Collection of Changes to Star Trek Voyager *Revised edition*

The Chute

Paris had been living in this prison for what seemed like forever, when one day the alarms blared signaling a new arrival. All the angry men were gathered around waiting for the chute to open up, and when it did a tiny looking thing fell to the ground unconscious and bruised up. Paris immediately recognized that it was his Captain, and quickly pushed through the crowd to reach her. He made it just in time to stop a burly man from grabbing her. "This one is mine!" He yelled out, while holding up a knife. One of the other guys asked why, and Paris took a second to think of a dramatic story "Because she is the one that sold me out. She's the reason I'm stuck here! I want to be the one to get revenge." Luckily everyone backed off, which allowed him to finally check on his captain. He found a really slow pulse, and could see a ton of bruises.

Without waking her, he scooped her up off the cold metal ground and started towards their temporary 'home' until Voyager could get them out. Once he settled her on a blanket, he finally decided to try and wake her up. "Captain! Captain, can you hear me?" He asked, shaking her slightly, and watched as her eyes fluttered open. "Where?" She said extremely quietly. "We're in some type of prison, Captain. Don't worry your memory will come back in a bit." He told her, while grabbing her their only water can and helped her take a sip. "Captain when you first arrived I saw bruises peeking out from your shirt, so I have to ask...did they torture you? And if so, what did they do?" He asked.

Her head dropped and he instantly knew the answer. When Tom turned around to grab something, he heard the Captain stifle a groan. He turned and noticed that she was trying to sit up, but what concerned him more was that she had one arm wrapped around her front and was gripping her side. "Hey, take it easy. Don't try to move." Once she was settled back down he continued to ask "Alright Captain, do you want to tell me about your injuries so I can take a look?" She tried to roll slightly but that only caused pain to rage from her hip to her head. "They are very fond of an advanced taser...Ohh!" She gasped in pain, causing Tom to hold her still. "What else?" He asked her once he got to her to stay still. "I'm fine, just a couple of punches here and there...a lot of tasering...Some kicks."

He quickly grabbed an unused cloth and moved to her side. "Let me take a look? Please?" He asked politely. The only response he received was her lifting up her shirt. He saw the deep red, blue, and purple bruise that expanded her entire left side of her chest. "Oh God Captain! This looks bad. This might hurt but I need to feel the area, so let me just apologize in advance." He told her, while watching her still try to move around. "That's fine Tom...Don't worry about me...Do what you need..." She tiredly told him. Without another moment's hesitation, he pressed down against her side which elicited a loud gasp each time. "Alright Captain, from what I can tell you might have some internal bleeding, and a couple of bruised ribs. Maybe some cracked ribs, but I can't know for certain without a tricorder." He told her, as she was still in excruciating pain. He spoke up and said "There might be a way to get out of here, but I'm not familiar with the mechanics that they used. Maybe you could take a look? I know you are very good at everything."

She smiled and motioned for him to help her up, so he quickly helped her up to her feet. He could tell she had a concussion, so they walked slowly. "Remind me to never...touch a taser again Tom..." She said with a pain filled voice. He looked to see that her nose was scrunched up and her left hand was massaging her side, trying to get the pain to go down, but he could tell each step was taking a lot of effort. "I'm sorry Captain, but if you can figure out how this works we can get you back to the doctor." He said as they walked up to the chute. Tom pointed to the generator pipe that was hidden behind it.

Kathryn slowly took a few steps to examine it. One of the more powerful men from the prison came up and said "What do you want for the woman?" Tom turned and saw that the Captain's shirt was not very long. He pulled out his knife and angrily told him "She's not for sale!" The man wasn't going to take no for an answer, so he lunged towards Tom with a slightly longer knife. They fought and fought, until suddenly Tom had him in a choke hold. The man managed to thrust his knife back thinking he hit Tom. That was not the case. Tom let him drop to the ground and looked down to see that the knife hadn't hit him, but was piercing his Captain's already injured side. She looked down with horror on her face, and moved her hand to it. Tom noticed her start to go pale, well paler than she already was, so he rushed to get her off of her feet. "Come on captain! Stay with me!" He pleaded with her, as she fought to breathe. "Tom...I grabbed the converter...All you need to do is reset...the programing...then you can get out...and back to Voyager...Tell Chakotay...I love him...and to get...the...crew...home." She said, gasping in pain.

Tom quickly realized that to keep her awake he had to first pull the knife out, then he would have to think of something. Without prepping her he yanked the knife straight out of her side and pressed a piece of cloth down as fast as an eagle. Her arm flew up to grip his shoulder, causing her back to arch off the ground. Quiet moans echoed through the room, and he knew she was still awake. He again scooped her off of the ground and started walking back towards their small little tent. He laid her down in the same spot as last time, but this time grabbed more materials. "Captain, I'm going to wrap this around you, okay? It will help slow down the bleeding, and help to not move your ribs when we move to leave this wretched place." A smile inched its way onto her face. Once he was satisfied with his bandaging job, he saw that she had stayed awake the whole time. "Alright Captain! we're ready to move again, but this time you are letting me carry you to the chute." He told her while waiting for her to wrap her arm around his shoulder. "No Tom...I can walk...That's an order..." Tom shook his head and retaliated with "You are in no condition to be giving orders, so I have to respectfully disobey your order for medical safety reasons." Without any further argument he lifted her away from the pile of blankets and into his embrace. "You know...Tom...I can...put you...in...the brig...when we...get back..." She said reluctantly, resting her head on his shoulders.

Tom chuckled lightly and told her "If that means that we get you back to Voyager, the Doctor, and Chakotay then I will happily sit in the brig for any given time. Well nothing beyond 20 years." She tried to let out a laugh, but that resulted in more blood staining the bandage and pain to roar from head to toe. They were back to the chute and saw that the coast was clear, so he laid her down against one of the poles and watched as she reconfigured the generator within minutes. Suddenly men were surrounding them yelling out "I want her hair!!!", "I want her clothing!!!, and worst of all "I want her body!!!" Tom was holding them off with the generator, and hoped that Voyager would be along to rescue them any second now.

The chute burst open sending Chakotay, Tuvok, and a security team out. They landed flat on their feet with phaser rifles raised. Chakotay fired a beam that stunned half of the crowd. Tom yelled out "CHAKOTAY!!" Tuvok and he turned to find Paris waving his arms in the air. Chakotay pushed his way through the crowd and asked "Where's Kathryn?" Tom pulled him out of the crowd, and didn't have to say a word. "Kath!" Chakotay cried out and rushed to her. She looked up and saw her dashing husband "...Chakotay..." She managed to choke out. Tom burst in and said "Sorry to interrupt, but we need to get her to the doctor ASAP." The next thing Tom knew Chakotay had gathered the Captain in his arms, and was running towards Tuvok.

Everyone beamed back to ship, but in the transporter room "Beam the Captain, Paris, and I to sickbay." Chakotay ordered the transporter chief. One nanosecond later they were standing in the middle of sickbay. The doctor was already activated and ready. Chakotay ran to lay Kathryn down on the closest biobed. The doctor checked on Paris first. He just gave him some pain medication, and sent him to his quarters for some rest. Chakotay didn't leave Kathryn's side, even when the Doctor started to scan her. "Well you are severely dehydrated, malnourished, and exhausted. Your ribs are both cracked and bruised. Your extensor muscle is torn, as is a ligament. The knife went into your liver, and is causing blood to pool into your thoracic region. I need to perform surgery right away." Chakotay squeezed her hand, and leant down to place a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right here with you the whole time my dear. Just let him do his job. Okay?" He reassured her. She felt the hiss of a hypospray and his face faded into the darkness. Surgery went a lot longer than expected, but she would make a full recovery. The Doctor left Chakotay alone with her, because after three years he had already learned not to separate his commanding officers from each other.

The End