Star Trek Voyager: Their Human Errors

Star Trek Voyager: Their Human Errors (Chapter 12)

Seven mentally cursed her high heeled boots as she struggled to stay stable on the soggy forest floor but she knew Chakotay was having even more difficulty trying to shuffle along on his injured ankle. He hadn’t once voiced a complaint even as she dragged him along leaning on her shoulder, but she could see the pain of it etched into his face, so vivid that she could almost feel it herself every time the contours of the land jolted him. She could easily ignore the thirst that scratched at her throat as well as the burn of exertion in her legs but the numbness that had begun to effect the shoulder bracing Chakotay was more difficult to avoid and she was too slow to react when Chakotay stumbled over his injured foot and she couldn’t save the fractured bone from having to take his weight. The breathless groan of agony that left his lips, although he hurriedly attempted to stifle it, made Seven wince in sympathy and guilt, “I’m sorry Commander.” She murmured, immediately dismissing her own aches and pains to reposition herself more supportively.

Chakotay had to bite down on his lip to control his urge to grunt in pain as he stubbornly lifted his suffering leg off the ground again. “I’m okay Seven. It wasn’t your fault.” To his surprise she didn’t accept this, glancing up at him sorrowfully from her place under his arm, and he could see from the deep-set frown which settled on her face as she then looked down at his battered limb that she again doubted the decision to move him. “We have to find that wreckage.” He reminded her firmly, in a tone more suited to his superior role on the Bridge than his current dependent situation. “Are we any closer to finding it?”

Seven breathed a heavy sigh as she studied the tricorder she held in one hand. “I calibrated this tricorder to specifically locate any signature from the wreckage, we are apparently heading in the right direction but the nearest fragment I can read is at least two miles away.”

“Two miles?” Chakotay echoed, his mouth curling in bitterly as he thought of the hours it had taken to cross half that distance at his snail’s pace. He could tell by the sun’s position above him that it was already well past noon, night might well fall before they found anything. “And there’s no guarantee that the wreckage that’s closest to us will have the component you need to try to get us out of here?” He asked, his voice unintentionally sharp as he tried to hide his growing despondency.

Seven’s head, already bowed as she held up his exhausted frame, dropped lower in defeat as she shook her head. “No, Commander. As I said, the useful pieces of wreckage could be anywhere but with the hole I managed to create in the shield it is feasible that the main body of the shuttle is still relatively intact, meaning that our best chance would be to find that.”

Chakotay sighed bitterly as he shifted to look Seven more fully in the face, ignoring the stabbing pain in his ankle as he did so. “You’re going to have to find it Seven.” He told her reluctantly.

Seven stared at him in disbelief, her eyes narrowing as his words sank in. “I cannot just leave Chakotay.” She stated with incredulous frustration, “You are injured! It isn’t possible for me to just abandon you…”

“You wouldn’t be, we still have working comm. badges.” He pointed out, “Look Seven…” He ran a hand over his damp forehead as he tried to regulate his breathing to shut out the pain from his mind, “We both know I’m in no fit state to search for the shuttle right now, and we need if we’re going to get back to Voyager.” He watched Seven’s jaw clench as she resisted the logic in his words and as her mouth opened again he somehow knew she was going to fight him, “If we’re going to argue, can we at least have a rest while we’re doing it?” he muttered to her wryly before she could speak.