Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and its characters belong to Paramount.
She hit the deck hard with an audible thud that left her ears ringing and black swirls clouding her vision. Bemused, she watched them float along the ceiling. The ringing in her ears started to cease though she felt as if wrapped in a cotton ball. She felt quite peaceful and thought about closing her eyes to rest in that peace for a minute or two.
"Captain?" The somewhat fuzzy face of young Harry Kim suddenly appeared above her. "Captain!" He shook her slightly. "I don't think she is breathing!" The note of panic in his voice ripped the warm blanket away, leaving her in pain and struggling for breath. She heard herself wheeze but didn't seem to get any air into her lungs. The black swirls came back threatening to swallow her. Her eyes closed to a rapidly darkening world.
"Kathryn, don't you dare doing this to me again!" His desperate tone of voice resonated with something inside her, dragging up a picture she had tried so hard to forget during the last few weeks. No, she definitely didn't want to be the cause for so much pain on his face again! So she struggled to open her eyes and found the face of her operations officer replaced by Chakotay's. He looked down on her, eyes wide with fear.
Finally, her brain started to work properly again and she regained some control over her own body. She tried to sit up only to have her right arm give out beneath her. Strong hands caught her and helped her into a reclined sitting position. With her back leaning on his thighs she could take in life sustaining air at last. She gasped and coughed and gasped again, fearing that it still wasn't enough.
"Shhh, easy, just breathe with me," he whispered in her ear. She followed his lead. In and Out. In and Out. Finally, she relaxed in his embrace. Her breathing became easier. "That's it." Suddenly, his strong arms tightened around her as he hugged her in apparent relief, only to release her at once when he heard her pained groan. Making sure that she could sit on her own he scooted around to face her, his dark eyes filled with worry once more.
"Commander, the ship is preparing to attack again!"
Seeing his look of desperation Kathryn managed an encouraging smile. "I'll be fine, Commander."
Chakotay nodded and was back at his seat in two strides, ready to take charge of the situation. His captain, in the meantime, took inventory of her injuries. Back? Not too bad. Head? Worse. Right shoulder? She hissed in pain. Her shoulder was on fire! She vaguely remembered grabbing the railing for support with her right hand as her ship bucked beneath her feet and then she went flying…
The rest of her body seemed to be in working order with probably a few bruises here and there. Her gaze wandered up to the view screen. It bore evidence of Tom's excellent flying skills. The enemy ship had yet to land another hit. As Voyager's inertial dampeners kept up with her pilot at the moment, Kathryn Janeway used the relative calm to get back on her feet and managed to get to her chair without a wobble. She felt several concerned pairs of eyes following her.
"Good flying, Mr. Paris! Evasive Pattern delta 4. Tuvok, target their phaser banks. On my mark. Now!" With her head held high and chin sticking out resolutely, Captain Janeway was back in command of her ship.
Two and a half hours later, after a game of cat and mouse, hiding in a nearby nebula and limping to a moon orbiting a gas giant, Voyager could finally lick her wounds. Their hideout was perfect. The rings of asteroid debris orbiting the moon would mask their whereabouts and preliminary scans of the moon's surface showed a rich amount of minerals that would help them speed along the repair of their temporary home.
Captain Janeway glanced around the bridge. It was in shambles. But she knew from experience that it looked worse than it was. Her adept crew would soon have it appear as good as new. Voyager was as resilient as her people.
Teetering on her feet, she felt exhaustion and pain depleting the last ounce of her strength. Opening her mouth to hand command over to her trusted first officer and then head for sickbay, she froze. Her nightmares held at bay through work and adrenaline were jeering on the sidelines clamoring for her attention. She stumbled back to her seat and sacked into her chair quite ungracefully, aggravating her injuries even more. She gasped and regretted it immediately when she felt Chakotay's scrutinizing gaze on her once more. When she looked up she saw worry edged in every line of his face.
"Kathryn," he whispered, "shouldn't you-"
"Engineering to the bridge," B'Elannas voice cut through the air, interrupting Chakotay.
"Janeway here." Captain Janeway felt oddly relieved.
"I have the newest status report."
"I'll take it in my ready room. Thank you, B'Elanna!"
Once again she seemed to sense every look of her bridge crew directed on her as she made her stumbling escape to her ready room. She sighed with relief when the doors closed behind her.
B'Elanna's report wasn't all that long and silence started to penetrate her room. Only now did she recognize her error. All alone, the nightmares seemed to gain strength. The doctor was looming over her, sneering at her, holding a bat'leth and telling her that today was a good day to die. She shook her head and stilled as her headache snarled back with vengeance. That was wrong. It hadn't been that way. She was overtired and most likely concussed. That was all. The doctor was her friend, he was on her side. Everything that wanted to tell her differently had been an alien induced vision, nothing more. Her headache was pounding in her skull, her shoulder left her in agony. She needed to go to sickbay! She stood up and made a tentative step forward and another ... and couldn't go any further.
The walls started to close in on her and she was having trouble breathing again. Self loathing filled her, while she leaned on her desk to support her trembling knees. Starfleet captains were supposed to be strong and fearless! A lone tear was rolling down her cheek. She brushed it away with an impatient hand, but her legs still refused to obey.
There was always the easy way out as she could wait for her body to yield to her injuries. How much longer till she would lose consciousness? Ten more minutes? Thirty? Too long, she decided. Besides, she didn't want to have to explain herself to Chakotay or Tuvok. She cast a calculating look at the wall next to the door. Finally able to walk again, she rammed her bad shoulder into the wall. With her own cry echoing in her ears she succumbed to nothingness.