Icestorm (part 5) written by Maddie Mumford

Note :
This story was originally printed in the 'We'll Always Have Paris', Vol. 2 fanzine available through Unicorn Press

Kes had dressed in minutes and when she finished, Paris scattered the remains of their fire, and tore down the barrier cross the cave mouth. Quickly scanning the small depression, he made certain no sign of their presence remained. He insisted Kes pull his shirt over her own clothing, She needed to maintain her body temperature, and without food, that would be more difficult. But they needed to get away from this area, and the approaching Kazon, and hope they found food as they traveled.
Taking Kes' hand in his own, trying not to notice how tiny and cold it felt, Paris led the way down the incline that had seemed so mountainous as he had struggled up it yesterday, and into the underbrush of the woodland surrounding them.
The ice had begun to melt more quickly as the sun warmed the vegetation around them, and they soon found their clothing soaked. Though the sun was warm, the air still held a chill, made colder when it contacted the wet fabric clinging to their skin. Paris felt Kes shiver, but kept her moving. The temperature was rising steadily. In a few hours it would be well above freezing and the threat of another bout with hypothermia would be passed. He did not like the paleness of Kes face, but he dare not stop. Keeping her moving was the best way to keep her warm even if it did deplete her already low reserves.
As they moved he kept constant watch on the Kazon he had detected. Although traveling in a defined pattern, they did not seem to be moving in their direction.

*Perhaps,* he thought, *they're just here looking for food too, and have no idea we're even here.*

After putting twenty minutes and at least a kilometer and a half between them and the cave, he slowed. Kes did not look well. She would have to rest and eat if she was gong to continue. Stopping, he took a moment to scan the area for suitable food. They were near a small clearing, and while instinct told him to avoid being caught in the open, Kes' clothing was once again soaked through and she was beginning to shiver. Dragging her forward, he made her sit on a large round rock near the center of the clearing. The sun had warmed and dried the rough granite-like surface, and the heat was beginning to build in the air as well.

"Stay here," Paris handed her the tricorder. "I've located one of the fruit trees we catalogued earlier, about fifty yards north of here. The tricorder is set to scan for any large life form moving in this direction. If you pick up the slightest hint the Kazon are heading this way, come for me."

Kes nodded, then smiled wanly. Paris bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Kes watched as Paris disappeared into the forest. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the open field and suddenly felt terribly exposed and vulnerable. She could not shake the lethargy that weighted her limbs like leaden bars, making each movement an effort of will. A sudden crush of fear gripped her, and she shuddered, confused by the unexpected rush of emotion that left her feeling helpless and alone. Despite her efforts, she could remember little of what happened from the time they had discovered the shuttle had departed without them, until she had awoken in Paris' arms. The blankness felt like an enormous hollow cave that yawned open, threatening to engulf her. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the feeling.
Then she remembered the soft brush of Paris' lips across her forehead, the press of his hand on hers, the care and concern in his eyes when he handed her his tricorder moments before. She looked down on the instrument and with trembling fingers adjusted the input. Setting the tricorder beside her, she drew her knees to her chest, her left arm hugging them close to her body. Her right hand traced the center of her forehead where his lips had touched her and she took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, her mind reached tentatively outward, hoping to sense him even though he was out of her sight.
There, she thought, as her mind cautiously touched his, a feather light brush against the surface of his consciousness that he should not be aware of. Kes was aware she was eavesdropping on another's thoughts without invitation, but she needed the reassurance of this union. And she was not disappointed by what she found. The concern she had read in his eyes, had not been imagined. It was quite real and powerfully felt. She took comfort in his desire to keep her safe.
Then she felt a frown pressing against the fingertips that still rested against her head. Beneath the concern deeper more unsettling thoughts clamored for attention. Thoughts Paris continually pushed aside - anger that she had been placed in danger, impatience to discover an explanation for why the situation had been allowed to develop, and one more powerful image, that warmed her as the sunshine was only beginning to do. A private thought, one he had buried deeply, that she felt guilty for touching, even though it was meant for her. She had counted herself unbelievably lucky to have found the love of one man when she had been chosen by Neelix. To experience that emotion twice was almost overwhelming.
The piercing bleep of the tricorder startled her and she tensed, expecting to see Kazon and prepared to flee, but instead Paris emerged from the shadowed woods, his arms filled with round, pale yellow fruits. He grinned at her, and she raised her hand in acknowledgment. Still smiling, he drew close rolled his burden onto the rock on which she sat.

"Here," he said polishing one of the fruits on the front of his uniform. "It's not much, but it will give you some energy."

Handing it to her, he settled beside her, checking the tricorder as he did so.

"I haven't had any luck reaching Voyager or any of the other landing parties. I'm assuming they all managed to get safely off the surface before the storm hit. If the Kazon are on the planet, that means their ship is probably in orbit. Voyager might have had to withdraw to avoid detection or a fight."

He studied her as though gauging her reaction.

"I've already thought of that, Tom."

"It means we may be stuck here for a while. As soon as it's safe, Voyager will be back for us. If we can avoid the Kazon, we should be all right. And if we stay in this general location, they won't have any problems finding us."

Despite his cheerful attitude, Kes knew he was worried about her and their situation. Nodding, she bit into the fruit. It was crunchy and slightly tart. The juice felt good as is slid down her throat and she realized she was very thirsty as well as hungry. She finished two, before she began to feel better. Nibbling on a third she looked up to find Paris staring at her, a peculiar expression on his face. He looked away quickly, busying himself with the tricorder, and the remains of his impromptu harvest. Kes too, looked down, at the gray shirt she still wore.

"I guess I should return this," she said, as she began to pull her arms from the sleeves.

"No," Paris said quickly. "You need the extra warmth. Look Kes, You know that Neelix and I have..."

The angry bleep of the tricorder's intruder alert signal interrupted whatever Paris planned on saying. He was on his feet instantly scanning the area from which they had come.

"Kazon," he said to Kes. "About a half kilometer behind us. Let's get moving."

Taking her hand he pulled her from her perch, scattering the remains of their simple meal as he did so. They had barely covered half the distance to the tree line when the signal warned them of another intruder.

"Damn," Paris muttered. "They're ahead of us too. They must have landed in more than one spot."

The signal sounded a third time, and Paris looked at Kes. "If I didn't know better I would guess they had just beamed in all around us. As if they knew exactly where we were."

"But they can't."

"I know. I think its just blind dumb luck. And not ours," he added softly under his breath.

Kes felt a rush of desperation pounding from him as he circled with the tricorder. He shook his head, and she did not need to ask what he had found. His stance and his expression told her all she needed to know. Then before she could react. He pulled the communicator from his uniform and pressed it into her hand.

"Slip this into your shoe." he said quickly. "If they find you there's a good chance they'll stop looking for a communicator after they find the first one."

He handed her the tricorder as well, then dragged her into the middle of the open field, and forced her down into the tall grass.

"Tom, what...?"

"Quiet," he said, the command in his voice unquestioning. "Don't move. Don't make a sound. No matter what happens. Voyager will come, but you have to stay clear of the Kazon."

"Tom," Kes said, forcing her voice to be calm. "There's no place to hide."

Paris grinned. "Yeah. That's the idea. A trick Mother Nature taught me. And one the Kazon are just cocky enough to fall for. Don't move a muscle and they'll never notice you. Just like a fawn."

He brushed the hair from her forehead. "And don't worry. I'll be okay."

Then he stood and began to run, a ragged, zig-zag pattern toward the wood line. Too late, Kes realized his intention. She almost followed, had half risen to her knees, when the angry whine of an energy weapon's discharge stopped her. It was a Kazon weapon. There was a second shot, and she heard the sound of bodies crashing through the bushes and into the clearing around her. She froze. Holding her breath as they passed within meters of where she lay, so intent on crossing the clearing they never noticed her. She heard them enter the woods at the far side of the clearing. Shouting voices and the thud of bodies colliding fractured the noonday peace. She couldn't just lie here. Slowly she raised her head to look over the tall grass, just as three figures burst from the edge of the woods, a tangle of arms and legs. The coarse browns of the Kazon overpowering the black clad figure, bearing him to the ground in a tumult of flailing limbs.
Then it was over. The Kazon stood, dragging Paris to his feet, his arms pinned behind his back. Half dozen of their companions emerged to surround the Human. Kes could hear their voices, though she could not distinguish their words, taunting, victorious, huntsmen with their prey. The two holding Paris had twisted his arms behind him, and Kes winced, the memory of her time as a Kazon captive all too sharp and clear. They would hurt him, for no other reason than because it brought them perverse pleasure.
The tallest stepped up to stand in front of Paris. He spoke, and Kes could almost see the cocky grin and imagine the stubborn glint that lit the Human's azure eyes. Paris answered, and the Kazon struck, a downward blow across his face, that would have dropped the young man to his knees had Kazon hands around his arms not supported his weight. Paris looked up, the grin gone, his jaw now set and angry, a bloody streak trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The Kazon commander waved his men back in the direction they had come, dragging their prisoner with them. Kes ducked her head, and fought to control her ragged breathing. Certain she would be detected. But Paris had read the Kazon correctly, and they passed by her without noticing she was there. She lay still, her thoughts in turmoil. Paris had sacrificed himself to provide a diversion to protect her.
After an eternity spent crouched among the grasses, Kes felt the woodland around her return to a state of cautious normalcy. The deathly silence that had hovered over the clearing in the wake of the Kazon began to echo the tiny sounds of animal life stirring once again. Being careful not to inadvertently make noise, Kes opened the tricorder to confirm what she had already sensed. There were no Kazon within a kilometer of her position. Standing, she carefully widened the scope of her scan, and as she did her heart leapt with joy and relief, then almost immediately crashed.
Approximately ten kilometers west of her position, sat a Federation shuttle, but no apparent signs of life.

Kes was stumbling with exhaustion as she approached the shuttle, her senses screaming caution, though her tricorder detected no signs of life. She had half walked, half run, the distance to the vehicle's landing site, hoping against hope that its presence meant rescue, fearing it was only a trap. The shuttle appeared to be completely deserted and she could not believe it had been here when Paris had scanned the area earlier.

*Tom would not have missed it,* she thought. *If he'd been looking for it.*

Crouching in the underbrush, she watched for several long minutes, confirming what the tricorder had told her. Nothing moved in or around the Federation craft. Stepping cautiously from her hiding place, she approached the vessel, then touched the access plate that controlled the door locking mechanism. It responded with a soft whisper as the hatch slid open, and Kes stepped into the ship. The hatch swished shut behind her with the characteristically hushed efficiency she had come to associate with Federation technology.
She leaned back against the comforting solidity of the interior bulkhead, and for a brief moment allowed herself the luxury of relaxing. Closing her eyes, she listening to the silence. The ship's interior was cool after the warmth of the noonday sun, and for the first time since before the ice storm, she relished the coolness. The air was clean, filtered, lacking the riotous variety of fragrances in the forest around them, and that too, felt reassuring. It meant the shuttle was still partially functional. She had not realized how much she had come to associate the filtered freshness of the air with the sense of home she felt aboard Voyager. That and the steady thrum of the ship around her. She realized with a sharp pang how much she missed Voyager, giving in to the fear that she might never see it, or Neelix, or her friends on board again. The thought had nagged at her, but until now she had not allowed it to dominate her thinking, nor has she succumbed to the fear that this planet might well become her permanent home. Voyager might not be able to return for them. Neelix, and the life she had come to cherish, might be gone forever.
Then she stood up straight, and stepped away from the wall.

"No," she said aloud to the silence, "I won't give up yet. They will be back."

And when they did come, she *and* Paris would be waiting. With the shuttle in their possession, they had a fighting chance. But she was still puzzled by why there was no sign of anyone on board. Nor was there any sign of a struggle. The ship had been voluntarily abandoned, even though it appeared to be in perfect order.

Walking carefully to the forward section, she scanned the interior, checking for life signs or obvious booby traps, and finding nothing. She and Paris had assumed Melchor had flown this particular shuttle away from the planet's surface right before the storm. Perhaps, he had not been able to escape the planet's atmosphere and had landed here. There was no sign that it had sustained any damage, and she hoped, Melchor had not also been captured by the Kazon. She had pushed that particular thought deeper each time it had tried to gain her attention, but she could not deny the possibility.
Sitting in the pilot's seat, she lay the tricorder in the seat opposite hers and began to run through the preflight checks as Paris' had taught her. She had no intention of lifting off, but she wanted to assure herself it was possible should it become necessary. As she did so her mind churned through endless scenarios, each more pessimistic than the one preceding it. She forced herself to calmly consider only the most encouraging options, yet thoughts of her own captivity in the hands of the Kazon, continued to force themselves into her mind, clouding her ability to think rationally. The Kazon were brutal captors, born perhaps from brutal circumstances, and she did not want to dwell on what might happen to Paris should he remain in their hands for any length of time. Her only consolation was that he was probably not dead... not yet. The Kazon would not kill him that quickly, even if he were of no value to them.
Her hands flew over the pilot's controls, testing systems, feeling a surge of relief as each board responded with green lights. She reached for the final touchpadd.

"Don't move." said a voice behind her.

"Turn around, slowly," the voice repeated.