Star Trek Voyager: Their Human Errors

Star Trek Voyager: Their Human Errors (Chapter 4)

Chakotay stumbled awkwardly out of Holodeck 1, grimacing as his strained, exhausted eyes made the hallway swim in front of him. Blinking as he tried to regain his bearings, he glanced back at the neighbouring door of Holodeck 2, his frown deepening as the wall console indicated it was activated and occupied; he didn’t need to ask the Computer to know who by. “Damn it Seven…” He groaned under his breath before quickly reproaching himself for his resentful tone. It hadn’t been Seven’s choice to involve him in this, she didn’t even know. That thought added more guilt to the volatile mix of confusing, contradictory emotions that were swirling around his brain. Sinking against the wall with a heavy sigh, he tried to resign himself to, and then accept, what he was experiencing, unconsciously grinding his teeth as he did so. It wasn’t as if he could do anything, he reasoned, but that brought him scant comfort, in fact it made his stomach churn further. He ran a stressed hand through his dishevelled hair and over his face, which was by now rough with stubble. He doubted he looked very much like the exemplary First Officer he strived to be right now. Before he even tried to sort through his options about what he should do about Seven, if anything, he needed a cold shower, a shave and a couple of hours sleep…

“Chakotay? Are you okay?” B’Elanna Torres’ familiar voice dragged him out of his muddled thoughts and he looked up to see that his old friend had stopped in the hallway to peer at him in concern.

He smiled at her apologetically, “I’m fine, just a little…tired.” He told her quietly.

Doubt flashed through B’Elanna’s perceptive dark eyes for a split second before she nodded. “I can believe that, this alien minefield has been giving us quite a run for our money.”

Chakotay cast a worried glance over her ever growing baby bump and visibly swollen ankles. “How have you been coping with the repairs?” Fresh guilt prickled at him as he realised how much the Captain’s fool errand had cut him out of the loop as to the ship’s situation and he sighed again.

“We’re holding up fine, as long as we’re not hit again.” B’Elanna replied with a rueful twitch of her lips. “I’m on my way to the Bridge to update the Captain right now.”

“I’d like to hear that update if you don’t mind.” Chakotay suggested. B’Elanna nodded easily and they fell into step companionably. By the time they entered the turbolift B’Elanna had given him a condensed run through of the situation down in Engineering but his mind had already drifted to his central preoccupation, “Has Seven been assisting you?” he asked, awkwardly clearing his throat.

B’Elanna shot him a questioning look at his nervous tone and pensive expression as she shrugged nonchalantly, “Not really, she’s been dealing with the detection of the alien defences more than anything.” She chuckled wryly, “If she’d been interfering too much you’d have been the first to hear my objections.”

Chakotay winced in disappointment despite his efforts to remain impassive. He’d hoped that Seven hadn’t been spending as much time in the holodeck as he suspected, that his full day of watching the recordings had given him a distorted picture… He saw B’Elanna’s raised eyebrows and forced out the laugh that was expected, “Yeah, I guess I would’ve heard if she’d been causing trouble.”

B’Elanna’s brows knitted as she heard a note of regret, even sadness in his words but she was still perplexed as to the source of his distraction. “Seven did do something a little odd yesterday though…” She mused thoughtfully.