Title: Silver Lining
Author: Zappy Zaps
Category: P, J, P/T, Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Summary: AU Tom Paris’ life if there
was no Caldik Prime (actually it does happen but Tom is not there).
Just read it and find out.
Disclaimer: Yadda yada yada….
Paramount owns the character’s (except the ones I make up)….song and dance….you
get the idea.
Author’s Note: This story,
much like my story ‘A Promise Kept’, was stuck in my head obscuring better
ideas. So to get rid of it I wrote this. Don’t expect too much.
You’ve been warned.
Dec01/Jan02
The Exeter had docked at Deep Space
Nine to re-supply before going on another brief mission to the Caldik System.
The ship would be docked for two days while the cargo was loaded.
The crew had been granted leave to visit the station. Among them
was Lt. j. g. Thomas Eugene Paris, only son of Admiral Paris and his wife
Emily Paris.
Tom was one of the senior
pilots on the Exeter. Only 24 years of age and with so much potential,
many watched with interest where this young man’s career would lead him.
Things in Tom’s life weren’t as peachy keen as you may believe. His
relationship with his father was far from stellar. Owen pushed too
much and Tom pushed back. They didn’t know that it would take a tragedy
to bring them closer together.
Tom stepped onto the docking
pylon along with several other crewmembers. Tom had plans to see
a friend from the academy that was stationed here. He walked with
a light step towards his destination: DS9 Medical Bay. He walked
in and looked around. It looked like any other medical bay; equipment,
med tricorders and other assorted devices strewn about. He walked
further and came upon an office. He peered inside through the transparent
barrier. Dr. Julian Bashir was hard at work, as always. Julian
hadn’t noticed Tom yet. He was staring so intently at the screen
on the desk that the rest of the universe no longer existed only the information
on the screen.
Tom stood in the doorway and
knocked. Julian’s brow creased with frustration. Could that
person not see he was busy? The knocking continued. Julian
finally looked up, annoyance set clearly in his features. Try as
he might he couldn’t stop the smirk that formed on his face. He should
have known. Only Tom Paris could be that irritating. They had
been roommates for a year while at the academy. They have been friends
and stayed in contact with each other since graduation. “Tom, what
are you doing here?” Julian got up from his desk and approached Tom.
They shook hands.
“The Exeter just pulled in
for a quick visit and then we’re off again.” Tom explained with a
smile. “What were you reading that was so interesting.” Tom
asked and walked past Julian to take a peek. He stopped short and
looked back at Julian. “It’s not a patients file, is it?”.
“No, it’s the latest Star
Fleet Medical report.” Julian walked back to his console. “It’s written
by a Doctor in Sira Prime who was doing a study on an outbreak of Tackella.
There was a epidemic on the planet and the antivirus that fights it was
-”
“That’s great!” Tom
interrupted Julian. He wasn’t particularly interested in what was
written in the report. “What do you say we get out of here and go
to Quark’s?”
“I can’t leave.” Julian protested.
Tom looked around the medical bay that was empty except for the two nurses.
“Because you’re so busy right?”
Tom said folding his arms. “If anything happens they’ll call you.
Besides isn’t it about time for your break?”
“Fine!” Julian raised
his hands in defeat “Just to shut you up.” Julian walked past Tom
to the doors.
“Tom: one, Julian: zip.”
Tom smiled happily.
They were soon seated in Quark’s
having a coffee (Tom) and a rakatijino (Julian). They were catching
up on what had been happening in each other’s lives since graduation when
a voice came over Tom’s commbadge.
“O’Donnell to Paris.”
Captain O’Donnell was the Captain of the Exeter.
“Paris here.”
“Mr. Paris, please come to
the Ready room immediately.”
“Aye sir.” Tom said bemusedly.
He wondered why the Captain wanted to speak to him. “Sorry Julian.”
Tom apologized, “Duty calls. I’ll see you later.” And he took his
leave.
“Captain,” Tom stood at attention
in the ready room. Captain O’Donnell was seated behind his desk,
hands clasped in front of him.
“At ease Lt.” O’Donnell’s
sounded slightly weary. Tom took a good look at the Captain as he
slid into a chair. It seemed like there was some issue or burden that was
weighing him down. Tom was filled with a sense of foreboding.
“Tom, I hate to be the one to tell you this but… there was an accident.
The transport that your sisters and mother were on came into contact with
an anomaly that severely damaged the ship. Your mother and sisters
didn’t survive. I’m sorry.” Tom just sat there silently wishing
and hoping that this was some horrible dream. Unfortunately this
was not dream. His sisters and Mother were dead.
The Chime to his quarters rang
again but Tom ignored it once more. He was lying on his bead with
his face in a pillow. The doors to the dark quarters slipped open
and a person stepped into the dark room that was briefly illuminated by
the lights in the hallway.
“Tom?”
“Julian.” Tom recognized who
had entered. The accent was unmistakeable.
“Are you alright? I
just hear what happened. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m fine.” Tom still
lay face down on the bed. “If you don’t mind I’d like to be alone
right now.”
“Okay, I’ll leave but if you
need somebody to talk to-”
“I know where to find you.”
Julian left Tom in his misery. He understood the mourning process
that he was going through but he could not comprehend the emotions that
Tom would be feeling.
The next day the Exeter was
getting ready to leave. Tom was at the docking junction saying goodbye
to Julian. Julian tried to convince Tom that he shouldn’t go.
In his opinion Tom still had to deal with the death of his family members
and would not be able to concentrate on much else. It would put him
and his fellow officers in danger. Tom also looked too pale and Julian
was worried about his physical health as well. He probably wasn’t
eating enough.
Tom had insisted that he was
fine even though he wasn’t quite feeling up to par. He was just turning
to leave when another voice, a familiar voice called his name. He
looked back and saw his father, Admiral Owen Paris walking up the platform
towards him. Like Julian, Owen didn’t think that Tom should be going
on missions right now.
Tom turned away from his father
and his friend and headed to the ship. Owen sighed.
From one of the decks on the
station Owen watched silently as the Exeter pulled away from the station
and jumped to warp. He stared out at eh now empty space where the
ship was last. A voice from behind interrupted his musings.
“Dad.”
In his room on earth Tom lay
on the bed in his room tossing his baseball up and down. It had been
two days since hearing about his mother and sister’s death. Plans
for the funeral were complete. The funeral would be taking place
tomorrow. Tom was dreading it. He heard a knock on his door.
“Come in.” He said wearily.
The doors opened and an auburn haired woman walked in. “Hey Kat.”
Tom said. Commander Kathryn Janeway walked into Tom’s room and sat on the
side of his bed. The Janeways had always been close friends of the
Paris’. Phoebe, being the older daughter of the Janeway’s hung out
more with Moira and Kathleen rather than Tom who was six years younger
than the youngest of the Paris daughters. Kathryn hung out with the
Paris girls as well but also with Tom. She didn’t mind having to
play with the ‘baby’ so Tom was just about as close to Kathryn as he was
to his sisters.
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Less than stellar.”
He said not looking at her.
“Have you told Elaine what’s
happened yet?” Elaine was Tom’s fiancée.
“No I haven’t been able to
contact her yet. I guess she’s busy.” Tom shrugged and continued
tossing his ball. Kathryn caught it in mid air before Tom could.
“Keep trying. She should
be here with you.” Kathryn didn’t particularly like Tom’s fiancé.
She was worried that Elaine was only using Tom for the Paris name and his
connections. It had happened before –‘friends’ in the academy that
wanted to get on Tom’s good side to help their careers.
“I’ll try again.” He
sat got off his bed and left his room. Kathryn watched him leave.
Love is blind but hopefully Elaine was a better person than Kathryn thought
and she wouldn’t hurt Tom.
He went to the office in the
house where the subspace communication console was. He inputted the
location he wanted the message to be sent to and waited for a minute to
get a response. A dishevelled partially dressed Elaine appeared on
the screen.
“Tom!” she was obviously surprised
to see him.
“Elaine, are you alright?”
She was flushed and Tom worried that she may be sick.
“I’m fine. What is it?”
she said quickly.
“I just-” Tom was cut off
by a voice from Elaine’s side of the communication.
“Elaine, where did you throw
my shirt?” A male voice yelled. Elaine didn’t answer.
She watched silently as Tom tried to piece together what was going on.
“Elaine who is that?” Tom
asked suspiciously.
“Uh… that’s…”
“Elaine who are you talking
to?” A man walked into the range of the visual and Tom saw an older
dark haired shirtless guy.
“Her fiancé!”
Tom said angrily. “Who the hell are you?” Tom was trying desperately
to find another reason why this half dressed man was with his fiancé.
“Oh you?” The man rolled
his eyes. “You haven’t told him about us yet?” The man asked
Elaine.
“What are you talking about?
She’s my fiancé!”
“Tom,” Elaine interrupted.
“This is Commander Lawrence Terilli. I…we….” She took a deep
breath. “I’ve been seeing him for a while now… I meant to tell you.”
“When? Before or after we got married?”
He asked indignantly. He took a moment to calm himself. “Elaine,
I love you-”
“I don’t love you Tom.” She said
softly.
“…You don’t love me anymore?
Elaine please tell me what I did. I don’t want to loose you.” Tom
asked desperately.
“Tom, I don’t think I ever
loved you at all.” She said coldly. Tom could feel his heart
ripping in two. He closed his eyes and tried to keep his composure.
A shaky breath escaped his lips. “Now Lawrence I could love.
He’s successful and he’ll be a captain long before you are –maybe even
an Admiral someday.” She either didn’t notice Tom’s distress or ignored
it.
“Elaine-”
“Save it Lt. That’s an order.”
Lawrence laughed. Elaine was feeling better now that she had gotten
that off her chest and laughed a bit at Lawrence’s joke. Tom ended
the communication link. “That was rude.” Lawrence said still
laughing.
Tom slowly raised himself
from behind the desk and left the room. He saw Kathryn standing on
the bottom steps. He paused and looked at her. Had she heard
them? From the look on her face she had heard at least a little of
the conversation. “I’m sorry Tom.”
“Yeah…well, I guess you were
right about her.” Tom said quietly. He walked to the stairs
but before he could go up Kathryn stopped him. She looked at him
for a moment. She could see the torment in his eyes and it hurt her.
She pulled him into a hug. At first he didn’t respond but then he
wrapped his arms around her small torso. His head rested on her shoulder
since she was on a higher step than he was. He was silent, not a
sob escaped him. Despite the lack of emotional response she knew
that his heart had been shattered. One tear escaped. He wouldn’t
allow himself to cry more than that. Elaine wasn’t worth it.
The next day at about noon.
Kathryn knocked on Tom’s door again but this time she received no response.
She opened the door carefully as to not wake Tom if he was sleeping.
Tom was lying on his back eyes open staring at the drab ceiling.
“Hey.” She said softly.
“What is it?” Tom asked.
He could tell that something was bothering her. He knows Kathryn
well enough to know when something was bothering her.
“I’ve got some bad news.”
She said softly. Tom sat up and moved so that he was sitting next
to Kathryn. “There was a shuttle accident at Caldik Prime.
Odile, James, Armand and one other officer died.” If it was possible
Tom became another shade paler. Odile, Armand and James were
very close friends of his. Elbows on his knees, he rested his head
in his hands. Kathryn put her arm around Tom offering any comfort
that she could.
“Welcome to the worst week
of my life.” Tom said quietly.
The next years of Tom’s life
were far from easy. He went through a period of depression where
he took unreasonable chances with his life during away missions but he
survived each time, though with a few injuries. Eventually, with
the help of his friends and his father, Tom pulled through. Tom’s
relationship with his father had gotten much better as well. Not
since he was twelve did Tom feel as close to his father as he did now.
They still had their arguments but not the calibre that they had before.
Tom’s career in Starfleet
took off. His exceptional piloting skills and excellent command ability
took him quickly through the ranks and at age twenty-six he was promoted
to Lt. Commander. Each of his promotions was debated upon by other
officers. Some thought that it was Admiral Paris pulling strings
to get Tom promoted but that was not the case. Tom had made sure
early in his career that his father would not use his rank to help Tom
during his career. Each of his promotions was well deserved and if
you ever saw him in action you would understand.
Currently Tom had just been
transferred off the USS Ganymede to the Voyager. Voyager was
a newly minted vessel under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway.
He would be serving as First officer during the short mission to the Badlands
and then transferred to the new Enterprise to serve as Chief Conn officer.
It had been Tom’s dream for the longest time to pilot the Enterprise and
he would soon be getting his chance.
Tom was in Quark’s at DS9
sipping on a beverage. He had tried to con Julian into joining him
but this time he couldn’t get him to leave is experiments and what not.
Julian: 4, Tom: 7. Tom watched from not too far away as Quark tried
to swindle a young Ensign. Tom smirked and shook his head as Quark
started making a big fuss about something. He had seen this a million
times. Tom walked over to the pair.
“As bright as a Colaiden diamond.”
Tom started.
“Brighter!” Quark snapped.
“You can find them on and
planet in the system.” Tom took another sip of his drink.
“That’s an exaggeration.”
Quark explained to the young east Asian man.
“There’s a planet in the Bomar
system that sells a set of ten assorted colours for one Cardassian Lam.
How much are you selling these for?”
“We were just about to negotiate
the price.” Quark said looking expectantly at the young Ensign
who slammed the case shut.
“Come on.” Tom said.
“Thanks.” The Ensign
said.
“Didn’t they warn you about
Ferengi at the Academy?” Tom joked.
Voyager had left DS9 and was
on its way to the Badlands. Tom rang the chime to the Captain’s Ready
Room. He entered after receiving permission to enter. “Hey
Captain.” Tom walked past Captain Janeway who was reading something
on her console. She gave him a distracted wave. Tom walked
past her desk and went to the sofa by the window and made himself comfortable.
After a few minutes Kathryn turned her attention to her first officer that
was stretched lazily on her sofa. She picked up a large padd and
walked over to her couch.
“Make some room.” She said.
Tom moved his long legs off the cushions and sat up so that she could sit
down.
“You wanted to see me?”
He asked casually, not the way that Lt. Commander would usually address
a Captain, but they were old friends.
“I did indeed.” She turned
on the padd and showed it to him. “I don’t want any of this while
you’re under my command.” He looked at the information on the
padd. It was his medical reports from when he was injured on away
missions.
“I made it didn’t I?”
“Not the point. No unnecessary
risks with your life.”
“Those weren’t unnecessary.”
He defended his past actions. She sighed and just looked at him.
Tom had seen that look before. “I’m fine.” Since his bout of
depression his father and Kathryn had been watching him like hawks, looking
for any signs that he was having a relapse. Taking chances was something
he always did before but never so often. Since the death of his friends
and family members he took more chances but only when he was the only with
his life. He never put anybody else in danger when he was with somebody
else. It was just another change in him. They couldn’t reverse
it but they certainly weren’t about to encourage it either.
“Just be careful. There
are several young and naïve Ensigns that will be looking up to you,
since you are XO.” Tom didn’t have a spotless record. He had
gotten in trouble before and it was part of what made him a good officer.
Captains want well rounded officers that have had a lot of experience;
it made them the best and Tom was one of the best. He was Lt. Commander
and was currently only twenty-six years old. Captain by thirty seemed
probable though Tom was not in any hurry.
“Yes Ma’am.” He replied despite
her telling him to call her Captain. She shook her head watching
him leave the ready room. She’d just have to get used to it because
she was fairly sure that Tom would not stop calling her ‘ma’am unless he
was ordered to by the president of the Federation.
**********************************************
Caretaker I/II – Voyager and the
Liberty stuck in DQ. Liberty destroyed. Tom still saves Chakotay’s
life in the Ocampan Caves.
**********************************************
Commander Paris and Captain
Janeway were in the Ready room discussing the changes in Voyager’s crew.
It was already decided that the Maquis would serve as crewmembers on Voyager
but the Command staff still needed to be sorted out.
“I think that Chakotay should
be first officer.” Tom suggested.
“You want him to take your
place?”
“I’ll be Chief conn officer
since Stadi’s dead. I was going to be a chief conn officer anyway
once this mission was over.”
“This mission isn’t over.”
“Isn’t it though? The
crew of the Liberty are on Voyager.” He joked. “Besides the
Maquis crew are going to need somebody on the senior staff that they can
trust.”
“Alright. You’ll be
assigned to the conn and Chakotay will be first officer. He has the
training already.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Tom said getting up. “I’ll see you later. Don’t forget to eat
sleep and breathe.” He reminded her.
“Get out.” She said with a
smile.
“Fine, fine, whatever.”
He left the ready room and a smiling Kathryn Janeway. Being stuck
in the Delta Quadrant didn’t give her much to smile about these days and
she was grateful that Tom was here with her.
Tom walked out of the ready
room and onto the bridge heading for the turbolift. He greeted crewmembers
as he went. The lift doors opened and Chakotay, former Captain of
the Liberty, exited. He saw Commander Paris talking to a man at the
tactical station. He glanced at Paris for a moment and then continued
on his way to the Captain’s ready room. He and the Captain had some
things to discuss.
Tom was in the first officer’s
office cleaning out his personal items. Chakotay had accepted the
position so it was his office now. Tom had gotten everything out
but he couldn’t find one thing. He was searching for it on the floor
thinking that it may have fallen off his desk during one of the battles.
The announcer rang and Tom called for the person to enter. Tom got
up but hit his head on the bottom of the desk. He let out string
of curses in at least four different languages. He closed him mouth
and stood at attention when he saw whom it was that had entered.
“At ease.” Chakotay said,
slightly amused. “Can I help you with anything.” Chakotay noticed
that the room was pretty much bare. All his personal items were in
a little case on a chair. It was only supposed to be a two week mission
so Tom had not brought much with him.
“Uh, no thanks. I’m
done. I just can’t seem to find one item.” He said looking
carefully at the floor.
“What does it look like?”
“It’s a rock but there’s an
inscription on it…” Tom trailed of when he thought he spotted it
but a closer look revealed that it wasn’t his rock. “I guess I’ll
be going.” Tom closed the case and headed for the door.
“If it turns up I’ll return
it to you.” Chakotay said to Paris as he was leaving.
“Thank you sir.” Tom
said and left.
Two weeks later all the kinks
in the Senior Staff where ironed out. B’Elanna Torres was chief engineer
over Joe Carey. The ships energy reserves where not quite full so
the crew had to suffer through Neelix’s creations. The crew was still
divided; Maquis rarely associated to Starfleet and vice versa. Currently
it was dinnertime and the Mess hall was crowded. B’Elanna, Seska
and Henely sat at one table talking quietly together. Their topic
had shifted to the other members of the senior staff. “Harry Kim
seems nice enough.” Henley said.
“He’s a nice guy.” B’Elanna
said.
“Three out of six isn’t bad.”
Seska said. Torres and Henley looked at her in confusion. “Three
good people on the Senior Staff out of the six in total.” She clarified.
“What’s wrong with Paris?”
Henley asked.
“How about the fact that he
was sent out to capture us.” Seska said.
“So was Kim.” B’Elanna
said.
“Do you know who his father
is?” Seska asked.
“Isn’t his father an Commodore
or something?” B’Elanna said.
“Try an Admiral. Admiral
Paris.”
“So what’s that got to do
with anything?” Henley asked.
“He’s only a few years older
the Kim but he’s a Lt. Commander. Isn’t that just the least bit odd?
He’s must have been handed his career on a silver platter. His entire
life must have been a picnic.” Seska said vehemently. She didn’t
really have anything against Commander Paris but Admiral Paris.
“I hear he and the Captain
are close friends too.” Henley said. “You may be right Seska.
He’s probably never done any real work in his entire life.” Henely
was beginning to despise Paris as well. He’s never known any suffering
or hardships in his life. They on the other hand the Maquis will
have had nothing but hardships and now they have to take commands from
that fleet brat.
“He can’t be that bad.”
B’Elanna said. She’s never spoken to Paris except for ship’s business.
She also knew that Paris was Harry’s friend.
“We’ll see.” Seska said.
Seska’s opinion of Paris spread
through the Maquis like wild fire. Everybody was in need of somebody
to hate due to their current situation and the Kazon and Tuvok weren’t
filling the quota. So the Maquis turned the rest of their ill feelings
towards Paris. Tom noticed the looks that he was getting and finally
had to ask Harry.
“Harry why is it I’m getting
these looks from the Maquis crewmembers?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
Harry said smiling. Despite his rank Harry was completely calm and
comfortable around Tom.
“You talk to Torres outside
of duty. I thought that maybe you’d know.”
“Sorry can’t help.”
Harry said. He too was wondering what was going on. He had
noticed that the Maquis were less friendly towards Tom but he couldn’t
explain why. He’d talk to B’Elanna about it later.
“Yeah I’ve noticed.”
B’Elanna said disinterestedly.
“Well do you know why?”
Harry asked. He had been talking to her for five minutes but hadn’t
gotten a straight answer. She couldn’t share the same feelings about
Paris that the other Maquis do.
“Harry, they just don’t like
him.” She said a little too loudly. They were walking through
the halls and a few crewmembers looked at the pair.
“Do you know why?” He
asked again.
“What difference does it make?
So people on this ship don’t worship the ground that he walks on.
Is he finding it that hard to cope?” B’Elanna asked with a touch
of
anger.
“That’s not it. He just
doesn’t want them to be mad at him.” B’Elanna just snorted.
“It’s not fair to him. He hasn’t done anything.”
“Harry I really don’t care.”
Harry was going to say something again but paused to analyse her tone.
“You don’t like him either.”
“Should I.” She pressed
the button that called for a turbolift.
“He hasn’t done anything to
you.”
“He hasn’t done anything for
me either.”
“That’s no reason to dislike
someone.”
“Look Starfleet, Paris is
a fleet brat that has connections everywhere. He’s had an easy life
until now because you ‘fleeters keep kissing his butt. The Maquis
crewmen won’t so let him deal with it and we can all get on with our lives
and Paris can learn how the other half lives.” Se entered the turbolift.
Harry didn’t follow.
“You’re wrong about him.”
“We’ll see.” She used
the same words that Seska had said earlier. The doors closed and
Harry stood there staring at the doors for a moment before leaving.
He now knew why the Maquis where glaring at Tom they resented him and his
charmed life. He wasn’t about to go tell Tom the reason that they
didn’t like him. Harry didn’t know Tom very well yet but he knew
that there was more to him than met the eye.
“There’s an M-class planet
a few light years away that Neelix said is rich in minerals. We should
send an away team to look for dilithium and other useful materials.
We’ll rendezvous with the away team in three days.” Captain Janeway said
to the rest of the Senior staff. “Commander Chakotay, I’ll leave
you in charge of choosing the team that will go.” He nodded. “Voyager
will be in orbit of another planet that is rich in plant life. The
locals have agreed to trade with us.”
A few minutes later the meeting
ended and the officers where exiting. “Mr. Paris, may I speak with you
for a moment.” Janeway called to him. Once all the other officers
had left she began. “You don’t seem to be very popular with the Maquis.”
Janeway observed.
“You’re telling me.”
Tom slouched in the chair next to hers. She sat down as well.
“I don’t know what I did but for some reason they all want to tear me to
shreds.”
“I’ll talk to commander Chakotay-”
“Don’t bother. Everybody’s
running on high emotions right now. Hopefully it’ll pass. If
gets any worse I’ll be afraid to go anywhere on this ship alone.”
“Chakotay you can’t do this!”
B’Elanna fumed.
“I can and will. I know
you and Chell aren’t the best of friends but-”
“It’s not Chell! Why
did you have to assign Paris to this mission?” She asked.
“You’ll need a pilot get you
to the planet and this is a hostile area of space. He’s the best
on board. Besides I don’t think the Captain is willing to assign
an all Maquis away team just yet.”
“Fine.” B’Elanna huffed and
left his office. Chakotay watched her leave. He had noticed
that a lot of the Maquis didn’t like Paris and after talking to Ayala he
knew why. Ayala was a good man and good friend. He had nothing
against Paris but he knew of several that did. Chakotay didn’t think
that Paris was in any danger. They may not like him but they weren’t
about to attack him in a dark corner of the ship either.
He wondered again if it was
such a good idea to put Paris on an away mission with Chell and B’Elanna.
Baytart was a good pilot but wouldn’t be able to handle B’Elanna if her
temper flared. Paris was the only viable option.
B’Elanna wasn’t the only one
who wished Paris wasn’t on the away mission. Tom wasn’t so thrilled
with the idea himself. He didn’t complain to anybody though.
He had his orders and he would carry them out. Hopefully Torres wouldn’t
kill him before the mission was over. Chell he wasn’t too worried
about. Chell was follower. He didn’t like Paris because the
others didn’t like him. If Tom could keep B’Elanna from ripping his
head off then Chell shouldn’t be a problem. He mentally prepared
himself for the verbal spars that he may have with Chell though.
Chell was notorious around the ship for having too big a mouth and too
small a brain. Not that he was stupid but he often spoke without
thinking.
The mission started out boring.
The trip to the planet was made in almost complete silence. Once
there they went about their business quickly and efficiently just as good
officers do. They got some dilithium without a problem. There
was another large deposit a few kilometres so they headed in that direction.
They had scanned the planet for any civilizations or something that indicated
that this planet belonged to someone else but they had not found anything.
They still carried weapons but were not actively looking for other inhabitants.
It was a tropical climate and
the temperature was rising. Tom and Chell had already unzipped their
jackets. Tom was beginning to wish he had brought some sun block
with him. If the sun stayed this intense he would be sporting a healthy
sunburn before this mission was over. Tom noticed some odd readings
on his tricorder. “Lt. Torres, are getting any anomalous readings
from your tricorder?” he asked her.
“No.” short and snappy, the
same way she’s been during the entire mission.
“Chell how about you?”
Tom asked.
“Nothing, sir.” Tom
looked back to his tricorder. The readings had disappeared. Maybe
it was just a malfunction. They continued. Tom was leading
Torres followed him and Chell was bringing up the rear. They had
walked a little further when Tom saw the anomalous readings again.
They might be lifesigns but they weren’t registering that way. Tom
stopped walking and signalled for the others to stop as well.
Torres was in general an impatient
person and today was no exception. She watched as Tom studied the
tricorder readings and turned to scan in all directions. “Well?”
She finally asked.
“I think these are lifesigns,
but I can’t isolate them.” Tom closed the tricorder and looked around.
“Is anybody there?” He yelled into the forest. There was no
response. “We don’t mean you any harm!” Still no reply.
The other two where now looking for any movements in the thick brush.
A glimmer of something metallic caught Tom’s eye. He looked through
the leaves and saw something that looked like the end of a weapon.
He took out his tricorder but it didn’t register anything metallic or any
lifesigns, only plant life. Tom looked at where he saw the metallic
object and looked it to see where it was coming from. His eyes met
another pair of dark grey eyes that where looking back at him. The
other being didn’t move and for a long moment neither did Tom. The
dark grey eyes were wild and Tom decided it was better not to risk a confrontation
with these people. Although he could not see them his tricorder had
told him that there was more than one. He turned around to face Torres
and Chell. “Slowly take out your weapons and start back to the shuttle.”
He ordered.
“What? No!” B’Elanna
was outraged. She hadn’t seen anything and still wanted to go after
the dilithium. “We have to keep going. There’s dilithium there-”
“There’s also a group of unfriendly
locals. I’m ordering you back to the shuttle.” Tom didn’t have
time to argue with her. She turned and began following Chell back
towards the shuttle. Tom brought up the rear and was still looking
around for anymore of the beings that he had seen. He didn’t see
anything and the only thing that could be heard was the footsteps of the
three Voyager crewmembers as they stepped on fallen branches. A twig snapping
to the right of Tom somewhere in the forest caught his attention.
He looked carefully and saw someone aiming a weapon at Torres. He
ran the few meters between them and tackled her so that she was pinned
to the ground. Before she could yell at him the whine of disrupter
was heard and area above them were B’Elanna had been standing a second
before was illuminated by an orange beam. Tom rolled off her and
fired in the direction of the being that he saw. He wasn’t sure if
he hit his mark. “Chell get down!” Tom yelled. The Bolian
didn’t follow the order fast enough and was shot in the back by a weapon
and lost consciousness. Tom quickly repositioned himself so
that he was crouched and had his phaser ready to fire. There was
no sound and no discernable movements from any beings in the forest.
Torres was ready with her phaser also. “We have to make a run for
it.” Tom said quietly.
“What about Chell?”
“We’ll have to come back for
him.” Tom was still scanning the surroundings with his eyes looking
for any more of the locals.
“We can’t just leave him here!
What if they kill him?”
“If we get caught what makes
you think they won’t kill us too.” Tom said still looking around.
“When we reach the shuttle we’ll transport him.”
“We can’t leave!”
“We don’t have a choice!
Go!” Tom ordered and B’Elanna complied. She knew that he was
right but it was the principle of the matter. They shouldn’t leave
one of their own behind. Tom wasn’t delighted with the choices either
but loosing one crewmember was better than loosing three. His main
concern was getting B’Elanna out of here and to safety before getting Chell.
The Chief Engineer was too important an asset to loose. He and Chell
could be replaced and while Carey was a good engineer B’Elanna was better.
The chances of Voyager getting home were much improved with her around
and Tom knew it.
They were only a kilometre
and a half away from the flyer when Tom saw a beam slice through the air
and hit B’Elanna in the back. Tom rolled and fired back in the direction
he believed the being was in. Tom caught some movement out of the
corner of his eye but before he could do anything he felt pain in his side
and he too lost consciousness.
On Voyager Captain Janeway
and Commander Chakotay where walking back to the beam out point.
They had just concluded one round of the trade negotiations with the inhabitants
of the planet. They had talked about what other items they might
want to trade for during the first half of the five minute walk but Janeway
had changed the topic to Tom Paris.
“What about him?” Chakotay
asked.
“Do you like him?” It
was a simple question but the answer she got wasn’t as innocent as it seemed.
“I have not reason not to
like him. He saved my life after all.”
“How about the other Maquis
crewmen?” Chakotay looked at her but Janeway was looking straight
ahead.
“You’ve noticed that they’re
not very friendly towards him.”
“Tuvok has noticed too, and
Kim and Neelix and Tom himself. I was wondering if you knew why.”
“I have an idea.”
“Are you willing to share
that information.” Janeway joked a bit.
“They resent him.” Janeway
looked at him wondering what he meant. “Paris has lead and easy life
and they resent it. For most of the Maquis life even before the Cardassian
problem was not easy. They haven’t done anything to him and I doubt
that they will.”
“Do they know that he saved
your life?” Janeway asked him.
“I didn’t tell anybody so
unless you, Paris, Tuvok or Neelix told anybody then nobody else knows.”
There was a stretch of silence before Chakotay asked Janeway a question.
“How well do you know Paris?”
“I’ve known him since he was
a child, our father’s were friends. I also served on the same ship
with his father when I was an Ensign.” She said. “I know him pretty
well.” They reached the beam out point. “And I can assure you his
life has not been as easy as you’d like to believe.” Janeway called
for transport and they disappeared in the shimmering blue light.
“Paris wake up!”
Torres had been trying to rouse him for the last few minutes and only now
was he responding. He rolled onto his back.
“Are you okay?” He asked
a little groggily.
“Chell and I are okay.
We were worried about you. You’ve been out for a while.” B’Elanna
said. Tom sat up and saw Chell leaning against the wall. Tom
looked around. They were in some sort of holding cell. It was
circular and the walls and ceiling were metallic. In the cell was
empty except for its three new occupants. There was one exit to the
cell. But it was sealed from the outside. Tom got up and went
to it. He was a little dizzy and his steps where unsure but he made
it. He examined the seal.
“We tried already.”
Said Chell. Tom walked over to one of the two small windows and tested
the bars.
“We tried those too.” Said
B’Elanna.
“Have you seen our hosts?”
Tom asked.
“No we haven’t had the pleasure
of making their acquaintance.” Said Chell sarcastically. Tom wasn’t
in the mood for sarcasm and the look he gave Chell told him exactly that.
Tom sat down under the window but out of the sunlight. He was on
the other side of the cell from Torres and Chell. They didn’t like
him and he knew he wouldn’t be welcomed with them so he was content to
sit on the other side.
The metal of the cell was
warm but the air inside was hot. The sun was still heating the planet
and the temperature was still rising. The cell heated quickly and
the temperature in the cell was soon suffocating. They had all taken
off their tunics and turtlenecks so B’Elanna was in her tank top and Chell
and Paris where in the T-shirts. B’Elanna noted absently that Paris filled
out his shirt nicely but diverted her eyes before anyone noticed her looking
at Paris. She doubted they would notice. For humans and Bolians
this heat was debilitating but Torres was half klingon and klingons were
better in heat than humans and bolians so she was coping better
“Some water would be nice!”
Chell yelled out the window.
“They’re ignoring us.”
Tom stated.
“Why?” Chell asked.
“You’d have to ask them.”
Tom said. He was lying on the floor and his eyes where closed but
he was too hot to try and sleep.
“They can’t ignore us forever.”
Chell said to himself. Tom held his tongue. He was ready to
make some pessimistic comment but he knew that he should be trying to keep
their moral up.
“They might be sensitive to
the sunlight and will wait ‘til the sun begins to set before coming out.”
Tom proposed. Suddenly the doors opened and two beings appeared in
the doorway. They were about Tom’s height but looked more reptilian
than humanoid. They were saying something but the universal translators
didn’t seem to be working or their language was too different for the translators.
Tom tried to talk to the to see if they could understand but they didn’t
seem to understand him either.
Three plates of some sort
of food were placed inside and then the door was closed. Tom picked
up two of the plates and Chell picked up the last one. Tom handed
the plate to B’Elanna and sat down next to her but not close to her.
They each studied their food.
It looked several times worse than the worst thing that Neelix cooked up.
They each studied it for several minutes before Chell picked up a small
piece and ate it. B’Elanna followed suit a few seconds later but
Tom just stared at it. B’Elanna looked at him inquisitively.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
Torres asked Paris.
“I don’t think I can eat this.”
He said and put the plate down. He watched it like it may jump up
and attack him at any moment.
“It’s not gourmet but I think
you can lower your standards and eat a little bit of it.” She said
and put another piece in her mouth. Tom just shook his head.
“You’ll get hungry enough to eat it.”
“Not unless I want to get
sick.” He said still staring at the offending fare.
“Well if you’re not going
to eat it can I have it?” Chell asked. Tom pushed it over to
him.
“Be my guest.” He stood
up and walked to the far window. Torres and Chell watched him for
a moment before going back to their meal. From under her lashes Torres
watched him. Tom was testing the bars again and looking at the seal
looking for a weakness. Tom gave up after a while. With no
tools they had no way of getting out. He looked around to see what
was outside. Before when he had looked there was nothing but there
were now more of the lizard like beings outside and they had brought some
supplies and other things.
Chell and Torres talked quietly
while Tom looked out the window. “We may be here for a long time
but he won’t eat. Not up to his standards I suppose.”
“He’ll have to change them
if he wants to survive.”
“Or maybe they should serve
it up on a silver platter. He’s probably more accustomed to things
being served to him: careers…” Chell laughed a little but Torres was thinking
about the conversation that she had with Harry. Maybe Tom was more
that what he seemed.
“Torres, take a look at this.”
Tom called her. She got up and walked over to him. “I’m not
sure but I don’t think that these people are technologically advanced enough
to create phasers.” Torres looked through the small window and saw
the reptile beings carrying phaser like weapons. The weapons where
advanced but there where no other signs that they have any technology.
“Your right. Someone
must have given them the weapons.” B’Elanna said. For them
it was a breach of the prime directive but for other Delta Quadrant species
it was considered smart business. Paris and Torres looked through
the barred window for a little while longer before sitting down again.
Not to long a wait later the sun began to set and the temperature began
to drop.
The nights where frigid while
the days where sweltering. By the time the sun had set completely
outside the cell was silent. The Lizard people where gone and if
there were any nocturnal creatures on this planet, they didn’t make a sound.
Tom was still looking outside. If they could escape now they may
be able to make it back to the shuttle. But which direction was the
shuttle in? They had all been unconscious when they were brought
here. If they could get their equipment back then they could locate
the shuttle. Only problem was that they had no way of getting out
of their holding cell.
Tom looked back to where Chell
and Torres where sleeping. Chell was sound asleep but B’Elanna was
shivering. Klingons can take the heat but they aren’t great with
the cold. Tom walked over to them and took off his tunic. He
knelt down and covered B’Elanna as best he could with it, being careful
not to wake her. He watched her for a few second longer than was
necessary. She was so beautiful and exotic but he would never tell
her. She’d kill him before he could finish. He lay down about
a meter away and tried to get some sleep as well.
The Next morning B’Elanna woke
up feeling warmer than she had felt last night. The sun was rising
but the temperature was still cool. She felt the extra weight of
the fabric and after rubbing the sleep from her eyes she could clearly
see that at some point during the night she had acquired another uniform
top. It had red shoulders and she knew who it must have come from.
She caw Chell still sleeping about a meter next to her. She turned
over expecting to see Paris sleeping on her other side but was surprised
when he wasn’t there. Looking further she saw him sitting cross-legged
in front of the exit. He was fiddling with the seal again.
B’Elanna rolled her eyes. He was nothing if not persistent.
Tom heard some rustling behind
him and turned his head enough to see B’Elanna sitting up. She yawned.
“Morning.” Tom said plainly. He went back to work.
“Mmm…” was the sleep reply.
“If you’re hungry there’s
some more food over there.” He gestured to the centre of the cell
where three plates of the same stuff where placed.
B’Elanna went over
and picked up one plate and then walked closer to Paris. She handed
him his tunic “Thanks,” She sat not too far away and watched what he was
doing. He had taken off the casing of the commbadge and used it as a tool
to slip into the small cracks in the seal hoping to make them larger.
A few minutes later Chell
woke up and he began eating breakfast as well. Just as Chell was
finishing off Tom’ portion of the food the door opened quickly and one
of the large lizard like beings was standing in the doorway. It immediately
saw Tom sitting on the floor in front of it and let out a sound that was
a cross between a scream and a hiss. The being swung out in and attempt
to hit Tom but managed to hit nothing but air.
Tom was momentarily surprised
when the door opened but reacted quickly. He did a backwards somersault
and was on his feet in less than a second. The being was too slow
and was unable to hit him. It yelled something unintelligible to
Tom before gesturing to them to follow it. The exited the cell for
the first time. The air outside was slightly cooler than inside the
cell. Tom put on his tunic on top of the grey t-shirt and put his
commbadge in his pocket.
They finally got a good look
at their surroundings they were in clearing surrounded on all sided by
the thick forest. Once they were outside two more armed guards joined
the first one and assumed escort positions. There where at least
fifteen of the other beings in the clearing that they had seen. They
were lead on a narrow trail through the forest. After a few minutes
of walking they could here the sound of running water and a few minutes
later they emerged at the side of a small river that was fed by a waterfall.
It would have been an enjoyable place to be if it weren’t for the phasers
aimed at them.
The guards dropped back a
little and the three Starfleet crewmen were left alone relatively alone.
Tom knelt and took a drink of the water. He nodded to them that it
was okay and they each drank a little. Tom was still crouched at
the riverside looking at the guards when Torres came over to him and crouched.
“You think we could take them?”
She asked. Tom shook his head.
“They may be not have made
those weapons but they know how to use them. We could take two, possibly
three, if we were lucky maybe even four but not fifteen.”
“There are only four guards
here. We could take them.”
“If we had a lot of luck.”
“I take it you don’t believe
in luck.” She said standing.
“I make my own luck.”
Tom stood. Torres walked away from him and took off her tunic.
Tom followed suit. The temperature was rising quickly. Tom
splashed himself with water to try to cool off.
Tom looked at the river carefully.
Maybe there was a way that they could use the river to help them escape.
The river was completely clear and not very deep. He could see to
the very bottom. He looked up stream at the waterfall. If there
were any caves behind the waterfall they could use them as a hiding place.
He ruled out that idea. That would probably be the first place they
looked. He looked as far down stream as he could. The river
bent and it prevented him from seeing where it led.
A few minutes later they were
being escorted back to the cell. Chell was being particularly annoying
and although the reptile people could not understand what he was saying
they too where being bothered by the constant chatter. One guard
who seemed to be extremely violent yelled something at Chell but he still
didn’t shut up. That was the last straw. The guard grabbed
him by the neck, slammed him against a tree and aimed his weapon at Chell’s
head. Tom reacted instantly. He was responsible for them and
he would not allow any harm to come to them.
Tom stood between the phaser
and Chell. He didn’t say anything to the other being knowing that
they would not understand anything. The look in Tom’s eye was universal.
It promised that there would be consequences and repercussions if any harm
came to any member of his team. If he didn’t do it himself Kathryn
would do it when she came after them. The being lowered his weapon
and gestured for them to continue. Tom grabbed Chell by the arm and
pushed him ahead of him so that he was between himself and Torres.
“Well that wasn’t very nice-”
Chell started.
“Chell!”
“Yes sir?”
“Be quiet!” Tom ordered.
The rest of the trip to the cell was silent.
“Dinner’s here.” Torres
said walking to pick up the three plates of food. She gave Chell
his but Paris was reluctant to take his. “You have to eat something.”
The shoved the plate of food in Tom’s face. He took it, looked at
it and then placed it on the floor next to him. Torres glared at
him. “Eat it!” Tom looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Is that an order?”
He asked lightly.
“If it has to be.” She
said defiantly. Tom shook his head and closed his eyes. He
leaned against the wall across from Torres.
“I guarantee you that if I
eat that I’ll be sick by tomorrow morning.” Tom said without opening
his eyes.
“We aren’t sick.” Chell
said.
“You aren’t human.” Tom retorted.
“I’m half human and I’m fine.”
Torres stated.
“Look I know that if I put
this in my system it will come right out the way it came a few hours later.”
Tom said.
“You can’t be sure.” Chell
said.
“I’m pretty sure I can determine
what will make me sick, and this will make me sick.”
“Get off your high horse and
join the rest of the populace Paris!” Torres snapped. Tom opened
his eyes and looked at her. What had he done now? She looked
at him as if she was challenging him. Tom picked up the plate next
to him. He looked at the disgusting plate of food (if you could even
call it that). He picked up a small piece. Maybe it wouldn’t
make him sick. He put it I his mouth. The instant it touched
his tongue he wanted to spit it out but he forced himself to chew and swallow.
He took a few more small portions and managed to choke down about a third
of his meal.
“That wasn’t so bad was it
Paris?” Chell said in a voice that was nearly mocking but not quite.
“Yeah it was worse.”
Tom said with a sour expression. That ‘food’ left an awful aftertaste.
Chell rolled his eyes. “I just don’t like it. Get off my case.”
“You’ve just lead too sheltered
a life.” Chell said. Tom didn’t say anything. “I suppose all
your ‘fleet connections are useless out here, eh Paris.” Tom sent
him a warning glance but Chell ignored it. He was still fuming about
being told to ‘be quiet’. “Well how else can you explain being a
Lt. commander and only being… how old are you? Twenty five… twenty-six?”
Tom was silent he didn’t have to explain himself to the bolian. B’Elanna
was silent. She agreed with Chell but was not bold enough or stupid
enough to tell it to Paris’ face. “Come on Paris. Help me out
here. You’ve probably got a ship with your name on it waiting for
you in the Alpha Quadrant or were they planning on promoting you to an
Admiral. You could beat Kirk’s record.”
“Chell what problem do you
have with me?” Tom finally asked. He didn’t have to sit and
listen to someone who knows nothing about him criticize his life.
“The problem I have with you,
commander, it that you’ve never had to work for anything and then the minute
things get tough you expect someone to come and sort it out for you.
Everything has been given to you. I’m not going to be one of your
fleet lackeys and do what ever you command.”
“Is that what this has been
about? That’s why all the Maquis hate me?” Tom asked.
Chell just glared at him. Tom looked at B’Elanna who was looking
a the floor. “I do not believe this.”
“Believe it!” Chell
said. He was going to go on but Tom cut him off.
“Before you go and judge me
maybe you should get all the facts first.” Tom said.
“Please enlighten us.”
Chell drawled.
“Why should I? I don’t
owe you anything and you’ve made up your mind already.”
“You know it’s true.
You can’t refute the truth.” Chell told him.
“Chell that’s no way to talk
to a superior officer.” B’Elanna didn’t want him to get in more trouble
than he was already in.
“Forget rank.” Tom said.
“Right now it’s just Tom, Chell and B’Elanna. No ranks.” Tom
wanted to get his over with and now was as bad a time as any. Chell
smiled he could finally voice what everybody had wanted to say.
“I think that you’re a spoiled
Starfleet brat.” He said, enunciating each word. “That about sums
it up.” Tom stayed silent neither denying nor agreeing. Torres
watched Paris carefully. For some reason she had hoped that Harry
was right and that Paris wasn’t what the Maquis thought he was. She
watched Paris but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what he was
feeling. She looked at Chell and could tell instantly that he felt
empowered. “You’ve got a whole life waiting for you in the Alpha
Quadrant while we have prison cells with our names on them.” Chell
gestured to himself and Torres.
“We won’t be getting back
to the alpha Quadrant for at least a couple of years.” Tom said calmly.
“So we should enjoy our freedom
while we have it? If it weren’t for you people we’d still have our
freedom.”
“We’re just doing out job.”
Tom defended the Starfleet officers.
“Protecting Cardies?
Is that part of your job?”
“Believe me I wish it wasn’t.”
Tom said quietly. Chell didn’t hear him and continued talking but
B’Elanna hearing what he had said interrupted.
“What do you mean by ‘I wish
I wasn’t’?” B’Elanna asked Paris.
“I mean I wish I didn’t have
to help defend Cardassians. I don’t mind helping the innocent ones that
are only victims to the stupid decisions that the government makes.”
“You would have never made
it as a Maquis.” Chell said.
“Maybe but I had considered
joining.”
“To help save that colonies?”
Torres asked knowing that would not be the reason.
“Saving colonies would be
a bonus but revenge would be the main reason.” Torres looked at him
curiously.
“So you don’t like them either.”
Torres stated.
“Do you know what it’s like
having to shake hands with a Cardassian officer when he’s smiling and thanking
you for saving his ship when the only thing you want to do is beat him
to a bloody pulp? Every time I have to help them I feel like I ‘m
betraying someone else.”
“Who?” Chell asked.
Tom didn’t respond. He had said too much already. Nobody else
spoke that night. They each went to sleep. The question of
who Tom felt like he was betraying hung between them unanswered and neither
Torres or Chell could even hazard a guess as to who Paris referred to.
In the middle of the night
Torres woke up when she heard and persistent scratching sound. She
opened her eyes and after they had adjusted to the darkness enough she
could see Paris sitting in front of the exit. He had some tool that
he was using to try and push and scrape through the seal on the door.
If they broke the seal then the doors would be easier to break from the
inside.
Tom was engrossed in his work
and had not heard Torres’ movements. The voice that called his name
startled him. He turned and saw B’Elanna who once again had his tunic
draped over her, sitting up and looking at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to break open this
door but I need to weaken the seal first. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He stopped working and moved so that he was across the cell from her. He
leaned with his back against the cell wall. She noticed the tool
in his hand and asked him about it. “I picked it up when they let us do
our business in the bushes. Figured it would come in handy.”
The reptile people had let them each got to the washroom in the bushes
when they were taken out that day.
Torres lay down to go back
to sleep. Before she dozed off she opened her eyes to look at Paris.
He looked different. Maybe it was the light from the moon but he
looked paler and there was a thin film of perspiration on his forehead.
He looked like he was sick. “Paris are you alright?” He nodded. “You
should get some sleep.”
“I tried and failed already.
Get some rest. I’ll wake you in the morning when breakfast arrives.”
She looked at him carefully a moment longer before nodding and closing
her eyes. She was soon asleep.
Tom listened to her breathing
even out as sleep claimed her. He got up and walked to the barred
opening he placed his forehead against the bar. The cool nightly
breezes grazed his face bringing momentary relief. The food that
he had eaten earlier was catching up with him and would soon be coming
out of him exactly the way the he had predicted earlier. His stomach
was producing low rumbling sound and pain and a heightened feeling of nausea
accompanied each one. Tom lowered himself to the ground and lay down.
It didn’t make him feel much better but maybe he could catch a few winks.
The hours passed slowly and
soon the sun was rising. Tom had only managed to catch a few hours
of interrupted sleep and was feeling worse than he was the night before.
He felt like he was going to throw up at any moment. Bolian body
odour is enough to make most people want to vomit but in such an enclosed
are and the humid climate it was worse. The air was still frigid
but Tom was sweating through his t-shirt. He was also experiencing
dizziness.
The doors opened and three
plates of the nasty food was placed inside. Tom watched the door
close. “Torres!” he called her name as he was getting up. He
picked up two of the plates and walked over to Chell and B’Elanna.
He put each plate near them but not close enough that they would knock
it over if they moved. Tom leaned against the wall and slid down
to the ground. “Torres get up!” Tom said but she still did
not wake. He reached out and agitated her lightly.
“What? I’m up!”
A yawn escaped her. “I’m up.” She wearily got up to face another
day imprisoned.
“Breakfast awaits.” Tom said
and gestured to her plate of food. Tom closed his eyes and concentrated
on not throwing up. He was sure that Torres and Chell would not appreciate
it if he threw up in here.
Torres woke Chell and they
began to eat their breakfast. Torres glanced at Paris every so often
trying to determine what was wrong with him. He was definitely sick.
He was sweating and every so often a fine tremor would course through his
body. He was talking deep even breaths.
“Paris are you alright?”
Torres finally asked. Tom shook his head ‘no’ but did not say anything.
Torres glanced at Chell who just shrugged carelessly and went back to eating,
not at all concerned about Paris.
A few hours later when the
air was thick with heat the three were again escorted to the riverside.
As soon as they were there Tom went into the bushes. Torres and Chell
looked at each other each hoping that the other could provide a reason
for why Paris left so abruptly. A few seconds later the sounds of
retching reached their ears. Chell only smiled and laughed but Torres
couldn’t laugh at Paris’ misery. A minute after the sounds had ended
Tom emerged from the forest. He walked over to the rivers edge and
knelt down. He splashed some water on his face. He looked in
the water at his reflection and grimaced he looked really sick. He
batted a hand on the water where his reflection was making it ripple and
the reflection disappear as if the river was to blame for his current state.
“Paris.” Tom didn’t
answer. “Tom.”
“What?” came the reply.
“You okay?”
“Never better.” He said sarcastically.
“I guess you were right.”
She walked closer to him and crouched down.
“Unfortunately.” He
cupped his hand and took a drink of the water hoping that it would settle
his stomach. He still felt nauseous and was still experiencing some
dizziness. “How’s Chell?” he asked looking down at the river.
“You care?”
“I’m responsible for him and
you so yes, I care.” He answered dutifully.
“We’re fine. You on
the other hand don’t look any better than you did this morning.”
She said looking over him carefully.
“I don’t feel any better either.”
He took a deep breath. “You don’t feel sick at all?” He asked
Torres. She shook her head. He thought that with her half human
physiology she may be experiencing some discomfort but was not saying anything
but it seems that her klingon physiology was helping her out. Klingons
and bolians must have stronger stomachs than humans. She left after
talking to him for a moment longer to take her turn in the bush.
Tom splashed some more water on his face and revelled in the momentary
relief it brought him. He took of his shirt and splashed his bare
chest with the water. The cool water on his skin was refreshing as
was the feel of the shirt being off of him but he knew better than to keep
it off for too long. He burned easily and a little discomfort was
better than sever sunburn. He also didn’t feel like answering any
questions.
Torres had finished her business
in the bushes and was returning to the riverside when she saw Tom shirtless.
She was still partly concealed in the forest so she held her position and
just looked at him. She had thought him handsome before but she was
also pleased to see the rest of his body. From what she could tell
he had a well-toned upper body but unfortunately she could see his chest.
She admired how that muscles in his back rippled when he moved. His
skin was fair and smooth except for a scar on his lower right side that
marred his perfect skin. She finally emerged from the bushes and
walked over to Tom. He had her back to her and was crouched at the riverside.
“What happened to you?”
she asked. Tom stood up quickly. He hadn’t heard her coming
and her voice had startled him out of his daze. He looked at her
curiously wondering what she was referring to. His mind was still
a little hazy. “That scar.” She pointed to the mark at his side.
He turned to face her and she was graced with a view of his bare chest.
She was right. He had a well-toned upper body. His pectoral
muscles weren’t overly large but well built, defined abs and red gold chest
hair that funnelled as it went down until it was a slim line that went
below the waist band of his pants.
Torres quickly raised her
eyes to meet Paris’. She hoped that he hadn’t noticed her appraisal
but she doubted it. He looked like he was still trying to process
the question she had asked.
“Scar?” he looked down
at himself and saw the mark. His wits quickly came back to him.
“Oh that. I was injured on an away mission a couple of months ago.
I was away from the ship for a while and I had to treat the injury myself
but I didn’t have the tools or expertise to fix it completely and I got
stuck with this scar. I just haven’t gotten around to having it removed.”
He explained without getting into too many details. Tom was put his
shirt back on.
“Must have been quite an away
mission.” She said taking one last look at the scar.
“Or you really screwed up
on the mission.” Chell said. He had been eavesdropping on the
conversation.
“On the contrary the mission
was a complete success.” Tom said. Chell shrugged and walked
away.
After Chell had gone into
the bushes to take a leak the guards escorted them back to the clearing
Chell yakking all the way. Most of the comments where jabs at Paris
who had remained silent through most of it. Torres was first in line
with Chell in the middle and Paris behind him. Paris was still feeling
sick from what he had eaten the night before and was very quiet.
Torres wondered how long he could take Chell bothering him. A minute
later her question was answered.
“Crewman, that’s enough.”
Tom said tiredly.
“Hiding behind rank are you?”
Chell commented.
“I know what you think of
me already so excuse me if I don’t want to listen to it anymore. I can’t
help what family I’ve been born into, so shut up already.”
“And what will you do if I
don’t?”
“Don’t even tempt me.”
Tom said quietly.
“What was that.”
“I said shut your trap Crewman.
That’s an order.”
“Yes sir.” Chell sneered.
B’Elanna smiled. If Paris hadn’t shut him up she would have done
it herself but it would have been with her fists.
That night after their meal
the three Voyager crewmembers were sitting in the cell. Only Torres
and Chell had eaten and tonight neither had said anything when Tom didn’t
eat his serving. That night though was completely different than
the past ones. About an hour after they had finished eating while
the sun was setting the door to the cell opened. Tom had once again
been trying to break the seal and was once again caught. He did his
back roll and stood. Chell and Torres stood. There were two
of the Reptile beings standing in the doorway. One made some angry
gestures to Tom and the other said something that they did not understand.
The second one stepped back and two other beings entered the small cell.
They were armed. The first reptile being pointed at Tom. The two
armed ones walked up to Tom and each grabbed an arm. He was escorted
out. The door shut and Torres and Chell were left in the cell.
Torres moved quickly to the window to see what was happening to Paris.
Chell looked out as well.
The guards left Tom go when
he was in the middle of the clearing. There was a large altar that
was covered in blood a few meters away. They either ate on it or
killed things on it. Tom hoped that wasn’t where he was heading.
It hadn’t been there the nights before. Tom turned his attention
to the four reptile beings that stood around him. They seemed to be arguing
over something. Two of them seemed to be getting violent. For
no apparent reason the one that had pointed to Tom earlier pulled out a
crude little dagger and before Tom could do anything he plunged it into
his arm. Tom let out a yell as the blade cut through his flesh.
Tom immediately moved his
hand to the wound to cover it. The being grabbed his wrist and pulled the
hand way. The four beings were looking at the wound with great interest.
The closest one touched the blood that was coming from the wound.
They seemed to be transfixed on the colour of his blood. They began
talking between themselves and ignored Tom just long enough for him to
attack one of the armed beings and take his weapon. They watched
Tom carefully as he wielded the weapon. One of them went to attack
him but Tom shot him quickly and the being slumped to the ground.
None of the others tried to approach him Tom walked backwards to the cell
where Torres and Chell were and kept the weapon aimed at three still conscious
reptile creatures. A few others emerged from the bushes but few dared
to approach Tom and those who did where quickly shot.
When he reached the door to
the cell he tried to open it by touching the largest button on the small
pad next to the handle but the door did not unlock. Tom turned quickly
and shot the pad and opened the door. He turned quickly back to the
reptile beings and saw three coming at him. He managed to shoot two
of them but the third one tackled him to the ground. The being on
top of him punched him in the arm and Tom let out another yell and the
small dagger moved and broke more of his flesh. Suddenly the being
collapsed on him. Tom used his good arm and pushed him off.
Above him stood Torres with the weapon. He hadn’t even realised he
had lost it. Tom got up and joined the rest of the away team.
“We need to find a tricorder
so that we can locate the shuttle.” Torres said still brandishing
the weapon.
“They must be around here
somewhere. They don’t have anywhere to store them.” Tom said
looking around. It was just as likely that they would have destroyed
their equipment. Tom didn’t say so but they all knew it. Tom
and Chell split up but didn’t go too far or too close to any of the reptile
beings to look for their equipment. Less than a minute later Chell
found some of their equipment; two tricorders and one phaser. Tom
took a tricorder and phaser. They had quickly located the shuttle
and left the clearing. Heading in that direction.
The trio ran for as long as
they could. Chell fell behind first and then Paris. Not only
was his arm bothering him but he was still feeling sick from eating the
night before. They had made it half way when they heard footsteps
getting closer to their position. They picked up the pace.
They were only a few hundred meters from the shuttle when the first phaser
blast whizzed past them. A few moments later Tom was hit in the leg.
And couldn’t go on. Chell tried to help him up but Tom pushed him
away.
“Keep going!” Tom ordered.
“Maquis have a habit of helping
the injured.” Chell said as he tried to lift Tom to his feet.
“Fine, lets do things the
Maquis way!” Tom punched him squarely in the jaw. Chell staggered
backwards. “Go! That’s an order!” Another phaser shot flew by them.
“What about you?”
“I’ll lead them away from
you. If I’m not at the shuttle in five minutes then or they find the shuttle
leave! Which ever comes first. Now get lost!” Chell looked at him
a moment longer before running towards the shuttle. Tom hobbled in
a different direction. He wasn’t too far off the path that they had
taken. He fired a few shots into the forest and heard the grunt as
one of the shots hit its intended target. Tom smiled despite himself.
He turned and continued running. He was slow and they were gaining
on him but he wasn’t about to give up.
“Where’s Paris?” Torres
asked Chell as he joined her in the shuttle. She had already started the
engines and was getting ready to lift off. Paris’ absence was the
only thing keeping the shuttle on the ground.
“I he was hit. He’s
leading them in a different direction.” Chell told her what Paris
had told him. “I’ll find him on sensors and we can beam him aboard.”
Chell started working the sensors. “I can’t find his life signs!”
Had they found and killed him. Torres began running her own scan
but she didn’t find Paris’ life signs either but then again her and Chell’s
life signs didn’t register either.
“Something must be wrong with
the sensors. We’ll have to wait for him.” They waited in the
shuttle for seven minutes before they decided they had to lift off.
The shuttle rose from the ground and ascended into the starry sky.
The sun had set completely while they were running and the stars where
clearly visibly from the surface.
“Put us in orbit.” Torres
ordered. Chell had switched to the helm since he was more of a pilot
than she was. Torres scanned for Voyager and was surprised when she
found it was on its way to their location already. She hailed them.
She appraised them of the situation. Voyager would be there in forty
minutes. Until then they just had to sit tight but Torres was determined
to do more than that. She was actively running scans and trying different
types as she tried to find Paris.
Speaking of Paris he was scaling
a cliff face at the moment. It was dangerous and difficult to do
especially with his injuries and only made it down about fifteen meters
before his injuries forced him to stop. He was sitting on one of the larger
outcroppings on the rough cliff face. His legs dangled over the end.
He looked down. There was at least forty more meters to the trees
below. He could here the footsteps of those who were looking for
him but they had no idea where he was. It was dark and they had no
scanning devices. He was safe as long as he didn’t fall off the ledge.
That meant no sleeping. He just had to wait.
Voyager was early in
coming for the away team since they weren’t expected at eh rendezvous point
for several more hours. They had explained to Torres and Chell that
they had been talking with the people that they were trading with they
had gotten some information about the planet that the away team was visiting.
They had been told that there were violent inhabitants on the planet but
they were in visible to sensors. The inhabitants of the planet had
killed many explorers. The Captain had quickly concluded their business
and left in search of the away team.
Voyager had arrived two hours ago
but had not been able to locate Tom on the surface either. They knew
that wasn’t a reason to give up however since their sensors had not detected
the life signs of Chell and Torres on the shuttle either. On the
bridge they were running every scan that they could think of to try and
find Tom but they had not had any luck. Even his commbadge was malfunctioning.
They had tried to contact him but had received no response, the same thing
that Torres got when she tried to contact Paris from the shuttle hours
ago.
“EMH to Captain Janeway.”
“Go ahead Doctor.” Janeway
said from the Ops station where she was working alongside Ensign Kim to
find their missing crewman and friend.
“I’ve isolated a particle
from the scans that I took of Crewman Chell and Lt. Torres that I believe
accounts for them being invisible to sensors. It seems to be a naturally
occurring substance but it is invisible to conventional sensors.
When it binds to other material it also renders them invisible to sensors.
However it only seems to work on organics such as humans and what ever
beings live on the planet. Chloroplast and other plant proteins does
not seem to be affected thus the plant life appears on sensors.”
“Do you know how we can scan
past this substance?”
“I do not but I’m sending
you all the information that I have on the substance.” The doctor
said.
“I’ve got it.” Kim said.
“Doctor out.”
It took an hour and a half
but they where had found a way to modify the sensor to scan past the substance
and Harry had found out why Tom’s commbadge had been malfunctioning. It
seems that the substance when airborne also hinders communication.
“Try it now Captain.”
Harry said. He re-modulated the bandwidth of the communication to
Tom’s commbadge so that a message could get through to him.
“Janeway to Paris, please
respond.” At first there was nothing and they thought that it had
failed but before Janeway could tell Harry to try another bandwidth…
“Paris here,” Janeway smiled
when she heard his voice.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ve been better. Are
Torres and Chell with you?” his voice sounded weaker than usual and Kathryn
knew that he was not as well as he let on.
“Yes. Their fine.
We’ve had trouble locking on to your life signs and comm. signal but we
should be able to transport you back in a few minutes. We just have
to modify the transporter beam.”
“Okay.” He said.
Janeway paused to further analyse his voice.
“Tom are you sure your alright?”
“Yeah but my current accommodations
aren’t very comfortable.”
“Where are you?”
“On the face of a cliff about
forty meters up.” Harry used that information to locate Tom from
the topographical scans. Tom couldn’t be far from the shuttles landing
site so had to find a cliff near there and he did. After a few minutes
he found Paris as well.
“I’ve found him. Transport
on progress. He’s in sickbay.” Harry said.
Tom was sitting on a biobed
in sickbay. He was talking to Kes as she ran a tricorder over him.
She and the Doctor had healed his injuries and given him something for
his illness. The Doctor also gave him a lecture about being careful
what he ate. He was in a new uniform and was feeling as fit as a
fiddle. Kes concluded her scan and pronounced him fit for duty.
He contently hopped of the biobed and left sickbay giving Kes his thanks.
That evening Tom was relaxing
in his quarters. He had to write his report on the away mission.
He was almost done when the chime do his quarters rang. He called
for the person to enter and Kathryn Janeway walked in.
“Hey Kath.” Tom said.
“Tom.”
“What? I know that tone.”
He said. She sat in a chair across form him.
“It seems you forgot our little
chat about taking chances.”
“No I didn’t but Voyager needs
its chief engineer more than it needs its chief pilot. I’m replaceable,
Torres isn’t.” He said and went back to writing his report.
He expected Kathryn to say something but when she didn’t he looked at her.
She looked almost angry at him.
“Don’t ever say that again.”
Tom was confused. “Don’t ever say that you’re replaceable. Nobody
on this ship is replaceable.” Kathryn said in a strong voice.
“I didn’t mean…” Tom
trailed off. What exactly did he mean. He wanted to argue the
point but he didn’t want to fight with Kathryn so he only nodded.
Whether she would admit it or not they both knew it was true. In
the Delta Quadrant the Chief Engineer was more important than the helmsman.
Over the next few weeks Kim and Torres
hung out more and since Paris hung out with Kim it also meant that Torres
and Paris hung out together more. They never did anything together
unless Harry was with them but Harry was glad to see that the two where
getting along. They didn’t talk about what happened on the planet
or what was said but Harry assumed that there shared suffering brought
them closer together.
“What’s she look like?”
Torres asked. They in Harry’s quarters talking about home and family.
Tom wasn’t thrilled with the choice of topic but he didn’t tell them that.
“Libby? Well she has
dark brown curly hair that goes past her shoulders brown eyes and…”
Harry shrugged. He couldn’t describe her Libby was just Libby.
“I know I’ll show you a picture. Harry got up from his seat on the
couch and ran to his sleeping area. Torres was at the other end while
Tom was in the corner of the L-shaped couch. She and Paris where
silent while Harry was gone. He soon returned with a holo-image of
his fiancé. Tom and B’Elanna looked at the picture in turn.
She was a nice looking woman. Harry looked at the picture longingly
before remembering he wasn’t alone. He pulled himself out of his
daze. “Sorry.” He apologized and put the picture on the coffee table.
“Why? You love her and
miss her. You don’t have to be sorry.” Tom said matter-of-factly
as he shifted positions.
“How about you Paris?
Anybody special waiting for you in the Alpha Quadrant?”
“No.” Harry and B’Elanna
looked at each other.
“No girlfriend-”
“No.”
“How about family members?”
Harry asked this time.
“My father, but that’s it.”
“How about your mother?”
Torres asked wondering even more about Paris’ family since he was not very
forthcoming with information.
“She died a couple of years
ago.”
“I’m sorry. How about
siblings? Are you an only child?” Harry inquired.
“I am now. My sisters
died a couple of years ago.”
“I’m sorry Tom.” Harry
really was. He hadn’t meant to bring up so many depressing memories
for him.
“Don’t worry about.”
There was an awkward silence before Tom asked: “How about you guys?
Any siblings?” Torres and Kim both shook their heads. Tom was
going to ask Torres if there was somebody important to her waiting for
her in the Alpha Quadrant but the expression in her eyes kept him from
asking.
**********************************************
Threshold –Tom Paris goes warp 10
Manoeuvres – they find that Seska
was a Cardassian spy and she escapes and joins the Kazon.
**********************************************
Lt. Torres marched purposefully
down deck three towards the quarters of Commander Paris. She rang
the door chime and waited impatiently for a response. The door opened
and a sleepy eyed Tom Paris stood before her. “B’Elanna?” he
said sleepily. She pushed past him and entered his quarters.
“Please come in.” Tom said sarcastically to the empty space on front
of him.
“Where you sleeping?”
Torres asked him. His hair was a mess and his uniform was wrinkled.
“Yeah. I had a headache
and I figured that I could sleep it away.” He yawned and sat down
on the couch.
“Did it work?” she sat
down at the other end.
“No. Why are you here?”
Tom asked. He wanted to go back to sleep. Torres fidgeted for
a moment before responding.
“I had to ask you how you
had a connection to the Cardassians. You said that you disliked them
and for some reason Seska didn’t like you.” There was a tense silence for
a while but Tom decided to answer her question.
“My Father. He was caught
and tortured by Cardassians when he was serving as a Captain. That’s
why I hate them. As for Seska, my father’s work dealt mostly with
the boarders. He was against the alliance with the Cardassians but
it went through anyway. Since then he’s worked with the Cardassians
but he’s not made it easy for them.”
“Cardassians aren’t good people
to make enemies out of.” B’Elanna stated.
“That’s why Starfleet kept
him on the assignment despite the tensions. They didn’t intimidate
him.” B’Elanna was silent and Tom just watched her. He wondered
what she was thinking.
“I owe you an apology.
In fact a lot of us owe you an apology.” Tom didn’t say anything
and when B’Elanna looked at him she couldn’t read him. “I…” she was going
to explain what Seska had said about him and how eventually all the Maquis
crewmembers started to agree with her but she was klingon and klingons
do not make excuses. “I’m sorry for how I treated you earlier.”
“Forget it. No harm
done.” She looked down at her hands and nodded.
“Well I should be going.”
She got up from the couch and headed for the door. Tom stood as well
and was going to ask her to stay. He didn’t feel like sleeping anymore.
He stayed silent though and she left. He cursed at himself for letting
an opportunity to talk with B’Elanna alone slip through his fingers.
Just outside the door B’Elanna
took a deep breath. She wanted to stay and talk longer to him but
they were always so awkward around each other. She walked away wishing
that he had asked her to stay.
Three weeks later. Kathryn
Janeway was sitting in her ready room thinking. They had a major
problem. Tuvok had discovered that there were covert transmission
leaving Voyager. They had tried to trace whoever was doing it but
had no luck in doing so. She sighed and brought her mug of coffee
to her lips. The chime rang.
“Come in.”
“My sources tell me that you’ve
not eaten lunch.” Tom said as he walked in.
“Keeping tabs on me?” she
said.
“Somebody has to.” He
sat down in chair. “What is it this time?”
“What?”
“You have the look you get
when you’re stumped by a tough problem, so I’m asking what it is.”
Her lips upturned and a slight smile graced her features. “Well?
Spill” She took another sip of her coffee and Tom waited for her
to tell him. Kathryn decided that two heads where better than one
so she filled him in on what was happening. “Oh.” Was all he could
say.
“The person is most likely
a former Maquis communicating to Seska but for what purpose I can’t be
sure.”
“Maybe to share technological
information.” Tom suggested. Janeway nodded. She had
thought the same thing. “Or…”
“Or?”
“I was just thinking that
why would Seska want to get little tidbits of information from somebody
on Voyager? Why not just take the entire ship? She has not
loyalties to us anymore now that we know she’s Cardassian so our well being
wouldn’t matter.” Kathryn thought about this for a moment.
“It’s only a thought but it would be a good idea to prepare for all contingencies.”
Kathryn nodded.
“I’ll tell Tuvok about your
theory and see what he thinks.”
“Who else knows about this?”
“Just you, me and Tuvok.”
“It might be a good idea to
let the rest of the senior staff in on this.” Tom suggested.
“I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.”
Tom stood up. “Now, back to the original reason that I came here.
Would you care to accompany me to the mess hall m’lady.” Tom bowed
grandly. “We can suffer through Neelix’s selection together.” He
smiled at her and Kathryn found herself smiling as well.
Two weeks later the crew of
Voyager found themselves in danger thanks to their on board traitor and
Seska. After they had to vent the plasma through the warp nacelles
a few days ago and consequently ruined the lining they had to go to a nearby
star system to get the right material to make a new lining. What
they didn’t know was that Seska had anticipated what they would do and
was waiting for them at the planet with several Kazon vessel. They
were ready to take Voyager by force.
“I’m detecting Kazon lifesigns
on deck eight through twelve.” Harry said from the ops station.
“I’ve lost helm control.”
Tom said just after another volley of phaser fire rocked the ship.
“Computer initiate program
Janeway Gamma two.” Janeway said.
‘Select decks.’ The
computer’s voice said.
“Deck’s eight through twelve.”
The computer chirped it’s acknowledgement.
“I’m detecting multiple transports.
Only Kazon are left on those decks.” Harry said.
“Computer initiate lock down
and release the netrizine gas.” He computer chirped once more.
“Torres to the bridge, we’ve
we just been transported to the cargo bay.” Torres informed them.
The plan was working.
“Kazon are on those decks.
They’re being pumped full of netrizine gas to knock them out.” Tom
updated her on what was going on. In the end Janeway had decided
to tell the entire senior staff what was going on. Together they
had devised a few plans that would cover the most likely scenarios if the
Kazon ever tried to take over the ship. One of those contingencies
came true.
Janeway and Kim continued
running scans to make sure that the Kazon on board where all unconscious.
They vented the gas from those decks and Tuvok left the bridge to go join
his security team and secure those decks.
An hour later the Kazon where
gone from the system leaving the crew of Voyager to get the resources needed
to create the new lining of the warp nacelles. The ship remained
on yellow alert until the away teams had retrieved enough of the materials
that they could make the new linings. They broke orbit immediately
after all the away teams were on board.
A few days later Voyager was
warping through space again. They had created the new lining without
problems. Neelix figured out that Jonas was the Kazon spy.
Jonas had taken off Neelix’s commbadge when he was momentarily subdued.
During the following scuffle Jonas was killed but Neelix managed to bring
the weapons on-line.
In his quarters Tom, B’Elanna
and Harry were talking. Harry was called away to help with some business
so B’Elanna and Tom where left alone in his quarters. They talked
for a while when the chime rang. Commander Chakotay entered.
“I just came to return this
to you.” Chakotay said holding out a rock to Tom. Tom smiled
and took it from him.
“Thank you sir.”
“Where did you get it?”
“On an away mission a long
time ago. One of the inhabitants of the planets gave it to me.
He was an old guy and I didn’t want to offend him so I accepted it.
I don’t know what it is or what it’s for but I like it and It’s gone with
me to every ship that I’ve been on since. Kind of like a good luck
charm.”
“I have a stone like it.
The came pattern engraved into the surface.”
“Where did you get yours?”
Tom asked.
“One of the men of my tribe
gave it to me. It’s part of my medicine bundle.” Chakotay ended
up staying and the three talked some more. Chakotay found that Paris
was not as bad as the rumours (which Seska started) stated. In fact
he found that he liked the man. Not too long later Kathryn Janeway
stopped by Tom’s quarters. Tom invited her to join them and she couldn’t
say no. she was there as Kathryn not the Captain, though only Tom
was comfortable calling her Kathryn.
Tom was up and replicating
something for them to snack on.
“Where should I put the rock?”
Torres asked him. She had been holding it last and didn’t want to
hold it anymore.
“The small container next
to the couch. I’ll find a place for it later.” Tom said. B’Elanna
saw the case and opened it to put the rock inside. She saw what looked
like a padd that stored picture files and pulled it out.
“Tom, you mind if we take
a look?” she asked waving the padd around. It was slightly
bigger that the regular data storing padds and had a larger screen.
Tom thought about it and then shrugged.
“I don’t think that there
are too many embarrassing pictures in there.” He came and sat back
down on the couch with a bowl full of colourful things. Chakotay
looked at the food carefully.
“There jujubes.” Kathryn
explained. “Candy.”
“What’s in them?” Chakotay
asked.
“Colouring, flavourings, sugar
mostly and gelatine; vegetable gelatine.” Tom appended knowing that
Chakotay was a vegetarian. He popped a few in his mouth and Chakotay
took one and tried it. Janeway also helped herself. Torres was preoccupied
looking through the pictures.
“What’s you dog’s name?”
B’Elanna asked. There was a picture of Tom sitting next to a golden
retriever.
“Terry.” Tom said.
Kathryn started chuckling. “What?”
“What happened to ‘Woofy’?”
she said and burst into laughter.
“I was six!” Tom protested.
“Tom wanted to name the dog
‘Woofy’ when they first got it. Even after they named it he still
called him ‘Woofy’.” Janeway explained to the others. The other’s
joined her in laughing.
“He’s a dog and the name fit
him! He responded to ‘Woofy’!” Tom said. Torres
brought up the next picture.
Her smile faded.
“He responded to ‘Stupid’
too!” Janeway said. Kathleen had never liked dogs and ‘Woofy’
was no exception. She would call the dog ‘Stupid’ and it would still
come to her.
“Who’s this?” B’Elanna
asked giving him the padd. That picture showed a young woman with
light brown hair and green eyes who Tom had his arms wrapped around from
behind. They were both smiling and looked like a nice couple.
B’Elanna knew that it wasn’t on e of Tom’s sisters. She had seen
his family picture and thus seen his sisters before. Tom’s smile
faded and a shadow came over his features.
“That’s Elaine Bacher.”
Tom said.
“I thought that you didn’t
have a girlfriend.” B’Elanna stated thinking that Tom had lied to
both her and Harry. Chakotay leaned out of the chair that he was
sitting in and took the padd from Tom so that he could look at the picture.
He had noticed that Janeway had tensed at the mention of the woman’s name
and wondered why.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.
She *was* my fiancé.” Tom stated and put another jujube in
his mouth.
“What happened where is she?”
Kathryn was going to interject and change the subject but Tom spoke before
she could.
“She dumped me for a Commander….
Commander something, I don’t remember.” Chakotay handed the picture
back to Tom who promptly deleted the picture. He handed the padd
back to B’Elanna she could continue looking through it if she wanted.
As the hours wore on Janeway and Chakotay left and once again. Tom
and B’Elanna were left alone. They talked for an hour after the other
two had left and at the end of their conversation the somehow got on the
topic of lost love and B’Elanna asked about Elaine.
“Did you love her?”
“I thought I did, but I don’t
know if it’s possibly to truly love somebody that never loved you in return.”
He walked B’Elanna to the exit to his quarters.
“I’m sorry Tom.”
“Don’t worry about it.
I guess I just wasn’t enough.” His voice sounded light and carefree
but she could hear the anguish that he tried to mask. Time heals
all wounds but the scars a their for life. B’Elanna stopped just
before they where in range of the sensors that would open the doors.
“She didn’t deserve you.”
B’Elanna hesitated and then kissed him lightly at the corner of his mouth.
Silently she left his quarters. Tom stood there for a long minute
trying to comprehend what had just happened. A genuine smile graced
his face and he sat down on his couch and finished off the rest of the
jujubes. The smile didn’t leave his face that night.
Next morning. Tom walks
into the Captain’s Ready room. The time was only 0727 and he knew
where to find his bosom buddy. Kathryn was seated at her desk looking
through some information for the Senior Staff meeting at 0800.
“Tom what are you doing here?”
she asked. Tom was usually a late riser.
“I thought that I should whisk
you away from all the work so that we could enjoy a wholesome and colourful
meal in the Mess Hall.” He announced grandly.
“I have to read these.”
“Read them later.” Tom
took the padd out of her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on.
If you join me their might be coffee involved.” She smiled.
Tom knew she couldn’t resist. They started for the door. “And if I don’t
have enough replicator rations there’s always Neelix’s better than coffee
substitute.” Tom joked. Kathryn turned to head back to her
desk but Tom turned her again and they left the ready room. They
entered the turbolift and Kathryn noticed the Tom was grinning like an
idiot.
“What are you so happy about?”
she finally asked him.
“I’ve achieved the impossible
and got you to join me for breakfast.” They stepped off the turbolift
onto deck two.
“That’s not the only reason.
Spill! Or I may have to force it out of you.”
“Nu-uh-uh!” Tom waggled
his finger at her. “I can beat you at that game now.” He reminded
her. There was a time, long ago when she was the bigger one and could
pin him to the ground but then came his growth spurt and the tables had
turned.
They walked into the Mess
Hall and say the food that Neelix had created for breakfast. They
looked at each other and then back at the food. It didn’t smell very
good and it didn’t look very good but they forced them selves to serve
at least a small portion of whatever it was.
“I love what he’s done with
you’re dining room.” Tom said and she punched him in the arm.
She walked off and sat down and Tom followed. This wasn’t such a
bad place to be. They were all relatively safe. The Maquis
didn’t hate him anymore, some of them even liked him. He had friends
here that weren’t out just to better their careers. He sat down across
form the Captain. There’s a silver lining in every cloud, it just
took a while for him to find this one.
The End
Email me please! zappyzaps@hotmail.com
It was a pretty crappy ending but
at least you won’t have to read it again but if you want to please feel
free to. Here’s an idea ? every person that reads this story must
send me an email! Just kidding but I like getting emails. It’s
like Christmas all over again but without the hassle of Christmas shopping.
Tootles!
-ZZ