Redemption
Chapter 4
Disclaimer - Paramount and Viacom own the characters from Voyager, although they didn't often treat them right. The story line belongs to me.
A special thanks to: My friend and editor of all my stories, Mill3rs.
Tom pushed himself up from the pilot's console. He began to cough, as he heard the ventilation system kick in and start to clear the acrid smoke from the confines of the shuttle. They had hit the planet's surface hard and several panels were smoldering. The fire suppression system prevented any large outbreak of flames but the smoke made it difficult to see clearly as well as difficult to breathe. He heard a soft cry of pain and turned to see Harry cradling his right wrist with his left hand as he stood up from the Ops station. As he looked up into Harry's dark eyes, he could see the pain reflected in them. "Let me get a medkit, Harry." Tom said as he turned towards a front storage locker and pulled the door open. Pulling out a medkit, he moved to Harry's side. He grabbed a tricorder and scanned Harry's right wrist. "It's a clean break. It should heal quite nicely with the osteoregenerator."
"Tom, you're bleeding." Harry said as he pointed to Tom's left temple.
Tom reached up and felt the wetness on his fingers. He winced as he touched the gash just above his left eye. "I'll get to it later, Harry."
Ayala had made his way from the back of the shuttle to Chakotay who was slumped against one of the bulkheads. Chakotay had been walking to the front of the shuttle when it crashed and was thrown to the floor. "Captain, can you hear me? Come on, Chakotay, open your eyes." Ayala said.
Tom heard Ayala and, grabbing the medkit, made his way to Chakotay. He began to scan him with the tricorder. "He's got a pretty severe concussion and there's some swelling in the back of his neck. We need to get him stabilized before we move him."
"You're not touching him, Paris." Ayala snarled as he pulled out his phaser and pointed it at Tom. You already crash landed us on this planet; I won't let you hurt Chakotay anymore."
"What the hell are you talking about, Ayala! He needs medical care, now." Tom argued trying to ignore the phaser aimed at his head. Turning to Harry, he motioned to the back of the shuttle. "Harry, there's a cervical collar in that back locker to the left of the bunks. Grab it and bring it up here, okay?"
"Sure, Tom." Harry answered and made his way to the back of the shuttle. He found the storage locker and returned with a firm foam collar. Taking in the scene before him, he quietly handed Tom the collar. "What can I do to help?"
"When I lift his head, slide the collar under his neck." He looked to Ayala. "I need you to help lift his shoulders so we keep his head and neck from moving."
Ayala didn't lower the phaser but looked at Tom with some disbelief. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"I had some medic courses. Look, we can sit and argue or you can put that thing away and help the commander. Do you want to explain why his injuries were made worse because we left him on the floor?" Tom said evenly. Ayala muttered softly but put the phaser down and slid his hands under Chakotay's shoulders. "Okay, when I say three, lift him up about three inches and Harry slide the collar around his neck."
They managed to get the collar on Chakotay and Tom and Ayala carried him to one of the bunks. Tom took out a hypospray from the medkit and approached the bunk. Ayala grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "What's in that?" He asked roughly.
"It's something to reduce the swelling around his spinal column. If we don't relieve it, his nervous system could be damaged." Tom answered turning back to Chakotay and pressing the hypo against his neck.
"Well, what do we do now?" Ayala asked as he leaned against the other bunk with his arms folded across his chest.
"You could start checking our systems to see what's still operational." Tom answered and Ayala moved to the front of the shuttle.
Motioning Harry to sit on the other bunk, Tom opened the medkit again. "Let's get that wrist regenerated now, Harry." He gave Harry an injection of a pain killer and then ran the osteoregenerator over the break. "It'll be a little sore for a day or two, but if you don't overdo it'll be fine."
"Thanks, Tom." Harry smiled at his friend and then reached into the medkit and pulled out a dermal regenerator, and held it to the side of Tom's head. The gash healed and all that was left was the blood that was caked on the side of Tom's face. "That should take care of the cut but you need to get cleaned up."
Ayala approached the two men and looked back down at Chakotay. "How long do you think he'll be out?"
"I'm not sure; he hit his head pretty hard. I'm more worried about the swelling." Tom answered. "Well, what did you find out? Does anything other than the lights work?"
"The warp engine is off-line but we might have impulse power. Communications are shot and environmental controls are only functioning at about 25%. I say take her up and try to track down Voyager." He answered without looking at Tom.
"No, we shouldn't move him yet. We need to wait for the swelling to go down to determine how severely he's injured." Tom replied.
"And why are you in charge all of a sudden, Paris?" Ayala snapped at Tom.
"Look, Tom's right. We don't know how bad the commander is and we should try to repair some of the systems first, like communications. Maybe we could get a message through to Voyager and they could meet us here." Harry looked at the other two. "It could mean better medical care for the commander." He said looking straight at Ayala.
"Okay. Paris, you try to work on communications while Kim and I take a look at the engine." Ayala ordered and turned towards the engine compartment.
Harry looked towards Tom who nodded in agreement before heading for the communication's console in the front of the shuttle.
* * * * *
The three men worked for several hours before Harry and Ayala announced that the impulse engines were up and running. "I still say, we take off now and look for Voyager." Ayala said, wiping the sweat off his face. "Environmental's still not right and it's getting damn hot in here." He snapped.
"No! It's still too early to move Chakotay." Tom answered back, his voice rising in anger and frustration.
"Then what the hell do we do, now? Sit and wait for three more days until Voyager comes looking for us?" Ayala asked.
"You complete the mission." A quiet voice from the bunk was heard. "You go find the dilithium crystals." Chakotay said.
The three men moved quickly to the back of the shuttle. "Captain, you're okay!" Ayala exclaimed.
Chakotay tried to sit up. Tom grabbed the tricorder and began scanning Chakotay as he pushed the commander back against the bunk. "Try to lie still. You got a pretty hard hit to the head. How do you feel, Commander?"
"Like I've gone ten rounds with a Targ; and lost." Chakotay tried to smile but winced in pain. "What's our status?"
"Communications are down, we have impulse power only, and environmental controls are only functioning at 25%." Tom answered.
"And you don't want me moved, right Lieutenant?" Chakotay asked, having obviously overheard quite a bit of their conversation.
"That's right, Sir. I'm not sure you should have your neck or head banged around and the ion storms are still too rough out there." Tom answered.
"Well, then I say go after the dilithium crystals. Greg, you and Kim take the small antigrav sled and the mining equipment and see what you can find. We can keep in touch with our comm badges." Chakotay ordered.
"But Chakotay, it's at least a two hour walk from here and you'll be alone with Paris." Ayala protested.
Chakotay looked straight into Tom's eyes. "I'll be fine here, won't I, Paris?"
"Yes, Commander, as long as you lie still, you'll be okay." Tom answered, looking back at Chakotay.
"Then it's settled, Greg, you and Ensign Kim go after the dilithium crystals while Paris here works on the communications." Chakotay closed his eyes.
Ayala and Harry packed up the few pieces of equipment they needed, opened the back hatch of the shuttle, and headed out. Tom checked Chakotay again and found that he was asleep. He smiled slightly at the confidence the commander had shown in him and headed for the communication's console.
to be continued……