Countermand: Loyalties
By Voyager Queen
Before you read this you should really read…
1. Three Sisters: First Encounter
2. Three Sisters: Gathering
3. Around Every Corner
If you don't… you'll probably be a little confused because this story takes place in an A.U.
* * Admiral Owen Paris's Office * *
The seven Starfleeters' stormed past Admiral Paris's secretary and filed into his office, they stood cross armed in front of his desk with Tom and Janeway in the front. The Admiral looked up from his Padd.
"I'm sorry, sir, I couldn't stop them," his frantic secretary said.
"It's alright Janice," he said waving her off. He placed the Padd on his desk and clasped his hands. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"We need to know where my crew is being held," Janeway told him.
"That's confidential,"
"I don't care."
"Kathryn--"
"We will get them back, Admiral. With or without your help."
Paris surveyed the room and smiled, "A strike against Starfleet by the most unlikely group of dedicated officers. How could I refuse?" with a small sigh he handed over the Padd he'd been reading. "There is the location and everything we know about the facility."
'Thank you, Owen," Janeway said as she began to leave.
Tom didn't move. "We need a ship."
"Tom I can't…"
"I just need to know where it is. Where is the Flawless docked?"
With a frown between his eyes he answered. "Deep Space Five."
* * Deep Space Five * *
"What is 'the flawless'?" Harry asked.
"It's Starfleet's most advanced ship. It's not very large and can be manned by a small number of people so it's perfect for our mission," Tom told them.
"How come we've never heard of it?" Janeway asked.
"It's Top Secret," Tom said matter-of-factly.
"Then how come you know about it?" Harry asked pointedly.
Tom smiled, "It was my first posting, I was it's pilot."
"I thought the Clayson was your first posting?" Janeway asked confused.
"You were supposed to, Top Secret, remember?"
"There she is," Kida said with a smile.
They all stared at the ship before them. It was sleeker than Voyager even and seemed to have no seams.
"Why Kida, I do believe you've missed her," Tom said smiling playfully.
"That old rust bucket? Ha! They never even let me fly her, gave the helm to some cocky kid and stuck me Captaining it."
Tom smiled again and Harry furrowed his brow, "It's not like any ship I've ever seen,"
Laughing Tom turned to him, "It shouldn't be. It's from the twenty ninth century."
"What?" Janeway gasped.
"I'd tell you how we got it but it's a long story and as I said it's--"
"Top Secret," Harry, Steven and Susie all mimicked simultaneously.
"Right. So are you guys ready for some fun?" Tom smiled holding up a phaser rifle.
His six companions nodded and Tom stood out from the boxes they'd been hiding behind and held out the phaser in the air.
"Everyone down on the floor and no one will be hurt!"
Kida came and stood beside him, he turned to her with a smile, "I've always wanted to say that,"
"Focus, Tom. Focus."
"Right."
They made their way quickly across the floor and filed into the Flawless one by one. Tom was the last in and before he closed the docking door he saw a group of tem guards round the corner. He stunned all of them with only half as many shots as guards. Heading quickly to the helm he started up the engines.
"Should I take us out?" he asked them causually.
"Yes!" came the response of five exasperated voices and one "That would be wise, Mister Paris," from Tuvok.
"Well then, hold on."
* Somewhere between Federation and Cardassian Space *
"Alright," Tom started. "We've got the ship, the crew, a worthy objective. Now, all we need is a plan."
"Why don't we go to the conference room?" Kida suggested, "The Flawless will fly itself."
Tom twirled around in the pilot's seat, "Do you remember that conference room?"
Kida smiled, "Just activate the cloak Tom."
* * The Flawless- Conference Room * *
"It is smaller than I remember," Kida said surveying the small room. It had one small square table and only four chairs.
"Maybe people are smaller in the future," Harry suggested.
Tom gave him an amused glance but decided not to dignify that with a response, "Come on take a seat," he told them and with a wink at his three best friends he added, "The Ensigns' can stand."
Kida, Tuvok and Janeway joined Tom at the table and Tom pulled up a small holographic representation of the Cardassian prison.
"Sulok. It's one of the smaller prisons and it's mostly populated with Cardassians. There are only fifty prisoners despite our people, and 46 of them are Cardassian so it shouldn't be hard to pick out the life signs of our crew," Tom explained. "There are 32 guards altogether. Watching the prison in two shifts of 16. The guards live on base and sleep in barracks. If we can lock the off duty guards in the barracks we will only have 16 to worry about."
"And the reinforcements when the alarm goes off," Kida added.
Tom leaned back in his chair, "Oh, we don't have to worry about that because we aren't going to set off any alarms."
Janeway smiled at his confidence, "You have a plan."
"I have a plan worthy of this ships' name, Captain. And it's incredibly simple."
"Incredibly simple?" Kida echoed. "Tom, you never come up with anything incredibly simple."
"Trust me. It's simple."
"What is your plan, Tom?" Steven asked.
Tom gave a fox like grin, "Okay, here it is. The Flawless will do most of the work for us. The things this ship can do is amazing. The ship will be able to fool the Cardassian sensors into believing we are a Cardassian cargo hauler so we will get clearance to land inside of the facility."
"And we can also sent out a pulse that will shut down all their systems and lock the barracks," Kida added.
"Or send out a short range stun pulse so we can take out the guards in the cargo bay," Tom continued. "Then we split up into three groups. Tuvok and Janeway can go to Building one where you'll find around half of the crew. Harry, Susie, and Steven will form the next group and can go the Building two where you should find the rest of the crew."
Steven stepped forward with a wry smile, "If we're rescuing all the crew what will you be doing? I know you've saved the best part for yourself."
Tom gave a half smile and ignored him, "Kid and I will make up the last group and we'll be heading to their solitary confinement cell. It's the highest security cell and one of people may be in it because The Flawless' sensors have picked up human life signs at it's location."
Kida placed her arm around Tom's shoulder, "You just think you're so smart, don't you?"
"Smarter than you."
Janeway smiled. Kida and Tom had been friends since he first entered the Academy and they'd always provided good entertainment. "That's a good plan, Tom. When will we reach the base?"
"Full speed? We'll be there in an hour."
* * Orbit around Sulok * *
"Permission to land on base," Tom requested in his 'Cardassian voice'.
"Why can't we see you on screen?" was the gruff response.
"Our visualizer is broken. Any more questions or can we land now?" Tom asked harshly, fitting quite well into his role as Cardassian.
"Proceed," the voice growled back.
When the link was severed Tom turned to Kida, "Freeze their computers and lock the barracks."
Kida nodded and got to work and Tom turned his his attention to Harry, "Prepare to send out the stun pulse as soon as we land."
Tom turned back to the controls so he could land The Flawless. Pulling the ship into the atmosphere he immediately headed for the lone structure on the desert planet. The doors to the cargo bay were opening as he reached them and he pulled the ship in and landed before they were halfway up.
The Cardassian guards stared in amazement at the ship that was most assuredly not a Cardassian cargo hauler.
"Now, Harry!" Tom called.
Harry quickly sent the stun pulse and the guards collapsed instantly.
Tom went immeadiatly to the weapons locker and handed out phaser rifles, then he threw the last one over his shoulder and they headed out.
"What's the count, Kida?" Tom asked.
"4 down," she called after counting the fallen guards.
"12 to go," Tom and Kida said in stereo.
"Alright let's split up. Check in when you reach your buildings and keep me informed of the count."
Janeway and Tuvok ran off to the first Building.
"Do you believe we will succeed?" Tuvok asked to which Janeway smiled.
"Well, I'm not use to taking orders least of all from my helmsman but it's a good plan."
"Is that a 'yes'?"
"Yes."
Tuvok nodded, "It is an intuitive plan."
"Tuvok," Janeway whispered nudging him and drawing his attention to two guards. Both leveled their phasers and stunned them. "What do you know?" Janeway smiled. "Tom was right, this is incredibly simple."
Heading straight to the building Tuvok blew out the lock and pushed open the door.
"Captain!" came a cry of surprise as they stepped inside.
"Chakotay," Janeway called back running up to him and touching him through the bars. Tuvok nodded to the Commander and got to work at unlocking the cell doors.
"What are you doing here?"
"Breaking you out. I'm not one to abandon my own."
Chakotay smiled, "Janeway leading a rebel mission?"
"Actually, I'm not the leader, Tom Paris is."
Chakotay rolled his eyes, "I dhould have known."
"In fact, I need to check in with him, Janeway to Paris."
"Paris here."
"We've got the first group and two more guards are down."
"Good, head back to the ship."
"Right, Janeway out." The cell doors opened and the Marquis stepped out. "Let's go,"
* * Near Building Two * *
Steven, Susie and Harry ran across the courtyard towards the second Building.
"So, Harry…" Susie began. "You and Tom are good friends what has he been up to this last year?"
Harry smiled, "Playing hero, mostly. He made it to warp 10."
"Warp 10!" Steven gasped. "He use to say one day he would."
"What else?" Susie asked. "Since we were kid's we have shared everything, it's weird thinking of Tom on his own."
"He wasn't on his own," Harry protested. "He had me and B'Elanna."
"B'Elanna?" Susie echoed.
"Tom's girlfriend."
Steven held back a laugh as Susie turned red but he could understand how she felt. He was jealous too, of Tom's new best friend… Harry Kim.
The three took out four guards and entered the Building in silence. They crossed the first stretch of cells with Cardassains growling and banging on the bars. Harry was in front and as the first Marquis appeared he noticed a beautiful half Klingon tampering with the lock.
"B'Elanna!" Harry called.
She looked up in surprise but didn't seemed shocked, "Harry! Where's Tom?"
Harry smiled as Steven got to work on opening the cells. "He's around. How did you know he was here?"
She smiled, "He promised to get me out. You are here sooner than I expected though and who are your friends?"
"They're friends of Tom's."
B'Elanna nodded and Harry joined Susie and Steven.
"How's it going?" Harry asked.
"Not much longer," Steven replied.
"Crabtree to Paris," Susie said hitting her combadge. "We've reached our building and taken out four more guards."
"Understood. Good job. Get back to the ship, Kida and I have almost hit our mark."
"Okay."
"And Susie, if something happens to us you know the backup plan."
"Yes, but Tom--"
"Paris out," he said quickly forestalling Susie's protests and earning him an amused look from Kida.
"6 to go," they said together before continuing to make their way through the Building. "We can handle six guards, don't you think?"
"Oh, absolutely," Kida smiled. "So who do you think the Cardassians are so protective of?"
"I don't know," Tom admitted. "But they're probably a Marquis, one of my friend's or otherwise. Now, are you ready for some action?"
"Always,"
"Lets get going, then."
Tom and Kida pressed against the wall as they prepared to enter the Maximum Security Area. Checking around the corner and seeing it was clear Tom cautiously headed around, motioning Kida to follow.
At the voices of two Cardassians the duo stopped to listen.
"We've had a power shortage throughout the facility."
"Cause?"
"We aren't sure…"
"Not good enough. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what's at stake here. Post extra guards at our 'guests' room and wake up the off-duty guards."
"Aye, sir."
Just as the Cardassians were about to head off Kida and Tom appeared from around the corner and stunned them.
"4 to go,"
Reaching the cell of the Cardassians 'guest' they counted only three guards.
"Where's the fourth?" Kida whispered to which Tom shrugged.
"I've got no idea, but we don't have time to wait for him to show up."
Kida nodded and cocked her gun. Easily Tom took out two of the guards and Kida the third. Kida ran to the door and Tom, to the console near it.
"How's it look? Can you open the door?" Kida asked.
Tom smiled, "Even the Cardassians' best is no match for me."
Laughing Kida quipped, "Not even the Q are any match for you."
Without looking up he responded seriously, "Damn right."
Standing Tom nodded to the door, Kida moved aside as it opened.
"Shall we see what's behind door number three?" Tom asked.
Nodding, somewhat apprehensively Kida led the way into the cell. It was unlike any Cardassian cell she'd ever seen.
It was clean.
A smooth unlettered floor, a comfortable chair and a spacey, occupied bed in the corner.
Tom came and stood by Kida, the prone figure at the other side of the room remained motionless.
"Excuse me?" Kida called.
Slowly the figure turned, causing both Fleeters to gasp with surprise and disbelief.
Tom almost lost the grip on his phaser as he stared into the familiar face of the last person he'd expected to see…
To be continued…
By Voyager Queen
Before you read this you should really read…
1. Three Sisters: First Encounter
2. Three Sisters: Gathering
3. Around Every Corner
If you don't… you'll probably be a little confused because this story takes place in an A.U.
* * Admiral Owen Paris's Office * *
The seven Starfleeters' stormed past Admiral Paris's secretary and filed into his office, they stood cross armed in front of his desk with Tom and Janeway in the front. The Admiral looked up from his Padd.
"I'm sorry, sir, I couldn't stop them," his frantic secretary said.
"It's alright Janice," he said waving her off. He placed the Padd on his desk and clasped his hands. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"We need to know where my crew is being held," Janeway told him.
"That's confidential,"
"I don't care."
"Kathryn--"
"We will get them back, Admiral. With or without your help."
Paris surveyed the room and smiled, "A strike against Starfleet by the most unlikely group of dedicated officers. How could I refuse?" with a small sigh he handed over the Padd he'd been reading. "There is the location and everything we know about the facility."
'Thank you, Owen," Janeway said as she began to leave.
Tom didn't move. "We need a ship."
"Tom I can't…"
"I just need to know where it is. Where is the Flawless docked?"
With a frown between his eyes he answered. "Deep Space Five."
* * Deep Space Five * *
"What is 'the flawless'?" Harry asked.
"It's Starfleet's most advanced ship. It's not very large and can be manned by a small number of people so it's perfect for our mission," Tom told them.
"How come we've never heard of it?" Janeway asked.
"It's Top Secret," Tom said matter-of-factly.
"Then how come you know about it?" Harry asked pointedly.
Tom smiled, "It was my first posting, I was it's pilot."
"I thought the Clayson was your first posting?" Janeway asked confused.
"You were supposed to, Top Secret, remember?"
"There she is," Kida said with a smile.
They all stared at the ship before them. It was sleeker than Voyager even and seemed to have no seams.
"Why Kida, I do believe you've missed her," Tom said smiling playfully.
"That old rust bucket? Ha! They never even let me fly her, gave the helm to some cocky kid and stuck me Captaining it."
Tom smiled again and Harry furrowed his brow, "It's not like any ship I've ever seen,"
Laughing Tom turned to him, "It shouldn't be. It's from the twenty ninth century."
"What?" Janeway gasped.
"I'd tell you how we got it but it's a long story and as I said it's--"
"Top Secret," Harry, Steven and Susie all mimicked simultaneously.
"Right. So are you guys ready for some fun?" Tom smiled holding up a phaser rifle.
His six companions nodded and Tom stood out from the boxes they'd been hiding behind and held out the phaser in the air.
"Everyone down on the floor and no one will be hurt!"
Kida came and stood beside him, he turned to her with a smile, "I've always wanted to say that,"
"Focus, Tom. Focus."
"Right."
They made their way quickly across the floor and filed into the Flawless one by one. Tom was the last in and before he closed the docking door he saw a group of tem guards round the corner. He stunned all of them with only half as many shots as guards. Heading quickly to the helm he started up the engines.
"Should I take us out?" he asked them causually.
"Yes!" came the response of five exasperated voices and one "That would be wise, Mister Paris," from Tuvok.
"Well then, hold on."
* Somewhere between Federation and Cardassian Space *
"Alright," Tom started. "We've got the ship, the crew, a worthy objective. Now, all we need is a plan."
"Why don't we go to the conference room?" Kida suggested, "The Flawless will fly itself."
Tom twirled around in the pilot's seat, "Do you remember that conference room?"
Kida smiled, "Just activate the cloak Tom."
* * The Flawless- Conference Room * *
"It is smaller than I remember," Kida said surveying the small room. It had one small square table and only four chairs.
"Maybe people are smaller in the future," Harry suggested.
Tom gave him an amused glance but decided not to dignify that with a response, "Come on take a seat," he told them and with a wink at his three best friends he added, "The Ensigns' can stand."
Kida, Tuvok and Janeway joined Tom at the table and Tom pulled up a small holographic representation of the Cardassian prison.
"Sulok. It's one of the smaller prisons and it's mostly populated with Cardassians. There are only fifty prisoners despite our people, and 46 of them are Cardassian so it shouldn't be hard to pick out the life signs of our crew," Tom explained. "There are 32 guards altogether. Watching the prison in two shifts of 16. The guards live on base and sleep in barracks. If we can lock the off duty guards in the barracks we will only have 16 to worry about."
"And the reinforcements when the alarm goes off," Kida added.
Tom leaned back in his chair, "Oh, we don't have to worry about that because we aren't going to set off any alarms."
Janeway smiled at his confidence, "You have a plan."
"I have a plan worthy of this ships' name, Captain. And it's incredibly simple."
"Incredibly simple?" Kida echoed. "Tom, you never come up with anything incredibly simple."
"Trust me. It's simple."
"What is your plan, Tom?" Steven asked.
Tom gave a fox like grin, "Okay, here it is. The Flawless will do most of the work for us. The things this ship can do is amazing. The ship will be able to fool the Cardassian sensors into believing we are a Cardassian cargo hauler so we will get clearance to land inside of the facility."
"And we can also sent out a pulse that will shut down all their systems and lock the barracks," Kida added.
"Or send out a short range stun pulse so we can take out the guards in the cargo bay," Tom continued. "Then we split up into three groups. Tuvok and Janeway can go to Building one where you'll find around half of the crew. Harry, Susie, and Steven will form the next group and can go the Building two where you should find the rest of the crew."
Steven stepped forward with a wry smile, "If we're rescuing all the crew what will you be doing? I know you've saved the best part for yourself."
Tom gave a half smile and ignored him, "Kid and I will make up the last group and we'll be heading to their solitary confinement cell. It's the highest security cell and one of people may be in it because The Flawless' sensors have picked up human life signs at it's location."
Kida placed her arm around Tom's shoulder, "You just think you're so smart, don't you?"
"Smarter than you."
Janeway smiled. Kida and Tom had been friends since he first entered the Academy and they'd always provided good entertainment. "That's a good plan, Tom. When will we reach the base?"
"Full speed? We'll be there in an hour."
* * Orbit around Sulok * *
"Permission to land on base," Tom requested in his 'Cardassian voice'.
"Why can't we see you on screen?" was the gruff response.
"Our visualizer is broken. Any more questions or can we land now?" Tom asked harshly, fitting quite well into his role as Cardassian.
"Proceed," the voice growled back.
When the link was severed Tom turned to Kida, "Freeze their computers and lock the barracks."
Kida nodded and got to work and Tom turned his his attention to Harry, "Prepare to send out the stun pulse as soon as we land."
Tom turned back to the controls so he could land The Flawless. Pulling the ship into the atmosphere he immediately headed for the lone structure on the desert planet. The doors to the cargo bay were opening as he reached them and he pulled the ship in and landed before they were halfway up.
The Cardassian guards stared in amazement at the ship that was most assuredly not a Cardassian cargo hauler.
"Now, Harry!" Tom called.
Harry quickly sent the stun pulse and the guards collapsed instantly.
Tom went immeadiatly to the weapons locker and handed out phaser rifles, then he threw the last one over his shoulder and they headed out.
"What's the count, Kida?" Tom asked.
"4 down," she called after counting the fallen guards.
"12 to go," Tom and Kida said in stereo.
"Alright let's split up. Check in when you reach your buildings and keep me informed of the count."
Janeway and Tuvok ran off to the first Building.
"Do you believe we will succeed?" Tuvok asked to which Janeway smiled.
"Well, I'm not use to taking orders least of all from my helmsman but it's a good plan."
"Is that a 'yes'?"
"Yes."
Tuvok nodded, "It is an intuitive plan."
"Tuvok," Janeway whispered nudging him and drawing his attention to two guards. Both leveled their phasers and stunned them. "What do you know?" Janeway smiled. "Tom was right, this is incredibly simple."
Heading straight to the building Tuvok blew out the lock and pushed open the door.
"Captain!" came a cry of surprise as they stepped inside.
"Chakotay," Janeway called back running up to him and touching him through the bars. Tuvok nodded to the Commander and got to work at unlocking the cell doors.
"What are you doing here?"
"Breaking you out. I'm not one to abandon my own."
Chakotay smiled, "Janeway leading a rebel mission?"
"Actually, I'm not the leader, Tom Paris is."
Chakotay rolled his eyes, "I dhould have known."
"In fact, I need to check in with him, Janeway to Paris."
"Paris here."
"We've got the first group and two more guards are down."
"Good, head back to the ship."
"Right, Janeway out." The cell doors opened and the Marquis stepped out. "Let's go,"
* * Near Building Two * *
Steven, Susie and Harry ran across the courtyard towards the second Building.
"So, Harry…" Susie began. "You and Tom are good friends what has he been up to this last year?"
Harry smiled, "Playing hero, mostly. He made it to warp 10."
"Warp 10!" Steven gasped. "He use to say one day he would."
"What else?" Susie asked. "Since we were kid's we have shared everything, it's weird thinking of Tom on his own."
"He wasn't on his own," Harry protested. "He had me and B'Elanna."
"B'Elanna?" Susie echoed.
"Tom's girlfriend."
Steven held back a laugh as Susie turned red but he could understand how she felt. He was jealous too, of Tom's new best friend… Harry Kim.
The three took out four guards and entered the Building in silence. They crossed the first stretch of cells with Cardassains growling and banging on the bars. Harry was in front and as the first Marquis appeared he noticed a beautiful half Klingon tampering with the lock.
"B'Elanna!" Harry called.
She looked up in surprise but didn't seemed shocked, "Harry! Where's Tom?"
Harry smiled as Steven got to work on opening the cells. "He's around. How did you know he was here?"
She smiled, "He promised to get me out. You are here sooner than I expected though and who are your friends?"
"They're friends of Tom's."
B'Elanna nodded and Harry joined Susie and Steven.
"How's it going?" Harry asked.
"Not much longer," Steven replied.
"Crabtree to Paris," Susie said hitting her combadge. "We've reached our building and taken out four more guards."
"Understood. Good job. Get back to the ship, Kida and I have almost hit our mark."
"Okay."
"And Susie, if something happens to us you know the backup plan."
"Yes, but Tom--"
"Paris out," he said quickly forestalling Susie's protests and earning him an amused look from Kida.
"6 to go," they said together before continuing to make their way through the Building. "We can handle six guards, don't you think?"
"Oh, absolutely," Kida smiled. "So who do you think the Cardassians are so protective of?"
"I don't know," Tom admitted. "But they're probably a Marquis, one of my friend's or otherwise. Now, are you ready for some action?"
"Always,"
"Lets get going, then."
Tom and Kida pressed against the wall as they prepared to enter the Maximum Security Area. Checking around the corner and seeing it was clear Tom cautiously headed around, motioning Kida to follow.
At the voices of two Cardassians the duo stopped to listen.
"We've had a power shortage throughout the facility."
"Cause?"
"We aren't sure…"
"Not good enough. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what's at stake here. Post extra guards at our 'guests' room and wake up the off-duty guards."
"Aye, sir."
Just as the Cardassians were about to head off Kida and Tom appeared from around the corner and stunned them.
"4 to go,"
Reaching the cell of the Cardassians 'guest' they counted only three guards.
"Where's the fourth?" Kida whispered to which Tom shrugged.
"I've got no idea, but we don't have time to wait for him to show up."
Kida nodded and cocked her gun. Easily Tom took out two of the guards and Kida the third. Kida ran to the door and Tom, to the console near it.
"How's it look? Can you open the door?" Kida asked.
Tom smiled, "Even the Cardassians' best is no match for me."
Laughing Kida quipped, "Not even the Q are any match for you."
Without looking up he responded seriously, "Damn right."
Standing Tom nodded to the door, Kida moved aside as it opened.
"Shall we see what's behind door number three?" Tom asked.
Nodding, somewhat apprehensively Kida led the way into the cell. It was unlike any Cardassian cell she'd ever seen.
It was clean.
A smooth unlettered floor, a comfortable chair and a spacey, occupied bed in the corner.
Tom came and stood by Kida, the prone figure at the other side of the room remained motionless.
"Excuse me?" Kida called.
Slowly the figure turned, causing both Fleeters to gasp with surprise and disbelief.
Tom almost lost the grip on his phaser as he stared into the familiar face of the last person he'd expected to see…
To be continued…