Disclaimer: Not mine, wish they were.
THINGS UNSEEN
Chapter Ten
There was a long moment of stunned silence from both sickbay and the bridge, before Chakotay remembered to close the comm channel.
"Do you not remember who you are?" he finally ventured.
"I know exactly who I am," she was all Janeway-confidence. "I don't know you."
"Can you tell us your name?" the doctor interjected almost gently.
"I am Kalene. You have taken me from my husband, the leader of this world. He will come after you." This was spoken with calm assurance.
"You're married to Valchau?" Chakotay felt vaguely nauseated.
"You have the audacity to speak his name? Off-worlder?" Her voice dripped with disdain.
"Kalene, I am human… just like you."
"Yes, and Valchau took me in anyway. He is better to me than I deserve."
"You were in a cell!" Chakotay felt himself getting frustrated.
"I was merely awaiting the time when Valchau sent for me again."
"A harem?" Chakotay said almost to himself.
"How many wives does Valchau have?"
"He has the entire planet to choose from, and he selected we forty-three. We are fortunate."
"Doesn't that bother you… Valchau being with other women?" Chakotay spoke casually. The EMH glanced at him, wondering what he was up to. He began to surreptitiously scan the captain.
"Valchau is too much of a man to be satisfied by just one woman. I am blessed to be one whom he desires." Her statements were beginning to have the sound of those learned by rote.
The doctor had finished the scans, and beckoned Chakotay to one side.
"Just a moment, Kalene," he said, and retreated to a corner of sickbay with the EMH.
"What have you found?"
"Her brain has reprogrammed itself." The doctor continued quickly at Chakotay's startled take. "It would appear that she has been tortured. There is evidence of healed broken bones and some organ trauma as well. She evidently came to believe that accepting whatever they told her was easier. She has chosen to forget who she was, and believe what Valchau has said."
"Can you reverse it?"
"If it were something physiological, there might be a chance. But this is almost all of her own doing. She will have to undo it herself. She will have to learn to trust us and remember then truth on her own."
Chakotay sighed heavily, and opened a link to the bridge.
"Tuvok, what is our speed?"
"Warp factor two," came the reply.
"Increase to warp 6, shortest possible route through Torvalan space. We may have company."
"Understood, Captain."
Chakotay turned back to the doctor. "Can she leave sickbay?"
The EMH shrugged. "Physically, she is fine. I don't think I'd go too far, though. This kind of emotional breakdown can be followed by post-traumatic stress symptoms. She probably has nightmares. I – I am at a loss, Captain." The doctor faltered for a moment.
"I know the two of you shared a … special relationship. Showing her that relationship, letting her feel secure and safe, reminding her of what was good in her other life… this is what she needs to return to us."
Chakotay nodded firmly. He had never respected the EMH as much as he did at this moment.
"Can I – take her with me?" He asked at length, after a long moment of mulling in silence. The EMH nodded once, perfunctorily.
"Kalene?" Chakotay called out, approaching her once again. She turned, looking at him imperiously. "If you'll come with me, I'll show you where you will be staying."
As he led her into unfamiliar corridors, some of her haughty attitude began to diminish. Her demeanor became shadowed, almost fearful. When they arrived in her quarters, which were unchanged since she had left them, he showed her the washroom, the replicator, and lighting and temperature controls. As she looked around, he subtly disconnected the off-ship communications and access to some of the more sensitive areas of the computer core.
"I'll leave you now," Chakotay finally said. "If you have any questions or need anything, just call me." He pressed her communicator into her hand.
"What if I use this to call Valchau?" She asked in a challenging tone.
"You can't. I've disabled it for off-ship communications." She blinked at him, annoyed, but impressed.
He had nearly reached the door, when she threw him off-balance with a hesitant question.
"Will – will you be sending for me tonight, sir?" The abrupt change caught Chakotay off-guard, and he stopped suddenly, stunned. In three long strides, he had crossed the room, and took both of her hands in his. She tensed visibly.
He looked her straight in the face, and enunciated each syllable clearly.
"What Valchau did to you and all of those other women is wrong. I would never force anyone to be with me if they did not wish it. You are safe here. No one is going to harm you, and no one is going to treat you like an object."
She looked at him for a moment that seemed to stretch out for an eon, and appeared to be measuring him up. Evidently, he passed some sort of muster, for she stepped away from him and nodded, without meeting his gaze.
Once outside her quarters, Chakotay summoned two security officers.
"Stand guard. If she comes out, let her go where she wants, but stay with her. Under no circumstances is she to leave the ship." The officers took up their positions on either side of Janeway's door.
Chakotay entered his quarters a second later. As soon as the doors slid shut behind him, he heaved a great shuddering breath.
Great and heart-wrenching emotion washed over him like a tidal wave. He had been unable to process them until now.
Great spirits, she's alive. She's here, back on Voyager where she belongs. I thought I'd never see her again… I thought… his countenance darkened with anger as his inner conversation drifted to Valchau. What did that bastard do to her? Unwelcome images of rape and torture drifted through his mind, and he tried to push them away. He's broken her. And somehow, the thought of someone as stalwart and eternally hopeful as Captain Kathryn Janeway broken, hurt more than everything else.
He noticed that he'd been pacing the living area at a frenetic pace, and made himself stop. He went to the replicator, and ordered a herbal tea, hoping that it might help him calm down.
His exhuasted body and mind had other ideas. He sat on the sofa, and slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep, the tea forgotten and growing cold on the table.
Muffled screaming woke him some minutes…hours?… later. He jumped to his feet, causing the mug to clatter across the floor, spilling its contents.
When he careened into Kathryn's quarters, the security officers were already in her living area. He stepped ahead of them, and waved them back to their posts, with a nod of thanks.
Her eyes were still closed, but she was mumbling something, her legs moving uneasily under twisted sheets. Her bed was completely disheveled, as if she had been thrashing around on it, and Chakotay concluded that she probably had.
"Kathryn! Kathryn, wake up! You're having a nightmare," Chakotay knelt by the side of the bed, and shook her gently by the shoulders.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and she clutched instinctively at Chakotay's forearms, the fear of the dream still washing over her. Her haughty expression slammed back into position, once she realized who she was holding onto, and who was touching her.
"Release me at once!"
Chakotay tamped down a flare of annoyance, thinking that, at this point, he needed to keep her placated.
"My apologies, Kalene. You were having a bad dream. I merely sought to awaken you from it." He said formally.
The anger flashing in her eyes ebbed somewhat, and she regarded him curiously for a moment.
"You remind me of someone," she said at length.
"I remind you of me," Chakotay replied.
"That's not possible." Her voice was flat, refusing to accept anything he told her.
"Look, yo--" He stopped abruptly, unsure how to proceed. He'd been given an unexpected opening, and did not wish to ruin the opportunity by frightening her or angering her.
Inspiration suddenly struck him. That just might work, he thought exultantly.
"Come on," he held out his hand to help her from the bed.
"Excuse me?" She arched an eyebrow in such a Janeway-esque manner that Chakotay felt his heart clench within his chest.
"Come with me," he repeated. "I need to show you something."
TBCAN: Sorry this update has been so long in coming. The next chapter or two should wrap everything up.