AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
111
Some of the things that made Chakotay love Kathryn the most were also the things that infuriated him about her.
Immediately upon exiting the portal that released them from the holodeck, it had been clear that things were not as they should be on the ship. The flashing lights, the sound of a claxon announcing an ongoing red alert, and the scrambling of bodies made it clear that, possibly, nothing had been operating smoothly since Chakotay and Kathryn had transported into the holodeck—however long ago that had been.
Chakotay wanted them to go to sickbay first—or, at least, that's where he wanted Kathryn to go—but it was clear that she believed herself to be out of danger simply because she was no longer trapped in what had been the closest thing to the Millennium Plague that, hopefully, they would ever experience.
She practically left Chakotay and, when he caught up to her, she made it clear that she was headed to the bridge.
He wanted to fight with her. More than that, he wanted to simply pick her up and, ignoring her protests, carry her to sickbay.
Kathryn Janeway was driven by a strong sense of duty. Chakotay was discovering, more and more, that his sense of duty was downright dull in comparison—especially when it came to his wife and child.
Their people didn't need to see them fight, especially with the chaos that was already surrounding them and the insecurity that brought to everyone who was already unnerved by being in a quadrant of space with which they weren't truly familiar. They didn't need to see that they weren't unified in the face of whatever it was that was threatening their ship at this moment.
But Chakotay was feeling that growing tension that builds in the body when one is gearing up for a fight that is life or death. In many ways, he thought, this one might be before it was done.
"We have to go to sickbay, Kathryn," he insisted, following her onto the turbolift. She announced that they were going to the bridge—as much an answer to Chakotay as to give an order to the turbolift.
Chakotay reached for the combadge on his chest. He touched it.
"Chakotay to sickbay," Chakotay said. There was the same noise he'd heard every time they'd tried to access controls on the holodeck. For a moment, he felt a sick sensation that, somehow, they were still there and still without access to the outside world. "Computer—contact sickbay."
"Ship-wide communications are malfunctioning," the computer announced.
Chakotay frowned.
"Computer—malfunctioning in what way?"
"Communication relays are unreliable due to atmospheric disturbance."
Chakotay looked at Kathryn. She was massaging her back with one hand and her stomach with the other. No matter how much she wanted to hide it, the sweat streaming out of her couldn't be concealed. If she could see herself, she might be horrified to suggest going to the bridge in her current condition. Her uniform wasn't fitting well and, in a desperate need to breathe on the holodeck, she'd shed her jacket somewhere—left behind—and unfastened the zipper on her uniform pants. The pain she was clearly feeling now, and the panic she felt for the ship and crew, kept her from realizing how incredibly disheveled she really was at the moment.
"Computer—are all communications down?" Kathryn asked.
"Ship-wide communications are malfunctioning," the computer responded.
"If communications are malfunctioning," Kathryn said, "that might mean other systems are malfunctioning."
Before she had a chance to ask further questions of the computer, and before Chakotay had much of an opportunity to argue with her further about the trip to sickbay that he was sure she needed, they turbolift opened.
The bridge was as chaotic as the rest of the ship. It appeared that they had a double shift working, so that each station was manned by two people doing their best to get and keep things under control.
"Captain on the bridge," was announced quickly and loudly by someone. Kathryn's command of "at ease" came almost at the tail end of the announcement, and she essentially panted out the words.
"Captain—do you require medical treatment?" Tuvok asked immediately.
Chakotay was relieved that it wasn't just him who had noticed. Kathryn reached for the console to lean on and steady herself.
"Tuvok—what is happening? I want a full report."
"The disturbance is organic," Tuvok said. "It appears to be caused by a life form or, rather, by a group of lifeforms that are all travelling in the same direction."
"We're under attack?" Kathryn asked.
"Negative, Captain," Tuvok said. "The lifeforms have shown no sign of aggression. Rather, it appears that they are simply travelling from one location to another, and Voyager has ended up in the middle of their migration."
"Have you tried communicating with them?" Chakotay asked.
"They are not responding," Tuvok said. "It is likely that they are lower-level lifeforms with limited intelligence. They are possibly unable to communicate in a way that we can understand."
"We're not sure they're even aware of our presence, Captain," Harry interrupted from his console.
"What about communications?" Kathryn asked.
"Communications have been malfunctioning steadily," Tuvok said. "They are unreliable. Power, too, has been fluctuating."
"The lifeforms emit a type of electro-magnetic pulse," Harry said. "We don't know if it's part of how they communicate with each other, or if it's something that they just put out, Captain, as they move around. Whatever it is, it's playing havoc with our systems. Engineering has been working overtime, but most of their energy is going into keeping the warp core stabilized."
"We are focusing on keeping certain functions operational," Tuvok offered. "Namely, we are focused on life-support, manual navigation, and sickbay, since there have been a number of minor casualties reported."
"And we're keeping the warp core stabilized, of course," Harry offered. "Above everything else."
"That goes without saying," Tuvok said.
"What else can we do?" Kathryn asked.
"With all due respect, Captain," Tom Paris offered from his station, where it was clear that he'd just arrived, slightly out of breath. He appeared to be navigating the ship manually, picking up for the crew member that was scurrying out of his way, even as he spoke. "It looks like we're in a situation where we just have to ride it out. Literally and figuratively. We're caught up in what appears to be a school of these things, and we're stuck riding things out until we can break through on the other side."
"Sickbay to bridge."
The sound of the EMH's voice came over the console where Tuvok was working.
"Go ahead, Doctor," Tuvok said.
"I thought communications were down…" Kathryn said.
"We've rerouted some of them through the consoles to maintain some connection ship-wide," Harry said.
"Has anyone seen the captain?" The doctor asked.
"She is here, Doctor," Tuvok responded.
"I'm here, Doctor," Kathryn said, realizing that she could be heard while the line was open. "Is there some problem?"
"You are the problem, Captain," the doctor said. Chakotay almost laughed at the sound of irritation in the hologram's voice. He hadn't known photonic beings could get annoyed, but their doctor was clearly irritated. "Captain—you must report to sickbay immediately. That's an order."
Kathryn's eyes went a little wide. At first, Chakotay thought it was because she was surprised by the doctor giving her an order, but then he saw the way that her hand went white as she gripped the console—her other hand grasping at her stomach. Immediately, his arms went out, and he caught her and pulled her to him, supporting her entirely. If her knees had dropped under her, he was prepared to keep her from hitting the ground.
Meanwhile, the doctor was unaware of what was taking place on the bridge, and he was continuing to speak. Chakotay heard parts of his speech as his tired, worried brain tried to process what was happening and what he needed to do about it.
"The TAP from the holodeck has affected the development of your fetus. Without treatment, the effects of the TAP will continue to affect fetal growth at a highly advanced rate. Currently, the growth of your fetus will advance beyond the physical capabilities of your body without treatment. This can lead to damage to your health and the health of the fetus. If you delay too long in arriving, it's possible that your body will try to deliver the fetus, and the development of the organs will not have reached a sufficient point to sustain life outside the womb. You must report to sickbay immediately, Captain. As Chief Medical Officer, I relieve you of duty."
Chakotay didn't think that Kathryn heard the last part of the doctor's words. He barely did. Just as soon as the EMH had started speaking, a wave of something—likely pain—had hit Kathryn in a way for which her body was clearly unprepared. She'd gone ghostly pale and had sunk into Chakotay's arms. It had taken him a delayed moment to realize that she'd lost consciousness, and he heaved her up into his arms and started toward the turbolift.
"You have the bridge, Tuvok!" He'd yelled back, passing off the command that had been passed to him as soon as the doctor had given the order.
111
Daryl didn't fight Carol about staying in sickbay—not once Kes had told him that it was fine and, really, might even be for the best. Keeping her close by for a few moments meant that they could easily convince her to wear a system of monitors which would transfer information about her condition's developments and, maybe, help them to create an even more effective plan for treating both women.
Carol had gladly let Kes attach the monitors to her body in exchange for the hope that they could make things better for her and the baby.
Beyond that, Carol was worried about Kathryn.
Daryl was worried about her, too, honestly, but he felt enough concern, in general, that he wasn't actually sure how to process it all or how he might spread it around to all the areas that seemed to need attention. He was worried about the ship. They had quieted the claxons in sickbay, but they were ringing throughout the ship and, no matter how quiet it might be in this space, Daryl was always slightly aware of them—like feeling impending doom lurking just beyond the sliding doors.
Daryl was worried about B'Elanna and Tom. The doctor had put through a call that they should be sent to sickbay as soon as possible, but it was clear that his main concern was Kathryn.
Daryl stayed beyond the curtain where they were treating the captain. With Chakotay back there, Carol offering what soothing she could to her friend, and the doctor and Kes both working to handle the crisis before it got beyond all control, there was relatively little privacy left for Kathryn. Of course, she wasn't really in any current condition to care.
For what seemed like a long time, Daryl listened to the chaos around him. He pressed himself against the wall in sickbay and attempted to stay out of everyone's way. He worried about things beyond his control.
And, then, things seemed to simply calm down—at least within the walls of sickbay.
Tom and B'Elanna arrived and, immediately, Kes took their vitals and dosed them with the medication that would slow down the effects of the TAP on their bodies.
The emergency was, if not over, controlled for the moment, and the doctor emerged from the curtained area and went to pay some attention to his newly arrived patients.
For the first time since Chakotay had come in, carrying Kathryn and displaying the absolute desperateness that Daryl had felt bringing Carol into sickbay, Daryl approached the others. He hovered just outside the curtain and looked in where it hadn't been shut all the way. With Carol on one side, holding her hand, and Chakotay on the other, Kathryn looked about as cared for as she could possibly be.
Daryl cleared his throat. Carol looked at him and smiled.
Her smile was absolutely beautiful, and it made Daryl's pulse kick up to a level where he thought he might very well have to tell Kes that there was another medical emergency. It was the first sincere smile he'd seen from her in what felt like forever.
Kes had been somewhat steadily giving her small doses of this and that through hyposprays—carefully watching the information that the monitors she was wearing relayed back to her—and it appeared that it was doing what it should. There was color in Carol's face again. The sheen of sweat she'd been wearing for what seemed like days was gone. Her face didn't look creased with pain. She looked tired—absolutely exhausted, even—but she looked healthy and relaxed.
Daryl, suddenly, felt like they could handle whatever might be going on—claxons be damned, they'd handle whatever emergency was waiting on them.
Carol held a hand out toward him—the one not holding Kathryn's hand.
"Come on," she said. "She's OK."
Daryl swallowed back his amusement. She read his concern as concern for Kathryn. He was worried about her, of course, but that hadn't been his only concern. Still, it seemed to make Carol feel good that he was worried about their friend and captain, so he didn't correct her. He took her hand, squeezed it, and stepped next to her.
Kathryn was benefitting from the information that Carol's monitors fed them about what was taking place inside their bodies. She already looked better than Carol had such a short time after their initial attempts to treat her.
"You scared us," Daryl said.
"All in a day at Starfleet," Kathryn teased.
Chakotay, uncaring about their presence, and with good cause, lifted Kathryn's hand and kissed her fingers. Daryl knew what he must be feeling. He probably felt like he needed more than just the TAP medication after everything.
"Everything gonna be OK?" Daryl asked, half-directing the question to Kathryn and half to Chakotay.
"It would appear we have to—relax enough to allow a baby room to turn for an uncomplicated delivery," Chakotay said. "Systems are damaged, and there's no telling how long it will take B'Elanna to repair everything. And that's only once we're clear of this—this school of alien beings. The doctor wouldn't risk the possible complications of a fetal transportation anytime soon, so that means that—if delivery were to happen now—in addition to complications brought on by the possibility of fetal development not being where we want it to be, we're facing the risks of traditional caesarian section."
Kathryn gave him a reassuring smile.
"Women have survived the procedure for ages, Chakotay, and with far less technology than we have available."
"At any rate," Chakotay said, but he didn't finish it. He let the statement hang.
"I know what he's saying," Daryl said. "Doc said we got—what? Two weeks to a month. You lookin' at delivery quicker'n that?"
"No," Chakotay said. "Not—not without further complication or missed medication." There was undeniable warning in his tone. Kathryn actually laughed quietly in response.
"I have to wear this monitor," she said to Chakotay. "It'll let me know what I need."
"And you won't ignore it," Chakotay said.
"Ain't nobody ignoring shit," Daryl offered. "Carol's usually on flexible job rotation anyway, she can just keep after Kathryn so they both stay on track."
Chakotay looked absolutely pleased with that idea.
"Consider it an order," he said.
From the look on Carol's face, though, Daryl didn't figure she'd really needed it to be an order—she'd already made up her mind.
