>  WARNING:  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!  VORIK-HATERS WHO READ THIS MAY 
RESULT
>IN INJURY OF THEMSELVES, THEIR COMPUTERS, OR THE AUTHOR!!!
>
>"The Pandora's Box"
>Part One:  To Err is Human
>
>  I remember the Sikari incident.  I remember it well.
>
>  My shift had just ended and I intended to have a bit of lunch.  As I
>headed towards the mess hall Leela Aster, a constant gossip, stopped me
>and told me what had happened.
>  "Shelly, Vorik has gone down to the planet and blocked all
>communications!  He's crazy, and he wants to take Lieutenant Torres as
>his mate!"
>  "Really?" I made myself sound indifferent.  I really didn't want to
>hear it from her.  Maybe if I sounded uninterested she would go away.
>  "And I thought you were seeing him!  The nerve!  You should break up
>with the mangy-"
>  "Aster-"
>  "Call me Leela when I'm off duty."
>  "Leela, you know nothing about it!  We weren't seeing each other, 
we're
>just...acquaintances."
>  "You eat lunch with acquaintances?  What do you two talk about 
anyway? 
>Vulcan stuff?"
>  "Sometimes."
>  "What else do you talk about?"
>  "I don't have to tell you."
>  "Do you talk about sex?"
>  "NO!!!  We talk about culture and religion, things like that."
>  Leela put her hands on her hips smugly.  I had told her.
>  I cursed myself inwardly.  There wouldn't be an Ensign in security 
that
>didn't know what Vorik and I talked about.
>  "Is it true you went with him to Sandrine's?"
>  "Yes.  But only because neither of us had a date, and it just seemed
>logical to-"
>  "Yeah, sure.  When's the last time you saw him?  Did he tell you 
about
>this whole pon farr thing?"
>  "No he did not."
>  "Did he tell you that he loved Torres and not you?"
>  "No.  He never said he loved anybody."
>  "Has he stopped seeing you?  When did you last see him?"
>  I decided not to answer and make a speedy retreat to my quarters. 
>Lunch could wait until Leela was on duty.  Unfortunately, she got in 
the
>turbolift with me.
>  "Halt turbolift!" she ordered.  Before I could speak otherwise she
>asked,  "I want to know when you last saw him."
>  "That is none of your business.  Resume."
>  "When?"  "Leela, you're gossip is trouble.  I'm not getting involved
>this time."
>  "When?  I'll give you the rest of my replicator rations."
>  Now that was worth something.  I had used up most of mine, and the
>information was not that valuable.
>  "When?" Leela asked again.  "I won't tell anybody, I just want to
>know."
>  "You won't tell anybody?"
>  "I swear it."
>  "And if you do?"
>  "I'll, uh..."
>  "How about you give me the rest of your replicator rations for a
>month?"
>  "Sure," she quipped.
>  "And you won't make a big deal about it or bother me anymore?"
>  Leela hesitated, then agreed.
>  "I haven't seen him for three weeks.  Long enough to terminate 
whatever
>relationship you say we had.  Now go away."
>  The turbo lift had stopped, and we both got off.  I haven't talked to
>Leela since.
>
>  I ate lunch alone, to stew in my own thoughts.  The Vorik that was 
down
>on Sikari, I reasoned, could not be the Vorik I knew, the considerate,
>thoughtful one.  It couldn't be.  Hadn't Leela said he was crazy?  I
>thought I had meant something to him.  Maybe I did, but Torres meant
>more.  Or maybe I was just delusional...
>  "Ensign Miala?"
>  The voice of Neelix, Voyager's ship cook and morale officer, brought 
me
>back to reality.
>  "You don't seem well today.  Do you need to go to sickbay?  Perhaps
>you'd like to talk about it?"
>  "I'm okay, just a little...tired.  Aren't *you* supposed to be in
>sickbay?"
>  "Uh, actually, the doctor said I was well enough to return to my
>duties."
>  "You drove him crazy, didn't you?"
>  "Well, I would hardly say that."
>  I shrugged.
>  "In fact, I think right now he is tending to Ensign Vorik right now."
>  I nodded.  The less I said, the more information I could get.
>  "He's over his pon farr, though."  Then, jumping subjects he asked, 
>"Would you like to try one of these cookies?"
>  "No thank you.  I'm not very hungry.  You know, maybe I should go to
>sickbay."
>
>*      *       *
>
>  "How may I help you?" the angelic Kes asked me
>  Looking around quickly, I didn't see Vorik anywhere.  I needed to 
talk
>to him- I needed to know where we stood.
>  "Nothing...I thought some one else was here  "I see.  Ensign Vorik 
has
>returned to his quarters, if you're-"
>  She spoke to air.  I had already left.
>
>
>  I was at his quarters in record time.  There was an anger boiling up 
in
>me- a jealousy.  The whole time I kept thinking,  *What does Torres 
have
>that I don't?  What did I do to deserve this?*
>
>  I stood at the door fuming.  It took me a few minutes to collect
>myself.  I rang the chime.
>  "Yes?" came a voice from the intercom.  It was Vorik.
>  Suddenly I was at a loss of words.  "Umm, it's me....Michelle."
>
>  I remember Vorik once commenting on how beautiful my name was.  Not 
at
>all like Vorik, which wasn't at all pleasing to the ear.  He was the 
only
>person I knew that didn't call me by my nickname, Shelly.
>
>  I waited for an eternity of about five minutes.  When Vorik finally
>came to the door, he looked like he had been to hell and back.
>  "Are you alright?  You look awful."
>  "I'm still recovering from the last effects of the pon farr."
>  I don't remember replying, I must have nodded.
>  "Why are you here?  With the rumors that are going around I assumed 
you
>wouldn't see me again."
>  I gnawed on my lower lip.  "They all make you out to be some kind of
>villain- I know you better than that.  I needed to find out what
>happened....And if you ever want to see *me* again."
>
>*      *       *
>
>  "...And I'm sorry if I led you to believe otherwise."
>  I nodded dumbly.  Vorik was right, his reasons logical.
>  "As the saying goes, to err is human."
>  He cocked an eyebrow at me as Vulcans do.  "I do not understand.  I 
am
>not human."
>  I smiled sadly.  "It wasn't you who erred, it was me."
>  I got up and left.
>
>*      *       *
>
>  It was months since Sikari.  Nothing seemed to have changed- Neelix's
>food was still awful, the Captain was still strict, Leela was still her
>bright, talkative and nosy self.  But there was something, a tiny flame
>in the back of my head that had been blown out.  I even ate lunch with
>Vorik now and then....but it wasn't the same.  I realized, rather 
sadly,
>that nothing would ever be the same.
>
> 
>  We had happened upon planet called Pandora, a planet rich in ores 
that
>were crucial to the ship.  The Pandora were willing to give us the 
ores,
>if we would mine it ourselves.  Janeway, being as un trusting as she 
was,
>prepared to send an away team down, the best of the best, to see if the
>mine was safe.
>  I was nervous when she called me to her ready room.  Could I have 
been
>chosen?  When I was younger I often explored old mine shafts.  It was 
my
>hobby.
>  "Ensign Michelle Miala?"
>  "Yes?"
>  "You have probably already guessed, but I've chosen you for the away
>team.  Along with you will go Ensign Vorik, Lieutenant Torres, and
>Lieutenant Paris."
>  "Thank you, Captain," I said, grinning brightly, though cringing
>inwardly.
>  "Dismissed."
>
>  Was the Captain crazy?  All of us on the same away mission?  That was
>like opening a Pandora's box.  I frowned, not liking the pun.  It was
>more than ironic.
>
>*      *       *
>
>  "No," said B'Elanna.
>  "No?"
>  "No.  I will not go on an away mission with that slimy, hormone 
crazed,
>son of a targ and his girlfriend!"
>  Janeway sighed.  "You can't call off a mission just because you don't
>get along with some of the people going with you."
>  "Why did you have to invite *him* along.  I'm sure I could manage the
>other one."
>  "I didn't invite him along.  Ensign Vorik has impeccable climbing
>skills and I thought him necessary."
>  B'Elanna crossed her arm sullenly.  "Tom is just as good at climbing 
as
>*him*."
>  "Yes.  But the more skilled climbers, the better."
>  "I still won't do it."
>  "B'Elanna, if it makes you feel any better, I've had to work with
>*hundreds* of people I disliked through my career in starfleet."
>  "I never wanted to be in starfleet."
>  "I don't want to have to order you to go," said Janeway.
>  B'Elanna sighed, lowered her head.  "Fine, I'll go," she muttered, 
and
>stormed out.
>
>  She wasn't going to like this trip.  Not one bit.
>
>TO BE CONTINUED....
>
>Stay tuned for "To Forgive is Divine"