It had taken almost no time at all for Tom and the away teams to assemble in transporter room 2, everyone armed with phasers and a grim expression. His advance team, led by Chakotay, were standing next to the pads, about to depart, while Tuvok's multiple security teams were standing by, awaiting their turn, both here and in the other transporter room.
Tom could not recall another away mission which had left him feeling like this. His entire body was on edge, the adrenaline rushing through him more powerfully than it had ever done before. He could snap at any moment. The memory of Amelia's face sustained him. He needed to find her and end her pain.
All they awaited was the call from the bridge to say that the window in the shield had opened. Then they'd have ten minutes to both find Amelia, find the cure, and get the hell out of there. If they missed that window, they'd have to wait another ten minutes for the next one. Chakotay had major doubts they'd be able to hold off the Boraanians if that happened, and so did Tom.
The doors to the transporter room opened once more, and the last of their team arrived, accompanied by Janeway. Tom met her eyes and felt his heart grow even heavier as he saw the strong façade she had erected. She had not fallen to pieces when Amelia was taken. She hadn't almost broken down with despair. He'd almost failed both as a father and as a Starfleet officer. Something he was now about to rectify.
Janeway came right to him, and he found it hard to look at her, remembering their last heated encounter on the bridge.
"You've got your coordinates in your tricorder?" she asked. "Harry sent them to you?"
"Yeah," he said, tapping it at his belt. "He's narrowed it down, but we've still got a lot of ground to cover. We'll need to be quick."
She nodded. "I have every faith in you."
Tom rubbed the back of his neck. Faith. Something people had avoided giving him for a long time. Until he'd come on board that is. Until Janeway herself had reminded him of what he was capable of.
"I'm sorry, Captain," he said, forcing himself to look at her. "For what I said on the bridge. I-I wasn't myself."
Janeway gave him a sad smile. "I know that, Tom. There's no need to apologise."
"No, there is." He took a steadying breath. "I shouldn't have given up like that. I let myself get carried away. It's just the thought of losing her-"
He stopped quickly before he gave into that darkness again. Janeway seemed similarly affected. He saw her give a longing glance at the transporter pad. She wanted to be with them.
"Do you …" He paused, not sure if he would upset her further. "Do you ever think about … about the other two?"
The clenching of her jaw told him exactly what he needed to know.
"Yes, Tom," she said softly. "Sometimes I do. It's hard to grieve for children that you don't remember, but somehow I do, if that makes sense."
He understood perfectly. Thoughts of 'what ifs' had tormented him long into the night before now.
"Bridge to transporter rooms. Prepare for beam out. Window opening in thirty seconds."
Harry's voice jerked him back to the present, and his body tensed. Janeway nodded to him.
"Go, Lieutenant. And don't dare come back without my daughter, you hear?"
Tom turned to take his place on the transporter pad. But before he did, he did he looked back at Janeway and saw the brief flash of fear in her eyes. Hesitating only for another second, he quickly pulled her into an embrace. She was startled, but returned the gesture, Tom detecting the slightest shaking of her shoulders. Neither of them had ever initiated such an intimacy before. He'd surprised even himself. He pulled back.
"I promise I'll bring her back," he said, still with his hands on her arms. "I swear, Captain, neither of us will need to grieve another child."
Janeway said nothing, but her bottom lip trembled for the briefest of instants before she disguised it. Neither of them needed to say anything more.
"Window opening in ten seconds."
Tom jumped up onto the transporter pad to stand beside Chakotay. The commander had watched the entire exchange, mouth set in a hard line.
"Energising," said the transporter operator, and Tom watched as the transporter room of Voyager faded from his vision. Next thing he was aware, he was staring at the concrete walls of the Boraanian medical facility. He withdrew his tricorder and phaser immediately.
"Detecting Human lifesigns along this corridor," B'Elanna said, looking at her readings. "Also at least ten Boraanians coming this way."
"They've detected us already," Chakotay said, glancing up at the ceiling where a red light was flashing. "Tom, B'Elanna, hold them off here. The Doctor and I will press on ahead."
Tom hid his momentary annoyance at being assigned the rear guard and took up a position with B'Elanna behind a large generator which was situated on the left of the corridor. Behind him, Chakotay and The Doctor were already hurrying away into the warren of dark corridors which constituted this medical facility.
As they waited, Tom noticed just how unlike a hospital this place was. Though he knew it was on the surface, it appeared entirely subterranean, with no windows to speak of, most unlike the airy Starfleet facilities he had been used to on Earth. Soon, the heavy thumping of military boots reached his ears.
B'Elanna was the first to engage. Moving out from her sheltered position behind the generator she aimed her phaser at the first of the Boraanians. The man gave a cry and fell to the ground. Tom joined her, but the Boraanians had rallied and had taken up their own defensive positions behind crates of medical equipment piled in the corridor and sending back their own volley of fire.
Tom ducked shots, fired some of his own, all the while with one eye on his tricorder, observing his enemy's positions, but more importantly, Chakotay and The Doctor's progress down the corridor.
"B'Elanna!" he cried. "They're being cut off. We need to get to them."
"We've got a problem of our own here, Tom!" B'Elanna ducked another blast from the Boraanians. The blast was so powerful it created a huge whole in the wall behind them. They certainly weren't aiming to stun, like they were.
Tom fought the boiling anger rising within him. He'd been in firefights before, lots of them. Not once, until now, had he ever wished he could set his phaser to kill.
Another blast from the Boraanians went awry as Tom incapacitated him at the moment of firing, leaving the shot to hit the ceiling instead. Huge chunks of concrete and metal piping rained down on them and their attackers. Tom covered his head with his arm and tried to cover B'Elanna with the other one. They coughed and spluttered in the cloud of debris. Fortunately, it seemed their opponents were similarly affected.
Tom looked up at the ceiling, seeing that a huge chunk of it had torn away, and another was hanging precariously, the only thing supporting it being a rather fragile looking metal pipe. The last section was directly above the Boraanians. Tom had a flash of inspiration.
He switched his phaser to the highest setting, and risking everything, leapt out from his hiding place to fire his phaser at the metal pipe, hoping the Boraanians were still too disorientated by the collapse to fire on him.
The pipe glowed red hot and then white, and for one dreadful moment Tom thought it would do nothing else. But the phaser was too powerful. With a few more seconds of the beam, he sliced right through the pipe, which then buckled and groaned.
With an almighty crash, the rest of the ceiling began to cave in, massive chunks of debris falling from above.
Tom grabbed B'Elanna, who was beginning to cough again at the new onslaught and ran with her, forcing them through the murky cloud of dust to clearer air further down the corridor. Tom chanced a glance back. The debris had entirely blocked off the corridor, the Boraanians either buried under it or trapped on the other side.
Good, now only these other ones to worry about.
He and B'Elanna sprinted down the corridor, and from ahead of them, they could already hear the familiar sound of phaser fire.
Rounding a bend, they saw Chakotay and The Doctor pressed into a corner, facing up against four Boraanians, the bodies of several others on the floor. The aliens lifted their blasters.
Together, Tom and B'Elanna raised their phasers and fired at the backs of two of the Boraanians. Having seen the two of them round the corner, Chakotay and The Doctor targeted the other two. The four assailants collapsed to the ground.
"Thanks," Chakotay called, examining the soldiers briefly. "This place is even more heavily guarded than we thought."
"Yeah, who knew they'd need so many soldiers in a hospital?" B'Elanna said, stepping over one body, not noticing or caring that she stood on his hands.
"Soldiers," The Doctor snorted. "Look at them! They're barely more than children."
For the first time, Tom looked more closely at the aliens, looking beyond their body armour and strange black helmets. They did indeed appear to be young, no more than to mid to late teens.
"It appears the people of this planet will stop at nothing to end this conflict," Chakotay said with distaste. "They'll use bioweapons, genocide, child soldiers and abduction to get what they want."
"Much like Earth used to," The Doctor observed.
Tom still had his eyes on the face of one of the youngest looking of the Boraanians. He wondered if the kid actually knew what he was fighting for. He barely looked old enough to shave. And these were the people he'd wanted the captain to give deadly weapons to.
"Amelia's up ahead," Chakotay said, examining his tricorder. He gestured down a side corridor. "You two defend this position here. We've only got a few minutes before the next window opens. I think we're gonna have to wait for the next one. Get comfortable."
Tom and B'Elanna took up positions at the head of the side corridor, each one looking a different direction, their backs to each other, stunned Boraanians still at their feet. Tom's phaser was steady in his hand. He was ready for the slightest movement in the shadows.
Chakotay and The Doctor had already disappeared, searching for the room which would lead them to Amelia. As much as Tom wanted to follow them, he maintained his position. He had a duty here. And he wasn't about to forget that.
Amelia needed him to stay level-headed.