"Chakotay?" He felt the cold hiss of the hypospray against his neck, "Wake up we need to get out of here." Her voice sounded urgent and when he blinked and opened his eyes he found her face close to his, her eyes full of worry.
"Kathryn, are you okay?" He slowly sat up, groaning in pain.
"The pain should get better in a moment," she said, hoisting him up despite his grunting, "we need to get out before the hatch is submerged," she urged him on.
Only then did Chakotay realize that his feet were wet. He looked around and saw that the cabin was slowly filling with water. Kathryn was right. If they didn't get out before the hatched was under water, they wouldn't be able to open it. They had to hurry. He tried to ignore his pain, pushing it to the back of his mind and with her help, he stood up and made his way to the rear hatch. He leaned against the bulkhead, while Kathryn worked the hatch open wide enough for them to climb out.
"How do you want to do this?" Chakotay asked her, unsure how they would both reach the hatch.
"I'll hoist you up," she encouraged him, obviously having thought this through already, "and when you're out you'll pull me up. Come on."
Kathryn took Chakotay's hand and pulled him over to her. "I'll give you a leg up and you pull yourself up. I'll try to push you up as far as I can." She said cupping her hands together and gestured for him to put his foot in them. Chakotay grabbed in to her shoulders and she hoisted him up. His foot slipped and he fell down with a moan and a grunt, but she quickly pulled him back up.
"Let's try again." She refused to accept failure. They would get out of this. She would see to it.
She nodded at Chakotay in encouragement and cupped her hands again, bending slightly forward to allow him better leverage. This time they were successful and Chakotay was able to grasp the edge of the opened hatch. Kathryn pushed him further upward and with her help he was able to himself up. When he was out he quickly turned around and reached out for her. She had no trouble grasping on to his arm and pulled herself up, while he tried to pull her out at the same time. It took them a while at the awkward angle, but Kathryn finally collapsed next to Chakotay and tried to catch her breath.
"That was fun." She was still out of breath but rolled to her side and sat up to have a look around. She squinted her eyes, but could only see water around them, no shore line in sight.
"Chakotay, we'll need the life vests." She already regretted it, but she had to go back inside and get the vests before the shuttle sank.
He quickly nodded and got ready to take the vests and pull her back up. She was right. If they wanted to stand any chance of holding out until Voyager found them, they would need the life vests. He was just glad that he had thought of sending a distress signal before they crashed, hoping that Voyager would get it in time.
Kathryn was fast. It didn't even take her two full minutes to get the life vests and pull herself back up. She stood up and helped Chakotay to his feet. They helped each other into their vests and fastened each other's clasps. The shuttle lurched under them and when Chakotay staggered to the side Kathryn held his arm to steady him.
"I wouldn't want you to fall in." She smiled and pulled the string to inflate his Starfleet issue PFD. He smiled back and pulled her string, watching as her vest inflated. He was still grinning at her when he noticed her distressed look.
"Your vest isn't inflating." Her eyes searched his and he knew what she was thinking before she voiced it, "I need to get back and get you another one."
"There's no time." He grabbed her shoulders as she was about to turn back to the hatch, "You won't make it out in time."
"But you need a functioning life jacket." She struggled against his grip, trying to get past him.
"Kathryn stop," he raised his voice at her, "I'll be fine. We'll make this work somehow."
She knew he was right. If she went back in, she would never make it out in time. The shuttle was sinking too fast and the cabin was rapidly filling with water. Kathryn looked back up at him and the fear was clearly written in her eyes. With his hands still on her shoulders, she grabbed his upper arms to steady them both and suddenly the pressing urge to laugh overwhelmed her. She tried to hold it in but it just bubbled over and she let out a loud belly-deep laugh. At Chakotay's questioning, but amused frown she tried to catch her breath and explain, but whenever she opened her mouth, more giggles and laughter would come out until she was finally so out of breath, she was forced to stop.
"I can't believe," she uttered, taking in huge gulps of air, "I'm still…letting you...fly…my shuttles."
"Next time you can take Tom Paris," he chuckled at her obvious amusement despite their situation, "I hate the cold anyway."
Their banter was rudely interrupted when the shuttled lurched and tilted suddenly. They both looked down to see water creeping towards them.
"Kathryn, we need to jump," Chakotay urged her, "or we'll be pulled under with the shuttle when it sinks."
Kathryn looked around them. As far as she could see there was only water, ice cold water. They would never make it to any shore in the icy water. But then she felt the shuttle buckle once more under her feet and looked down at the slowly sinking vessel. No matter how slim their chances were in the water, if they stayed here and were pulled under, they would drown. She looked back up at Chakotay and at his gentle urging nod she grasped his hand tightly. He took a last look on her life jacket, making sure all the clasps were closed and it was inflated, before he started counting.
"One. Two." He saw her take a deep breath and did likewise, "Three."
A shock went through their bodies when they hit the water and went under. The force of the entry and the sudden cold made them loose their contact and Kathryn immediately scrambled for the surface. She was only under for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes and when she broke the surface she gasped for air and struggled to swim. When she didn't see Chakotay right away, she turned around herself, desperately looking for him.
"Chakotay," she yelled, "CHAKOTAY."
It seemed like a lifetime before his head appeared and she saw him take the same gulping breaths she had done a few moments earlier. Kathryn tried to ignore the painful beating of her heart and swam towards Chakotay.
"There you are," she struggled to get the words out, still out of breath.
"Are you okay?" He asked, already looking around for anything they could climb on to get out of the water.
"Cold and wet," she chuckled slightly despite their predicament, "but yes, I'm okay. You?"
"The same." He nodded quickly not stopping his search. "We need to get out of the water."
Kathryn understood what he was doing. He was looking for something, anything really, they could climb on to get out of the water. The water seemed vacant of any floating ice, so that was out of the question. They could only hope that some of the shuttle's debris would be big enough to carry them. It didn't take Kathryn long to spot what seemed to be a part of the outer hull.
"Chakotay, look." She pointed in the direction of the hull piece, glad to get them out of the water. "That should work."
It didn't take them long to get to the debris and when they reached it, Chakotay saw what he had been assuming from afar. It wasn't big enough for the two of them. It was barely big enough to carry Kathryn.
"Climb on," he urged her on, "I'll hold it in place." She nodded quickly and pulled herself onto the hull piece.
"Come on." She reached her hand out to him, smiling, glad to be out of the icy water, "I'll pull you up."
Her smile quickly faded when Chakotay shook his head and declined her hand. "Kathryn, it's not big enough."
She looked around frantically, trying to argue his point, but as much as she wanted to, he was right. There was no way in hell, they would both fit on it and still keep it floating.
"We'll take turns then," she stated matter-of-factly, leaving no room for a come-back and grasped his hand in both of hers.
Chakotay didn't try to argue with her. He let her take his hand and laid his other arm on the edge of the debris, careful not to let it dip under water. He watched their breath condense into visible clouds for a while and listened to his own thumping heart while Kathryn hit her comm badge in regular intervals trying to contact Voyager. Chakotay knew it was too soon. Even if they received their distress signal it would take them a while to get here. Voyager was faster than their shuttle, but they had not invented magic yet. But it kept Kathryn occupied and her mind on something else than the cold. Their teeth were starting to chatter and Chakotay could feel his muscles tense up with the cold. He knew Kathryn would soon suggest that they switch places, so he tried to suppress his trembling and moved his legs in an attempt to warm himself up.
He laid his head down for a moment, his eyes fixed on their mingling breaths, his legs moving in a regular but slow pattern.