Title: The Legend of t'Ai, 1-2/?
Author: Amiroq. the KiTfox
Email: fitchett@netaccess.co.nz
Size: 15K
Rating: G
Codes: F, T/m
Summary: Torres' away team meet a new race, a race that spreads across thousands of
lightyears -- but their language won't translate. The answer seems to be taking on a very
willing translator. But what is the crew getting themselves into?

Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek, I own t'd'Amya-faroae.

Author's Note: This story took over a year to write and survived major crises - notably the
time I accidentally deleted it and had to translate 20K or so of a made up language,
surprisingly complex (do you have any idea how hard it is to translate slang?), back into
English... what can I say but 'whoops'? Anyway, if the story survived all that, surely it's
worth some feedback!


t't'd'Ai-lene, 1/?
Amiroq. the KiTfox


"This place is a desert," Tom Paris looked up from where he was sitting on his rock as the
away team rested in the scorching heat. "Why would anyone want to live here?"

"Perhaps it's not a matter of wanting, Paris." B'Elanna Torres let a stream of golden sand
-- almost the same colour as her uniform top -- run through her fingers. "Perhaps they were
banished here. Or there's no where else to go."

"Whatever the reason, it looks like we're about to find out." Pablo Batehart pointed at the
rising cloud of dust in the distance, made wavery by some trick the heat played on them as
it rose from the ground.

B'Elanna stood up and shielded her eyes from the bright light. "I can see one figure out in
front. It's too dusty to make out anything else."

"Sir- It looks like that person is running from something." Mike pulled out his tricorder.
"It's no use. The interference in the dust is playing up; I can't get a reading."

The half-Klingon pulled her pack off. "I'm going to take a look. Perhaps I'll see more from
that outcrop." She pointed before setting out at a jog.

Tom watched her go, then turned back to the scene in front of them. "Hey- Where'd he go?"

"Perhaps he ducked into one of the caves around here. The others are changing direction...
They're coming over here."

"I suggest we ready phasers. We don't know what these people are like."

Pablo nodded. "I agree," he said, pulling out his own whilst Tom did the same.

The cloud of dust moved up to them, and as it cleared they saw it was actually a large
group of people, half-man, half-snake, holding spears and other such like.

"Who are you?" the leader asked.

Tom stepped forward. "Uh, I'm Lieutenant Tom Paris of the Federation starship Voyager."

The snake-man looked him over and grunted. "I am Aedrien. You will help us."

"Help you *what*?" the pilot asked suspiciously.

"Capture the Weaks."

"The weeks?"

"The *Weaksss*. They steal our food. You will help."

"Janeway to Paris," Kathryn Janeway broke into the conversation at exactly the right time.
Tom made a note to thank her later as he tapped his commbadge.

"Paris here."

The group moved away, unimpressed by something.

"We're reading a Kazon ship on long range sensors. You'll have to regroup and beam back to
the ship."

"Give us ten minutes, Captain."

"Alright, Janeway out."

Tom reholstered his phaser and grabbed B'Elanna's pack, starting at the same time in the
direction she'd taken earlier, and Mike followed.

~~~

"What's your name?" B'Elanna was crouched on the ground next to the alien. He looked
remarkably human, except for his pale skin (he could *not* live on this desert! she
decided) and mottled black/grey hair.

"Aeryj. Rich One. Yours?"

"B'Elanna. B'Elanna Torres."

"Baelana? 'Half-breed,'" he commented.

"Actually, it's a Klingon name. I'm not sure what it means. Where are you from?"

"T'wizui."

Great, that's helpful. "Where's that?"

He grinned, obviously knowing what she was thinking. "Under the ground. We live in caves."

"Why were those people chasing you?"

"Why do you ask so much askings?"

"Touche." Before she could say any more, Aeryj froze, listening.

"Someone comes."

"That will be Tom and Batehart. They're friends." She stood up. "Over here!"

"B'Elanna, we have to-" Tom stopped, catching sight of Aeryj. "Oh."

"This is Aeryj. I've been talking to him."

"Well, you're going to have to come back later. There's a group of Kazon ships approaching.
We have to get back to Voyager."

B'Elanna took her pack from him and nodded. "Sorry, duty calls."

"Wait. You come from Kazon way?"

"Yeah. We're trying to get back home."

"Our people spread far. Not many speak your language."

"That doesn't matter: we have translators-"

"People like you came long time ago. No translating. They taught us to speak your
language."

"B'Elanna, we don't have time for this," Tom started.

"No, I think we've got something here. These people were wearing uniforms like ours?"

"Not same. More colour. Many different peoples."

"Sounds like Starfleet to me."

"Janeway to Paris; what's happening down there?"

"We've run into a native with some very interesting information."

"Fine. We'll come back later.  Transporter room, energise."

~~~

"From what I've gathered," B'Elanna said, leaning on a chair in the conference room, "some
time ago another Starfleet ship came to this region of space and taught some of these
people to speak English. But the large majority don't."

"If this is true," Janeway started slowly, "we have a problem."

"I agree," added Chakotay. "How long until we return?"

"Sixty seven minutes." Harry had a padd in front of him containing anything he could find
on cultures whose language didn't translate. "It looks to me as if the component that
blocks tricorders could also block the translator. We haven't actually heard their language
spoken yet, aside from the fact that Aeryj is Rich One and Baelana is halfbreed."

"He also said something about 'd'Amya-faroae'," B'Elanna said. "I checked the database, and
there's a group of people near Federation space called Danya Faroi."

"That is too big a coincedence to ignore," Janeway told her. "He said his people spread
far. They must go right back to the Alpha Quadrant."

"They don't seem to have advanced technology. The Prime Directive would apply."

"But Starfleet has already interfered. There's no way we can fix it this time. Maybe we
should take advantage of it somehow." 

Tuvok cocked an eyebrow. "Captain?"

She acknowledged him with a nod. "I want to know everything there is to know about these
people, right down to what they eat. When we reach the planet, B'Elanna, Harry, Tom: you'll
go down with me. Dismissed."

~~~

B'Elanna shaded her eyes against the glaring sun and squinted toward the rocks. They were
nearly there. "I think I see something. There, by that crack."

"It's hard to tell," Tom said. "Especially with his hair. It looks just like the rocks."

"They live underground." She hesitated. "I definitely see something."

"Alright then;" Janeway nodded. "We'd better not keep him waiting. What did you say his
name was?"

"Aeryj."

They made their way surprisingly quickly across the scorching sand toward the cavernous
mountains, expectantly anticipating. When they got close, even the two that hadn't known
what to look for saw the lone figure amidst the rocks. 

"Baelana," he greeted her. "You came back fast."

Harry frowned. That was the way *only he* pronounced B'Elanna's name. For some reason it
made him jealous, especially when he saw the native smile at his friend.

She was obviously taken aback by the statement, but Janeway answered before she could say
anything. "We would have come sooner - if we could have. I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of
the Federation starship Voyager."

"I am Aeryj."

"So I've been told. I've been told a lot of things about you. I was hoping we could talk
about them."

"I was also. But not here. Is too hot. We should go to caves."

"Lead the way."

~~~

"How do you find your way in these caves?" Tom asked, glancing around. It was pitch black,
and all he saw was... nothing.

"We look. Sometimes use plant. Gives light; not miss paths that way. Was given to us by
Diae many years past." He turned a corner and his voice became muffled for an instant until
they, too, passed it. "Every person knows caves. We learn when much young."

"And you don't get lost?"

"Some - few - do. Some found. Some not. Some go through d'janto-Diae, and not found until
meeting time."

"What's a 'd'janto-Diae'?" B'Elanna asked.

"Is... light. Go through, go other caves. Meet other people. Called 'Hand of Diae'."

"It sounds like some kind of subspace anomaly," Harry commented. "How many are there?"

"One for one cave," Aeryj replied hotly. B'Elanna shot a Look in Harry's direction, knowing
what had sent the exotic man into such a mood, but he didn't see it in the dark.

"Have you always lived down here?" Janeway asked, not oblivious to the tension between her
officers.

"As long as we know. The d'drion-faroae not catch us down here. Afraid of dark."

"The people you were running from this morning?" Tom guessed.

"Yes. They are angry at us for getting best food, best life. They not know how to live
right."

A primitive war of the natives, Janeway decided. It would be best not to get involved in
*that*, at least; even considering Starfleet had been here already. 

She spotted a faint glow around the corner, or thought she did; it could have been her eyes
playing tricks on her. But when they turned she *knew* it was real - it looked like some
kind of flurorescent seaweed.

"Amya," Aeryj explained. "Gift from Diae to help us find way in caves." He carefully
plucked a strand and held it up to light the way. "Just a little further."

~~~

"How many do you think actually learned our language?" Janeway asked, slightly hesitantly.
She had already realised that this was a major problem. But she was going to get around it:
somehow. Nothing had stopped them yet - not the Kazon, not the Borg, not a fluffy pink
killer nebula; and she was damned if she was going to let a malfunctioning UT get in the
way.

"Four learned here. Less, I think, in other caves. None, one in most."

That wasn't something she'd wanted to hear. She frowned.

"How many other caves have you been to?" B'Elanna probed. "Five, six?"

He counted silently, unused to the English numbers still, then said, "Eleven." All the
fingers on two hands, then one more.

"That's about ten people, I'd guess."

"Ten, maybe. Nine, more likely."

"Nine people from twelve caves," Janeway said, "some of which may not be alive still. And
some of them have discovered space travel." This piece of information they had discovered
just a few moments ago when he mentioned a couple of caves with what he called "kund'o",
which turned out to be some kind of spaceships.

"Those aren't good figures," Tom muttered.

"Not good at all."

~~~

B'Elanna was seated comfortably in the dark - which her eyes were now getting used to -
next to Aeryj, stroking a small creature that could have been either a canine or a rodent.
They were discussing the social structures of their respective cultures, and she listened
intently to his explanation. "We have a di, who is.. big person. Runs festivals, decides
choices when is equal. Big job. When making decision each side says why to go with them,
then we stand on side we like, and Diamar counts."

She nodded. "What happens if there's the same number on each side, and Diamar doesn't know
which option is best? How does she decide?"

He hesitated before answering, choosing his words carefully. "I not know. I will rub her
bone about it later."

"You'll *what*?"

"Is casual speak. I will ask her."

Oh, slang. Of course, she thought, every culture has slang. "On Kess-" She was interrupted
by the chirrup of her commbadge.

"Kim to Torres. We're having some problems in Engineering, and I-"

"Can't Carey handle it? He was left in charge."

"There was an accident; he's in Sickbay. Technically you're still on shift."

"Oh, mierda! Fine, Torres out." She stood up reluctantly, sending the creature on its way.
"Sorry, duty calls."

"Is alright. I know sometimes work is more important than talk."

She smiled in the dark. "Thanks. And, one more thing. Want to tell me how to get out of
here?"

"No problem."

She smiled again at his answer, one that he'd learned from Tom, and waited for him to stand
before letting him lead her down the stone tunnel.

~~~

Kathryn stood at the head of the meeting table, glancing at each face in turn: Chakotay, at
her side as always; Tuvok, calm as usual; Tom, looking slightly bored; B'Elanna, shooting
irritated glances at Harry who in turn was glaring at Aeryj, who was trying to ignore him;
and the Doctor. She cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her. "I think you all know
why we're here. Aeryj's people go a long way, probably right back home, and we can't speak
the language. I want a solution. Now."

Nobody spoke for a moment, then Tom ventured, "Translator?"

"Anyone who joined us here would likely never get back home again. I don't know if we could
find someone willing to give that up."

"Like Neelix?" B'Elanna asked. Kathryn gave her a look.

"Neelix was different. There was nothing for him out here. These people live in a
community. Think how it was for us when we first arrived here. I think a translator is out
of the question, Tom."

"No," Aeryj said. The entire senior staff turned to look at him, and Tuvok cocked an
eyebrow. "My people are all curious. That is why we left our caves in the first place, when
we met t'd'Drien. *I* would not give up a chance like this. I know a lot of us would not."

"You think you know someone who would want to do this?"

"Yes. I would."

There was a general murmuring, and Kathryn hesitated before nodding. "Alright. Welcome
aboard."

Harry glared at the wall.

~~~

B'Elanna glanced around as she stepped into Aeryj's quarters and spotted him in the bedroom, lying on the bed. He looked up as she walked in, and grinned. "Too soft."

"Don't tell me you sleep on the cave floor back home."

"No, but I have always hated softness. Our beds are softer than this, I teared the stuffing out when I was younger."

She laughed, imagining a child-version of him pulling a bed to pieces while his mother tried to stop him. "I feel sorry for your mother," she said, sitting down next to him. He pulled himself up and crossed his legs.

"She called me 'enfav-baedroan' - daemon-child. Soon everyone called me that, or just Favbae for quickness."

"My mother called me something of the sort. Just when she said it, it wasn't meant nicely."

"Your mother was not nice."

"No."

He hesitated, then asked, "Do you miss her?"

"No," she said again, then, "Maybe. A tiny bit. My sadistic side, I think."

"Sadistic?"

"The side that hates me and life in general."

"So it isn't all of you that does?"

She grinned at him. "No, or I wouldn't be here now."

"Was that a complement?"

"Compliment. And yes, it sure was."

"I like your in-sadistic side."

She smiled again. "Unsadistic," she corrected. "How much?"

"How much I like it?"

"Yeah."

"Lots;-This much." He kissed her, shifting his position so he could get closer, and, after a moment, sliding one hand to her neck. 

~~~

"B'Elanna!"

The aforementioned turned midstep as she exited Aeryj's quarters to see her best friend leaning on the wall. He straightened up and folded his arms. "Do you realise I can hear every single word you say in there?" he asked. She blushed slightly.

"You can?"

"Fluid conduits," he reminded her. "My quarters are right next to his."

"Everything?" The tone in her voice begged him to say he was just kidding, and he imagined that if it had a face it would look like a puppy-dog right now.

"Right up to when you asked how much he liked your in-sadistic side. That's when I left."

"Oh," she said, relieved. What *had* happened after that? he wondered, then answered himself, I *really* don't want to know. "I'll remember that."

He shrugged, and headed back to his quarters.

~~~

Kathryn leaned on the bulkhead next the the turbolift on the bridge, listening to Tom's anecdote, the one she probably wasn't supposed to hear, quietly so he wouldn't realise she was there. She'd come in just before he started, and decided it was probably the same one he said he was never going to tell her and she'd never get another chance like this. By now, Tom was the only one left who didn't know she was there - Ensign Lang in particular kept glancing over, and she wondered how Tom could be so oblivious to her presence. He reached the end with a terrible punchline that left her wise as to why he wouldn't tell her it. "Now I know what I'm missing out on," she commented. Everyone turned around, and the look on his face was classic. She wished she had a holo-imager on her.

"Uh, Captain, um, ah, well I.. hi." Intelligible word count, forty two percent. Not bad, considering the circumstances. She walked around the railing and sat down - no, lounged was a better word - surverying him coolly. Unfortunately, her reply was cut off by a beeping on the Ops console.

"There's a ship approaching, Captain; unknown design," Harry reported.

She nodded. "Is it close enough to hail?"

"Not yet. It looks like some kind of warship."

"Aeryj, are you familiar with the ships in this area?"

"Some. There is only about six peoples here with ships."

"Have a look."

Harry stepped back stiffly to let him get a proper look, digging steel blades into his back with his eyes. Kathryn didn't see it, but noticed Tom backing away - as much as you *can* at the conn - and he was at least five metres away. "It looks like bad news. k'd't'd'Drien-faroae^kund-cien."

She recognised *part* of the word - was it one word, or more? -, at least, but he was going to have to learn to speak in English. "Translation?"

"A warship."

"All that meant 'warship'?" Tom commented.

"How bad is it?" Kathryn asked quickly, knowing Aeryj was going to tell them a literal translation - normally she'd want to hear it, but right now she just wanted to know if that ship was going to attack them.

"They attack our ships on sight, but they have not seen this one. They will probably speak first. Their weapons are not *too* bad, they have phasers and torpedoes."

"We're in hailing range, Captain," Harry added.

"Open a channel." She stood up, hands on hips, and felt rather than saw Aeryj coming back to sit down next to her again. The viewscreen blipped, and a man that looked like a cross between a human and a snake appeared in replacement of the normal panorama of stars - she recognised him as a d'Drien-faroae from Tom's description. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. I--"

"You have no business here, Captain Kathryn Janeway. *Essspecially* not with one of *them* on board." He spat out the word 'them', lifting a scaly finger to point at Aeryj. "Leave."

"We're just trying to get home, we mean no harm. If you want, you can provide an escort while we pass through your space."

"Give him to us, and we may *consssider* it."

"That isn't an option. We--"

"No! You can not be here with a Weak!" The screen went black, leaving the channel and the bridge both silent. Not even the consoles beeped, as everyone stared at the Captain, Aeryj or the screen. Harry was thinking things that probably wouldn't be appreciated if he dared say them out loud, secretly, subconsciously, pleased, as it just proved his point that Aeryj was nothing but trouble. Really, he couldn't believe anyone liked him, but to all appearances, everyone adored him except him - especially B'Elanna. What did she see in him? It was crazy. In Harry's opinion, he was pulling some trick, maybe he was going to call up some reinforcements and take over the ship. And now this. It was crazy.

"Well, that could have gone better," Tom observed eventually.

"They're still here," Harry said. "About 50 kilometres to our port."

"Hail them again."

"No answer. Shall I keep trying?"

"Yes."

Finally the beep of the console changed tone, higher now. "They're answering," he confirmed.

The man appeared once more, and Kathryn lifted a hand to stop him speaking. "I'm going to tell you something, and I'm only going to tell you once. I don't abandon my crew. I have been alone all of this voyage, and I'll be alone now. I don't like threats, I don't like fascists, I don't like bullies, I don't like you. I beat the Borg alone, I beat Species 8472 alone, I'll beat you alone. I've come 20,000 lightyears by myself, and I'll go the rest of the way too. Janeway *out*."

"I'd hate to meet you in a dark alley at night, Captain," Tom commented, and she turned her attention back to him, still simmering slightly.

"Just remember, Tom, what you were doing when I came in *before* you say things like that. Aeryj, my readyroom; Chakotay, you have the bridge." She stood up and strode off, Aeryj following almost meekly, but not quite.

Tom looked after her, then said, "I'd hate to meet her in a dark alley *any* time!"

~~~

War was taking its toll.

B'Elanna was in Engineering; had been for the last thirty-two hours. The only thing she was sure of was that the ship was trying to kill her. Whenever she fixed something, it broke again, or something else on the other side of Engineering did. She couldn't count how many times the shuddering of the ground that even the inertial dampeners couldn't fix had nearly thrown her into dangerous chemicals that burned, or large falls that she would surely come out of with at least twenty broken bones and half her organs failing. Of course, as she had two of every vital organ, that wouldn't matter so much, but the pain of it, and the fact that she was the only one on the *whole entire DAMNED **STAFF*** who could keep things breaking long enough to keep them alive for another two days or so, was what really worried her. So she didn't know when it stopped. Her mind was a blur

(coffee tired mierda pain OW)

and all she wanted to do was go to sleep, preferably somewhere in her quarters on her bed in the middle under the covers. So she didn't notice when it all stopped.

About half an hour later, she looked around and realised there was nothing critical left to fix. That was when she realised the ground wasn't shaking anymore, and there was no rumbling, the kind that indicated a space battle. She looked at the time. She'd been called to Engineering by the red alert siren thirty-four hours ago. Hopefully, the shower and replicator in her quarters would both be working when she woke up.

~~~

On the bridge, things were taking a better turn than they had been. Instead of the previous  d't'd'Drien-faroae^kund'o-cien, the triangle formation of ships in front of Voyager now were larger, less maneuvorable vessels that had a slightly different name - d't'd'Amya-faroae^kund'o-bien. While B'Elanna slept, Aeryj was proving his worth in negotiations with his kinsmen from a nearby planet.

"Jzula'o-liuwre bien dui tsei faroae, Captain," Aesrifliend^Di-welano smiled. She was a slight woman with long mottled hair that fell almost to her waist when not tied up. Now, it was in many different braids, coiled up on top of her head with shimmering threads twisted in that seemed to change colour as she moved. In actuality, they just reflected the light at different angles, like the feathers on a common duck's tail, and so appeared different hues of blue and green and purple.

"We would welcome peace with your people," Aeryj translated quickly. He noticed that while Harry hated him, he didn't seem to mind the company of Aesrifliend at all, casting her glances every so often. Although he sounded naive with his not-so-perfect English, Aeryj wasn't, and he knew what that meant, and knew Aesrifle knew it too.

Kathryn smiled back at her. "Right now we could use a few more bones in our structure."

Aeryj hesitated, and she gave him a Look. He didn't stop to point out the fact that the Di-welano would see it in a different light, but changed the sentence slightly before translating it. "Werasal hacera'o con-jiuwre peki yudare." Right now we could do with some support. The conversation continued with him hardly able to take a break:

"Unfortunately, the d'Drien-faroae haven't quite learned the meaning of friend yet," Aesrifliend said.

"We've met a few people like that before," Kathryn answered with a chuckle, "but I must admit, none quite so determined as these."

"Our peoples have been at war for two millenia. I'll pass the word along to our other wizui'o that you're a friend. It will help that you have Enfav-baedroan with you." She smiled at Aeryj, and he grinned back at the pet name. He and Aesrifliend had played together at meetings when they were younger, and he remembered her vivacity well.

Kathryn nodded, working out from the exchange that she was referring to Aeryj. "Exactly why we needed him. I'll let our first officer show you to the transporter room, shall I?"

"If you would. Maybe the job would be better served by your Ops officer, though." She slid Harry a sideways glance full of meaning, and Aeryj translated the message with a little less enthusiasm than was required. Kathryn hesitated, then nodded again.

"Alright. Harry," she gestured to the door of the conference room, and he didn't protest at having to accompany the attractive captain of the lead ship. As the other senior officers followed, Aeryj paused.

"Captain? I think you should know that telling someone you need more bones is a good way of making them think them you are interested in.. something else. Our culture puts a certain kalna on bones."

"I hope you changed it, then."

"Yes. I knew Srifle as a child, I would not want to cause a problem."

"I'll remember that, thank you. It could have been an embarrassing situation."

"B'kalna." With that he left, glancing at the time, and wondering if B'Elanna was still working.

END PART TWO
2B CONTINUED IN PART THREE