Consequences

Prequel to Resolutions

By Diane Running Horse

Rated: PG

'Captain, I must protest your plan to accompany Commander Chakotay to the surface. One of you should remain on board at all times. He is certainly capable of harvesting mushrooms without assistance.' Tuvok's voice resonated disapproval of an errand he considered completely trivial.

However, mushrooms were to Chakotay as coffee was to her. Janeway, seated at her ready room desk, cast a bemused glance at her Vulcan security officer. 'Tuvok, I appreciate your concern, and you are absolutely right,' she conceded, stroking the ego she knew damned well lay beneath that cool exterior, 'but this is a Class M planet, and more like home than anything we've ever encountered. Can you understand how it might feel to be reminded of home? Besides, it's uninhabited. It's a veritable Garden of Eden.'

At Tuvok's quizzical expression, she paused to explain: 'A myth from human culture, Tuvok, meaning paradise. I'd simply like to walk among the trees; smell clean air; maybe bring back samples for the airponics bay. Call it a short vacation. Call it whatever you may. Like Commander Chakotay, I'd just like to get off this ship for a while.'

Tuvok conceded, grudgingly. 'Very well, Captain. I would suggest you keep an open comm line...'

'I'm perfectly willing to do that,' she smiled.

Tuvok left her ready room. Captain Janeway hurriedly packed her small case with a snack, sample containers, and a small medkit. She slipped her phaser and tricorder into their holsters; then tiptoed through the private ready room side door like a wayward teenager escaping her mother.

Chakotay, unaware of her spontaneous plan to join him, had already beamed to the surface. Crewman Emmanuel was still on duty at the transporter station. Janeway instructed him to place her at the same coordinates.

Materializing in a small clearing circled by dense forest, she glanced around, enthusiastically inhaling the fresh, cool breeze wafting through the tall trees. How very much like Earth this was: the third planet in a system of seven, with a yellow dwarf star. The Scientist in her was fascinated, while the Terran in her felt a twinge of homesickness. Tricorder in hand, she moved in the direction of the trees, where scans verified primate and other small life forms. The ambient temperature was pleasantly cool for a summer afternoon and the streaming light from the sun dappled her with the pattern of leaves. She would have been utterly content but for the fact that Chakotay was nowhere in sight. She tapped her comm badge.

'Commander?'

There was no answer. She hailed the ship. 'Any word from Commander Chakotay?'

'He checked in just a few minutes ago,' replied Harry.

'He should still be in range. I'll contact you if I don't find him.'

Tuvok's voice came over the comm. 'Be careful, Captain.'

'Yes, Tuvok,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'Janeway out.'

Only a few minutes...if he was looking for mushrooms... She paused to consider. Chantarelles, Chakotay's favorite variety, would be on the ground in a forest of hardwoods, like this very topography. She examined the ground, bringing her tricorder into play. Faint footprints were discernable on the soft forest floor; she followed them. The sunlight faded as she went deeper into the woods.

Her tricorder hummed. She peered through the trees. About 9 meters ahead, Chakotay knelt as if harvesting, but his head was bowed low. Prayer? She didn't think so. She hurried to his side, placing a light hand on his shoulder.

'Commander?'

A spasm shook him before he responded and looked up at her, face ashen. Beads of sweat were visible on his tattooed brow.

'Are you all right? You didn't answer my signal.'

He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes. 'I couldn't speak for a moment... I'm all right now, I think. Something stung me a few minutes ago - an insect of some kind - and it made me nauseous. I think it might have been just a minor reaction. Had one hell of a headache there for a while, but I'm feeling much better now,' he said, slowly straightening to attention. 'Good to see you, Captain.'

'At ease.' She took his arm and guided him to a fallen log. 'I have a medkit. Let me look at it.'

He obediently opened his uniform and pulled the turtleneck away from his throat. An angry, reddish lump surrounded a rather large puncture in the skin, right above his collarbone. She passed a dermal regenerator over the area, with little improvement.

She frowned. Without a medical tricorder there was no way to tell what had been injected. It was a serious wound. 'We'd best have the doctor look at it. That is, unless you feel like staying a while.' She looked around wistfully. 'Like I was telling Tuvok – this is a veritable Garden of Eden.'

'With a few thorns,' he amended. 'I feel fine now. I don't want to delay the ship any longer than necessary,' he grinned at her. 'You've been very patient with my request.'

'That's because it afforded me the opportunity to come here myself. How was the harvest?' she asked, testing the weight of the bag he carried.

'Mushrooms – many edible varieties - enough to last for weeks, including some to plant in airponics - if Neelix will only let them alone.'

'I'll issue an order,' she said, grinning. 'He's liable to try cross-breeding them with leola root.'

'I'd appreciate it, Captain.' Chakotay closed his uniform front and rose, taking her arm gallantly for the trip back to the beam-out coordinates. Before they gained the sunlit pasture, Kathryn winced and slapped at her shoulder. 'I think I may have been visited by your insect friend, Chakotay.'

'If it's of the same genus, you're going to feel very sick shortly - hand me your medkit.'

'No, I'm all right. We're almost at the coordinates.' Five steps along, she bent double, swaying on her feet. Chakotay caught her arm and steadied her through it, while the trees swayed dizzily and even the ground buckled beneath her feet. The spell soon passed and she was able to stand erect.

'Same bug, all right,' she quipped, mopping sweat from her brow with her sleeve.

'Garden of Eden or not, we probably need to get back to the ship.'

'Agreed.'

The transporter crewman acknowledged the summons from the captain and first officer; scanning them carefully with the biofilters before completing the transport: nothing out of the ordinary; no bacteria; no contamination. They each appeared in excellent condition. With practiced precision, he brought the two officers out of the matter stream and onto the ship. Janeway smiled her thanks and stepped down off the platform. Her peripheral vision told her that Chakotay was not at her elbow and she paused to wait for him. Behind her, he had taken two steps forward off the transporter pad. He staggered, face contorted, clutching his throat. He went down heavily. His body, convulsing in agony, thudded down the steps of the transporter to the lower level. Horrified, Janeway and Crewman Emmanuel reached him simultaneously.

'Janeway to the doctor! Medical emergency...!'

Crewman Emmanuel, working feverishly to loosen the neck of Chakotay's uniform, did not notice the captain follow suit, slowly collapsing to the floor behind him. The doctor came over the comm: Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Crewman Emmanuel waited for the captain to reply; when she didn't, he turned to see her crumpled form, twitching on the floor. Panicked, he screamed into the comm: 'Security! Need two anti-grav gurneys in Transporter Room One! Now!'

'You did the right thing, crewman. Not knowing what we're dealing with here, had we done a site-to-site transport, we might have infected the entire ship.' The doctor brusquely dismissed the alarmed young man and began working frantically on the two stricken officers.

'It appears to be anaphylactic shock, Kes...but it's not. Here,' he said, thrusting a tricorder at her, 'try to stabilize the commander while I work on the captain.' He raised the bioshell over Janeway. Scans showed her bloodstream to be saturated with a virulent infection, and her neck and shoulder were mottled with angry red striations stemming from a lump on her shoulder in which was centered a large puncture wound. Chakotay had similar but larger manifestations on his throat.

'My initial diagnosis is that it's a reaction, perhaps from an insect bite. Did we get any reports on what could have happened to them down there?'

'Not to my knowledge, Doctor.'

'What is this?!' he said irritably to no one in particular, as Janeway's blood pressure plummeted and the rhythm of her laboring heart reached dangerous levels. Her esophagus had all but closed up. Her body, contracting in the grip of one seizure after another, refused to respond to sedation. The Doctor glanced at Chakotay. Kes, following the same line of treatment, was having no better luck; Chakotay's readings matched Janeway's.

'Whatever they've got, it's apparently the same thing. I know of only one way to preserve them until I can research this. Kes - ready the stasis pods.'

She hurried to comply. The doctor hoped that by placing the stricken man and woman in stasis, he could thereby halt the symptoms of the unknown disease, allowing him time to perform further tests and research their illness. The two gray, coffin-like enclosures were quickly sealed and activated. The doctor hovered over the readings.

'No change,' he muttered. 'Kes...call that boy back in here - Crewman Emmanuel. He was the last to speak with them. He may know something.'

'They were fine, Doctor,' reported Emmanuel nervously. I scanned them before bringing them up. It's standard procedure. Nothing was detected. It was only after they arrived on the ship that they collapsed. Are...are they gonna...'

'Not if I can help it, crewman.' He summoned Kes. 'I want you and Kes to transport these stasis pods back to the surface.'

'What good will that do, Doctor?' she asked.

'If ever a hologram had a gut instinct, I'm having one right now. Something tells me that if we return them to that environment, stasis might be effective.'

Janeway awoke with a start, disoriented. The last thing she remembered was materializing on the transporter pad and heading to her quarters... Alarmed, she tapped her commbadge. The doctor replied instantly.

'Captain, I'm here. I've activated both your stasis pods to explain what has happened to you and Commander Chakotay. Commander, can you hear me?'

'Yes,' came the weak reply.

'You are both infected with a viral agent, probably as the result of the bite of some sort of insect.'

'We were, Doctor. I was unable to tell you before,' replied Janeway. 'We probably should have reported it before we transported. Back home, though, you don't give much thought to a mosquito bite.'

'Did you see the insect?'

'No - never even heard a buzz,' Chakotay contributed. 'Just a sharp sting, and then a few minutes later we experienced headache and nausea. After a few more minutes, the symptoms disappeared.'

'I need your permission to keep you there on the planet, in stasis, to halt the symptoms that have developed since then. I'm programmed with the medical knowledge of thousands of cultures, Captain, but I'm unable to treat your condition at the moment. I need time to do research.'

'Granted,' she replied. 'How long do you think it will take?'

'Unknown at this time, Captain. I'll do all I can.'

'I'm sure you will, Doctor. Janeway out.'

'Commander?'

'I agree with your assessment, Doctor.'

'Very well...I'm reinitializing stasis...now.'

Janeway's pod signaled; awakening her gently as her body resumed the normal rhythms of life. As she grew more alert, she stretched as far as she could, grateful to have awoken from stasis. She did not relish lying on her back in this transparent aluminum and titanium box. The summer sun she had admired so much now penetrated the clear shield, piercing her eyes. She blinked against its glare and turned her head. To the right rested the pod wherein Commander Chakotay lay, slowly awakening from his sleep. She signaled him then pushed opened the lid of her prison.

Sliding out with stiff muscles was not easy, but she accomplished it. Behind her, Chakotay emerged as stiffly, stretching his arms and neck. They stood shakily, awaiting the Doctor's signal.

'Sickbay to the captain, this is the doctor speaking.'

'You've brought us out of stasis; I assume you have news,' Janeway said, cutting to the chase.

'Yes...our sensors show your vital signs are normal. How are you feeling?'

'We're fine. How long were we in stasis?'

'A total of seventeen days.'

'That long!'

'I wanted to exhaust every possibility of finding a cure.'

'And?' she asked with trepidation. The tone of his voice was not promising.

'I regret to inform you that I have been unsuccessful. I have not been able to develop a counteragent for the virus...and I have no other options to explore.'

Chakotay spoke up. 'What about keeping us in stasis aboard Voyager?'

'Something in the planet's environment is shielding you from the effects of the virus. If you leave, you risk a recurrence of the disease, which would undoubtedly prove fatal. The only option I can think of at the moment is contacting the Vidiians. They have sophisticated medical technology; it's possible they might be able to help.'

'We'll take it under advisement, Doctor. Thank you for your efforts. Janeway out.'

Damn. That's our only option? She turned to her first officer. 'What do you think?'

'It's risky,' he replied in all honesty. 'The Vidiians have never shown any willingness to help us. It's more likely that they'd attack Voyager and try to harvest body parts from the crew.'

'Agreed. I just want to make sure...we're not overlooking a possible alternative.'

'Could we live with ourselves...knowing we'd sent Voyager into that kind of danger?'

She considered a moment, then turned away. 'Janeway to Tuvok.'

'I'm here, Captain.'

'You must be aware of the Doctor's report.' And please don't say I told you so, Tuvok.

'Yes.'

'I'm turning over command of the ship to you on a permanent basis. Your orders are to resume a course to the Alpha Quadrant...and regardless of the doctor's suggestion...you are not to make contact with the Vidiians.'

'I understand.'

'I'll prepare a message for the crew.' She glanced around the Garden of Eden she had insisted on visiting, realizing that now it was to be her permanent home. She hadn't bargained on this. Her place was aboard her ship. Chakotay approached her.

'Hard to believe, isn't it, Captain?'

'What's that, Commander?' she asked, distractedly.

'That we're here to stay...for the rest of our lives.'

She looked at him sharply. 'I would think that remains to be seen,' she said cryptically, torn between cold denial of their situation and the grim necessity of accepting it. Chakotay said nothing. Sensing her mood, he moved away.

In the time left before Voyager departed, there was much to think about. She leaned against the stasis pod and pondered the situation. They would of course be given supplies and technology for their survival. She would bid farewell to her crew and leave them in the strict but capable hands of her security officer, who would guide them home. Firm in her belief that he would follow her last orders and forego any remotely possible chance of retrieving them, if it involved risking contact with the Vidiians, she felt somewhat at peace.

She glanced over her shoulder at Chakotay, who strolled the clearing as if he were in a park. He scooped up occasional handfuls of soil, letting it run through his fingers. He examined the various plants and the leaves of the trees on the perimeter of the clearing. He stood quite still, gazing at a sharply peaked mountain in the distance. Somehow, he looked right at home. How is this going to work? she thought. She was Starfleet; he was Maquis. He was not of her race; she was not of his. They had formed an alliance on board these three years and she had learned to trust him. However, the concept of life here, completely alone with him for perhaps another half-century, was something else again.

Her course was decided: she would continue researching for a cure which would allow them to leave the planet; by some miracle, catch up with Voyager; resume their professional relationship on board. What would he think of that? Would he help or hinder her efforts? She watched as he stood suddenly still, arms extended. He closed his eyes and let his head tilt backward, and the breeze carried his softly sung chant to her ears. It made her uneasy, as if he was claiming the planet for his own. Perhaps his ideas would conflict with hers. She didn't know, but it would be the main course of discussion over the next few weeks. What was to be the logistics of their relationship here?

She took her thoughts a step further; imagining they would never escape. Would intimacy eventually become an issue, and how would she deal with it? She certainly didn't love him. There existed a warm friendship, but duty: this uniform and all it stood for; forbade intimacy with any member of her crew, whether she loved him or not. Besides, her heart was nearly seventy thousand light years away, in the possession of Mark Hobbes Johnson.

She wondered what thoughts he might be thinking as he finished his song and continued his walk. He certainly had the right to voice them, but for now she did not seek him out to do so. There would be time for all that later. Tuvok would be in contact shortly, and she must gather her thoughts for her farewell speech. For now, she decided to remain assertive – professional - even though the command structure would soon be dissolved between them forever. She felt the need to hold the reins – at least for a while. She and this Maquis captain, who once had been her sworn enemy, had a great deal to work out. Only the future held the answers.

The End