Title:   Colony
Author:  Jemima
Contact: jemimap@crosswinds.net
Series:  VOY
Part:	 9/20
Rating:	 PG
Codes:	 crew, J/C
Date:	 November 2000

Disclaimer:  Copyright has expired on the works of Alfred, Lord
	     Tennyson quoted herein.  Certain of the names below have
	     been trademarked by Paramount; be assured I am not
	     conducting trade with them.

*****

Part 9

*****

 I had been content to perish, falling on the foeman's ground,
 When the ranks are roll'd in vapour, and the winds are laid with sound. 


Icheb had managed to ignore the storyteller for quite some time, but
now he found himself putting down his medical equipment as he
became engrossed in the story.

"So Lieutenant Paris, who had rebuilt Shuttle Prime with the
Chief Engineer of Voyager just a few months before, *beamed*" - here
Neelix raised his voice and made shimmering motions with his hands -
"over to Shuttle Second to repair their impulse drive.  He worked day
and night for four days, and finally the damaged shuttle was ready to
help run the blockade of Leigus Prime."

Neelix's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper and his Leigi
audience leaned forward instinctively to catch every word.  "The three
shuttles got into formation - Shuttle Prime in the lead, and Shuttles
Second and Third trailing close behind.  Commander Chakotay gave the
order, and Lieutenant Paris took Shuttle Prime to warp.  The others
waited a moment, then gave chase."

"Shuttle Prime dropped out of warp at that pretty gas giant--"

"Xanwee - the one with the rings," a member of the audience prompted.

"Xanwee!" Neelix echoed.  "Commander Chakotay pretended to hide in the
rings of Xanwee, and Talbid on Shuttle Third and Dalby on Shuttle
Second pretended to discover Shuttle Prime's hiding place.  They
chased Commander Chakotay out of the rings on impulse power.

"Next, Commander Chakotay called for help.  And who do you think he
called?"  Neelix peered around at his spellbound audience.

"Voyager?" a young boy suggested.

Neelix smiled and him and shook his head.  "No, not Voyager.  He
hailed the Periti!"  The boy gasped.  "He sent them a false image of a
non-humanoid species from the Alpha Quadrant called a Horta, and he
told the Periti that some 'vile humanoids' were trying to destroy his
ship."

"Did they believe him?" the boy asked.

"It seemed that they fell for the ruse.  Remember, they'd never seen
Voyager or her shuttlecraft - the one Periti ship that attacked
Voyager had been completely destroyed."

Neelix returned to the main thread of his story.  "Commander Chakotay
requested permission to land on a Periti ship.  To corroborate his
story, Talbid fired on him, and Shuttle Second circled around to cut
off the Horta's escape."

"Then the Periti began to fire on Shuttles Second and Third.  I was on
Shuttle Third, and I felt every blast of those terrible weapons.  Our
shields were soon down to 20%.  We saw Dalby eject Shuttle Second's
warp core.  Before the Periti could disable it, it exploded, taking
out the three ships that were chasing Shuttle Second."

"Pow!  Boom!" the little boy shouted in excitement, convincing Neelix,
for one, of the common origin of humanoidkind.  He sounded just like
Tom Paris playing Captain Proton.

"What's your name?" Neelix asked the boy.

"Toomin, sir."

"I'm not a sir, Toomin; I'm just the cook," Neelix said humbly.

He turned back to his audience.  "The shuttlebay doors of a Periti
mothership were opening.  Shuttle Third fired on Shuttle Prime again,
and Shuttle Prime 'lost' its shields.  Commander Chakotay hailed the
Periti again to inform them he'd lost shields and attitude thrusters."

"In the meantime, Shuttle Second was being chased around the moon by
five Periti ships.  From Shuttle Third, Ayala fired on several Periti
ships which were trying to shield the unfortunate 'Horta'.  Suddenly,
Lieutenant Paris materialized" - more shimmering motions from the
narrator illustrated the unfamiliar concept - "aboard Shuttle Third."

"Ayala asked him where Chakotay was.  Paris answered, 'He's arming the
tricobalt device.  We couldn't beam out simultaneously because of the
interference.'  Ayala looked worried, but just told him to help Inna
fix the shields."

"So Talbid was at the helm, Ayala was at tactical, Tom, Inna and Icheb
were crowded around the smoking shield generator, and I was in the
kitchen, trying to keep out of the way - but not a one of us was
breathing as Shuttle Prime crept towards the shuttlebay and the
Commander still hadn't beamed over."

*****

  Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield,
  Eager-hearted as a boy when first he leaves his father's field, 


Neelix was well into his dramatic pause when Toomin asked, "What's a
tricobalt device?"

"It's a very powerful kind of bomb we brought from the Alpha Quadrant.
But for all the Periti knew, it was just a Horta stardrive with an odd
energy signature."

Neelix drew out his interrupted dramatic pause until Toomin was about
to ask another question; then he shouted "Boom!"

"Shuttle Prime exploded inside the Periti mothership, blowing it apart
and taking out several nearby ships.  Shuttle Third was sent tumbling
end-over-end by the shock wave.  When Talbid got the inertial
dampeners back on-line, we all stood up and brushed ourselves off, and
there was Commander Chakotay in the midst of us.  He had beamed over
at the last possible moment - but then, he's known for that."

"He's a Maquis," Toomin said reverently.

Something in the back of Neelix's mind told him Captain Janeway
wouldn't approve of the Maquis stories he'd been telling ever since
he'd become aware of the Leigi's fascination with those intrepid
colonists.  He changed the subject quickly, as though he could feel
her death glare all the way across the sector.

"Shuttle Second, on the other side of the moon, was shielded from the
core breach.  We had lost sensors, but I watched out the viewport as
Shuttle Second came around the moon again.  It seemed to have been
damaged; it was sinking to the surface of the barren moon.  I lost
sight of the shuttle for a moment, then it rose again and headed off,
fleeing from the Periti pursuers.  When Shuttle Second was almost out
of sight, it went to warp."

"With the mothership gone, we were now inside the blockade lines.  The
Periti around us began firing on us again once they'd recovered from
the blast.  That, however, was exactly what we wanted.  Lieutenant
Paris relieved Talbid at the helm - he's an expert at crashing
shuttles - and faked a complete loss of power.  We were close to
Leigus Prime, so we began to plunge through the stratosphere like a
meteor."

"When the heat became unbearable, Ayala ejected a small bomb for
effect and engaged the Periti cloaking device.  To all watchers, we
appeared to have burned up in the atmosphere of Leigus Prime.  Tom
pulled up on the controls and glided to a safe landing here in the
Western Desert."

*****

"Excuse me, Mr. Neelix."

"Yes, Toomin?"

"If Shuttle Second's warp core exploded, how did they go to warp
afterwards?"

Neelix's face fell.  If Icheb hadn't been Borg, the sight of the
distraught Talaxian would have brought tears to his eyes.  

Icheb answered for the stunned narrator.  "You're right, Toomin; it
was a different Leigan ship that drew off the Periti forces following
Shuttle Second.  Our shuttle is safe on the moon.  Commander Chakotay
will look for them when we are through with our business here on
Leigus Prime."  Speaking of which, Icheb turned his attention back to
his task of adapting nanoprobes.

*****

 Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
 With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm; 


The Western Desert was usually uninhabited, but many families with
small children were now camped out on its dark sands, hoping to catch
a little more sunlight than they would in northern climes.  Icheb
thought the gain was not worth the effort of camping out under the
now brown sky, but then Icheb was never a worried parent watching his
children weaken daily for want of sunlight.

Chakotay had commandeered a land transport - a sort of hovercar - and
set off for the continental capital with Talbid, Ayala and the
bio-stasis chamber the EMH had filled with nanoprobes.  Although the
officials on Leigus Fifteenth had given them permission to release the
nanoprobes on the unsuspecting populace of Leigus Prime, Chakotay
insisted on consulting the locals first.  He would be the last person
to force Borg technology on the unwilling.

Tom and Inna were back at the shuttle, still trying to repair the
shield generator and a few other components which had melted during
the unusual landing maneuver.  Neelix and Icheb had gone out among the
campers, ostensibly to distribute nanoprobes to the scattered
colonists, but Neelix was quick to perceive the Leigi's need for a
morale officer in the depressing darkness under the dusty sky.

Soon stories of the Maquis, Voyager's adventures in the Delta
Quadrant, and Chakotay's current expedition to Leigus Prime were
spreading faster than the nanoprobes.  The Commander was surprised to
find that their fame had preceded them even to the shores of the
Eastern Sea, and to hear himself cheered as Chakotay of the Maquis and
the Savior of Leigus Prime.  When he returned to their base in the
Western Desert for more nanoprobes, he gave Neelix a Janeway-class
skunk eye.

Again they were behind schedule.  They had planned to travel around
Leigus Prime on Shuttle Third; instead it was up on blocks.  Later,
Chakotay was reluctant to take Icheb away before he was sure everyone
had been treated successfully.  At least Ayala had returned from the
polar mines with a few nice chunks of dilithium which might make the
Captain forgive the delay, and overlook her XO's new folk-hero status.
He had a funny feeling, though, that she had already taken matters
into her own hands.

*****