Title: Divided
Author: SisterPet
Pairing: C&T
Rating: Very much R.
Disclaimer: I don't own them

Summary: Shortly after season five's Extreme Risk. Chakotay and Torres are separated from Voyager and thrown into an adventure.

Part 5

B'Elanna watched Chakotay go down and screamed his name. Every fibre of her being demanded that she go to him but years of training and discipline held out.  She would be useless to him if they both ended up hurt. Pushing back the fear and panic, she signalled the archers and they let loose a volley of arrows.

York watched his idol fall and could not contain himself; in the past weeks this man had become a hero to him. Having no idea how the shields worked he did not think of them as he jumped off the wall, almost landing on the invisible energy field.  Only by sheer blind luck did he miss being sliced in half.  Heart beating in her throat, B'Elanna dove for the phaser at her feet and, with deadly aim, blew out the closest modulator just as York rose and ran to Chakotay.  He grasped the unconscious form under the arms and dragged him back to the wall.

The remaining drones were badly damaged, yet still they came. With no shields to protect the wall B'Elanna knew it was too late to do anything more than shout a warning.

"Everyone get away from the wall and back to the centre of the village!  Find cover!  MOVE!"  She screamed, while lifting her spear and sighting it on the closest Borg.

Using every drop of Klingon strength, she threw it.  The shaft sailed through the air with the power of a missile, it went through him and the force flung the mechanical nightmare back closer to the others, one of which was already spitting sparks.  The ensuing eruption threw her into the air along with a huge section of wall.  Splinters of wood, like daggered spikes, ricochet in all directions.  Something hit her leg hard, but she had no time to wonder as the ground broke her fall and she landed in a heap.  Stone, wood and sand pounding down on her.  Dazed and bruised, B'Elanna lay for long moments fighting to force air into her lungs, refusing to let the darkness pull her under. With almost super human strength, she clawed her way out from under the rubble that covered her.  A sharp, searing agony burned from her leg as she tried to move it and a scream gurgled up her throat.  Valiantly she swallowed it back and moving the remaining debris off her legs, she looked, instantly wishing she had not.  A two-foot long wooden spike was pierced through her thigh.

All around her people were picking themselves up, anxiously looking around.  It was strangely silent, not even the moans of the injured seemed to penetrate the heavy stillness.

Clenching her teeth, B'Elanna dragged herself to the nearest part of the wall that was still standing.  Fear for Chakotay driving her.  Every inch forward causing unspeakable pain and she welcomed it.  As long as it hurt her imagination could not picture what must surely be left of the man she loved.

"B'Elanna let us tend to you." Lenor moved over, using all the strength in his frail yet powerful body to help her the last few feet.

"I must find Chakotay and York. God they were outside in that." She cried, trying to stand but her leg collapsed under her and she slid back down onto the ground.

"The others are already out there looking. Right now I need to attend to you."

"Just yank that damn thing out of me!" She hissed through clenched teeth.

Lenor examined it.  The splinter, which had gone right through the upper thigh, was about three inches in diameter and very jagged.

"I do not think that we should pull it out. It's firmly wedged in, if we try to move it, the damage may be lethal."

"Will you listen to me, damn it!" She roared  "I want the damn thing out of my leg now!  Just grab it and pull!"

"You never listen to anyone do you?" A voice said softly behind her.  Chakotay stumbled into view, helped along by a grinning York.

They looked terrible, cuts and gashes dripping blood and their clothing in tatters.  Chakotay had a large deep wound on his calf that must have severed a tendon as the leg was dragging uselessly.  He slid down beside her and yanked her into his arms in one move.  The sight of him alive and grinning pushed the pain back.

"Damn you, Chakotay I am going to kill you." Her angry words belied by the wobbly voice and the sobs that tore out of her.  Burying her face in his chest she inhaled his scent, giddy with relief.  Moved beyond words he gently stroked her hair.

"It takes more than a few Borg bombs to get rid of me." He murmured, moving to look at her leg.  A shudder of fear tore through him, gently he leaned her back against the wall.  He could see instantly what Lenor had meant.  If they tried to pull it out the jagged edges would break off and be driven deeper into the leg.  Inside the wound would also be full of splinters and the bits of wood would fester, or worse, move into her bloodstream and kill her.

York rushed over with the med kit and Chakotay loaded the hypo with painkiller.

"I don't want it." She groaned trying to push him away.

"Shut up." He muttered, injecting her.

The pain eased almost instantly and she slumped back in relief.  Using the medical tricorder he ran it over the leg.  As he'd suspected, along with the large one there were about four smaller splinters imbedded inside her leg, pieces that had probably broken off on impact.  There were also hundred of minute ones all around the inside of the wound.  The impact of the large splinter had nicked a major artery and it was now acting as a plug.  If they moved it, she would die of blood loss in about four minutes.  The sub dermal regenerator would help only if he got to it fast enough but taking the splinters out would take time.  Time she did not have.

York tapped him on the shoulder  "Let me heal your wound."  He indicated to the pool of blood that was collecting under him. Chakotay waved him away.

"Commander you will not be able to help B'Elanna if you loose consciousness."

"He's right. This thing is not going anywhere." B'Elanna sighed softly floating on a cloud of painkiller.

York did not wait for consent, shoving Chakotay back none too gently, he grasped the injured leg and ran the dermal regenerator over it.

At Chakotay's surprised expression, "B'Elanna has been teaching us your technology."  He smiled in answer to the unvoiced question.

While York worked on him, Lenor examined B'Elanna again.  He was not only the village leader, but also their doctor.  His instruments might be primitive but his knowledge of the body was extraordinary.

"If we tie a band tightly around the leg above the wound, it should slow the flow of blood." He murmured. 

"These smaller pieces and some of the larger ones would wash out with it, but it is these two pieces that cause me the most concern. If we pull out the splinter in the direction it went in they will be driven deeper."

"So how do we get it out?" Chakotay asked.

Lenor sighed, looking up at B'Elanna.  She was following the consultation with calm acceptance, for her a sure sign that the painkiller was very strong.

"We need to make the wound larger.  Without the tightness wedged around it, we should be able to pull out the bigger splinter without forcing the others in deeper."

He explained what needed to be done while Chakotay and B'Elanna looked on in terror.

"Can't you just yank it out?"  B'Elanna murmured.

Chakotay squeezed her hand in comfort.  "He is right, it's too dangerous.  You have to trust us."

Turning to York and the doctor he nodded. "We need to move her to the cabin."

Making a temporary stretcher out of a tabletop, four young men carried her to the cabin.  Under Chakotay, York and Lenor's watch full eyes, they lay her on the worktable.  It was the only place that had plenty of strong light.  B'Elanna was pale and sweating, the pain was getting unbearable again.  Chakotay prepared a stronger dose of painkiller.

"I am going to give you a heavy dose of this, it will make you a bit disorientated and light headed.  I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do." He whispered as he sprayed her neck.

B'Elanna grasped his arm  "I trust you, what ever happens, I trust you with my life." 

"I love you." He kissed her gently.

"Your equipment is more advanced than anything I have ever seen, therefore you must do this.  I will talk you through it." Lenor urged.

Chakotay took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before nodding.

Two of the women from the village came in; one of them placed a root between B'Elanna's teeth.  They would be holding her through the worst of it, their soft voices and gentle hands comforted her.  York and Lenor grasped her legs.

With a nod Chakotay picked up the laser scalpel.  Following instructions, he made two deep incisions on either side of the splinter.  At the first deep slice B'Elanna stiffened and screamed through her clenched teeth.  Her body bowed and the two women holding her found themselves airborne.  They scrambled back, desperately flinging themselves onto her arms to hold her.  As the laser cut again she bit down, severing the root between her teeth right through.  The scream turned into a pitiful keening until the air in her lungs expired and she could scream no more, fighting for air as hard as she fought against the pain.

Suddenly she stopped and was still. Chakotay shuddered in relief.  She'd lost consciousness.

When the blood flowed freely from the incisions, Lenor fastened the tourniquet but did not tighten it yet.  As predicted, the deeper Chakotay cut the more splinters washed out of the wound.  Checking the tricorder, York confirmed that all but two of the bigger ones were gone.  Lenor tightened the tourniquet and grasped the blood-covered splinter.

"We must let the blood wash the wound clean for a few moments before we tighten it more."  Lenor hissed.

Chakotay braced his hands on either side of the wound and pulled it open.  Slowly, inch-by-inch, Lenor drew the spike out.  Only when it was finally completely out did Chakotay look over at the tricorder in York's hand.  Blood was bubbling out so fast they were already working in a pool of it.

"There is one still in there, she is loosing too much blood!" He cried helplessly.

Lenor tightened the tourniquet until it bit into her flesh and the blood flow slowed, but it did not stop.

"You must find it and take it out." The older man hissed, using all his strength to hold the tourniquet.

Closing off his mind to what he was doing, Chakotay drove his fingers into the wound.  Deeper and deeper he pushed until his entire hand was engulfed in her flesh. Seconds ticked off in his head as he felt for the splinter.  His fingers brushed something hard and he grabbed for it, but it was slippery and slick and he could not get a good grip.  Again and again he tried, his brow beaded with sweat as panic threatened to choke him.  Suddenly, just when he was loosing hope, he had it.  Resisting the overpowering urge to hurry, he eased it out carefully.

To be continued…