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The Ice
Queen
A J/7 Advent
Calendar Story 2008 by Gun Brooke
Disclaimer
10
Janeway sat
next to Tom Paris who was piloting the small space shuttle.
Behind her the Doctor, Samantha Wildman and Harry Kim shared
the cramped space.
“You sure
got used to the Delta Flyer when it comes to comfort,” Harry
Kim muttered, elbowing the Doctor.
“Would you
mind?” the Doctor huffed. “I may not feel pain the way
humans do, but just because I’m a photonic life for—“
“Gentlemen,” Janeway said warningly. “We’re not going on a
fourteen day away mission and I expect you to endure any
potential discomfort with patience. Remember our objective.”
“Sorry,
Captain,” Harry said.
“You’re
correct, Captain,” the Doctor filled in. “We have to keep
our eye on the big picture, the poodles nucleus, the main
attraction, the thing that makes the world go ‘round—“
“Doctor.”
“Eh, yes?
Oh. Yes.” The Doctor made an emphatic gesture that made
Harry choke and cough and Janeway rolled her eyes at Tom who
took the radar scrambled shuttle into a low orbit as they
headed for their coordinates.
“ETA the
Nordic circle in ten minutes, Captain,” Tom said. “I could
go faster, but it may worry the natives if we made too much
noise within the atmosphere.”
“I don’t
understand why we cannot just beam Seven into the shuttle
when we’re within distance.” The Doctor leaned forward,
nearly cheek to cheek with both Janeway and Tom.
“Because we
don’t know in what setting she is, and if we beam her out
while she’s observed by many of the ‘natives,’ we could draw
too much attention to it, and thus pollute the timeline.”
Janeway shot the Doctor a meaningful glance which made him
retract instantly.
“I see.
Good point.” The Doctor sat down again, elbowing Harry back
in the process.
“I have our
landing area in sight, ma’am. No life signs other than small
furry creatures.” Tom punched in a series of commands.
“Good. Set
us down, Tom.”
“Aye,
Captain.”
As the
shuttle swept down in Tom’s trademark elegant manoeuvre,
Janeway checked short range sensors. A muted bleep on the
screen showed how Seven moved around not far from them.
Finally. I thought you were lost to me forever, but here you
are. She had no way of knowing if Seven had been as
distraught for being separated from her, and the crew, as
Janeway herself was. All she knew was that for her, Seven’s
absence had been like an open wound.
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