Chapter 3: Medical Emergency

It had been just under a month since Voyager's encounter with the Davraxians. Since then, the Captain hadn't experienced any other health scares. It was just the damned headaches which seemed to be making regular appearances.

"Chakotay to Janeway."

The Captain sighed to herself as the Commander's hail disrupted her bargain with the holographic Maestro Da Vinci.

"Go ahead." she responded.

"Captain, we need you in Engineering. There's something here you should see."

It looked as though her Maestro was going to have to wait.

"On my way."

She reached Engineering in record time. When she entered, she saw Lt. B'Elanna Torres, her half-Klingon Chief Engineer, standing with Chakotay at a nearby console. They didn't look happy.

"What have you got?"

"Some bad news." the Commander replied, "The long range probe we sent out two months ago had stopped transmitting."

"At first I thought it was a problem with the communications grid but then I cut up the last few seconds of telemetry." said Torres, "Take a look at this."

The Captain turned to look at the console where the telemetry was playing. It showed a large, cube shaped vessel – That was enough to gain her full attention. She then saw the inside of the vessel and finally the inevitable, a Borg drone.

"This could be it, Captain." she turned slowly to face the speaking Commander, "Borg Space."

Any tension her holodeck break had relieved was back with a vengeance. They all knew that that day would come. The Borg corpse they retrieved three months before had proved they were getting closer. She just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

The Captain glanced back at the frozen image. The Borg in their space. Their journey was about to get a whole lot harder, and dangerous.

=/\=

It had only been a month yet it had felt like a lifetime. It had taken them just over two weeks to help the Borg defeat Species 8472, the invaders from another dimension. Her ship was still in one piece but her crew wasn't.

A large part of her was still silently reeling over Kes' departure and although Seven of Nine had come aboard, it still didn't feel right. Kes had grown up on-board. Not having her around was going to take some time to get used to.

Seven of Nine was no longer a threat. She'd had a rough time after initially being disconnected from the hive mind. However, she was slowly starting to embrace her individuality again. She was even beginning to look human. In the Captain's opinion, she was well on the way to becoming the person she would have been if her life hadn't been stolen from her as a child.

Voyager had just rescued Lt. Paris and Lt. Torres from space after the incident with the Caatati. With them recovering from mild oxygen deprivation in Sickbay, the Captain was allowing herself to enjoy the peace and quiet available. The next inhabited system was over fifty light years away which gave the crew a couple of days of free time, something she was in desperate need of.

She awoke early one morning with her head spinning so much that she would have sworn the ceiling was moving. The only time she could recall ever feeling like that was back in the Academy when she had tried alcohol. She may have felt fantastic that night but the following morning was when she regretted it.

She shifted in the bed, the sheets sticking to her sweaty skin.

"Computer… what time is it?" she asked, her voice groggy.

"0320 hours."

She sighed brokenly, pushing her head against the pillow. She really didn't feel well.

For a few moments she lay there but it didn't last long. After a short moment, she had to ignore her dizziness and dart to the bathroom. She had no idea how but she made it in time as mere seconds later she was bringing up whatever food she had left in her empty stomach.

The sickness didn't cease and after a good ten minutes, she'd had enough. She could hardly breathe. It was time for her to stop being so stubborn.

"Sickbay." she barely managed to call, "Medical Emergency."

The Doctor's program activated to the sound of the Captain's cry.

He was immediately alert, aware the Captain wouldn't call if it weren't important, especially at that time in the morning.

"Captain?"

There was no response.

"Computer, locate Captain Janeway."

"Captain Janeway is in her quarters."

The Doctor quickly grabbed his med-kit and mobile emitter and headed to her quarters. At that time of night, the corridors were completely empty. He opened the door on emergency medical clearance and soon spotted her bed was vacant.

"Captain?"

He heard her mumble. It was soft but enough for his program to hear. She was in the bathroom.

He hurried inside, only to see her leaning heavily against the wall with damp and almost white cheeks.

"Captain!" he exclaimed.

He had no time to ask anything before she vomited. It was clear that it wasn't the first time. He helped her as best he could in the moment, holding back her hair until she could sit back again. He didn't even bother to scan her before pressing a hypospray to her neck, namely something to relieve her sickness.

She immediately sighed.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded softly as he began scanning her with his tricorder. He didn't like the look of what it was showing. She was clearly suffering from a violent temperature but he couldn't find an immediate cause. He'd have to do further scans which could only be done in Sickbay. The fact she didn't object when told that only proved just how bad she was feeling.

=/\=

It had been just under a week since the Captain's sickness episode and since then she'd been as fit as a fiddle. However, it hadn't lasted. She'd suddenly gone right back to square one, although that time her headaches and sickness felt one hundred times worse.

She knew the Doctor had informed Chakotay about his concerns, and the details of the early morning episode. Ever since then he'd been jumping down her neck about not pushing herself too hard. However, it was easier said than done as the Captain of the only Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant.

As she made her way to the Bridge that morning, she felt another damned headache building. Despite having dealt with them for so long, they still had the ability to make her wince.

As she entered the turbolift, the noise of the lift only seemed to aggravate her throbbing head further. She hadn't slept well the night before either so she was already rather on edge.

Entering the Bridge, the Captain was greeted by the sound of singing consoles, the original choruses and modern remixes. To put it simply, a lot of noise. As she waltzed over to her chair, she received three reports off the Commander, an Engineering report, a Medical report and one from the Astrometrics department, a department in desperate need of an upgrade.

"Oh, thanks." she muttered.

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there, Captain?" he smirked.

She glanced over at him. "Sarcasm?" she asked as they both took their seats, "I don't even know how you could possibly suggest that, Commander."

The Commander simply smiled and got back to work while the Captain began to read. It was something of a struggle since the consistent pattern of noise emanating from Tuvok's consoled was driving her insane. Each note seemed to aggregate the pain in her head in a particular, merciless way.

She winced, her resolve having broken. "Tuvok, turn that damn thing down!"

Her sharp demand made all the Bridge officer's widen their eyes. It was clear their Captain was not having a good day.

Tom and Harry both exchanged worried looks while Tuvok just nodded.

"Aye, Captain."

=/\=

The ship was cruising along at warp six, something which Lt. Paris made hard work of since he was pretty sure he'd have his head bitten off by a very agitated Captain. She'd already snapped at Lt. Tuvok, Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim; it seemed very likely his turn was approaching.

The region they were travelling through was sparsely populated and the only interesting anomaly on sensors was some sort of strange reading just under 100 light years away, something too far to worry about for now.

The Captain was attempting to read through the 4-page Engineering report. It was difficult considering the words were becoming increasingly unfocused and spinning on the page. The orchestra of the consoles was growing increasingly loud, making her head feel as though it could explode, and the lights were also becoming far too bright for her liking. She really didn't like the feeling.

Giving up on the report for a minute, the Captain closed her eyes and leant her head back on the chair. She needed a moment. Surely it wouldn't hurt.

Chakotay noticed the noise from her PADD cease. It took a few moment before he looked over and when he did, his eyes widened at the sight of her. Not only did she look awfully pale, the way her eyes were scrunched closed indicated she was in pain. He didn't like that.

"Captain?" he whispered.

She jumped slightly as her eyes shot open, just to be blinded by the light once again. That in itself concerned the Commander further. Something was clearly wrong.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, "I think… I think I'm going to go to my ready room."

"Captain…" he tried to object.

She stood. "You have the Bridge, Commander." her voice was loud enough to be heard by all before she vacated the Bridge.

When she entered her ready room, she had to lean on the wall behind to balance herself for a moment. She was sure she'd have fallen to the floor if she hadn't. Limping up to the sofa and sitting down, she found the room closing in on her while also spinning wildly out of control.

Her breathing began to deepen, a futile attempt to compose herself. She really wasn't sure what to do but she soon found that laying her head down on the sofa eased the throbbing behind her eyes. Perhaps a five-minute rest wouldn't hurt.

=/\=

Chakotay wanted to check on the Captain. She'd looked like hell when she went into her ready room and he wasn't the only person who had noticed. The rest of Bridge crew had too. She'd been gone for half an hour and had made no contact with the Bridge. While that wasn't unusual, that day it was bothering him immensely.

He debated giving her another few minutes, he didn't really know what would be best. Uncertain, he turned to look back at Tuvok who he could see, in his own way, was concerned too.

The Commander stood. "Tuvok, you have the Bridge."

Tuvok acknowledged him and headed down to the command chair. Meanwhile, Chakotay headed down to the ready room where he rang the bell.

No response.

He rang again.

After he heard nothing back, he'd had enough. Tapping his command code into onto the control pad, Chakotay soon gained access to the room.

The first thing he noted was a vacant desk opposite the door. The second was the Captain sprawled across the sofa.

"Kathryn!" he cried.

Hearing his voice awoke her and she managed to open her eyes. The Commander fell to his knees at her side, his hand slipping under her head.

"Kathryn, what's wrong?" he asked in a slight state of panic.

She couldn't barely shake her head, let alone speak.

"Chakotay to Transporter Room 2, Medical Emergency!" he declared, "Beam the Captain directly to Sickbay!"