Seven deadly sins

Returning from the planet, Janeway looked over at Tom and gave him a brief smile. It had been a long three days, but in the end it had been worth it. They had managed to trade for all the supplies they needed, easier times would now, hopefully lie ahead.

"You know Neelix is suggesting another party." Tom said with a slight hint of a smile, as Kathryn ran her hand across her face and sighed.

"When is something not an occasion to have a party?" She replied, as Voyager came into view. As ever it was the best sight to Kathryn , even stranded way out here, she was still her ship, and her home.

"Well any birthday obviously, any planetary celebration, Christmas, , new years ect. Of course any successful away mission." Tom said in jest as he carefully piloted the shuttle in to Voyagers docking bay.

"Oh and don't forget, you didn't get your brains eaten out by a big greasy alien, lets have a party day." Janeway said with a small laugh and Tom couldn't help but join her.

"Oh and also, neither did you turn into a big greasy alien and attempt to suck everyone's brains out day." Tom said through breaks in his laughter. Janeway stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder. A broad smile on her face, as they exited the shuttle and found Chakotay waiting for them.

"You two seem in a good mood." He said smiling slightly, but wondering what was so funny.

"Oh yes well we just heard about Neelix's party." Tom said and that started Kathryn off again. Chakotay did not get the joke. He had never been one of Tom's biggest fans, and for some reason did not like the relationship between the young helmsman and his Captain. Keeping this to himself of course, Chakotay merely continued with the ships report, as the three of them exited the shuttle bay and headed for the bridge.

Kathryn sat in her quarters and looked at herself in the mirror once more. She had changed outfit three times, and yet still did not feel comfortable. Usually for Neelix's party's she threw on a shirt and pants and went late, stayed a short while and paid her wardrobe no mind. Tonight however she had found she had exhausted her shirt and pants collection. Going in her uniform just seemed wrong, and the dress she was currently wearing showed off far too much cleavage for a Captain. Pulling the dress off Kathryn strode across the room, snatched up the first dress she had picked out and pulled it on. Zipping it up and not even bothering looking in the mirror she exited her quarters, picking up a small box from her table as she went. Arriving at the party, she found it was already in full swing. Some old earth song was playing and several crew members were already up and dancing. Spotting Chakotay and B'Elanna near the bar Kathryn made a b-line for them, hyper aware of the skirt flowing just above her knees.

"Evening Kathryn, I wasn't sure you were going to make it." Chakotay said with an appreciative look of her legs, which Kathryn did not miss.

"Of course I wouldn't miss it, I just had a few things to finish up." Kathryn replied, as the Doctor and Seven joined them. The usual polite hello's were exchanged before the conversation seemed to dry up.

"So what do you have there Captain?" B'Elanna finally asked, noticing the box in Kathryn's hand for the first time.

"Oh I almost forgot about this. It was a gift from the Mikanderan people, it's supposed to abolish all sin's or something." Kathryn said handing the box over to Seven who seemed to want to look at it the most.

"It does not appear to be working." She replied as she watched two crewmen dance passed them locked in a tight embrace.

"Maybe you have to open it?" B'Elanna suggested as Tuvok and Harry made their way through the crowd, having just come off shift.

"What do you think Tuvok, should we open the box?" Chakotay said as the Vulcan looked at it and cocked his eyebrow.

"I believe in the history of Earth, people opening boxes never bared out any good consequences." Tuvok replied as Seven shook the box and frowned.

"There is something inside, I believe we should examine it." That was the final word, no one could stop her, Seven quickly opened the box and peered inside.

"Well that was not worth the wait." B'Elanna said as seven different coloured rods lay side by side within the small wooden box. Everyone lent back, standing now in a slightly larger circle as Seven closed the box again and handed it back to Kathryn.

"Maybe I will examine this at a later time." She said turning her head and looking around the room. Her sudden loss of interest puzzled Janeway, but only for a moment. Spotting Tom enter the mess hall she raised her hand to him.

"What time do you call this helm boy?" B'Elanna asked him, as Tom spotted Kathryn waving at him and made his way over to the crowd of senior officers. Her tone had been more accusatory than her usual playfulness. Tom ignored it, putting it down to a long hard day.

"yeah sorry I'm late Captain, I had to finish off unloading the supplies we brought back. Did I miss anything?" Tom asked smiling to everyone, the only one that seemed to be smiling back however was Kathryn.

"No nothing, and to be honest I am really tired, I think I am going to call it a night." Harry said covering a large yawn with his hand. Tom frowned slightly, suddenly he felt like he had walked into some other Voyager.

"What is Seven doing?" Tom then enquired as he spotted the former Borg with two glasses of wine, one in each hand.

"I don't know, maybe one is for me." The Doctor said as he made his way over to Seven and attempted to take the wine form her. The fight that ensued saw both glasses of wine spilled over Seven's tight signature one piece, and the blonde running out of the room crying. The rest of the room fell silent, before the Doctor went over to the table and picked himself up two new glasses of wine.

"Forgot these were here." He said downing one, then the other, and to everyone's horror, two more after that.

"Shouldn't somebody stop him." B'Elanna said folding her arms across her chest and looking from Tom to Chakotay.

"Think I will stay right here." Chakotay replied, giving Tom an icy glare before taking a small step towards Kathryn.

"I will sort out the Doctor, then I will go and find Seven, it is likely that the beverage Neelix chose to serve tonight, has had an adverse effect on their systems." Tuvok said, moving swiftly over to the Doctor, taking him by the arm and dragging him out of the mess hall.

For a moment everything remained quiet until Neelix restarted the music, and people seemed to go back to normal. Tom wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but he was sure that this wasn't normal for any of them. Looking at the faces left in their little crowd, Tom felt like he was being watched from all sides.

"You know I might go as well, it's been a long few days." Tom said backing away slowly, but feeling the urge to run.

"Oh yeah that's it, typical you, run away when things get tough." B'Elanna said as she sat down heavily on a vacant chair and crossed her legs. Kathryn pushed herself away from the wall and held her hand up towards Tom.

"Think I will come to, I've have had enough excitement for one day." Kathryn said, as Chakotay went to follow her.

"I'll go with you." He said but B'Elanna had grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit next to her.

"Oh no you don't, you're not leaving me here by myself, just because you have some little crush on the Captain." She said but Tom was gone before he heard it. Kathryn was right behind him, but at least appeared to be acting normally.

"So what do you think is up with Seven and the Doc?" Tom asked as they both stepped into the turbo lift and Kathryn called for their deck.

"I know Seven has had a problem with alcohol before, but she usually doesn't touch the stuff." Kathryn replied leaning back against the bulkhead and arching her back as though to ease the kinks out of it. Tom couldn't help but notice what it did to her chest.

"B'Elanna seemed you know, angry, well angrier than usual anyway." Tom said clearing his throat as Kathryn ran her hand down her face, and then down to her shoulder, rubbing it slightly before looking up at him with slightly hooded eyes.

"She has been upgrading the injection systems all day, I think she is just tired." Kathryn replied as the turbo lift stopped and they got off. Kathryn stopping outside her quarters.

"Good night Captain." Tom said, giving her a brief smile as she sent him a little wave back. Tom continued on towards his own quarters, wondering just how odd the entire evening had been.

"Well I'm sure everything will return to normal tomorrow." Tom said to himself as he entered his quarters and got ready for bed.

Normal wasn't anywhere close to what the morning brought. Tuvok had to call Harry three times before he answered his comm badge. Then the Ensign had said he was ill, and asked if the Doctor could make a house call. The Doctor then refused on the grounds that he was collecting every piece of opera on file, and saving it under a protected password. Through all this Kathryn had said nothing, simply sat there and stared around the room. Looking from one set of eyes to another. Tom couldn't put his finger on what was happening, but his first thought was alien invasion. Deciding that Tuvok would, and appeared to be uninfected, he quickly requested a word with the Vulcan.

"Have you noticed that people are acting weird around here?" Tom asked as they made there way to engineering, where Tuvok was scheduled to have a security meeting with the staff.

"I have not, but if there were any signs of this, then rest assured I would deal with them." Tuvok said as the door to engineering opened and both men ducked as something flew towards their heads.

"And stay out, you useless piece of Targ manure!" B'Elanna shouted as a crewman scurried away from her and dived into the nearest Jeffreys tube.

"Oh yeah everything is normal around here." Tom said under his breath, as B'Elanna continued to pull things out from below a console and throw them across the room.

"I must ask you to cease in your actions lieutenant, or I will have to confine you." Tuvok said approaching the half Klingon. Tom wondered if Tuvok was thinking straight after all. The last thing you did was threaten an angry Klingon.

"You and who's army pointy ears." B'Elanna snarled back, standing now and hunkering down into an attack position. Tom decided that he was going to stay well out of this, between Tuvok and B'Elanna there was a lot of strength, and Tom wasn't going to bet on a winner.

"I do not require an army, I am your commanding officer and I have just given you an order lieutenant." Tuvok said, and for a moment Tom thought he detected a hint of frustration in the Vulcan's voice. It was at that moment B'Elanna made her move. She was quick, and strong, but Tuvok was stronger. Finally pinning her , and applying the Vulcan sleep hold he put her down. Turning to look at the room, almost as though he expected applause his eyes finally settled on Tom.

"As I said, I have everything under control." Tuvok said before scooping B'Elanna off the floor and moving her into the turbo lift.

"I have been thinking that you could be right Mr Paris, emotions do appear to be running high on this ship. We should take the lieutenant to sick bay, and find out if the Doctor can discover the cause." With that Tom let out a small sigh and lent back against the bulk head. Glad that someone was finally listening to him, but also worried that what ever this was had also gotten to his Vulcan companion.

Kathryn sat in her ready room, she couldn't stop thinking about Tom. It was driving her to distraction. In fact every male on the ship had seemed to be looking at her in a seductive way this morning. Including her first officer, but none had held her interest like Tom's had. Pulling at the collar of her uniform, she tried to expel the heat from her body. There was an ache in her stomach, and a tingle lower down. Something she had been desperately trying to ignore all day. Sat alone, Kathryn knew these feelings of frustration well, but now she was almost unable to control them. wiggling in her chair, the sound of her door chime was not a welcome intrusion.

"Come." She called out, surprised at the huskiness of her voice, and she coughed to clear it. For a moment she preyed it was Tom, but as Chakotay moved into the room her face dropped.

"What can I do for you commander?" She asked, unable to stop herself from purring slightly at him before quickly standing up and making her way to the window.

"I was wondering if I could have a word Kathryn, its of a personal nature." Chakotay said, and Kathryn's heart began to pound in her chest. She could smell him now as he moved closer. She dared not turn and look at him, but she unconsciously placed a hand ant her throat, delicately stoking the skin there.

"Go ahead." Kathryn said as she spotted Chakotay's reflection in the window.

"I was wondering what is going on with you and Tom Paris?" Chakotay said his words seemed icy, but soft and Kathryn turned to him.

"And why is that any of your business?" Kathryn said running her finger down Chakotay's chest before turning away again and cursing herself for touching him.

"Because I thought we had something." Chakotay replied coming closer to her now, so close in fact that Kathryn lent back against him, even before she could stop herself.

"There is nothing between us Chakotay, never has been, never will be." She replied but still pushed further into him before his hand tightened on her shoulder.

"The what is this?" He asked attempting to place his hand around her waist before she pulled away.

"Fore play." Kathryn replied before turning on her heel and leaving Chakotay alone to seethe.

"Dam her, if I can't have her then there is no way Tom Paris is going to." Chakotay said into the empty room. Slamming his fist down on Kathryn's desk, a small crack appearing where his fist landed, but he paid it no mind. Stalking out of the room he ignored all enquires about the days shift assignments and made his way to the turbo lift.

Seven was in sick bay already when Tom, Tuvok and the unconscious B'Elanna arrived. She seemed to be running ever test under the sun on some rather plane looking coloured rods. The Doctor was hovering over a collection of data padds and looked up at them as they came in.

"If you came for these your not having them." He said placing his arms around the pile and looking at them with narrowed eyes.

"We have no wish to take whatever you have. I am concerned that the lieutenant has contacted some kind of disease." Tuvok said placing the woman on the bio bed and watching as the Doctor, placed a forcefield around his padds before coming over to look at B'Elanna. Scanning her briefly he tutted and moved back to his collection.

"I can't find anything wrong with her, now go away, I need to collect more, I need them all." The Doctor replied as Seven started mumbling to herself in the corner.

"Fascinating, fascinating. Computer two slices of New York cheesecake, large." The request got Tom interested and he made his way over to the former drone.

"What are you working on?" He enquired, not wanting to set off another outburst, ones like he had seen in the others.

"Umm those rods Captain Janeway brought back from the planet, they are fascinating actually, they contain some kind of matrix, invisible to the naked eye, but look." Seven replied around the mouthful of cheesecake, and Tom saw for himself what Seven was talking about. Under the infra red scan he could see particle waves emanating from the rods. Four of which seemed to be directly going into the other people in the room.

"So this is what is causing everyone to act so strange." Tom said, not really expecting a response, as Seven tucked into her second slice of cheesecake. Quickly gathering up the rods, Tom placed them back in their box and closed the lid firmly. Much to Seven's protest. Thinking quickly he replicated a grilled cheese sandwich and handed it to her.

"Here try this." He said, grateful that the woman appeared enthralled with his gift Tom quickly scooped up the box and rejoined Tuvok who was trying to reason with the Doctor.

"We cannot go to every M class world we find and trade for operatic performances."

"But I need more, I have to have more, what we have on file is not enough." The Doctor replied as Tuvok raised his eyebrow.

"Your logic is flawed, to do what you are proposing would add years to our journey, you neither need or require opera. We however need a Doctor." Tuvok continued as Tom coughed and got his attention.

"I think whatever is happening to people around here has something to do with these." Tom said holding out the box and allowing Tuvok to examine it.

"Good work, I will turn the ship around immediately and contact the Mikanderan people." Tuvok said moving to leave as Tom followed him out.

"Don't you need the Captain's permission to do that?" Tom asked as they stepped on to the turbo lift and headed for the bridge.

"I believe the Captain may have been compromised. Do not worry I will make sure everything is put back to normal." Tuvok said as the lift door opened and Kathryn stood looking at them. She was leaning against the door frame, a small soft smile on her face.

"Are Tom I have been looking for you, do you have a moment?" Tom was unable to reply, as Tuvok quickly exited the lift, and with the flat of her palm, Kathryn pushed Tom back inside. Her face wore an almost predatory smile, the lift had suddenly turned very warm, and Tom could do nothing to stop his hands from nervously tugging at his uniform.

"What can I do for you Captain?" He asked trying to keep his voice level, and just falling short of succeeding.

"Oh so much lieutenant." Kathryn purred at him, reaching out her finger to trace it down to his chest, coming to stop at the waist band of his trousers. Tom really needed to back away, but he had nowhere to go. The feeling of her finger was not unpleasant, far from it, but this wasn't right. The Captain wasn't herself, and as she drew closer to him, inhaling his sent Tom could only let out a shuddery breath.

"Computer halt turbo lift." Kathryn said with a wiry smile before pressing herself up against him, so tightly Tom could feel every curve of her body.

"Captain, what, umm are you sure this is a good idea?" Tom stuttered out as Kathryn's hands made their way around to Tom's rear and give him a small squeeze.

"Maybe not, but if I don't do something I think I am going to explode." Kathryn said her lips now inches from his neck. Tom was having a seriously hard time pushing her away, the hands on her shoulder's more something for her to lean on than anything. Finally as her hands found the front of his trousers Tom leapt backwards.

"No, this isn't right, well its right, but it's also wrong, oh you have no idea what I am talking about." Tom said looking at his now confused and slightly sweaty Captain.

"If it's so wrong then maybe I should go back to Chakotay, he was very envious when I told him I wanted you instead." Tom froze, there was something in what she said that had lit a spark. The Doctor had also mentioned something earlier that rang a bell.

"Seven, there were seven." Tom then said to no one in particular, as he stepped forward and took Kathryn by the arm. For a moment she looked happy before Tom called for deck six, and the lift began moving again.

Neelix met Tom in sick bay, he was astonished by the collection of senior officers gathered there. All entranced with their own activities. Tom ignored Kathryn's looks from her seat on the bio bed as he ran some scans.

"I know you and me aren't exactly the A team, but for now we are the only ones acting sane around here." Tom said moving towards the console and bringing up the scan Seven had taken earlier.

"Have you ever heard of the seven deadly sins?" Tom asked the Talaxian as he moved around Seven's ever growing pile of work and dirty plates.

"Yes I have read about them in yours, and others culture many times." Neelix replied as Tom pointed to the scan.

"I think these rods are heightening some of the crews tendency towards one sin. If I'm not mistaken the Doctor there has greed." Tom said pointing to the man in question who was now laying claim to all the holo novels on board.

"Then we have gluttony." Tom continued pointing at Seven

"Our chief engineer has been struck with anger, who knew." Tom said as they both turned to watch B'Elanna, now awake pace behind her forcefield.

"And our Captain has been effected with lust." Tom said as the woman crossed her legs and lent towards him.

"Is it hot in here, or just me." She whispered, fully aware of the double meaning in her statement.

"But you said seven where are the rest?" Neelix enquired as Tom tapped his comm badge.

"Tom to Harry, Harry respond. Harry come on I need to talk with you."

"What I'm tired leave me alone." Harry finally said, closing the channel quickly as Tom turned to Neelix

"That was sloth, I am guessing Tuvok has got the pride, everything has been all about him saving us, all for the greater glory of Tuvok, and that leaves the commander with Envy. Would explain why he has looked like he has wanted to kill me all day." Tom finally finished as Neelix nodded his head.

"Ok so now we know what it is, how do we get rid of it?" He asked but Tom shook his head.

"I have no idea, but hopefully the Mikanderan people do, because I am not sure how long I can take this." Tom said as Kathryn slid off the bio bed and brushed passed him. Her hand sliding across his rear as she did so.

"I see what you mean." Neelix replied with a small cough. The doors to sickbay suddenly swooped open, a breathless and obviously furious Chakotay stood in the doorway his eyes dancing from Tom to Kathryn and back again.

"I knew I would find you together, what have you been doing to her?" Chakotay said marching up to Tom and placing his face directly into Tom's own.

"Get away from him." Kathryn then yelled, wedging herself in between both men and loving the feel of their bodies either side. The position gave her an idea.

"Maybe we could just all go have some fun." She suggested pushing herself against both men as Chakotay's hands went and rested on her shoulders.

"I don't want, or need to share you." He growled at Tom, who for a moment had considered what that would have been like. Deciding that for once he agreed with Chakotay they were all shocked from there situation when B'Elanna managed to tare down her forcefield. Lashing out and scattering the Doctor's padds around the room, she then destroyed Seven's work. Moving onto the rest of sickbay Tom extracted himself from Kathryn and called to Neelix.

"We have to take her out, or she is going to hurt herself, or worse." Tom said, grabbing a hypo spray and approaching the half Klingon nervously. She had wild eyes, sweat was pouring off her and she wasn't really looking at anything. With a deep primordial growl she lunged at Tom, only to be taken down by a phaser blast. Tom heaved a sigh of relief, turning to see Neelix who was looking a little pale.

"It was only set on stun." He shrugged as Kathryn let out a little yelp behind them, as Chakotay scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Tom, Tom help me." She cried and for a second Tom got a flash back to a black and white film he had watched once.

"Go save the Captain, I will stay here and see what I can do about the rest of them." Neelix said holding up a hypo spray and turning to the Doctor first.

"Now who is ready for bed?"

Ok that's it for now, this will probably be a two parter. Reviews inspire so let me know if you are enjoying the story, and would like the conclusion. Thank you for reading XxX