Warning: There's some mention of torture, a bit of blood mixed in. Thanks everyone for the feedback so far!
Part Four: I Bleed Starfleet
The room smelled of death, reeked of it. The stench in the too hot underbelly of the Starfleet ship Cornelius was enough to gag the hardest. Kathryn rolled onto her side, hanging her head over whatever it was she was laying on and started coughing, gagging on the vomit remaining in her mouth. She must have been throwing up all night, now there was precious little left. Everything hurt, every time she'd try to move another wave of nausea and dizziness would hit. She coughed again and dry heaves racked her body. Finally she forced her head back down and she stared straight up, attempting to make her eyes work in the black.
"Kathryn?" The voice was deep, pained and had a hint of accent to it, barely noticed except for the way he said her name. "Kathryn, can you get up?" The accent fled after the second syllable. His voice was the only one to say her name in the two syllables it was meant to be, rather than the three of Katherine.
She tried to speak, but started into the dry heaves again. She was fighting the pain, she wanted to reach him, someone familiar and safe.
Chakotay listened to her throwing up and coughing all night. They'd brought her down after the final attack against the Asteria had left her adrift. They raided her and split their tiny crew in half. A daring move for any enemy to attempt. He had listened to them kick her and hit her and he was powerless to stop it as they held him back. She'd been unconscious already, or at least he prayed to the ancestors and spirits of his people that's what her silence meant. Now she was moving again, but not responding to him. He managed to get up, this time tripping over only two bodies of his tortured and slain crew. He had spent some time grieving over it while down in the makeshift brig. He reached the far wall and stopped, forcing himself to not breath, hoping to hear her again.
Kathryn rolled onto her side and felt the dizziness again sweep over her. She groaned and willed it to leave her body. It wouldn't, it was a formidable enemy for Kathryn Janeway, but she would fight.
Chakotay heard the groan, a pained sound and his heart ached for her. She was hurt, sick and alone, he needed to be there for her. He promised her that nearly 8 years ago on New Earth. He reached the foot of a bed, a slab of metal laid across old crates. He probed up the metal and felt the soft contrast of her uniform pants. Finally. He knelt down beside her and let his fingers follow her leg to find her hand.
She felt his touch, but dared not move for fear of the nausea again. She felt his warm fingers touch her hand and she gripped it tight in an instant, impulsive motion.
"Ssh, Kathryn, I'm here. I'm here." He whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers. She was shaking from the sickness as he smoothed her hair back and wiped the sweat from her neck.
"Chakotay…" She managed as she wrapped her free arm around her friend's strong shoulders. She was scared, that didn't happen often, but it was happening now. She couldn't think and had no idea where she was except that they were fired on. She remembered no details, the brutal beating had made sure she wouldn't. "What-"
He pressed his finger to her lips to silence her. "Just rest."
She complied, he had that effect on her, not always, but sometimes he was right. So silent she was. She let him rub her arm and hold her, for at least an hour.
After some time had passed she nudged him. He had fallen asleep, his head against her chest. "Chakotay?" She whispered softly.
He stirred, his head pressing against her and making her cry out softly. He jumped up. "I'm sorry, Kathryn."
"It's ok." She managed through a gasp as the pain washed away, she imagined the bruising was pretty bad for a mere movement to cause that pain, maybe even a cracked rib.
He helped her sit up, both of their eyes now better adjusted to the dark. He could make out her silhouette at least. "Where's your crew?"
"My crew?" She repeated. Than she remembered, it was all coming back. Justin, the Asteria, her cadets… "Did they bring them here?"
"No." He shook his head as the rank smell reminded him what they did to his crew. He let the unspoken thought hang in the air as Kathryn digested what had happened.
"Admiral Paris," She whispered. "He sent us out to meet you, you had a tactical officer to send to the Renegade."
"Yes." He confirmed. "However, shortly after we picked him up, the Renegade sent us a subspace message telling us there would be no rendezvous and I was to bring him to them directly. I knew something was wrong and clued my first officer in. Unfortunately, he was involved and they mutinied. Just a handful of them, but they took over the ship in minutes, blocked off vital systems and executed my senior staff one by one."
Kathryn grimaced, picturing the same fate for hers. "They did this flawlessly and we played right into their hands."
Chakotay stood and eased himself down onto the metal slab beside her. "Are you feeling any better?"
"What did they do to me? I mean…" She stopped, she didn't want to know.
He shrugged and heaved a sigh.
She laid her hand atop his and rested her head on his shoulder, still weak from vomiting and, yes she decided, at least two cracked ribs.
"They didn't… touch you." He emphasized finally, knowing what she feared.
She managed a smile. "Good. I like knowing that even slime have some self control."
He chuckled at that and pulled his hand out from under hers. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her tight. "We need to get out of here, find out if anyone else is alive."
"Five minutes?" She requested with a slight gasp at the pressure of his arm against her.
"Sure." He kissed her forehead, feeling protective, despite his being powerless to stop the barrage of heavy boots and fists that had fallen upon her through the night. "I don't think they're security is the greatest, they seem to be cocky about posting guards and even more loose about maintaining an alert status."
"They had to know this was a highly classified mission, we wouldn't be contacting command. It could be a very long time before they know something is wrong."
He stood, helping her up as he did. "We sent out a beacon as soon as the mutiny started. I'm surprised you didn't pick it up."
Kathryn inched forward beside him, holding her hand against her pained chest as she did. "Let's assume it was destroyed. We're alone, Captain. It's you and me."
He pulled her arm over his shoulder and wrapped his around her waist to support her. "This isn't going to be easy, but from what I gather, there's only fifteen on my ship, fifteen on yours."
She smirked. "I like those odds, better than I've ever had."
He grinned back as they approached the glowing outline of the level two force field. "This on the other hand should be simple." He peeled back the carpeting from the deck plates and fished around for a crack in the floor. Finding one, he picked at the plate, finally popping it up to reveal a whole bundle of wires.
Kathryn leaned against the wall, studying the corridor while Chakotay worked. The pain from the broken ribs was causing her breathing difficulties, and she worried she's be no help to him. They had to find weapons, otherwise she'd be downright useless.
Justin held his breath for a moment and than let it out. He'd watch them torture Kathryn, searching for information he hadn't given her yet. Despite his protests they continued. They started by electrocuting her, tiny shocks on the fingertips, making her breathing erratic. Than, with each question unanswered, they'd whip her with a leather bound rod. When she cried out with "I don't know!" They'd beat her harder. Finally, they took her away, leaving a trail of blood where they dragged her. Now he sat wondering if they beat her to death somewhere else. They assumed she knew more than the rest, being in command, but that was untrue. He protested, begging them to leave her be, swearing he had the information they needed, but they refused to listen. He watched them try to break her. He admired the strength, the resolve, she let them see the pain but reared up in their faces as though she really did have something to hide. Paris told him if it came down to it, she'd survive anything and give up nothing. He hoped she'd survive.
The rest of the bridge officers had been dragged here, to the little shuttle bay, now empty and surrounded with a low level force field. They were none too worried about security, apparently. Valerie was pacing back and forth, nervous, pent up energy driving her. Only two of his regular crewmen were there, he assumed the others were dead. And only one of Kathryn's cadets, Andrew. Either he was watching them, or they were wrong about him. He looked scared.
Justin motioned him over. "Tell me, Mr. Starlin, how well do you know your friends?"
Andrew sighed. "I don't, they're not my friends. Someone took my little sister and told me to go to Va'Ler and tell her about this transmission to the Enterprise. They told me they raped her and would do it again and again until I did what they wanted."
Justin threw his head back and let it hit the wall, intentionally hard startling the rest of the crew. Everyone stared at him.
Andrew dropped his head to his arms and was crying. "This is my fault, I just didn't want them to hurt my sister."
"How did we miss this?" Ena settled herself down in front of Justin and Andrew. "Justin, how did we? He's just a cadet, we should of figured this out." She pointed an accusing finger toward Andrew as her eyes appealed to Justin's experience as an ops agent.
"It's so deep, it's so high." Justin mumbled, eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm sorry." Andrew was repeating it over and over. "I'm so, so sorry."
Valerie rested her hand on the young boy's arm. "It's okay, you were trying to protect your sister."
He kept repeating the apology, unresponsive to Valerie's attempts.
Velt ran his hand through his short hair. "I didn't pick anything up, Justin."
"Yeah, I know." Justin mumbled. "These are rookie mistakes. We should have seen it."
Val shot him a glance, and he had opened his eyes just in time to see it. "Everything happened so fast, Justin. Maybe we should have seen it coming, but I don't think so. There's just too many variables, and besides that, there's several departments working on this, we can't be expected to catch everything with so many hands in the pot, something's bound to slip through the cracks."
"I was right about Va'Ler though."
Val twisted her face at him. "Do you want a pat on the back?"
He sat forward and rested his arm on his knees. "I fed her some information in the corridor before meeting with Kathryn, deliberately. I want to see if she takes the bait."
Val smiled slowly. "You would."
"Since you're such a valued engineer, Val, how's about you get to work on breaking us out." He paused. "Before they can get reinforcements from Remus."
"Aye, Sir." She rolled her eyes as she struggled to her feet and over to the door to examine the force field erected there.
Andrew wiped the tears away and put all thoughts of his sister out of his mind. "Where's Admiral Janeway?"
Justin stared at the kid in front of him, that's what he was, a student who shouldn't be out here. Someone used him and he didn't know who to trust. "They took her to the other ship, I think. They were going to extract information from her."
Andrew frowned and rubbed his mouth and cheek with the back of his hand. "They're hurting her, aren't they?"
Justin paused before nodding slowly. He wasn't in the habit of withholding the truth to spare feelings. Andrew needed to know the ramifications of what happens as a Starfleet officer. "They will kill her, Andrew."
Chakotay managed to drop the force field and alerts began blaring as it dissipated.
"Brilliant, Captain." Kathryn whispered dryly.
"We have to move." His hushed tone grew concerned as the light of the corridor revealed the shape she was in. There was blood covering portions of her uniform at the waist and around the thigh. He couldn't figure out if it was separate injuries or a lot of blood from the same wound. Her neck had dark bruises where fingers had attempted to choke her and there was a gash across her temple. The bruising on her wrists and fingertips indicated she had gone through more torture than just what he had witnessed. "Oh, Kathryn." He whispered softly, touching the cut.
She winced as he did. "I'll live." She managed with her truest smile.
He took her arm and helped her along toward the nearest Jeffries tubes. He hurried her inside and let her catch her breath.
"I'm gonna slow you down." She confessed, both knowing it.
"Yeah." He breathed. "But I'm not leaving you here either, they'll kill you if they find you."
"They'll kill both of us if I go." She countered, wincing as she shifted position in the tight space. "You have to get the ship back. I don't know just how deep, Chakotay, I don't have all the information, but this is serious."
He yanked a pipe out of an access panel near him, steam forcing out in brief intervals from the gap and he shoved it into her still shaky fingers. "Anyone comes in, hit him."
"I can do that." She smiled confidently and touched his hand softly. "Be careful."
He nodded and made his way down to the end of the Jeffries tube.
Kathryn sat as still as possible as she listened to the Remans begin a frantic search for their missing prisoners. She knew it wouldn't be long before they'd find her. She gripped the bar tightly and breathed in a slow, steadying breath. She quickly assessed the length of the Jeffries tube and began to slowly slide down to the other end, using her feet to push her rather than attempt to crawl. When she reached the end she located the level directional marker letting her know she was indeed on the 12th deck, the lowest one. She took yet another slow breath, forcing herself to stand despite the pain. She'd have to climb three access ladders to get to any vital areas. She had to, her crew, if they were still alive were depending on her. She slid the bar into the waistline of her pants, just enough to secure it. Gripping the rung at about eye level she held her next breath, knowing the pain she was about to bring on herself. She set her boot carefully on the bottom of the ladder, sliding it forward until it stopped at the heel. Than she lifted her other foot to the rung above it. One at a time, stopping after each move, she ascended two decks before finding it necessary to slump onto the ground, her back against a cool bulkhead.
She gasped to get enough air into her lungs, wondering if they too were damaged from the blows to the chest. She shook the thought off. There would be plenty of time for a trip to Sickbay once they'd retaken the ship. Again, she struggled to her feet and repeated the hand over hand, foot over foot, slowly ascending yet another floor, periodically pausing to check the bar, making sure it was firmly in her waistline. She couldn't afford for it to fall, even just a short way.
Val was getting frustrated, and it was obvious to the quiet onlookers. She slammed her fist into the wall and sighed before turning. "Justin, there's just not enough wiring on this side to trip a circuit."
"Keep trying." His encouragement did little more than infuriate her.
"I need to help do something." Andrew spoke suddenly. It had been over an hour of near silence from the cadet, save for a few sniffles over the fears for both his favorite Academy Professor and for his little sister. "Please, Commander."
Justin looked at him, a sort of pity on his face. "When I have something you can help with, I'll let you know."
Andrew lapsed back into silence, but kept his head up, watching as Justin went over to calm Valerie.
He whispered in her ear softly. "You're panicking everyone, Val."
"I'm sorry, I just… this is frustrating. It all could have been prevented and now there will be more lives cost rather than saved because we slipped up." She was turning, her fist ready to pound the bulkhead again.
Justin caught it easily in one hand and pulled it down straight. "That's enough, Lieutenant." He hissed.
His face was close to hers and she couldn't help but nod at the order from her superior. "Yes, Sir."
She dropped to one knee and continued fishing through the sea of wiring behind the control panel. Despite her knowledge that it wasn't controlled from this particular plate, she would try her best. Maybe she could overload the whole wall and cause an explosion.
Justin slowly returned to the dozen officers and crew. "Listen up. Two cadets are missing, you know Command's suspicions and so now we operate as though our cover has been compromised. Admiral Paris and the others on the Board expected as much. Now, they've been sent with us under the guise of helping Janeway in order to force the Remans hand and it has. However, the outcome is different than expected. Our first priority is to escape the Shuttle Bay and the second to locate Admiral Janeway. After that we'll attempt a retake of the ship. No assessments of the situation, no speculation as to their plans. No one is to second guess the problem at heand. None of the above will do you good right now. Am I clear?"
The crew vocally confirmed their understanding of his orders.
"Good." He turned back and put a hand on Val's shoulder and gave her a wink. "Keep on it. We need to mount a rescue."
Chakotay cursed under his breath as he scaled the final access ladder to the Bridge. He wanted nothing more than to stay with Kathryn, make sure she was okay, but the Remans presented him with bigger problems. Everything he did was hinged on Starfleet regulations. As far as those regulations were concerned, he did the right thing by leaving her to sit alone in the Jeffries tube, essentially a sitting duck. He knew she was dead there, if she didn't find the strength to move, they'd find her and kill her like they did his crew. He mumbled yet another curse, followed quickly by a prayer; a plea bargain with his ancestors, spare Kathryn and… he'd do anything for just that. He pushed the manual override for the final hatch and emerged from the Jeffries Tube in the corridor between his ready room and the turbo lift. The Bridge was on the opposite end, past the ready room. He closed his eyes and visualized the layout of the Bridge, trying to imagine where every console was, every Bridge crew's weapon. He inched along the corridor wall as it arched around in a large semi-circle until he reached the doors to the Bridge. He hung back just enough to keep the sensors from triggering the door on his approach. He held his breath and closed his eyes… A-koochi-moia… He uttered the beginnings of a prayer to the ancestors yet again. Finally, he opened his eyes and charged through the Bridge doors, mauling the first Reman in his path.
The Reman in command looked horrified as he scrambled for his weapon, but Chakotay was on him faster. Wrapping an arm around his chest, he cupped his hand over the back of the Reman's head and screamed to the other four on the Bridge. "I'll break his neck! Anyone, moves and I'll break his neck!"
The others froze, hands readied near their weapons.
Chakotay backed the commander toward the viewscreen and conn, speaking to the man in low, threatening tones. He glanced behind the conn console as they backed beyond it. The conn officer's weapon was gone. He breathed a curse, blending it with the threats. He was banking on that weapon still being there.
Kathryn reached Deck three after nearly 45 minutes. It was everything she could do not to cry out loud from the mind numbing pain radiating through her body. She stripped the jacket off revealing her gray tank beneath it and than quickly un-tucked it. It shocked and scared her that she was bleeding again, this time heavier. She knelt on one knee and pressed the side of her face up to the closed Jeffries tube hatch as she tore a strip of the uniform jacket. She balled it up and pressed it into the wound, a muffled cry coming out from between clenched teeth. She repeated this with the deep wound on her hip, the blood from the spilling down her thigh. She used yet another strip to anchor the makeshift gauze pad in place. When she'd stopped feeling dizzy from the sharp pain brought on by tamping down the bleeding she struggled to her feet and keyed the opening to leave the Jeffries tubes. She inched into the corridor, pulling the pipe out of her pants and placing her hands on it as though it were a Bat'Leth and not 3 foot pipe.
She continued down the corridor until she found a wall console already displaying a schematic readout of the ship. This deck did indeed have a vital system, life support. The main components were accessed and repaired on this deck. That did her no good, at least not until the last ditch effort was called for. "Computer, locate Comm- Captain Chakotay." Freudian slip. She'd called him Commander as long as she'd known him.
The computer seemed to hesitate as well. "Commander Chakotay is on the Bridge."
"Good." She mumbled before storing the schematics in her own, near photographic memory. She would get to the Bridge from the turbo lift, but the problem lay in the weapons. She was far from familiar with the ship, and didn't want to risk further verbal communication with the computer system. She checked both the transporter room and the galley for stowed weapons.
Nothing.
"It's you and me." She looked down at the pipe. Sighing she moved toward the turbolift. "Computer, where is the nearest Reman life sign?"
"Deck 12."
She grinned. She was three floors at least from the nearest. She keyed in the request for the turbo lift and held her breath as it whisked downward to reach her. She held the pipe back as the doors opened.
Empty.
She slipped in. "Bridge."
It began it's fast ascent from Deck 9 to the Bridge and opened up right there. She had little time to act as the doors revealed Four Remans, with their backs to the turbo lift and Chakotay, holding a Reman in a chokehold near the forward section of the Bridge. She leapt out of the turbolift and swing the pipe up behind the head of the nearest Reman.
Crack.
She shuddered as the piercing sound of skull fragmenting echoed through the Bridge.
Chakotay watched as Kathryn, in all the pain she had to be feeling, rushed the first and than second of the Remans, the third would have the better of her. "Kathryn!" He shouted in time for her to spin around and duck the phaser fire from the third Reman.
She returned the kindness with a blow to his midsection forcing his fingers to release the weapon. She scooped it up easily and pointed it at the fourth and final. "Do not move. It's set to kill." Her breathing was labored, but her hand was steady.
Chakotay forced his victim to the ground and placed a knee on his back. "Kathryn?" He was watching as her face began to pale, the damaged organs, concussion, broken bones and than some finally catching up to her.
Kathryn turned her head and gave Chakotay a small smile, locking and tossing the phaser toward him.
He jumped up and caught it, spinning to give a visual threatening stance to those around him. He was aware that Kathryn had eased herself to the ground. "Computer, activate EMH and recall to Bridge." He gestured with the phaser to the two Remans struggling to their feet near Kathryn's limp body. "Get away from her! Over there!"
They did as he told, mindful of the deadly weapon in his shaking hands. The rage on his face was pure. They did this to Kathryn and I she didn't live he'd kill every last one of them.
The Doctor assigned to the Cornelius at Chakotay's request and who'd been turned off at the beginning of the attack, emerged on the Bridge. "Captain?" He froze as he saw Kathryn's lifeless body lying at his feet. He dropped down and pulled the medkit open in a smooth motion. "I think I can revive her."
His voice sounded hollow in Chakotay's ears. She was gone and the Doctor only thinks he could revive her. His grip on the phaser tightened and his enraged expression twisted into hate. "You better hope he can." He bit the words off as he spoke them.
The Doctor moved Kathryn to lie flat on the deck as he attached a cortical stimulator to the base of her skull. "Come on, Admiral." He breathed as he triggered the device to send electrical waves through her brain. "This is nothing…" He was trying everything at the same time. A small defribulator, the medical hypospray, anything. He hung his head as his finger deafly hit the cortical stimulator button one more time.
Kathryn gasped. It was shallow and breathy, but he considered it "stable enough!" No sooner did he announce it than he had himself and Kathryn beaming to Sickbay.
"Chakotay to Sickbay… Doctor?" Chakotay's voice was hoarse as he all but begged for answers.
"I don't now yet, Commander. She's breathing, I have a steady heartbeat, but there's a lot of injuries, some are life threatening, and she's still unconscious."
Chakotay angled another glare at the remaining Remans. He'd decided the first that Kathryn had gotten to hemorrhaged, if the blue-green blood pouring from his nose and ears were any indication. "Computer, erect level ten force field around subsection B of the Bridge."
The computer responded with a chirp and a blue sparkling energy field that quickly turned invisible. They were boxed in.
"Locate other Remans on board, erect level ten force fields, security clearance Chakotay Beta Six."
The computer again chirped in response.
Chakotay now hesitated. Were there any survivors? "Computer locate and identify any remaining officers or crew on board.
To Be Continued. . .
