Blood Fever Revisited

(Part 1)

By Coral

Coral's Story Index ~ Email Coral

Disclaimer: Paramount, this is all your fault.

Oh maaaaaan. The long awaited answer to the Blood Fever Challenge is finally here. This... this... bane of my existence has taken nearly two months, due to repeated computer failures and accidents. I'm just glad it's all over!

The Blood Fever Challenge:

The Blood Fever Challenge: Write a J/C version of Blood Fever, whether it is Tuvok or Vorik that goes through the Pon Farr or another alien race with something similar is up to you.
It must be at least 1000 words long.
It must include the phrases:
"This isn't about the gun this is about sex, but that's not going to happen right now." (where gun can be replaced with something else if you wish)
and
"I hope one day you'll say that to me and mean it."

That's it. Have fun.

Many thanks to my betareaders, Hejira, Yarb and Bex, despite the lack of any good title ideas!

This is dedicated to Laura, because it's her fault too.

***

Captain's Log, stardate 50537.2. Routine scans of an uninhabited star system have revealed the presence of galacite, a very rare substance, on the fourth planet.

"If these readings are right," Torres said with a touch of awe in her voice as she looked at the sensor output, "We're looking at a yield of nearly a kiloton. That's enough to completely refit the warpcore!"

Paris turned to look at her from the helm. "They could really do with it, after all the damage they've taken in the past two years," he commented.

"Is there anyone in the area who might consider this their property?" Commander Chakotay asked, concerned. Voyager needed the galacite, but they couldn't afford to provoke a fight with any potential owners.

"It appears that a colony once existed on the planet," Tuvok, the Vulcan security chief, reported, "But it appears to be long abandoned." Janeway smiled and stood up. "Then let's stake a claim. I'll take charge of this mission; Lt Torres, organise an Engineering team to prepare the coils for the refit."

***

"These tunnels seem to be artificial," Janeway said to Tuvok and Chakotay, running her finger along the schematic. "Someone else must've been interested in this galacite at some time."

"The colony may have been placed there to mine it," Chakotay observed. "It looks like it's going to be one evil climb."

"Have either of you had any experience with climbing?" Janeway asked. She herself had climbed a lot, including some on Mars when she was younger.

Both the officers nodded. "Good," Janeway said. "We'll take Paris too. Chakotay, inform Tom, then go and dig out the equipment from Cargobay 1. Tuvok and I will try and find the safest route."

"Take's all the fun out of it," Chakotay grinned as he started to leave.

"Fun or life, you have the choice," she replied.

Chakotay chuckled as he exited the room, and Janeway turned her attention back to the diagram. "Now, I think we ought to -"

"Captain," Tuvok said, his voice sounding strangled, and not at all normal, "I wish to declare Koon-ut so'lik."

"Koon-ut so'lik?" she repeated, sure she'd heard the term before, but unsure as to where from. Slowly it dawned her. "A marriage proposal?" she whispered in disbelief, gaping at Tuvok.

"It is the logical solution." Tuvok began.

"You're going through Pon Farr?" she asked, sitting down on her couch as her brain struggled to keep up with what was happening.

"You are the logical choice. We have known each other a long time, and I trust you. You have many admirable qualities-"

Janeway held up a hand to interrupt him. "Tuvok, I'm flattered, really I am, but I don't think this is exactly appropriate."

"Captain, I wish you would consider this," he said, moving towards her.

"Tuvok-"

Tuvok's hands snaked out and gripped her face, initiating a mind meld with the Captain. She struggled to break free but the Vulcan's strength was far superior to her own. She could feel his mind reaching out to touch hers, searching desperately to make a connection.

"Tuvok!" the Captain said sternly, desperately, unwilling to go through with this. Luckily, it startled Tuvok back to his senses. His hands fell away from her face, leaving red marks where he had been gripping so hard. Relieved, Janeway ran her hand along the edge of her face, lightly fingering the injuries.

"Captain," Tuvok said breathlessly. "I would suggest that you go to sickbay."

"You too, Tuvok," she said softly. "Something is obviously wrong."

"It is the Pon Farr," he stated flatly. "I must confine myself to quarters to meditate." He shifted uncomfortably. "I would prefer it if you did not mention this to anyone," he said. "Although I will understand if you do."

"I won't," she assured him.

"I apologise, Captain. This will not happen again."

She nodded sadly and watched him as he left, his normally stiff posture even more rigid and unyielding than usual.

***

"What did you say happened to you?" the Doctor asked in an irritated voice as he tried to heal the Captain's wounds. "You're bleeding beneath the skin, Captain. Would you please keep still!"

Janeway fidgeted again, drawing an exasperated look. "Sorry," she grinned sheepishly. "It's just that I want to get on and get this mission out of the way," she explained, trying to keep still despite her growing excitement.

"There. All done. You've got a clean bill of health." He looked at her sternly. "Now, I want you to tell me how this happened. I'm not letting you out of here until you do."

Janeway deathglared him, but he didn't budge. Finally she sighed and admitted, "It was Tuvok."

The Doctor looked surprised. "Tuvok did this? What on earth were you arguing about?"

"You do understand Doctor, that what I am about to tell you does not go beyond this room. In fact, it does not go beyond your program without Tuvok's express permission." The Doctor nodded seriously and Janeway continued, "Tuvok's going through the Pon Farr. He tried to initiate a meld with me."

"Whatever for?"

"That's between Tuvok and I," Janeway said archly.

The Doctor had a pretty shrewd idea what it had all been about, but he refrained from commenting. "Well then, Captain, I don't see any reason to detain you any longer. You're free to go," he informed her with a dour smile.

Janeway leapt off the bed and hurried out of the room, feeling more energetic than she had in days. Perhaps she should go and see the Doctor more often.

On the other hand, maybe not.

***

She changed quickly into her climbing suit and hurried down to the transporter room, where Chakotay and Paris were waiting. "Good morning, gentlemen," she beamed, heading up to the transporter console. "Good morning, Ayala."

"Good morning, Captain," Ayala replied hesitantly, wondering if Janeway had finally flipped.

"Where's Tuvok?" Tom asked.

"He can't come," Janeway said. "We'll beam in here," she continued to Chakotay and Paris, speaking in a rapid tone of voice, her words practically tumbling over one another in order to get out. "Then we'll come down here across this tunnel and over this ravine and past this outcrop to reach the galacite does that sound all right to you Chakotay?"

"Uh, sounds fine to me," Chakotay said.

Paris raised an eyebrow as Janeway bounded back down to the transporter pad.

"What's up with her?" he whispered.

Chakotay shook his head. "Must've had some of Neelix's coffee," Chakotay suggested.

Paris grinned. "Wish I'd had some," he murmured as they joined her on the transporter pad.

***

They materialised in a jungle, with lush greenery all around, and the distant chirps of birds and insects. The sun shone brightly, and the air was fresh and clean, especially after the recycled air that they breathed on Voyager. Chakotay and Paris took their tricorders out and started scanning the area for potential threats.

"There's some ruins here," Paris said, indicating what could once have been part of a building. "They've been abandoned for about fifty to sixty years."

Chakotay frowned in concentration. "That's nowhere near enough time for this level of damage to have occurred," he said as he crouched down and ran his fingers delicately over some carvings.

"They must have suffered some sort of disaster," Paris said softly, awe and respect tingeing his voice.

"We'll send an archaeological team down from Voyager," Janeway said. "Meanwhile, let's get a move on."

Chakotay straightened up from the stone he had been looking at and looked at her quizzically. "Are we in a hurry, Captain?"

"I just don't see any reason to stall," she explained. "Unless, of course, you don't want to show off your climbing skills."

"I don't think so," Chakotay grinned. "Just try and keep up!"

***

"All this Starfleet safety equipment takes the fun out of climbing," Tom grumbled good-naturedly as he rammed the pitons into the rockface. The drop beneath them was as close to vertical as made no difference, and Paris didn't even want to think about how tall it was.

"This'll get your blood pumping," Chakotay grinned, as he dropped over the edge and started to descend slowly but surely towards the bottom. "Watch your footing," he called, as some stones fell loose and rattled to the bottom of the cave.

Janeway gestured to the cliff. "You first, Lieutenant," she said. "I'll be right behind you."

Paris dropped over the edge and started to climb down slowly. He paused in surprise as Janeway followed suit, and soon caught up with, then overtook, him.

"The holodeck is nowhere near as good as this," she called as she passed him.

Paris was about to reply when he felt a jerk on his line. Looking up in horror, he barely had time to see his line fall free before he was plunging to the ground. Reacting instinctively, he grabbed the first thing his hands landed on - Janeway's line, and she joined him in his plummet to the ground. Chakotay, horrified, hastened down the last few metres, touching the bottom a few moments after the other two crashed forcefully onto the ground.

"Kath- Captain, are you all right?" he asked fearfully, reaching down to help her up.

She rolled away from him and stood up, glaring accusatively at Paris. "You had no right bringing equipment that you had no idea how to use!" she raged, her rarely seen temper flaring up with impressiveness.

"Captain, I saw him. He put it in correctly. The equipment was probably faulty," he apologised for Paris, who was groaning on the ground in agony.

"You could have gotten us both killed!" she yelled.

"Captain. I'm sorry...I...argh! I don't know what happened!"

"Careful, Paris," Chakotay cautioned. "You may have broken something. Captain, please, calm down. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Kathryn spat out, "No thanks to you two! I would have been better coming down here alone," she raged, snatching up her bag and putting it back on.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little?" Chakotay asked, trying to make Paris comfortable.

"Just get him back to the ship," she shouted. "I'll get the galacite myself!" She turned to head out of the cave, but Chakotay jumped up and grabbed her by the arm as Paris coughed out, "Wait! We can't leave you alone down here."

"He's right," Chakotay insisted sincerely, holding her arm tightly to stop her running off. Something was up with her, and he wasn't going to let her go running off alone until he knew what it was. Actually, scrap that - he wasn't going to let her go runningg off alone at all.

"Get your hands off me," she said in a low voice, but something in her tone and body language told Chakotay that she didn't really mean it.

"What's wrong with you?" he queried, searching her face as if the answer was to be found there.

"Nothing," she mumbled, unable to meet his eyes any longer. "Nothing's wrong with me. I'm in charge of this mission and I'm going to finish it, okay?"

Chakotay's commbadge beeped. "Kim to Chakotay."

Janeway took advantage of the momentary distraction to struggle against Chakotay's grasp and break free, running off down the tunnel. Chakotay looked from her to Paris, torn between going after her to keep her safe and staying with Paris until help could reach them.

"Go ahead," Paris suggested, "I'll be alright."

Chakotay made his decision. "The last thing we need is for all of us to split up," he explained as Harry repeated his hail worriedly. The First Officer slapped his commbadge. "Chakotay here. Go ahead, Ensign."

"Commander, there's something wrong with the Captain. The Doc treated her for something just before she left for the surface, and he's discovered a problem."

"Harry, send the Doctor down here. Tom's broken his leg."

"Yes, right away sir! Kim out." Chakotay smiled sadly to himself.

"What do you think is wrong with the Captain?" Paris asked, shuddering as another wave of pain swept through his body.

"Hopefully, it's nothing too serious," Chakotay replied absently, his instincts telling him to go after Kathryn - to find her, to help her, to protect her.

"Perhaps it explains the way she was acting," Paris mused, then passed out from pain.

***

Eventually, The Doctor, Vorik and B'Elanna appeared at the top of the cliff. Letting down a rope, they hauled the still unconscious Paris up and Vorik beamed back to Voyager with him so that Kes could set his leg. B'Elanna deactivated The Doctor and, placing his emitter in her backpack, quickly rappelled down the cliff face to join Chakotay.

"Here you go," she said, handing him the emitter. "Do you want me to give you some privacy?"

Chakotay gave her a grateful look. "If you don't mind," he said, hastily reactivating the Doctor.

"Mind if I go and search for the galacite?" B'Elanna asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Sorry, Torres, but I don't want to lose anyone else in the caves at the moment."

"Fine," Torres grumbled, scuffing her boots and heading for a corner as the Doc appeared, frown firmly in place.

"Ah, Commander, I ran some scans on the Captain just before you beamed down," The Doctor explained, not beating round the bush. "I was just going over them in more depth when I found that she has developed a neurochemical imbalance."

"What is the nature of this... imbalance?" Chakotay asked impatiently, concern etched onto his features.

"From what I can tell, she's going through the Pon Farr," The Doctor answered grimly.

"Wait a minute, isn't that the Vulcan Mating Urge? How can Kathryn be going through it? It's not... logical."

The Doctor's eyebrow rose at the Commander's use of the Captain's first name, but he wisely refrained from commenting. "Tuvok's going through it," he explained, feeling slightly guilty about breaking his promise to the Captain. "He attempted to mind meld with the Captain - that's why she was down in sickbay in the first place."

"If he hurt her-" Chakotay hissed, fists clenched, drawing an inquisitive look from Torres, who had been scanning the rocks for lack of anything better to do.

Chakotay lowered his voice back to a whisper. "Can you treat them?"

"The Captain, probably yes. But only if we get her back to sickbay soon. I can't help Tuvok, because he's pure Vulcan. He has to meditate."

"What will happen if we don't get her back to sickbay?" Chakotay asked worriedly. A surge of fear ran through his body at the thought of the possible consequences of failure.

"Then her condition will become fatal," the Doctor said simply, with a shrug of his holographic shoulders.

Chakotay's jaw set. "Then we have to find her."

***

Kathryn shook her hair out, glad to finally be free of the restraining clip as she continued to follow the tricorder readings, humming happily as she walked through the warm caverns and listened to the merry warble of the tricorder. Who'd left the heating on? She wished she'd turn it off, it was hotter than Vulcan in here. Wiping a hand across her brow to try and get rid of the sticky sweat that was plastering her hair, she lost her footing and slipped slightly, skidding down a short slope, sending a scree of pebbles and stones down with her. She was so excited at finding the source of the galacite readings that she barely noticed her close fall, instead bounding over to the source of the reading. Something, buried under moss and dirt, was glowing. That wasn't right, was it? Galacite didn't glow!

Sweeping away the bracken, she trained the tricorder on the light tube that she discovered there. The power source was still active and the conduit was lined with... galacite.

"Captain!"

She turned at the sound of her First Officer's voice, a smile breaking out on her face. "Chakotay, you've got to see this!" she exclaimed, taking his hand and pulling him possessively over to the energy conduit. "It's some sort of power conduit; it's still active!"

"Captain, we have to get you back to sickbay," The Doctor said. Kathryn ignored him.

"They're covered in galacite, Chakotay, it's the source of the readings we picked up!" she explained, her body pressed so close to his that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, reminding her of his presence.

"Good. Now that the mission's completed, can we go back to Voyager?" Chakotay asked almost pleadingly. "You have to come to sickbay."

"Don't be stupid," she said off-handedly, still fascinated by the energy conduits. "I'm not ill."

The Doctor stepped forward. "You're suffering from a neurochemical imbalance in your brain, Captain. It's affecting your judgement," the EMH explained. "It could be fatal unless you return to sickbay soon."

Janeway backed away from them, looking like a cornered animal. "Can't I be a little enthusiastic without everyone thinking I'm ill?" she asked in exasperation. She turned back to Chakotay and, putting her arms around his neck, purred, "Tell them I'm not ill."

Chakotay hurriedly disentangled himself from her embrace, flushing uncomfortably, glad that the lighting in the cave was dim enough for it not to show too obviously. "You have to believe us," he said, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "You're seriously ill." His voice lowered as he continued, "You're going through the Pon Farr-"

She cut him off with a scathing look. "That's not possible!" she insisted, her voice rising and growing shriller. "I'm not Vulcan - I'm not even half-"

"Kathryn! Listen to me!" he begun, but a harsh beeping sound cut him off, and the ground trembled beneath them.

"Don't move!" a voice warned them.

They froze immediately, with the exception of Janeway, who took advantage of the distraction to wrest herself free from Chakotay's grasp and start pacing like a caged tiger.

"Seismic alert," the voice continued, and a group of aliens, each bearing a heavy weapon, appeared as if by magic. "That wall over there is unstable. Be careful."

The Voyager officers backed away, leaving only Kathryn near it. As the ground's tremors intensified, one of the aliens jumped down and grabbed her arm, meaning to drag her out of the way. Despite the fact that he was not overly big, like all the aliens in the group, his grip was strong and firm.

For his trouble, he got a hefty punch to the stomach, then to his head.

"Kathryn! No!" Chakotay yelled as she wrestled with the alien. He dashed forward to separate them physically if he had to, but Kathryn had already fought him off, grabbing his gun in the process. The tremors strengthened, and the wall collapsed.

***

"Where did they go?" Kathryn Janeway demanded, sitting on the cave floor with a confused expression. "There has to be a hidden door, or... or a passage. Something!"

Chakotay flipped open his tricorder, scanning the area around him for any indication of where the mysterious aliens might have gone. "I'm not picking up anything like that," he informed her. "I'm not picking up lifesigns either."

"Then you're using it wrong!" she accused him, snatching the tricorder out of his hands and fiddling with it.

"Yeah, that must be it," Chakotay commented sarcastically, taking the tricorder back. "Either that, or the aliens are generating interference to stop us from getting decent readings."

Kathryn pulled off her jacket, revealing the vest top she was wearing underneath. Her skin was sheened with sweat and blood from various scratches. Sweat soaked the vest top, leaving it clinging tightly to her body, and Chakotay suddenly had difficulty concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing. "We have to find a way out," he insisted, reminding himself as much as her.

"We can't leave the others," Kathryn said stubbornly, running her fingers through her loose, dirty hair. She knew what she wanted when she got back to Voyager - a long, hot, luxurious bath... and a cup of coffee, she remembered. Couldn't forget that. As long as it wasn't Neelix's-

"How do you propose we find them!?" Chakotay burst out, his voice raising in exasperation. It felt like the temperature in the cavern was rocketing by the second.

Kathryn stopped playing with her hair to look at him plaintively, wondering what she'd said wrong, and Chakotay immediately felt guilty for losing his temper with her, especially now. He crouched down beside her and put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We have to get back to Voyager, get you to sickbay. Then we can find B'Elanna and the Doctor. Okay?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," she insisted softly, eyes wide, innocent, and confusion showing on her face.

"Let's just walk, right?" Chakotay suggested quietly.

She nodded her agreement and he helped her up, conscious of her nearness. They walked in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds those of a loose rock or stone being dislodged, and falling down to the ground, setting up peculiar echoes in the caverns.

Part II