For disclaimers and Author's Notes, see Chapter 1. Enjoy. :)
The bridge had also fallen victim to the silence that befell the rest of the ship: the only interruptions to the quiet were the beeping of the ship's consoles and the occasional cough from Crewman Naida at the Ops station, whose respiratory system was still recovering from the slow decrease in lung capacity he had undergone.
Both command chairs were empty, the two most senior officers having succumbed to the effects of the experiments conducted on them. Commander Chakotay had only just been released from Sickbay with all signs of the prematurely-aged and frail man gone; Captain Kathryn Janeway had retreated to her ready room.
She stood at the viewport with her back to the door, her fingers massaging her throbbing temples as she rode out the migraine she had suffered for the past four days. Part of her knew that she should be on the bridge, but she currently didn't trust herself to be objective, not with her elevated dopamine levels, and certainly not after the death of Crewman Davies.
Chakotay practically jumped into the turbolift, glad to be in full command of his body once more. As the lift slowly rose to take him to the bridge, his mind wandered to the captain, his concern for her evident on his handsome features. He had heard about her recent behavior: physically assaulting the prisoner as well as putting the ship and crew in extreme danger. That's not like the Kathryn I know. Something's wrong, especially since she completely refused to have the Doctor treat her. Normally she would grin and bear a medical examination...especially under these types of conditions…
He had to check on her before he relieved Tuvok.
The lift drew to a stop and he stepped out, not even needing to look around the bridge to ascertain where his C.O. was, and headed straight for the ready room.
Tuvok only just caught the order of, "As you were," as the ship's first officer passed the tactical station and chimed for admittance to the room that contained the captain.
"Come in!" shouted Janeway from the other side, then winced as a sharp jolt of pain shot through her cranium. She ran the tips of her fingers along her hairline, trying to ease the pain slightly as Chakotay walked in.
"Captain." He regarded her closely, but given that she was standing on the elevated level of the ready room and her gaze seemed to be fixed on the streaking stars that could be seen through the viewport, he would have to go by her posture. She stood stiffly, almost as if her stance was locked in place, her back and shoulders ramrod straight. The perfect picture of authority and command.
"Hello, Commander," she replied courteously, although there was a definite edge to her voice.
He decided that, given her unwillingness to turn around and face him, the direct approach might be best in the current situation: given her apparent condition, anything done to aggravate her current state would not be in anybody's best interests.
"Seven of Nine assures me that all the aliens have left the ship." He waited a moment in case she wanted to comment. When she didn't, he simply continued, "And most of the crew are recovering or are still being treated by the Doctor. He is checking over all the other patients to ensure that they recover."
"How many of the crew were subjected to these… tests?" The final word was uttered with disgust, and Chakotay could tell just how much this entire situation had affected her.
"So far the doctor has counted 87, but that number is still rising."
"I take it that there were some of the crew that weren't subjected to these…" she swallowed, "mutilations at all."
"Yes." Chakotay kept his tone professional, knowing that right now she wanted to retain control over the situation. To help her do that, she needed her first officer - not her friend. "Tuvok and Harry seem to have escaped relatively unscathed, but there's no telling what they might have been forced to undergo if the 'experiments' had been allowed to continue."
She shook her head lightly so as not to aggravate her headache any further. I can't believe this has happened. Starfleet had done its best to prepare her for most types of situations, but there wasn't a right answer for this one. She could deal with head-on confrontations like the Borg or the Kazon; commanding from the bridge at a time like that was almost second nature to her, but facing such a calculated violation of her crew, herself included? That was far more difficult to manage than a fire fight.
"I still don't understand how a technically advanced race could see it as acceptable to make others suffer in such a way." She clenched her jaw and raised her head to look at the top of the viewport as she began to feel a little queasy, a sensation that had too often begun to accompany the headaches that had been plaguing her over the last few days.
"We have to remember that humans have conducted experiments of a similar nature in the past. Many animals were tested on for various reasons, most notably in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, when animal testing continued to thrive despite many public protests against it. The tests were relatively broad, ranging from searching for elusive cures to testing common cosmetics-" he stopped, noticing a slight change in her stance. "Are you all right, Captain?"
"I'm fine," she forced through clenched teeth as she felt the intermittent urge to regurgitate subside slightly.
"Have you been to see the Doctor yet?" She could hear him take a step towards her and noted the worried tone of his voice, but she didn't want him to be concerned for her right now.
"No." Kathryn felt the nausea dissipate further and turned to face him, as she was now sure that her command mask was back in place. "And I'm not going to until he has seen every other affected member of my crew, and I am assured that each of them will recover from this… ordeal."
"Are you sure you don't need to go to Sickbay now?" She could see that he didn't believe her when she had said she was fine. She had to hope that he would leave soon so she could be once again left with her thoughts.
"I could escort you-"
"That won't be necessary, Commander," Kathryn interrupted. She tried to ignore the queasiness as it hit her again, liquid pooling around her tongue as she began to salivate: her body was preparing itself for what was to come.
She raised the back of her hand to her mouth and swallowed, regretting doing so the instant her saliva hit her stomach, which pitched.
"But there is one thing that you could do for me." Her words were rushed, and Chakotay struggled to catch them as they sounded muffled from behind her knuckles.
"Yes?"
"Hand me the bucket under my desk." She felt her stomach begin to lurch as he hesitated.
"Captain?"
"Please, Chakotay." Her tone was urgent and Chakotay took the two steps to the desk, reached underneath it and extracted the black, plastic container in question.
Chakotay handed her the bucket and watched as she proceeded to sit down on the sofa, take a deep breath, and place the bucket onto her knees before violently expelling the contents of her stomach into it.
"Kathryn!" She felt his warm hands on her, one placed on her back, the other covering her left hand that rested on the rim of the bucket in front of her as she swayed, steadying it to ensure that the viscous, foul-smelling liquid inside did not spill.
She felt the muscles around her stomach contract again, squeezing her last cup of coffee out of her system and into the bucket in front to her.
Chakotay rubbed his right hand up and down her back as she continued to heave, hoping to convey some type of comfort to her. Kathryn vomited again, now bent double with the violent convulsions racking her petite frame.
As the spasms subsided, she spat into the bucket, wanting to remove the bitter taste of hydrochloric acid and half-digested coffee from her mouth. She spat again, but the aftertaste lingered and she closed her eyes as she leaned back against Chakotay's strong arm.
"Thanks," she said weakly as she tried to catch her breath.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to Sickbay, Kathryn? I bet the Doctor could give you something for the nausea."
She started to shake her head, but then stopped as it made her head spin and her stomach turn. "Not until everyone else is treated." There was a pause as Kathryn fought a second wave of nausea, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'll live."
Kathryn put the bucket on the ground and tried to stand up, to move away from him and regain control, but was unsteady on her feet and lost her balance. Chakotay barely caught her as she fell into him, and they both felt her abdomen tighten as her stomach pitched again.
With his help, she barely made it to the bucket in time: half-sitting, half-lying on the floor in front of the couch.
He steadied her as she vomited again, this round of spasms bringing up bile instead of half-digested food and coffee: her stomach was already empty.
Janeway breathed deeply as she tried to suppress the tremors that ran up her back and down her arms, willing the room around her to stop spinning as Chakotay supported her.
"You won't live if you keep that up."
She smiled weakly, her head down as she stayed close to the bucket as a precaution.
"I just hope that's the worst of it. I hope I'm not going to be vomiting for days."
"I take it that this is an aftereffect of whatever the aliens did to you."
Kathryn lifted her head slightly so that he could see her nod and better hear her response. "Yes, apparently this is what happens if you increase the dopamine levels in a human dramatically. Nausea and insomnia. The perfect recipe for a grouchy commanding officer."
He kept his hand on her back in sympathy, rubbing soft circles over her shoulder blades and ribs, trying to calm her breathing down to a steady rhythm. "I just wish there was something else I could do to help."
Kathryn looked into the kind eyes of her first officer. She was glad that, right now, he of all people was there for her. If anybody else had walked in to give her the Doctor's report she knew that they wouldn't have acted so sympathetically, and most likely she would have been mortified to have them see her like this.
"Chakotay, I think, under the circumstances, you're doing just fine."
Their eyes locked, irises of cold blue becoming lost in ones of warm chocolate brown. She sighed, the sharp smell of sour vomit filling her nose, breaking the moment between them as she turned to the bucket to retch again. Chakotay reached over to secure the strands of her auburn hair that had come loose back in place. When her convulsions became more violent, he placed both of his strong hands on her shoulders, keeping her up while her body shuddered and jerked uncontrollably.
Eventually she calmed again, her breathing labored and her eyes streaming. She couldn't take much more of this. Kathryn felt horrific. She might not have felt nauseated anymore, but her headache was still there and worse than ever, the violent dry heaving had exhausted her, and on top of that she was now beginning to feel cold. She had expected this as another result of her increased dopamine levels and felt herself begin to tremble slightly, hoping that Chakotay wouldn't notice. He did. That man always seemed to notice when she was in pain.
He helped her into a sitting position, and she leaned back against his broad chest, knowing that otherwise she would have no hope of staying upright.
"If you won't let me take you to Sickbay, at least let me take you to your quarters so you can have a rest."
Part of her knew that this would be a good idea, but she was sure she had commanded in far worse conditions than this. "Commander, I can hardly just up and leave in the middle of my shift!"
Her sudden indignation made Chakotay consider the fact that her moods would be subject to her increased hormone levels. He made a note to disregard any decisions or statements she made that could be detrimental to her health- no matter what she thought of him afterwards.
She sensed his resolve and decided to aim for a compromise.
"I will go to my quarters," Chakotay frowned and looked down at her, trying to read her expression. She would never give in that easily… "once my shift is over."
Ah, there's my Kathryn.
"No, Kathryn. Now." He knew that her shift only had another two hours to go, but she needed to be somewhere other than her ready room right now- she couldn't be the captain of a starship in this condition.
"Is that an order?" Her tone was dangerously low as she leaned back to get a better view of his features, turning so she could see him fully.
"Do I have to get the Doctor to relieve you of duty? Because if I do, then, yes, Kathryn. It is an order."
She gaped at him, searching his face for any sign that he might concede if she were to put him under any further pressure, but her gaze was met only with hard resistance.
Chakotay, sensing her mind at work to come up with an argument, leaned her back on the sofa and gingerly picked up the half-full bucket and recycled it. Once done, he replicated a new bucket and placed it under her desk where he had found the first one. Previous one, he mentally corrected himself, wondering vaguely how many she had gone through before deciding to keep one handy.
Their eyes met again, and Kathryn's face hardened as she again searched him for any sign that he had softened in his resolve, but found none. She sighed quietly, realizing that he wasn't going to acquiesce, and feeling somewhat frustrated with herself, knowing at least part of his determination was due to her apparent weakness, which she told herself she ought to have been able to hide, even from him.
"Fine." Chakotay tried not to smile as he noticed how much she sounded like Naomi giving in to Sam after a fight. "I'll go to my quarters."
Kathryn attempted once more to stand, but she was still weakened by her recent retching and her knees buckled, causing her to fall once more into Chakotay, who had seen this coming and was already up and ready to catch her. He helped her to her feet, and she began to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let her, instead gathering her to him and lifting her into his arms.