Tom Paris and five ensigns labored through their work, restlessly, exhausting any and all resources to free the trapped engineers.
"How many are in there, Sir?" One of the ensigns asked while wiping sweat from his brow.
"Forty, maybe. I don't really know. You can't tell with all the systems shut down. The computer can't even tell if they're all..." He let the thought hang in the air.
"...Dead...Sir?"
Pain flashed across Tom's face and he twisted the hydrospanner he held.
"I'm sorry, Sir, it didn't occur...I didn't think...What I mean is..."
"No. It's alright." He slammed the hydrospanner into place and pulled down hard. The six of them slipped their fingers in the tiny opening between the doors and pulled...
It didn't budge.
Tom gritted his teeth to keep from blaming the young ensigns that assisted him. "We have to get this last door opened!" He swallowed hard.
"Sir, we can't. It's too hot and the air's almost gone!" Three whined in unison. Tom noticed that they were all less than 25, at least.
"I don't care!" Tom screamed through the scratchy feeling in his throat, throwing his body at the door yelling for their help.
As his skin made contact with the door, for the seventh time, the systems came on for a second, causing the doors to open. It sent Tom stumbling into Engineering. To Tom's utter amazement, the five ensigns managed to grab the door and hold it open before the systems shutting back down could close it on them.
"Paris to Chakotay."
"Go ahead, Tom." Chakotay sounded as if he had a plastic bag tied over his head, suffocating him.
"Commander, we made it into Engineering. It's dark and very cold in here, but they seem to have much more oxygen than we do."
"Keep me posted. Bridge out."
Tom restrained from calling out B'Elanna's name, realizing that he hadn't cared what happened to the others, he had just wanted his wife back, safe and unharmed. "You two stay her and hold the door. I want the other three of you to help me in here."
Tom thought of something his father had told him just after they had returned from the Delta Quadrant. "Tom, if something happens to your ship and people are dying, you have to help them, too, not just your wife. They have just as much of a right to live as she does. There was once a great man who said, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.'" Keeping those words in his mind, he and one of the ensigns, Naomi Wildman, crawled to a large shard of a fallen bulkhead. "Help me lift it!" He ordered her.
"Yes, Sir." Naomi was only nine years old in but seemed to be at least seventeen due to her mixed heritage. Her human mother, a xenobiologist, Samantha Wildman, had joined the Voyager crew unaware that she was pregnant. She soon gave birth to her first child. Samantha had complications during the labor, causing the baby to die. But an accidental duplicate of the ship had been created, that captain sent the duplicate Harry Kim over to the other ship with the duplicate baby because Harry had also died. The ship was destroyed, and life continued.
Naomi's father, a Ktarian named Greskrendtregk, had stayed on Deep Space Nine, expecting his wife to return...She didn't. The three had gotten back together after Voyager's return to their overjoyed father and husband. Kathryn had allowed him to come aboard Voyager and stay with them.
"Help us." Came an almost inaudible voice from underneath a bulkhead farther away.
"There's someone alive over there!" Naomi pointed and the two crawled over and lifted the oppressive chunk of metal.
"Lieutenant!" The relieved voice of Lieutenant Vorik betrayed excitement despite the fact that he was a Vulcan.
The ensign who had called out was a Brunali named Icheb, a former Borg Drone that now had a crush on Naomi, and she new it.
"Vorik! Where's B'Elanna?" Tom held the passive Lieutenant by the collar of his uniform.
"She was on the upper level, Sir."
Tom released Vorik and raced through the debris toward the ladder that would take him to where Vorik had indicated, leaving Naomi to get help for the two that were previously under the bulkhead. He climbed the ladder and tentatively stepped onto the unstable floor. He then crept carefully across to the other side, mentally noting the plasma that gushed out from the warp core. "Paris to Chakotay."
"Chakotay here." Came the tired response.
"I think we have a core breach in progress."
"Shut the warp core down, Paris!"
"Aye, Sir! Paris out." Tom abandoned his current efforts to locate his wife and returned to the main level.
"Vorik! I need you to help me shut the core down before it breaches!"
"Yes, Sir." Vorik limped over to a control console with the help of Naomi and Icheb, who wasn't too bad off. "Cutting power to the plasma conduits." He reported.
Tom raced around Engineering doing the job of a dozen men. He kept the thoughts of his family in his mind. If he didn't fix this, he and his wife would die and their would be no one to raise Miral.
"Warp core breach imminent. Evacuate Engineering." Reported the computer. "Warp core breach in 5 minutes, 35 seconds."
"Race ya'!" Screamed Sam, tearing off before she could decline.
"You're acting childish!" Kathryn hopelessly hollered after him. She turned to Phoebe who was staring at the small black dot that made up Samuel and his horse.
"You know," Phoebe looked over at Kathryn. "That looks like too much fun."With that she leaned forward, willing her horse to go faster. Needless to say...it did.
Kathryn belatedly realized that Pamela was on the back of that horse. "Come on Indiana, time to save a maiden in distress." She whispered to the chestnut colored horse. Leaning forward, she pressed her heels against the old mare's flanks, and they took off in pursuit of her cousins and sister.
She found the three "children" and their horses just outside of the cornfield. As Kathryn dismounted, Pamela came running up to her crying. She picked her up, asking what was wrong.
"He went too fast." She pointed an accusing finger at him, who merely shrugged innocently.
"Want to ride with me?"
She nodded fervently in agreement.
After they had eaten their corn and swam awhile, Phoebe and Kathryn had sat under a large oak tree and talked. By anyone's standards, the two were widely regarded as the closest friends that sisters could be. Pamela had fallen asleep with a piece of corn partly in her mouth, and Sam was no where in sight, which, at the moment, was a good thing.
"Do you want to head back?" Phoebe asked tiredly.
"Sure. Why don't you go find Sam." Kathryn gently woke Pamela up and they all headed home.
Upon their return, they were rushed up the back stairs between two finicky mothers.
"You said you'd be back, Samuel Joshua McNeill!" Ranted Gretchen as her sister, Tara, fussed over the girls hair.
"Sorry, Aunt Gretchen." Sam whined. "It wasn't my fault! The girls took too long!"
"What do you mean 'the girls took too long?'" Phoebe hollered. "We couldn't find you!"
"Exactly." Countered Sam. "You took too long to find me."
"Alright now, stop fighting, our guests are downstairs waiting." Quieted Tara.
Kathryn pulled away from her aunt, taking the brush with her. She brushed her hair and pulled the sides back in a long ponytail, leaving the rest down.
"Well, I suppose that'll have to do." Said Tara.
The group was left in the bathroom with instructions to follow precisely ten minutes later.
Kathryn looked at Phoebe and Sam and the three broke into tears of quiet laughter.
Twenty-eight minutes after their mother's went down, the four went down to greet their guests, one of which was Kathryn's captain, Owen Paris. Captain Paris just happened to be her piolet's father, currently an Admiral who had played a major part in getting Voyager home. He had also been instrumental in influencing Starfleet command to allow the Maquis part of Kathryn's crew to become Starfleet officers.
"Doctor, report!" Chakotay was pacing the command level of the Bridge. He watched helplessly as Kathryn's paling body lay on the debris filled ground while the Doctor made a futile attempt at the backward method of CPR. To Chakotay, it was obvious that Kathryn's life depended solely on her getting proper medical attention, which wasn't going to happen.
"I'm losing her, Commander, want more do you want?" With that, he took a deep breath and pressed his mouth against her lifelessly cold lips, breathing for her. After that, he pressed his hands together, and, locating the proper place to press, he simulated a heart beat by applying pressure systematically. He repeated the process several times before leaning back on his heels and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Commander, there's nothing else I can do. She's gone."
Chakotay slammed his fist into the OPS control panel. "No." He muttered under his breath. After all they'd been through, everything they shared, she was like a sister to him. To lose her like this was torture. "Harry, Do we have communicational...abilities?"
"Yes, Sir." Harry mumbled. Kathryn had always been there for him when he wasn't sure of himself or if he needed a self-confidence boost. A lot like a mother would act. She was his captain. Tears welled up in his eyes, and the last thing he wanted was for it to stop, so he let the tears slowly trickle down his face, not bothering to wipe them off.
"Open a channel to the Maquis ship." Chakotay said gruffly. He was surprised to see Ro Laren, an old student of his, lounging in the command chair, legs hanging over the arm of it.
She was just as surprised as he and she leapt to her feet. "Chakotay?" She declared rather loudly.
"You just killed my captain and countless others!" He had lost control of his emotions, his face was beet red and tears were trying to take over. "Get out of here before Starfleet officers aren't the only ones who will have lost their lives during this battle!" He was standing as close as he could get to the screen, his hands were balled up into tight fists and firmly placed on his hips. His mouth was set in a grim line, feet spread apart.
"I'm not leaving, Chakotay. I'm defending my home."
He ignored the last part of her statement, saying: "You'll pay." He looked over at the shaken ensign. "Cut the link, Ensign, transfer that power to Engineering's life support systems."
Harry nodded, surrendering to the order by punching several buttons with his fists.
Seven ducked out from underneath a panel that had fallen from the wall. Tt now blocked the only way into the tactical bay where she had been assisting Tuvok. She leaned over more debris and tapped Chakotay on the shoulder with her datapad. He turned to face her and she handed it to him. "Thorough damage report." She mumbled.
"How's Tuvok?" He asked in a muffled voice.
She shook her head sympathetically. "Not good, Chakotay...not good."
"Tuvok?"
"Yes, Commander?" The subtle voice answered.
"I need weapons and shields. Try to get them working efficiently."
"Aye, Sir."
The emergency lights went off abruptly, leaving them in complete darkness.
