Chapter 14

"Ms. Torres, do you have any special talents?" The man if front of her asked. After some searching she had found Maquis leader on Kaladan III. He was a tall, muscular Bajoran with orange hair that was evenly cut in a crew cut style.

"I have 2 years of Starfleet training, while I was at the Academy. I studied mostly engineering. Oh, and I have a wicked right hook." B'Elanna told him.

"Torres, welcome to the Maquis. I'm Bejak. I think we can find something for you to do around here. You can start over there, those parts could use sorting and cataloging to see if any of them are any good." Bejak told her, pointing in the direction of a huge stack of assorted pieces. B'Elanna pushed up the sleeves on the brown shirt she was wearing and grabbed the small tool kit. Bejak held out to her and head towards the supplies.

True to his word, Bejak always found something for B'Elanna to do. Most days she sorted parts or monitored communication. Sometimes there'd be some repairs that she could help with, but most the time her work was rather unchallenging.

After her shift, B'Elanna studied the pieced together logs of ships that had gone up against the Cardassians. She was working on a theory dealing with the shield frequencies of Cardassian battle cruisers. She had found a few frequencies that were quite common in many of the cruisers.

"Hey, Bejak, wait up!" B'Elanna called.

"Torres, what can I do for you?" He asked. B'Elanna had found Bejak to be a very helpful person during her stay with Maquis on Kaladan III.

"I need more of a challenge." She spat out. She wasn't really one for small talk.

"OK, let me think…hm…in two days, there is a small fighter coming to puck up some weapons. They took pretty heavy losses and could probably use someone with some engineering training. We can't use direct communication with them…but maybe…come with me. I have an idea."

"Seska, beam the cargo up, please."

B'Elanna felt the familiar tingle of a transporter beam run through her body. It was about time. She had been crunched up in a cargo transport container for over two hours.

"Seska, is the transportation complete?" B'Elanna heard a man ask as the transportation ended.

"Yes, everything worked out fi-Chakotay, we seem to have some unexpected cargo. One of the containment units is containing a humanoid life form." The female replied. She heard someone tap in the access code to the container, then a bright light pierced the unit. After a few seconds, B'Elanna's eyes adjusted to the change in lighting and she noticed a phaser pointed straight toward her. She looked up and found a Bajoran woman and a large Indian man with a tattoo both with phasers pointed at her.

"Wait, don't shoot. Bejak sent me. He said you guys could use an extra engineer." B'Elanna explained. "He would have contacted you, but he didn't want to blow your cover." After the mention of Bejak, the two rebels lowered their phaser but still seemed to remain on guard.

"OK, lets pull out of orbit." The Indian man ordered. "I'm Chakotay and this is Seska. Welcome to the Zola." He told her, then he glanced at her with a quizzical eye.

"Yes, I'm half Klingon." B'Elanna sighed, she had seen looks like that before when people were trying to figure out what species she was.

"Oh no, it wasn't that, I was just wandering how old you were and what type of training you had received." Chakotay reassured.

"I'm 21. I went to Klingon training schools until I was eighteen and entered the Starfleet Academy. At the end of my 2nd year Starfleet and I agreed that we weren't right for each other. That's when I left and came to Kaladan III."

"Then you joined the Maquis, right?" Seska cut in.

"No, not quite. I worked as a waitress for almost a year before I joined up." B'Elanna finished summing up her life.

"Cardassians off the port bow." Someone called.

"Battle stations!" Chakotay yelled.

B'Elanna found herself in the middle of a flood of people swarming to their posts. Somehow, in the middle of the chaos, she made her way over to the unoccupied engineer station of the rundown bridge. Bejak had said they had lost almost all of their capable engineers in their last fight and that the Captain had had to fill in. She didn't think he'd mind if she helped out. After all, this is what she had spent two years at the Academy and her spare time on Kaladan III training for. Even if she wasn't certified, she was still a capable engineer.

"Evasive maneuvers, let's try and get out of this one alive." Chakotay ordered from somewhere on the bridge.

"Wait, if we direct all power to the their propulsion systems, then…" B'Elanna started, then got completely wrapped up in her own idea.

Chakotay opened his mouth to object, but when he saw the look in her eyes he knew she was determined to go through with it. He didn't think it would work, but it might buy them some escape time.

B'Elanna quickly rerouted power to weapons. She'd finally get a chance to use some of the research she'd done Cardassian shield frequencies. Picking the most popular frequency she set the weapons for it then let loose. The phasers sliced through the Cardassians shields causing heavy damage and the cruiser limped away at impulse.

"Our weapons aren't that good, how'd you do that?" Chakotay asked in amazement.

"I spent my free time on Kaladan III studying Cardassian shield frequencies from old Maquis logs." B'Elanna explained.

"Everyone, this is our knew Chief Engineer, ah…I don't think you told me your name." Chakotay said, slightly embarrassed.

"B'Elanna Torres." She said. It took her a second to remember she even had a name. She wanted more challenge, but she didn't expect to be Chief Engineer on her first day.

***

And we stare each other down

Like victims in the grind

Probing all the weakness

And hurt we left behind

And we cry

The tears of pearls

-Tears of Pearls

-Savage Garden

***

Tom grimaced as the doctor healed the last of his wounds and left to fill out a report.

Damn Ferengi, Tom thought angrily as he pulled his shirt over his head. I hate them.

Not that Tom had ever liked them. His opinion of the greedy alien species was that…well, they were greedy, period.

He glanced down at his ribcage. A small scar had developed when the Ferengi slashed him with a knife.

Mental note, he thought, never try to deal with a Ferengi.

"Well, Mr. Paris, I'd say you're pretty damn lucky." The doctor was back. He handed him a padd for Tom to sigh. "It's a good thing the authorities for there when they did."

Tom nodded, forcing a smile.

"Well, you're all set." The doctor moved away. "Have a good day."

Tom knew the doctor was just being friendly, but Tom detected the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Maybe I should have allowed that Ferengi to kill me, Tom thought as he excited the med-bay on the station. He wasn't even sure if it was a Starfleet station, and basically, he didn't care.

As he walked through the halls, he nodded to anyone not wearing a Starfleet uniform. His hatred for Starfleet, for the Federation, had escalated in the time he spent away from it.

A whole year had passed since that day he was found guilty. Tom didn't exactly keep track of time, but that day stuck out in his mind. It had been the day of Hell. The day his life-

A laugh made Tom come to an abrupt stop. He recognized the laugh. He looked around and his eyes fell on a young woman with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was speaking to a young man, and both were smiling.

The woman kissed the man and headed in Tom's direction, the man disappearing down another hall.

"Danielle?" Tom gasped and the woman stopped in front of him.

"Do I know you?" Danielle asked blankly.

Tom stared at his older sister, someone he had not seen in the flesh since he was 12-years-old. She really didn't recognize him? "Tom." He pointed to himself. "You're brother."

Danielle wheeled back, as if she had been slapped. She quickly regained her posture and said. "Oh. Hi."

Oh Hi? Tom thought, a little bit angry. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm…uh, here for a botanist meeting." She glanced down at the floor. "I have a shuttle I have to catch." She turned and headed away from Tom, as if walking out of his life again.

"What the hell is going on?" Tom yelled after her. "Why has my entire family erased me from their minds?"

Danielle had stopped, but didn't turn around. There was a silence and Tom noticed Danielle's left hand come up to her face and wipe away a tear. "I really have to go." And she started walking, but it turned into a run.

Tom was once again alone in the hall, deserted by everyone, including his family.

Danielle ran to her ship, a small gardening ship she had bought 4 years ago so she could get from one planet to another without sharing a shuttle with others. She ran past her fiancée and into her bedroom, ignoring his concerned calls.

She threw herself onto her bed and started crying.

Seeing her brother again…there were no words to describe it.

It's not that she didn't love Tom, he was her brother. But that was not according to her father.

Danielle had followed Tom's trial in detail when it had happened. After he was charged guilty, she had received a transmission from her mother. Mrs. Paris was in tears, crying about her son. She explained to Danielle that Admiral Paris no longer excepted Thomas Eugene Paris a member of the family. In just a few moments, Danielle's loving 5-person family was reduced to 4.

By now, Danielle's pillow was wet, but she didn't stop crying. She kept seeing Tom's face in her mind. She wanted to get up and go back to Tom, to talk to him, to find out what he'd been up to for the past 10 years of his life. But she knew she couldn't.

"Tom." She whispered into the air. "Why did you have to ruin our family?"