A note from Jane - My fictional character Lt. Heather Whitney is in this
story. All you need to know is that she's half Batazoid, has brown hair and
blue eyes, is friends with Tom, B'Elanna, Harry, and Jena, and is Voyager's
senior science officer. I may one day write how she came aboard Voyager but
that's still a long way off. Hope you like the story. Ciao!

 -Jane

A note from Morgan- I created Jennifer "Jena"
Hamilton a while ago and she's got her own
series(Melosia, Adjusting, and Hostages) and I guess
all you need to know is that she's 14, Bajoran, and
stuck on Voyager.  Enjoy!
 
 -Morgan
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 B'Elanna Torres walked down the corridor, heading to
 the transporter room.  At her side were two of her
 most loyal companions: Jena Hamilton and Heather
 Whitney.
  While Jena was excited about going on an away
 mission, Heather was less than thrilled.
  "I was working on the schematics for the new
dilithium crystals!" She protested.
  "Heather, quit wining!  This could be a lot of fun!"
 Jena reprimanded.
  "Yeah, everything seems fun when you're 14," she
 mumbled.
  "I heard that!"
  "I'm sure."
  "Would you two cut it out?  We are going down there
 to see if we can find the castridinium that keeps
 showing up on our sensors. Besides"
  "Oh!  Rock hunting!" Heather said in mock happiness.
  Jena frowned as they entered the transporter room
 and began gathering the gear they'd need.
  "It's a little chilly down there, you'd all be wise
 to bring a jacket," Commander Chakotay advised over
 the intercom.
  "Aye-aye, Commander," Tom Paris responded.  Turning
 to Jean he asked, "Did you get the jacket I told you
 to bring?"
  "Yes!  You didn't need to tell me eight times!  I
 would have remembered!"
  "Is it the green one?  I don't think that would be
 warm enough-"
  "I'll bring whatever jacket I want to bring!"
  Paris was about to respond but B'Elanna grabbed his
 jacket collar and pulled him over to where she was
 standing.  "I brought a geologist case, along with a
 medkit, and everybody'll have tricorders and phasers."
  "I get a phaser?" Jena asked, smiling hopefully.
  "Standard procedure," Torres responded.  "And give
 this one to Heather."
  Jena tucked the phaser into her jacket pocket and
 headed over to Lt. Whitney.
  "Heather, here's your phaser," she said as she
 handed the phaser to her.
  "Don't tell me they gave *you* one too!"
  Hamilton smiled.  "Yup.  Doesn't that make you feel
 safe?"
  "Yeah, real safe."
  "Okay, people!" Torres called, bringing everyone's
 attention to her.  "Here's the rest of your gear,
 let's go!"
  Paris, Torres, Hamilton, Whitney, Kim, Ensign Erin
Alans,
 Voyager's expert on geology, and Lt. Nic Hargarther,
 Security, assembled on the transporter pad and soon
 disasppeared in a shimmer of blue light.
****************
  "Wow!" Heather remarked, glancing around. Commander
Chakotay had been right. It *was* cold. And
beautiful. They were standing on a slope on a
mountain, and there were spruce and pine trees
everywhere, their branches covered with snow. And
that same snow was everywhere! It was truly
magnificant.
 "Happy now?" Jena asked, walking up to Heather, her
boots making crunching sounds in the snow.
 Heather turned and smiled, "Oh, just go and rub it
in. You *were* right. This *is* going to be fun."
 Jena was about to reply when a snowball hit her
back. She turned around. There stood Tom Paris,
looking sheepish. But before Jena could even stoop
down to scoop up more snow and make a snowball, she
saw a white blur hitting Tom right in the face.
 "Wha?" she asked, as Tom wiped snow off his face.
She spun around. There stood Heather, her hands on
her hips and a smile on her face.
 "*That* was for way back when at the Acadamy.
Remember?" she asked snidely.
 Tom groaned, "Don't tell me you never got over that!"
 "*Never* embarras a Batazoid in public. *Never*"
 "Fine, fine!" Tom replied, remembering the time when
he had embarrased Heather at the Sady Hawkins Dance.
*That* had been funny. But he couldn't resist bending
to pick up snow to make another snowball, this time
to throw at Heather, but a firm hand restrained him.
He looked up directly into B'Elanna's face.
 B'Elanna shook her head, "We came down here to look
for the castridinium, remember?" she asked teasingly.
 "Anything for you, 'Lanna." he replied. She just
crossed her arms across her chest and tried to keep a
straight face. She didn't prevail.
 "Can we please go?" Erin Alanis asked. She was eager
to get started and was a little bit nervous since the
sensors had detected a large percipitation (sp?)
cloud not far from the region of the Northern
Hemisphere they were in.
 B'Elanna turned and nodded, "Let's go." she said,
and the seven started the long hike up the mountain,
tricorders extended.
 "Watch your step." she called as the terrain grew
rockier.
 Jena panted slightly as she hurried up the slope. *I
hope this is the worst of it.* she thought.
 "You okay?" Harry called back as he gave her a hand.
She took it gratefully and pulled herself up onto the
rocky ledge. The others waited. To Jena's surprise,
even B'Elanna was panting slightly.
 Nick Hargarther sighed, "You won't believe this, but
the readings start downhill." he said.
 Everyone glanced over the edge, which was really the
other side of the mountain.
 "It almost looks as if that's the other side of the
mountain." Heather commented.
 B'Elanna looked back, "That *is* the other side of
the mountain."
 Heather opened her mouth, then shut it, "Isn't there
a way we can beam directly to the castridinium from
here?" she asked.
 "What, the going to tough for you?" Tom teased. That
just provoked Heather more and another snowball ended
up in his face.
 "Good aim." Harry remarked.
 "Thanks, Harry, I thought you were my friend." Tom
replied, wiping the snow from his face.
 Heather, ignoring Tom, replied, "Well, I wasn't the
main pitcher on the Acadamy baseball team for
nothing, you know." she replied.
 Jena giggled, "No wonder."
 "Lt. Whitney does have a point, Lt. Why *don't* we
just use the transporters?" Nic asked.
 B'Elanna frowned and shook her head, "We can't do
that. There's too many ion particles in the air up
here. We have to be level to sea level or below. Our
only transport site is down there." she replied,
pointing down the mountain to the place where they
had beamed down to.
 "Lt.? I have a question." Erin said, speaking up.
 "Yes?" B'Elanna asked.
 "There was a large percipitation storm heading our
way. It shouldn't be much of a threat, but if we get
stuck in it..." Erin replied nervously. Now that she
thought of it, she hadn't told the chief engineer
that part of information.
 "Why didn't yout tell me sooner?" B'Elanna asked
sharply.
 Erin winced, "I...uh, forgot."
 B'Elanna was about to tell Erin off when she felt a
hand on her shoulder. Without looking, she knew it
was Tom. Almost automatically, she calmed down, "All
right, then. We'll have to hurry. Everybody ready?
We'll have to hurry." she called.
 Erin fell into step near the end as they headed down
the other side of the mountain, "Thanks." she
whispered to Lt. Paris as she stepped back to make
room for him to go down first.
 "It's okay. I know how it feels when you're her
target." Tom replied.
 Erin smiled softly, and the seven headed on.
*********************
 Several long hours later the group was still trying to make it down the
slope.
 "Fun.  Lots of fun...isn't it Jena?" Heather asked a panting Jennifer.
 "Yes," she choked out.  "*Lots* of fun."
 "I'm reading cloud activity," Erin Alans told them.  "This storm is
moving in *really* fast."
 "Then we'd better go faster," Torres replied.
 "B'Elanna, maybe we should turn back til tomarrow-"
 "No, Tom!  We can make it."
 Tom rolled his eyes.
 Jena slowed her pace despite Torres' order and glanced at everyone
else, telling them to do the same.  If everyone moved too slow for
Torres, eventually she' d have to admit temporary defeat and turn back.
 "Ms. Hamilton?"
 Jena turned to Nic Hargarther, a human in his 20's.  "Yeah?"
 "Um, I *really* think we should turn back.  My tricorder is picking up
life signs about a kilometer away.  They're too small to be bipedal, but
they're big."
 Inwardly, Jena groaned.  *This is just what we need.* "Thanks for
telling me."
 Nic nodded.
 Jennifer headed to B'Elanna.  "B'Elanna-"
 "We are not turning back."
 "There are a bunch of life signs near to where those rocks are.  I'm
thinking some kind of hunter.  Hunter...kills its food..."
 "We'll be careful."
 "Man, you really have an atitude today!"(?Do think that's okay?)
 "I do not!  I came down here to get that castridinium, and I'm not
leaving without it.  After all, it's just a little hill."
 "And a bunch of cute furry animals, right?  Famous last words." Jena
dropped back to Heather.
 "What was *that* about?" Whitney asked.
 "There are a bunch of animals, maybe deadly, up ahead, and a storm
system moving in, and she feels that we can make to the site of the
castridinium, mine it, collect it, and carry it back before either
become a problem."
 Heather nodded.  "Well, I guess for now we'll just have to go along
with her."
************************
 After another hour, even B'Elanna was beginning to think that it might
be time to turn back.
 The clouds were moving in extremely fast, and it had begun to snow.
The group could hear animal howls and Hargarther had confirmed that they
were quadrapeds, and were carnivors.
 Torres stopped, and turned to face the group.  It had begun to snow
harder and she had to shout to be heard.
 "That's it!  Everybody turn back!  Alans, you should have a flashlight
in your pack.  Get it out and give it to me!  Hargarther, keep a close
watch on those animals.  You hang back and keep you phaser out.  Now,
let's go!"
 Everyone took up their new positions and followed Torres as she led
them away.
 For awhile, everything was fine.  Torres could easily see and Nic
didn't see any of the animals on his tricorder.
 Paris was walking at B'Elanna's side, Jena behind him, Heather and
Harry next to Jena, Erin behind Heather, Harry and Jena, and Nic in the
rear.
 No one said anything for a long time until Nic spoke.  "There's
something-" His words were abrubtly stopped and followed by a
bloodcurdling scream.
 "Nic!" Jena screamed.
 "Hargarther?  Can you hear me?"
 By the time the group turned, Nic, and all traces of him but his
tricorder were gone.
****************************
 Still reeling from Nic's disappearence, momentarily no one noticed the
snow coming down harder and harder.
 "We've got to find cover!" Paris called.
 "Why don't we have them beam us up?" Harry yelled.
 "Already tried to call them!  The ion particles are blocking the
signal!  They couldn't beam us up anyway!" Paris answered.
 "Then we'd better find someplace to take shelter!" Erin cried.
 As they continued walking, looking for cover, there was another scream
and Jena was gone.
 Harry, who'd been hold her arm, looked around.  "Jena?"
 "Jena!  Wher are you?" Paris screamed.  *Come on, Jena....*
 "I'm down here!" A voice called.
 Paris looked down and saw Jena.  There was a hole, leading to a cave.
The entrance went downward, but not straight down.
 "I fell through and slid down!  There's *alot* of room down here, more
than enough for everbody!"
 Tom slid down, followed by Erin, Harry, Heather, and finally Torres.
 "Okay," Torres said, taking charge though she was shivering. "Let's all
get close, don't be shy, we need to share body heat."
 "B'Elanna," Tom said, leading her over to where he group had assembled,
"You're the most suspectable to the cold.  Come on."
 "I'll be fine!"
 "Yeah, that's what you said when the Nyrians had us in that
winter enviroment."
 Torres smiled at the memory of her and Tom having run from Nyrian
gaurds into a winterlike enviroment on a huge ship.  "Any chance of
starting a fire?"
 "Yeah," Harry answered.  "I've found some firewood and if someone can
start a fire..."
 "I can."
 Everyone looked at Jena.  "You?" Harry asked.
 "Yeah," she dug into her pack and pulled out an emergency lighter.  She
bent and started the pile of wood on fire.  "Always come prepared."
 They laughed.  "Any food in there?"
 She nodded.  "Ration bars, and some replicated stuff." She pulled out a
pile of food, enough to feed them all for days.
 "Man, you brought alot," Tom said.
 "I thought I might get hungry."
 He laughed and asked if she had water.  She pulled out four large water
bottles.
 Heather had two heated blankets, to which Harry joked that she'd been
taking lessons from Jena.
 Erin had seven pairs of mittens.  She began passing them out.
 Torres sat in a corner, shivering.  Tom came up behind her.
 "I'll keep you warm."
 "Thanks."
 "My pleasure."
 "I'm sure."
******************
 Heather shivered. They had been treapped in the cave
for about an hour and a half and the snow continued
to fall. Harry and Jena had packed the snow to form a
semi-wall so more snow wouldn't come into the cave.
The fire was still burning, although not as strongly.
The temperature was dropping slowly but steadily, and
Heather was worried about everyone, especially
B'Elanna, who was the most suspectable to the cold.
She was huddled between Harry and Jena. Erin was next
to Harry and B'Elanna was next to Jena. B'Elanna was
next to Tom, her head resting on his shoulder and her
eyes closed. Tom had his arm around her, his eyes
closed as well.
 *How sweet.* Heather thought, smiling. She nudged
Jena, who opened her eyes. When Heather had Jena's
attention, she motioned with her head towards Tom and
B'Elanna and said telepathically, *It's a Kodak
moment.*
 Jena smiled and nodded.
 Harry glanced outside the entrance of the cave. It
was still snowing, although it wasn't falling as hard.
 "It seems to be lightening up." Erin commented, also
gazing outside.
 "Yeah, although it'll be awhiole before we can
venture out safely." Harry remarked.
 "I just hope we don't have another run-in with those
animals." Jena commented.
 "How long have we been in here?" Tom asked, opeing
his eyes. He glanced at B'Elanna, who was sound asleep.
 "About an hour and a half." Erin replied, "It's 1900
hours."
 "We've been gone almost six hours." Heather
commented wearily.
 "Surely by now someone will have realized
something's gone wrong." Jena said hopefully.
 Harry shook his head, "Probably not. Besides, even
if they did, no one would be able to do anything
about it, remember? The-"
 "I know, I know, the ion particles in the air are
too intense so we can't communicate or beam to
Voyager and vice-versa." Jena replied quickly.
 "You know, I used to love snow and looked forward to
winter every year when I lived on Betazed. After
this, I'll be sick of it." Heather remarked, leaning
back against the cold cave wall. It was hard and ice
cold.
 "We never had snow on Melosia." Jena commented
 "Snow is fun, except when you're stranded with
limited supplies and cut off from everybody eles in a
blizzard in a small cave." Harry told Jena.
 "I couldn't have put it better myself." Erin added.
 "Jena, have you ever skiid before?" Tom asked.
 Jena shook her head, "Nope."
 "I'll have to teach you when we get back to Voyager.
There's a great holodeck program." Tom replied.
 Heather groaned, "Oh, no, you don't. I'm coming,
too. Besides, it's no fun unless you can gang up with
someone else."
 Tom raised his eyes to the ceiling.
 "What do you mean by that?" Jena asked curiously.
 Tom answered for Heather, "It's a *long* story and
goes back to the first year at the Academy when our
class had to pass a survival test. Everyone dreaded
it, but when we found out it was set in a climate
with the temperature freezing and snow everywhere, we
sort of-"
 "-got out of control." Heather finished, her eyes
sparkling at the thought.
 "We had a *major* snowball war." Tom explained.
 "Of course, everybody failed it and had to take it
over again, but it was worth it." Heather said,
"Especially since the girls won."
 Jena smiled, "That sounds like fun."
 "Yeah, only if you're on the *winning* team." Tom
said offhandedly.
 The tricorder let out a low beep. Erin glanced down,
"The temperature's dropped to minus ten degrees
celcius." she told everyone.
 Heather shuddered, "It better let up soon or else
we'll end up freezing to death."
 "Is she asleep?" Harry asked, motioning to B'Elanna.
 "How can I get any sleep with you guys chattering?"
B'Elanna spoke up without opening her eyes.
 Heather laughed softly and Jena giggled. Everyone
else smiled.
 "I jsut hope it lets up soon." Erin commented. She
was truly worried.
 Everyone else agreed with her. Although everybody
tried not to show it, they were all afraid.
***********************
 "So, Heather, about that survival trip..." Jena
said, smiling.
 Heather grinned and continued telepathically. *Well,
the girls weren't having any fun, the boys thought
they had to "help" us or something.  We were sick of
them, so we dropped back, stopped, and make a bunch
of snowballs.  To make a long story short...they
lost.  Badly.*
 They both started laughing.
 "I know you're talking about me over there," Tom
growled.
 That only made them laugh harder.
 Tom turned his attention backto B'Elanna.  "You
okay?"
 "Did poor Tommy get his ego bruised by those mean
girls?" She asked, opening her eyes.
 Everyone began to laugh.  "You're all against me!"
he cried.
 After the laughter had died down for a few minutes,
Tom spoke again.  "Since I don't feel like being
ridiculed anymore, how about playing Usless Trivia?"
 "That sounds fun!" Harry said, a bit too enthusiastic.
 Everyone cracked up again.
 "I'll ask first.  Harry, name the French King who
said "I am the state."
 Harry looked at Jena, who had asked the question.
"Um....I am the state....Oh!  Louis the 14th!"
 Hamilton smiled and nodded.
 "Tom," B'Elanna said, sitting up, "name the Klingon
scientist who isolated the germ that caused Bolian
Theriod fever."
 Tom thought for a few moments.  "K'Laret J'Houck,
2205."
 B'Elanna nodded.
 Tom suddenly smiled.  "Jena-" at the mere mention of
her name directly after he smiled, Jena cringed-
"tell me the *first* Bajoran kai."
 Inwardly, she groaned.  The kai.  The religous(sp?)
leader for all Bajorans.  Bajoran culture was a topic
she liked to avoid.  Though, vaguely she remembered
Tuvok talking about the topic in one of his
come-inducing lectures.  If only she could reemember...
 Erin's tricorder beeped.  "The temperature has risen
three degrees."
 The room was feeling warm enough, more so now that
they knew that the temperature was rising and the
snow was stopping.
 "Kai Yali Namorio!" Jena suddenly cried, to
everyone's surprise.  They began laughing again.
 "I'm glad to see that you were paying attention to
my lecture last week," a voice said.
 The group looked up to see Tuvok, Chief of Security,
looking down at them.
 "Tuvok, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you,"
Heather said, with a smile.
*********************
 Within five minutes, the six who had been trapped in the cave were safely
outside. Although it was still snowing, it wasn't coming down as fast. The
rescue away team consisted of: Commander Chakotay, Lt. Commander Tuvok,
Ensign Jane Marlett, Ensign Morgan Chesly, and the Doctor, who was busy
fussing about the snow because it was making his program freeze. In other
words, every few minutes he would completely stop and freeze until someone
would warm up the mobile emitter.
 "You okay?" Chakotay asked B'Elanna as he and Tom helped her up from the
cave.
 She nodded, "Just a little cold."
 Tom frowned at that.
 "How long did it take you to get here?" Erin asked Tuvok.
 "Approximately eight hours."
 "Eight *hours*?" Harry asked incredulously.
 "That is correct."
 "It's a wonder you didn't freeze to death." the Doctor said, scanning
B'Elanna with his tricorder.
 He frowned, "This isn't good. We need to get you back to Voyager as soon
as possible."
 B'Elanna nodded, "But I'm feeling better." she protested. The truth was,
she felt tired and a little groggy.
 "No buts." the Doctor said, and continued his scans.
 "What happened to Nic Hargarther?" Ensign Jane Marlett asked, glancing
down into the cave as her friend, Ensign Morgan Chesly, picked up the
remaining supplies in the cave.
 "We encountered some carnivores and they sort of-" Heather winced.
 "Out with it, Lt." Chakotay ordered.
 "Ate him?" Jena supplied softly.
 Heather nodded sadly.
 "What about the castridinium?" B'Elanna asked.
 Everyone turned to stare at her and Jane nearly let go of Morgan's hand as
she helped her up.
 "What's with you and the castridinium?" Harry asked.
 "We almost froze to death and all you can think about is the
*castridinium*?" Heather asked incredulously.
 "Forget I said anything." B'Elanna replied, a little annoyed with herself.
*What is with me and the castridinium?* she asked herself, but she knew the
answer automatically. She had just wanted the away mission to go smoothly
with no problems. *Wishful thinking.* she thought, chiding herself.
 Morgan swiftly climbed up the bank, "All I know is that we'd better get
back to the transport site, and fast. First of all, I don't think we should
risk another attack by those animals you were talking about and second of
all, I think its safe to say that there could be another blizzard anytime."
she said, glancing at Erin, who was one of her other friends, who nodded.
 "Morgan's right. The sensors detected *many* storms that could come up at
any moment." Erin told everyone.
 "Then we'd better get going." Jena said, and the eleven quickly got
organized and started off for the other side of the mountain.
 About an hour later, they paused for a breather.
 "Look at those clouds." Heather said, gesturing with her hand towards the
sky. A big gray cloud was moving in on their position fast.
 "It looks like another storm." Harry remarked.
 "I suggest that we look for another shelter in the area." Tuvok suggested.
 Chakotay nodded, "Do as he says. Hopefully, the storm will pass us." *But
I seriously doubt it.*
 Tom went over to B'Elanna, "You holding up all right?"
 "Yeah, I'm just a little cold." B'Elanna replied, her teeth chattering a
little as she spoke.
 Before Tom could say anything, the Doctor came over, "Lt. Torres, you
should-"
 The Doctor's image froze.
 Jane moaned, "Not again!" she called exasperatedly.
 Heather went over to the Doctor, "His mobile emitter is completely
frozen." she called.
 "Let me see." B'Elanna said, walking over to the Doctor's right side where
the emitter was.
 Heather stepped back and shook her head, "I have no idea how we can warm
it up, especially since the temperature's starting to drop."
 B'Elanna took off her gloves, "Heather?"
 "Yeah?"
 "Got a hairpin on handy?"
 Heather nearly burst out laughing at the odd question, but then sobered
up, "Yes." she said solemnly.
 Taking out a hairpin from her french braid, she handed it to B'Elanna,
"Here." she said, patting her hair down. B'Elanna smiled. Taking the hair
pin, she quickly fixed the emitter. The Doctor's program began running
again. He started to continue what he had said, but then stopped when he
realized what had happened. He sighed, "This will never do. We must *all*
get back to Voyager soon or else there'll be nothing left of us!"
 *Famous last words.* Morgan thought.
 Then a beep emitted from Erin's tricorder. Erin glanced down, "Uh, sir?
Those animals we were talking about. They're back."
*********************
  "How far away are they?" Commander Chakotay asked
 Erin.
  "Twenty meters and closing," she responded.
  "I do not see them," Tuvok said, raising his phaser.
  "Shh!" Jena said, turning away from the group.
  The large group stayed silent for a few moments.
  "They're coming in from the left, there's eight
 total, and the one closet to Commander Chakotay is
 the leader," Jena told them, to their amazement.
  "How do you know that?" Chesly asked.
  "I can hear them.  You can tell which one's the
 leader by focusing in on hearing their positions.
 The leader will always be in the lead.  This one is
 *alot* bigger than the rest."
  Erin varified this on her tricorder, finding it to
 be correct.
  "What?" Jena asked as she noticed everyone staring
 at her.  "You develop good hearing when you're trying
 to find out where a person who's about to try to kill
 you is."
  Chakotay opened his mouth to speak when a white blur
 jumped on his back.
  Speechless, the group momentarily watched in horror
 as the *thing* began to attck the Commander.
  Tuvok raised his phaser and stunned the beast within
 a few moments, preventing further injury.  Paris
 helped Chakotay to his feet as the rest of the crew
 moved nearer to the animal.
  It was pure white, right down to the pads on the
 four feet.  It resembled a cat, but the ears were
 much too large.  From the open mouth, the group could
 see seven long, jagged teeth, each four inches.  The
 body itself looked very much like a cat, but the
 ribs, very visible, counted twenty.  The closed eyes
 were huge, five inches each, each individual
 eyewrapping around the side of the head.
  "It isn't the leader."
  "Our resident zoologist speaks her words of wisdom
 again!"
  "Shut up, Tom," she responded, then continued.  "The
 ribs are so visible...if this is the leader, and if
 these animals follow the instinct of the Alpha eating
 first, the other animals would be dead.  He's fairly
 small, too."
  "Small?" Chakotay asked.  "You call that small?"
  "But, you said the leader was the one nearest to
 Chakotay," Heather said.
  "Yeah, it was.  Then..." she looked at Erin's
 tricorder, reviewing files, "it looks like this one
 moved up, at the Alpha's command!  He was testing how
 powerful we were.  The Alpha didn't want to be
 injured."
  "Talk about bodygaurds," Paris commented.
  "I am quite proud of you, Jena.  I had thought that
 you 'skipped' my entire lesson plan for animal
 behavior," Tuvok said, nodding approvingly.
  "Well, I didn't," she responded angrily.
  Suddenly, Heather looked around, as if searching for
 something.
  "Heather?" Chakotay said, coming up near her.
  "I feel...well, intense anger.  And it isn't
 B'Elanna."
  Torres began to get angry, but was too cold to do so
 now.  *I'll get her later...*
  "The animals?"
  Heather nodded.
  Chakotay looked to Erin.  "I'm reading fifty of them
 now," she replied, looking scared.
  "Then it looks like the snow isn't our biggest
 problem."
 ******************
 Heather glanced around. She hadn't felt this scared in a long time.
 "We'd better split up." Chakotay said.
 "If we do, we'd better have a meeting place." Morgan commented.
 "Then it'll be the top of the mountain." Chakotay said, pointing to the
top.
 "Uh...sir?" Jane asked, concerned, as she glanced at the chief engineer,
who was leaning against Tom.
 "Split up in twos and threes." Erin suggested, and everyone did just that.
Chakotay, Tuvok, and the Doctor, Harry, Heather, and Jena, B'Elanna and
Tom, and Morgan, Erin, and Jane.
 Just then, a white blur leaped through the air.
 "*Run*!!!" Jena shrieked, and everyone took off with a start.
 Tuvok glanced back, "The animals are gaining." he remarked as he ran
through the snow.
 Harry pulled back a branch and ran on. Heather, who was right behind him,
ducked. She had learned from the planet Tora to duck *before* the branch
hit you.
 "Then let's try to find someplace to hide. In the meantime, everyone split
up!" Tom yelled.
 No one did and everyone kept running in the same direction, too scared to
really pay attention.
 "*Split up*!!!" Erin yelled.
 Finally, everyone got the message. Chakotay and the Doctor veered off to
the right and Tuvok followed. Harry, Heather, and Jena veered off to the
left. Erin, Morgan, and Jane went forward.
 "Think you can make it?" Tom asked B'Elanna as they followed Harry,
Heather, and Jena's trail.
 B'Elanna snorted, "I can if you can." she said, issuing a challenge.
 "You're on." Tom replied. Just then, he felt a nip at his feet. He nearly
screamed. Without so much of a glance, B'Elanna shot the cat. Many others
bore down on them, but the two were able to shoot most of them. However, a
few of them were too smart for the two lieutenants and hid in the bushes.
Tom and B'Elanna kept running. They heard a scream. B'Elanna looked at Tom,
her eyes wide.
 "Jena." he said grimly, and broke into a faster run.
 B'Elanna outran him. Soon they came to a clearing. Jena was in a tree,
crying. Heather scurried up next to her. Harry was in another tree,
shooting.
 B'Elanna and Tom ran straight into the clearing.
 "What?" Tom asked, just in time to see three cats trying to jump up the
tree which Heather and Jena were in.
 "Use your phaser!" Tom yelled, drawing out his phaser. He was about to
shoot them when he heard another scream. It was B'Elanna. Four cats had
leapt on her from behind the bushes and were clawing into her back.
 "We dropped ours!" Jena yelled, frightened as she watched.
 "*B'Elanna*!" Tom screamed, aiming his phaser at one of the four. He
missed and nearly shot B'Elanna in the process. He tried again. This time
he shot one. But the other three hung on. Then B'Elanna fell to her knees.
 Another phaser rang out. It was Harry. He managed to kill one of them but
there were still two left.
 With persision, Tom and Harry shot the remaining cats. They both died
instantly. Then Harry shot the other three that were trying to get Heather
and Jena. He didn't
 "B'Elanna?" Tom called, running to her.  She didn't answer. He scanned her
with his tricorder. The results weren't good...
 *********************
 "Three large cuts, a tooth lodged in her
abdomen...." His voice faded away.
 Jena climbed down from the tree, and ran to Torres'
side.  "She's alive, though."
 "Not for much longer," Tom said grimly, tears coming
to his eyes.  "We have to get her back, *now*."
 The rest of the crew slowly rejoined the others, and
Tom picked up Torres and began carrying her back.
Thankfully, there were no more attacks.
 "You sure you can carry her?" Chakotay asked.
 "I'll be fine," Tom said stubbornly.
 As they walked, the sun came out and it got much
warmer.
 Jena came up near Tom, to check on Torres.
 As Jena talked with Tom, he noticed that the right
arm of her jacket was covered in blood.
 "What happened?" He asked with concern.
 "Oh...nothing.  Just those animals.  I'll be fine."
 "That's a deep cut.  Have the Doctor check you out."
 "He's busy with Erin and Morgan.  They got hurt, too."
 Tom frowned.
 B'Elanna groaned and began waking up, giving Jena
time to leave before he forced her to see the Doctor.
 She didn't like doctors; on Melosia, if you were
going to a doctor, you never came back.  Most doctors
worked for the government and couldn't be trusted.
 Heather was walking near Harry.  "How are you doing?"
 "Fine, why?"
 "No reason."
 "Worried about B'Elanna?"
 "Yes," she conceeded.
 "She'll be fine, I'm sure.  B'Elanna's a fighter."