Author: Adam. Title: The Vendetta Rating: PG-13 Pairing P/K Warnings: This story shows men and men as a couple. Also possible murder. Disclaimer: The characters of Tom Paris, Harry Kim, and anyone else are Paramounts. Summary: Tom and Harry have just started dating, but there's some kind of vendetta against Tom. Kindly Beta'd: by Our own lovely Ren.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part One: Tom stretched out his tense and taut muscles at the end of his long, long duty shift.  There were some shifts which seemed to drag on for an eternity, and this was such a shift. Tom's replacement, a young ensign, scuttled to the conn station and stood at attention beside Tom. Tom stepped up and away from his station, and after a quick report on the systems,headed for straight for the turbolift. Seeing that Harry was still engrossed in his own work at the Ops station, Tom decided not to disturb him.  In other circumstances Tom might have given Harry a polite "hurry up," but being tired, Tom planned to return to his quarters for some rest. Entering the turbolift, he requested the deck where his quarters were located, then leaned back against the wall and rubbed his eyes.  It was becoming a strain to keep them open, even for a few minutes longer. Luckily, no one else requested the turbolift, so he arrived at his quarters without stopping. Tom entered his quarters.  Without calling for lights, or even bothering to undress, he walked into the bedroom, and collapsed on to the bed. Unknown to Tom, his quarters were not empty, and he was not alone as he quickly drifted away into a deep sleep. A shadowy figure, who had been hiding  in the darkest corner of Tom's cabin, silently loomed through the Lt's quarters.  The specter's movements were deliberate, and displayed  an almost  burning rage. It seemed to only want to end the life of a one Thomas Eugene Paris. The figure silently encroached Tom's room, breathing so silently that one would almost assumeit was not breathing at all. Tom, unaware of the immediate danger, continued to sleep soundly, too engrossed in a familiar dream to be bothered. In this dream he and Harry lay back on a white, moonlit beach simply enjoying nothing but each other. The silent observer was soon by the entryway to Tom's bedroom, watching as Tom unconsciously hugged a pillow in his sleep. Deciding it was time, the intruder moved up to Tom, and administered a hypo to the sleeping man's neck. The Hypospray contained a powerful sedative, which would make it next to impossible for Tom to wake up for at  least another 36 hours. Satisfied with its work, the shadowy figure laid a pillow over the Tom's face, and watched in a pleased silence as Tom's life slowly drained away. (The Bridge-Harry's station) "The co-Flux capacitor has been giving me a little trouble, but other than that everything's fine." Harry smiled at his young female replacement as he explained more, making her blush. Taking that as his sign to leave,  Harry entered the Turbolift, and requested Tom's deck. Harry repeated Tom's actions earlier actions, first leaning back against the turbolift, rubbing his eyes, then hoping that no one else would request the turbolift until he had reached his destination. Although another person stopped the turbolift and requested another deck, Harry was outside Tom's quarters within a few minutes. Exhausted, but relieved at the same time, he rang the chime. Upon hearing no answer, Harry rang again.  Still not getting an answer, he began to get worried. "Come on Tom! Let me in. I've had a hard day too you know." They had just started dating a week ago, and had become inseparable immediately. Long duty shifts, which were once little more than an inconvenience to Tom and Harry, were now difficult.  The hardest part about it,  was the fact that the bridge forced them to be relatively close in proximity to one another,  yet it did not allow them to be alone together. The uninvited guest of the pilot's quarters had escaped through where it had came, unable to check if  Tom had indeed been killed. 'I'll just have to wait and see,' the mysterious figure thought silently  after escaping. An almost giddy shiver of what news would come ran through  the spectre. Meanwhile, Harry continued to grow more and more frustrated outside of Tom's quarters. Finally, Harry decided to use the codes Tom had given him.  Harry didn't normally like to enter this way, feeling as though he were intruding, but tonight he was beyond worrying and too tired to do much else.  Harry entered Tom's blacked out quarters. "Tom?" Harry asked out loud. Hearing no answer, Harry asked the Computer for 60% Lights. Covering his eyes from the sudden brightness, until he quickly adjusted. Finding no sign of Tom in the main room of his quarters, he headed for the other obvious place,the bedroom. "Tom, Tom are you here?" Harry asked again, not even trying to hide his annoyance anymore. Tom's quarters were still in darkness, but the light from the main room came through the door to allow Harry to see a figure laid across the bed. "Tom?" Harry shook Tom's body. Hearing nothing, not even a 'Leave me the hell alone' grumble, Harry asked for 30% illumination in Tom's sleeping area. "Toooooooooom!" Harry screamed, the realization of what must have happened overcoming him. Harry grimly concluded that whatever happened here must have occurred  only in these last few minutes.  He immediately felt guilt for being angry with Tom, especially since Tom might be dead. "Kim to Sickbay, medical emergency! Two to Beam directly to Sickbay."   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part Two: After the Doctor had stabilized Tom, and done everything he could for him the Doctor turned to the Captain, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, and Harry, who was visibly shaking at her side. "Well?" Harry asked, panicked. "Well." The Doctor started. "Mr Paris has been stabilized, but I had to put him in a coma to save his higher brain functions. We can only wait and see if he awakes." "What happened Ensign?" Janeway turned to Harry, who was obviously still in shock over the entire incident. "I.I don't know. I entered our quarters, I shouted out for Tom. I wanted to get straight to sleep. I continued to call out and.I.I found him." At this point, Harry was having trouble breathing, and the Captain was pushed back so the Doctor could tend to the distressed young man. "Mr Kim, you are hyperventilating. Take deep breaths." The Doctor administered a Hypo-spray to help the Ensign along. (Briefing Room) The entire senior staff were in shock. Everyone except Tom and Harry were there. Harry refused to leave Tom in Sickbay alone, although the Doctor would be there. "Alright everyone. We know very little at this point, but, this is what we do know.Commader." She nodded at Chakotay who took over at this point. "Alright. What we do know is, Lt Paris arrived at his quarters around 4 minutes after his bridge shift ended. He entered his quarters and that's the only record of anyone entering until Ensign Kim entered a short time later. There is no record of anyone entering those quarters the entire day." "So," Janeway began again. "At this point nothing is ruled out." "I disagree Captain." Tuvok began stoically. "The fact that Lt Paris was targeted specifically shows some kind of reason. I doubt an alien from this quadrant would have the motive and the means is doubtful." "I won't except that a member of this crew did this." "I'm afraid that seems to be the most likely answer." Tuvok answered. After a few silent moments throughout the briefing room, the Captain turned to face her officers. "We are going to narrow down who could have done this, and why they did it. Tuvok, I want you to get me every crew members whereabouts at the time of the," She paused to think how she should say what had happened. "the time of the.incident. B'Elanna, I want a list of everyone who has the correct skills to be able to enter Toms quarters without the computer recording it, or getting there by other means." "Yes Captain!" "Chakotay, once we have both of those sets of information I want you to check into all of there backgrounds. Find out if any of them knew Tom in there past. Or knew someone connected with Tom in some way." Chakotay answered the same way as B'Elanna. "Yes Captain." "That's all. Get to work." Over the next few hours, the senior staff worked frantically compiling data, which was sent to both the Captain and Commander to try and figure out who could have done this. The bulk of the people B'Elanna discovered had the skills to do this kind of task were from engineering, which disturbed her greatly. There were a few bridge officers, and a few others dotted around other departments. Once Tuvok's report on who could have done it arrived, the Captain and Commander were able to elimate a lot off B'Elanna's list. However there were still twenty-three people who had the skills and opportunity to do it. The specter had watched as the crew stumbled around desperately attempting to discover who in this 'Oh-So-Noble-Crew' would have done this, knowing only too well how and why they had done it, and also when he was going to make his next 'and hopefully' last attempt. (Sickabay-0300) Harry had fallen asleep at Tom's side, his head resting on Tom's chest. The Doctor, who was working silently in his office, suddenly flickered and then, disappeared. The air became charged as a dark presence entered the room. The mind had nothing but revenge, pain and death on their mind. As the night before, they slowly approached Tom's bedside, this time the hypo contained a strong dose of an alien virus, designed by the Cardassian Obsidian order, and the Tal Shiar Co-operative. Quickly administering it to the young mans neck the dark form retreated, but not before allowing a snicker to escape their lips.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part Three: (Final Part) "What happened?" The Doctor asked, already frantically busy, attempting to save the young pilots life. "I.I don't know. " Tears were streaming down Harry's face as he watched the man he loved near death. "I woke up and Tom wasn't breathing, so I activated you." "Well someone must have deactivated me Mister Kim!" The Doctor shouted, accusingly. Before Harry could respond the Captain entered, looking very worn. "Report Doctor?" She asked, brushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "It seems that Mr. Paris was injected with an unknown virus. I'd say from the genetic makeup, it is Cardassian/Romulan in its origin." "I thought you were going to remain online throughout the night?" "I was Captain, but it seems someone deactivated me!" The Doctor said, looking at Harry as he spoke. "Mr. Kim." "I was asleep Captain. I never saw anything." Suddenly medical alarms went off all around them, indicating Tom's condition was worsening. "I must ask you to leave. I must completely focus on my patient." "Very well. I want a report as soon as you're done. Ensign." She said, indicating Harry to come. "No, I don't want to leave Tom!" "That's an order Harry!" Harry murmured a 'aye captain' and followed her out of Sickbay to the briefing room, where the entire senior staff had being called. "This is the situation." The Captain began. Her voice held nothing but seriousness. "Mr. Paris was injected with a lethal does of a virus. Probably created by the Romulans/Cardassians." "When did this happen?" Neelix, who had also attended, asked. "We don't know exactly. Once again no one entered sickbay. The Doctor was deactivated, so Ensign Kim was the only one there." "Unfortunately," Tuvok began. "In both instances Mr. Kim has being the only one present.  He also has the skills, and knowledge to create what needs to be done." "But Harry doesn't know Tom from his past. He loves Tom, he has no reason." B'Elanna tried to argue. "However," Tuvok interrupted. "I'm afraid the evidence points to only Mr. Kim. Who has had both the opportunity, and knowledge? I'm afraid as Chief Of Security I must insist Ensign Kim be put in the Brig." "You can't do that!" B'Elanna continued to argue for Harry, who had yet to say anything. "I'm afraid Mr. Kim will have to be put in the brig until we can try and sort everything out. Okay everyone, dismissed." With that Tuvok stood and escorted Harry to the brig, and the Captain headed back to sickbay to be updated on Tom. (Sickbay) The Captain entered sickbay in time to see the Doctor look despairingly at Tom. "Doctor?" Janeway asked, already afraid of what he would tell her. "There's nothing more I can do captain." "But surely." "NO!" The Doctor shouted. "There's nothing more." Tom was his friend and the fact that with all his knowledge he could do no more, was tearing him apart. As the two occupants of the room continued to talk, Tom awoke. He heard people talking, but they seemed so distant. ".Was put in the Brig, until he can be proved innocent. Unfortunately Harry's the only one so far, that we have discovered could have done this." "Noooooo!" Tom screamed across sickbay. Hearing what they thought, searing his heart. "Tom?" Both the Captain and the Doctor ran across Sickbay to the distraught young man. But before they could say anything, which would help to explain, Tom's eyes rolled back into his head, and the monitors went dead. "What have we done?" The Captain spoke. "We have to tell Harry." "I'll see to it that Mr. Paris' wishes in case of his death are seen to." "Very good Doctor. She spoke again, brushing away a loose tear, as the finality of Tom's death hit her. (The Brig) Harry was pacing back and fourth in the small cramped space of his cell. When the Captain entered he looked at her face and knew something terrible must have happened. "Ensign.Harry. I'm afraid I have some bad news." "Tom, what is it? What's wrong?" Harry asked, franticly. "He's dead Harry. He died a few minutes ago." "No, Harry screamed. A pain encompassing his body." Janeway gave a nod to the guard on duty, telling him to deactivate the force field and then leave. Once alone, the Captain began again. "Harry, there's.there's something else. Minutes before Tom died, he woke up, he heard the Doctor and myself talking." She stopped, unsure of what to say. Harry noticed the pause. "And. what were you saying Captain?" "We were talking about you being the only one who could have had the skills and opportunity to do it." "So Tom died." Harry's throat clogged up, unable to finish. "I'm so sorry Harry. He died thinking you did this to him." A burning rage filled Harry, coursing through his veins. He leapt from where he was sitting and grabbed a phaser. Setting it to maximum power, which would vaporize a human he pointed to the Captain. But the rage disappeared as quick as it came, and he turned the phaser on himself. "I'm sorry captain. But I can't live without.without." Harry never finished, as he fired the phaser and vaporized in front of him. The End.