Author's note:
Well, 'Way of the Officer' has been sidelined. Not by choice; by writer's block. And two children with ear infections. So on to this: an attempt to jump-start one story by working on another which has seized control of my creative faculties. It's worked in the past.
This story does include an OC, and it's not intended to be a Mary Sue fic – give me a shred of time before pulling out the Kathryn Janeway Commemorative Edition phaser rifles, okay? Tis Thomas Eugene Paris who headlines this fic. But on with the show...
Lieutenant Paris's personal log:
The past couple of weeks have been interesting. We're running low on dilithium, but we've found a planet not too far away that has a pretty good load of it. A class-M planet, with an atmosphere, and sunshine, and everything. Which is great, because the idea of another three-week-long trip in a shuttle with Harry, Neelix, and Chakotay is...not an experience I care to repeat. B'Elanna's going to be on the away team, and so is Harry, which is going to be a pain because they'll be off the ship and I'll be down in sickbay helping out the doc. Not my idea of a fun couple of weeks.
In other news, Captain Janeway has decided to officially promote a bridge science officer. Back when we were pulled into the Delta Quadrant, most of the senior science people were killed, leaving only a bunch of greenhorn ensigns. It's weird; we didn't have a regular bridge science officer among the command crew all these years, and here I never even noticed. Anyway, she's narrowed down her choices to Ensigns Collins or Kessel. So for the past few weeks, we've had eager, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young ensigns working the science station. They've been spending the past few years in the labs on the lower decks.
Collins is a really tall and skinny guy who sort of looks like Frankenstein's monster. Kessel would be easier to look at, that's for sure. Harry wants her to get it, and I can understand why. She's kind of cute. A lot better to look at than Collins, if I dare say so. She's really quiet and withdrawn, though, like she's terrified of the lot of us. Now, admittedly, fear and terror of Captain Janeway is probably a very wise, sound course to take for an ensign, but come on, how intimidating can Harry be?
I wish him luck, though. They'll be off on the away mission together. It would be nice to see him with somebody. Of course, it'll just make it that much worse for me, stuck in sickbay, but--,"
"Excuse me?" B'Elanna Torres said from behind him. "What was that? Kind...of...cute?"
Tom Paris cleared his throat and thought fast. "And, of course, my dearly beloved, brilliant, beautiful wife will be on the away team, down on the planet's surface, leaving me to pine away of loneliness, and...uh...heh...computer, pause log entry."
He turned slowly, already suspecting the anger was feigned. At least he hoped so. They weren't going to see each other for a while. He didn't want their last contact to be a quarrel.
"What is this universe coming to?" he asked quizzically. "Where a loyal, loving husband about to be separated from his beautiful wife is subject to suspicion over a mere moment's observation in a log entry?"
"Ha," she said. "Expressing desire not to be in a shuttle with your fellow officers. Suggesting that younger officers should fear the captain. And to top it off...suggesting that one of the candidates for the new science officer spot looks like Frankenstein...and the other is...kind of cute." She shook her head ruefully. "I don't know about you, Tom Paris."
"What I have always loved about you," Paris averred, "is your patience and forgiving ways. And how you know not to take statements out of context. Have I ever told you that?"
B'Elanna snorted. No, she wasn't really angry. If nothing else, he had learned to tell the difference.
"For example," he continued, "I'm sure you realize that my interest in Ensign Kessel is merely for Harry's sake."
She chuckled. "Harry?"
"Sure, why not?" he said. "Poor guy hasn't had a lot of luck with women. It's going to take a certain kind for him, I think. Kessel's new to the bridge, they're about the same age...and, well...you know...," he trailed off.
"You know, what?" she pressed. He grinned. Nothing was coming easily today.
"Well, Harry's sort of...foursquare, and Kessel's a quiet little biologist, so maybe they'd hit it off," he said. "She's on the away team. I saw the roster."
B'Elanna let out a hmmph. "She'll probably want to do weird experiments on him," she said. "Take out his liver or something."
Paris chuckled.. "See? Just like you're always threatening to do to me."
She shook her head again. "So what's the big idea with trying to hook Harry up with her, anyway?"
He shrugged. They could joke all they liked together. This was a little more serious. "Well," he said. "Harry's my friend, that's all. He's a good guy, he's stuck by me, and he has awful luck with the ladies. Maybe all he needs is a push.. She's not a hologram, an ex-Borg, or an alien. Oh, and she's not dead. So...," he spread his hands. "I just want to see him happy."
She grinned and nodded slowly. "You are loyal," she admitted. "Though you've got some low standards there – not Borg, not alien, not dead."
"Well," he said. "You know, Harry's got...a certain kind of appeal. He's more reliable than exciting, and you know...he may need somebody...like him."
She smiled conspiratorially. "He's a geek and he needs another geek."
Paris looked wounded. "Harry's not a geek," he protested.
"He is, but in a good way," Torres said. "But you're right, I think. He always goes for women he can't possibly have. But you can't choose for him, you know."
"I know," Paris allowed. "Still, you're going on this away mission. As second-in-command, no less." He gave her a knowing wink. "You could order them to go do something together. You know...get to know each other."
B'Elanna gave him a wide-eyed, mocking-thoughful look. "Now there's an idea! But wait, I can do better! I could sabotage their shuttle so that they end up all alone together. And I could fire a polaron burst over the shuttle so we couldn't beam them out for a few hours."
"Well, that's a little extreme," he allowed. She ignored him, going on.
"And I could use up this week's replicator credits and replicate a big hairy monster suit with fake claws and teeth, and then I could run around the shuttle and growl at it so she gets scared and jumps in his arms," B'Elanna continued sarcastically. "And then we could give Harry a sword and he could pretend to stab me to death and Kessel would swoon in his arms and say 'My Hero'. I'm sure Chakotay and the captain will have no problem with that. Who needs dilithium, anyway? We have junior officers to hook up with each other."
"You've been watching too many of my monster movies," he grumbled.
"Me? Never," B'Elanna deadpanned. "It's nice you're trying to look out for Harry, but he's not a teenager and you're not his big brother. Now look. We need dilithium, and that is what this away mission is all about. Now let's get something to eat. I have to be in transporter room one in an hour."
Tom chuckled. "Boy," he said. "Try to do a friend a favor, and here I am, cruelly mocked."
B'Elanna shrugged. "The universe is cruel," she said. "C'mon. Let's move out."
The mess hall wasn't too busy at this early hour of the morning. Even so, Neelix was up and bustling about his kitchen. He greeted them effusively as they entered. Paris wondered, not for the first time, how the Talaxian could manage to be so peppy in the morning. It just wasn't natural. His toast, eggs, and coffee took only a moment to replicate. He accompanied B'Elanna to a seat and had a long pull at his coffee. No wonder Captain Janeway lived by the stuff.
Harry Kim entered a moment later, and Tom waved him over. The younger man nodded and took a seat next to him. He grinned broadly.
"Ready for the away team?" he asked.
Everyone's so cheerful, Tom thought. "I'm not on it," he said. "While you guys get to play on the planet's surface, I get to play Igor for our resident mad doctor."
"We'll figure out a way to get you down there," Harry said agreeably. "In the meantime, fetch those brains."
Tom chuckled, but found himself feeling empty inside. Did they have to take his wife and his best friend? The next two weeks were going to be tough. Knowing that this was the last hour he would have with them for a while was depressing. He'd get through it, but it would be pretty gray and joyless on this ship for a while.
The mess hall doors opened to admit a short woman in a teal-over-black sciences uniform. Harry perked up and waved her over. Tom glanced at her for only a moment, not wanting to set B'Elanna off. All the same, his friend's reaction told him he'd been on the right track.
"Hi," Harry said when she arrived. Tom bit his lip. Whatever you do, Harry, don't smile like a goof.
He took a moment for a sidelong glance at the young woman. Erika Kessel was kind of cute. She had black hair, twisted up into a chignon, and green eyes. All that time in the lab had left her a little too pale for his tastes, but it set off her hair nicely. It didn't seem to bother Harry too much.
"Morning, Kessel," Harry said.
Kessel glanced at each of them furtively in turn, as if fearing that the senior officers might leap across the table and attack her. She fidgeted visibly. "Good morning, Ensign Kim," she said, her tone a little distant. "Lieutenant Paris, Lieutenant Torres."
"Morning," Torres said. "Now what do they have you doing on the away team?"
Kessel flinched away just a bit as if uncomfortable. "Scanning for life forms," she said shortly.
"I didn't think there were any on this planet," Harry said.
"No sentient life forms," Kessel informed him. "Scans showed typical Class-M animal life. Insects, sea life, and mammals, but no signs of sentient life."
Harry nodded. "Anything that might become sentient life?"
Not bad, Harry. Show some interest, but just don't make it too obvious. Just ease off a bit and play it cool. She watched him carefully, almost distrustfully.
"There are monkeys," she said warily. He could hear an accent in her voice, now that he'd actually heard her string a few sentences together. It was very faint, but it was there. Her consonants were just a little harsher and her vowels just a micron different from the usual: Tsair are mahngkees. It made him think of Marseilles. It wasn't a French accent, though. With that last name, he would guess German.
"But we're talking dumb monkeys, right?" Paris joked. "They're not going to ambush the away team, are they?"
Kessel eyed him with that same distance for a moment. Was she nervous? Just frosty by nature? It was hard to tell. She didn't talk a lot when she'd worked the bridge science station.
"There are no signs of sentience," she said. "No signs of building permanent homes, growing food...the sensors would have picked up any of that. The landing site is fifteen hundred kilometers away from them, so it does not matter."
"Ah, good," he said. "A monkey-free away mission is a good away mission, I always say."
That got a smile out of her – a smile so brief he only could have verified it with a tricorder, but a smile nonetheless. Well, that was a good sign.
"Now, is this your first away mission?" B'Elanna asked. Her tone was friendly. She glanced briefly from Kessel to Harry and back again, nodding slowly as if she could see them as a pair. Yeah, B'Elanna, that's it. Just help the guy out a little, will ya? Tom thought.
Another brief smile. "Not my first," Kessel said. "I don't usually go on away missions. Only when there's a need for a biologist."
B'Elanna nodded. "Collins isn't going," she said. "You might be getting a leg up for the bridge science officer spot."
Kessel smiled again, a bit more tensely. "Perhaps," she said. "It's up to the captain."
"Be thorough. Captain Janeway likes thorough." B'Elanna advised. "Ensign Kim knows a lot about away team protocols. He's an old hand. He's been on more away teams than anyone else on the roster, including me."
Yes! Tom thought. I knew I could count on you. Harry merely smiled.
The combadge interrupted any further conversation. "Chakotay to away team. Please assemble in transporter room one in five minutes."
Torres tapped her own. "On my way. Ensigns Kim and Kessel are with me." She glanced at the two ensigns. "Would you two mind going on ahead? I'd prefer a moment with Lieutenant Paris alone."
"Of course," Harry said, and rose. He shook hands with Tom. "Well, this is it, old buddy," he said. "Try not to let the doc work you too hard." Behind him, Kessel murmured a quick good-bye, and then they left the mess hall.
"See? Did I come through or what?" B'Elanna asked teasingly. Then her face fell. the light-heartedness of the early morning and the minor fun of trying to play matchmaker had come to an end, butting up against the hard fact that they weren't going to see each other for the next few weeks. Tom smiled and nodded.
"You did fine," he said. "I guess this is it for a while."
Her face tightened. "I'll try to make it back to the ship at some point," she said. "Or maybe you can come down to the planet. I'll comm you when I can."
"Okay," he said. "Take care of yourself."
"I will. You too." With a quick peck on the cheek – all she was willing to do in the mess hall – she slipped out and was gone. Tom sighed and stared down at his eggs. He didn't want them anymore, but forced down another few gluey mouthfuls. His combadge twittered.
"Sickbay to Lieutenant Paris," the EMH said. Paris could hear his glee even through the tinny combadge. "Please report to sickbay as soon as possible. These quarterly crew health reports won't file themselves, you know."
Paris exhaled sharply. "On my way," he responded. He got up, drank off the dregs of his coffee, and put his plate in the recycling bin. The mess hall doors opened at his approach. He trudged down to the turbolift, shoulders down, feeling gray and depressed. The turbolift car was empty, and he preferred it that way in a desultory way.
"Well," he said to himself, "at least it'll be a routine couple of weeks."
Much later, he would look back on that statement and laugh.