Voyager docked at DS9.  They had contacted Starfleet soon after they had gotten through the conduit. They were ordered to go the DS9 for their debriefing while the families of the crew were contacted.  The feeling on Voyager was that of uncontrollable excitement.  In all the excitement, only a few people realized that they were missing a crewmember.  Tom’s absence was felt mostly on the bridge.  Everyone though that it would be Tom that would dock Voyager when they finally got home.  The journey had been as much a learning experience for him as it was for even the lowliest crewman.  It was an end to their long journey and not ending it together made the experience feel like it was incomplete.  Hopefully that would change.  In two days they were all attending a reception in san Francisco.  Families and loved one’s would be their to greet them.  Hopefully Tom would be there. 
  The debriefing was simple.  Each crewmember meeting with some Starfleet officials and then they were sent to the doctors on DS9 for a full physical to make sure that they weren’t carrying any bugs that they may have picked up in the DQ.  
  One of the best things about coming home was, no more replicator rations!  The replicators were working overtime.  The crew finally got to have those delectable treats that they had been deprived of except on very special occasions.  There was a constant stream of transmission coming and leaving Voyager.   One of those transmissions was from Admiral Owen Paris to Captain Janeway.
  “It’s good to see you again Kathryn.” Owen said from his office at Starfleet command.
  “It’s good to be back.” She replied contently from her ready room.
  “It’s a shame Thomas is missing this but they said that they had to meet with Tom immediately so that they could make his end of parole official.” Owen said.  So that was the story they gave him.  Tom was meeting with the Auckland parole board somewhere.  “Hopefully he’ll be back in time for the reception.” He said smiling.  
  “I don’t think Tom would miss it.” She smiled.  She wondered where Tom really was.

  Tom walked through the unfamiliar corridors of the Phantom-C.  They had gotten a new Phantom.  Every couple of years they would get a new ship.  It would still be Phantom Class and have the same overall shape of the one before but the technology would be upgraded.  They had to keep ahead of everybody else.  Mia was walking with Tom showing him to the bridge.  She was yapping away about some new feature that was on this Phantom. Tom smiled even though he wasn’t really listening.  
  

  They arrived at the bridge a few minutes later.  It was basically the same set up as all the other Phantoms.  He just looked at it for a while.  He was back.  From one of the adjoining rooms Captain Jackson came out or the ready room.  He smiled when he saw Tom.  He shook his hand.  They walked around the bridge looking at the newest additions before Jackson showed Tom to the turbolift and they went to Sickbay.  Tom had to get his check up by their Doctor; Ian Morris.  They walked into Sickbay.  
  “Tom!” Ian said happily turning when he heard to sickbay open.  Ian gave Tom a brotherly hug.  “I didn’t expect to see you here so soon.  Especially if you’re not injured.” He teased.
  “Believe me it wasn’t my idea.” Tom said smiling as he sat himself on one of the biobeds.  
  “You’ve been busy in the Delta Quadrant.” Ian commented as he ran the tricorder over Tom.  “Your medical file from Voyager can attest to that.” He said looking Tom in the eye.
  “I wasn’t that bad!” Tom defended himself.
  “Have you ever looked at your file?  I mean really looked.  You spent 43% more time in sickbay as a patient than the average for all the other crewmembers.” Tom just shrugged.  “You, my friend attract danger like a magnet.”  Ian looked at the tricorder readings.  He paused and studied the readings more carefully.  “I’m not reading any of the neural suppressant in you blood or brain.” He said with a bit of disbelief.
  “Voyager’s Doctor found out what as causing the migraines and I don’t need the suppressant that much anymore.”
  “What was causing them?”  As a physician, Ian was very curious as to what one of his colleagues had discovered.
  “Psychokinetic abilities.”
  “You’re kidding.”  The tricorder in his hand flew out of his grasp and landed on the nearby biobed.  
  “Nope.”  He hopped off the bed.  “So everything checks out?”  He didn’t even notice the astonishment on the faces of the other two people.
  “Uh…yeah.  I would like to run more scans on you though.”
  “Oh no you don’t.  The Doc’s run enough scans to last a lifetime.  They’re in the files you can look at them yourself.”  Ian was about to respond but Jackson saw that they were going to get into an argument and he had seen these two argue before.  It would last for hours. 
  “Commander look at the scans.  If you feel something is missing Tom will come back to sickbay.  For now though we have to go.”
  “Aye sir.” Ian said as he walked to a console to call up the scans.  The sooner he looked at them the sooner he could call Tom back there for more scans.  Paris and Jackson left sickbay. 
  “What is it with Doctors and scanning people?” Tom said quietly causing Jackson to laugh a bit.  Jackson was older than Janeway and Chakotay and the hair above his ears was turning grey.  Tom noticed the signs of aging when he first saw him on Voyager’s view screen.  Tom wondered how much longer he would stay in active duty before he was forced to retire or decided to retire and go back to leading his normal life.  Jackson as the Captain had to be on his ship at almost all times so his death was staged and that gave him the freedom to be on his ship.  Command would have to come up with another cover story to explain Jackson’s disappearance.  But that wasn’t a big problem.  They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again.

  Jackson took Tom back to the briefing room to update him on the situation.  Somebody, has been targeting agents during missions.  It was possibly a leak in the division but they couldn’t be sure.  They think that it was the same person or group of persons, that was after Tom all those years ago.  After Tom went missing however they turned their attention to the other members of his team.  There had been a few missions that where compromised due to whoever was getting the information from the leak.  Amerra had been the only fatality though.  
  Special Ops Command was fairly certain that now that Voyager was back Tom would be the next target.  They also thought that it was somebody who was an agent at sometime but believed to be dead.  All active and inactive agents had been accounted for.  Somebody who they thought was dead was still alive and wanted some revenge and Tom had something to do with it.
  “Any ideas.” Jackson asked his second in command after he had shown Tom the information.  
  “If, I didn’t know better…” He trailed off.
  “What?”
  “This ‘style’…it’s familiar.” He said reviewing some more of the information.
  “Who do you think it is?”
  “I would have to say it was Viper, but he’s been dead for over a decade.”
  “Viper,” Jackson looked at the information again.  “I’d have to agree with you, but that’s not possible.”
  “Well if it’s not Viper then it’s someone that’s copying his style.”  Tom said, and whoever it is will pay for killing Amerra.

  “There’s one more person that you have to meet.” Jackson said.
  “The new team member.”  Jackson nodded and sighed.  “What is it?” Tom asked noting the dread in the Captain’s features.
  “He’s not the most…agreeable person.”  Jackson warned.  “A little outspoken, a little rash…He’s kind of like Brandon when he first came aboard but a million times worse.”  Tom smiled remembering what a pain Brandon was when he first came aboard.
  “Who are you talking about?” Came Mia’s voice from behind them.  
  “Guess.”  The Captain said as he continued walking towards their destination.
  “By the expression of loathing on your face, I’d have to say our new Ensign.”  
  “Not the most popular guy on the ship,” Tom noted.  “What’s his name anyway?”
  “Adrian Scott or Sabre.”
  “Here we are.”  Jackson announced.  They paused in front of a pair of doors.  The ‘shuttle and vehicles bay’.  This was Tom’s domain.  
  “Wait and damn second.  Just what department is Scott in?” he asked with slight trepidation.  Jackson sighed.
  “Your department.”  
  “Tell me he did not touch my babies.”  Tom said, eyes closed.  Someone had been tampering with his projects, invading his kingdom, ruining his stuff.
  “I’m not entirely sure.”  Jackson admitted.
  “They’re all in working order though.”  Mia added, “Well almost all of them.”  
 Tom and the Captain entered but Jade didn’t.  She wasn’t interested in another confrontation with that annoyance. Living on the same ship with him was enough for her.
 The room was filled with several vehicles.  Different types of shuttles, hover vehicles, conventional vehicle, bikes, etc.  Tom walked through the room with Jackson, noting the new additions to his fleet.  “Capatin,” a voice said from the doorway to the launch bay.  They both turned and saw Ensign Scott approaching them.
 “Ah, Ensign Scott, this is Commander Tom Paris.”  Jackson introduced. “Commander, Ensign Scott.” They shook hands.  
 “Paris, eh?”  Tom didn’t like the tone in his voice.  “I’ve done some fine tuning to your vehicles.”  Scott showed Tom around while Jackson took his leave.  “They’re faster more manoeuvrable, and more reliable.  I think you’ll be impressed.”  //Fat Chance// Tom thought as he walked to on of his bikes.  The bike was all black and used wheels rather than hovering.  It still utilized the same energy system that the hover bike used though.  Tom noticed the side plating had been removed, exposing the stabilizers and internal circuitry.
 “What are you doing here?” Tom asked.
 “The stabilizers are out of alignment.  I’m having trouble using this one so I was looking for what’s wrong with it.”  Tom quickly checked the equalizers.  They looked fine to him.
 “There is nothing wrong with the bike.”
 “There has to be.  I couldn’t use it.”  Tom replaced the plating and hopped on the bike.  He did a quick systems check and was off light a gun shot.  Through the maze of vehicles and narrow spaces between them to navigated through the bay.  Skidding into turns and doing one hundred eighty degree turns at high speeds Tom brought the bike perfectly back into its place skidding to a stop.  “Seems fine to me.” Tom said.
 “You should have been wearing safety equipment.” Scott scolded his superior officer.  
 “You don’t need to tell me the rules.  I know them all.”  Tom dismounted.  “I try out all my vehicles this way.”
 “Yes, I’ve been through you’re file.  Reckless, would have to the best word to describe you.  Your conduct has been disputed at time: disobeying direct orders, questioning a superior officer–”
 “All part of being a good first officer.”
 “The list of infractions goes on and on.  I’m surprised that you’re here at all.  I would have thought you’d be dead by now.” 
 “How long have you been in Special Ops, Ensign?”  Tom reminded him of his rank and to whom he was talking to.
 “Three years training, eight months active duty, sir.”  The young man straightened up.
 “You do not have the right to judge me.  You don’t have not experienced enough  to allow you to understand the circumstances of my more questionable actions.  After you’ve been in a few life or death situations where you question everything that you’re doing, and believe me everyone gets into those situations more than once, then you can talk to me about my record, Ensign.”  Tom stated in a hard voice.  “I don’t need you telling me what’s in my record.”  Scott seemed less contemptuous.  
 “Aye, Sir.” He stated tersely.  Tom just looked at the man before him, letting him know that Tom wouldn’t be taking any bullshit from some green Ensign.
 “Don’t touch this bike.”  Tom gestured to the one he had just ridden, “I’ll also be reviewing all of your ‘improvements’.” 
 “Understood.”  Tom nodded once and left.  Adrian Scott sighed.  That was not what he expected from Tom Paris.  He though that he would be able to manipulate the man.  After hearing how Holmes described Paris, he seemed like such a marshmallow; always there for the team, dedicated to the cause…Adrian didn’t think that he a man like Paris was capable of leading them.  He, like so many other before him, had under estimated Tom Paris.

 Tom was talking with a Command official over a subspace channel, being debriefed and briefed on the latest mission.  They had to find the leak and find out who it is that’s sabotaging their missions.  When asked if he would be remaining on active duty, Tom couldn’t give them a definite answer.  The official understood but until Tom decided, they needed him on active duty.  Forty minutes later the meeting ended and Tom went to talk with the Captain.

 “So how did the meeting with command go?” Jackson asked.
 “Fine.”
 “And how about with Ensign Scott?”  Jackson smiled at the slight expression of annoyance on Tom’s face.
 “It was just peachy.  First he told me that my favourite bike was broken when it wasn’t, then he proceeded to scold me on not wearing proper safety equipment when I rode the bike and if that wasn’t enough he tried to analyse me after only reading my file and meeting me fore a minute.  Yeah, we hit it off really well.”
 “Get used to it, he’ll be working with you.”
 “My partner?”
 “No, but we’ll need a new shuttle and vehicles Engineer soon.” Jakson said secretively.
 “Could I get some clarification on what that’s supposed to mean?”  Tom eyed the Captain carefully.
 “I guess they didn’t tell you about this but, five years ago when you were going to be promoted to Captain after you completed the mission on Voyager and your official life ended.  However your trip to the Delta Quadrant put that on hold.  Command has reviewed your file since you’ve been on Voyager and saw no reason not to promote you.  Only this time, if you accept you’ll be replacing me as Captain of the Phantom and Omega Team.”  Tom was silent for a minute, taking in what he had been told.  “I wanted to be the one to tell you.  I’m glad they didn’t spoil my surprise.”
 “Yeah surprise about covers it.” Tom said still a little shocked.  Being the first officer was one thing but a Captain!  That’s completely different.  The complications this would cause was mind-boggling.
 “Tom, you don’t need to worry about it just yet.  Everything will be sorted out in due course and it’ll all work out.”
 “Are you leaving?” Tom asked his Captain.
 “I will be soon.  I think it’s about time for me to hang up the uniform.  Live my life further away from Special Operations.”  Tom was silent.  “I have to tell you though, I’m proud to have you as my successor.”  
 “Thank you, sir.”

 On Voyager B’Elanna was just returning from her debriefing.  They had asked her some questions but it was nothing they didn’t already know.  They had also given her an official commission into Starfleet.  She had accepted it but she could change that if her plans changed drastically.  Hopefully though Tom would be back and they could talk about their future.  
 B’Elanna entered her quarters and noticed that her console had two message waiting for her.  One from John Torres and on from her mother Miral.  She opened the messages and read the text.  Both her parents where on their way to earth to meet her for the homecoming event that is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.  She slumped in her chair.  She wanted to see her parents but was so unsure of what to expect and unsure of her own feelings as well.  She wasn’t sure if she would be able to face them alone.  She fervently hoped that Tom would be back soon.  She needed him.  His strength in her and his loyalty to her and to the crew was missed, by everyone.  
 The crew was told that Tom had been taken off the ship to meet with the Federation Parole board (the same story that Admiral Paris got).  Tom’s presence had been felt after the initial euphoria of getting home cleared enough for people to become aware of his absence.

 Harry Kim had just finished a communication to his parents.  He was ecstatic that they had made it home, but he also felt the difference.  Tom wasn’t here.  Harry had imagined spending his first few moments in the Alpha Quadrant with Tom and B’Elanna; showing them all the places that he had told them about, introduce them to his parents, but all that had been cut.  Tom had left a few minutes after their return and they had not heard anything from him since.  Voyager would be leaving DS9 the next day to go to Earth after everything had been take care of. 

 “Enter.” Janeway said when she heard the chime.  Chakotay entered the ready room.  “Chakotay,” Janeway greeted with a smile, “Have you talked with any relatives?”  He couldn’t keep the smile from his face.
 “A few, but I came to ask you something.”  He said.
 “Ask away.” Janeway leaned against the soft cushions of the couch.  Chakotay sat down.
 “How much of Tom’s file had you seen before Commander Davis showed up?”  She thought for a moment before answering.
 “I knew that he had gone through some special training.  I wasn’t absolutely sure but I assumed that it was for Special Operations.  I, however, assumed that after Caldik Prime he was discharged from Special Ops as well.  I didn’t even think that he had completed his training.”
 “So why give Tom the extra training when we first arrived in the Delta Quadrant?” Chakotay asked.  
 “I knew a little about Special Ops.  Mostly rumours but I couldn’t take any chances.  Special ops officers are trained differently that regular Starfleet officers.  They go through very rigorous and intense training.  They respond differently to different situations and often without warning.”
 “‘Without warning’?” Chakotay was confused.  
 “For lack of a better term.  I noticed it especially when B’Elanna and I had been rescued from the Essim Planet.  They each went about their own duty knowing exactly what was expected from them.  Orders where rarely given.  If something happened, they all knew whose job it was to take care of it.  I couldn’t have Tom doing things spontaneously.  So, I signed him up for extra training.”
 “That explains a lot.  I had been wondering why Tom got more training even after the others had finished their’s.” There was silence before Chakotay asked: “Have you heard anything from Tom?”
 “Nothing yet but I’m hoping he’ll be at the welcoming event on Earth.”  Janeway said.  They were all hoping. 

Tom sat at the console at his desk and did some work.  He had made a promise to a friend and he would keep it.  It took him a while but finally he found what, or more precisely who he was looking for.

In the galley, Mia Holmes sat eating her meal while scrolling through the contents of a padd when one of her least favourite people sat down across from her.  Adrian Scott slid into the empty seat.  She didn’t hate Adrian so to speak but he was so irritating.  She noticed his mood and couldn’t help feeling a little better.  At least she wasn’t the only one suffering.  “So you met Tom?” she asked him.
 “Yes.” He grumbled.
 “What happened?”  She was interested into knowing what Tom did to irk Adrian.  Usually it was Adrian bothering somebody else.  Adrian told her about their little discussion.  She just stared at him.
 “You didn’t.” 
 “What?” he asked defensively.  
 “I can’t believe you.” 
 “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t the truth.”
 “You can’t just go around lecturing superior officers about conduct, unless you’re looking for a quick way off this ship.” He just shrugged and went back to his meal. “I’m serious.  Did you even read every mission log?”
 “No, there were too many.”
 “If you had you would understand why he’s one of the best agents.”  He didn’t respond. “And why he’ll soon be the Captain of Omega Team and the Phantom.”
 “Tell me you’re joking!”
 “Nope.”
 “This can’t possibly be happening.  Maybe I can transfer off this team.” Adrian said more to himself than to Mia.
 “I can’t say I’m insulted but if you go you won’t be going to Alpha Team.”  Alpha and Omega Team are the most elite teams.  The first and the last lines of defence. “There are plenty of agents that are eager for a spot on Alpha or Omega Team. Once you’ve given it up, you won’t be getting it back.”
 “I’ll transfer to Alpha Team.”
 “You can try.”  Mia didn’t comment on it any further.  
 “How do you know he’s going to be Captain?”  Adrian eyed her suspiciously.
 “There’s very little that goes on without me knowing about it.”  She said with a touch of pride.
 “You’ve been through the computer logs?”
 “Several times actually.”
 “You can’t do that.  I just may have to report you to the Captain about what you did and he won’t be pleased.”
 “Prove it.” She said smugly and left the table.  She put her tray in the recycler.  “He knows already anyway.” She said as she walked past Adrian to the exit.
 “You’ve taken eaves dropping to the next level.”
 “Just because I can look through every piece of information on this ship from personal to highly classified, it doesn’t mean that I do.” She walked out of the Galley without a second look at him.  

Early the next day Tom was in his new quarters.  They few things he had packed form Voyager were already there when he entered.  He had started unpacking them but became lost in his thoughts and the bag lay half unpacked while he lay on his bed.  Without warning the room was bathed in red lights. “Red alert.  Agents to the Bridge.” Jackson’s voice called over the comm systems. Tom was up immediately.  The Agents arrived on the bridge quickly while the officers left for their auxiliary stations.  Tom took his customary seat on the left of the Captain.  Brandon was at the helm, Mia at science, Roberta at engineering, Drew at tactical and Mossek at Ops.  Tom couldn’t help the stab of pain that hit him as he looked at tactical where Amerra would usually be. He suppressed the emotion and went back to the task at hand.
“Receiving a transmission on a class 2 frequency.” Mossek said.  Class 2 was a frequency held for severe emergencies but they had learnt in the past few years that it was also the frequency that their enemy would use when he contacted them.  Only active agents should be able to use that frequency. 
A distorted image appeared on the screen.  They couldn’t clear up the interference or decipher who the person was.  “You’re finally back!”  The voice had also been altered.  It was low and it seemed to waver.  The person was looking in the general direction of Tom.  Tom just glared at the image.  He vowed he would catch that person and make them pay for what they did to Amerra.  “I didn’t really believe at first that you were stuck on the ship that disappeared.  I thought it was just some stupid ploy that those idiots at command came up with.  But it seems it was true.” The voice stopped for a second and then continued. “How’s Amerra?” a booming laugh echoed through the bridge.  This jerk was working on Tom’s last nerve.  But he knew he couldn’t do anything.  Mossek and Mia were working on tracing the signal but they had to keep him talking so that they had time to try and trace the signal.  They found that the best way to do that was to keep quiet and let him do the talking.  “What you don’t find that funny Tommy boy?  Well maybe if I get rid of everything that’s tying you down you’ll get your sense of humour back.” The link was severed and the screen went black.  
“We got him!” Mia said.  “We’ve traced the transmission to the Sol system.” She told them.  “It’s got to be a trap.  This is the first time that we’ve been able to trace him.  It was too easy.”
“We’ll have to take that chance.” Said Jackson. “Davis, set a course for the Sol system.  Maximum Warp.”  Jackson turned to Tom.  “Any ideas on what he meant by ‘tying you down’?”
 “He’s going after Voyager.”

 Voyager was parked in a geo-synchronis orbit above San Francisco.  The had recently arrived at Earth and after Captain Janeway and the Senior Staff had met with Starfleet Command the crew was free to take shore-leave.  Harry’s parent had met him at Starfleet HQ after the meeting had ended.  He introduced them all to his parents and went with them to ‘catch up’ and to go see Libby.  B’Elanna smiled.  Out of everybody on the ship Harry had been one of the people that wanted to get home the most.  She hoped that everything worked out between him and Libby.  

 Chakotay, Janeway and Seven went to look around the city but B’Elanna turned down the invitation and went back to Voyager.  They were worried about her but they knew that she was missing Tom.  They finally back to the Alpha Quadrant only to be separated again.  

 On the Phantom Davis was at the helm Illis was at tactical and Tom was in command of the bridge.  He was looking through some information.  Davis turned in his chair so that he could face the rest of the bridge.  He looked at Tom who was enthralled in what he was reading.  Davis looked to Illis who had also noticed the Commanders inattention to the bridge.  ‘What’s he reading?’ Davis mouthed.  Illis shrugged.  He had no idea what was on the padd.
 “It’s Adrian Scott’s record.”  Tom said without looking up.
 “Anything interesting in it?”  Illis asked.
 “Not really.  He was part of Red Squad when he was a Starfleet cadet, serves on the U.S.S. Destiny as an engineer and According to the special ops training officer, he has the potential to be an excellent agent if someone could…well make him less of a hot head.”  Tom ended.
 “Hot-head is right.”  Said Illis.  “He came in here once and started telling me how to run a diagnostic like I was some first year cadet.  Just who does he think he is?”
 “You think that’s bad he scolded me on my ‘reckless piloting manoeuvres’”  Davis said disgustedly.
 “Alright that’s enough.  He’s the new guy.  Give him a break.” Tom said.
 “He has to give us a break first.”  Said Illis.
 “He’ll get used to the command structure and the way things are done around here.  Just give him some time.”
 “And if that doesn’t work we can always transfer him to a different ship.” Illis said with a smile.
 “Nobodies being transferred anywhere.  He’s as much a part of this team as any of us.  He’ll integrate into the crew soon enough.”  Tom said seriously.  Davis and Illis went back to their respective consoles.  Tom was convinced that Scott would fit in and become a valuable member of the crew.  Who were they to argue with him?
 At 1400 hours Omega Team was assembled in the briefing room.  Captain Jackson began the meeting outlining their current situation for those that had not been on the bridge during the transmission.
 “The identity of our opponent here is currently unknown but the techniques used by him closely resemble those of Viper.  Viper or Oliver Hill died several years ago during a mission.  Most of you where not part of this team at the time.  Only myself, Paris and Davis knew him.  We’ve designated Viper Prime for the name of our enemy.  Jade and Mossek where able to trace the latest transmission to the Sol system and Commander Paris believes that he’s going after Voyager.”
 “Why is Viper Prime going after you?” Jade asked Tom.
 “Your guess is as good as mine.”  Tom said.
 “What was your affiliation with Viper?”  Adrian asked.
 “He was a friend of mine and I was his partner on the mission when he was killed.”
 “Maybe it’s a revenge thing.” Adrian suggested again.
 “One: Viper is dead. Two: It wasn’t my fault that he died there; he was point man.  He made the decision to go back in and it was the wrong one.”  Tom said dully.
 “What exactly happened on that mission?” Adrian asked, wondering if there was more to this than met the eye.
 “Mission name was Excalibur 07 Bravo.  Viper was point and I was secondary.  I was an Ensign at the time but I was picked by Viper to back him on this mission.  Viper was the best Agent in the Division, never once failed a mission and went above and beyond the call of duty in most cases.  The objective of the mission was to gather intelligence information on the Cardassian activities.  Due to complications during the mission we were unable to get the information that we wanted.  They had caught us in the act actually.  Somehow the Cardassian officers had by passed every precautionary measure that we had taken.  We managed to get away from the party that was after us but the entire complex was on alert.  We could have left then but Viper wanted to go back in.  Despite my protests he outranked me and we went back for the information.  They found us again and during the exchange of fire Viper took a fatal shot.  I managed to get out of the base and made it back to the Phantom.”  Tom ended.
 “You left him there?”  Adrian accused more than asked, “I’d be pissed at you too.”
 “I checked him.  He was dead.  Not many people survive a phaser shot to the head.”  Tom said harshly.  That shut Adrian up.
 There was an uncomfortable silence in the room before Jackson spoke again.  “No matter the reason, Viper Prime has targeted the Voyager and its crew.  It’s most likely that he’ll go after close friends of Commander Paris.  We’ll be arriving at Earth by 1000. Before then we need to look through the guest list for the Welcoming Event or reception or whatever’s going on tomorrow evening.  Run checks on everybody that you think is the slightest bit suspicious.  Tom, Mossek, I’ll leave that to you two.  I want everyone to be familiar with the schematics of the hall that the event is taking place in.  Brandon, Drew, tactical vantage points, points of entry where Viper Prime might be able to slip into the Hall undetected.  Mia, Adrian, I want you to running constant sensor sweeps; look for anything that could give away his ship’s position. The last thing we want is a surprise attack.  Mia I also want you to look through the Starfleet database on Earth once we get into range of the system.  Look for any unauthorized access to the information.  Viper Prime always does his research, he may leave a trail.  Ian, I want you looking for a way to identify if anybody is disguised to look like something that they’re not, down to the genetic coding.  These assignments are in addition to the regular prep assignments.  Questions?”  silence “Dismissed.”  Each person filed out of the Briefing room to complete their assigned tasks.  Jackson watched them leave.  They’re an excellent team but Adrian Scott was not incorporating very well into the team.  Every team depends on each member in order to be successful and like many other things they could only be as strong as the weakest member.   Jackson set aside his those thoughts.  He had some messages to send to Starfleet on behalf of the Federation Parole Board and to slip some people onto the guest list.

 Gerron Tem was in his quarters on Voyager.  It was just past 1700 hours.  He had gone to earth earlier but he found himself seeking the isolated refuge of his quarters.  The sights and sound of families being reunited after so long left him longing for his family.  The only place he felt at home was in his quarters.  The chime of his door took him away from the haze of thoughts that clouded his mind.  He approached the door feeling a bit of foreboding.  He didn’t want to pretend to be happy in front of one of his friends who had just talked to their family.  He didn’t have the energy to keep up the façade any more and in the less than an hour there was a special gathering planned for the crew of Voyager and family; it looked like he would be going alone.  He pressed the button to release the privacy lock he had place on the doors to his quarters.  The doors slid open revealing three familiar faces and one not so familiar face.  Gerron was stunned into silence.
 There were four Bajorans standing in front of him; two female and two male.  “Gerron,” the older male Bajoran asked cautiously.
 “… Nyar? …” Gerron managed to asked.  The man nodded and eveloped Gerron in a hug.  “I…I…thought that… you where dead.”  
 “I thought that you were dead.” Nyar said smiling at his little brother.  Nayar turned to his right gesturing to the aged woman.  “Gerron you remember Aunt Erra.”  Erra was their mother’s sister.  Gerron nodded dumbly; he was still trying to comprehend everything; he still had a family.  Amey was Nyar’s girlfriend last time heard. “And Amey.”  Nyar gestured to the aged women on his left. “And this little man here,” Nyar said with a proud smile “Is Narran, our son.”  
 “You … You have … a … a son?”  Gerron sputtered.  He looked at the little boy that was happily playing with a toy, totally oblivious to what was going on around him.  Nyar smile had not left his face as he watched his brother deal with the new information.  “How did you know I was here if you didn’t even know that I was alive?”
 “Amey received a susbspace message recently that was from someone in Starfleet saying that you were on the Voyager.  I don’t know how they found us though.  The DMZ isn’t yet part of the Federation so we aren’t on their files but somehow they found us and … here we are.”  
 “Are you going to the reception?  It’ll be starting soon.”  Amey said as she shifted Narran in her arms.  
 “Yes I’ll definitely be there.” Gerron said.
 “We have to go get ready.”  Nayar said. “We’ll see at the reception.”  Nayar said.  Gerron watched them leave until they went around a bend and he could no longer see them.  He slowly re-entered his quarters still dazed due to the sudden turn of events.  Who had contacted his family?  He remembered Tom’s words to him at the party when they had made contact with the Alpha quadrant.  Tom must have had something to do with it.  Gerron began to get ready.  He would have a chance to thank Tom at the reception, if he showed.

 “Ready?”  Tom looked at the team members that where assembled in the transporter room.  Mia, Brandon, Adrian, Drew and Ian where going down to the planet while Captain Jackson and Mossek stayed with the Phantom.  All but Tom and Brandon and Ian were dressed in the all black mission uniform while they wore the Starfleet dress uniforms but underneath they had on black shirts and two phasers each.  
 The Team stepped onto the transporter padd.  “Energize.”  Tom ordered and the team was transported to the surface.  They were in a dark area close to the assembly hall where the crew would be.  They made sure that each of their timepieces was synchronized and at exactly 1730 they went their separate ways.  There were still people entering the hall but most people entered at 1700 when it began.  Tom, Ian and Brandon made it in without any problems.  They got their weapons past security.  Once inside the main part of the hall the three split up.  Tom walked through the crowd of people greeting crewmembers as he went.  He already knew that all of the crew was here. For the past several hours Omega Team has been making sure that the crewmembers where safe and making sure they knew their location at all times.  They did this without letting anybody know that they were here.  Despite all the scans and all the work they had not found any trace of Viper Prime.  Tom, Ian and Brandon where each equipped with modified scanning devices so that they would be able to determine a disguised person.  It would be a difficult job there were more than three hundred people here.  They had their work cut out for them.
 
 The Reception Hall was enormous.  The walls where decorated by symbols of the empires and governments within the federation.  This building was a testament to the UFP.  The architecture was a mix of several species.  The ceiling was a transparent dome that gave a clear view to the stars above. Unity was the theme of the building.  That several different species could come together and create something that was greater.  All the good parts and none of the bad; perfect harmony.
 “Captain Janeway!”  called a male voice.  Janeway turned to where she heard her name being called.  Making his way through the crowd was Admiral Owen Paris.
 “Admiral,” Janeway said with a smile.  Owen shook her hand. Janeway introduced her senior staff plus Seven minus Tom to the Admiral. She, Chakotay and Seven and Tuvok talked with the Admiral but Harry and B’Elanna talked between themselves.  They knew that Tom had a troubled relationship with his father and they didn’t know what to expect from the Admiral so they kept out of the conversation.  
 “Did you see Libby?”  B’Elanna asked.  
 “I did.”  Harry said neutrally.  B’Elanna let out and exasperated sigh.
 “And…”
 “And she’s still single.”  Harry said with a smile.
 “Harry, that great!” B’Elanna said in elation.  “So, what did you guys talk about.”
 “Just what happened in our lives while we were separated.  She waited for over a year for me but when I didn’t turn up she started dating again but didn’t have any luck find the right person.”
 “Seems she has the same luck you did.”  B’elanna smiled remembering many of Harry’s failed relationships and crushes. “So where do you guys go from here?” she asked.
 “Well, where going to go back to dating again.  A lot can happen in five years; we’re not the same people.  We just can’t get married as if nothing had happened.  Hopefully though it will work out.”  He ended softly.
 “I know it will.”  B’Elanna said with a soft smile.  

 They failed to notice the man who watched them for several minutes.  Nobody noticed him.  He was just another relative of a crewmember that they didn’t know.  People paid him little mind.  He mingled aimlessly around the crowd looking for his target.  He would be here; Phoenix would be here.

 “Have you heard anything from Tom?”  Janeway asked Owen.  They were all anxious to know where Tom was.  
 “No but I expect him to be here.”  Owen said as he did another quick search for his son in the ocean of faces.  He didn’t see Tom anywhere but there were a lot of people.

 B’Elanna wandered through the crowd alone.  She greeted and was greeted by various crewmembers as she walked.  She even met Joe’s two sons.  They looked just like Joe, hair and all.  B’Elanna kept wandering.  She wouldn’t admit it to anybody, except maybe Tom and Chakotay but she was worried about seeing her parents.  She and her mother had not parted on the best of terms and she hadn’t seen her father since she was five.  She didn’t know what to expect.  She fervently wished that Tom was here.  With here she would feel stronger.  She depended on him as much as he did on her and right now she could really use his help.
 “B’Elanna!” she heard a very familiar voice cal her.  She turned around and only a few meters behind her, was her mate.  
 “Tom!”  she exclaimed and threw her arms around him.  They kissed for a long moment before pulling away.
 “I’m glad to see you too.” He said happily.
 “Where have you been?  I wasn’t sure that you would be coming.”
 “And miss the party?” he teased.  She hugged him again.  Tom saw the woman who was a few paces behind B’Elanna and knew instantly who it was he pulled away from B'Elanna not breaking eye contact with the other woman.

 She walked up to the couple stopping a few steps short when she saw them embrace.  She watched the exchange silently wondering who, exactly the other man was.  When they embraced again her eyes met the blue gaze of the man.  He didn’t react but something in his eyes told her he knew who she was.  He pulled away.

 “Tom?”  B’Elanna said wondering why he had pulled away from her.  He noticed his eyes where looking over her to someone else.  She turned knowing who it was before she saw her.  Miral Torres, B’Elanna’s mother stood amidst the crowd of people.  Her eyes met her mothers.  Her mothers gaze had shifted to B’Elanna when she turned around.  She looked over her daughter from head to toe.  B’Elanna had to squash the feeling of anger that flared within her as her mother judged her.  //Am I not klingon enough for you?//  B’Elanna thought in anger.  
 Miral looked into B’Elanna’s eyes again noting the anger that she tried to conceal.  She’s never known B’Elanna to have such control over her emotions but then again she never really knew B’Elanna.  Her daughter had grown up into the strong woman she sees now.  The angry and self-loathing girl that she had last seen so many years ago was gone replaced by a confident Starfleet officer.  
 Tom wondered who would make the first move.  Miral took a tentative step towards B’Elanna.  “Daughter,” she said simply, features drawn into a gentle smile.  B’Elanna smiled and the two hugged.  “And who is this?”  Asked the klingon woman, as she looked at Tom who just smiled at her.
 “This, mother, is Tom Paris, my boyfriend.”  She introduced Tom to her mother as well.
 “B’Elanna?”  behind Tom a voice called B’Elanna again.  B’Elanna vaguely recognized that voice.  
 “Dad?” Tom moved to the side.  A smile spread across his face as he saw B’Elanna.  He walked up to B’Elanna and embraced her.  After a moment B’Elanna returned the embrace.
 “I so glad to see you.” John Torres said as he looked at his daughter.  A snort came from the direction of Miral.  John glance over at her briefly.  There was no mistaking the tension between the two.  John ignored her for now and looked at the man who stood protectively behind his daughter.  He figured that this man was B’Elanna’s boyfriend.  He extended his hand.
 “John Torres.” He introduce himself.  Tom shook his hand.
 “Tom Paris.”   The smile that was once on Mr. Torres’ face disappeared after hearing the man’s name.  
 “Oh…” was all that John said. Tom resisted the urge to sigh or roll his eyes.  He would never be able to escape his past but on Voyager he had gotten used to people accepting him despite history. Just one more thing he would have to get used to again now that they were back.  John went back to talking with B’Elanna asking somw questions about her life on Voyager.  B’Elanna tried to ignore her father’s reaction to Tom and the tension between her parents.  She was glad that Tom was with her so that she wasn’t alone with them.  She didn’t want them to argue, not here not now.  Today was supposed to be a joyful day.  After a few minutes of talking B’Elanna left with Tom to go see Harry and the others. 
 As they were approaching Tom’s commbadge chirped.  He tapped it and listened.  Tom was wearing an earpiece so that only he could here what was being said.  Tom stopped walking.  B’Elanna noticed that Tom wasn’t walking and was looking around the crowd. “Where?”  Tom asked through the comm line.
 ‘Nine o’clock’ said Onyx (Doctor Ian Morris).  Tom looked to the left.
 “I don’t see him.  Do you still have a visual?”
 ‘Negative.’
 “Keep looking.”  Tom closed the line with Onyx and contacted Mase who was also inside and gave him some orders.  Tom turned back to B’Elanna.  “B’Elanna find the rest of the senior staff and stay with them.”
 “Why?  Where are you going?”  
 “There’s somebody who’s looking to cause trouble here.  I need to find them.”  He left her and quickly disappeared into the crowd.  B’Elanna went to find Captain Janeway.
 “Phoenix to Jade.”
 ‘Go ahead.’
 “Is Sabre with you?”
 “Affirmative.”
 “Find anything suspicious?”
 “Negative.”  
 “Jade get a sniper rifle and take position on the roof.  Use the scanning visor.  Sabre continue the perimeter search co- ordinate your efforts with the Phantom.”  Tom order.  Two ‘Aye sir’s came over the comline and Tom closed it.

 Outside Jade was with Sabre. The line just closed. “Time for some R ‘n’ R.”  she said.
 “What?” Sabre was confused.
 “Roof and a rifle,” She contacted the Phantom and a moment later a sniper phaser rifle appeared a meter away.  “See ya.” She said to Sabre and was whisked away by the transporter beam.  
 “Sabre to Falcon.”
 ‘Falcon,’
 ‘Jade is on the roof.  Just the two of us are going to be monitoring the perimeter.’
 ‘Understood.  Falcon out.’

 Inside phoenix met up with Mase.  “If he’s going to strike it’ll be during the Address from Admiral whoever, when attention will be focused away from him.” Mase said. “I suggest that we stay close to the Senior Staff.  And I think that you should go back to the Phantom.”  Tom looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Your putting yourself in danger.  Just being here is giving Prime what he wants.”
 “And if I’m not here he’ll go after someone else just to get me back here.”  Tom said. 
 “Alright but watch your back.”  Brandon warned.
 “I will.”  Tome smirked and walked back into the crowd.  The address being given by Admiral Hayes was going to start in a few minutes.  Tom went over to where he the Senior officer where talking.  B’Elanna saw him coming and smiled.  Others noticed that B’Elanna’s attention was wandering and followed her gaze.  Tom stopped in his tracks when he saw one of the people that was with them.  Admiral Paris.  Tom had been so preoccupied he had forgotten that his father would probably be with Janeway.  He forced himself to keep walking.  Smiling politely at everyone he walked to B’Elanna’s side.  No one asked where he had been.  All except Owen knew that Tom had been with Captain Jackson on the Phantom.  
 “Tom,” Owen said.  He was uncomfortable.  There was so much that he had to say to his son but he didn’t want to do it in front of all these people. 
 “Dad,” Tom said.  B’Elanna clasped his hand knowing that there were many issues between the two of them.  Thankfully the Admiral Hayes took to the stage and Tom and Owen where spared having to talk in front of all these people.  While Admiral Hayes spoke Tom looked around scanning the sea of faces for someone who looked like Viper or looked suspicious.  

 On the roof of the building Jade had positioned herself on the edge of the dome where the wide ledge let her move freely around the clear dome.  She was crouched down with her rifle poised and ready to fire.  From her position she watched as the crowd settled down and listened to the Admiral on the stage.  Mase and Onyx took positions near the senior Staff of Voyager. Movement behind and to the right of Phoenix’s position caught her attention.  Focussing in on the person using the visor she scanned him.  Her readings where inconclusive but she reported it anyway.

On the ground outside the building Sabre was scanning the area.  He had made several passes and each time found nothing.  The Phantom’s sensors had not picked up anything either.  Continuing his sensor sweep he noticed a small blip in the readings.  It was minute but it was there and it was inexplicable.  He went to investigate.

 ‘Jade to Phoenix’
 “Go ahead.” Tom whispered.  Nobody other than Jade heard him.
 ‘Five o’clock, dark blue suit.’  She described the man.  Tom looked over his shoulder.  He caught a glimpse of a man in a dark suit but he moved before Tom could identify him. ‘He’s on the move.’  Jade followed him from her position.  Tom let go of B’Elanna’s hand and moved in the direction of the man he had seen.  B’Elanna felt Tom’s hand slip from hers and turned to him but before she could say anything he had slipped into the crowd of people and she couldn’t see him.  

 Sabre made his way towards the anomaly on his tricorder.  Whatever it was, it was moving and he had to run to keep up.  In his haste he failed to notice that he had left his designated area and had left Jade without immediate back up.

 Tom was fighting his way through the crowd listening in to Jade as she directed him.  Tom finally made it to the outer edge of the crowd of people.  He looked around but didn’t see Prime (Viper Prime that is).  “I don’t see him.”
 ‘I do.  He’s still moving in the same direction.’  Tom walked around the perimeter of the crowd searching for Prime. ‘He’s right below my position.’ Jade said.  She could just see the top of the man’s head.  The man stopped and looked up directly at Jade. ‘He knows I’m here.’  She watched as he pulled out a device and pressed a button.
 “Take the shot.”  Tom said as he picked up the pace.  The only thing he heard was static.  “Jade,”  nothing “Phoenix to Jade.”  Nothing. “Phoenix to Mase.  Cover my position.”
 ‘What’s going on?’
 “Whoever’s in here has seen Jade on the roof and I can’t get through to her. Something’s jamming her comm signal.”
 ‘I’m coming with you.  Onyx can stay here.’
 “Meet me at the opposite end from the stage.”
 ‘Got it. Mase out.’

 “Jade to Phoenix.”  No answer. “Jade to Sabre.” Nothing. “Jade to Phantom.” Static.  “Shit.” She swore under her breath. She could see Mase and Phoenix moving towards her position.  She aimed her rifle at the man that was below and a few meters in front of her.  She would take the shot when Phoenix and Mase where closer so that they could move the unconscious body to a more inconspicuous area.  They where only a few meters away and she fired.

 Sabre stopped.  Whoever is out their had stopped running.  He approached the person from behind drawing his phaser.  “Don’t move!” he ordered.  He circled around the person but before he could see their face a transporter beam dematerialized them. “Damn it!  Sabre to Phantom,”
 ‘Arrow here, go ahead.’
 “Somebody just transported out of the area can you get a fix on the origin of the transporter beam?”
 ‘We’ll work on.’  After a pause Arrow spoke again. ‘Sabre your out of position!’
 “I needed to follow that person-”
 ‘Get back to your position.  Arrow out.’ Sabre was going to say something in his defence but Arrow ended the link.  He huffed and started his run back to the reception hall.

 The moment Mase and Phoenix were near the suspect Jade fired.  The orange beam hit its target square in the chest.  The man was falling to the ground when a transporter beam locked on him and he vanished.  “What the f-”
 “Phoenix to Phantom.”  Phoenix interrupted Mase’s swearing.  “We just witnessed a transport.  Can you locate the origin of the transport?”
 ‘We’re working on it. Phanotom out.’  Arrow cut the link.

 From her position Jade watched the person disappear in the transported beam.  She watched Phoenix and Mase contact somebody, presumably the Phantom.  She didn’t hear the soft footsteps that where approaching her.  “Jade to Phoenix.”  She tried her commbadge again but it didn’t work.  “Jade to Falcon”  Static.
 
 The dark figure tread ever closer to Jade’s position.  He watched as she tried her commbadge again and again.  A malicious smile covered his face.

 On the far left side of the visor there was a small blip that diappeared quickly.  Jade stilled and listened.  The visor around her eyes cut off part of her peripheral vision.  She heard soft footsteps approaching.  Turning quickly she raised her gun and aimed it at the person approaching.  The person was abviously male and stood between six to six feet two inches.  Close to Viper’s height.  The man was dressed in an all black suit.  He continued to approach her she fired.

 From inside the hall Phoenix and Mase both saw the orange phaser beam.  Jade was under attack.  “Mase to Sabre.  Jade needs your help. now!”  Sabre was supposed to be the one closest to her position to provide back up if necessary.  
 “I’m not close to her right now.  Give me four minutes.” He said quickly as he ran to his position.
 “He’s out of position.”  Phoenix said in realization.  Jade was on her own.

 Falcon continued his sensor sweep of the perimeter.  He had only been contacted once by Sabre.  He took that as a good sign that there weren’t any complications.  He checked his latest scan: nothiong.  He sighed.  He wasn’t trained for this sort of nonsense.  His internal rantimg was cut short by his commbadge.
 “Go ahead.”
 ‘Falcon get to Jade!’  Phoenix ordered over the comm line and then closed it.  Without hesitation he left his position.  He knew that Sabre was supposed to be her immediate backup.  Since he was called it must mean that something happened to Sabre and now Jade was in trouble as well.
 “Falcon to the Phantom.  Beam me to Jade’s position.”  There was not response. What the hell was going on up there?  Falcon didn’t ponder the question any further.  He would have to take the harder route to the roof.

 On the Phantom. “Where did that ship come from?”  Arrow asked Dacal (Mossek).  
 “Unknown sir.  It may have just decloaked.”  The ship rocked as it took a direct hit.
 “We should have been able to detect it.”  Arrow said as he returned fire to the unknown ship.  “Contact the ground team, tell them of our predicament.”
 “Communiction system is offline.”  Dacal informed him.

 The shot didn’t hurt him in the least.  He continued to advance on her.  Walking backwards to keep some distance between herself and the other man she re-modulated the rifle and fired again.  Still no effect.  She stopped retreating and made a descision.  Aiming her gun higher she aimed at the man eyes.  He stopped walking.  The phaser beam momentarily blinded him.  He opened his eyes just in time to see her swinging the rifle towards his head.

 “I’m not getting any response from the Phantom.”  Mase said.
 “Go back to the senior staff.” Mase nodded and left.  Tom dashed to the nearest exit.  He had to help Jade.  

 Jade clubbed the man over the head.  She swung to hit him again but he grabbed the phaser and ripped it out of her grasp.  He tossed the phaser over the edge and advanced on her again.  When he was close enough she gave him and upper cut but it didn’t seem to cause him any pain.  Grabbing her by the shoulders he hit her head to his.  She staggered backwards and the pain ripped through her head.  The world was spinning but she had to concentrate or else she was as good as dead.  Her best chance would be to force him off the roof.  She had a plan, good, but how to implement her plan, that was the problem.  She attacked the man but each try was thwarted.  His reflexes were impossibly fast  she was at a major disadvantage.  He punched her once in the ribs and she heard a crack and felt the pain shoot through her chest.  She was recovering her stance quickly after that blow but not nearly fast enough to stop the man from getting a vicelike grip around her neck.   
 She took out another weapon and pressed it to the mans chest.  A huge surge of electricity should have passed through him and most likely her as well but nothing happened.  The man tightened the grip around her neck and she dropped the weapon.  She couldn’t breathe.  She struggled and fought but his grip was relentless.  Lifting one leg until it was on his arm she pressed on the arm.  That would have caused the arm of any humanoid to buckle at the elbow or break but nothing happened.  
 He picked her up by the neck with one arm and walked to the edge of the roof.  She was still struggling but the lack of oxygen was taking its toll and she was weakening quickly. He held her out over the edge.  They were nearly five stories up. 
 “Don’t move!”  Ordered a voice from behind.  The man turned his head just enough so that he could see the Agent out of the corner of his eye.  Falcon had climbed to the top of the building using the grappling device that they were equipped with.  He didn’t dare shoot the man in front of him in fear that he would drop Jade.  “Put her down on the roof!” he ordered.  Not ‘Put her down’ or ‘Let her go’; there was no mistaking his order.  He wasn’t interested in anybodies sick sense of humour.  
 
 Tom exited the building and could see Sabre running back towards the building.  Tom heard the sound of Falcon yelling an order not to move and looked up.  A the other end of the side of the building the he was on was a man holding Jade over the edge of the roof.  Tom ran in that direction but before he could help her at all the man let go.

 The tunnel vision had blocked off most of what she could see.  The sounds around her were fading into the background.  At the last moment she felt the pressure around her neck release.  Air filled her lungs again but to her dismay she felt herself begin to fall.  Pulling out her grappler she aimed it at the roof and fired.  The hook imbedded itself into the building but the jolt from the cable as the hook locked was too much for her weak grip.  She couldn’t hold on and fell the rest of the way to the ground but she had been slowed by the grappling hook but would it even matter?

 Falcon fired but the man disregarded him as he watched with sick fascination as his victim fell to the ground, her last attempt to save herself failing.  Falcon was angry but he knew better that to act on hi emotions.  He fell back on his training and went by the book.  He reset his phaser an fired again.  Still nothing.  The phaser shot seemed to annoy the man and he turned his attention to Falcon but before he could take a step towards him he disappeared in a transporter beam.

 Sabre and Phoenix watched in horror as Jade impacted with the hard earth.  They both kept running until they reached where she lay.  Tom made it to her first.  She was on her back.  He knelt down and felt her wrist looking for a pulse.  He couldn’t find one.  He put two fingers to her neck.  He felt a weak pulse.  Only lookingvery carefully at her could her discern the rise and fall of her chest and she took in weak breathes.  They were far to slow and far too shallow for his liking Tom commed the Phantom for an emergency transport for Jade but received no response.  He tried again and again but still nothing.  
 Falcon made it down from the roof and moved to where Phoenix was crouched over Jade’s form.  He stood looking at her.  Blood running from her mouth, more pooled around her head making a crimson halo on the ground, breathes slow and shallow.  She was going to die if she didn’t get to the medical attention that she needed.  
 Sabre finally made it over to them.  Falcon looked at him with barely contained rage.  He had left his position and now Jade may die. “Phoenix to Onyx.  Medical emergency, agent down.”
 ‘On my way to your position now.’  
 “Phoenix Out.”  Tom released a harsh breath.  He knew that Falcon and Sabre were there but he couldn’t bring himself to look at Sabre right now.  Onyx was soon running towards them.  He knelt next to Jade and took out his small medical kit from where he had it concealed and began treating Jade as best he could.
 “The Phantom?”  he asked while scanning Jade.  He need to get her back to sickbay.
 “Out of contact.”  Tom answered.  “Jade?”  The Doctor didn’t respond right away.
 “She’s dying.  I need to get her to a sickbay.”  
  “Paris to Voyager.  Lock onto this commbadge and transport everybody within a one meter radius directly to Sickbay.”
 “Aye sir.”  Phoenix took off his commbadge, gave it to Onyx and stepped back.  Jade and Onyx where transported to the Voyager.  He took a deep breathe and turned back to his team members.  “Continue your perimeter sensor sweeps.  Make sure that there isn’t anybody else here.  Contact Mase if you find anything.”  Tom didn’t have his commbadge anymore. “If you do contact me it’ll be one way; no commbadge.”
 “What about the Phantom?”  Falcon asked.
 “They most likely got into a fight with whoever transported those people away from here.  We can’t to anything for them from here.  This mission isn’t over.  Get backto your positions. Dismissed.”  Tom left and went back to the entrance to the Reception Hall.  Sabre and Falcon went back to their positions.

 “Tom, you missed the speech. It was absolutely riveting.” Harry joked when he saw Tom approaching.  Tom smiled briefly.  Harry noticed the tried look and was about to ask him if something was amiss but Tom was talking to Lt. Cm Davis.  Harry recognized him. Tom was filling Davis in on what happened.  By the change in expression on Davis’ face Harry could tell that whatever Tom was telling him wasn’t anything good.  Tom turned back to Harry.
 “So what did I miss?”  Tom asked though he wasn’t the least bit interested.
 “Tom what’s wrong.”  Tom ran a hand down his face and shook his head.  He didn’t want to talk about it and he didn’t want to lie to Harry.  He had to compose himself.  He would probably have to see his father again.  He needed all the strength he could muster.
 “Ericson to the Doctor.”  A voice came over the Doctor’c commbadge.  “We just received an emergency transport to Sickbay.  I thought you should know.”  
 “Doc,” Tom walked to the Doctor and quietly explained to him that it was one of his team members.
 “Understood.  I believe that the Doctor on the ship will be able to handle it.  Give him whatever he needs.”
 “Aye sir.”
 “Thanks Doc.”  Tom said to him.
 “I could assist your friend in treating-”
 “It’s okay Doc.  Enjoy your evening.”  Tom walked away.  He knew that Onyx was more than adequately trained to help Jade.  He had done it several times before on Tom himself.  
 Janeway had heard part of Tom’s conversation with the Doctor and wanted to ask him about that but she saw that Admiral Paris was approaching Tom from one side and B’Elanna from the other.  She would talk to him later.  Right now it seems like he had enough coming his way.

 “Tom,” two voices said at the same time.  B’Elanna and Owen Paris walked up to him.
 “Dad, B’Elanna.” He answered.  //Not now, not at the same time.//
 “Dad this is B’Elanna.”  
 “Yes, the Chief Engineer.  We’ve met.”  He nodded to her.  “How did the meeting with the parole board go?”
 “Well.  I don’t know what their final decision is though.” Tom lied.  Owen nodded.  He didn’t know where to go from there.
 “Have you seen Kathleen and Moira yet?  There around here somewhere.”  
 “No, not yet.”  Tom didn’t want to see his sisters just yet.  Not feeling like he was now.
 Owen was at a loss.  He didn’t know what to say to Tom and Tom didn’t know what to say to him.  There was and awkward silence.  Owen looked at his son.  Older, Stronger and wiser than when he had last seen him.  How many years ago was that? Nine or so?  He could still remember the words he had said to Tom the last time he had seen him and he could still remember the look in Tom’s eyes.  The deadened look that haunted his dreams and knowing that he had been the one to put it there.  He wished now he could take back the words that he had said that fateful day.  What would Tom’s life be like now if he had been more of a father and less of a commanding officer.  Regret.  That was what he felt the most right now.  
 “Tommy!”  a shriek from someone in the crowd.  Tom and Owen recognized Kathleen’s voice.  She was ploughing through the crowd of people to get to her baby brother, Moira right behind her.  Tom smiled and a familiar twinkle returned to his eyes.  Both women enveloped him in a hug.  Owen felt out of place, not being able to join in the heart felt reunion. He felt like an outsider in a private moment.  “Tommy it’s so good to see you!”  Kathleen squealed and hugged him again.
 “It’s good to see you both again.” He said.  He pulled away from them and introduced them to B’Elanna.  They began talking to her at length.   Tom had purposely done that to get them off of him.  His emotions where in conflict right now and he couldn’t be happy while one of his team members and more than that, a friend was seriously injured and possibly about to die.

 The evening ended and family and friends left.  Tom’s sisters left after Tom promised to visit his sisters’ homes so that  he could meet their families.  Owen had said his good nights and left with them telling Tom that he would see him later.  

 B’Elanna left with her parents to go talk.  She noticed that Tom was acting differently than usual but never had a chance to ask him before she left with her parents.  Most of Voyager’s crew left with family members or friend to go catch up.  Most of them would be returning to Voyager later but currently it was only the late evening so Voyager would be mostly deserted until then, other than the officers that where still on duty.  They were officers from the Alpha Quadrant so that all of Voyager’s crew could attend the Reception.

 Tom assembled the rest of his team.  After finally making contact with the Phantom Tom and Brandon (Phoenix and Mase) went to Voyager while Drew and Adrian (Falcon and Sabre) beamed back to the Phantom.  Tom and Brandon entered Voyager’s Sickbay.  The Ian was talking to Voyager’s EMH.  The Doc came back to Voyager after the Reception ended since he had no family to go visit.  He was, however, hoping to visit his programmer Dr. Zimmerman.  
 Tom and Brandon walked over to the two Doctors.  “How is she?”  Tom asked.
 “Stable.  In addition to her other injuries she still has some severe cranial trauma but I’ve done what I can.  We just have to wait and see what happens.” Ian told them.  Tom and Brandon walked with Ian to the biobed where Mia lay.  There was a cortical monitor on her forehead but other than that you could not tell that she was so badly injured.
 “As soon as you’re ready have her beamed back to the Phantom.” Tom said.  Ian nodded and moved to the main diagnostic console.  
 “I’ll brief the Captain on her condition.”  Brandon walked out of Sickbay.  Tom just looked down at the far too still form on bed.  Why did this always happen.  People that he cared about always ended up getting hurt because of him.  He picked up her lifeless hand and held it in his own while his thoughts took him for a familiar ride through guilt.  
 He thought for a moment that he felt a faint pressure on his hand but didn’t have time to contemplate it.  Mia’s lifesigns flat-lined.  Alarms where going off and both the holo Doc and Ian came rushing over to the biobed that held Mia.  Tom could hardly here what was being said betweent he twoo doctors.  Most sound was drowned out by the horrified scream in his mind.
 “No!”

End Part VI

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