TOM AND B'ELANNA'S COURTSHIP, page 7

#149 DRIVE

Torres: "Hey, I never asked you to give up this race or anything else that you care about. I never asked you to stop being yourself."   Paris: "The only self I want to be is the guy that you're in love with!"   Torres: "Wow, I didn't know you felt that way." Paris: "How can you say that?"   Torres: "Well, you always seemed to have other priorities."   Paris: "I'm showing you my priorities right now."   Torres: "How come you never talked to me about this before?   Paris: "Well, you've got that tough Klingon exterior. I didn't think you liked the mushy stuff."   Torres: "Do I look that tough right now?"   Paris: "Does that mean you're in the mood for some mushy stuff?"   Torres: "Maybe."   Paris: "Exactly what kind of mush are we talking about?"   Torres: "You tell me."   Paris, kissing her: "Well, there's kissy stuff."   Torres: "That was nice." Paris: "And there's the: you're the most important person in the world to me."   Torres: "I like that one too."   Paris: "And there's the happily ever after."   Torres: "How does that one work?"   Paris: "Well, traditionally, it requires a proposal."

They are interrupted by an alert signal. They are being scanned by Kim's and Irina's ship, by some kind of modulating pulse but there is something odd about the amplitude. Suddenly Paris recognises it as morse code - he and Kim use it in the Captain Proton holoprogram. It reads: "Fuel converter rigged. Eject."

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Paris: "What does he mean by rigged?" Torres: "The converter's leaking veridium isotopes." Paris: "Why didn't the computer warn us?" Torres: "The online sensors have been tampered with." Paris: "Can you contain the leak?" Torres: "Too late. The veridium's already reacting with the warp plasma." Paris: "That'll cause a warp breach." Torres: "In less than a minute." Paris: "Then do what Harry said, eject." Torres: "Too late. I have to eject the core!" Paris: "Here? We'll never survive the blast. Neither will anyone else within a million kilometres." Paris moves the Delta Flyer away from the finish line. Kim, watching the monitor on Irina's ship, reports this to Irina. Computer: "Warp core breach in 30 seconds." Torres: "Where are we going?" Paris: "A J-class nebula filled with ionised gas. Should contain the explosion." Torres: "I can't get the ejection subroutines online." Computer: "Warp core breach in 20 seconds." Paris: "So what's your answer?" Torres: "My answer?" Paris: "Will you marry me?" Computer: "Warp core breach in 15 seconds." Torres: "You're proposing NOW?!" Paris: "It's a good a time as any." Torres: "Ejection subroutines back online." They eject the warp core inside the nebula. "Clear! Go!" The Delta Flyer speeds away from the explosion but is caught by the outer edges of it and comes to a stop. At the same time, about 1.2 million kilometres away Assan crosses the finish line, the winner, and Voyager is slightly rocked as the anti-matter explosion is felt. Aboard the damaged Delta Flyer, Paris and Torres pick themselves up. Paris: "B'Elanna-" Torres: "Guess we lost." Paris: "That depends." Torres: "On what?" Paris: "On how you answer my question." Torres: "I thought you only asked it because we were about to explode." Paris: "Well, we're still alive and I'm still asking." Torres: "How come you never asked me before?" Paris: "How come you're avoiding the question?" Torres: "I'm thinking." Paris: "Think faster." Torres: "Why, are you going to withdraw the question?" Paris: "No, I might start to beg. Could get embarrassing."