"False Miracles"
By Pari106
(See Disclaimer in part I)
A few hours later, Captain Janeway was in Sickbay, standing with the Doctor beside B'Elanna where she was
sleeping on a biobed, when the final scans were performed and the bodies exhumed from their graves and analyzed.
Her commbadge trilled and she tapped it. "Janeway here," she said, sounding as weary as she felt. If Tom was in
one of those graves down there, she'd rather face a fleet of Vidiians alone than wake her young engineer and tell her
about it.
Ensign Ashmore's voice answered back. "We've prepared the bodies for transport back to the ship, Captain."
Janeway, in her distress, nodded, although she knew Ashmore couldn't see her.
"Very well. Transport them to the lab as soon as you return to the ship."
"Aye, Captain."
With a nod, the Doctor left to prepare the lab for the autopsies, and Janeway pulled a chair out of his office to sit and
keep vigil by B'Elanna's side.
Yet a few hours later, the autopsies were complete, and the Doctor called the senior staff to a meeting – the entire
senior staff, he told Janeway, assuring her it would be okay for B'Elanna to join. And so she did, looking paler and
more distraught than any of them had ever seen her.
"I've examined both the bodies found at the crash site," the Doctor reported. "And have confirmed what the scans
performed planetside concluded: both bodies have human DNA."
Janeway put a hand on B'Elanna's shoulder, silently offering any support the young woman needed. She tried to
keep her voice strong as she asked, "So those were our men down there?"
The Doctor sighed. "I've identified one of the bodies as being Mr. Darber's, yes."
There was a moment of sad, silent reflection as the staff assimilated this information.
"I'll inform the crew when we're done here," said the Captain.
"And Tom?" Harry asked.
Now the doctor's face took on a somewhat less grim appearance, and Janeway a little spark of hope begin to burn
anew.
"No. I am happy to report that Mr. Paris was not one of the bodies exhumed from the crash site."
The room filled with relief, but also confusion.
"If Mr. Paris was not one of the bodies found, then why do both bodies contain human DNA?" Tuvok asked.
"I'm not sure," the doctor confided. "The second body was apparently caught in a fire that ensued after the Flyer II
crashed. Its features are therefore hardly recognizable, but after performing a detailed analysis of the body's skeletal
structure I can confirm that, whoever the man was, he was not Lieutenant Paris. Nor was he human. The
differences between his cranial structure and that of a human's can attest to that."
"Then what about his DNA?" Chakotay asked.
The doctor shrugged. "Obviously it's been tampered with. I found traces of human DNA, yes. Enough of it, in
fact, that preliminary scans of the body did register as human. However, beneath that, the second body we found on
the planet has a distinctively alien biochemistry. I assume that whoever it was that took it upon themselves to bury
those bodies down there, can also be thanked for playing with the second body's DNA sequence."
"For what purpose?" Janeway questioned.
"To take Tom," B'Elanna suddenly spoke. "Why? Why would someone who has the power to…do whatever it was
they did with the DNA of the bodies down there need to kidnap Tom?" She knew she sounded paranoid and
emotional, but she didn't care, and noone called her on being objective. It did appear as though someone had gone
to an awful lot of trouble to make them think that that was Tom that had been buried down there.
"And why even bother resequencing the DNA at all?" Kim asked. "They'd have to know we'd be able to tell from
the skeletal structure that that body wasn't human."
Again the doctor shrugged. "Perhaps they didn't expect us to exhume the bodies. Maybe they supposed we'd stop
at a scan."
"Or perhaps they were just trying to buy themselves some time," Janeway interceded. She looked from one of her
officers to the other, capturing their attention.
"It's obvious we're no longer dealing with a simple case of a shuttle crash here, people. Someone's obviously made
an effort here to trick us into giving up our search for Mr. Paris. Now we need to discover who that someone is,
why they've abducted Mr. Paris, and, more importantly, where they've taken him."
Around the table, everyone nodded their assent.
"Commander Chakotay, Mr. Tuvok and I are going to take the next shuttle down to the planet. We'll be scanning
for lifesigns this time. Hopefully, whoever's got Tom hasn't altered his DNA as well. You'll have the ship while
we're gone." Chakotay nodded.
"Mr. Kim, you're with us. Tuvok, we'd better take a couple of your security officers, as well." Tuvok nodded, as
well, and the group filed out.
**** ****
By Pari106
(See Disclaimer in part I)
A few hours later, Captain Janeway was in Sickbay, standing with the Doctor beside B'Elanna where she was
sleeping on a biobed, when the final scans were performed and the bodies exhumed from their graves and analyzed.
Her commbadge trilled and she tapped it. "Janeway here," she said, sounding as weary as she felt. If Tom was in
one of those graves down there, she'd rather face a fleet of Vidiians alone than wake her young engineer and tell her
about it.
Ensign Ashmore's voice answered back. "We've prepared the bodies for transport back to the ship, Captain."
Janeway, in her distress, nodded, although she knew Ashmore couldn't see her.
"Very well. Transport them to the lab as soon as you return to the ship."
"Aye, Captain."
With a nod, the Doctor left to prepare the lab for the autopsies, and Janeway pulled a chair out of his office to sit and
keep vigil by B'Elanna's side.
Yet a few hours later, the autopsies were complete, and the Doctor called the senior staff to a meeting – the entire
senior staff, he told Janeway, assuring her it would be okay for B'Elanna to join. And so she did, looking paler and
more distraught than any of them had ever seen her.
"I've examined both the bodies found at the crash site," the Doctor reported. "And have confirmed what the scans
performed planetside concluded: both bodies have human DNA."
Janeway put a hand on B'Elanna's shoulder, silently offering any support the young woman needed. She tried to
keep her voice strong as she asked, "So those were our men down there?"
The Doctor sighed. "I've identified one of the bodies as being Mr. Darber's, yes."
There was a moment of sad, silent reflection as the staff assimilated this information.
"I'll inform the crew when we're done here," said the Captain.
"And Tom?" Harry asked.
Now the doctor's face took on a somewhat less grim appearance, and Janeway a little spark of hope begin to burn
anew.
"No. I am happy to report that Mr. Paris was not one of the bodies exhumed from the crash site."
The room filled with relief, but also confusion.
"If Mr. Paris was not one of the bodies found, then why do both bodies contain human DNA?" Tuvok asked.
"I'm not sure," the doctor confided. "The second body was apparently caught in a fire that ensued after the Flyer II
crashed. Its features are therefore hardly recognizable, but after performing a detailed analysis of the body's skeletal
structure I can confirm that, whoever the man was, he was not Lieutenant Paris. Nor was he human. The
differences between his cranial structure and that of a human's can attest to that."
"Then what about his DNA?" Chakotay asked.
The doctor shrugged. "Obviously it's been tampered with. I found traces of human DNA, yes. Enough of it, in
fact, that preliminary scans of the body did register as human. However, beneath that, the second body we found on
the planet has a distinctively alien biochemistry. I assume that whoever it was that took it upon themselves to bury
those bodies down there, can also be thanked for playing with the second body's DNA sequence."
"For what purpose?" Janeway questioned.
"To take Tom," B'Elanna suddenly spoke. "Why? Why would someone who has the power to…do whatever it was
they did with the DNA of the bodies down there need to kidnap Tom?" She knew she sounded paranoid and
emotional, but she didn't care, and noone called her on being objective. It did appear as though someone had gone
to an awful lot of trouble to make them think that that was Tom that had been buried down there.
"And why even bother resequencing the DNA at all?" Kim asked. "They'd have to know we'd be able to tell from
the skeletal structure that that body wasn't human."
Again the doctor shrugged. "Perhaps they didn't expect us to exhume the bodies. Maybe they supposed we'd stop
at a scan."
"Or perhaps they were just trying to buy themselves some time," Janeway interceded. She looked from one of her
officers to the other, capturing their attention.
"It's obvious we're no longer dealing with a simple case of a shuttle crash here, people. Someone's obviously made
an effort here to trick us into giving up our search for Mr. Paris. Now we need to discover who that someone is,
why they've abducted Mr. Paris, and, more importantly, where they've taken him."
Around the table, everyone nodded their assent.
"Commander Chakotay, Mr. Tuvok and I are going to take the next shuttle down to the planet. We'll be scanning
for lifesigns this time. Hopefully, whoever's got Tom hasn't altered his DNA as well. You'll have the ship while
we're gone." Chakotay nodded.
"Mr. Kim, you're with us. Tuvok, we'd better take a couple of your security officers, as well." Tuvok nodded, as
well, and the group filed out.
**** ****