TITLE: Just Another Failed Mission
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: There's another shuttle down, and it has Voyager's commanding officers on board. Now they have to make it through the desert, in enemy territory.
DISCLAIMER: Story - mine. That's all that matters

“Face it, we’re lost,” Kathryn groaned.

“We are not lost, Kathryn,” her companion told her. “We’re simply a little off-course.”

She glared across at him. “I still say we should have stayed with the shuttle, instead of coming out here. Into the heat.”

Chakotay shook his head. “How did you ever get to be captain when you obviously failed the tactical, enemy territory and survival classes? The shuttle is the first place the enemy will look.”

“So we’re just going to die out here in the heat and the sand instead?”

Chakotay rolled his eyes. “Okay, enough of this. Who are you and what have you done with Captain Kathryn Janeway, fearless leader of the Voyager crew?”

Kathryn strode on. “I think you left her on Voyager, in a temperature-controlled environment.”

It was another mission gone wrong; resulting in another crashed shuttle and an enemy on the search for them. It was also going to mean another complaint from Tuvok regarding security and why the captain and first officer should not go on the same mission.

Kathryn was not looking forward to that.

“So where are we heading anyway?” she asked, pausing to lift a hand to her eyes and squinting off to the horizon.

Chakotay placed a hand gently on her back. “See that dark thing over there?” She nodded. “Well, just before we went down, we flew over it. You were fussing over weapons if I recall correctly. Anyway, its an oasis.”

She looked at him. “As in shade and water?”

“Exactly. I’m hoping the trees will give us some sort of protection while we wait for Voyager to pick up that signal I sent earlier from the shuttle.”

“Hmm… the problem there is that it’s an obvious place to hide. And our signal might be traced.”

Chakotay laughed. “You’ve still not learned to think like a maquis, have you? I happen to know that Ayala is on ops this week while Harry takes gamma shift. That signal is so well coded only he’s going to know what it is. Anyone else, including our friends out here, are just going to think it’s a malfunction.”

Kathryn sighed. “I hope you’re right. I don’t fancy being stuck in this desert and then being picked up by the wrong ship.” She began to walk again, this time in the direction of the oasis Chakotay had indicated.

“Don’t you trust me, Kathryn?” he called as he began to chase after her. “I should be offended you know.”

“Trust you, Chakotay?” she replied. “Of course I trust you. It’s just your crazy schemes I don’t trust.”

“And what about your crazy schemes, huh?”

Kathryn shook her head. “Mine are never crazy, Commander.” She turned back to face him and her whole expression suddenly changed. “Damn it, Chakotay. Look.” Her eyes were wide in alarm.

He turned, fearing that their pursuers had caught up with them. At first he saw nothing but then he looked down. There, embedded in the sand, leading all the way back to the vague outline of the downed craft, were two distinct sets of footprints. They swerved at times, blended at others when they had stood together, but it was a definite trail for anyone to follow. Chakotay knew that the prints had to be covered up but the question was how. Coming to a solution quickly, he pulled his jacket from his shoulders and held it from one hand. Taking a few tentative steps forward he let the material drag along the sand. When he stopped and looked back he saw that the prints had been destroyed, even though there was a slight scuffmark left. It wasn’t perfect but hopefully it might be enough to confuse their followers from this point on. Seeing what he was doing, Kathryn followed his example, removing her jacket and letting it drift along the ground. He smiled; give Kathryn her due, she knew what was a good idea enough to copy it.

They continued slowly, Chakotay trailing slightly behind Kathryn, trying to stick to the path she was carving out. An hour passed, maybe two, the sun seeming to get higher in the cloudless sky. Both of them soon peeled their uniform shirts off, and when Chakotay decided to keep his draped over his shoulders to block the sun from them Kathryn let him lead while she, in her tank top, followed, sweeping both shirt and jacket swirl the sand behind them. Every so often, Chakotay would pause, making sure she was okay, and she would smile at him, the sweat trickling down her face and neck.

Even with her hair plastered to her neck and her face flushed his captain was still a beautiful woman, he realised. Even at the worst times she still managed to look radiant. His mind began to drift, wondering if she looked like that after a long soak in her bathtub. Stop it, he told himself, do not go there.

Just when they were both thinking that they could not go any further they found themselves at the edge of the oasis. A gentle trickling sound was heard and Kathryn headed towards it, exclaiming with delight at spotting an underground spring that came out into a small pool. It was cooler here and a gentle breeze drifted through the palm fronds that hung over their heads.

“Heaven,” Kathryn breathed as she ran her hand through the water.

Chakotay smiled and then looked back in the direction they had come. The shuttle was no longer visible on the horizon but something else was. A sandstorm was heading their way, only a blur on the landscape for now but he knew it would be fast upon them. Glancing around the oasis he saw the sand appeared to dune along the outskirts but although that abated some fear there was no certainty that they’d completely escape the storm’s onslaught.

“We’ve got trouble,” he told her quietly. “Sandstorm coming.”

Her head jerked up. “Well, that will obliterate our tracks, for sure,” she said with false cheeriness in her voice.

Neither of them wanted to voice the thought that it might also obliterate or bury them if they weren’t careful.

A distant shape appeared in the cloudless sky. Both noticed it and they glanced at each other, hoping that the other might confirm that it was a welcome sight. It would be a race against time to see which would reach them first, the storm or the craft. The wind was picking up now; the leaves rustled loudly above them, the water in the small pool was rippling. Subconsciously, Kathryn and Chakotay moved closer together. “Hold on,” he murmured, feeling her slender frame tense as he took her in his arms.

“Voyager to Captain Janeway, please respond.” Tuvok’s faint voice came from Kathryn’s commbadge. “Voyager to Captain Janeway, please come in.”

Kathryn hit her communicator quickly. “Janeway here. We need a beam out immediately. We have a fast moving sandstorm approaching.”

“Negative, Captain. We need…” The second officer’s reply was drowned out by the sound of Voyager’s engines overhead.

Kathryn looked across at Chakotay. “We need to get out into the open,” she guessed. “Janeway to Voyager,” she shouted, raising her voice above both the sound of the engines and the approaching storm. “We are preparing to leave this shelter. If you cannot get a lock on us you must dispatch the Delta Flyer and Lieutenant Paris immediately. Do you copy?” There was a faint confirmation and she smiled grimly. “Time to make our move,” she told Chakotay.

They grasped hold of each other’s hands and slowly made their way out of the oasis. Immediately they were bombarded by the wind and the sand stung their skin. It bit and tore at them and they both closed their eyes to block out the worst of it. The warmth of the hand they were holding was the only bit of reassurance they had. Chakotay prayed that Voyager would be able to get a lock on them soon; he wasn’t sure how long they could survive the onslaught.

Suddenly there was a familiar tingling, a friendly sound, and then all was calm. “Welcome back,” Chakotay heard the Vulcan say. Cautiously he opened his eyes and sighed in relief at seeing that they were back on board Voyager, in the transporter room.

And he was still holding Kathryn’s hand.

He savoured the moment, which was all too brief as Kathryn suddenly became the captain again. He felt his hand being dropped as she raised hers to ward off her security officer. “Don’t even say a word, Tuvok,” she warned. “The only thing I want from you is a report on why our pursuers were not spotted before we went on this mission. And I’ll take that after I clean up.” She turned to Chakotay. “I suggest you do the same, Commander,” she told him. “I don’t think the senior staff needs their commanding officers to look sand-beaten, do you?”

She strode off, her hair in tangles, her face smudged with dirt and grime. Chakotay smiled weakly at Tuvok before following her. He thought she had never looked better.

FINIS

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