Redemption
Written - 8/20/02
Summary - It's the anniversary of the encounter with the Equinox and Noah Lessing has something special in mind to mark the occasion.
Rating - PG
Chapter 8
Upon hearing Kathryn complete her impassioned speech, Chakotay began to rise from his chair once more. "Well Lessing, you happy now? You've had your fun, what happens next?"
Noah simply stood staring intently at the Commander, his thoughts in turmoil, not knowing what to say. Kathryn Janeway's words had touched him, at least the part of him he had been suppressing in one way or another for far too long. The reality of the situation finally hit home and he felt utterly lost and alone. He was sweating profusely now, and his hands had gone from a slight tremble to a constant and profound shaking. Only intense concentration kept him from losing the last remaining shreds of his composure. What the Captain had said made sense. He should have stopped her from speaking in the first place. Things seemed so clear to him before, and now. Now he was wondering how in the world he could have miscalculated so badly. He had not only let his anger get the best of him, he had involved himself so deeply in the mechanics of his little operation that he had missed the larger issue. Janeway wasn't a criminal to these people, she was a damned hero, and he would never convince them otherwise. He had failed miserably on all counts and the realization hit like a blow to the head. Slowly, like the inexorable rise of the tide with each successive wave, Lessing began to panic with each passing second.
Chakotay could see it in the crewman's eyes and read it in his body language. If they were to do anything to save Kathryn Janeway, now was the time. Just as he was forming a plan in his own mind, he received a hail, "Tuvok to Chakotay."
Never taking his eyes from Lessing, Chakotay responded, "Go ahead." And tried desperately to swallow the lump in his throat.
Tuvok only said one word, "Kalto." It was the code word they had set up to inform one another that the device had been located and disabled should they be involved in the interrogation at the time. Tuvok knew it would be too difficult to explain to the Commander through code to his combadge that the devise had been a diversion. That could be explained in great detail later. What was important was to identify that it was simply no longer a threat.
"What was that, what did he mean?" Lessing demanded, moving ever closer to the Captain.
"It's over Lessing." Chakotay ordered. "That detonator is useless to you now. We've disabled your little insurance policy."
Kathryn looked up at him, a mixture of surprise and relief etched in her features. They all held their breath as Lessing looked to his hand and realized the indicator light had gone dark. For a second or two nothing happened. Then everything began to happen at once.
"No!" He cried. Not knowing what else to do, Lessing tossed the control device away and roughly yanked the captain from her chair by the collar of her tunic. He held her close to his body, the ever-present knife pressed to her ribs. He then began to back the two of them toward the rear door, practically dragging her as he went. Chakotay moved swiftly between Lessing and the door, effectively blocking the exit.
Lessing, now feeling like a trapped animal, swiftly changed the focus of his attention to this new threat. He grabbed Janeway by the bindings around her wrists, spun around and lunged at the Commander, swinging the knife as he went. Things happened so quickly at that point that afterwards none of the others in the room could describe exactly what happened, with the notable exception of Kathryn Janeway. She would later remember it as if it happened in slow motion.
Chakotay's concern for her safety made him reach for her instead of keeping a close eye on the knife. In the fray he was cut deeply across his right forearm and stumbled backward to the wall, clutching at the wound. At the same time, Janeway took advantage of the momentary diversion. Using her body as leverage, and the fact that he was somewhat unbalanced by his lunge at Chakotay, she managed to knock Lessing even farther from her first office. The resulting momentum sent them both sprawling headlong to the floor.
"Security!" Chakotay yelled as he tapped his combadge, and six heavily armed officers entered the room through both doors, rushing Lessing where he lay tangled with the Captain on the floor. Knowing that her action had probably saved him from a more serious injury, Chakotay ran to the two of them, "Kathryn, that was foolish, but thank you." He said as the security team lifted Lessing from her and he reached behind her to untie her hands, his own injury causing him to fumble in the attempt.
Once her hands were free, she turned to face her second in command. He reached to help her from the floor with his good arm, but before she could rise to a full upright position, she doubled over and slumped into his arms. "Kathryn?" he queried.
She wasn't able to respond. She was leaning heavily against him, the color of her tunic rapidly darkening to a more pronounced shade of red, the expression on her face a mixture of pain and surprise. Moreover, Noah Lessing stood nearby, now restrained by the security detail, but still holding a bloody survival knife in his hand.
"Doctor, get in here!" Chakotay yelled through the door as he eased her back toward the desk, leaning her against it for support, his injured arm preventing him from supporting her fully himself.
Chakotay tried to maintain eye contact with his friend while the Doctor entered the ready room and hurried toward them. At the same time, Lessing began to laugh, even as he struggled with the security guards who now had him firmly pinned to the wall by the desk. The laughter sounded odd, even to him.
"It'll be okay Kathryn. Just take it easy." Chakotay said.
She smiled at him, her face ashen. The doctor examined her quickly and then stated, "No vital organs have been severely damaged Captain, but it's a deep wound and you're bleeding quite heavily, we'll need to transport you to sickbay right away."
"Not an option doctor, the transporters are still out. Whatever you need to do, either you do it here or we carry her to sickbay on the turbolift." Said Chakotay as he tried to hold his friend upright with his good arm, ignoring his own discomfort.
The doctor looked disgusted. "If that's the best you have to offer."
A fairly large crowd had gathered near the ready room door. None of them had actually been able to see the Captain well enough to notice that she had been injured in the scuffle with Lessing. Seeing the chaos as it developed, Tuvok began shuffling people back away from the doorways and sending them back to their posts, allowing the main door to close once more. Within seconds, the curious realized that the viewscreen on the bridge, as well as those throughout the remainder of the ship, were still displaying the events taking place in the ready room for all aboard to see. Most of them stood mesmerized at the sight of their captain slumped against her first officer.
After clearing the crowd, Tuvok moved to where his officers held Lessing prisoner. The security team had finally pried the knife from him but he continued to laugh at the same time tears were streaming down the sides of his face, and he continued to struggle with his captors.
"Get him out of here!" Chakotay spat, only sparing a second to look up, the commotion Lessing was creating more than he wanted to deal with for the moment.
"Take him to the brig." Tuvok ordered, waving the security team toward the door.
A small weak voice interrupted them before they could execute his order. "No."
Chakotay turned his attention to his captain and leaned closer to hear her better. "Kathryn, did you say something?"
Mustering energy she really didn't have, she lifted her head, making eye contact with Lessing himself, and repeated her command, "I said No. Confine him. to quarters. Deactivate. computer. replicator. Place him. under guard. but no brig." then her eyes closed and she buried her forehead against Chakotay's shoulder. She held one hand tightly against her abdomen, just below her ribs, the spaces between her fingers rapidly darkening to a deep crimson.
"Understood Captain." Tuvok replied and then motioned for Lessing and his guards to move out. As he did so, he received a hail.
"Paris to Tuvok." Tom's voice sounded excited.
"Go ahead Mister Paris."
Tom's voice was echoing somewhat through his combadge, an obvious indication that he was moving through the Jefferies tube as he spoke. "All teams have reported in, the bypass should be complete in the site to site transporters. I suggest you give them a try." Tom, having closed the live transmission from the ready room to his combadge while he exited the Jefferies tube, was oblivious to the fact that his timing could not have been more perfect.
"Thank you Mister Paris." Rushing back through the door to the bridge, Tuvok looked directly at Harry Kim and shouted, "Mister Kim, site to site transport for Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay and the Doctor. Get them directly to sickbay."
Harry was surprised at the request because he had not received the transmission from Tom. But he had learned a long time ago on this journey not to question orders like this one. "Aye Sir, transport three to sickbay." His hands moved over the console in a practiced dance, and much to his surprise, the controls responded for the first time in hours.
Seconds later, the three officers in question shimmered out of existence in the ready room and reappeared in sickbay, just as requested. "Sickbay to Tom Paris." The Doctor inquired, speaking to the air as he and the Commander lifted the Captain onto the biobed.
"Paris here doc." His voice no longer echoing, as he was now in a corridor.
"I need your assistance in sickbay right away."
Tom was concerned as to who could have been hurt to require his assistance. He prayed it was not the Captain, not after all this. And if it was Janeway, he hoped it wasn't serious. "On my way." He said as he broke into a run.
=/\=
Upon arriving in sickbay, Tom rapidly moved to take a place beside the Chakotay and the Doctor in the surgical bay, worry etched in his features as soon as he saw it was indeed the Captain. The EMH had already begun to treat her. Taking a hypospray from a nearby tray he said, "This should make you somewhat more comfortable Captain." and pressed it to her neck.
She nodded in acknowledgement, only vaguely aware of what was happening. Whatever the Doctor had given her, it was helping to ease her pain, she felt it, but at a distance now. The voices of her caregivers sounding to her as if they were all under water.
"She has a deep laceration to the abdomen and internal injuries Mister Paris, you know what to do." Then the EMH looked up at Tom and nodded. They had been in situation like this many times over the years and had developed an efficient routine for dealing with severely injured patients. Tom immediately began to cut away the stained layers of the Captain's uniform so they could treat her properly.
Chakotay, who was standing at the head of the biobed, looked to the Doctor who had begun to run his tricorder over the Captain. "How's she doing?"
"She's holding her own, but she's loosing a lot of blood, we need to deal with that immediately." He muttered, not taking his attention from the tricorder.
Chakotay dropped his head noticeably and then turned his attention back to her, "I'm sorry Kathryn. This is the last thing I wanted to happen." He said.
"I know." She managed to say as she opened her eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry too."
He looked at her amazed, "By all the God's what for?"
She choked the words out as best she could. "For the Equinox. what happened. all this."
"Don't blame yourself for any of this. Besides, this is not the time or the place. You need to take it easy, save your strength." Chakotay could only maintain eye contact with her for a moment, the struggle evident in her intense blue eyes and the sweat forming on her brow, threatened to burst the dam holding back his own emotions.
She maintained eye contact for as long as she could and then slowly closed her eyes, mercifully unconscious as the medication the Doctor had given her finally had it's full effect.
=/\=
TBC
Written - 8/20/02
Summary - It's the anniversary of the encounter with the Equinox and Noah Lessing has something special in mind to mark the occasion.
Rating - PG
Chapter 8
Upon hearing Kathryn complete her impassioned speech, Chakotay began to rise from his chair once more. "Well Lessing, you happy now? You've had your fun, what happens next?"
Noah simply stood staring intently at the Commander, his thoughts in turmoil, not knowing what to say. Kathryn Janeway's words had touched him, at least the part of him he had been suppressing in one way or another for far too long. The reality of the situation finally hit home and he felt utterly lost and alone. He was sweating profusely now, and his hands had gone from a slight tremble to a constant and profound shaking. Only intense concentration kept him from losing the last remaining shreds of his composure. What the Captain had said made sense. He should have stopped her from speaking in the first place. Things seemed so clear to him before, and now. Now he was wondering how in the world he could have miscalculated so badly. He had not only let his anger get the best of him, he had involved himself so deeply in the mechanics of his little operation that he had missed the larger issue. Janeway wasn't a criminal to these people, she was a damned hero, and he would never convince them otherwise. He had failed miserably on all counts and the realization hit like a blow to the head. Slowly, like the inexorable rise of the tide with each successive wave, Lessing began to panic with each passing second.
Chakotay could see it in the crewman's eyes and read it in his body language. If they were to do anything to save Kathryn Janeway, now was the time. Just as he was forming a plan in his own mind, he received a hail, "Tuvok to Chakotay."
Never taking his eyes from Lessing, Chakotay responded, "Go ahead." And tried desperately to swallow the lump in his throat.
Tuvok only said one word, "Kalto." It was the code word they had set up to inform one another that the device had been located and disabled should they be involved in the interrogation at the time. Tuvok knew it would be too difficult to explain to the Commander through code to his combadge that the devise had been a diversion. That could be explained in great detail later. What was important was to identify that it was simply no longer a threat.
"What was that, what did he mean?" Lessing demanded, moving ever closer to the Captain.
"It's over Lessing." Chakotay ordered. "That detonator is useless to you now. We've disabled your little insurance policy."
Kathryn looked up at him, a mixture of surprise and relief etched in her features. They all held their breath as Lessing looked to his hand and realized the indicator light had gone dark. For a second or two nothing happened. Then everything began to happen at once.
"No!" He cried. Not knowing what else to do, Lessing tossed the control device away and roughly yanked the captain from her chair by the collar of her tunic. He held her close to his body, the ever-present knife pressed to her ribs. He then began to back the two of them toward the rear door, practically dragging her as he went. Chakotay moved swiftly between Lessing and the door, effectively blocking the exit.
Lessing, now feeling like a trapped animal, swiftly changed the focus of his attention to this new threat. He grabbed Janeway by the bindings around her wrists, spun around and lunged at the Commander, swinging the knife as he went. Things happened so quickly at that point that afterwards none of the others in the room could describe exactly what happened, with the notable exception of Kathryn Janeway. She would later remember it as if it happened in slow motion.
Chakotay's concern for her safety made him reach for her instead of keeping a close eye on the knife. In the fray he was cut deeply across his right forearm and stumbled backward to the wall, clutching at the wound. At the same time, Janeway took advantage of the momentary diversion. Using her body as leverage, and the fact that he was somewhat unbalanced by his lunge at Chakotay, she managed to knock Lessing even farther from her first office. The resulting momentum sent them both sprawling headlong to the floor.
"Security!" Chakotay yelled as he tapped his combadge, and six heavily armed officers entered the room through both doors, rushing Lessing where he lay tangled with the Captain on the floor. Knowing that her action had probably saved him from a more serious injury, Chakotay ran to the two of them, "Kathryn, that was foolish, but thank you." He said as the security team lifted Lessing from her and he reached behind her to untie her hands, his own injury causing him to fumble in the attempt.
Once her hands were free, she turned to face her second in command. He reached to help her from the floor with his good arm, but before she could rise to a full upright position, she doubled over and slumped into his arms. "Kathryn?" he queried.
She wasn't able to respond. She was leaning heavily against him, the color of her tunic rapidly darkening to a more pronounced shade of red, the expression on her face a mixture of pain and surprise. Moreover, Noah Lessing stood nearby, now restrained by the security detail, but still holding a bloody survival knife in his hand.
"Doctor, get in here!" Chakotay yelled through the door as he eased her back toward the desk, leaning her against it for support, his injured arm preventing him from supporting her fully himself.
Chakotay tried to maintain eye contact with his friend while the Doctor entered the ready room and hurried toward them. At the same time, Lessing began to laugh, even as he struggled with the security guards who now had him firmly pinned to the wall by the desk. The laughter sounded odd, even to him.
"It'll be okay Kathryn. Just take it easy." Chakotay said.
She smiled at him, her face ashen. The doctor examined her quickly and then stated, "No vital organs have been severely damaged Captain, but it's a deep wound and you're bleeding quite heavily, we'll need to transport you to sickbay right away."
"Not an option doctor, the transporters are still out. Whatever you need to do, either you do it here or we carry her to sickbay on the turbolift." Said Chakotay as he tried to hold his friend upright with his good arm, ignoring his own discomfort.
The doctor looked disgusted. "If that's the best you have to offer."
A fairly large crowd had gathered near the ready room door. None of them had actually been able to see the Captain well enough to notice that she had been injured in the scuffle with Lessing. Seeing the chaos as it developed, Tuvok began shuffling people back away from the doorways and sending them back to their posts, allowing the main door to close once more. Within seconds, the curious realized that the viewscreen on the bridge, as well as those throughout the remainder of the ship, were still displaying the events taking place in the ready room for all aboard to see. Most of them stood mesmerized at the sight of their captain slumped against her first officer.
After clearing the crowd, Tuvok moved to where his officers held Lessing prisoner. The security team had finally pried the knife from him but he continued to laugh at the same time tears were streaming down the sides of his face, and he continued to struggle with his captors.
"Get him out of here!" Chakotay spat, only sparing a second to look up, the commotion Lessing was creating more than he wanted to deal with for the moment.
"Take him to the brig." Tuvok ordered, waving the security team toward the door.
A small weak voice interrupted them before they could execute his order. "No."
Chakotay turned his attention to his captain and leaned closer to hear her better. "Kathryn, did you say something?"
Mustering energy she really didn't have, she lifted her head, making eye contact with Lessing himself, and repeated her command, "I said No. Confine him. to quarters. Deactivate. computer. replicator. Place him. under guard. but no brig." then her eyes closed and she buried her forehead against Chakotay's shoulder. She held one hand tightly against her abdomen, just below her ribs, the spaces between her fingers rapidly darkening to a deep crimson.
"Understood Captain." Tuvok replied and then motioned for Lessing and his guards to move out. As he did so, he received a hail.
"Paris to Tuvok." Tom's voice sounded excited.
"Go ahead Mister Paris."
Tom's voice was echoing somewhat through his combadge, an obvious indication that he was moving through the Jefferies tube as he spoke. "All teams have reported in, the bypass should be complete in the site to site transporters. I suggest you give them a try." Tom, having closed the live transmission from the ready room to his combadge while he exited the Jefferies tube, was oblivious to the fact that his timing could not have been more perfect.
"Thank you Mister Paris." Rushing back through the door to the bridge, Tuvok looked directly at Harry Kim and shouted, "Mister Kim, site to site transport for Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay and the Doctor. Get them directly to sickbay."
Harry was surprised at the request because he had not received the transmission from Tom. But he had learned a long time ago on this journey not to question orders like this one. "Aye Sir, transport three to sickbay." His hands moved over the console in a practiced dance, and much to his surprise, the controls responded for the first time in hours.
Seconds later, the three officers in question shimmered out of existence in the ready room and reappeared in sickbay, just as requested. "Sickbay to Tom Paris." The Doctor inquired, speaking to the air as he and the Commander lifted the Captain onto the biobed.
"Paris here doc." His voice no longer echoing, as he was now in a corridor.
"I need your assistance in sickbay right away."
Tom was concerned as to who could have been hurt to require his assistance. He prayed it was not the Captain, not after all this. And if it was Janeway, he hoped it wasn't serious. "On my way." He said as he broke into a run.
=/\=
Upon arriving in sickbay, Tom rapidly moved to take a place beside the Chakotay and the Doctor in the surgical bay, worry etched in his features as soon as he saw it was indeed the Captain. The EMH had already begun to treat her. Taking a hypospray from a nearby tray he said, "This should make you somewhat more comfortable Captain." and pressed it to her neck.
She nodded in acknowledgement, only vaguely aware of what was happening. Whatever the Doctor had given her, it was helping to ease her pain, she felt it, but at a distance now. The voices of her caregivers sounding to her as if they were all under water.
"She has a deep laceration to the abdomen and internal injuries Mister Paris, you know what to do." Then the EMH looked up at Tom and nodded. They had been in situation like this many times over the years and had developed an efficient routine for dealing with severely injured patients. Tom immediately began to cut away the stained layers of the Captain's uniform so they could treat her properly.
Chakotay, who was standing at the head of the biobed, looked to the Doctor who had begun to run his tricorder over the Captain. "How's she doing?"
"She's holding her own, but she's loosing a lot of blood, we need to deal with that immediately." He muttered, not taking his attention from the tricorder.
Chakotay dropped his head noticeably and then turned his attention back to her, "I'm sorry Kathryn. This is the last thing I wanted to happen." He said.
"I know." She managed to say as she opened her eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry too."
He looked at her amazed, "By all the God's what for?"
She choked the words out as best she could. "For the Equinox. what happened. all this."
"Don't blame yourself for any of this. Besides, this is not the time or the place. You need to take it easy, save your strength." Chakotay could only maintain eye contact with her for a moment, the struggle evident in her intense blue eyes and the sweat forming on her brow, threatened to burst the dam holding back his own emotions.
She maintained eye contact for as long as she could and then slowly closed her eyes, mercifully unconscious as the medication the Doctor had given her finally had it's full effect.
=/\=
TBC