Chapter Text
The attack had come without warning. Overwhelming disruptor blasts scattered the away team in every direction and Kathryn lost sight of not only her camp, but her crew. She had been chased into the snow covered forest with nothing but her tricorder and comm badge. She hadn’t even managed to take a jacket.
As disarming as her lack of supplies was, the loss of her team burned in her mind. She’d heard nothing from them, no shouts in the distance and no communique over the comm system for almost half an hour.
At first she wanted to go back for them, but pragmatism got the better of her. They had been attacked by at least fifteen people. Fifteen people their tricorders hadn’t been able to detect until they were already in combat. If she turned back now she likely wouldn’t make it back to Voyager.
So she pushed away hoping for some sign of Chakotay or Neelix, Harry, Baytart or Kyoto. She had tried hailing Voyager a dozen times since the attack, but there was no response, prompting the fear that the attack hadn’t just been isolated to the planet.
It was her fault they were on this planet. The scientist in her had desired a closer look at some strange energy readings on the planet’s southern continent. Once again she’d put her crew’s lives at stake for some irrelevant data.
She cursed her insatiable curiosity and resolved that, when she made it out of this situation alive, Voyager’s course for home was going to be a lot more direct from now on.
If I make it out of this situation, she corrected herself.
The bitter, frozen wind ripped through her clothes as though she was naked. She had been trembling for a good fifteen minutes now, teeth chattering and legs wobbling as she progressed through the darkened landscape.
She needed to find some shelter, a blanket, something to keep her warm or she was going to die – and soon.
She’d already made a vain attempt to create a small fire from the forest debris, but the wood was too damp. As for shelter, her tricorder revealed little more than snow and trees for another kilometre in every direction.
Until this point she’d thought herself blessed with good fortune. Oh Voyager went through some nasty scrapes, but her ingenuity and perseverance saw the crew through, saw her through, on each and every occasion. This time, she surmised, I’m out of luck.
Her feet and hands had gone numb, her nose and ears burned and she began to wonder how long before frost bite would set in.
This isn’t as bad as some winter nights in Indiana, she told herself. According to her tricorder the temperature was only minus ten degrees Celsius. Some nights in Indiana, the temperature could reach minus fifteen or minus twenty degrees. That being said, on those nights she’d have been huddled inside, in front of the warm fire or with temperature control adjusting for the frost. She’d also have coffee, what she wouldn’t do for a coffee right about now.
Another ten minutes saw her swaying, almost unable to remain on her feet. All survival training seemed to have fled her mind. She had less than no idea what she could do to keep herself alive now. Her trembling had become so intense that she could hardly take a step.
Another ten minutes and she fell forward into the hard packed snow, shivering and unable to move another foot. Unless by some miracle Voyager found her, she was finally out of luck.
This was not at all how she had envisioned her death. She’d thought it would be in battle against the Borg or maybe in the defence of her crew.
With no strength left Kathryn felt her eyes becoming heavy. She felt the pull of unconsciousness and struggled to fight it, to stay alive until that miracle happened.
She failed.