Down ladders, through does, heaving breathing, grunting, shouts. Passed fallen conduits, fallen crewmembers, rubble. Doors being forced open, more shouting, a thump. Only sounds and feelings. Chakotay was being carried by his other fellow injured crewmen trying to keep him alive. Two open the doors of sick bay with their bare hands while the others keep him off the ground. The doors open and they run inside putting him of the center joined while B'Elanna messes with the controls of the station in front of the doctors office. The cons makes negative sounds as she tries to override sub routines and fire walls.
"I'm having difficulties activating the doctor. Don't just stand there give em a hypo spray or something. Let's get moving!" B'Elanna ordered. She compensated, over rid and did everythinG she could to make the doctor appear. One of the crewmen injected Chakotay with a hypo spray labeled to help breathing issues. It was the best they could do since no one there was a doctor.
The doors were forced open from the other entrance where the doctor performed experiments. It was two ensigns, one with severe burns the other with a wrapped arm. Behind them came Neelix, alone with no serious injuries but frantically looking about the room.
"Wheres the doctor?" He panicked to B'Elanna. "I need supplies. People are hurt. Really really hurt!"
"The doctors off line, trying to fix it now." She grunted.
Neelix started looking about the room grabbing hypo sprays, stimulators and monitors in hand and left within two minutes. B'Elanna ignored his insanity and continued her work. Crewman Xeni was just finishing up putting a regenerator on her leg and walked over and began treating B'Elannas head without saying a word. Neither stopped working.
"Got it!" She jumped activating the final sequence.
"Please state the nature of- dear God, what happened?" The doctor gasped.
"The ship experienced major damage from the asteroid field, over 50 are wounded 20 are dead let's go fix Chakotay." She said in one continuous sentence leading the doctor by the arm. The doctor scanned Chakotay. A perforated left lung, a serious injury but simple to fix if you were the doctor.
"It will take a half hour of treatment but after that he should be fine. In fact you can administer it. It's a simple procedure and by the look of my sick bay there are most likely more serious injuries to treat." He said handing the instrument to Xeni and grabbing a med kit. He put on his mobile emitter and began treating three other patients who had just walked in.
Xeni treated Chakotay on the bio bed. He was still unconscious from both the fall and the lack of oxygen. But his brain seemed wide awake.
Chakotay was in a forest. A forest of red green trees and jungle plants. He knew this place, his father had taken him there when he was a teenager to meet reminisce of his tribe. His father was extremely irritating on that trip to him, at least as a younger boy. Strange birds sang in the highest of tree tops but were loud enough that they seemed be be chirping in your ear. He heared the sounds of animals walking on the forest floor on decomposing leaves and could smell the nectar of the native red flowers. It was so real so much like he remembered it to be. He walked forward and could hear and feel the dry leaves crack under his Starfleet boots. He moved through the trees to a clearing of dirt and broken leaves surrounded by the rainforest trees with an extinguished campfire in the center. There was no smoke but there was a smell of it in the air. There was non in the sky, non from the ground, maybe it was just the coals of the campfire still burning.
The most intriguing and prominent smell was the smell of a fresh rain fall which it often did in that jungle. Chakotay used to love it when it rained there, it briefly dissipated the humidity in the air and gave off a cool relief from the heat if only for a short moment. It was his favorite smell, but in that jungle it was always mixed with the smell of sweet nectar from the red flowers. Everything just seemed so real. Was this a dream? Chakotay kept thinking in the very back of his mind. It's hard to focus on what was dream and reality when you are asleep. Even though Chakotay had been able to separate himself from before this wasn't one of those cases. He was unaware that what,he was seeing was just a simulation created by his brain. Flashes of memory from every direction, what,he was seeing started to lose focus and in a blink of an eye everything he had seen was gone. It flowed into new vision of his old academy quarters. He Started forgetting where he was moments before and now the main focus was the room. It was just as he remembered it and just as empty. He found his things all in the center of the room and nothing else. Everything he had lost during his academy days all in one pile in the middle of the room. Shirts, bracelet, reports and more reports, assignments, a uniform, a blanket. In another blink of an eye Talia was also standing in the pile. She was in her blue science cadet uniform with her hair up and a straight face.
"It's all your fault I'm here!" She suddenly claimed in an ominous way. He jumped back
"Commander hold still." He heard. Chakotay nearly jumped off the bio bed with every waking muscle. He shook himself awake and played back down of the table. He saw that crewman Xeni was for some reason treating his chest. He didn't know her very well, just that she worked in the weapons bay. He looked around the sick bay now overflowing with injuries and blood. The lights kept flickering and the computer system kept shorting.
"How long have I-" Chakotay started.
"About 30 or so minutes sir." She said holding him down. "Hold still please I'm almost done."
"Do you know what you're doing?"
"You're breathing aren't you?" She answered sarcastically as if somewhat angry that she was there.
"Something wrong crewman?" Chakotay asked loudly.
"My weapons bay is in ruins sir." She said not even looking up at him. He stopped his talking knowing anything be said would just provoke the bajoran. He knew Xeni for a while and knew that her temperament was almost as bad as B'Elannas. " I'm done. Let's get back to work shall we?"
Chakotay stood up staring at the crewmen as she walked away. What had happened to her since the last time they spoke that made her so hostile? Was it the void and the desolate space? But she was right. There wAs so much damage, the ship was half destroyed and the crew was hurt. He needed to detach himself from his own personal feelings whether they be physical or emotional. He was one in a crew of over a hundred. He would give his life for the crew just as they did for him and Kathryn every day. Which led him to another thought. Especially in these times, a relationship was just to far out of the quesrion. At least for the time being.