~ The Doctor ~

            "Please state the reason of why I've been deactivated for so long?" The Doctor asked, irked by the neglect. Looking around, he saw that he was in a clearing surrounded by several specie of vegetation, with a sun beating down on his photons at approximately 37º C. Mr. Kim, garbed in green, was about a meter in front, surveying him.

            "Sorry that you've been off for the past month…"

            "Actually, Mr. Kim, it's been one month, three days, thirteen hours, three minutes, and forty-two seconds! While all of you have been enjoying your shore leave, I've been left in holographic limbo!" Harry winced, and the Doctor hoped the bitterness was showing on his face. With a sigh, Harry addressed him again.

            "Well, Doc, what's the last thing you remember?" The Doctor furrowed his brow as he contacted his memory banks. He had been in sickbay, of course, performing surgery during the Plak'han assault. Ayala had been in engineering and an explosion had thrown him backwards onto another console, which had promptly exploded. Ayala's spinal cord had shattered in two places and plasma had severely burnt his already bleeding back. Torres beamed him directly to sickbay, where the Doctor started surgery. Yes, it had been the…the…that procedure! The Doctor went to access his medical files, but couldn't find them! In frustration, he turned to the ensign.

            "I was performing surgery on Ayala, but I can't remember the name of the procedure. Where are my medical files?" Harry shrank at the Doctor's voice crescendo.

            "Doc, to make a long and depressing story short, the Plak'han took us down. Voyager isn't in great shape. We lost 52 good people. So, with all due respect, you can see why you weren't on our priority list. Your matrix had been damaged, so Tom was medic. He did fine."

            And for once, the Doctor was speechless. He wanted to ask how Ayala was doing, because if he hadn't finished surgery…the Doctor would have shivered, if he could. Harry seemed to read the Doctor's face well enough.

            "Ayala's alive. Not in perfect condition, but alive. His spine is bent at an odd angle, so he limps. Anyway, you have your memory banks and your basic medical knowledge. Anything else you need to know, read these." Mr. Kim produced a stack of PADDs and dumped them in the Doctor's arms. "I need to go back to fixing some relays. The Captain wanted to see you. She's over there." The ensign motioned toward a structure behind them as he headed off.

            With the mountain of PADDs teetering in his hands, the Doctor lumbered over towards the small hut Harry had pointed at. Inside, the Captain, dressed in pale blue, was standing at the head of a wooden table, talking to Chakotay and Tuvok. Upon noticing him, she circled the table, put a hand on his shoulder, and helped him set the voluminous PADDs down.

            "How are you, Doctor?"

            "Fine, although I'm still sketchy on the details of why we're here." Looking at his Captain, he noticed that she had lost weight. An unhealthy amount at that. The hand on his shoulder was nothing but skin and bone. Looking up with a forced smile, he observed the Captain's gaunt face flush and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Chakotay coughed, rather indiscreetly, and the Captain seemed to snap out of whatever trance she had been in.

            "Well, Doctor, Mr. Paris has already given the crew the once over, but I would like for you to go back through and do a little bit more thorough check-up. We went to make sure nothing is wreaking havoc on our little paradise." The bitterness wasn't hidden from her voice. Or the sarcasm.

            "Gladly, Captain. I suppose I should start with you…"

            "No, no…go ahead and start at the bottom, working your way up." Drawing a breath, she looked around. "Well, gentlemen, I must be going." And with that, she just left.

            The Doctor watched as the Captain strode out the door and then turned to the two remaining officers. Chakotay stepped forward.

            "Sorry about that Doc. She's been more than stressed out about all of this. She has a lot on her mind, and she doesn't know how to deal with it all…"

            "Indeed, I haven't seen her this distressed in quite some time. However, she is a capable leader. I'm sure she only needs time to adjust to the new situation." Tuvok said.

            The Doctor just looked on, making sure to give her a psychological evaluation when he checked on her. The Captain had overcome many tremendous obstacles, but what if this one was too big…?