Summary: Q has some fun by sending Chakotay and Tom suddenly back to the Alpha Quadrant. They are forced to depend on each other and trust each other in the face of Tom's past.
Rating: R-18
Warnings: Violence, including sexual violence.
Relationships: The final chapter turns C/P (lightly), but it can be omitted if you don't want to go down that path, in which case it is just C/P friendship.
Chakotay sat in the transport van to Auckland Penal Colony, and thought about the vast distances travelled in the past 24 hours, both physically and metaphorically.
He and Lt Paris had been on a routine dilithium collection mission which was supposed to take around 10 hours all in, when they had suddenly found themselves in the Alpha Quadrant with nothing to explain how they had got there or why.
They had been within viewing distance of Earth.
He had scanned for wormholes, excited at the prospect that Voyager could finally get to return home... but no spatial anomalies of any kind had appeared, and before he had a chance to think of any other explanations, they had been captured by Federation patrols.
They had told them the truth, but it had sounded far-fetched even to Chakotay and Paris themselves. Three months after the disappearance of Voyager, the sudden appearance of the maquis leader and convicted felon made the Federation view them with unveiled suspicion and hostility.
Of course, the Federation couldn't prove any foul play even if they suspected it, so instead they were just being tried separately; Chakotay as a maquis leader, and Paris as an escaped convict returning to his sentence.
Chakotay's trial had been first, and he arrived first at Auckland. It had the air of a civilised, Federation prison as he entered, and he sensed his arrival was no secret, as he was accosted by several maquis who instantly whisked him away to talk to their inside maquis leader.
Their leader was known as Haig. Chakotay had worked with him before Haig had been arrested, and felt the benefit of his prior acquaintance instantly.
"Chakotay. Sorry to see you in here but welcome anyway." Haig said as he shook hands with him.
"Thank you." Chakotay replied.
"What's your cell?"
"45A."
"We all want to know what happened...we hear rumours that Tom Paris was with you when you suddenly reappeared in the Quadrant. Last I heard Paris had sold you out to the Federation."
Chakotay hesitated slightly. "It's a long story." he said. Paris may have sold him out, but now that they were part of the same crew, he couldn't afford to sell him out in return, no matter how tempting it was. But if the Federation hadn't believed the truth, no one else would either.
"He's coming here too I believe. Tell me - is he one of us?"
"Yes." Chakotay lied. "He pretended to betray us but he slipped away from Voyager to give us warning and rejoin as our pilot." Covering for the traitor left him with a nasty taste in his mouth. Paris owed him one. At least it would finally make them even after Ocampa.
"I see. This will make things a little harder." Before Chakotay could ask what he meant Haig was issuing orders.
"Blake, tell Luke that Paris is out of bounds. If he has a problem with that he comes to me about it. Understood?"
"Yes sir." Blake left to follow orders.
Haig turned back to him to explain. "Paris was extremely popular the last time he was here. The Prison Commissioner hates Paris more than any of us, he gave us free rein to do what we liked with him. And we did. Or rather...Luke and his crowd did. It wasn't my idea of fun."
Chakotay felt a chill as he realised the civilised facade had a darker edge.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"You really don't want to know. Just pray you never have to live through a tenth of what they did to him last time he was here."
Chakotay felt a sinking feeling in his gut, and was relieved that he had lied. Paris's life was at stake. He may not like the pilot very much but this was not his idea of the justice system. Haig continued
"Some of the boys are a little difficult to control so I'd keep an eye on him if you are serious about him being one of us now."
He nodded. Paris had spent 8 months here before Janeway got him out. No wonder he didn't have any qualms about betraying the maquis, if he had spent 8 months as a target for their violence.
"What's that?" he asked, noticing a crowd appearing at the gate.
"Speak of the devil." Haig said glancing over them. "Come on."
They forced their way through the menacing crowd who had backed Tom Paris against a wall. He faced them with total control, his posture was relaxed, though ready, and his expression was neutral with just a hint of contemptuous mockery in the corner of his mouth.
Chakotay couldn't fault Paris's courage as he stood facing at least 50 inmates who all openly leered or glared at him. As they made their way through he heard Tom speak with no hint of fear in his voice, just dry sarcasm.
"I guess you all missed me huh?"
Chakotay only caught a few of the replies he got.
"You're the one couldn't stay away flyboy"
"We've got three months of catching up to do with you Paris."
"What's the matter, miss being our prison whore?"
"We've organised a real sweet welcome home party for you boy"
The sinking feeling wasn't going away any time soon. Almost instinctively he understood that for all his faults, Paris didn't deserve what he had lived through, or what he was having to endure now. He and Haig finally broke through to where he was standing. Tom showed no emotion whatsoever to his presence, just a blank look of complete indifference. A stone wall had come down to protect him, and no embarrassment, surprise, gratitude or vulnerability of any kind was visible as Chakotay stood next to him and Haig addressed the crowd.
"These two are under Maquis protection now." He said with calm authority.
"You pick a fight with either of them, you pick a fight with me. You oughta trust me when I say... you really don't want to do that."
Haig and a couple of his followers led them out of the crowd to relative safety.
When they left the angry mutterings of the crowd behind them Haig spoke to Tom.
"Chakotay tells me you're on our side, Paris. Luckily for you I know Chakotay and I trust his word. If it weren't for him you'd be picking up where you left off and we both know you wouldn't last a week this time around." Haig turned on him suddenly and got in Tom's face. "Just remember who pulled your ass out of the fire and who can send it back there"
Tom nodded slowly and glanced at Chakotay, still with no expression showing.
"What room are you in?"
"10C" Tom answered.
Haig nodded pensively, then motioned to another goon. "Joe, tell Luke he's moving out to 45A" He turned to Chakotay "You're gonna move into 10C to help us keep your boy alive until things settle down and the crowds get used to him not being their plaything anymore."
"Thank you." Chakotay said.
"You led the charge on Gauron VI which took down 3 cardassian ships. You evacuated Jura before the Cardassians burned it up, and you were on the front lines of Hydra when the Uprising started. You're well known around here Chakotay. Your reputation is the only thing keeping Paris alive right now. Here are your quarters."
They arrived at 10C just as a man three times the size of any of them exited with a bag on his shoulder, glaring daggers at all three of them. His gaze lingered on Tom with intensity before he moved off.
"Luke, I presume."
"Watch out for him Chakotay. He's got influence here, and Admiral Paris signed the treaty that destroyed his homeworld. I'm sure Paris junior here remembers him well enough from last time."
Tom was still watching the departing figure of Luke with a blank expression and didn't respond.
"Play your cards right and things don't have to be the same this time around. Now if you'll excuse me I have business to attend to. If either of you need me, talk to Blake" Haig started to walk away but turned
"Just one more thing...it's no coincidence Paris was assigned the same cell as Luke. The Commissioner knows you're here Paris." he shrugged. "There's only so much I can do."
He left them and they made up their beds in their cell. Chakotay couldn't help glancing sideways at Tom to see how he was taking all of this.
He knew it must be torture for Tom to come back here. The nightmarish reality of Tom's previous experiences at Auckland, the untold suffering he had endured, alone, forced Chakotay to see him in a different light. If nothing else, Tom was a survivor, and his bravery and resilience were commendable. He also found himself absolving the pilot of betraying them. How could he blame anyone for trying to escape from Hell?
"When you were surrounded out there what would you have done if we hadn't shown up?"
"I was surrounded by 50 violent criminals who wanted to see me in a pool of my own blood. If there's a good way out a situation like that I could have saved myself a lot of pain in the past."
Chakotay paused, his back to Tom as he digested words spoken with the cool, frank tone Tom had adopted since he had arrived in prison. He remembered it from the early days on Voyager.
"I'm guessing your trial went about as well as mine. They gave me 10 years."
"They gave me 16 and a half years in total. 10 years plus the remainder of my first sentence."
Chakotay frowned. "But your first sentence was 5 years and you'd already served 8 months of it?"
Tom smiled humourlessly. "My sentence was extended for every 'fight' I got into in prison."
Chakotay stared at him. His sentence was longer now than it had been before he served the 8 months. The deliberate malice behind the move made him ask:
"Who is the prison commissioner and why does he hate you so much?"
Tom looked up at him quickly, obviously surprised that he knew that much.
"His name is Ven Harver. His daughter was Jeena Harver... one of the three people I killed in Caldick Prime." he said it in a monotone but the pieces all fell horrifyingly into place for Chakotay. To the prison commissioner, Paris wasn't serving a sentence for joining the maquis. He was serving a sentence as the person responsible for the death of his daughter. It was a parent's vengeance, not justice.
On Voyager he hadn't understood, but here, Tom's attitude seemed to make total sense as a protective layer. Everyone here had the same guarded self-preservation instinct to some extent. Everyone had the same tension masquerading as cool, relaxed confidence. Everyone was trying to grasp some feeling of control in an environment where anything could happen at any moment. He even felt himself adopting the same position. Play your cards close to your chest. Trust no one.
Chakotay tried to give them both some hope, unsure of which of them he was really trying to convince.
"Whatever spatial anomaly we hit, maybe Voyager will be able to use it to get back too. If that happens, Captain Janeway will vouch for us. If anyone can get us out of here it's the Captain."
"Yeah, well." Tom sighed, letting his defences down just enough to say "Thanks for the rescue Chakotay. I guess this makes us even."
"I guess it does." Chakotay answered, but in truth he was thinking of how unfairly hostile he had been in his judgements for the last three months, and considering that he had severely underestimated Tom's strength of character.
He felt a responsibility to keep Tom safe until they could figure a way out of this, or at least until Captain Janeway came to their rescue.
He sat on his bed and looked at Tom, who was sat on the bed opposite with his back against the wall at the head end. His arms were resting on his knees casually, but he looked tired...resigned. He was finally displaying a fraction of the overwhelming despair he must feel to be back.
"Tom...when you were here before... what did they do to you?"
There was a certain dead look in Tom's eyes as he answered flatly. "Anything they wanted."
Chakotay turned away so Tom wouldn't see the sympathy in his eyes. "I didn't know. I'm sorry." He thought for a moment. "Isn't there anything your father can do?"
Tom looked at him strangely, opened his mouth as though to say something but obviously thought better of it. Instead he just said "No."
Chakotay didn't push it. "Tom, Voyager might come through the anomaly next week, or she may never come through. But as far as I'm concerned we're still part of the same crew and you're my responsibility. Let's stay on the same side ok?"
Tom frowned in concern. "Chakotay you don't know what you're saying." He said in the same detached tone. "The more you associate with me the more at risk you put yourself - there's no sense in both of us being targeted. In here your best bet is to try and stay away from me as much as possible."
Chakotay shook his head. "Sorry Lieutenant but you're stuck with me."
Tom sat upright and said with what sounded like anger but Chakotay understood as a kind of panic. "I'm serious, Chakotay." Then he said coldly "I don't need or want your help, just stay the hell away from me and I'll stay the hell away from you."
Chakotay looked at him as though he were looking at a stranger. He knew that Tom's aim was to protect him, but he couldn't think why unless it was genuine fear for the Commander's safety. It didn't fit with his view of Tom...but then again, maybe it should. He remembered a time when Tom had said something similar to Harry Kim in their early days on Voyager. Had tried to push Harry away from being his friend, knowing full well that Harry would be better off distancing himself from the universally hated pilot. Harry had stood by Tom regardless, resolutely telling everyone that he picked his own friends. He decided to follow Harry's example.
"It wasn't a request." Chakotay said simply but firmly. He was as certain as Harry was then that he needed to be on Tom's side through this, but the look he saw on Tom's face was fear, and it lingered far longer than he'd come to expect from Tom's usually controlled expressions. Then he looked away.
Tom was afraid that Chakotay would get hurt by association with him. Ironically, that only made Chakotay want to stick by Tom more.
Tom sighed. "If you change your mind, at any point - I won't think any less of you."
"Tom...I can't begin to imagine what you survived last time you were here. But you're not alone this time. We'll keep our heads down and use all the maquis connections in my power if we have to - we'll find a way - but only by sticking together."
