Chapter 4: Means and Motive
"Hey, helm boy, what'd you do to this shuttle?"
Tom Paris swiveled in his chair and smirked as B'Elanna entered the Cochrane, loathing the day Harry had told her about the female Q's nickname for him. "Did you come to rescue me?"
"I think you're beyond rescuing," B'Elanna said with a smirk of her own. She pushed past him. "I knew I should have gone with you."
Tom shifted to the other chair, allowing B'Elanna to take the pilot's seat. "I'm glad you didn't."
B'Elanna looked up from her work. "Why?" she asked sincerely, and Tom could see a glimmer of genuine hurt in her eyes.
"Because," he said easily, "I wouldn't have been able to concentrate with you sitting next to me."
She turned back to the console. "You're still a pig, Tom," she muttered.
He leaned toward her, causing his chest to brush against her shoulder, his face mere centimeters from hers. "Could you use a hand?"
"Hands to yourself, Lieutenant. I've got work to do."
"Kes," the Doctor said as he exited his office, "the last time you did an inventory of our medical supplies, how many cc's of tetraheparin did we have in the dispensary?"
"About forty," Kes replied instantly. "In fact I just an inventory two weeks ago, and we haven't had any use for an anticoagulant since then." She regarded the Doctor carefully. "Is there an experiment you're working on?"
"No," he said with a somewhat cryptic expression, "not yet."
"Torres to Tuvok."
"Go ahead."
"The Cochrane was sabotaged. I think you'd better come to the shuttle bay."
"I am on my way. Tuvok out."
Tom raised his eyebrows suggestively at B'Elanna. "It'll take him two minutes to get here, assuming he doesn't have to wait for the turbolift."
B'Elanna raised her eyebrows right back mockingly. "What on earth should we do in the meantime?"
"I was thinking about a quick game of charades." They both laughed lightly. Tom spun in his chair to face her, suddenly serious. "B'Elanna, I never got a chance to explain about the play…"
"You don't owe me an explanation."
"The whole 'lothario of the Delta Quadrant thing' – that was Harry's idea –"
"Tom," she interrupted, "it's a play. I get it."
But Tom wasn't quite finished yet. "I just didn't want you to think that's who I am anymore," he added quietly, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.
B'Elanna turned her attention back to the console. "Who you are, Lieutenant," she said, equally quietly, "is someone who causes problems with shuttlecraft."
Before Tom had a chance to respond, they heard Tuvok's footsteps behind them. "What is the trouble?"
"We found a subroutine in the navigational interface," Tom explained, stepping aside for Tuvok to see the console.
"Attention all hands," Neelix's voice declared over the shipwide communications system. Janeway shot a look of fury at Chakotay. What the hell was Neelix doing making a shipwide announcement? "The opening of Murder in the Delta Quadrant, directed by the Doctor and written by Ensign Harry Kim, and produced by me – Neelix – and starring Ensign Pablo Baytart, Lieutenant Susan Nicoletti, Lieutenant Tom Paris, Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, Crewman Elise Foster, and Ensign Derrick Murphy, will begin in ten minutes. Please proceed to cargo bay three –" The announcement ceased as Janeway made a cutthroat motion at Ensign Lang, who disabled the comm system.
"Well," she said a little more cordially, "you heard him." She and Chakotay headed for the turbolift.
As they stepped inside, Chakotay commented good-naturedly, "They've all worked really hard on this, haven't they?"
"I know. I think it's a good exercise for the Doctor. Directing a play means exploring the finer subtleties of human interaction and emotion, and leading the other crew members has no doubt helped him improve his social skills."
"I'm sure Kes has helped, too," Chakotay added.
"And Harry," Janeway continued. "How exciting for him to get some recognition."
"Nothing another pip couldn't top," Chakotay muttered. But the captain heard him and laughed. Chakotay turned to her with surprise. He opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind.
"What is it?"
"You really care about them, don't you?"
"In some ways, Chakotay, Voyager has been a dream," she explained, her eyes distant. "For once I've gotten the opportunity to really get to know the people under my command, in ways I never would have if we hadn't gotten lost in the Delta Quadrant."
The turbolift doors slipped open, just as their comm badges beeped. "Tuvok to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. Please report to the shuttle bay." They looked at each other, shrugged, and stepped back into the lift.
"Janeway to Neelix."
"Captain, are you on your way?"
"Commander Chakotay and I have been detained. Can you wait a few minutes before starting?"
"Of course, Captain," Neelix replied. "Tom isn't here yet either."
"He must be in the shuttle bay, too," Chakotay commented. "I wonder what Tuvok found down there."
When they entered the shuttle bay, they found Paris, Torres, Tuvok, and two security officers standing in a huddle.
"Report."
"The converted warp engines were sabotaged," B'Elanna explained. "The engines were programmed to shut down and go offline once they were tapped for warp six. Whoever did this must have known it was the precise speed we'd be testing."
"Well, that could be anyone on the senior staff or in engineering," Chakotay noted.
"Additionally," Tuvok added, "the omicron particles are unaccounted for, although we are having trouble with internal sensors. But the encryption used to program the warp malfunction is the same as the encryption used on our manifest."
"You're saying this was done by the same person who altered our food storage record?" Janeway asked.
"Baytart?" Chakotay echoed.
"Lieutenant," one of the security officers interrupted, handing Tuvok a padd.
Tuvok quickly scrolled through it. "Captain, we have a more precise inventory of the missing supplies: several cases of Jibalian fudge, ten kilos of kava fruit, and now the omicron particles."
"Do you know what's happening with the supplies?" Janeway asked.
"We have identified several subspace messages…to the Tak Tak."
"The Tak Tak?" Chakotay sounded skeptical. "Who would want to contact them?"
"Why would someone take fudge, fruit, and omicron particles?" B'Elanna wanted to know. "Wouldn't it be better to take dilithium or warp plasma?"
"Or a few cases of leola root?" Tom prompted.
But no one had an answer.
"Captain, Lieutenant," Ayala called as he entered the shuttle bay, "we've traced the origin of the subspace transmissions and located a storage canister of omicron particles. They were both in Sue Nicoletti's quarters."
"Let's go," Janeway barked.
"A member of my team? I don't believe it." B'Elanna watched with her arms defiantly folded across her chest as the security team rooted through Nicoletti's quarters.
"Now you know how I felt when we learned about Seska," Chakotay murmured.
"We now have plenty of evidence to hold Lieutenant Nicoletti," Tuvok announced.
"Tuvok," Janeway intervened, "she is performing the lead role in the play. As long as we don't think the Tak Tak are going to turn up and cause trouble, let's talk to her after the show, all right?"
"Captain, I don't think that would be – "
"Tuvok, sometimes logical isn't the best for morale."
Tuvok did not argue with her – he wouldn't – but he wondered how turning up a traitor and encountering a rogue group of the Tak Tak would be for morale. "Very well," he consented with reluctance. "But I will interrogate Lieutenant Nicoletti immediately following the conclusion of the play."
"Right after the curtain call," Janeway agreed. She slipped her arm through Chakotay's. "Now, Commander, I believe the best seats in the house are awaiting us." As they headed out of Nicoletti's quarters, she called over her shoulder, "You too, Tuvok."
"Captain, I have not finished –"
"You have five minutes to get to the cargo bay, or I'm initiating a site-to-site transport."
