DISCLAIMER: You all know the drill - Paramount is God. All hail Paramount. They own everything in the Star Trek Universe - I'm just using my overactive imagination to take their characters where they refuse to go. All in the name of fun, not profit (I wish).
ORDER AND CHAOS
CHAPTER THREE: TRIAL AND ERROR, PART II
Chakotay looked up from his PADD when the chime to the ready room sounded. He still wasn't used to this side of the desk -- he had used Kathryn's ready room on many occasions when he was in command, but it felt different somehow.
"Come," he said, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind.
Tuvok entered and took a few steps towards the desk. "You wanted to see me, Commander?"
Chakotay set his PADD down and leaned back in the chair. "Have a seat."
Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "I prefer to stand."
"Fine," said Chakotay, his face clouding over at the subtle insubordination.
He took a few seconds to gather his thoughts before addressing the security chief. "You don't agree with my decision to attempt infiltrating a Borg cube."
"I do not believe that Captain Janeway would want us to risk the entire crew to rescue her."
"I appreciate your objections, and I know how highly the Captain values your opinion…but in the future I would appreciate it if you voiced them in private. Until we get the Captain back, I'm in command and I expect you to obey my orders whether you agree with them or not. Is that clear?"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Always."
"I believe you are allowing your feelings for the Captain to cloud your judgment. You are putting the crew at unnecessary risk."
Chakotay rose from his chair and took quick, agitated steps around the desk. "Not all of us can turn our emotions off with the flick of a switch, Tuvok," he said sharply. "Kathryn's somewhere in the heart of Borg territory, probably assimilated by now." He took a deep breath and measured his words carefully. "I'm not going to abandon her…and I'll do everything short of destroying this ship to get her back." He stepped closer, standing with his face inches apart from Tuvok's. "And you know she would do the same for any one of us."
"I have long been aware of the Captain's tendency for reckless behavior."
"I'm going to take every precaution, Tuvok. The Captain asked me to keep Voyager in one piece and that's what I intend to do. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
Tuvok started to leave, but Chakotay addressed him again.
"Tuvok? One more thing. My feelings where the Captain is concerned…are none of your business."
* * *
Tom entered Engineering, his eyes roaming the room. A smile broke out on his face when they found the object of their search, and he walked over to stand behind B'Elanna at her station. She didn't notice him, and he leaned forward and put his mouth next to her ear.
"Would you care for dinner?" he asked softly, reaching around to show her the bottle of wine in his hand.
She started and turned around.
"I thought you might want to take a break," he explained with a dashing smile.
"Not now, Tom," she said, more sharply than she intended. Seeing the his hurt expression, she softened. "But thank you."
She stepped around him and moved across the room. He followed her.
"B'Elanna, you've been on duty for almost fifteen hours. You've barely stopped working for the last two days."
She didn't look at him as she moved from console to console, taking a PADD from Ensign Ashmore as she walked. "We're still trying to repair the coil."
He stopped walking. "I thought you said it was hopeless."
A hint of a smile appeared on her lips as she made a few alterations to the PADD and handed it back to Ashmore. "It just so happens that 'hopeless' is my specialty." She turned to look at him. "It's possible the relays aren't as damaged as we originally thought. Remotely possible…but possible."
Lieutenant Nicoletti approached her with another PADD. She examined it and nodded in approval. "Keep running the simulations. I want to get the tachyon flow up another fifteen percent before we move to the next step."
"Come on, B'Elanna," said Tom as soon as Nicoletti moved off. "You're not going to get anything figured out on empty stomachs and no sleep."
She wavered but moved over to work at a console on the wall.
He stepped behind her and kissed her softly at the base of her neck. She tried to shrug him off, but he was persistent.
"I've got fettuccine alfredo for two keeping warm in my replicator," he said, his voice muffled by her neck.
She sighed, then turned around and put her hand on the side of his face, leaning forward to kiss him quickly on the lips. He broke out in a huge grin and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of Engineering.
"Carey?" she yelled as he pulled her towards the doors. "I'm going to call it a day. Keep running the scans on those power relays."
She barely heard his affirmative as Tom pulled her out the doors.
* * *
Chakotay was pleasantly surprised to find Seven in Sickbay when he entered. She was sitting on a biobed while the Doctor scanned her.
"Seven. I stopped by to get an update on your condition from the Doctor. How are you feeling?"
"Better, thank you Commander."
"Good as new," pronounced the Doctor. "I'd still like to keep an eye on that cranial implant that was damaged. Let me know if you experience any problems with it."
She nodded, and the Doctor moved back towards his office.
"Have we been able to determine what went wrong with the transwarp coil?" asked Seven.
"Harry and B'Elanna think the power relays were damaged. It destabilized the tachyon flow. There was no way we could have used it."
"I apologize, Commander. I should have been more thorough in my inspection of it."
"It's not your fault. You had no way of knowing."
"It was selfish. We should have run more simulations."
He frowned. "Selfish? What do you mean?"
"I was too focused on rescuing the Captain to consider the possible risks to Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Paris. My behavior was reckless. We could all have been killed."
"That's not selfish, Seven. We're all worried about the Captain. And we're all taking a few more risks that usual. Myself included."
"It was selfish because I feel responsible for the Captain's abduction. I was attempting to alleviate my guilt by rescuing her."
"Responsible? I don't understand."
Seven was visibly uncomfortable. "It was at my insistence that the Captain became involved with Unimatrix Zero. If it wasn't for me, Voyager would not have attempted to help them and the Captain would never have been on the cube in the first place."
Chakotay rested his hand on Seven's arm. "Seven, you didn't force the Captain to become involved. She decided on her own. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but she usually doesn't need a lot of convincing to set her mind to something."
Seven smiled slightly.
"It wasn't your fault," he assured her. "If it weren't for you and your friends in Unimatrix Zero, the entire away team could have been assimilated and Voyager could have been destroyed."
"If I hadn't gotten involved none of this would have happened."
"And we wouldn't have struck a crippling blow to the Collective. We all knew what the price of victory might be. I told the Captain that the safety of Voyager was a small price to pay for a real advantage against the Borg. I still believe that. The Borg may never recover from this."
"Neither will Voyager's crew if we are unsuccessful in our rescue attempts."
"Don't give up on Kathryn yet. She's one of the strongest people I know. We'll get her back."
If Seven was surprised at him using her given name, she didn't show it. "Thank you, Commander."
"You can thank me by helping us track down the Captain."
* * *
B'Elanna settled herself on the couch next to Tom, a glass of wine in her hand.
"That was delicious," she said, leaning back with her head on his shoulder.
A silence fell over the room. It was broken by Tom after a few minutes when he voiced what was undoubtedly on both their minds.
"Do you really think we can get that coil working again?"
She sighed. "I'm afraid not to believe it. This could be our only chance to rescue her."
"What about infiltrating a cube?"
"I don't think it's really feasible. Seven's right -- the Queen will be watching us like a hawk. She won't let us get away with stealing a coil."
He leaned forward and kissed her hair. "We'll get her back, B'Elanna."
She reached over and took his hand, playing with his fingers. "I should have done something," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
He frowned and leaned forward to get a better look at her face. "What are you talking about?"
"On the cube. I was right beside the Captain when Harry tried to beam us out."
His eyes widened and filled with concern. "You didn't tell me that!"
She continued stroking his hand. "I was right next to her. I saw her start to dematerialize, but when I arrived in the transporter room she wasn't there."
"B'Elanna…What could you have done? Gotten yourself assimilated too?"
She didn't answer, and her eyes started to fill with tears.
Tom reached over and brushed her hair behind her ear. "If the Captain were here, I'm sure she would tell you it wasn't your fault."
The tears broke free and began rolling down her cheeks. She let out a sob and pressed her face into his shoulder. He put his arms around her, and they sat in silence for a long time.
B'Elanna was the first one to move. She lifted her head up from his shoulder and put her hand behind his head. Before he had a chance to react, she pressed her lips against his. His surprise lasted only for a few seconds before he kissed her back, gently taking the wine glass from her hand and putting it on the ledge behind the couch. Her tongue pushed into his mouth, her lips exploring his. He reached down and put his hands on her hips, pulling her lower on the couch. She became more passionate, running her fingers frantically through his hair.
They slowly moved lower and lower until she was flat on her back and all his weight was on top of her. She eventually pulled her hands away from his head and thrust them in his uniform jacket, pushing it roughly off his shoulders and tossing it across the room. She started to remove her uniform as well, and her jacket soon joined his on the floor. She started on her turtleneck, but he pushed himself off her and sat up. The sound of their heavy breathing filled the room.
"What?" she asked, pushing herself up on her elbows.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked carefully. "The Doctor warned you not to overexert yourself."
She reached up and grabbed him roughly by the shirt, pulling him back down on top of her. They kissed for a long few seconds before he pulled away again, but with less determination than before.
"He also warned me that you shouldn't overexert yourself, for some reason," he said, short of breath. "He seemed to think I might have something do to with your…overexertion."
She smirked. "Imagine that."
Any reply he might have made was silenced by her mouth covering his.
* * *
B'Elanna's shrill scream penetrated the quiet of the darkened room and she bolted upright in bed, her breathing shallow and irregular as she gasped for air.
Tom sat up immediately in the bed beside her. "What is it?" He rested his hand gently on her back. "God, B'Elanna, you're shaking like a leaf!"
She didn't answer, pulling her knees close to her chest and resting her head on them.
Tom watched her in silence, gently stroking her back. After a few minutes she slid closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her, and they stayed like that in the dark for a long time.
"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked gently after a while.
She pulled back and ran her fingers through her hair as she nodded. "I was back on the cube." She took a deep breath and turned to face him, relinquishing her hold on her knees and sitting cross-legged on the bed. "There were people screaming…I could hear the Captain. She was yelling for help. I broke out of my restraints, but I couldn't find her. I was running around the cube, but everything looked the same. Her voice kept moving around. Every time I got close, it jumped again. I couldn't find her."
He reached over and pulled her into his arms, and she stroked the back of his neck with her hand.
They both jumped when the red alert sounded. It only took them a few seconds to snap into action. They were already half-dressed when Chakotay's voice came over the comm.
Senior officers, report to your stations.
They hit the corridor at a run, but stopped when they came to the first intersection. Tom reached around the back of her neck and gave her a brief kiss. "Be careful."
She smiled, emotion shining from her dark eyes. "You too, flyboy."
They couldn't spare more than a few seconds for the tender moment, and she turned and headed down the corridor for Engineering while Tom continued to the bridge.
He was the last member of the senior staff to arrive. Tuvok and Harry were at their stations, Seven was standing behind the command chairs, and Chakotay was standing in the middle of the bridge looking grim.
"What's going on?" asked Tom as he walked over to the helm and relieved Ensign Baytart.
"We've detected a transwarp corridor opening approximately two million kilometers directly ahead," Seven informed him.
"Raise shields," Chakotay ordered to Tuvok over his shoulder. "Harry, can you tell how many ships there are?"
"I can't get a clear reading through the subspace distortions."
"Power phasers and photon torpedoes. Tom , we may need to get out of here in a hurry."
He swiveled his chair around. "What about a transwarp coil?"
"We're not going to take on a fully armed cube."
"Something's emerging," said Harry.
The tension on the bridge mounted, and after a few seconds was justified by the emergence of a Borg cube from the distortion in the space ahead of them.
"Report," barked Chakotay.
"Their weapons are not powering," Tuvok told him. "We are being scanned."
"Hold position."
Harry's console beeped and he looked up in surprise. "Sir…they're hailing us."
Everyone on the bridge looked around at each other in confusion.
"Onscreen," said Chakotay slowly after a few seconds.
A Borg drone inside a cube appeared on the screen. They were all perplexed when he smiled at them, but his eyes rested on someone in particular. "Hello, Annika."
All eyes turned to Seven, whose face was drained of color.
"Axum," she breathed.