Tegan Chronicles STV Style 3:

What's Left of the Flag 14

By the time Janeway was done giving blood Ensigns Wildman and Celes were long gone. Seven had taken off a few minutes prior to her finishing, her services no longer needed there, when she heard Chakotay report that B'Elanna had returned from the surface, her task complete. Tom was moving quietly around Tuvok who at least was pretending to rest. She stood and looked from the doctor to Tegan and back.

"Only for a few minutes Captain."

She nodded and paced up to the force field holding the increased oxygen around Tegan and dropped it long enough to step in. She reached out and took Tegan's hand, not unlike she might any of her crew that had gone through what she had. Though in the past a touch like that would have been to give comfort, in this instance it served to both give and take. She needed the reassurance that Tegan was still alive, the warm feel of flesh, a beating heart. Her hand was cold but she squeezed Janeway's fingers to let her know there was still life left in her.

She searched murky green eyes that lacked their lime highlighted vibrancy. She would apologize if it wasn't uncaptain like. Though the reasons she felt guilty where over things she could not change. She was a member of Starfleet. She was a captain. Those things couldn't change, not here, out in the middle of the Delta Quadrant, not now with a crew depending on her. She watched as Tegan's pale lids slid shut and then snapped back open again before her eyes rolled back in her head. "Doctor?"

"The inhibitor has worn off. At least for now she's not feeling any pain." He looked from her up to Janeway. "Captain, I really wish you would reconsider."

"I'll be back when I'm done." She lifted her concerned eyes to his. "Is she going to be ok?"

"It's still too early to tell. Hopefully no damage was done from the hypovolemia and I should be able to fix the rest of her physical wounds."

"And Tuvok?" She glanced at the Vulcan who had finally succumbed to exhaustion when the inhibitor wore off.

"He'll be fine physically. He has similar shoulder wounds to yours that I will need to repair surgically. Mentally, you all have a hard recovery ahead of you."

"I'm fine mentally." She informed him with an acidic tone.

"Forget that she's your girlfriend, they still tortured them to get to you. You are far from fine."

"I have work to do."

"My point exactly." He watched her retreat through the sickbay doors.

"Computer who is it?" B'Elanna asked when she heard the door chime.

"Seven of Nine."

"Come in." She sighed not bothering to move from the couch.

"I heard you were back." Seven stood in the doorway.

"Yeah, I went to look for you in astrometrics and the cargo bay but you weren't there." B'Elanna unzipped her jacket and pulled it off tossing it aside. "You can come in you know."

Seven stepped in just enough to let the doors slide shut behind her. "I was in sickbay assisting the doctor. You are not happy."

"It's been a long few days." She rubbed at the lower ridges on her forehead.

"Do you want to talk about?" Seven offered knowing it was the thing she was supposed to say but not sure she was an appropriate sounding board.

"You saw what they did to them." B'Elanna growled.

"Yes." Seven paced across the room and sat next to B'Elanna. "But maybe it will help if you tell me what I didn't see."

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna blinked at her.

"I do not know what you saw. What you felt." Seven only knew what she felt when she saw what was done. Even as Borg she had never tortured anyone. The Borg did not need to torture. They assimilated the information they desired. Such barbaric means did not exist within the Borg collective.

"It was horrible Seven." B'Elanna leaned into her unyielding frame pulling from her the strength she so desperately needed.

Janeway walked onto the bridge and looked at the mismatched crew. Harry was standing in his usual position and Chakotay stood offering her the Captain's seat, the rest were crew from different shifts. Whoever had fared the best from the conditions of their imprisonment and didn't need rest right away had stepped forward in all departments to work. Tom was still helping in the infirmary despite his own need for food, fluids and rest. B'Elanna had been ordered off duty after her two missions, one to the moon and the other back to the planet to destroy the technology that was used in an attempt to safeguard other passing vessels.

"Report." She spoke with practiced precision not allowing her voice to betray her exhaustion.

"We've found a suitable area for them on a completely different continent." Chakotay looked up at Harry. "Ensign Kim?"

"The projections from astrometrics show that the weather is similar to that of the mid-eastern North America, and it is early spring giving them ample time to try and plant and build appropriate shelters before winter." He stifled a yawn as he finished.

"Very well, let's start transporting them."

"What about the men in the brig?" Chakotay raised his brow causing his tattoo to wrinkle.

"No, not yet."

As soon as she was stable enough, and after Tom had gotten a chance to at least eat, the doctor took Tegan into surgery with Tom acting as his scrub nurse. He realigned her dislocated shoulder and fixed tears in the ligaments and muscles of both shoulders. He also found a fracture of her right scapula on his scans that he did as much as he could to heal it with the osteo-regenerator. He also used it on her ribs getting between 48 and 52% healing on each. Her knee required invasive surgery to repair and even with it and the use of the dermal regenerator it was going to take time for it to heal. The easiest thing he had tackled was the cut on the bottom of her foot which he was able to close quickly and rather efficiently in his mind with the dermal regenerator.

The doctor used a laser scalpel to excise the knife that had been seared into Tegan's leg as well as the dead muscle and skin that had been cooked and burned onto it. He did his best with the dermal regenerator and hoped to be able to use it again in 12 hours to further along the progression. "Hemostat."

Tom handed him the requested instrument and watched as he started to dig pieces of melted gray fabric out of the raw blistery flesh covering her right breast. "Doc, you have got to be kidding me."

"I have got to remove all the foreign material before I can use the dermal regenerator." He was glad he had anesthetized her and not just sedated her for all of this. He pulled another piece free ripping a chunk of flesh out with it. His eyes slid up to Tom for a second to find that he was changing colors, he went from white to an odd almost green color as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. "If you are going to vomit, please step out of the surgical bay."

Tom turned and took two steps before his stomach purged itself. The liquid contents with small chunks of still digesting food arched up and over the console to the surgical bay before it hit the sickbay floor and spattered in a 360 degree radius.

"I'm almost done here." The doctor sighed. "Go, I can handle the rest on my own."

"Thanks Doc." Tom mumbled as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. He had seen too much, been awake too long. He didn't think they were going to make it out of that one. He had been brave for as long as he could, he made it into the sonic shower before he crumpled to the tiled floor.