Title:  Clone
Author:  Cheryl Forbes
Fandom:  Star Trek:  Voyager
Pairing:  Chakotay/Tom Paris
Rating:  NC 17
Series:  1 of ?
Email Address for feedback:  forbesc@skyia.com
Disclaimer:  Voyager and her crew belong to Paramount and not me.
Whatever.

Summary:  Chakotay tries to keep Tom out of trouble on a planet
populated by a genetically engineered race.

"Dysgenics?"

Kathryn looked from the PADD in her to hand to the EMH who was seated
at the far end of the conference table.

The Doctor thinking it was about time he was included in these little
pre-first contact briefings, tilted his chin forward and responded to
the captain's query.

"Dysgenics, the study of genetic deterioration."  He made a few
tapping motions on the PADD in his own hand, not that he really
needed to, all the information was already stored in his algorithms
but it did give him an added effect of alacrity.

"It would seem that the Saltosians have made its study a fine art.
They are experts in gene manipulation and reconstruction."

The captain's countenance darkened.  They sorely needed the
biological expertise the people of this world they were now orbiting
offered.  But as much as they needed their gel packs, the lifeblood
of Voyager refurbished, Captain Kathryn Janeway was not about to
cross any ethical boundaries to do so.

"Are you saying they practice genetic engineering?"

Knowing eugenics was a four lettered word in the Federation the
doctor tempered his answer.

"Yes to an extent they do, however they adhered to strict guidelines,
preventing exaggerated results or abuse of the science."

"What you're saying they make people?  Just press a few buttons and
ta-da you have a six foot blonde with great jugs and a killer
intellect?"

This time the comment was from one of the most aggravating people on
Voyager, Tom Paris.  The man had been the bane of existence since he
been activated seven years ago.  While he found the man's triage
abilities more than adequate somehow he was never able to quite
integrate the pilot's flippant attitude into his program and he
wasn't alone in that assessment.  With the exception of the
incredibly tolerant Harry Kim the Lieutenant had garnered very few
friends with his cocky flyboy personality.

"No Mr Paris they do not make people, they practice genetic
therapy."  For the captain's benefit and not for the irreverent pilot
he continued with his assessment of Saltosian society. "The Saltosian
people experienced a millennia ago what they perceived to be a
degradation of their civilization and sought to correct it with
genetics."

"What kind of degradation, Doctor?  Did they experience some kind
biological disaster or plague that caused congenital deformities?"

"No captain, they were experiencing what they considered a
disevolution of their species.  They felt they were de-evolving,
falling backwards on the evolutionary scale and becoming less than
they were."  This time he did consult the PADD in hand.  "From the
information I was able to access from their databanks their world was
experiencing a turbulent time in their history.  Wars, famine and
social unrest spread across the globe.   The scientific community of
the time accredited the chaos to a decrease in intelligence and
began a generational plan to defeat it."

"They made them smarter."

"Yes and it worked.  Not overnight but in time their protocols became
cultural, traditional and eventually they bred out the psychological
behaviors that created the unrest and saved their world."

Silence fell upon the room.

"Khan."  In a whisper the captain spoke the name that was in
everyone's mind.  Earth had experienced a similar revolution in the
late twentieth century but it hadn't gone as well as it had for the
Saltosians.  Genetic manipulation had caused the Eugenic War creating
a race of superhuman people with little or no desire for world
peace.  No world domination had been more like it.  Earth had
suffered for a century before finally breaking hold of their grasp
and advancing to the next stage in evolution, in other words first
contact.  It had been the beginning of all that they were today.  The
EMH saw the fear that ringed the group at the table and sought to
assuage it.

"Captain on Saltos there was no Khan.  What worked in theory, worked
in practice, they were no tyrants.  Their society has existed in
relative peace and economical balance for more the five hundred years
and I see their offer of assistance as genuine.   While their society
evolved differently than our own, their codes of morality and
conscience are similar to our own and should not be discounted.
Therefore it is my recommendation that we take these people at face
value and take their much needed aid."

She was a good captain and a good leader.  He watched as she took in
the responses of all those around her.  She didn't need their
approval.  She had faith enough in herself normally to make the right
choice, but the EMH knew she wouldn't make a decision like this on
her own.  It was an issue that had the ability to scratch that soft
under part of their being, drawing blood and while she had no qualms
about commanding a course of action that would threatened their life,
it was another to commit them to an action that would threatened
their soul.  There were no dissenters.

"Very well people, we'll be here five days and as usual I'll expect
you all to conduct yourselves in a professional manner.  We'll learn
what we can from this society while were here and move on.  Any
questions?"

"Yeah captain I have one."

"Yes Mr Paris what is it?"

The lieutenant raked a hand through his ill kept tousled blonde hair
and leaned forward on his elbows.

"Will there be any time for R and R?"  He jabbed Ensign Kim in the
ribs, causing the man the wince and blush visibly.  "You know time to
get to know the natives?"

The Doctor as he gathered his PADD in readiness to depart he saw the
ill-concealed impatience grace the captain's face, a phenomenon he'd
seen on others so many times before when dealing with the abrasive
pilot.

"No Lieutenant, as I said we'll observe and nothing more.  There will
be no intimate interaction with the populace.  Dismissed."

Watching the pilot's indifferent shrug of his shoulders as he left
the conference table the Doctor realigned his algorithms in a effort
not to slap the spoilt Starfleet brat up side the head.

Little did he know he'd have to wait in line behind the first officer
for that privilege.

********

"I'll kill him!"

He watched as his colleague and supposed friend curl her legs up
under her and calmly sip her tea.

"No you won't."  She rested the cup on the swell of her
bosom.  "You're the first officer, you'll do your duty and you'll
handle him."

He plopped down on the lounge in her quarters across from her in
defeat.   She was right.  As much as he hated being within two meters
of Tom Paris, if it came to duty and what was expected from him he
would perform.  Duty and honour were things his father had instilled
into him from the day he was born, principles that when he was
younger he had rebelled against.  However time and experience had
taught him that life wasn't worth living if you didn't have such
values to live by.  As a result he was a spiritual man now and his
life was governed by those beliefs learnt at his father's knee.  And
damn Kathryn all to hell for knowing that.

"You know you can be a real bitch when you want to be."

"And your point would be?"

"Spirits Kate you know what he does to me.  Why can't you have Tuvok
baby-sit him?"

"Because I need Tuvok to monitor the communications between us and
the Saltosian government."  She put her cup down and poured more
tea.  "Besides this will give you a chance to be alone with him."

"I don't want to be alone with him."

"Yes you do," She flipped her hand at him. "And you don't but you
mostly do."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"Oh come on, Chakotay.  You've wanted to jump the man's bones since
the first day you saw him on Voyager."

"I wanted to kill him."

"Yes and then fuck him."  She took another sip of her tea.  "Well
maybe not in that order, but you have got to admit you want to whoop
his ass as much as you want to take it. "

"He's an asshole Kathryn.  Nobody likes him and he's a pain to be
around.  Why the hell would you think I'd be interested in a guy like
that?"

"Why?  Cause deep down inside he's as good a person as he is a pilot
and Chakotay he's a damn good pilot.  And you know what?  You're just
the type of guy he needs to help him prove that."

"How the hell can you know that?"

He watched as she ran her fingers through her hair and stretched back
lazily.  Anybody else watching her display would think she was being
coy and playful but Chakotay was her first officer not to mention her
best friend and he knew better.

"Because I'm the captain."

"You're a bitch."

"Yes but I'm also right."

"Yeah, but you're still a bitch."

The teacup went down on the table and Chakotay knew that for her to
relinquish her prized cup of caffeine for just a couple of seconds,
it meant something serious.

"It's time."

"Time?"

"Yes it's time.  I need someone to take Tom Paris to task and it's
evident now it's now not going to me, so it's going to have to be
you.  We need him Chakotay.  Voyager needs him."

"He hates me."

"No he doesn't.  I think he wants you just about as much as you want
him but if you don't take him now I'm afraid we'll lose him.  He's a
loose canon and one of these days he's just going to blow and self
destruct."  She reached over and took his hand.  As much as they were
friends, they didn't often touch and he grasped the significance of
her gesture.

"OK, I'll try."

"Thank you."

He got up and returned the tea service to the replicator before
approaching the doors to her quarters.  As he neared them, the panels
slid open.  He placed his hand along the frame and looked back at
her.  She had already reclaimed her tea.

"For the record you're still a hard assed bitch."

Brown eyes peered over a porcelain brim.

"Fuck my chief pilot Chakotay and I'll be whatever you want me to be."

He walked out into the hallway and integrated his latest order into
his psyche.

Fuck Tom Paris.

In all his time on Voyager she'd asked him to do many things.  She
asked him to lie and she'd asked him to kill.  Not questioning her
orders he had obeyed them giving all his heart and all his soul
because he knew they were on the side of right. They couldn't lose
and they hadn't.  But now it was different, because this time the
fight was over before it had begun.

He had already lost his self to Tom Paris, in both body and soul long
ago.

********

"Tom you can't.  If Chakotay finds out, you're a dead man."

The pilot leaned a little further over wide ledge of the balcony
attempting to grab the railing of the smaller one beside it.   "Well
what the commander doesn't know won't kill me."  Tom snagged the
balustrade and with the agility of a monkey swung himself over the
eight-meter drop and landed with flourish on the other side.

"Don't worry Harry, I'll be in and out, so to speak, before he even
notices me missing."

"You'd better be, I'm not doing any brig time just so you can
rendezvous with one of the locals.  Not this time Tom if you get
caught, you're on your own."

"Yeah, yeah whatever Har.  Just do me a favour and yell if you see
Commander Killjoy heading this way, OK?"  Not waiting for an answer
the pilot slipped through balcony doors and out of sight.

Ensign Kim yelled back to empty air.  "Sure no problem, it's not like
I have anything better to do."

He walked the length of the balcony and settled down on a stone bench
on the opposite side.  When this was over, he and Tom were going to
have a long talk about what it means to be a friend.  He was fed up
with being the lookout and running interference with Chakotay and if
Tom was unable to understand his frustrations, well then that would
be that.  Seven years of trying to cut through crap and find the man
beneath the attitude had finally taken their toll on Harry Kim and he
had enough.

Besides being a pilot of exceptional skill the man was meritless and
Harry didn't need someone like that in his life bringing him down.
So if he didn't change, he could no longer be his friend and the
brash pilot didn't have many friends, in fact Harry was about it.

Thomas Eugene Paris would then be alone.

********

Damn him!

The commander strode down the hallway fuming, his heels clicking on
the marble floor.  He been searching the governor's estate the better
part of an hour, peering into darkened rooms searching for the errant
pilot and swearing everytime his search came up empty.

Two seconds!  He had looked away for two seconds to greet the
ambassador and when he had looked back, Tom had fled the reception
hall with his ever-present sidekick Ensign Kim in tow.
There was no telling what kind of trouble the two were getting into
now but, Chakotay knew for certain that there would definitely be
trouble.

As he rounded the corner into another vacant corridor he considered
again calling Voyager for assistance.  They'd be able to pinpoint his
location in seconds but call would be logged and he was hoping to
keep this incident off the record.  If it was official, Tuvok would
become involved, start some convoluted investigation and tonight
quite frankly he didn't need the extra headache.  Besides, throwing
his prospective lover in the brig would not be very romantic.

As he smiled to himself in spite of the situation, one of his targets
came into view.   On a balcony at the end of the long vaulted hallway
was Harry waving frantically to someone out of view.  He honed in on
the ensign.

"Mr Kim, report!"

"Commander!"  The ensign wheeled around to faced him and stood at
alert.

"Where's Paris?"

A voice to his right answered from the shadows.  "Right here."

On a smaller private balcony stood the lieutenant with both his hair
and his uniform in disarray.  "Just give me a sec, will ya?"  He gave
the commander a beautiful smile and began tucking his undershirt into
his trousers.

Fuck him or kill him, which one first?  Kathryn's words from the
previous night rang in his ears.

"Nice evening isn't it Commander."  Barely hidden contempt dripped
from the lieutenant's words as he slipped on his jacket.

Kill him.  He'd fuck him later if he were still alive.

"Get your ass over here Lieutenant."

"Almost done."

"NOW!"

Tom abandoned the fastening of the jacket and gave him a low
bow.  "Your wish is my command oh master."

After blowing him a kiss, Tom grabbed the railing, kicked his legs
and spun backwards towards the larger balcony.   Chakotay watched as
his lithe form sailed through the air over the gap to the edge of the
marble balustrade.  As he stood atop the ledge his blue eyes shone in
triumph as the wind billowed out his jacket like wings under his
outstretched arms.

"Ta-da!"

"Get down Paris."  Chakotay turned from the blonde spectacle and
walked towards the French doors of the balcony.

"Yes mast.."

"Tom!"

Harry's shout brought him back around.   Except for a stricken ensign
the balcony was empty.   He raced to balustrade and looked over the
crumbled edge eight meters below.  On the lighted plaza lay a still
body; its back twisted at an impossible angle.   Chakotay squeezed
his eyes shut in an effort to block the picture from his mind and
sunk to the marble floor of the balcony.

Tom Paris was dead.

TBC