Red River 5
 

Chakotay left sickbay after he spent a few minutes with Tom, speaking quietly to the unconscious pilot. He promised he would figure 
something out and quickly. Beaming down within an hour's walk of the 
village Chakotay took the time to go over everything that had 
happened in the past three days. The emotions that ran through him 
included frustration at the lack of being able to help Tom. Angry 
with himself for not being able to land the Delta Flyer without 
damage. Excitement at the idea of pursuing a relationship with Tom. 
Finally, fear of losing him before he got the chance. 

When Chakotay arrived in the village he was greeted by 
everyone out and about, all showing concern for Tom and joy because 
they were able to see him again. He really liked these people, if he 
had to choose a place in the Delta Quadrant to live Alinnid would win 
hands down. That thought shocked him a bit, he had never thought 
about not getting back to the Alpha Quadrant before.

When Oromocto heard the commotion he came out of the 
Government House, seeing Chakotay again was not really a surprise, 
just that fact that it was so soon after he left. Oromocto had only 
arrived back in the village a short time ago.

"Chakotay, what brings you back here so quickly? How is Tom 
doing?"

"That is why I am here Oromocto. It seems that Tom has 
developed an infection, one which our doctor has not be able to 
identify as of yet. The captain was hoping that maybe your medical 
staff could help us with the identification and possible have a cure 
for it."

"Oh my, well let's go speak to them quickly. I take it this 
is a major complication for Tom."

"Yes you could say that. Because of the hemophilia and 
everything that Tom's system has been through, he has almost no 
immunity right now." Chakotay knew he sounded frustrated but he 
didn't care anymore.

"I am sorry Chakotay, come through here." Oromocto motioned 
for him to enter a door in a building next to the Government House.

"This way." They walked down a long hallway until they came 
to another door with a plague reading 'Latan Horio Practitioner'. 
Oromocto knocked and then opened the door.

"Oromocto, come in. To what to I owe the honor of your 
presence?" Latan seemed to be a bit older than Oromocto to Chakotay.

"Latan, this is Chakotay from the Starship Voyager. You 
remember meeting him two solar raises ago?"

"Oh yes Hello again Chakotay. I thought you and your mate Tom 
had left."

Chakotay couldn't help but blush at the mate comment once again. Why did everyone think he and Tom were mates?

"We had Latan but Tom became ill and now our doctor needs 
some help."

"What kind of help does he need? What is wrong with Tom?"

"Well one problem that occurred was that through the 
Purification Ritual a synthetic gene was removed from his cells 
causing a inherited disease to surface. He has brought that under 
control but before he can reintroduce the required gene suppressant 
he needs to rid Tom's body of a bacterial infection he received from 
the cut on his hand. The pathogen is not in our computer files so he 
can not find a correction course of treatment. We were hoping that 
you might be able to help us in identifying it and perhaps even 
provide us with a cure."

"Well I will do whatever I can of course. I would need to 
know what pathogen has invaded Tom's body though."

"I have a sample here for you." Chakotay handed him the vial 
of Tom's blood that held the little bug causing his illness.

Latan took the proffered vial. "I will be back in a few minutes." He 
turned and left the room, Chakotay assumed to go to his laboratory or whatever they call it here.

"Chakotay Latan is the best practitioner in this village. I 
am sure he will be able to help your doctor find a cure for Tom."

"I hope you are right Oromocto because right now the 
prognosis isn't very good."

Chakotay couldn't sit still, he found himself pacing, he never paced. 
He was usually very calm but right now calm was not a word he would 
associate with his inner self. 

Latan returned several minutes later, although to Chakotay it seemed 
like an hour.

"I have identified the pathogen." Latan didn't sound pleased.

"And?"

"And the good news is that it can be treated if an Alinnidan 
was infected. The bad news is that I am not sure if I can adapt the 
needed medication to your human physiology. While I was scanning for the pathogen I found that human blood is far more complex then our plasma gel. The medication is based on a simplistic cellular 
structure. Our plasma gel only has two components the blood cells I 
saw have fourteen."

As Chakotay listened he felt the last bit of hope slip away, 
Tom was going to die and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it. He felt tears well up behind his eyes and he didn't even 
think about stopping them from falling. He was going to lose Tom 
after all and there was not a thing he could do to stop it.

Oromocto heart broke as he watched the seemingly strong 
minded man in front of him fall apart before his eyes.

"Chakotay, I am so sorry. This is entirely our fault and now 
we can not fix it. I wish we had thought to tell you what the 
purification ritual entailed before hand this would have never gotten 
so bad if we had."

When Oromocto mentioned the ritual first Chakotay wanted to scream 
that he was damned right it was entirely their fault, then he 
remembered something.

"Oromocto, the purification ritual you said it removes all 
impurities from a person's body right?"

"Yes it does."

"Down to the cellular level right?"

"Yes Chakotay. What are you getting at?"

"That's it! Tom can go through the ritual again, it will 
clear his body of the infection." Suddenly Chakotay felt excitement 
that could not be contained, he grabbed Oromocto and spun him around.

"Thank you Thank you!" He laughed through the now subsiding 
tears. Then he realized one he had lost himself for a minute and two 
maybe the Alinnidans wouldn't allow him to bring Tom back down.

"I'm sorry Oromocto, I got carried away. Do I have your 
permission to bring Tom down and have him go through the ritual 
again?"

"Of course you can Chakotay. As I have already stated we will 
do whatever we can to help Tom get well again. GO back to your ship 
and get Tom, we will be waiting for you."

"I will need your permission to beam him down as close to the 
village as possible."

"Of course, I do wish there was a way to beam through the 
mountains natural barrier but we don't have one."

"Honestly, I would prefer not to find out if we can, because 
it might attract unwanted attention from other species." Not willing 
to actually speak his remembered fear of bringing the Borg back here 
Chakotay did the next best thing. Included any and all unfriendly 
aliens who might fly by. Oromocto nodded his understand.

"I will be back as soon as I can with Tom, most likely in 
about three hours. Thank you again Oromocto, Thank you Latan!" 
Chakotay turned and sprinted out the door and away from the village. 
He had to get back to Voyager and Tom as quickly as he could. As he 
ran he kept trying his comm badge, wanting to know, as soon he was 
away from the barrier that prevented any contact with off worlders. 
Finally winded he had to slow down some, he should stop he knew that but he just couldn't. 

Chakotay was sure there would be no argument from anyone about 
bringing Tom back down here. But just in case Kathryn decided to try 
and say no, he had worked through every argument she could possibly give having an answer for any one of her possible objects.

"Chakotay to Voyager" He knew he was in the clearing now

"Voyager here. Chakotay is the Alinnidan doctor able to 
help?" Janeway was waiting for him.

"No Captain, but there is a way to help Tom. Beam me up and I 
will explain."

"Alright Chakotay I will meet you in sickbay. Janeway out."

Chakotay felt the familiar tingle and then he was in the transporter 
room. Nodding his thanks to the ensign on duty, he left as quickly as 
possible. He had actually wanted to ask to be transported to sickbay 
but thought that might be a bit much. 

Knowing that the first officer should not be seen running through the 
corridors Chakotay steeled himself to just walk as naturally and as 
quickly as possible without causing any eyebrows to be raised.

He arrived at the same time as the captain, both entered sickbay and 
he called for the doctor. Seeing that Tom was still unconscious, but 
not wanting to make a decision like this without him he asked the 
doctor to wake Tom.

"The doctor on Alinnid that I spoke to said that yes they are 
familiar with the pathogen causing the infection and they have a 
cure, but he does not believe it can be adapted to human physiology." Chakotay saw Tom frown, he placed his hand on the younger man's 
shoulder.

"When Oromocto again apologized for having caused the initial 
problem because of the Purification Ritual I realized that Tom can go 
through the ritual again and the pathogen would be removed." He 
smiled at Tom as he said this and saw the light come back into his 
eyes.

"When do we leave?" Tom whispered.

"As soon as you want." Chakotay blinked at him.

"Just a minute Commander I am not sure if that is wise."

"Why not it's Tom's only chance for survival." Chakotay knew 
this argument would happen but it still annoyed him.

"The ritual removes ALL impurities within the body down to 
the cellular level. Which is what caused Tom's hemophilia to come to 
the surface. Both Oromocto and the doctor think it is the best way to 
rid Tom of the pathogen. You said yourself that you didn't think you 
could find an antibiotic that would kill the pathogen. Has that 
opinion changed?"

"No, I have been unable to find anything that will help him."

"So why not just have him beam down to the village and have 
the ritual performed again?"

"Doc, it's ultimately my decision and I want to do it. I am 
not ready to die just yet."

"Doctor Tom is right it is his decision and he has been 
through the ritual once before. He knows what will happen." Kathryn 
was all for the idea herself.

"Fine but I want my objection noted."

"So noted. Now Chakotay, I know we can't beam you directly 
into the village, my question is how close can we beam you and will 
you need help with getting Tom there?"

"The closest I think we will be able to get is about an 
hour's walk to the village. Tom is in no condition to walk even five 
minutes. As for help well I could carry him the entire way but I am 
not sure if climbing the side of a mountain carrying someone is a 
good idea. So yes help would be appreciated."

"Climbing a mountain with me on your back isn't a good idea." 
As much as Tom wanted to be that close to Chakotay he knew that is 
was impossible under those conditions.

"Very well we will beam you back down where we picked up your 
signal this last time and find someone to help you. How about in a 
half-hour, will that be enough time for you to clean up Chakotay? You 
are a mess!" 

"Yes a half-hour would be plenty of time. I am sorry I look 
like this, I ran most of the way to the transport site." Chakotay 
laughed as he looked at himself, he hadn't thought about his 
appearance.

"Very well see you then." Kathryn turned and left sickbay.

"Chakotay, thank you for thinking of the ritual to help me. I 
really thought it was all over for me."

"Did you think I wouldn't find a way to help you? Tom I told 
you, I need you in my life. I need you to help me find my passion 
again."

"I will do what I can, I am so tired right now."

"Well rest, I will be back in a little while and we can 
leave."

"Okay see you later."

When Tom closed his eyes Chakotay leaned down and kissed his cheek and then left sickbay for his quarters.

A half-hour later he was back, the captain and Tuvok were waiting for 
him. 

"You look better Chakotay. Tuvok will be accompanying you and 
Tom."

"Thank you Captain I feel better. Thank you Tuvok for 
volunteering."

"Of course Commander. Any other choice would be illogical, 
Lieutenant Paris will need two strong people to help him. Aside from 
yourself I believe that I fall in that category."

Couldn't beat Vulcan logic, Chakotay nodded his agreement. After 
checking with the doctor to make sure that Tom was as up for the 
travel as possible, he went over and woke Tom.

"Okay Tom it's time."

Tom looked at Chakotay and tilted his head slightly giving his 
acceptance of the statement. Tuvok and Chakotay helped Tom stand up and the captain called for the beam out. 

When they rematerialized the three men adjusted their positions and 
began the trek up the mountain. The two older men all but carried Tom as they did. Reaching the village in a little over an hour, they were greeted by Oromocto and Enosho. They wasted no time with formalities leading the three aliens to the place where the ritual would be performed. 

Chakotay helped Tom remove the sickbay clothing he had on replacing it with the ceremonial robe of the Alinnidans. Once done Tuvok joined them and helped Tom into the Purification Pool. Oromocto then began the ritual that would cleanse Tom of the pathogens.

Forty-five minutes later it was done and Tom was asleep. Chakotay 
knew he had to get him back to Voyager as soon as possible so the 
doctor could reintroduce the gene suppressant into his system. He 
didn't want to take any chances. Oromocto and Enosho offered to 
assist them in their travel bringing out a cart that Tom could be 
laid in for the duration. 

The walk back seemed to go more quickly than the walk to the 
village, for which Chakotay was grateful. Tuvok spoke with Oromocto 
as they walked, each man was intrigued by the other.  Reaching the 
preset coordinates Tuvok commed the captain and informed her that the ritual was over and they could be beamed back. Thanking Oromocto and Enosho for their assistance and promising to let them know when Tom was well, Chakotay said goodbye and Tuvok ordered them to be beamed directly to sickbay.

####

The doctor performed the replacement surgery and Tom was 
cleared to return to his quarters within twenty-four hours of the 
ritual. He was resting when his door chime rang out. Chakotay entered 
his quarters:

"How are you feeling Tom?"

"A hell of a lot better thanks."

"Good." Chakotay was nervous and visibly so.

"Chakotay relax please, I am not going to jump you."

"I know that, there is so much I want to say to you but I 
don't know where to begin."

"How about we save the talk until after the party on Alinnid? Let's just go down there and have a good time. Enjoy some music, some food and conversation. We have all the time in the world to talk later, okay?" 

"Sounds like a good idea to me." 

"Good and we don't have to go through the Purification Ritual 
again so we get to start sooner than everyone else." 

"True, well let's go then."

The two men walked side by side to the transporter room, joined by 
the captain and Tuvok. The rest of the senior staff and most of the 
crew would be beaming down in a short time.

Everyone agreed when they returned to the ship that they 
could not remember a more friendly and congenial species in all their 
travels. Their cargo bays were stocked with many wonderful foods and 
the hydroponics lab would be busting out with more fruits and 
vegetables in no time at all. 

Voyager left orbit with a more relaxed and happier crew than 
anyone could remember in a long time.

The end