Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game

Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game (Chapter 29)

Beep. Beep. Beep. Chakotay’s eyes creaked open as his brain could no longer ignore the irritating sound. With a groan he turned on his pillow to face his bleary eyes towards his bedside table and forced his arm, heavy with sleep, to grope around for the baby monitor Seven had given him. Finally his fingers closed around it and he put the speaker to his mouth, “Alright Seven, I’ll be right there…” He muttered drowsily.

Within a few seconds Seven replied in a hushed tone of bemusement, “Celeste is asleep Chakotay, I didn’t contact you.”

“What? Then what was beeping…” He asked in confusion.

Seven couldn’t suppress a tired chuckle. “Did you check your comm. badge?”

“Oh God…” moaned Chakotay, seizing his comm. badge which had been lying right next to the baby monitor, “Yes?”

Janeway’s alert and commanding voice immediately responded, “Good Morning Chakotay, I need you down in Engineering to join the discussion with the Damarians about the fulinium.”

“Yeah, of course… Give me ten minutes to get ready and I’ll be there, okay?” Chakotay replied hastily as he reluctantly surfaced from under the protective warmth of his duvet and grabbed a clean uniform.

“I’ll see you there.” Janeway said calmly before disconnecting the line.

Chakotay sighed and picked up the baby monitor again to speak to Seven. “I think I’m now the perfect guinea pig for studying the effects of sleep deprivation.” He joked as he started to give himself a quick shave to look presentable.

“If the Doctor decides to run such a study I will join you in helping him.” Seven agreed, “To what have you been assigned?” She asked curiously.

Narrowly avoiding cutting himself as he forced his sleep numbed hands to grip the razor, Chakotay answered, “I’ve to go down to Engineering to discuss the trade deal some more, hopefully it won’t take long…”

“I have observed that any sort of diplomacy generally takes a great deal of time.”

Chakotay gave a knowing laugh. “You’ve got that right but I’ll see both of you as soon as it’s finished.”

Chakotay walked into Engineering to find the Captain, B’Elanna and the Doctor all crowded around the console closest to the warp core, their expressions tense. “Where are Taltin and the others?” Chakotay asked as he approached them, “I thought we were continuing the trade talks…”

Janeway sighed and fiddled distractedly with her comm. badge before answering. “Harry’s giving them a tour of the ship while I give some of B’Elanna and the Doctor’s concerns a hearing.”

Chakotay raised a questioning eyebrow in B’Elanna’s direction. “Do you think their claims about fulinium are exaggerated?”

“Not exactly.” B’Elanna replied pensively before regaining confidence as she showed him the scans she’d run on the mineral. “In fact it may make Voyager’s engines run even more efficiently than the Damarians are estimating…”

Janeway appeared slightly frustrated by that information. “The more efficient we are Lieutenant, the quicker we return to the Alpha Quadrant!”

“I’m well aware of that Captain.” B’Elanna reassured her but firmly stood her ground. “What I’m worried about is converting the engines back to deuterium when our supply of fulinium runs out, from what I’ve seen so far it would be an almost impossible task.”

“So…” Chakotay mused thoughtfully, “Once you’re using fulinium there’s no going back, you’re stuck with it.”

B’Elanna nodded and the Doctor piped up in support, “That’s probably the only reason they keep mining it, no one would do it unless they were desperate. When I did my medical checks on the three Damarians I was surprised they still had motor function, I’ve never seen such bad radiation sickness in humanoids that were still alive… I wouldn’t recommend that Voyager’s warp core start belching it out, we’d have a health crisis on our hands.”