Delta Pioneers - Episode 7 - Fitzpatrick

by Beth6787

AN : Rating for discussion of adult issues in Fitzpatrick's past. As Kathryn starts to 'build bridges' with her former Maquis crew, an unlikely friendship begins ...

Beth6787

August 2018

Delta Pioneers - Episode 7. Fitzpatrick

As Kathryn starts to 'build bridges' with her former Maquis crew, an unlikely friendship begins...

New Earth, Southern lowlands. Day 101 new calendar ...

He'd been out here now for five weeks solid and it suited him just fine. No one gave a damn about him and he felt just the same. The only true buddy he'd had all along was Dalby and look what had happened to him! Even Carlson had bottled it after that. Fallen into line, along with all the others. They'd all been duped : not just Chakotay - though why he had a thing for closet Cardie chicks he had no idea. First Seska and now Janeway. Dalby was right, it was just so obvious: -

Same tactic of wrapping The Boss around her little finger (by fucking him senseless no doubt).

Same tactic of deploying spies amongst your workmates. Seska with Jonas and Janeway with that Vulcan scumbag, Tuvok.

Hadn't they both plotted to form alliances with the Kazon too ? Until the Trabe scuppered that little scheme...

Now for the latest, some Starfleet Intelligence guy had turned up with a cock and bull story about barely escaping with his life from the evil Vidians and guess what - he was screwing Torres all along! So every damn female that Chakotay has ever taken a fancy too was really working for the Fed-Cardie alliance to wipe us colonists from existence. Collaborators in genocide : one and all !

He tried to block it out, the others gossiping. But he still caught the drift. The irony was not lost on him. Lately Carey had taken to assigning him the worst of the donkey work : alone. Whilst the others were digging channels to lay the fresh water pipes and electrical cabling, guess who got to dig the septic tanks and replace the filters for the sewage system. Yup, you got it in one!

She, doubtless, thought up the 'punishment' for him and the others all backed her up - feeling sorry for her. Poor closet Cardie being assaulted by Dalby. Of course, Paris must had told the rest of that phoney self-appointed Council that he'd been in on the whole plan and they'd taken his word for it. Actually, he had known nothing about Dalby's little fetish. It turned his stomach! He'd rather be celibate for the rest of his days than lay a single finger on that Cardie bitch. Though he had to hand it to her. Disguising herself as a human Starfleet Captain was one up on Seska's ploy of being a poor Bajoran victim of the occupation.

Cardie women had no idea what it was to suffer! As if one could ever get away long term with such a strategy. But to play Captain, make all the decisions to suit yourself and to hell with everyone else...yup, Janeway's cover story was just perfect for a Cardie military spy. And she was still doing it. Here. Now.

All he knew is that he had to find a way to expose her... and soon.

—-

Kathryn Janeway reviewed the latest engineering reports. She may not be officially 'in command' any more but she was still one of the Council of nine. After Mike Ayala's untimely demise at the hands of Maxwell Burke, it had been decided that the Doctor would replace him. Although he wasn't former Maquis, as CMO his interests were solely in maintaining the health and wellbeing of his patients : whomever they happened to be. He'd obviously been programmed to be apolitical and his ethical subroutines would ensure that remained the case. Thus he could be considered to be another 'neutral' councillor and there had been no objections when the announcement had been made.

However, she was acutely aware that this had been yet another blow for the Maquis contingent. Mike Ayala had been well liked and respected by them all, as indeed he had come to be regarded as a close friend by many of the original Fleeters too. Then, of course, there was the fact that it was now common knowledge that Maxwell Burke, a Starfleet commissioned First Officer no less, had been intimately involved with B'Elanna from her Academy days.

Fortunately, she and Tuvok had managed to keep a lid on the rest of the story - the Equinox's covert mission to the Badlands that is - but she was aware of tension in the air and B'Elanna being kept at arms length by some of her former closest buddies. These days she spent nearly all her free time with Tom, Harry and Celes. Come to think of it, she'd not seen B'Elanna and Chakotay say more than a dozen words to each other for the last month at least.

She herself had started on her secret project to spend more time getting to know the former Maquis contingent of her crew. She had accepted responsibility for the events surrounding Ken Dalby's death when she had given his eulogy and over the last few weeks had made a point of sitting with Culhane, Chell, Murphy, Larson, Mackenzie, Hogan...etc when Neelix served up in the Mess Hall at the end of another physically gruelling day. Just chatting casually and passing the time of day. She wanted to become 'Kathryn' to them rather than the Starfleet 'Captain' imposed by circumstance.

Looking down the list she noticed that the only one she had not seen at all was Fitzpatrick. Scanning the list of personnel assigned to each of the engineering projects it soon became apparent why! Fitzpatrick had been assigned to work alone on the sewage systems continually since the incident with Dalby all those months ago. He was supervised - at a distance - by ex-Starfleet security, all previously under Tuvok's direct command aboard Voyager. His food and drink was usually delivered by either Tuvok himself, or Vorik, and he slept in a makeshift shelter in the southern lowlands, about six miles from Hope Township itself. Did he even have a bunk here in town? ...

She thought back to the painful memories of that night. It had been Tom and Tuvok who had found her but Chakotay who had had to carry her out of the wreckage...the three of them knew and at least one, if not all, had been protecting her. Damn! It was the last thing she wanted. Whatever was going through Fitzpatrick's mind he must be assuming that she was deliberately avoiding him. Perhaps afraid of him or feeling guilty ...

There and then her mind was made up. If their community was ever to fully heal and become one people with a common purpose : they had to learn to trust one another. Ostracising and vilifying Fitzpatrick, or Carlson or anyone, was the very worst possible course of action. Tomorrow she would be working on that sewage system with him. And she intended to do so privately. She did not want security - or worse Chakotay and Tom - 'protecting' her. Sending a message to B'Elanna saying she would be working in her room on schematics all day tomorrow - so not to expect her to put in an appearance at the power plant - she hastily prepared two lunchboxes and a couple of flasks of coffee before heading to bed.

As she drifted off to sleep she felt optimistic. The physical labour would do her good and she was looking forward to getting to know Fitzpatrick. After all, Chakotay and B'Elanna had been enemies too, once upon a time, but now she couldn't think of any two people she cared for more.

—

0530 hours Southern lowlands septic tank excavation site...

The sun had just risen above the horizon and the rays of light streamed through the slats of his makeshift hut, waking him. At least, that's what happened most every day when it didn't rain. On those days he woke, usually soaked through, to find the pit he had been digging had collapsed in on itself and he'd had to start all over again. But today was a better start. The sky was clear and the ground was dry for once...then he heard it. A scraping sound coming from the furthest pit. The deep one that was almost ready for the inflow pipes to be installed. So, THAT is what had awoken him. Looking at his chronometer he did a double take - not even 0600 hours and someone was working already? Who had pissed the Council off now? Probably Carlson or O'Donnell, they were the only two of his former crew mates who would even look him in the eye these days. No doubt Carey or those Vulcan spies had reported back and now they were assigned to shovelling the shit too !

Hauling on his pants, shirt and a pair of boots that had seen better days - he staggered out and wandered over. "Hey Carlson, is that you?"

Kathryn didn't answer him. She'd heard, but thought it better for him to encounter her busy 'getting stuck in'. It was heavy going. The soil had a lot of shale and sand composites and was therefore very unstable. If you were not careful a large chunk of the pit wall could descend on top of you at any time and today they had to start digging the side channels to connect up with the existing outflow pipes, scaffolding as they went. She felt angry with Joe and B'Elanna. This was a minimum two person job, for health and safety reasons alone. They may not like Fitzpatrick but to be quite so...blase ...

Sure enough, soon there was a shadow across the pit floor which told her Fitzpatrick was standing at the top of the ladder, watching her. Without looking up she called to him "Mr. Fitzpatrick, could you bring down another armful of the wooden planking? I'm just about ready to start scaffolding the entrance to the first side tunnel. Thanks."

Fitzpatrick hesitated for a moment, rooted to the spot. Janeway...here?! Helping him ? This had to be some kind of trick. Perhaps she had planned with the Vulcans to do him in, make it look like an accident... Until he figured it out, best to play along. For all he knew she was wired and the Fleeters were watching and listening to the whole show. Trying to sound as nonchalant as possible he replied "Sure. How many do you want?"

She glanced up wiping her brow. "As many as you can carry." and gave him a wry smile. "We've certainly got our work cut out for us today!"

Fitzpatrick grabbed seven of the larger planks (might as well show her just how strong I am) and swung himself onto the ladder. Jumping three steps at a time he swiftly made his way down. He dropped the pile by her feet and, determined not to make things easy or take orders from her, he grabbed his shovel. "I've yet to finish connecting up the overflow pit so I'll be over there for the rest of the day."

He pointed to the smaller pit that had obviously been put on the back burner. So, he's going to try to avoid me, pretend I'm not here. She wasn't really surprised from the little she knew of him from general gossip around town. It seems he had pretty much behaved the same way whilst in the Maquis too. Only really befriending Ken Dalby...so now he had no one.

Nodding she hauled the first of the planks into the narrow entrance way she had excavated. "Makes sense. If you can get the connecting tunnel between the pits in place by nightfall I think I'll have got far enough with this that we can attempt to link up to the temporary drain tomorrow." She glanced up at the sun which was rapidly heating the air and drying the exposed soil surfaces even further. "We'd best hurry, before this silt starts to crumble with the heat. Help yourself to food and water from the backpack over there." She pointed in the direction of the base if the ladder where she'd dug a small indentation into the pit wall to create an overhang. It would hopefully provide just enough shade to keep their provisions cool. Turning she resumed the task at hand.

He hesitated for a moment then swung the rucksack over his shoulder and grabbing his tools, ascended the ladder and was gone.

—

Five hours later...

She was at least eight meters in, maybe more. Time to start tunnelling slightly upwards now she must be approaching the underside of the current shallow pit. First, she needed to go get a couple more planks to reinforce the walls of the tiny junction she had created. And she needed a break. Besides, Fitzpatrick must be pretty much finished with the connecting access between the two pits, they were only about four metres apart after all, so she'd do her best to persuade him to lend her a hand after lunch.

Hauling herself out of the entrance into the larger pit she dusted herself down and looked for the rucksack. Gone. So, he'd taken it to the other pit with him. She just hoped that he'd left some lunch for her.

Fitzpatrick awoke with a jolt when the ground vibrated under him. Reacting on instinct he surged at the intruder and it was not until he was grappling with him on the ground that he realised the intruder was actually a her. Janeway : shit! He jumped back, sweating and gasping for breath. She had a nasty gash across her chin and left arm where he had rolled her into the planking at the entrance to the connecting tunnel and she had crawled in there the moment he had let her go. Presumably to protect herself whilst she considered her next move. If 'Fleet was watching this he'd be dead in minutes for sure! But it had been unintentional.

He'd finished his work a couple of hours back then tucked into the lunch that she'd packed. It hadn't escaped his notice that she'd packed enough for two. Maybe one lot was poisoned or drugged in some way? Then again, what was the point of doing that out here? No doubt, Dalby would have worked it out long ago but he was hot and tired so, what the hell. He'd eat half of each and if one lot was poisoned he should be able to withstand the effects. After he'd had his fill he decided to check on Janeway. Crawling through to the larger pit he could hear her deep within the side tunnel she was constructing to connect with the existing sewage system. Glancing around he'd been impressed by how much one woman could achieve alone. Given the size of her...then again it did prove one thing. No human female could have gotten half as far alone. Cardies were physically much stronger : so that proved it. She was no more human than Seska had been!

So he'd headed back to his domain and propped up against the sunny wall, decided to get some shut eye. That was when the nightmares had begun. He was back on Trelik III, his home colony, just after that bloody stitch up of an appeasement treaty was signed by the Federation handing their home and everything they owned lock stock and barrel to the Cardassian Empire. The council of elders, of which he had recently been made a member, had decided to stand their ground. No one was looking forward to having to share resources with the inevitable Cardassian settlers and they had expected to lose a lot of their surrounding land but no one had foreseen...that. No civilised society would ever behave that way. But they had all been wrong, catastrophically so. The peace treaty meant nothing to them as the Cardie government must have known that the Federation wouldn't have the stomach to fight. They'd been right, the Federation Council had turned a blind eye and ordered Starfleet not to intervene. Oh, they'd offer transport to another Federation world for those that wanted to run with their tails between their legs but no resources for those that chose to defend their homes. No weapons and not even medicines and food.

Clarissa had wanted to go. She'd been afraid for herself and the children. His two little girls...Alice had only been eight and Elise five when the Gul had arrived with his advance party. As soon as they had beamed down he had realised his mistake. These weren't Cardassian civilian settlers they were soldiers intent on only one thing. Wiping the Federation settlers from existence. They had gone from house to house, killing the men and old women and hauling off any of the younger ones they fancied to their barracks. Dalby had lost his wife that way too but at least he didn't have kids. By the time their Maquis cell had broken into the compound little Ellie was already dead and one of those sickos was still...he vividly recalled the moment he had lost his humanity. Grabbing the bastard off little Alice his whole focus had been on making the scum suffer. It had taken moments to overpower him but it had taken the bastard hours to die. He'd made sure of that.

It wasn't until much later when sheer exhaustion had overcome him, that he regained awareness of his surroundings. Whilst he had been torturing that sicko, Dalby had been trying to save the life of his little Alice. But it was too late. She was lying dead in Dalby's lap and the last thing she had seen was her daddy disembowelling that child rapist. He'd never forgive himself for that. And now he was condemned to relive those hours whenever he let his guard down and actually slept. That was the nightmare that Janeway had woken him from. She may be a closet Cardie but they had already cost him enough, he didn't want her on his conscience too.

"Hey, you alright in there? I didn't mean to harm you, you startled me. That's all." No answer and she was now out of view. She must have dragged herself further into the tunnel to escape him. He'd just have to go in there after her and drag her out.

Kathryn had been winded before she had time to register. One minutes she was jumping off the bottom of the ladder and the next she was pinned to the ground with a snarling madman on top of her. She'd tried to knee him in the groin to wind him for long enough to roll them over to make her escape, but he was too strong for her. His elbow had smashed the side of her face into the wooden entrance support beam and several splinters had embedded themselves above her eye. Moving her left arm to try and shield her head he'd yanked it back and she had felt something crack and an excruciating pain before he had suddenly sprung back, releasing her. Before he had a chance to resume his attack she had hauled herself as far up the passageway as she could with her good arm. Now he was calling to her to come out?! No way! She immediately regretted her decision to conceal her plans from the others and not bring a communicator with her. The first chance of help would come when Tuvok or Vorik brought his dinner this evening. But that was at least six hours away. She'd just have to try and reason with him to go get help. Summoning up what she hoped was her calm command voice she spoke steadily to him. "It's alright Fitzpatrick. I know it was an accident, you didn't mean me any harm. It's only superficial but my arm is hurt so it might take me a while to crawl out of here. Can you go get some more water and someone to help us finish work this afternoon?"

She heard him grunt something but couldn't make out the reply. Then suddenly the light was blocked out and she realised he was attempting to crawl through the entrance. There was no way she could defend herself in this cramped space. There was nothing for it but to attempt to haul herself the rest of the way through the passage and out into the larger cesspit. Perhaps then she could pull the ladder down and jam the entranceway. He wouldn't able to climb down the pit walls so although she would be trapped she should be safe from him until help arrived. Bracing her legs against the wooden wall supports she started to shuffle backwards.

What the hell was the silly woman doing? He was trying to get to her to get her out of there and she was backing away. Hadn't he said sorry already. Grunting from the exertion of dragging the rucksack behind him he surged forward and then jolted to a jarring stop. The bag had caught on one of the support beams. Losing his patience he yanked hard and felt it give way along with half the ceiling. He heard a scream from further up the passageway but could no longer see her through the dust and debris. He was also impaled through his right thigh. Stretching his arm gingerly back he realised that even if he could free his leg there was no going back the way they had come in. There was nothing for it but to try and clear the way ahead. She couldn't be more than a meter in front of him. He needed her to start digging backwards to clear the debris between them. After that, with a concerted effort perhaps the two of them could find a way through. Calling out "Hey Janeway, we need to dig forward. The roof's completely down behind me and my right thigh is impaled by one of the vertical support beams. I can't move forward unless you help me. Can you dig back towards me and let some air in from your end of the tunnel?" He waited. Nothing. Was she unconscious or had she already gotten out the other end and gone for help? He hadn't heard anything since the initial collapse and she simultaneous scream so she was probably still in here with him...

Kathryn came around and immediately started choking. The air was thick with dust and sand particles and the ceiling had collapsed onto her lower half. She was immersed from the waist down. There was still light ahead which told her the other end of the passageway was at least partially open but there was no way she could crawl forward to reach it. She became aware of a man's muffled voice a meter of two behind her. Fitzpatrick. The events leading up to their current predicament came rushing back into her mind. He must be trapped in the tunnel with her...which meant there was no one to go summon help. They had to work together to clear the tunnel and reach the pit before Tuvok came. By then it would be getting dark and it was likely he would simply leave the tray outside Fitzpatrick's shack and return to town without realising anything was wrong. She doubted either of them would survive until morning if they stayed here.

She steadied her breathing and called out as loudly as she could "Fitzpatrick, can you hear me?"

At last, she was responding! "Yeah I hear you. What's your situation?"

"I'm buried from the waist down and I think my left elbow is dislocated. I can move my right arm and that's about it. You?"

He looked around and tried his limbs. Both arms were okay but his left leg was jammed against the side of the passage and his right leg was bleeding heavily where the roof strut had gone straight through. He reported as much to her and waited for it to sink in. Neither of them was going anywhere in a hurry.

Thinking fast she realised that their only hope lay in her rucksack. As well as food and drink she had brought a tricorder and some basic first aid supplies. It was not much but at least there would be water to replace some of the blood volume he had already lost and perhaps she could talk him through making a tourniquet. "Fitzpatrick, can you reach the rucksack?" She just had to hope that he had thought to grab it before chasing after her.

He stretched out his left foot until his toe impacted a lumpy object. That must be it. Could he hook his foot around it and inch it upwards towards his midriff ? Glancing back he realised that even if he could then he would still need to work an opening through the debris on top off him to reach it with his arms. Shouting back to her he waited for her reply before starting to gingerly scoop handfuls of muck away to his left.

While he was attempting to get to their meagre supplies she would do her best to create a small opening between them. To let some air through to him at least. Knowing she had to keep awake with her head wound she decided to keep talking. "We both need to keep awake to survive this. I have a possible concussion and you are losing blood through your thigh. We need to keep talking to each other. You understand?"

The last thing he wanted to do was make small talk with the Cardie Starfleet agent but then again, if he was gonna die anyway at least he could let her know that he and Dalby had sussed her little ruse. Leave her wondering how many of the others had worked it out too. Then he heard her literally asking for it. She wanted to know why he had sprung her like that when she'd interrupted his nap. Nap indeed ! If only she knew. Hell, she probably did, but no doubt the Cardie Intel was mostly about Chakotay. He and Dalby were just canon fodder for the resistance and of no consequence to the Cardies at all, truth be told. So he decided to come clean, every gory detail of his first encounter with those scum through to the joys of being forcibly conscripted into Starfleet by a Cardassian undercover agent no less!

"Alright. You asked for it. The unabridged life and times of Fitzpatrick, Maquis terrorist and damned proud of it."

As soon as he started talking she had stopped work, engrossed in his story. She'd known that the Cardassians had broken interplanetary law on multiple occasions. That they overstepped the mark, but...children...it sickened her. She also felt deeply ashamed. Of the Federation and Starfleet for being complicit, but mostly of herself. For not taking the time to find out just what had led over forty of her crew to join a supposed terrorist organisation. Most had been peace loving civilians, many never having handled a weapon or raised a hand in anger to another being, before that damned Treaty was ratified. Others had been former Starfleet officers, Chakotay having held the rank of Lieutenant Commander. She had heard of other cells with former Starfleet Captains amongst their ranks. Why had she been so blind? As she listened to him it slowly dawned. Not only did he think she was complicit but that Kathryn Janeway was a Cardassian herself !

"So Cardie, are you still listening to me? I don't agree with what Dalby did to you but I get it. At least you're not a little defenceless kiddie. Chakotay may be blind to you, but I'm not. The only reason I'm going to help you get out of this alive is that I want you to pay. I want you to have to look the others in the eye once they know who you are really are. Death now would be too easy."

So, he really did hate her. Or at least he hated who he thought she was. Another Cardassian in disguise, just like Seska. Ironically she could see how he had come to that conclusion : paranoid nightmare fantasy that it actually was. The arrival of Maxwell Burke and his connection to B'Elanna had tipped him over the edge. Thank goodness the full story was not public knowledge! If they ever got out of here in one piece she would get the Doctor to perform a series of scans on her - in public - to lay to rest any doubts the other Maquis might be harbouring. In the meantime she had to get through to Fitzpatrick.

Resuming her careful digging with her one good hand she started to talk to him.

"I can't begin to imagine how hard those memories have been to live with. I'm only sorry that I didn't take the time on Voyager to get to know you...and Dalby and the others. That it took Dalby's death for me to start to turn things around. I swear to you that I'm as human as you, which at the moment is to our disadvantage. I wish I had the physical strength to hold what's left of this roof up and drag us both out! Three years ago, when I took that mission to capture Chakotay's cell, I truly believed I was doing the right thing. Upholding universal law and all that. Now...well now things are a lot less black and white. Would I do the same again, after three years of enduring the Delta Quadrant? I very much doubt it. You're right, I've made more than my fair share of mistakes out here. Picked the wrong side. As with Trabe. I'm far from perfect but you credit me with far more insider knowledge, guile and cunning than I actually possess. I'm no Cardassian agent nor any friend of Seska's. If I were, surely I would have defected to the Kazon too and assisted her with stealing even more Federation technology than she'd already gotten her hands on. All we have out here on New Earth is each other. If we pull together as a community then maybe, with time, some of our personal demons will begin to fade. We can only hope to learn from our pasts and try our best to shape the future as best we ..."

She doubled over with a fit of coughing as she removed the last brick and finally created a small aperture. She could vaguely make out the outline of his body which was slumped over and the dim light glistened off the pool of blood under his torso. He wasn't moving and he didn't respond to her having broken through. She could see that he had managed to haul the rucksack up to his chest and some of the contents had fallen beside him. The water bottle was still half full and just out of her reach but he'd not managed to construct the tourniquet. Without it he would die before there was any chance of help arriving. She had to risk it. Moving her lower body may well bring the rest of the roof down on top of her along with the four metres of soil above where she lay, bringing her life to a swift end : but if there was even a small chance that she could get to him and possibly save his life ...then she had to try.

—-

Fifty minutes later...

She had done it. Somewhere deep inside she had drawn the strength from her mounting desperation. Though it had been a very close call. Twisting at the waist, she had dragged her unresponsive legs around behind her and using her one good arm levered her upper body through the opening. Broken scaffolding was cutting into her ribs and she could hardly breath with the pain but she could now reach him. Stretching her right arm as far as she could, she checked for a pulse in his neck. He was still alive! She managed to get the lid off the water bottle and take a quick sip before splashing just a little on his face. "Come on Fitz...wake up!"

Clarissa was calling him...trying to get him to wake up...must be time to go to work, get the girls ready for school... He opened his eyes to a nightmare reality. Every breath hurt yet he could feel nothing from the waist down and it was so cold and wet... "Clarissa? Where are we?"

Kathryn thought for a moment. She needed to keep him conscious and to do that he needed to talk to her - and to cooperate. She felt a brief pang of guilt but suppressed it, playing along with his delusion. "There's been a storm. Some of the roof has collapsed. I need you to help me get a bandage on your leg. Do you understand?"

He tried to look around in the direction of her voice but it was too dark and he couldn't lift his head. "The...the girls...are they safe?"

Suppressing a sudden urge to cry she answered him as best she could "Don't worry, they're not here. It's just the two of us. You have a piece of the roofing embedded in your right thigh and it's bleeding heavily. I need to tourniquet it. There's a rucksack on your chest containing a roll of gauze. Can you reach inside and hand it to me?"

Slowly he moved his left hand and tried to reach in, but he only succeeded in knocking the bag onto the floor. As the blood started to soak through it she dragged her upper body over his and managed to grab the gauze. He groaned with the weight of her on top of his cracked ribs and neither could breath in more than shallow gasps. She knew she had to hurry and there was no way she could tie a tourniquet with one hand. Forcing as much air into her lungs as she could she asked him to hold one end with his left hand. He gripped it weakly and she started to slide her right arm under his upper thigh dragging the bandage through the tiny gap. He grimaced and reflexively tried to shake her off. Thinking quickly she started to talk to him "Fitz, keep still. It's only me, not much longer, I just need to tie the ends together. Hold still just a moment longer."

Leaning as far as she could she grabbed the other end in her teeth and pulled as hard as she could. He seemed to rally at that and looped the other end over, allowing her to pull the knot tight.

He suddenly laughed "We always did make a good team, old girl. Didn't we? I promise, once we get out of this mess, I'll take you and the girls to Dorvan until this is all over. The Cardies will never make it that far and we'll soon see them off. All will be fine in the long run. Don't you worry."

"Here, have some water." She managed to slide down and wedge herself between Fitzpatrick and the wall. It was even harder for her to breath but at least she had taken her weight off his chest. She'd not managed to reach the last of the food, but then again, they would only choke if they tried to eat at this angle. There were a few millilitres of water left in the bottom which she drizzled slowly into the corner of his mouth. She heard him trying to swallow, then it went quiet before he whispered "Thanks...Kathryn."

He said no more after that, having slipped into unconsciousness and she couldn't rouse him. The light was fading. meaning it must be getting near dusk. It also felt colder and they were both soaked through : from a mixture of sweat, water and rapidly coagulating blood. Shivering she huddled as close to him as she could, trying to share as much body heat as possible. Try as she might it was impossible to stay awake and she felt herself herself drifting away with the last of the daylight.

—

She awoke to a sharp pain and more choking dust. There were voices and hands grabbing at and around her. Blinking she became aware of Kes crouched next to her. "Kathryn can you understand me?" She nodded. "Fitzpatrick, have you gotten him out?"

Kes glanced behind her and spoke to whomever was there. "Not yet. We can't get him out without removing that stake through his thigh and if we do he'll bleed to death before we can get him back to town. Unless..."

Kathryn tried to concentrate "unless what, Kes?"

"We can do a person to person transfusion. Link him up with someone who can act as a temporary blood donor. His group is B rhesus positive and we don't have a matching donor in the rescue party. We need someone whose group is O rhesus negative and there's no one here but ..."

Kathryn finished for me "But me. Do it, and quickly." Samantha's face came into view "but Captain, you've lost so much blood already, it's too risky."

"It's my risk to take and I'm taking it. I won't lose another member of my crew when it's in my power to save him." She saw Samantha turn away and talk to whoever was with her. Suddenly she was confronted by Chakotay leaning over her. "Kathryn, he'll most likely not survive anyway. It's too late for him, but I'm not going to stand by and lose you too. Fitzpatrick would never put himself at risk for you, quite the opposite. Let him go and allow me to get you out of here."

Mustering all her strength she looked him directly in the eye and spoke clearly and slowly.

"You are wrong Chakotay, he dragged himself in here to get me out. If it wasn't for Fitzpatrick I would already be dead. Now let me help him while I still can!"

Conceding that he wasn't going to win this argument, he stepped back to allow Kes and Samantha to set up whatever they had to do. As soon as they had finished, he and Tom carefully laid Kathryn on the double width stretcher whilst Tuvok and Vorik positioned Fitzpatrick next to her with the pump passing Kathryn's life blood from her vein to his, sat between them. It was a short walk back to the shuttle then a ten minute flight back to the larger sickbay now permanently installed adjacent to the main Mess Hall. Fitzpatrick was slowly regaining his colour and had been conscious for the last couple of minutes of the trip. Kathryn had never taken her eyes off him but she was rapidly turning blue. The moment Fitzpatrick had set eyes on the pump and then her, he had understood. She had saved his life and was in danger if losing her own. He had been wrong. Not only was she fully human but she was more so than he would ever be!

Gripping her hand tightly he tugged until she focussed on his face. "Stay with me Kathryn. We're both going to survive this buddy. I was real wrong about you and you have my word that from now on this colony is going to be a proper family. And every family needs it's matriarch right?" He did his best to grin at her.

Chakotay was speechless when she smiled back at him, squeezed his hand and whispered "Damn right, buddy."

—

Twelve weeks later...

They were all gathered at the site of the new hydroelectric dam. Everything had changed since that fateful day. They'd both suffered a whole week of the Doctor's undivided attention and unsolicited 'advice'. When he was off-line or during the night shift, they had at long last been left to rest. It was in those quiet hours that they had really talked to one another and opened up in the way you can only really do with a stranger. Someone who has that necessary emotional distance from you. Someone who won't judge. That was the true irony. He had pre-judged her and been as wrong as it was possible to be! Having heard his harrowing tale in that collapsed tunnel : she told him hers. One she could never bring herself to share with Chakotay - of the time Ensign Janeway and Captain Paris were 'guests' of the Cardies too.

From that day on they were as thick as thieves. Once they were discharged from medical, Kathryn had ensured that she and Fitzpatrick and his only other buddy Carlson were assigned to B'Elanna's top team who were designing and constructing the dam. Fitzpatrick had turned out to be an excellent engineer with an instinct for problem solving at the coal face. His talents would have lain, undiscovered, had it not been for her willingness to reach out. For that, he would be forever grateful.

B'Elanna stood to address the crowd who had gathered and it was almost everyone not on duty elsewhere. "Thank you all for coming. Today marks a major milestone. Our first entirely self-sustaining hydro-electric dam. It will take over powering all the residential buildings and any surplus power will be stored in the capacitors for powering the new generation of replicators that my team is now working on. As with this dam, our friend Fitzpatrick or plain "Rick" to his close buddies, was one of the main driving forces. In honour of his contribution I hand over to Rick to name this new dam."

Kathryn patted him encouragingly on the shoulder and gave him a gentle shove. Standing on that platform looking out at the crowd of smiling faces he felt a moment of pain. If only he had Clarissa, Alice and Ellie here with him now. Hope Town had evolved into what Trelik III had been before the Cardies came. He couldn't resurrect any of them but he could ensure that their names would never be forgotten. Starting with the little girl he had so grievously wronged in her final hours...

"Thank you B'Elanna. Thank you all, for giving me a second chance to make things right. In honour of all those whose lives were cut short by avarice, greed and depravity let the memories of who they were guide us into the future. I name this technological wonder The Alice Fitzpatrick Dam."

And with that he pulled the curtains back to reveal the plaque as Kathryn smashed Chakotay's last bottle of Antarian Cider. For once, he was more than happy to play second fiddle.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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