Hero for the Times
By: Julie
Janeway pressed her commbadge. "Transporter room?"
The reply was immediate. :::The doctor is on board.:::
"Very good, Ensign. Tell him I'm very eager to read his final report."
:::I will, Captain.:::
"I guess that's it," Chakotay said as Janeway closed the link. "The doctor is back, and we're on our way out of Shaal'ra space."
The doctor had been gone almost twenty-four hours. Though the trade negotiations had been successfully completed in a few hours, he had asked to remain on the Maruuk until Voyager reached the border of Shaal'ra space, where they were right now. Janeway had gladly granted his request, happy to let him continue as ambassador to the Shaal'ra.
In the meantime B'Elanna and Neelix had supervised the successful transfer of trade goods between the Liduun and Voyager. The vacuum-sealed storeroom next to the kitchen was now filled to the brim with fresh fruits and vegetables.
"Captain, we are being hailed by the Maruuk."
Janeway nodded to Tuvok. "Put it on the screen."
Captain Vatiik, another one of the Maruuk's four captains, appeared. She held out her hands, palms up, in the Shaal'ra manner of greeting. "Captain Janeway, your ship is clear to travel alone from here."
"Thank you, Captain Vatiik. We appreciate your escort, and your hospitality to our trader."
"You are welcome, Captain Janeway. I am told the ETH is a persuasive bargainer. The ECH is also a remarkable captain. We had a most interesting exchange of ideas."
Janeway knew the doctor had switched "identities" frequently aboard the Maruuk to facilitate his interactions with the Shaal'ra. During one of his updates he'd wondered out loud why he hadn't tried it before. She'd decided immediately that a talk about his singular role as CMO would be in order upon his return. "I'm glad you found his presence agreeable," she said.
"We regret he could not spend more time here," Captain Vatiik replied. "We must depart now. I wish you a good journey to your home. Should you or other members of your Federation pass this way again, the Maruuk would be pleased to escort you through our space."
Janeway figured "pleased" was a definite improvement over the reluctant willingness they'd originally shown. Perhaps one day the Federation would count the Shaal'ra as allies. "We appreciate your offer. A good journey to you also."
Captain Vatiik's image disappeared from the screen, and a few moments later the Maruuk moved away. Janeway addressed the helm. "Mister Paris, lay in our course, warp seven."
"Yes, ma'am."
After a few seconds of silence, Harry Kim spoke. "Looks like the doctor made himself pretty popular with the Shaal'ra."
"To the benefit of our diet," Tom replied, grinning.
"And to the benefit of possible future relations," Chakotay added.
"The doctor may not be a hero for the times, but he's a hero this time in my book," Tom said.
Harry snorted. "Do you ever think about anything but your stomach, Tom?"
"Sure, when I'm full."
"I think the doctor would settle for just being considered a person," Chakotay said.
"It is unfortunate the Federation legal code is insufficient in recognizing the full range of sentience," Tuvok said.
"It is unfair," Harry agreed. "But I'm not all that sorry his holonovel got rejected."
"Come on, Harry," Tom said. "It has potential. It could spawn a whole series. Don't you want to be twice famous?"
"Nope. Once famous is enough for me."
"If I can handle being confused with Don London, you can handle being confused with Derry Whim."
"But could you handle being confused with Fayray?" Chakotay asked Janeway in a low voice as she watched her young officers bantering back and forth.
"I could probably live it down," Janeway said. "But it's a moot point."
"Maybe not. The doctor could always get it published once he is granted sentient status. Or even before."
Janeway stared at Chakotay. "Before?"
"Two members of the crew came up with the idea of having someone on Voyager sign the contract with the doctor, to make it legal. They started gathering signatures yesterday in support of the idea."
"Signatures?" Janeway wondered why she hadn't heard about this. "How many?"
Chakotay shrugged. "Half the crew at least, probably more. They didn't approach you because they didn't want to compromise your position."
"Compromise..." Janeway frowned. "Who came up with this idea?" Her eyes narrowed on Chakotay. "You?"
Chakotay shook his head. "Not me. Your morale officer."
Janeway wasn't surprised. Neelix was a bleeding heart.
"And..." Chakotay nodded toward the helm, where Tom was still engaged in a conversation with Harry.
"Our Voyager fame might wear off some day," Tom was saying. "Don't you want some back up notoriety?"
Harry snorted.
"It would add a little mystery to your image, Har."
Tom Paris. Despite their often adversarial relationship, Tom and the doctor had a lot in common. And they were genuinely fond of each other, even if it took a nanoscope to see it. Janeway supposed it made sense.
"Chakotay, you have the conn," Janeway said as she rose. "Mister Paris, once you've finalized the course calculations, have Ensign Culhane relieve you so you can report to Sickbay. I'm sure the doctor would like to know what's been happening while he's been gone."
Tom looked surprised, probably because as acting CMO he'd barely stepped foot in Sickbay over the past twenty-four hours, but he nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"And stop by my ready room on the way."
Janeway didn't wait for his acknowledgment before she strode to her ready room and sat down behind her desk. A pile of status reports awaited her review. She ignored them in favor of a few seconds of satisfied reflection. Voyager was back on course with a full larder, they'd left another alien race with a reasonably good impression, they'd established direct contact with Starfleet and with their families for the first time, Joe and B'Elanna were almost ready to give the go ahead for the next slipstream jump, and the doctor had stretched his limits again-even if the result was a sensationalistic holonovel.
Oh, and the carpets were clean. It had been a very successful few days. In fact, there wasn't much left to accomplish at the moment. Except that white glove inspection she'd promised her first officer.
Janeway smiled as she picked up one of the dataPADDs on her desk. She decided she'd schedule that inspection with Chakotay tonight.
Epilogue:
"Hey, Doc! You here?"
The doctor glanced up from his console and saw Lieutenant Paris headed his way, looking pretty pleased with himself. He returned his attention to his console.
"Ah, here you are."
"Yes, who would have thought?" the doctor asked sardonically, as Paris entered his office.
Tom's complacent smile didn't diminish. "The captain sent me to brief you on the status of Sickbay while you were gone."
As far as the doctor could tell, everything looked exactly the same as it had when he'd left. "Was there an emergency?"
"Nope. Not even one patient. The crew is disgustingly healthy."
"I suppose that's not surprising, considering their doctor."
Tom grinned again. "Nice to know you came back with your usual humility intact, Doc. How was your trip, anyway?"
"I successfully negotiated a trade for a large quantity of fresh foodstuffs-"
"Yeah, I think Neelix is going to build a fruit centerpiece in your image."
The doctor ignored that. "And I spent the rest of my time learning more about the Shaal'ra. They are an engaging race. They allowed me to do medical scans on several of the crew." He motioned to his console monitor, his voice rising with enthusiasm. "Their metabolism is amazing, and the rate of their cell regeneration is beyond that of any species I've ever encountered. Now I understand why their bodies require no sleep. I also have scans of their brain structure. When one identity is active, the others are completely quiescent. That part of the brain 'rests' as it were. It's like nothing I've ever seen. It could lead to some very valuable research."
"I bet," Tom said. He shook his head. "I still can't imagine sharing my body with three or four other people. Or how weird it would be if Miral had several other fathers."
"If you were Shaal'ra, Miral would only be one identity. You'd be her father, and the other identities would have their fathers." The doctor had observed Deliin and Tineel with their respective children. He still didn't completely understand what alerted their bodies to switch identities in exact synchronization with each other, but it seemed to work that way, within family groups anyway. It was something he looked forward to research.
"I guess so," Tom replied. "But who gets to see her walk first? Or talk first?" He waved his hand as the doctor opened his mouth to explain again. "Never mind. To be honest, Doc, I wouldn't want to have the use of my body only a few hours a day, or share B'Elanna and Miral-mind or body-with anyone else. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I'm glad it's just the three of us."
"Not at all, Mister Paris. It's human." The doctor had no desire to share his holomatrix with other identities, despite his admiration for the Shaal'ra. "By the way, how was your talk with your family?"
Tom looked surprised at the question. He shrugged. "Fine."
"I take it 'fine' means successful," the doctor said.
"My parents were very happy to meet B'Elanna and Icheb. And they adored Miral."
Why wouldn't they? She was a bright, lively, happy child. "What about you and your father?" the doctor asked.
"We talked." Tom paused for a moment, and then he smiled. "It went...well. Very well."
"That's really no surprise, Lieutenant. Whatever happened between you before, you're family. I believe you once explained to me what that means-to share a history, to endure hardships and come through on the other side, still together."
Tom nodded. "I remember. I guess I was more right than I thought."
"I suppose the law of averages had to fall in your favor at some point, Lieutenant."
Tom grinned, not rising to the bait. "Hey, Doc, about your holonovel-"
"I've decided to delete it."
"What?! Doc, you can't do that!"
The doctor stared at Tom, startled by his fervor. "Why not? You didn't like it. And aren't you the one who told me the characters were too similar to the Voyager crew?"
"That was constructive criticism. And I never said I didn't like it, exactly. I also told you it had the makings of a bestseller."
"Not if it isn't published," the doctor said dryly. "In any case, I'm starting a new holonovel, a serious work based on an issue of unprecedented importance."
Tom frowned. "What issue?"
"The repression of holograms. I plan to show the public just how unjustly photonic beings have been treated by the Federation. I'm thinking of calling it 'Up from Bondage.'"
"Sounds, uh, provocative. But that doesn't mean you have to abandon 'Hero for the Times' in the process."
"I have something more important to do, something less frivolous- -"
"Frivolous?" Tom shook his head. "Light-hearted, maybe. But you said yourself there is an underlying message about holograms. Why pass up this opportunity to get public sentiment on your side?"
"Perhaps you've forgotten again that I can't get it published, Lieutenant."
"You can't sign a contract, but I can sign one."
The doctor stared at Tom with disbelief. "Are you suggesting I publish the holonovel under *your* name?"
"No. It would still be published under the pseudonym Emerson Holmes. I'll just sign the contract as...the co-writer."
"Co-writer?!"
"Okay, editor."
"Mister Paris, I don't think-" the doctor stopped as Tom held out a dataPADD. He took it and read the words on the screen. It was a petition supporting the publication of his holonovel. He scrolled though the names, starting with Neelix and Tom Paris, and saw Chakotay's name, B'Elanna Torres, Tuvok, Harry Kim, both Delaney sisters, and probably three-quarters of the crew. The final name was Captain Kathryn Janeway.
"The crew wants you to have this opportunity, Doctor."
"They do?" The doctor felt a tug in his emotional subroutines. He was genuinely touched. Then he looked up at Tom. "And you said the crew wouldn't like my holonovel."
Tom cleared his throat. "Right. Anyway, what do you say, Doc?"
"I suppose if you're willing to sign as *editor* only..."
"Great!" Tom grinned. "Since it's quiet in Sickbay, maybe we should take a quick look at your holonovel, and see where it could use a little editing."
"Very little editing," the doctor warned as he rose. He wondered what he was getting into as he walked through Sickbay with Tom Paris. "Just remember, the final decisions are *mine.*"
"Of course. I do have a few ideas for one of the characters."
"Don't tell me. Don London."
"Every great hero needs a brave and dependable sidekick."
The doctor rolled his eyes.
"Every great ship also needs a quick, maneuverable shuttlecraft to divert the enemy when necessary, and to help form a two-flank attack, not to mention for the occasional romantic rendezvous. Maybe something like the Delta Flyer?"
The doctor pursed his lips. That idea did have some merit. "I suppose you expect Don London to fly it."
"Only when the EPH is busy saving the Valorous."
"I'll have to think about that," the doctor said. He didn't intend to let Mister Paris have his way too often.
"Just think, this could become a whole series of holoadventures, Doc! The amazing EH and his intrepid crew..."
The doctor considered that as they entered the turbolift. He supposed he could be a popular holonovelist and still write his serious opus, along with being a doctor, musician, political activist, and whatever else he wanted. He was a hologram after all.
"How about the Proton Flyer," Tom suggested as the turbolift doors started to close.
The doctor snorted. "Perhaps the Photon Flyer-"
the end.
