Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager or any of its characters

Chapter 7

Chakotay stood motionless for a few seconds before all his senses returned full force. He ran to Kathryn's side and pulled her into his lap. The side of her face was burnt and she was unconscious. He felt for a pulse only finding a weak one. Another Ensign had hold of Ensign Masson who seemed to be in worse condition then Kathryn.

"Bridge to Sickbay, Medical emergency" he said as he tapped his com badge. He looked at the view screen to see that Tuvok was carrying out Kathryn's last order and firing at the Tambor ships weak spot.

"Commander" came the Doctors voice "I'm sorry but you'll have to bring the injured down here"

Chakotay looked at the view screen and then at Kathryn, he knew his place was on the bridge right now but it was also at her side. Tuvok seemed to sense his dilemma.

"Commander the Tambor ship is sufficiently damaged for us to be able to escape"

"Tom get us out of here" he said as he lifted Kathryn into his arms.

"The Tambor are not perusing"

"Tuvok you have the bridge I'll be in sickbay"

"Chakotay with permission I'll come with you, see if I can help out the Doc" Tom said jumping up from his station and heading toward the turbo lift. Chakotay nodded his head and Tom took Ensign Massel from the other Ensign who then went back to his station.

Chakotay sat in sickbay next to Kathryn's biobed. When he had first entered sickbay there had been a dozen members of the crew with various injuries. Tom and the Doctor had managed to heal most of them and send them back to work or to rest. They had immediately gone to work on Ensign Massel and Kathryn and had with some difficulty managed to stabilised Kathryn. Ensign Massel had died from his injuries, he had been the first casualty of the Tambor attacks. Chakotay had helped out in sickbay as much as he could after Kathryn had been stabilised and there were now only four people whose injuries required them to remain in sickbay including Kathryn.

"Commander you have been sat here for over an hour" The Doctor said gently "You need to eat and rest and you are currently in command which means you'll be needed elsewhere. I'll contact you immediately if there is any change in the Captain's condition"

Chakotay nodded his head and stood up "Thank you Doctor"

Tuvok looked at the Commander as he walked back on to the bridge, he had not had chance to see how the Captain was doing since the Tambor attack.

"The Captain is stable Tuvok" Chakotay said "Okay did we learn anything knew in the last attack aside from the weakness in their shields"

"We know that one well aimed torpedo can damage their ships enough to make them stop attacking us"

"Well then we should be able to come out of the attacks with much less damage in future"

"Yes Sir"

"Our visitor is requesting we rendezvous with a group of his ships, they are only fifteen minutes away at warp six"

"That's fine"

"Thank you for returning our man"

"It's not a problem" Chakotay said to the man on the view screen

"You seem to have had quite a run in with our enemy, the Tambor"

"Yes we did"

"Well they should not be a problem for you from now on, you have passed the worst of it. If you like we will escort you safely out of their reach, we are going in your direction anyway and the Tambor are less likely to attack larger numbers"

"We would appreciate that"

The aliens face disappeared from the view screen and Chakotay felt himself relax. The news that they were now past the worst of the Tambor and having an escort to get them to safety was more than welcome. Its affect on the bridge crew was almost tangible and the change in atmosphere was more than obvious.

"Sickbay to Commander Chakotay" came the Doctors voice followed by what sounded like something being dropped "No will you please stay where you are, lay down"

"Doctor?" Chakotay asked concerned.

"I'm sorry Commander the Captain just woke up and as usual her aversion for the biobed is rearing its ugly head"

Chakotay smiled and looked at the faces of the rest of the bridge crew as they tried to keep themselves from cheering at the news that their Captain was okay.

"Thank you Doctor I'm on my way"