now, we've got our own work to do," B'Elanna said dismissively.

"Are we in a rush, Lieutenant?" I asked with a chuckle, closing my tricorder.

"I just don't see any point in wasting time. We aren't equipped for an archaeological survey... ma'am," she replied.

"I suppose we aren't. Lead on then, B'Elanna," I retorted.

Tom gave me a subtle look while Katye was suppressing the urge to chuckle. The trip to, and down, the mining tunnels was significantly less interesting than it had been in the show thanks to my powers. I took the lead and created a series of stairs straight out of the rock under our feet which distracted Tom and B'Elanna while Katye set up the communication blocker.

Once we had made it to the bottom of the fifty meters downward tunnel, B'Elanna took the lead once again. We explored the tunnels for some time before we stumbled upon the source of the gallicite, but it was not what Tom and B'Elanna had been expecting. It was the plating for an alien power conduit, but before we could study it in too much detail, ten people entered the range of my Earth Domain.

"B'Elanna, Tom, get between us," I ordered.

"What? No! This is exactly what we need!" B'Elanna argued.

"Perhaps, but this planet is not as abandoned as our sensors made it seem," I retorted.

"What?!?" Tom asked with shock.

I did not need to explain as the ten people I sensed revealed themselves while pointing their weapons at us.

"Who are you? What do you want?" the man closest to me questioned.

"My name is Rebecca. I assure you that we have no hostile intentions. Our ship's sensors picked up the gallicite, so we were hoping to get some to repair some equipment on our ship since your world appeared to be uninhabited," I explained.

"Yet you knew that we approached?" he accused.

"It is an ability of my race," I replied, holding out a hand and creating a short stone pillar. "I can connect myself to the rock around me and was able to 'hear' your footsteps, but our scanning devices still do not pick up your life signs."

"Why are you carrying weapons then?"

"Standard practice when visiting an unfamiliar world."

"Let me see one," he requested.

I pulled my phaser off my waist slowly and held it out to him by the muzzle. He took it and looked it over, but as he started to hand it back, a device began beeping. Stranger yet was the sensation of the earthquake rushing towards us. It was like a tidal wave of Earth mana rapidly approaching us and, despite my skill with the element, I had little faith in preventing it from shaking our location badly.

"What's that?" B'Elanna asked with a bit of panic.

"Earthquake," Katye breathed before anyone else could respond.

She was stronger with the element than me, due to her natural affinity for it, so she took the lead on locking down the area. We had learned to meld our Domains and reinforce each other long ago, but this was not something we had ever done before. We were fighting a Force of Nature, a naturally created one, or one made by Tori or his Pantheon to give us a spook, so it had far more Authority over the element than either of us, or even the energy-based weapons of this universe did. For a split second, it almost seemed to work, but then our Domains cracked under the pressure, shaking the cavern and hitting us with a backlash.

Rocks fell from the ceiling, heading straight for Tom and B'Elanna, so, despite my splitting headache and blood dripping from my eye, I sent out a blast of air that knocked the pair into one of the tunnels, out of the way. Katye guessed my plan without a word, and stabilized that section of the tunnel, so that they would be protected from the aftershocks, although sealed inside the small pocket. The aliens took that moment when we were distracted to disappear into their hidden tunnels, but neither of us wanted to go after them.

"Tom to Rebecca! Do you read me?" my comm badge chimed.

"Yeah, I got you. Are you two okay?" I asked, tapping my badge.

"Other than being sealed in a small space, yeah. Can you do something about it?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, not right now. Katye and I were both hit with a backlash trying to fight that quake, and then a second to get you out of the way of the falling rocks. All we can do is call Voyager and ask for help, or risk more damage to ourselves," I sighed.

"You fight starships! How can an earthquake hurt you?" B'Elanna snapped.

"Because there is more to mana than just energy. Authority is an important part of mana's strength and a naturally occurring earthquake holds more of a punch than an artificially made weapon of mass destruction to us. As much as we would love to be all powerful, there are limits to our abilities. We were normal humans fourteen years ago, our perspective, Lieutenant," I chided.

"I'm sorry, Captain," B'Elanna said.

"I know you are frustrated, B'Elanna. I'm sorry that I can't do more right now. Let me call Voyager and get Raven down here. She can move rock easier than Echo," I replied, knowing full well that I could not reach the starship.

Katye was giving me a smirking look despite the migraine that I knew she must have.

"Rebecca to Voyager... Rebecca to Voyager; do you read me?" I asked, tapping my badge again. "Tom, B'Elanna, can either of you get through?"

They were quiet for a few moments, before Tom replied, "We can't get through... What should we do?"

"I'm not sure. The quake could have blocked the way back to the surface, so I think it would be better for us to just wait until Voyager realizes that there's a problem, or we manage to recover from the backlash, whichever comes first. If Katye and I meditate, we should be able to free you, at the least, but it could take a few hours," I replied.

"I guess we don't have any other choice," Tom sighed.

"I'm sorry. If you feel like you don't have enough air or some other problem, let us know and we can try to open the way, but you'll be carrying one or both of us out of here," I replied.

"Alright, we'll sit tight then," he said.

I tapped my badge, shutting off communications, and smirked at Katye.

"Well, wasn't that convenient?" she teased as she sat down and leaned against a stone wall.

Before I could reply, there was a flash of white light next to her and a gold coin appeared. I could only chuckle since I had figured that he was behind this whole event as it was worse than the show, though that might have been our doing by trying to stop it. Not bothering with the coin, I sat down next to her and rested my head on her shoulder.

"Taking bets: One, he did this to show us something, two, he did this as a reward for something, or three, he heard me cursing him in my mind?" I chuckled.

"I'm betting all three," Katye retorted.

Despite the pounding in my head, I picked up the coin and injected a bit of mana into it. Sancu's voice boomed through my mind, and I could only chuckle weakly again.

"You win. He was showing us the strength of a natural occurring Force of Nature while also giving us plenty of reasons for why those two would need to be locked away, as my rewards for surviving the Q Continuum, and taunting me because of my thoughts. What reward do you want?"

"Just for you to relax. If we can find the Borg corpse before we go, great, but if not, we'll still stumble upon that cube. We've done enough for one day," Katye replied.

"Twist my arm," I replied with a yawn and closed my eyes.