Disclaimer: I own nothing related in anyway to Star Trek Voyager!
A/N: This is another extra chapter I added after getting an idea from a review. So special thanks to stampensue for giving my muse another idea to play with!
She didn't think she'd seen Chakotay this upset in…well, awhile. His face was red, his brows furrowed, and his eyes were screaming with barely hidden traces of fear, anger, and of course the emotion that seemed to be a constant lately-concern. And this time she did feel a bit guilty, or at least more so then with the whole 'fire in the mess hall' incident of a month ago. Mainly because this time it wasn't just her that was in danger.
She had dragged B'Elanna, a pregnant B'Elanna, into the mess. Alright, she hadn't actually forced the engineer into the chaos, but if it wasn't for her the other woman probably would've been safer. Or so the voice in her head kept telling her.
Two hours previously…
"You wanted to see me B'Elanna?" Janeway stated as she strode into engineering with as much authority as she could muster with swollen ankles and a stomach protruding to the point she couldn't see the deck under her feet. It must have been enough since the crewmembers that were milling about still nodded casually and went back to work as they normally would.
"Yes, Captain." The engineer answered with a brief glance up in her direction before going back to the consol she was working at. "You know how we've been having those glitches in random systems for the past few months? Well, I finally found the source." She added before moving across the alley to the opposite control panel.
Janeway followed, one hand subtly rubbing her lower back as she stood just to the side of the chief engineer and waited for her explanation. She had been wondering what was going on with her ship. That was why she kept ordering Harry and B'Elanna to run maintenance scans. Something was just…wrong. She could feel it and had been having those odd sensations of something not quite right for a few weeks now.
"It was that electrical burst we used to disrupt the Mykanten shield generator." B'Elanna explained. "It pulled a massive amount of energy into the phaser banks. The problem was that it took that power from almost every system, all at the same time, and in the process must have mixed up some of the components. If we'd only taken the energy from one system, or at least one system at a time, then it wouldn't have been an issue, but instead it happened all at once. The stove explosion, the replicator glitches, even the vocal programming mix ups on a couple holonovels were all caused by the same thing." She stated, finally looking up from the consol and turning to face her, that excited personality showing itself at the prospect of solving the mystery.
"Solutions?" She asked, glancing over the data displayed on the console, various scenarios already racing through her mind.
"Temporarily shut down all systems, except propulsion and life support which aren't effected, then manually re-route power to each separate system. That should solve the problems." B'Elanna answered confidently. "We'll have to watch out though, shutting them all down like this could cause a short circuit somewhere because of all the power trying to rush through all at once and then just stopping."
"Alright, do it. The sooner we get this fixed the better." Janeway stated with a nod.
"I already have Harry standing by on the bridge and Seven is in Astrometrics to help monitor too." The chief engineer replied, fingers flying over the panel again.
Janeway smirked softy, nodded again in acknowledgement even though she knew the engineer wasn't paying attention. The fact B'Elanna already had everything set up didn't surprise her at all. B'Elanna had always been proactive when it came to fixing the ship, but lately it seemed she wanted to get everything done at once and wouldn't allow there to be any disturbances that might cause a problem with said ship. Either because she wanted to make sure everything was in working order when she was forced to work less due to the pregnancy or simply because she wanted to prove that she could handle it.
"I'll stick around and help." She eventually told the engineer once the other woman was done giving assignments to her staff. "You take transporters, I'll do the replicators. That way we'll be able to pay more attention to any short circuits."
B'Elanna nodded briefly before heading back over to the control panel she'd been working at just seconds before. Janeway moved over to the opposite panel across the walkway, adjusted the read outs, and waited for the systems to be taken off line.
"We're all set down here, Harry." B'Elanna stated over her comm badge. "In five…four…"
Janeway glanced across her board, then around at the assembled crew, subtly monitoring for any problems.
"Three…two…now!" B'Elanna finished.
The entire deck, along with the rest of the ship, went pitch black for a moment. Then the emergency lights kicked in. Janeway quickly glanced around again, nothing seemed wrong at first…then her eyes fell on crewman Latez's station against the wall. A small whiff of thin smoke was wafting up from the bottom of his panel, near the flooring. It wasn't much, and could easily be overlooked, but she knew the signs of a short when she saw one. Especially one that could easily turn to a panel explosion.
She pressed the three buttons needed, re-routing the replicators as planned, while already moving away towards the young lieutenant. "Latez, move away." She ordered in a firm, 'do it now' voice.
Latez glanced back at her, obviously confused. It was too late. Sparks were beginning to jump from the screen on the wall. With a burst of speed she didn't know was possible in her state, she swiftly took the final two steps. She grabbed Latez's arm, forcing him back away from the panel even as a rather large spark jumped toward him.
She waved her hand in front of her face to clear the thickening smoke and began adjusting the power flow, ignoring the jumping sparks flying through the air around her and senging her clothes. She heard B'Elanna call "Captain!", but kept going. If this panel wasn't fixed then it'd bust open, taking the wall and probably a few crew with it. No, it had to be taken care of now.
The smoke began to fill her lungs, her hands burning as more sparks of fire hit them and her wrists, but she was almost done. "Captain!" This time B'Elanna's voice was right behind her, sounding either worried or agitated. She wasn't sure which and didn't have time to stop and figure it out. "I'll take care of this. You have to get out of here. The station could explode any second." She insisted, attempting to pull her away.
"I almost have it." She muttered and sure enough with one more final adjustment the station's screen cleared of static to display it's normal operational readings and began re-routing power into it's designated systems. But once again it was too late.
The build up of smoke under the panel suddenly blew a floor plating upwards, knocking both her and B'Elanna off their feet and at least a foot away from the station. She didn't know how far they were though, or how several crewmen were suddenly surrounding them in an attempt to help, because the moment her head hit the hard floor her world went black.
She'd apparently laid in sickbay for over an hour before she finally regained consciousness. As she awoke she'd noticed her chief engineer sitting up in the bed next to hers, Tom to her right and Chakotay standing between the two beds, both looking worried.
As she slowly and tiredly pushed herself up Chakotay had immediately turned towards her, those dark, worry filled eyes now focused entirely on her. And that's when the ranting had begun.
"Tom!" B'Elanna's exclamation broke her line of thought and pulled her focus back to the present 'conversation' at hand. "I am not turning over engineering to anyone, not even temporarily. As long as I can walk, I'm going to keep doing my job." The engineer added with a hard, no argument, glare at the helmsman now standing next to Chakotay.
The two men adopted looks of the slightest surprise at the outburst as if they hadn't even realized that they had been lecturing non-stop for the last five minutes. She figured now would be the best time to finish this 'conversation' once and for all before either of them could once again start informing her and B'Elanna of how they were in no condition to be jumping into dangerious situations around every corner...or jumping anywhere for that matter.
"I understand how you both feel…" Janeway began, gaining the attention of the other three. "However, B'Elanna's right. We can't just sit back and do nothing. Especially not the captain." She added, and held up a bandaged hand when Chakotay went to argue. "You do have a point though. B'Elanna shouldn't have been put in that situation."
"I shouldn't have been put in that situation? You're the one who…" B'Elanna started, obviously just as upset that the captain had been injured as she was about the engineer being put in danger.
"You shouldn't have been either…" Chakotay stated at the same time, with a nod of agreement from Tom.
She cut off both sentence with a raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes before continuing. "As I was saying, I would rather it not have happened at all, but it did happen and we can't change it now. Besides there was very little else that could have been done in the situation. Next time, however, all parties will just have to be more careful." She said with a firm look in hopes that the formal statement would work as a compromise.
The men exchanged a look before nodding reluctantly while B'Elanna crossed her arms. At least the arguments were over…for now. Just in time too, it seemed, since Tuvok and Harry chose that moment to enter sick bay while the Doctor left his office with a hypo in hand.
Janeway quietly moved through the bedroom after having to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. She was going more often now due to the extra pressure on her bladder and since 'Baby V' seemed exceptionally active tonight she was getting up even more then usual. Well, that and the fact that after the day's events she couldn't seem to shut her mind off which certainly didn't help her sleeping ability either.
As she approached the bed she noticed Chakotay still laying peacefully just as she had left him. Slowly, in an attempt not to wake the bed's other resident, she climbed in and scooted down under the covers. Once she was laying comfortably on her side she sensed the warm body behind her stir and move closer.
The next thing she knew his arm was snaking around her, his fingers brushing over her side gently before his hand came to rest on her baby bump. The active infant inside gave one more solid kick before slowly calming down for the night. As the baby quitted down, she found herself finally dozing off as well.
However, just then another arm was being slid under her neck, the hand coming around to rest not far from her shoulder as if trying to completely engulf her. Without a second thought her own hand snuck up and laced itself together with the larger one as the arm around her waist held her a bit tighter and a feather soft kiss was placed just below her ear. This was quite possibly the first time in several hours that she actually felt any semblance if being calm and relaxed. It was a nice feeling, one she'd become used to over the last year, but it was somehow still new in a way as well.
Her racing mind finally began to slow down, just like the infant inside her, and her last thought as she finally drifted off to sleep, was the fact that it was a good thing she didn't suffer from claustrophobic, because she really didn't want to leave the living cocoon she was currently wrapped in.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and for all the awesome reviews! I really do appreciate it! Also, just so you guys know, Janeway is almost eight months pregnant (about 35 weeks). You know what that means...