Disclaimers, ratings and warnings are in Part 1.
THE BADLANDERS
PART TWENTY
Doctor Krell had trouble holding Chakotay down. The angry man had lifted himself twice to a sitting position. The next moment Krell couldn't breathe as strong fingers squeezed the air from his lungs. He had coughed, sputtered, refused to be intimidated. Chakotay was a patient for now. Perhaps not, Krell decided. It needed qualification. He was an experiment, one that three doctors hoped would work to restore him to his former life and unlock the memories that had been violently purged from him.
"I don't want anything to happen to her. Get that?"
The way Chakotay's words rang about the room, he could very well have been threatening all of them. Should Captain Janeway die at their hands, there would be hell to pay. Should Chakotay die at their hands, there would be hell to pay. That was the sound of the threat. They tried to sedate him, but it seemed Chakotay was on a warpath of a different kind. Krell could understand the man's concerns. Here was the embodiment of all evil telling them to look after a woman he violated with no respect for her rank, her sensibilities, or respect for her person. But Chakotay had sensed that he had a life, a far better one than the one he lived in the Badlands and that was what had become attractive. Added to that, Captain Janeway made him realise that he could be a different person, that she was part of his past. Now, having tasted some of it, it waved with long tentacles at him calling him tantalisingly closer to knowing what it was that he missed.
So after his choking and sputtering, Chakotay glared at him.
"Do everything in your power to save her, understand?"
Chakotay looked fierce, restless, worried that something could go wrong with the operation. If truth be told, he was a little worried too, but he wasn't going to admit that to the angry warrior with the angry tattoo. He had had time to study Chakotay's history in the ship's database. His people murdered. Dorvan V destroyed. Genocide committed by the Cardassians in full view of the Federation and seemingly with the Federation's blessing. Was that why Vulcan had agreed to help Janeway and Chakotay find their lives again? He remembered that the Cardassians had attacked Vulcan too, as well as some of her colonies.
Doctor Krell touched Chakotay's shoulder in a reassuring gesture.
"Yes, Captain Chakotay. I promise we will do everything and more. Please, you must lie still," he said as he administered a sedative.
"I will personally k - "
But Chakotay's eyes closed before he could finish. Krell nodded to the Vulcan scientist who stepped forward and began to place tiny transponders at his temples. A cortical stimulator was placed against his forehead.
"Captain Chakotay is safe now, Doctor Krell, in the care of the nurse," Doctor Survot said. "Come, Captain Janeway has been prepared for surgery."
He looked at the nurse who must have sensed his scepticism.
"Do not be concerned, Doctor Krell, that Captain Chakotay will run away…"
He shook his head, then followed Survot to the adjoining room separated from them only by a glass partition.
Krell sighed deeply as he looked at his captain. She was prepared to die for the sake of saving Chakotay's life. He didn't know what their history was together but there was one, a very loving one, he surmised. She lay on her back, her head turned to the side, a small area at the base of her skull shaved. He stood closer and only now he could see the small contusion. Did the MRT shift? he wondered. His heart beat erratically. He was a doctor, but watching the Vulcan scientists was a revelation. They were detached, nerveless; he admired that they could work without showing a single sign of panic.
"Ready..."
Then he watched. The small incision was made in the contusion. He was right. The slight bump must have been the result of movement. No infection had shown up on the scans so she was at least clear of that. The scientists worked swiftly, efficiently, speaking little.
Minutes later, a piece of the skull, no more than a square centimetre, was lifted, like a plate, and placed carefully in a dish. Now lay exposed the MRT, a tiny metal chip that resembled strangely enough, a spider – fat body, ten gangly legs. The tiny sensors were embedded at least one third of the way at their points in her skull, penetrating the membrane. What amazed him was how calmly Survot used the laser to wean away hard tissue and expose the thin sensors. It took skill to operate manually. It would have been easy to transport the MRT, but the very antennae he was looking at, were growing into the soft tissue of her brain.
He remembered in the two weeks they traveled the the Badlands why she complained so often of headaches...
Kathryn's body suddenly shuddered.
"Stop!" he whispered urgently as the convulsions increased. He tried to hold her head, keep her from moving too much, or worse, bite her tongue..
"Doctor, the hypospray…"
"Yes, yes," he responded, holding the captain's head still before administering the drug, a light sedative to reduce the convulsions. Seconds later the captain lay quiet again, though strangely, a tear seeped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. Krell monitored her breathing which was normal again. But she had given him a start. He remembered Chakotay's threat.
One by one the minute tentacles were exposed. Once again Kathryn went into convulsions and as he tried to stop it, Survot explained "Two of the sensors have grown into the soft brain tissue and are mimicking her nerves, countermanding their instructions."
His heart hammered. Only twenty minutes had passed but it felt to him like an eternity.
Finally, Doctor Survot lifted the tiny MRT very carefully from its bedding and placed it in an alcohol solution for ten seconds.
Hardly had they time to dry the MRT when her body started convulsing again. Krell thought of Chakotay's demand, that they do everything to keep her alive. But now, despite a stronger dose, her body kept shuddering.
"Doctor, perhaps this will help," said the other scientist who stepped forward. "It's a Vulcan drug used to curb seizures."
He was thankful, stepped back to let T'Prit administer the drug. The Captain's teeth were chattering. He held her hands, her nails digging into his skin. Seconds later, the shuddering stopped.
"We have to hurry," said T'Prit as he fitted the plate they had removed earlier back into the open socket. A regenerator was used to seal the edges. A pain reliever was admnistered. When she woke up she would be tired, but free of pain.
"Do not worry, Doctor Krell. Captain Janeway has been stabilised, but it is advisable that we keep her isolated in a private room and let her wake naturally. She is in need of sleep."
He just nodded mutely, touching the captain's hand. She was deathly pale, unconscious after her body had gone into shock. But she was over the worst and half of the procedure was completed. Two nurses entered silently, lifted the captain on a narrow stretcher and wheeled her out to a more private room.
He wanted to follow them, but Survot held him back.
"Captain Janeway is in good hands, Doctor Krell. Your presence at the integration procedure is required as you could shed light on whether the integration had been successful based on Captain Chakotay's responses."
"Thank you, Doctor Survot. I am honoured."
They returned to Chakotay. Krell hoped the warrior wouldn't wake up and a hand would reach quick as a snake for his throat to throttle him again. He had that power and Chakotay was as strong as a beast. The cortical stimulator, he realised now, wasn't one at all, but a receiver which Survot opened by means of a tiny disk on the upper side, leaving, like in Captain Janeway's skull, a similar housing for the MRT. In fact, it was not only similar, but the MRT fitted perfectly, along with the tiny sensors that lay fanned liked a spider's feet, each one fitting into its slot. Survot closed the receiver. Krell shook his head. They must have implanted the transponder in Captain Janeway right here on Vulcan in the first place and had built the receiver/stimulator to match here as well. Something that Captain Janeway and Tuvok must have arranged long before the time. Also, how did they get the memory chip in the first place?
"Doctor T'Prit, proceed."
Krell kept his eyes on Chakotay. Only the slightest of movements indicated that the MRT had been activated by T'Prit. Survot monitored the transfer of data on his computer.
"It will take four minutes and thirty seven seconds," Survot said.
If it weren't so serious, Krell would have laughed. Four minutes for possibly years of memories? But then, gigaquads of information could be downloaded within seconds. This was a delicate procedure and already Captain Janeway had gone into shock during the operation, suffered convulsions three times and was finally stabilised. He had to be on hand here to monitor Chakotay's emotional and physical responses after the transfer was completed. He wanted to be with Captain Janeway and be there when she woke up, but he had a feeling that that would not be his privilege. A certain warrior with a tattoo lying still while his memories were being re-integrated into his brain, would most certainly claim his right by her side.
Krell thought how their journey had started out, how Captain Janeway expressed her reluctance to her senior officers about entering the Badlands. Was there something going on? Was there more to this business than she let on? Of course, there had to be. She wouldn't be lying here in a ward with Chakotay receiving his memories back if there hadn't being anything. He could only guess.
Several hours ago he had seen Captain Janeway handing a PADD to Tom Paris. Tom, Harry Kim, Eldred Dickson and Nick Locarno had already left in the Liberty's small shuttle, the Limpet. What their mission was, he didn't know. But he knew something was afoot. Everything seemed to have been cloaked in secrecy, not so much from Captain Janeway herself, but Paris, Locarno and Kim. He wondered about Harry Kim. The young ensign had been whored on the Liberty by Paris, yet he chose to accompany the man who violated him, who allowed his friends to beat Kim to within an inch of his life.
Strange.
"Doctor…"
He jerked to the present. All eyes were on Chakotay who lay very still. T'Prit and Survot made a production of removing the small sensors at his temples. Chakotay was still unconscious.
"Download complete," said T'Prit, removing the cortical stimulator from Chakotay's forehead. "You may now wake him, Doctor Krell."
He had the hypospray ready, clamped between damp fingers. He could feel a film of perspiration on his upper lip. What if it didn't work? What if all their work was for nothing? What if Janeway died? He had been assured of the success of the procedure, assured by the Vulcan doctors that nothing would go wrong, that they had a hundred percent chance of success.
Now he reached for Captain Chakotay's neck, pressed the hypospray.
There was a soft hiss.
Chakotay's eyes opened slowly, like one taking in images one by one, cataloguing and remembering, or confused only fleetingly until recognition dawned when his eyes met those of T'Prit and Survot. Dry lips seemed to move. Dark, brooding eyes met with his, connected, stayed, became bewildered.
"Welcome back, Captain Chakotay."
Then Chakotay looked to the left, his eyes colliding with a blank wall. He turned his head to the other side, the side of the glass partition. He turned to them, frowned, turned back to face the partition. Then he lifted himself to a sitting position and true as hell, a hand snaked out and grabbed Krell's neck. Krell saw the contact as panic rather than anger, for Captain Chakotay's eyes shifted maddeningly, as if he indeed missed something intensely. The man was going to wring the life from him.
"Where is Kathryn?" Chakotay asked, his voice hoarse, anguished.
"Captain, you're strangling me...please let me go..."
The vice grip was relaxed instantly, though not the look of abject disquiet in Chakotay's eyes.
"Where is Kathryn? Where is my wife?"
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END PART TWENTY