*Hey Ensigns! Just a note to warn you that there is some injury detail included in this chapter*
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~~

The pod shuddered as a familiar blue light engulfed the view screen, the muffled gargled cries of the aliens outside mixing with the sound of twisting metal and pressurised air between her ears. Gripping her head with shaking hands, she sunk down onto her knees and begged for their lives. The sound was almost unbearable, the difference of resistance between Voyager and the escape pod clearly evident as she let out a yell through gritted teeth, not noticing the blood dribbling down her chin from her mouth...

Then it was over. A tremendous silence lay around her apart from her own exhausted breaths and the humming of the impulse engines. Getting up off the floor, she grabbed the helm and pulled herself to her feet, looking at the reports on the terminal screen. Shields still holding, barely, she thought, Impulse drive is fine, navigation's still online. We survived. Tears forced their way into her eyes, but it wasn't sadness this time. It was relief.
Looking back up out of the window, the bay that had once detained them was no longer there. Her eyes closed slowly as she spared a moments thought for the reptilian strangers. Followed by the guilt that stabbed her in the chest.

Just then, a quiet groan emanated from the floor behind her and she swivelled on her heels to see Lee still lying against the wall, his hand grasping his chest painfully as he exhailed heavy shuddering breaths.
"Lee!" she cried, limping to his aid as she buckled on her knees to crouch beside him. He grimaced as she attempted to remove his hand to see the damage. It was bad.
"Hold onto me," she ordered as calmly as she could and he slowly wrapped his arm over her shoulder, letting her guide him to his feet and walk him over to the bench that served as his bed. Lying him down, she grabbed the medical kit from under the helm desk and rushed back to his side. Opening the box she knew there wouldn't be anything as perfect as the Doctor's surgical tools, but the kit they had with them would have to be enough.

Leaning over him, she unzipped his jacket and pulled it open slowly to reveal the scorched grey-blue t-shirt underneath. Taking in a confident breath, she slowly peeled the shirt away from the wound when he moaned loudly and grasped her wrist hard. She winced in shock and looked at him pityfully,
"I'm so sorry but it’s got to be done.”
He let go of her wrist and looked away ashamed, eyes squeezing shut as he muffled his cries behind his tightly pressed lips. Not letting herself get emotional, she finished removing the melted fabric and then picked up a Dermal Regenerator to stimulated the burnt skin cells. To her relief, it began to heal under the small red probe of light. There was a lot of surface area to fix so whatever weapons those aliens had used outshone the effects of a standard phaser.
When the wound slowly healed before her eyes, the skin regenerating from black to pale pink, she put a clean dressing over the middle section that had taken the brunt of the blast which hadn't healed fully. Looking in the box for some painkillers, she heard him let out a long laboured sigh.
"The shields?" he asked quietly, as she sat on the edge of the bench clicking the painkillers into a hypospray.
"Steady and holding," she replied softly, reaching down and placing the instrument to his neck, a little hissing sound escaping as she administered the drug.
"The alien ship?" he asked further and she held his hand lying on his abdomen and shook her head confirming the inevitable. His features hardened in anger at the aliens stupidity. Now no one will know of their existence except them, and he suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulders.
"We should have warned them earlier," he remarked.
"There was never enough time, it takes more than ten minutes to input a new shielding system into a foreign vessel," she tried to reassure him of the truth but he refused to accept it.
"It's not good enough!" he shouted back, a whole new personality coming to light as she stared back dumbfounded. Her lip quivered as she battled with her emotions, knowing all too well that they could have helped somehow. But there wasn't enough time.

Feeling the painkillers reduce the searing pain in his chest to a dull ache, Lee found the strength to sit up and he frowned at her in realisation.
"You're hurt," he raised his hand to her chin and ran his thumb gently over the blood stain on her skin. She'd totally forgotten it during the life threatening couple of minutes she'd endured alone, but now the pain was becoming more noticeable. Taking out a new dose and inserting it into the hypospray, she injected herself in the neck and sighed, although the pain seemed to get worse the more she thought about it. His staring eyes made her feel nervous and she pulled away shyly.
"I'll go clear up," she muttered and took the box away with her to the small grey cubicle that was the bathroom.

~~

The mirror seemed to perfectly reflect how she felt; tired, drained, lost, and alone. Her hair was half fallen down from its bun, her skin pale and clammy. The bruise on her chin was gradually darkening as her dried blood ran in streaks down her chin.
Their attempts to save the reptilian strangers ended in the alien's ultimate erasure, and she wasn't sure that was something she would be able to bare. Sniffling away tears, she leaned over the sink and scrubbed the dried blood away from her face, the warm water pleasant on her bruised skin. Reaching for her towel with closed eyes, she fumbled around blindly when she brushed something standing next to her with her hand.
"Here," Lee held her arm and turned her slowly towards him, then proceed to gently wipe her eyes and her face dry with the towel. She jolted in pain as he wiped her chin, the bruise on the bone like a heavy weight on her jaw.
"Sorry," he said earnestly, looking down at her anxious features.
"It's okay, really. I'll get the dermal regenerator," she half smiled and reached for the box on the shelf.  He held her back in his grasp and shook his head.
"That's not what I meant," he breathed out, then he gazed sadly at the floor between his boots, "I'm sorry for shouting at you for something neither of us could of prevented. I was just so angry at the way they didn't listen, and what they said and did to you was-- unforgivable."
"Hey," she smiled with some effort, her chin tightening uncomfortably, "You tried your best to negotiate, as did I. But we had less than thirty minutes to initiate first contact and convince them of a pretty unrealistic yet deadly truth. There was no way we could've saved them, even if they did accept our help." There was truth in her words but she herself found it hard to accept.
Lee managed a small smile and turned to retrieve the dermal regenerator from the box. Switching it on, he held her chin steady and leaned closer, scanning the green and blue blotches until they faded completely. Ensign (y/n) watched shyly, the closeness between them making her chest flutter nervously. She looked into his eyes, remembering the colour so desperately so she would never forget this moment. Although she didn't completely know why she wanted to.

The regenerator switched off and he ran his thumb over her healed chin, "How does that feel?"
She swallowed the butterflies in her throat and took a quick short breath, "Much better, thank you," she whispered as she stared longingly at him. Her gaze seemed to trouble him and he stood back up and slid a hand behind his neck, nervously fingering the ends of his hair.
"I'll keep watch for tonight. Get some rest," he ordered quietly, sliding his hands into his pockets. He looked away over his shoulder at the helm and missed the intense glow in the young Engineer's wide eyes. Clearing his throat quietly he turned and left the bathroom into the main quarters.

Although Ensign (y/n) had just endured another near miss and a catastrophic blow, she couldn't help feeling like she was flying through the stars, heart burning wildly as her mind suddenly felt empty of everything that had gone wrong in the last ten minutes. Now all she could think about was him.