Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager or anything related to it is not mine.
A.N. I'm sorry! It's been so long since I've written anything for this! Work and life in general have been hectic. But today I got my copy of the new Voyager novel, The Eternal Tide, and felt compelled to write some C7 since it was so very, very lacking in that. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter Three
Chakotay and the Doctor had never exactly been best buddies. Sure, Chakotay respected the Emergency Medical Hologram and was willing to defend his rights as a sentient being, should the need ever arise, but, as shipmates, they just didn't have that much in common and so their paths never crossed unless it had something to do with business.
The Doctor was, first and foremost, a doctor and while he encouraged physical activity amongst the crew, Chakotay's sport of choice was boxing, which the Doctor detested. What he called 'barbaric', Chakotay called a test of agility and endurance. The two antagonised each other as a matter of principal on the subject- the Doctor forever attempting to convince Chakotay to try a safer sport and Chakotay trying to sway the Doctor towards thinking of boxing like an art form. Needless to say, the length of the Doctor's lectures increased exponentially to the severity of Chakotay's injuries.
But Chakotay expected that the Doctor had witnessed enough barbarism over the past several days. Chakotay wouldn't have to worry about a lecture this morning.
Sickbay was mercifully empty when he arrived. It was quiet too- for a moment Chakotay thought the Doctor might be offline. But then he spotted him through the office window, eyes glazed over as he stared at, what Chakotay assumed were reports. Chakotay approached the door and leaned so that his head poked through into the office, inwardly disturbed by the silence. Usually, when Sickbay was empty, the caterwauling of some operatic classic or another emanated from the room, convincing those with only minor illnesses or injuries to endure the mild discomfort rather than subject themselves to the Doctor's endless singing.
"Doctor," Chakotay made the hologram aware of his presence, sliding the rest of his body through the door. "Do you have a moment?"
The Doctor made to rise off his seat but Chakotay waved him back down, approaching the chair opposite him at the desk. "Of course, Commander. You look remarkably healthy for a man visiting Sickbay," his eyes were dark and serious, "so should I assume that this visit is regarding my report?"
"That's right."
The Doctor seemed to shrink into himself. He wasn't a particularly large hologram but his personality made him seem larger than life- much like the Captain. To see him so obviously disturbed was... disturbing.
"So what is my punishment to be? The removal of my mobile emitter? Confinement to Sickbay? Or will you decompile my program and have done with me altogether?"
He didn't even sound bitter, Chakotay realised with a start. He just sounded resigned to his fate.
"The Captain get's the final say on punishments, as you know, Doctor. I will obviously give her my recommendation," he spoke slowly, looking the Doctor square in the eye, "which is that no punishment is necessary. Should she disagree I will resign as First Officer in protest." The Doctor's eyes widened until they were ready to fall out of their photonic sockets. "I have read your report and Seven's many times since yesterday and one thing is perfectly clear to me. This is not your fault."
The Doctor, for once, was speechless. Chakotay continued before he could collect himself and protest.
"The same way I cannot blame Seven for what she was forced to do as part of the Borg Collective, I cannot blame you for this. I think you'll be relieved to know that Seven's report echoes my thoughts. I'm not here to hand you your sentence. I'm here to ask how you're holding up."
The Doctor's head bowed and two words, quiet, but filled with emotion, emerged. "Thank you."
Absolution granted, the Doctor continued to talk about what haunted him, and Chakotay was more than willing to listen to the words, which were at first halting but finally began to flow. They weren't interrupted, which Chakotay was grateful for, and two hours later when the conversation finally came to its natural close, Chakotay was far better informed about the situation than he was earlier that day. He was also sickened by it.
As the Doctor walked him to the exit of Sickbay, Chakotay turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder, not saying anything. The gesture was more than enough. As he left, heading back to the Bridge, he hoped that the bridge of respect that had been built between the two men had now been reinforced.
As Chakotay monitored repairs from the Bridge, he contemplated his next problem- Seven of Nine. Even the thought of confronting her about this latest trauma made him groan. Although she had been part of Voyager's crew for two years now, they had never really had a proper conversation. Not that he had ever tried to have a real conversation with Seven, he thought, knowing that he had been in remiss.
The truth was he had no idea how to approach her about this. Would she want to talk to him about what had happened on board the Equinox? Would she want to talk to anyone about it? From what the Doctor had said, it was obvious that it had affected her. Or was that just the Doctor's guilt and paranoia talking?
And where should he approach her? Not the Cargo Bay- that was Seven's space. He didn't want her to feel like he was invading. Not Engineering- too many people to have a real conversation. Not the Mess Hall either- Seven wasn't exactly the most comfortable in social settings. He could invite her to his quarters, but that would be out of her comfort zone.
Astrometrics it was then. He hoped that her loan to Engineering would be up sooner rather than later. He wanted to speak to her before she had the chance to bury her feelings on the situation without actually dealing with them, as she was so wont to do.
Quietly, so that no one else on the Bridge's skeleton crew could hear him, he ordered an alert on his combadge that would inform him the next time Seven of Nine entered Astrometrics.
Seven was weary. She wasn't physically exhausted- she had far more stamina than she was in the habit of letting on these days. But mentally, she felt, or at least she assumed she felt, what Tom Paris would call brain-dead.
She had avoided regeneration the previous night and occasionally, if she turned too quickly or looked into a bright light, her head ached from the impact of the opening edge of the Jefferies Tube, more than twenty-four hours previously. She had almost gone to ask the Doctor to take care of it but twice now she had reached Deck Five and walked straight past Sickbay, unable to bring herself to walk through the doors.
It was stupid. It was cowardly. It was inefficient.
Maybe she had picked up on more human traits than she thought.
She was having a similar problem with regenerating. She knew that she would experience the entire episode on the Equinox again as soon as she entered her alcove. That was something she didn't want. Yes, it was something she would have to experience eventually but a traitorous voice in her head whispered at her, that maybe if she just gave herself another day, another few hours even, to accept what had happened, maybe it would be less painful the second time around.
She squashed the voice, irritated with herself. She had accepted what had happened. The Doctor had his ethical subroutines deleted. As a result, he had no moral awareness of right and wrong. He had dissected her at the orders of a Starfleet Captain. And the moment his ethical subroutines had been put back in place he had shown remorse and put her back together again. He was her Doctor again. Her friend. One of so very few that she had.
Still, that hadn't stopped her from avoiding the Cargo Bay the night before and instead retreating to Engineering. She had wandered like a ghost amongst the Gamma Shift Crew, slowly whittling down the number of jobs on Lieutenant Torres' 'To Do' List. In actual fact, she quite liked working with the Gamma Shift. They were so much quieter than the daytime shifts. It sometimes seemed that they were part of a different crew altogether, on a different Voyager, under a different Captain Janeway. No one shooed her away to work elsewhere when the Gamma Shift were in charge. They appreciated the help. And no one called her 'Borg Bitch' or 'Ice Queen' or 'Janeway's Pet' or any of the other derogatory terms when they thought she couldn't hear them.
But she couldn't do that tonight. It was a small ship and someone would mention that she had been in Engineering two nights in a row and that, in turn, would get back to the Doctor. That was something Seven wanted to avoid. So with her own 'To Do' List in hand, she headed towards Astrometrics.
A.N. Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I want Seven and Chakotay to get a chapter to themselves next time. Hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think!
~Sweetdeath04