Prologue:

 Little Tommy Paris was so excited.  Today, November 9th, was his birthday and he was turning five.  His parents were throwing a party for him.  Some of his friends from kindergarten where coming and the children of some other Starfleet captains, commanders and admirals.  It was a busy day for the adults.  Trying to keep so many children in line for hours was never an easy job.  Owen and Emily Paris breathed a sigh of relief once the last person had left.  Now all they had to do was clean up. 
 Tommy was playing with his new toys.  His favourite was the model of a galaxy class Starship.  He pretended that he was the pilot and they were trying to get away from the bad aliens that where coming after him.  While he was playing he remembered what his father had said to him months before.
 “Daddy!” Tom yelled and ran to the kitchen looking for his father.  He wasn’t in the kitchen “Daddy!”  Tom yelled again and ran to the living room where he found his father clearing some of the glasses the guests had used.
 “Yes, what is it?”  Owen asked his son.
 “You promised that we would go to the Academy so that I could fly!”  Tom reminded him.  Tom had been interested in things that flew since he was two and the interest had not abated over the years.  Owen had promised him that they would go to the academy flight simulators when he turned five.  He thought that Tommy would have forgotten but he hadn’t.  Owen sighed.
 “Alright-”
 “Yay!” And Tommy ran away to go spread the good news to his mother and sisters before Owen could even finish his sentence.  Owen smiled and shook his head.
 “Tommy go away!”  Owen could hear Moira yelling at her little brother.  Being eight years older than Thomas, she found him to be more of an annoyance than anything else.  Tommy never got tired of bothering his sisters.  Kathleen was the second oldest and was six years older than Tommy.
 Tommy got his wish and a few days after his birthday he and his father went to the Academy Flight Simulator.  Tom was a surprisingly good pilot. He had an amazing talent.  His abilities quickly made him a hot topic of discussion and Tommy became somewhat of a child prodigy. 
 Tommy always wanted to go to the flight simulators to try a new program.  Owen had just come home from a bad day at the office and just wanted to relax.  As soon as Tommy saw his father he went over and started asking him about going to the simulators again.  Tommy was babbling about all the things he wanted to try and didn’t notice that his father was not in a good mood.  When Owen yelled at him, Tom was startled.  He silently looked at his father for a few seconds and then scurried away. 
 Owen exhaled deeply and looked down at his feet.  He hadn’t meant to yell at Tommy.  He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked into his wife’s compassionate eyes.  “I’ll go talk to him,” Emily said softly and kissed her husband on the cheek.  She walked away and went to find her son. 
 Emily knew where to find Tommy.  And as always she was right.  Up the stairs and down the hall was a sitting room with a large bay window. Tommy would sit there and look at the stars whenever he was troubled.  Sitting in front of the window, gazing heavenward, was Tommy.  The soft light from the stars and moon glinted off his hair creating a golden halo on his head.
 “Tommy,” Emily walked over to where Tom sat.  He looked up at her and a soft smile came over his features when he saw who it was.  She sat down close to him and pulled him inter her lap.
 “Hi, Mommy,” he said softly.  He leaned against her and she ran a comforting hand through his soft hair.  They sat there together, looking out at the stars for a while before Emily announced that it was his bedtime.  Tom yawned, snuggled closer to his mother and closed his eyes.  Emily stood and picked up Tommy at the same time.  Turning around she began walking.  Tom had opened his eyes and looking over her shoulder with sleepy blue eyes he gazed at the stars again.  “One day, Mommy, I’ll be up there.”
 “One day.” She whispered to the child who was already asleep in her arms.  “But not today.”  She put him to bed.  A few hours later the house was silent.  Each person in bed and sleeping, or trying to sleep.  In the master bedroom Owen tossed and turned, unable to sleep.  Emily moved in her sleep trying to get more comfortable.  Owen carefully slipped out of bed and crept towards the children’s rooms.  Tommy’s room was the was the closest one to the master bedroom.  Owen looked in expecting to see his son fast asleep but instead he found an empty bed. 
 Tommy was standing at his window flying his toy Starship against the starry backdrop of the sky.  Owen just stood there and listened for a minute.  Tommy was whispering orders out like he was the Captain of the Starship.  Owen smiled.  Only five and he was already Captain material.  Tommy would be a Captain someday, it was in his blood. 
 “Tommy,”  Owen decided to make his presence known. 
 “Daddy!”  Tommy said turning around quickly.
 “You should be in bed.”  Owen said softly.
 “I had a bad dream.” he said, looking down at the toy ship in his hands.  Owen frowned.  Usually Tommy would come to him when he had a bad dream.  “I didn’t want to bother you.” Tom continued softly knowing that he would have usually gone to his father for comfort but he hadn’t that night.  Owen walked over to Tom and crouched down so that they were on the same level. 
 “Tommy, I’m sorry I yelled at you.” Owen apologized. “I’ll take you to the simulators on Sunday.”
 “Promise?”  Tom asked cautiously.
 Owen smiled, “I promise.”  Tommy returned the smile and hugged his dad.  It didn’t take much to make children happy.  “Come on.  You have to go to bed.” Owen picked up his son and carried him to the bed.  Tommy snuggled into the sheets as Owen tucked him in. 
 “ ‘Night Daddy.”  Tommy whispered and closed his eyes. 
 “I love you.” Owen whispered.  Owen got up and was making his way out of the room when he heard the sleepy reply.
 “Love you too.”  He smiled and left the room.  After making a stop in each of the girls’ rooms to check on them Owen went back to bed to try and get some much needed rest.  To try and get some sleep.  That would be the last time he would see his son until ten years later. 

 In the shadows of the night they crept closer to their target.  With ease they bypassed the security system and entered the house without alerting anybody.  With soft steps one went upstairs while the other two searched the office of Captain Paris.  Down the hallway and the second last door on the right was where the dark figure went.  Pulling out a hypospray he crept closer to his unsuspecting victim who lay in bed sleeping peacefully.  He pressed the hypo to the child’s neck.  He waited a second before picking the youngster up so that the drug had enough time to work.  It would keep the child asleep while they made their escape. 
 The three figures plus one little addition left the house and the little red light on the panel that signalled that the security system was active came on again.  They had not taken information, jewels or credits.  Instead they had taken something more precious than all of the material possessions combined.

 The next morning Emily Paris woke up early.  She had slept well and thought that she should get an early start on the day.  She put on a robe and walked down the upstairs hallway.  She peeked into Tommy’s room but saw that he wasn’t there.  She assumed that he was probably downstairs playing with his Starship already she didn’t think anything of it.  Checking on her still sleeping daughters, she made her way downstairs.  She replicated a cup of coffee and walked around the first floor of the house looking for her son.  She searched for several minutes but could not find him.  Worry clutched her and she ran upstairs to wake her husband.
 They searched the house together again but still did not find Tommy anywhere.  Owen finally called the San Francisco Authorities and Star Fleet Security.  They came over to the house immediately and began their investigation.  The city authorities and the SF Security team worked together in the investigation and uncovered evidence of outside tampering with the security system.  Checking the logs they found that there was a four-minute period when the security system had been deactivated by somebody outside the house.  They came to a conclusion; Thomas Eugene Paris had been kidnapped.

 Tommy awoke in an unfamiliar place.  He looked around. It looked like the back compartment of a shuttle like the ones in the simulations at the Academy.  He heard approaching footsteps and hoped that it was his Mommy or Daddy but he knew somehow that whoever was coming was not one of his parents. 
 A tall man walked in and looked at the child who looked back at him.  “Who are you?”  Tommy asked in a small voice.  The man didn’t answer only walked over to the child sitting at the edge of the bunk and crouched down before him.  The man had dark brown eyes and dark, almost black hair and he had a soft bronze skin colour.
 “You’ll be staying with us for a while.”  The man said plainly.
 “Why?”
 “Because your daddy has something we need and I’m certain that he’ll trade you for it.”  The man said and walked to the exit.  After one look back at the child the man closed the door and locked it. 

 Back on earth Captain Paris was in Starfleet Headquarters talking with the officers who where in charge of investigating his son’s kidnapping.  It had been thirty-six hours and they had not received any messages from the kidnappers.  Starfleet had some ships searching for the kidnappers but they had little to go on.  This was important to Starfleet not only because the child of a high ranking officer was kidnapped but because that high ranking officer was working on an important project that could mean big trouble in the wrong hands. 
 “We’re receiving a hail!”  One officer said as he ran into the room where his superiors were conversing.  The group hurried to the subspace communications set up in the next room.  They had rerouted all incoming transmissions from the Paris household to headquarters.
 The black screen came to life and displayed the face of a man with dark hair and tanned skin.  “By now Captain Paris should have realized that he’s missing something,” the man began.
 “Where is he?  Where’s my son?”   Owen asked impatiently.
 “I assure you he’s fine but he won’t be for much longer unless I get what I want.  What do I want?  I think that you know.  The new torpedo schematics.  I have several buyers already.”
 “We can’t give you that,” said Lt. Commander Martin, who was in charge of the investigation.
 “Then you’ve just signed Thomas’ death warrant.”   The man on the screen said and began walking out of the camera’s range.
 “Wait!” Owen cried.
 “I hope that you’ll be more co-operative now.”  The man came back into the camera’s range.  He started giving them instructions on where to make the drop when a low rumbling was felt.  “On second thought, it seems we won’t be needing your help!”  And with that he ended the transmission.
 “No!”  Owen yelled as the screen went black.  What about his son?
 “What was that?”  a young officer asked.  Looking out the window they could see pillars of smoke rising into the air. 
 “It looks like it’s coming from the research facility,” another man stated. 
 “Confirmed.  There’s been some sort of attack.  Copies of the torpedo schematics were stolen,” said a Martin, who had just communicated with the research facility.
 Owen Paris was not listening to the discussion going on around him.  He was still staring at the black screen.  What about Tommy?  He had just lost his chance to get his son back.

 Tommy was still in the aft section of the shuttle.  He did not know where he was but he knew he wanted to go home.  Voices from the cockpit of the shuttle drifted back and Tommy could hear what they were saying. 
 “Why didn’t you wait?  We have the kid.  They would have traded for him!”  one voice yelled.
 “We saw an opening and we took it,”  A woman yelled.  “What does it matter?  We have what we want.”
 “What about the child?  I told you we wouldn’t need him.”  A different male voice said calmly. 
 “He was the back up plan.  Yesterday you said that you wouldn’t be able to get into the facility,” the first man reminded him.
 “I was wrong.  Still, what do we do about the boy?”
 “Let’s just dump him somewhere.  They’ll find him sooner or later,” another man said.
 “Let’s just kill him.” Said the calm male voice.
 “No…” the woman protested.  The people in the cockpit argued over what to do with the child until their leader finally made a decision.
 “We’ll keep him for now.  Who knows, he might come in handy the next time the Federation has something that we want.  Let’s get out of here.”
 If they continued talking then Tommy could no longer hear them.  His heart beating so quickly, his breaths coming even faster and the sobs that racked his body drowned out the voices.  The man Tommy had seen first, the same man who brought him his meals walked into the room where Tommy was.  He saw the child crying and rolled his eyes. 
 “Will you shut up!”  His yelling only caused Tommy to continue crying.
 “I want to go home!” he sobbed.  The man’s crafty mind decided to use the child’s fragile state to his advantage.
 “We tried to get them to come for you but they wouldn’t.  They don’t want you.”
 “No.”  Tommy didn’t believe the man.
 “It’s true they wouldn’t trade what we wanted for you.  They don’t want you back.”  The Dark man spent the next few minutes convincing the little boy that his parents and family didn’t want him and after a while Tommy began to believe him.
 “What will happen to me?”  Tommy asked in a small voice.
 “You can stay with us, Thomas.”  The man looked at Tommy, his face an expression of sympathy and compassion.  This man however Tommy would learn to fear.

 Weeks later in the Paris household all was quiet.  The girls were playing in their room.  Emily Paris sat on the floor in front of the bay window where Tommy used to go, only this time it was her troubled thoughts that brought her here.  In her hands she clutched his starship, his favourite toy.
 It’s been weeks and they still had not found her son or the people who took him.  They had few leads to follow.  Starfleet had launched a search for Tommy but had not found anything.  Starfleet Security had also modified the security systems in homes of high ranking officers and other prestigious people who might be at risk to this sort of thing so that it would never happen again.  However, for the Paris family it was too late.
 “Mom,” Emily turned and saw Moira, her oldest child approaching.  Moira was thirteen and the leader of the Paris children.  She sat down next to her mom who pulled her into a hug and held her for a long time. 
 “Mommy,” this time it was Kathleen who approached but she didn’t sit down.  Emily could see the streaks on her face and the tears in her eyes that still threatened to fall. 
 “Honey, what’s wrong?”  Emily asked.
 “I….I miss Tommy,” She said and began crying again.  Emily held out her arms to her second daughter who gladly accepted the comfort only a mother could provide.  Next to her, Emily heard Moira softly crying, she too missed her baby brother and was scared.  Emily pulled her close as well and it wasn’t long before silent tears streamed down her own face.
 When Owen came home later that night he found Kathleen asleep with her head in Emily’s lap and Moira lying next to Emily, also asleep.  Only Emily was still awake.  She heard Owen behind her and turned her head so that she could see him.  Owen joined her on the floor and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.  “Nothing.” He said softly.  Another long day working at Starfleet and they still had not found any signs of their son.  Today, though, had been especially hard.  Since Tommy’s abduction he had been working away frantically, always believing that his son was out there somewhere, alive and well, but today he had recieved a violent jolt back to reality.

 Owen had gone to take a break and grab something to eat.  He heard voices coming from the room where the replicator was located.  He continued on but as he walked through the doorway what he heard stopped him in his tracks.
 “They probably would have killed him.  Having a child with them would only slow them down.”
 “They may have dropped him off somewhere hoping that we would find him and if they did we’ll find him.”  Captain Janeway said to Commander Martin standing next to him.  They both had their backs to the entrance.
 “But if Tommy saw their faces then returning him would be out of the question.  They’d have to get rid of him.” The Commander argued his point.  Janeway remained silent.  “I’m just saying, the odds aren’t on the kid’s side-” the Commander turned around and dropped his cup of cappuccino when he saw who was standing in the doorway. “C-c-captain,” the man stuttered.  Janeway turned around just fast enough to see his friend storm away. 
 Janeway quickly followed and tried to offer words of comfort but Paris wasn’t interested.  Captain Janeway had been at Tommy’s birthday party along with his wife and two daughters, even though his girls hadn’t been interested in playing with a five year old.  Janeway imagined what it would have been like if Kathryn or Phoebe had been taken away from him and he knew that was how Owen was feeling right now. 

 “Tommy will beat the odds.”  Owen mumbled to himself. 
 “Pardon,” Emily hadn’t heard what he said.
 “Nothing.”

End Prologue 

Comments to zappyzaps@hotmail.com please.  If nobody’s interested in this story then I probably won’t continue it so please contact me and tell me what you think.