Amal twisted around a large container, his fleeing feet having to pause as he realised that ahead of him there was only the overhang looking out over the main hall of the power plant, no cover whatsoever. He glanced around frantically for an escape route, finally seeing a small maintenance corridor out of the corner of his eye but before he could turn towards it a hot, searing pain tore at his side and as he buckled over from the shock and agony he heard cries of triumph from his pursuers, much closer behind him than he’d thought. His judgement clouded with pain, he bolted forward blindly, only coming to his senses when his legs slammed into the balcony’s barrier and his mind registered the steep drop below. With a gasp he looked behind him, within seconds they’d see him and he’d either be dragged off for questioning or shot dead on the spot. Focusing his mind for a moment on the barrier, he made his decision and vaulted over it, ignoring the pain which surged through him as he concentrated on keeping his grip of the thin ledge from which he hung precariously and holding his body so that it couldn’t be seen from above. He heard a young guard reach the edge and call, “He’s not here! Call the medics; I think he might have jumped…” Amal made his move and forced himself to climb, with lightning speed, back up the barrier and threw all his strength into punching the man lights out before swinging himself back over, almost collapsing onto the unconscious man’s body as his own body screamed for relief but he had enough presence of mind to gather himself back up and bolt down the maintenance corridor without being seen.
“Commander! Can you hear me?” The Doctor shouted frantically down the comm. line as he heard phaser fire in the background. He swore vehemently as he realised that the signal had already cut out. At that moment the buzz of the transporter filled the room but his relief was short lived as only a screaming and panic stricken B’Elanna materialised with Chakotay nowhere in sight. Her huge eyes swivelled around Sickbay in terror but the sight of the door propelled her forward and, unfortunately for her, straight into the well prepared Doctor’s arms. “Lieutenant, I know this is confusing for you but…” He tried to explain as she violently fought his grip.
“Confusing?” she shrieked incredulously. “You’ve kidnapped me!” With that she pulled up her leg and kneed him between the legs, her face blanching in disbelief as his only reaction was surprise rather than the anticipated agony and, with her panic now deepening even further, she lashed out with everything she had, “LET ME GO!” she screamed breathlessly.
For once, the Doctor was glad he was a hologram, if he’d been a real human male that would have really hurt, but as it was he dragged her to the biobed, grasping around for his antidote hypospray as he did so. “Lieutenant, stop this! It’s not good for your baby!” He told her with difficulty as she tried to scratch him. Guilt pulled at him as he finally succeeded injecting the hypospray into her neck.
“No…” She began to choke out before slumping forward into unconsciousness. After gently laying her out on the biobed and checking her over, he ran an exasperated hand over his forehead, God, I hope it gets a little easier than that, he thought silently as his thoughts moved anxiously back to his other crewmates, still in extreme danger.
Amal leaned against the wall with a ragged gasp, disturbed to see that he’d left behind a trail of blood and that it was now pooling at his feet, the gaping wound in his side throbbing constantly. He couldn’t just stagger around until he collapsed, he realised, he had to find a place to hide and, hopefully, treat this wound before he thought of anything else. It was far too dangerous to return to Voyager, if he was found there the whole plan would be discovered and they were all done for, he doubted he could get back into the salvage yard without Annika’s help anyway… Nausea and dizziness interrupted his train of thought for a moment but it soon returned to Annika, he hoped she’d gotten out of that hospital alright, there was no way he could help her now. He considered going to her quarters but quickly dismissed the thought as selfish, it was too big a risk for both her and Icheb and besides, her quarters were situated at the other side of the complex, there was no way he’d get there in one piece. Well, what are my other options? He thought to himself in frustration, wracking his memory for somewhere… His eyes blearily wandered, eventually falling on an out of use thermal control panel, and suddenly a face, accompanied by an idea, surged into his brain.
By sheer luck he remembered a conversation between “Miss Level Six” as he still mentally called her, even though he now knew she was really his commanding officer, and Jaffen about her moving into his apartment and he recalled Annika reeling off the addresses of the Voyager crew, maybe… He stopped mid stumble and glanced up at the street code before peering into the darkened apartment’s windows, it certainly looked uninhabited and that was all he needed. With a pain wracked groan he pressed his shoulder against the heavy door, feeling insanely grateful when it opened easily, it was in fact unlocked. Too cautious to switch on the lights, he groped around the cupboards in the dark for a med kit but the place was bare, he found nothing. Oh God, he thought distantly as blood again appeared at his feet, I’ll need to find somewhere else now… Despite this thought, before he knew it his body had sagged against the wall and slid to the floor, and he was too drained to even try to get back up.
Annika walked as quickly as she thought she could without raising questions, her mind reeling from all the information she’d absorbed in the hospital, she now knew this whole sick scheme was much bigger than either she or Amal had ever considered… She was jerked from her thoughts by the blare of a loudspeaker near her ear. “Workers, this is a law enforcement bulletin. Amal Kotay, Employee number 8379, is on the run after the disappearance of B’Elanna Torres. He is dangerous and should not be approached under any circumstance, if you see him call the Police immediately on…”
Annika’s head snapped up in horror to see Amal’s face plastered across the computer screen above her head. “No…” She choked out, stopping herself when her exclamation garnered some odd looks from the workers around her and quickly darting into a quiet corner, pressing down on the sub-dermal comm. device in her hand, “Amal? Amal, this is Annika, respond.” She was met with silence, not even static could be heard on the other end. “Please Amal…” She pleaded desperately, feeling tears of fear and worry prick at her eyes when even that brought no reply. “Oh God, where are you?” she muttered under her breath, glancing down again at her hand, the comm. device did have a tracer in it, but she’d need to activate it somehow… Rashly she pulled a knife out of her pocket and dug it determinedly into her flesh, thankfully retrieving the device almost immediately and beginning to tamper with it before even attending to her bleeding hand, biting on her lip on suppress the pain and throwing the knife away. The pain was worth it though, as a small red light confirmed that the tracer was active. “Yes!” she exclaimed in relief before setting off to find him.
Amal found his gaze dreamily focusing on the ever increasing size of the red stain he was lying on as he drifted in and out of consciousness. I really should try to get up, he thought again, weakly attempting to get his legs to take his weight but they shook and gave out, just as the sound of the door made him tense with fear and back away further into the shadows. He wasn’t hidden entirely from sight however, “Amal?”
“Amal?” Annika repeated again as she slammed the door closed behind her and switched on the light. “Oh no…” She gasped in horror as she saw him fully. He was collapsed against a wall, both it and the carpet surrounding him soaked scarlet with blood. “What happened?” she cried out as she ran over and sank to her knees beside him, only now seeing the full extent of the gaping hole in his side.
“Shot…” He mumbled distractedly, his skin gleaming feverishly and his dark eyes glazed over with pain.
“I can see that…” Annika mumbled, utterly distraught, before gently trying to lift him up. “Come on, you need the Doctor now…”
He finally seemed to focus on her. “Annika?” he whispered brokenly.
Annika found herself stroking his damp face. “Yes, it’s me. You…you’re going to be fine…”
“I…” Amal began to croak out but Annika put her hand firmly to his lips.
“Shh… Don’t try to talk. I’m going to help you…” She soothed desperately, despite her own feelings of fear.
“What the hell is going on here?” A new voice exclaimed suddenly and Annika turned to see a shocked auburn haired woman standing in the doorway, staring at them in horror.
A/n: Please review! :D
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Star Trek Voyager: Fragments
FanfictionWhat if, during "Workforce", not only Tuvok but also Seven and Chakotay, retained fragmented memories of their real lives? C/7 and a little Janeway/Jaffen and P/T in later chapters.
