Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek Voyager, or the song 'Beautiful Disaster'. I'm just borrowing for playtime.
Author's Note: Each chapter/part will have spoiler notations.
Spoilers: Season 1: Caretaker Part 1
Beautiful Disaster
Chapter 1: Part 1 – He Drowns In His Dreams
Tom Paris was drowning. He had been flying an inter-atmosphere mission and lost control of his flyer. He had tried to make an emergency landing but wasn't quick enough to adjust his flight path. He had crashed into a large lake. The hatches on the flyer were frozen, even the manual overrides. The view port was cracking under the strain of the water outside and with what had more than half filled the cabin. There was no escaping this time. He was drowning and there was no way out. The view port shattered and suddenly he was sitting straight up in bed gasping for breath as he focused on the gray walls of his prison cell, very much alive, and far from any type of shuttle craft, or large body of water. It was just another day in Auckland. Another day in a hellhole that was slowly killing what was left of his spirit and tormenting what small piece of soul he still had.
"Just another day in paradise." He sighed softly. He glanced around his cell for a moment, thankful that he was alone. He was already tortured as it was, why give the other inmates more ammunition because he was talking to himself. Of course having a cell to him-self was easy to obtain. No one wanted to room with a man who woke screaming from his dreams every night. Then there were the 'interested' parties. They saw the 'Admiral's Son' as weak and easy prey, figuring they could corner him, that he wouldn't put up much of a fight, and that if there was a struggle, it was one they would enjoy. He always made them think twice. He wasn't as soft as they seemed to think. This of course landed him in Solitary more than once. However it was a time he welcomed. It was a time when he was the safest. No one could touch him there. He didn't have to be on his guard all the time. Even the nightmares left him alone for the most part when he was confined. He could let his mind wander there; explore private memories that helped him survive his time in prison. It was also where he could make plans for things to do when he finally got out.
He was shaken out of his thoughts but the sound of the force field deactivating. It was time to start the day. As usual, he walked by himself to eat and made sure his back was to a wall while eating, before going outside to work. It was a day like any other, hot, humid, and long. That was until she showed up, standing in his light. He couldn't make out who it was at first, the sun creating a halo around her red hair, darkening her face. But then he heard her voice, a voice that had trailed through his consciousness since he was sixteen. He had been young and eager for companionship, especially when it came to his father's new assistant. She was a fresh-faced cadet then, confident in her self and eager to please. And she had noticed him, something none of the previous cadets had done. She had taken the time to inquire after him, and actually cared to listen for the response to her inquiries. She had a voice then that was soft and commanding, one that she hadn't quite grown into then. A voice that even now had the power to make him smile and brought back fond memories of evenings when his father was away and she wasn't studying. She had grown into her voice, he mused before facing her fully. Now there was an element to her tone that meant she knew what she had, and how to use it fully, something that hadn't been there as a cadet, a new facet to her. He faced her now, as man, not a boy, ready to accept whatever she doled out.
"Kathryn Janeway."
