In a Single Heartbeat
Disclaimer – See Chapter One.
Chapter Eight – A Kindness Returned
B'Elanna turned to Retrill who still sat on the log before his hut. "You are the boy's grandfather. Are you also the leader of your people?"
"Yes, my child. My son was killed by the Goroth when they first took our ship." The older man looked toward the trees. "I'm afraid that I am responsible for your husband being taken prisoner. I sent the distress call that you tried to answer. That brought you close enough for the Goroth to bring down your ship."
"Can you send out another message? Voyager, my ship, should be closer now, and they would be looking for us," B'Elanna asked. Please Captain; be close enough to hear the message.
"Would they not be in danger from the Goroth as well? Retrill responded. "I do not wish to endanger anymore of your people."
"Voyager is a much larger ship than the shuttle. If I could talk to the captain, I could tell her of your situation and she might be able to help."
Retrill stood and held out his hand to B'Elanna. "Come, my child." They walked past the row of huts and entered a stand of trees. "Our communication center is near."
# # #
Chakotay glanced again at Tom who stood next to him shivering in the frigid night air. The guards had everyone standing outside while they searched the huts for the missing prisoner. One of the Helmar had escaped when the transport arrived with the new prisoners. They had been standing for several hours now, and Chakotay was worried that the lieutenant would collapse if not allowed to sit down. "How are you holding up, Paris?' he asked.
Tom didn't respond at first and Chakotay nudged his arm slightly. Tom looked up with some confusion. "I..I'm okay, I guess. Just very c..cold."
Just then one of the guards approached the two men. "You were warned there was to be no taking." He raised his rifle as if to strike Tom.
Chakotay stepped between the two. "Look, my friend is ill. You must let him at least sit on one of the logs closer to the fire," he indicated the faintly glowing embers. No one had been allowed to tend it and he was afraid that the fire would soon be out.
"Quiet!" the guard roared and slammed the rifle into Chakotay's side. He then turned and walked over to the transport.
Chakotay doubled over in pain, stumbled and would have fallen if Tom had not reached out for him. The two men resumed their stance until the guard in charge approached them.
"You two seem eager to get to work. I think we can accommodate this." He motioned one of the younger guards over. "Take them to the mine. Give them one water bottle and one torch. Let's see how much ore they can find on their own." The younger guard smirked as he prodded the two crewmen toward the mine.
Tom helped Chakotay to sit on one of the overturned bins when they were left alone in the cave. "I'm sorry, Commander. I guess my mouth got us into trouble again." He gently unzipped Chakotay's jacket and pulled his turtleneck up exposing a rapidly darkening bruise across the right side of the older man's chest. Tom prodded the area around the bruise and Chakotay winced when he touched the middle. "I'm sure the third and fourth ribs are cracked." Tom pulled his own shirt out of his pants and grabbed one of the chunks of ore. "These are pretty sharp. I should be able to cut through this shirt and yours to get some bindings for those ribs."
Chakotay nodded at Tom. "Look, Paris, don't try to claim the fault for everything down here. If you recall, I opened my big mouth first this time," he tried to smile to ease the tension but gasped slightly when Tom tightly wrapped the two strips of material around his ribs. "We might as well get to work. At least moving around will keep us warmer than sitting here." The two men picked up some mallets and began to extract the ore from the wall in front of them.
After working steadily for some time, Chakotay and Tom heard the rest of the prisoners approaching with several guards. The men were left with several water bottles as the day before and the guards left. Bromar approached Chakotay and Tom, bringing an elderly Helmar with him. "Chakotay, Tom, this is Dolon. He is our doctor; he can help with your injuries."
"Bromar and Lonten have told me much about you and your kindness. I'm afraid that the Goroth have taken my medical equipment but they did not know to search more diligently," he smiled as he pulled a small leather pouch out from his shirt. "I do have some medicines that can ease your pain." He motioned one of the other Helmar to the small group. "Find me a small bowl shaped rock."
"Chakotay has two broken ribs. I believe they were cracked when we crashed and the guard just finished the job with his rifle," Tom stood before the doctor. "I've taped them up, but we have nothing to treat the fractures or the swelling."
Dolon pulled Chakotay's shirt back up and carefully placed his hands over the make-shift bandages. Glancing at Tom, he smiled. "You have done a good job, my son." He pulled a flat wooden case out of his pouch and shook out a small amount of white powder into the rock he was given. After pouring a little water onto it, he swished the rock around until the powder was dissolved. "Here, you must drink this and it will ease the pain." He held the rock out to Chakotay who hesitated.
"Do not be wary. Dolon has taken care of my family for years. He would not think of harming you," Lonten said.
"It's not that. I just don't know how your medicine would react to someone who is not Helmar," Chakotay responded.
Tom reached out, dipped his finger into the mixture, and tasted it. "Relax, Commander, I believe it is a simple analgesic. I don't think it will harm you and it may help with your breathing."
Chakotay nodded, accepted the rock, and drank the liquid. "Thank you."
Tom started to move toward the wall when Dolon grabbed his arm. "No, son. You are next; please sit," he indicated the bin next to Chakotay. "Let me take a look at that eye in the little bit of light we have here."
Tom sat down slowly, but when Dolon reached for his right eye, Tom flinched and pulled back.
"I know that it must be quite painful; I won't hurt you anymore," Dolon said softly as he reached out and gently touched Tom's right cheekbone. His fingers slid up to his temple and Tom drew in a sharp breath as Dolon prodded above his eye. Dolon turned to Chakotay. "I'm afraid that his cheekbone and eye socket are both fractured. There is pressure built up around his eye and under the bone here," he indicated Tom's right temple.
Tom started to stand, but Dolon put his hand on Tom's arm. "First, you will also have some of the analgesic as you call it." He poured more powder into the shallow rock and added water. After handing it to Tom, he called over Bromar. "Please, we need another bandage." Bromar took one of the rocks and cut a strip off the bottom of his own shirt and handed it to Dolon. The doctor took the rock and split the ends of the cloth. Dolon turned back to Tom. "I need you to lie back on this bin, please."
"Wh..what are you going to do?" Tom stammered. His head throbbed where Dolon had examined it.
"I'm going to help reduce the swelling around your eye," Dolon answered as he mixed some of the powder with water to make a thick paste. He placed this in the middle to the cloth and placed it over Tom's right eye. He then tied the bandage tightly in place. "You will keep this in place until they take us back to camp tonight. When the guards return, you will take the cloth off and hide it in your shirt. I don't believe that they will examine your injuries but they would note the bandage." He helped Tom sit up and handed him the mallet. "Now, we must get to work. I will come to you tonight and check on your eye."
"Thank you, Dolon," Tom smiled at the elderly man, and turning toward the wall, he broke off a large chunk of rock.
After several hours the pain had diminished to a dull throbbing and Tom no longer felt dizzy when he stood to reach some of the ore that was higher up on the wall of the cavern.
# # #
"Voyager, this is Lieutenant Torres, come in please," B'Elanna repeated for the third time. She shook her head and pushed the hair away from her face. The heat in the small metal hut was stifling. "I'm not getting any response." She turned to Retrill. "They have to be up there; we were supposed to report in two days ago."
"The Goroth have a strong shield that makes it difficult for signals to get through."
"I'm an engineer; if you could let me try to recalibrate the signal, it may get through." B'Elanna wanted use Voyager's higher technology to find Tom and Chakotay. She was very worried after hearing from Takell that Tom had a head injury. He needs to be in sickbay, not some mine without medical care.
Retrill moved away from the console. "We would be most grateful if you could reach your ship," he looked toward the clouds. "We too have a ship out there. Some of the younger women were able to get away from the guards and take one of our scout ships in search of aid."
B'Elanna worked for over an hour and opened communications again. "Voyager, this is Lieutenant Torres, please respond."
There were several large busts of static and then a faint crackling sound. "This is Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyager. Please resend your message."
B'Elanna adjusted several of the settings. "Captain, this is B'Elanna. Can you hear me?"
There was only silence and B'Elanna sank down on the small bench in front of the console. Kahless, this has to work. . "Voyager, please respond."
But she was met with faint static again and then silence.
tbc…