I Thought You Knew

Chapter 2 - I Will Wait For You

CHAPTER 2:

I Will Wait For You

"Kathryn? Kathryn, are you there?"

She was on New Earth, 5 years ago.

Her vision was blurry. She felt weak.

"Chakotay?" she said weakly.

"Thank goodness I found you. Are you okay?"

No, she wasn't.

"Oh, I'm fine," she lied.

She didn't look fine.

"Do you want to come inside?"

"Okay, sure."

She stood up, and weakly walked out of the patio.

Once they got inside the house, she sat on the couch.

"Do you want some caramel brownies? I know they're your favorite," Chakotay teased. "I'll replicate some for you."

Silence.

Chakotay wondered what in the world had happened to her. He walked out of the kitchen and went to the living room.

"Kathryn?"

When he got to the living room, he found her, passed out on the couch. He smiled. Beautiful even in slumber.

"Come on, wake up sleepy head!" said Chakotay, shaking her.

She wasn't waking up.

Her neck flailed aimlessly as he shook her. As Chakotay looked down at her leg, he saw a trace of something red.

Blood.

At that moment, panic struck through him like a bolt of lightning.

He turned her leg around and found a bite. It had two holes in it, which could only mean one thing.

A snake bite.

He hadn't seen any reptile life signs here, and he certainly hoped there weren't any.

He scanned the wound.

It resembled a cobra bite- one with no anti-venom at that.

"No, no, no!"

He looked at her face. It was porcelain white; all the color had been drained from her body.

But wait. There was still hope. Voyager could be in hailing range.

Chakotay incessantly tapped his comm badge.

"Chakotay to Voyager! Chakotay to Voyager, do you read me?"

This had been going on for 5 minutes. There was no sign of them.

He tried one more time.

"Chakotay to Voyager, do you read me?" he screamed desperately.

Finally, a voice was heard.

"You've just come into comm range, Commander," stated the stoic voice of their Vulcan Tactical Officer, Tuvok.

"Tuvok, the Captain is dying. She was bitten by a venomous reptile, and I don't have the anti-venom here. She's been unconscious for the past 20 minutes. Please send a rescue team, now."

"Acknowledged," Tuvok replied. "I will announce this to the whole ship."

2 minutes later:

Tuvok opened the ship-wide comm line.

"Attention crew. Commander Chakotay has just informed me that the Captain has been incapacitated. She was bitten by a venomous reptile half an hour ago and is currently unconscious."