Capítulo 26: Cathexis: Part Two
Chapter 28: Cathexis: Part Two.
The Doctor's (EMH) POV
"-And the Captain's children have been following her everywhere! They are so scared! Kes would have been able to calm them down, I am positive!" Neelix ranted.
I scanned Kes as she was comatose on the biobed with my medical tricorder and Neelix nervously fidgeted beside me for his worry of Kes and the paranoia to the situation of the "Ghost" as the crew referred to it running around the ship...Well, more like floating around the ship.
"And that's not all. Ensign Parsons ordered his pejuta cold." Neelix continued to ramble on and on about orders that he found suspicious in a bad attempt to justify it as the "Ghost" or the crew members being possessed.
"So?" I asked. Barly interested enough to care but still wanting know now how it ended.
"He always drinks it hot. Hot! With lemon. But not today. Today it's cold pejuta, hold the lemon." He exclaimed and threw his arms in the arm in disbelief and unnecessary anger directed at the change of the order.
"Mister Neelix, just because a man changes his drink order doesn't mean he's possessed by an alien." I insisted and rolled my eyes and the absurdity of the situation.
"Nevertheless, don't you think you should scan him or dissect him or something, just to make sure?" Neelix insisted.
"I could examine every crew member you've mentioned so far, every person on board, for that matter and it wouldn't do any good. From what we can tell, the alien can jump from person to person at will." I argued back.
"It sounds to me like you're defending Ensign Parsons." Neelix accused me.
"I'm not defending him, I'm just pointing out that you're acting a little paranoid. In fact, one could say you're acting a little too paranoid."
"Are you suggesting that I, that I could possibly? Doctor, I can assure you, not even an alien intruder could make me do anything to hurt Kes." Neelix insisted.
"All I'm suggesting, Mister Neelix, is that paranoia is only going to aggravate your already precarious emotional condition. Try to relax. I don't think Kes has suffered any permanent neurological damage. I'll let you know the moment I've had any success in reviving her." I assured him and snapped the tricorder shut.
"I'll be back as soon as you wake, dearest. And don't worry, you're in good hands." Neelix said as he bent over Kes's unconscious body. Then he looked up to me with a happy smile. "Thank you, Doctor."
Neelix left and quickly said "Hello" to Tuvok as he entered. He swiftly walked over to my medical console and started typing in commands.
"What are you doing?" I demanded in alarm.
"I am reconfiguring the sensor relays on the ship. This will only take a minute." He said and continued.
"Must you do it now? I'm in the middle of a treatment." I replied irritated.
"I am sorry, Doctor. Captain's orders. How is she?" He asked.
"No irreparable damage. In fact, her injuries are quite different from Commander Chakotay's. Her bioneural energy is completely intact, and I'm curious about these contusions on her neck and shoulder. They're not consistent with an energy discharge. They look more like wounds sustained during a physical struggle." I said and looked at the bruising again.
"Odd. There was no physical struggle that I can recall." Tuvok testified.
"I just don't understand it. The only thing these injuries come close to resembling is an extreme trauma to the trapezius nerve bundle. It's as though her nerve fibres have been ruptured." I absently mindedly reported. He nodded and thanked me. Swiftly leaving the area.
-----
Sarah Janeway's POV
"Come in." Mommy called out from her desk as we played with Mollie behind her on the floor. Micheal lifted his head to see who it was. Tuvok appeared in our view and we continued to test Mollie's skill at a paw shake, thinking that Mommy was safe with Tuvok.
"Lieutenant Torres and I will be ready to initiate the magneton scan in approximately two hours. You should be aware that it will be a high-intensity burst. It will cause dizziness and disorientation in all crew members, including myself, for several seconds." He explained and placed a report on her desk. Mommy picked up the padd and leaned back in her chair as she read it.
"Make a ship-wide announcement before you initiate the scan." Mommy ordered as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Aye, Captain. There is another matter of concern. It appears that Kes's injuries were not caused by an energy discharge. The doctor has found evidence that she was physically assaulted." Tuvok reported. Causing Micheal and I to straighten up and listen to the conversation better.
"Assaulted? But you weren't physically assaulted." Mommy countered in confusion as she placed down her cup.
"That is correct." He bluntly said.
"Is it possible that you inflicted her wounds?" Mommy suggested.
"Me?" Tuvok questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe you were inhabited by the alien at that moment." Mommy suggested with suspicion. We were growing more and more alarmed. Micheal started to fiddle with his thumbs, a nervous habit he picked up from Bini.
"It is possible. Perhaps we should have the doctor run a neurological scan to see if I show a memory disruption." Tuvok suggested. Mommy nodded and got up from her desk.
"Agreed. Janeway to Sickbay. Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic System." She ordered.
"Unable to comply. The EMH programme has been disabled." The female voice replied.
"Disabled? By whom?" She demanded.
"Unknown."
Mommy logged back onto her computer and attempted to get the Doctor's program back but it was heavily encrypted, so Mommy couldn't get to it. We got increasing more nervous as we realized what this meant.
"The Doctor's initialization routine has been locked out. It's encrypted. I can't reactivate the programme." She said. Her voice laced with tension. "Why would someone deactivate the Doctor?"
"The Doctor does hold the command codes to Voyager."
"Yes, but once he was deactivated-"
"The codes went to you, Mommy." Micheal finished. Mommy's eyes were wide open and she looked around, wondering her next move as Micheal and I struggled to find a plan to protect Mommy. Mollie started to sense something was wrong.
"If we assume the alien could not take over the holographic doctor, then logically it would try to force the command codes back into a humanoid host." Tuvok concluded.
"Me." Mommy muttered. "It's too dangerous for one person to retain the command codes at this point. I suggest we divide my command protocols into two code groupings."
"A sensible precaution." Tuvok agreed.
"You would be the reasonable choice to hold the second grouping, if there's any such thing as a reasonable choice right now. The alien could occupy either one of us at any time."
"But presumably not both of us at the same time."
"I'll tell the bridge crew the plan. We'll all have to act as checks and balances for each other." Mommy said and raced from the room onto the bridge and we ran after her with Tuvok right beside her.
Mommy came onto the bridge. Her abrupt stop caused everyone to look at her as Tuvok remained on one side and we stood on the other.
"I want you all to be aware of something that has happened, something I must assume was due to the alien. The Doctor has been deactivated, and we can't get him back online. I have decided to divide my command protocols." She said but then stiffened and her eyes glazed over...Like when B'Elanna got possessed.
"M-Mommy?" I stammered. "Micheal...Micheal, she is possessed!" I cried and Micheal started to run forward to get it out of Mommy.
"Captain?" Tuvok said as it became more clear that she was gone. She sudden jolted and landed a punch straight to Tuvok's head. We screamed and pulled back. Mollie started to bark and jumped in front of us as Tuvok jolted to get his phaser and pointed it at her.
"Don't hurt, Mommy!" We yelled at him but Mommy kicked it out of his hand before he could fire.
"Stun her! She's the alien!" Tuvok yelled. Tom immediately pulled out his phaser and pointed it to Mommy, suddenly Harry fired at him and Tom fired at Harry, able to disable him in time just as Durst missed hitting Tuvok and Micheal grabbed me and Mollie in the chaos. I tried to not think about Mommy as he shoved me behind conn with Mollie. Suddenly, a wide burst spread throughout the bridge and the phaser beam just barely missed us since it was blocked by the console.
Micheal slowly peeked above the console and gasped. I followed his lead and couldn't help but gasp and whimper as we looked at the scene in front of us. Tuvok was slumped against his console as the rest of the bridge crew were stunned.
"T-Tu-Tuvok?" Micheal stammered out. Unsure if he was possessed or not. Tuvok looked towards us. His eyes weren't glazed over so...he must be OK right?
"We-We must get them to sickbay." He said in an unusual shaky voice. We nodded in agreement and looked over to Mommy on the floor. We had failed her.
-----
(20 minutes later.)
Captain Kathryn Janeway's POV
I groaned as my headache throbbed and thankfully Tom pressed a painkiller hypospray against my neck.
"That should do it, Captain." Tom chirped as Micheal, Sarah and Mollie refused to leave my side as I hoped from the biobed and stretched my neck.
"Thank you, Mister Paris. I feel better already. Any luck getting the Doctor back online?" I asked as Tom put down the hypospray.
"Not yet. Whoever did this put up one hell of a roadblock. I'm going to have to break through at least six levels of encryption to access the holo-emitters." Harry said and he looked up at us. "If Bini was here this could only take...maybe an hour."
"Bini isn't here, Harry. How long is it going to take?" I asked with mild annoyance because I knew he was right. Bini would have been able to get this done faster but...Seska took away the opportunity and a valued crewmember.
"Two, maybe three hours." He replied.
"Torres to Janeway." B'Elanna voices interrupted.
"Go ahead." I granted.
"Captain, can you come down to Engineering? There's something here I think you should see." B'Elanna said over the channel with a hint of concern.
"I'm on my way. Janeway out." I closed the channel and looked at Tom as he cleaned up. "Mister Paris, you're our temporary medic until the Doctor returns."
"Right."
"Ensign, I need you on the Bridge." I informed Harry and he followed me out with the kids and Mollie, who were unusually silent.
-----
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres POV
"I've been trying to reconstruct the damaged sensor logs from Tuvok and Chakotay's shuttlecraft." I explained as I puttered between two consoles as the Captain and her children waited for me to continue in peak interest.
"I didn't have any luck until I ran a parity trace scan. Captain, the sensor logs weren't destroyed by an energy discharge. Someone erased them, and then overloaded the sensor matrix to make it look like they'd been damaged. It gets worse. There was enough information left in the backup logs for me to reconstruct what happened during the attack. They were near a dark matter nebula and an energy discharge did breach the hull, but there was no other ship." I concluded.
"No ship?" She repeated in disbelief.
"I'm certain of it. From what I can tell, the energy discharge came from the nebula itself." I reported and showed her a sample of the shuttle's scans on a padd.
"Why would Tuvok lie about an attack?" She muttered as she read the data.
"He must have been under the alien's influence." I replied.
"Bridge to Janeway. We're approaching the dark matter nebula." Harry reported on the channel from the bridge. The Captain quickly tapped her combadge.
"Janeway here. Acknowledged. Janeway out." She replied and cut the channel. Then looked back at me with a distressed expression. "How long until the magneton flash scan is ready to go?"
"The sensor arrays are charging now. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes." I estimated.
"When it's ready, transfer control of the scan to the Bridge. In the meantime, I think we should take a look at exactly what it is we're not supposed to see." Janeway snapped and stormed out of engineering, followed by Micheal, Sarah and Mollie who each looked worried on their own.
-----
Captain Kathryn Janeway's POV
We swiftly walked out of engineering and I spun around and stopped my children in their tracks. They slowly looked up at me with startled and nervous eyes as they gave me a small weak smile. I had a bad feeling, a bad feeling mostly about the safety of my children.
"Why are you two so quiet?" I asked with my chin held high. They looked at each other then back at me with hardened expressions.
"We...Um...We failed you..." Micheal whispeared and they looked down at the ground in defeat. I raised an eyebrow and knelt down to them. Causing them to look at me once I reached their level.
"You didn't fail me." I said softly. "You guys couldn't have done anything to stop it. Understand?" They nodded, unconvinced but decided not to argue the point.
--10 minutes later--
"Mister Tuvok, can you locate the ion trail of the alien ship that attacked you?" I asked as we entered the bridge with the new information. Trying to sound as unsuspious as I could. Tuvok nodded as he stood at his security station.
"I believe so." Tuvok said. "Mister Kim, lay in that course. Shields are at maximum, Captain. All preparations for entering the nebula are complete."
"Captain, I've finished the bioanalysis the doctor was running on Kes before he was deactivated. I think he was on to something. If I'm interpreting his data correctly, the bruises on Kes's neck and shoulders were the result of a Vulcan neck pinch." Paris exclaimed from his station with wide eyes as he moved from his eyes looking at me to narrowing at the sight of Tuvok. Everyone stopped working and looked at Tuvok. All ten officers (With Mollie, Micheal and Sarah.) looked at him with suspion.
"Lieutenant?" I question with a hostile tone.
"I have no memory of injuring Kes. Perhaps I was occupied by the alien at that time."
"Perhaps so, but then, why does it keep attacking you? In three separate instances now, it's assaulted you."
"I am the Chief of Security. It may see me as a particular threat." Tuvok excused.
"So far, you've posed no greater threat than anyone else, and yet it keeps going after you." I pressed.
"Captain, I believe you are having a typically human response to circumstances which are frightening and inexplicable, commonly known as paranoia." Tuvok accused. Micheal and Sarah shot him hostile looks.
"Maybe, but I don't think it's paranoia that's keeping me from picking up this ion trail of yours. What bandwidth are you on?" I asked as I leaned against the station.
"I'm using a multiphasic scan. If you examine the alpha K band, you will see it." He said and I moved beside him to confirm. He was correct. It should quite clearly on the console. But appearacies can be deceiving.
"Yes, here it is. A very interesting ion trail." I said as I ran my finger on the diagram. "There's no sign of any subspace distortions in its wake. According to these readings, it's a ship without engines. You're lying, Tuvok. There is no alien ship, and there never was. We're not going inside that nebula until we get some answers. Mister Kim, reverse course and--"
Tuvok suddenly yanked out his phaser and pointed it at me with a stone expression and everyone gasped and backaway. Sarah hid behind me as Micheal and Mollie stood in front ready to fight.
"Belay that order. That is exactly what the alien has been trying to do, keep us from entering the nebula. I suspect the captain has been occupied. I am relieving her of command. Ensign, proceed into the nebula, one half impulse." He ordered, his Vulcan exterior had a crack in it.
"Don't do it, Harry." I warned, casting him a quick glance, then looked back at Tuvok.
"Now, Ensign." Tuvok harshly barked. Which was very out of character. This gave Harry the damning evidence not to got through with it. Harry took a step away from his console.
"No sir, I won't do it." Harry snapped.
"I must inform you this phaser is on single beam dispersal and is pointed at your precious Captain, set to kill. I am taking command of this Bridge. I must ask you all to stand together where I can see you." He informed us as he crossed the bridge and herded everyone into a small group. "Step away from the console, Ensign."
Harry slowly stepped away from Ops and joined the small group, Mollie started to bark at Tuvok as he took over the Ops console and the bridge crew surrounded me. Durst and Harry started to fill me in before Tuvok's takeover.
"Captain, we're entering the nebula." Durst reported as the viewscreen confirmed his findings.
"Captain, I was picking up some kind of energy pulses in the nebula, highly coherent, with a biomatrix before Tuvok took over my station" Harry informed me.
"Life forms." I concluded softly.
"And they're heading this way." Harry whispered. I sucked in a deep breath and took a step away from the group. I looked Tuvok right in the eye.
"Those beings out there, are they your people?" I softly asked, determined to find answers.
"We are the Komar. This is our domain." He snapped and tapped in a few commands. Then looked back at me with the phaser pointed directly at me. Suddenly, the ship jolted to a screeching stop, causing everyone to lose their balance.
"What's happening?" I demanded. Durst stumbled into a console and brought up a ship status report.
"The warp core's been ejected!" Durst exclaimed.
"No. No! We must continue!" Tuvok yelled as he frantically tried to keep the ship moving.
"Torres to Bridge. Captain I think I was just taken over by the alien. One second I was working the plasma relays and the next thing I knew, I was ejecting the warp core." B'Elanna informed me on the com channel abruptly. Soft mummers of confusion went around the group as Sarah held tighter to me and Micheal and Mollie were on edge as they looked at everyone.
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Stand by." I replied and closed the channel as Tuvok kept checking back at us with his phaser still pointed at my head.
"I don't get it. If the alien's in Tuvok, how could it be down in Engineering at the same time?" Tom asked the group. Harry shrugged beside me as Sarah and Micheal looked up at me in fear as I had trouble getting past the fact that I didn't understand how the warp core was ejected. B'Elanna wasn't...
"I don't know. Unless there are two aliens." Harry replied in the background.
"Two?" Tom repeated in confusion.
"Wait a minute." I interrupted. "Lieutenant Torres isn't authorized to eject the warp core on her own. That requires a command code authorization. Computer, who authorized the ejection of the warp core?"
"The authorization was entered by Commander Chakotay."
"Chakotay." I repeated in disbelief.
"How is that possible?" Harry asked.
"The alien in Tuvok wants us in that nebula, but there's another presence that's been trying to keep us out. It doesn't make sense unless it's Chakotay and he knows we'll be in danger if we go in there." I concluded.
"But he's in Sickbay. He's brain dead." Harry reminded me, as if I had forgotten the absence of my first officer.
"Maybe not. Maybe his neural energy was displaced somehow and he's able to move from person to person." I explained.
"Tuvok's engaged emergency thrusters. We're moving again, Captain." Durst reported beside me and pointed to the status report as the vibrations under our feel increased.
"You brought us here, for what? To extract our neural energy?" I snapped at Tuvok to catch his attention.
"Very perceptive, Captain. The collective neural energy of your crew will sustain my people for years to come." He bragged and continued to input commands as the ship went further into the nebula.
"You don't have to do this. Maybe we can help you find another source of energy." I suggested.
"Captain, we're under attack. We're being bombarded by the energy beings." Harry said as the beings began to attach themselves onto the ship with a few moving to the viewscreen. The flash-scan should be up and running by now. I looked down at my command chair and the console beside it. I took in a deep breath and looked back at Tuvok as he was momentarily distracted.
"Mommy-No," Micheal whispered as he realised what I was about to do with big watery eyes.
"I am sorry."
I dived underneath the railing and reached to turn on the console. I managed to tap in a few commands when suddenly I heard a phaser fire and noises of alarm, and then pain. Burning pain hit me in the side of my stomach. I struggled to block it out and retreat as I reached for the last button and managed to press it.
I trembled away and fell to the floor, Sarah and Micheal began pleading that I stay awake as I became aware of the flash scan flashing the light around the ship. I struggled to stay conscious as Tuvok stumbled away from Ops and was blinded. Paris quickly jumped to action and yanked his phaser out of his hands. Tuvok collapsed and one of the energy beings left his body and went through the bulkhead.
My vision started to blur as I realized I was losing blood in my side were the phaser hit me. I was tired, too tired. My heavy eyes closed and I fell into a blissful sleep with Micheal and Sarah still begging.
-----
(I am about to completely screw this story up. I am sorry if you hate this part of the story in advance. It just kinda popped into my head as an idea so I am running with it. How do we know that the Kazon weren't spying on Voyager anyway? Seska could have helped them evade their sensors.
Side Note: I got the events of the story confused. Let's just pretend Bini has the computer needed to hack at this point and the mission already happened because I screwed up my own timeline because I am stupid and didn't plan this out very well.)
Bini Filters's POV
I watched Voyager enter the dark nebula from the Kazon ship on the bridge. I looked at Seska and she fidgetted and nervously paced.
"What the hell are they doing?" Cullah raged and slammed his fist on the nearest console, causing it to crack.
The context of this was what I was trying to make sense. We had been tracking Voyager from a distance. I had managed to hack into only one set of Voyager's cameras and that was sickbay. We had known a little about the situation. Something about some sort of energy beings taking over some crewmembers and how they were going to the exact spot where the issue started.
Seska and Cullah had a plan to take over Voyager, but they couldn't very well do that if the ship was destroyed which I guarantee is going to happen the deeper they get into there. Seska kept swearing as Cullah looked like he was ready to kill the nearest officer in anger.
"Those idiots! They are going to get themselves killed and that ship destroyed. We need to do something!" Seska ranted.
"Wait! I might have an idea." I said. Cullah and Seska glared at me with hostile hatred but decided it was best to listen to any suggestion at this point or else their prize would be space dust within a matter of hours. On the scanners, it showed that Voyager's were shot and needed to be overhauled and completely repaired.
"Voyager will never be able to get out of there if they keep going. We have mapped the nebula. Chakotay's wheel is in sickbay and is currently unoccupied. I could beam over and rearrange the stones to show them a way out." I suggested.
"How stupid do you think we are?" Cullah snapped in rage. Honestly...pretty stupid. Won't lie. But I certainly won't tell him that.
"Maybe, I just wasn't clear enough. Your prize is going to be destroyed and this is the only way to save them!" I barked. Cullah and Seska "quietly" decided whether or not to go through with it. Finally, they turned to me. Cullah started barking orders to get closer to the nebula as Seska came over to my station.
"Fine. We have agreed. BUT. I have the trigger weapon." She stroked the device on her hip that was connected to the torture device in my brain. "If you don't come back, I will use it."
I nodded and quickly hacked into Voyager's transporter system.
"Transport Bini FIlters to sickbay." I ordered and the blue beam took me from the Kazon back to Voyager.
Once I rematerialized I felt very uneasy. Which I think is allowed due to the circumstances.
I tip-toed across the ever clean sickbay and reached Chakotay's wheel. I looked down at him for a moment with an uneasy feeling that someone was watching me. I looked over to Kes and Chakotay, who were both unresponsive. I shrugged it off and continued. I quickly placed the stones in direct order of a course they should match it get out of the nebula. I, then, turned to the medical console and quickly deleted any records I was there and did a site-to-site transport.
I made sure that it would be deleted also, then as the transport took place I saw Neelix enter. Luckily, he was distracted by a padd once I reappeared on the Kazon ship and uneasy wobbled back to my station and slumped against it. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose as my headache got worse, then I looked towards Seska and Cullah who were waiting for an answer.
"I did it." I stated. They nodded and began to bark out more orders.
-----
Micheal Janeway's POV
Mommy wasn't waking up. Sarah shook her and shook her to wake up but she didn't. She was bleeding a lot. Too much blood. I held my hands against her wound as Mollie kept nudging her and whining for help as Tom scanned Mommy and had pulled out a medkit while trying to calm us down.
"Is Mommy going to die?!" Sarah cried as tears streamed down our faces.
"No, no, she isn't," Tom replied with a small smile and took out a dermal regenerator.
Meanwhile, the bridge officers were arguing over who was in charge beside us now that Tom and Mommy were...busy.
"Who is in charge now?" Rollins demanded and mummers ran through the crowd.
"I am...I suppose." Harry said. Rollins raised an eyebrow. The rest of the bridge staff looked at him with a raised eyebrow and uncertainty.
"You? That's just typical." An Ex-Maquis Ensign muttered in the back. Harry looked at the Ensign with a glare.
"Is there a problem with that? I am a senior staff officer." Harry defended.
"Well, why not give any of the Ex-Maquis a chance? We might actually surprise you for once. We aren't all cold-blooded killers, you know." The Ensign fought back. Mommy was dying as they stood there arguing. I stood up with my fist clenched together and I pushed my way into their group and stood in the middle, enraged that they would allow my Mommy to die for some silly fight.
"Stop! Just let Harry be in command! This stupid fight is hurting Mommy! Mommy is going to die if you don't stop." I yelled. Causing everyone to stop bickering and back down, giving Harry command since Tom was busy.
"Computer, transport Tom Paris, Captain Janeway, Mollie, Micheal and Sarah Janeway to sickbay." Harry ordered and we all shimmered away to sickbay.
(I am jumping ahead here because I am lazy.)
-----
(Acting Captain's log. Ensign Harry Kim, stardate 48735.9. We have returned to the co-ordinates where we ejected the warp core and have successfully retrieved it. Now we're hoping the Doctor will be able to successfully reintegrate Commander Chakotay's consciousness. Captain Janeway had taken a severe wound during the battle but is now resting.)
Chakotay's POV
(Time: 11 pm.)
"Did it work?"
"It appears so. Commander. Can you hear me?"
My eyes fluttered open and I groaned as I sat up, my head was throbbing and I felt dizzy as the Doctor grabbed a hypospray and pressed it against my neck to relieve the dizziness and headache.
"Yes. I'm a little dizzy, but I think I'm all here." I jokingly replied as I became more aware of my surroundings and noticed that only B'Elanna and the Doctor were there to greet me. Where was the Captain?
"How did you manage to reintegrate his consciousness?" B'Elanna mistakingly asked the Doctor, which caused him to puff up his chest and looked around proudly.
"It involved three neural transceivers, two cortical stimulators and fifty gigaquads of computer memory. I would be happy to take you through the process, but it would take at least ten hours to explain it all to you. Needless to say, it was a remarkable procedure. I would consider writing a paper about it if there were a convenient forum in which to publish it." He ranted as B'Elanna gave him a disgusted look and ignored him.
"What happened, Chakotay?" B'Elanna asked.
"After the attack on the shuttle, I had the sensation of floating above my own body. I thought I was dead. But then I got back to Voyager and realized I was disembodied. I couldn't speak, I couldn't touch anything. But then I found if I concentrated on someone who was in the room with me, I could share their consciousness. At first, I could only do little things with the host's body. Push buttons, work a console. As time went on, it became easier to do more left." I explained. She nodded.
"Yeah. That makes sense. Unfortunately, I have to repair a warp core that someone decided to dump." She said with a smirk that told me she wasn't going to kill me and she quickly left for engineering as the Doctor scanned me over with a medical tricorder.
"I would like you to stay here for a few more hours so I can monitor your condition before you leave." He said as he snapped shut his tricorder. I nodded and rested against the biobed again. Suddenly, I felt tugging on my medical clothing sleeve. I looked down to see Mollie tugged on my sleeve.
"Mollie?" I muttered. She continued to tug, a sign that she was urging me to follow her. I slowly got up and followed her closely across the surgical area to the nearest biobed.
That was occupied by the Captain. She was asleep and was also wearing a medical gown with her long hair loose and Sarah was sleeping next to her with a blanket around them and Micheal was dozing off on the seat, curled up next to the biobed.
"Micheal?" I whispered as Mollie moved away from me and hopped onto the biobed and layed at the foot of her biobed as I rested a hand on Micheal's shoulder.
"Huh, oh, um. Hi Commander." Micheal groggily said. Micheal has not warmed up to me and refuses to call me anything but Commander. Perhaps this was my chance to befriend him. He sat up and looked at his mother again with tired eyes.
"Hey, Micheal. How are you guys doing?" I softly asked. He shrugged and let out a long yawn.
"Sarah and I are fine. *Yawn* I think Mommy is stable right now." He replied with his eyes half-closed. I rubbed his back as his eyes dropped and his head rested against my shoulder once I had grabbed a chair and sat down next to him.
Suddenly, I realized he had fallen asleep. I smiled and felt my own eyes close. The last thing I heard was the Doctor call lights off in sickbay.
---Two days later---
Life had returned relatively normal after the events two days ago. But something had bothered me...Maybe it was just a delusion in my state. Since I wasn't exactly in my body during that time but in sickbay I had managed to return. I knew how to get out of the nebula, but the sensors were destroyed and they couldn't find a way out. I needed to use someone as a host. But there was no one in sickbay available. I didn't know what to do.
Suddenly, the transporter beam was activated and a familiar small figure appeared in a black cloak with a hood on looked around the room quickly. If I was able to make noise I would certainly gasp.
I watched as Bini Filters scurried over to my wheel. I looked at her closely, she was paler than before, thinner, and had a bruise on her right cheek. She looked down at me and then at Kes for a moment of fear in her eyes before she began to rearrange the stones in the direct pattern that I was about to do.
She stepped back and examined it for a moment then rushed to the medical console behind her and she quickly deleted the records she was ever there and transported herself out of sickbay just as Neelix came in. Neelix looked up in alarm. But, Bini was already gone by that time and he shrugged it off. But, then noticed the wheel and contacted the bridge from the strange change.
I had seen Bini. The crew assumed that I had done this to the wheel but...that wasn't true. The Captain should know. Kathryn should know that Bini hadn't betrayed us, or at least not completely.
Suddenly, my door chimed and I jolted up.
"Come in." I choke out.
Captain Janeway had hesitantly stepped in and gave me a small smile.
"Hello, Chakotay. How are you doing?" She greeted. I shrugged and invited her to sit down as I headed to the replicator.
"I am doing fine. Would you like a drink?" I asked. She shook her head "no thanks." and took my invitation to sit down.
"How did you know to warn us with the wheel?" She asked. Getting straight to the point.
"I didn't." I responded. She blinked a couple of times in confusion.
"I don't understand." She said.
"I saw Bini." I simply said and then proceeded to explain what I had seen at the time with Bini in sickbay. There seemed to be a flicker of hope in her eyes as she listened to my description of the events.
Maybe there was hope for Bini to return to Voyager after all.
--End of Chapter 28: Next: Faces.--
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