it wasn’t all that unusual, going on an away mission with the captain, but there was something about it that caused b'elanna to raise her guard ( not that finding her in a relaxed state was an easy feat ). it was fairly run of the mill, they were taking a shuttle to survey a nearby planetoid while voyager was docked at a space station to initiate in trade for supplies. according to scans, the planetoid was rich with dilithium deposits — and frankly, they’d learned a long time ago to stock up when they had the chance. b'elanna wasn’t entirely sure what had prompted the captain to come along, as the engineer could’ve easily picked a junior officer to accompany her, but it didn’t seem necessary to question her superior’s reasoning. sometimes it was just nice getting off the ship; it was all too easy to feel trapped within the limited confines of voyager. even if it was just going on a survey mission, b’elanna understood the appeal of getting away for a while. they’d maintained simplistic small talk for a while, before falling into a comfortable silence. b'elanna was lost in an in-depth analysis of the shuttle’s engine read outs when the alarm began to chirp. deft fingers swiftly keyed in a command to bring up the alert on the console before her. mouth pulled into a tight line as she turned in her chair to fully face the console and confirm the readings, before she turned to the captain. “I’ve got an ion storm less than a thousand kilometers to starboard. it came out of nowhere, captain,”
at least, she HOPED it had. explaining that she’d been so absorbed in something else that she’d neglected to notice something as massive as the storm that was quickly closing on them wasn’t the engineer’s idea of a good time. without another word, b’elanna made an attempt to pick up enough speed that they might be able to outrun the storm. hell, she’d been pouring over analyses of the engines ---- she was WELL AWARE that they were operating optimally, of course, b’elanna would stand for nothing less ( especially in the presence of captain janeway ) but the fact remained that a shuttle wasn’t nearly as powerful as a starship. the engines were included in that, and it was frustrating as hell. heart raced as she made an attempt to divert power from secondary systems in order to boost engine output, but it seemed little difference was being made, much to b’elanna’s dismay.
it seemed the next events occurred in the blink of an eye. the storm hit, and it felt as if she were fighting the forces of the universe itself to keep control of the shuttle. a part of her mused that fighting the universe shouldn’t’ve been such an unusual thing ---- she often joked that it was an ongoing struggle, one that she never knew if she was winning. what was one more battle? FURIOUSLY she worked in an attempt to break them free, to think of a way to pick up speed and escape before they were too far engulfed in the storm to have any hope of getting away. but it didn’t seem the universe wanted to play fair today. structural integrity was failing, shields were failing, and with every passing microsecond everything seemed more GRIM than it already had. it was with gritted teeth that she announced that there was little hope of regaining control and escaping ( unless a miracle were to occur, and that didn’t seem likely ). a distress signal was prepped, and began transmitting --- they could only hope it would reach voyager. it wasn’t long after that consciousness slipped away.
the smell of smoke was the next thing she knew. it was a little surprising that she was alive at all, when it came down to it. but ----- god she hadn’t been alone in the shuttle. “captain?” her throat was DRY, but that seemed to be the best news as a deep ache overtook her body even more quickly than consciousness seemed to ( talk about what had to have been a rough landing ). blinking, she wasn’t sure she dared observe the damage. that which was in her immediate line of sight seemed bad enough, but ---- on the bright side, she was alive. she could only hope the captain was, as well. so, grudgingly she shifted her gaze, not daring to move much more than her eyes as she searched for the other. “captain? captain, are you alright?”
