Tom ran down the halls of Voyager, no sound following his footsteps. He
was now in what he had proclaimed stealth mode, where nobody would know of
his passing. He heard voices ahead and quietly slipped into an alcove,
plastering himself against the wall. His clothing, a grey slightly darker
than Voyager's walls helped him blend, but the bag strapped to his
shoulders took away large and valuable hiding space. The voices of Morally
and Elgaro passed by without noticing him and he continued his journey to
the transporter room undetected.
He entered quietly but the doors opening alerted the transporter operator to look up just in time to see Tom, dressed in grey, step up to him and knock him out in a single, and harder than necessary uppercut. Tom looked down at the fallen ensign and allowed a small smile to grace his lips before heading to the main controls.
He swung his pack off his shoulders and pulled out a palm sized portable computer. It was built by SEP and he'd stolen it when he'd gone on his fateful last mission. Of course it had been tweaked and updated continuously since then. Pulling off a panel on the transport console he attached his computer to the base of several output systems-check wires. The transporters were the last system on the ship that he had to upload his carefully designed program into. On the computer's screen streams of code began to roll down the side, he read it carefully and in several places added some code of his own. He heard a groan coming from the fallen ensign. Without taking his eyes off the computer he pulled a miniature phaser from its holster on his upper left arm, stunned the man, then quickly sheathed the weapon and plugged in some more codes. After a minute he disconnected his computer and closed the panel.
Standing up Tom punched in the command for a beam out in thirty seconds and began a countdown in his head. He threw his computer roughly back in his pack (it was built for durability) and made sure his bundle was completely closed before stepping over Burkenson and onto the transport pad. He took a last look around the room but wouldn't allow the feelings of nostalgia rise up in him. He'd made up his mind to create this plan and follow through with it two days ago, when they had arrived at Rispi. He'd known that Imod had arrived as soon as rumour spread that another anomaly had been detected. He felt the tingle of the transporter beam and his thoughts once again focused completely on the mission.
((/\))
The blue shimmer of the transporter dissolved and Tom looked quickly around him. There were two other crewmembers heading towards the transporter site, no doubt to go back to the ship. Quickly Tom searched his pack and withdrew a red tunic lined with festive gold trim that he'd bought earlier that morning. He put it on, slung his backpack over one shoulder and headed towards the planet's transportation system. As the crewmembers got closer, he slowed his walk to a more leisurely pace and nodded a greeting at them. Sue Nicoletti and Joe Carey smiled, if somewhat unsure of themselves, as he passed by. When he felt their eyes no longer on him he once again picked up the pace and was soon approaching a row of Mulock's and the rental booth.
The cow-like creatures were treated much like Earth's horse and were one of the main sources of transportation around here. He quickly paid for one for the afternoon, signed a paper saying he'd rented the creature, and then went to choose one. He looked at the five beasts left tied to the posts and saw a bronze one speckled in green. There was something to be said about colour combination, but it appeared the fittest of the group. He untied its reins and jumped onto its bare back. Then securing his pack with a strap across his chest and torso, carefully checking the two watches on his left arm he headed off at a fast pace towards the docking bay.
He had approximately one minute before he was certain Voyager would know he was gone, four minutes before the transporters were set to work and a twenty minute ride ahead of him. Things were looking good.
((/\))
"Janeway to Tuvok." The Captain commed in annoyance. She was standing restlessly in the ready room, the eyes of her senior staff focused on her. Their confusion was obvious.
"Janeway to Tuvok." She tried again. When she got no answer she frowned.
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Tuvok."
"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is in Observation deck one." The feminine voice answered crisply.
"What is his physical state?"
"He is unconscious." Chakotay stood up abruptly.
"Dispatch a security and medical team to his location."
"Captain? What's going on?" Chakotay demanded. She looked at him worried.
"I don't know Commander, give me a second." He nodded. "Computer. Locate Crewman Paris."
"Crewman Paris is not onboard Voyager."
"WHAT?" B'Elanna erupted from her seat in surprise and Harry was not far behind her. Baytart sat up straighter but remained seated. His eyes sharply focused on the Captain, searching for an answer. Janeway held up her hand for silence.
"When did he leave?"
"14:27 hours"
"What is the current time?"
"14:33 hours."
"It hasn't been that long, we could beam down and bring him back." Chakotay suggested.
"He was supposed to join this meeting wasn't he? Why did he leave?" Baytart asked.
"That's a good question." Janeway ground out and then slapped her combadge again. "Janeway to Ensign Burkenson." There was no answer, she and Chakotay shared a look and then dispatched a medical team. She turned her grey eyes on Harry.
"Lieutenant, go to your station and beam Mr. Paris back onboard, directly into this room."
"Aye Captain." Harry practically ran out onto the bridge.
"Captain? Do you know what's going on?" She sighed, rubbing a hand across her brow a moment before addressing the people in the room.
"Right now I know as much as you about this situation, but I do know more about what might have lead up to it. I want to get Tom back here first and then we'll explain it fully."
"Captain, I don't think we can get him back." Said Harry as he marched back into the room, a frown on his lips.
"Why not?"
"He's…" A comm. link cut him off.
"Carey to Captain Janeway."
"Go ahead." She snapped a little harsher than necessary. Carey didn't seem to notice, then again he worked with B'Elanna and was possibly used to it.
"We can't seem to contact Ensign Burkenson for beam up, and Lt. Commander Tuvok was also unreachable."
"We are aware of the situation Lieutenant, we'll get back to you when we have a moment."
"Aye Captain. I also thought I should mention that Mr. Paris left the ship approximately five minutes ago. He seemed to be the last one in the transporter…"The transmission garbled for a moment and then cleared up. "roooom. Um Captain? We're back aboard Voyager."
"Very good, report to the briefing room. Out." She ended the comm. And Harry went right on with his explanation.
"We can't get a transporter lock on anyone on the surface, and we can't beam anyone down either. The systems seem to be locked, I can't access them."
"Then how did Carey get back on the ship?" Baytart now stood to join the rest of the aggravated crew.
"I don't know. We've been locked from the systems but someone has control over them, it's just not us."
"Captain." Tuvok walked into the room and immediately noted the agitation on its occupants' faces.
"Tuvok." She greeted. "What happened?"
"I was discussing 'matters' with Mr. Paris and ordered him to come to the ready room with me. He refused and demonstrated a skilful knowledge of the Vulcan nerve pinch. I assume he has left the ship."
"Do you think this has anything to do with the Niktarus?" Chakotay looked from Janeway to Tuvok, his face tense.
"What's a Niktarus?" B'Elanna demanded. Janeway held up her hand for silence.
"I will explain it to you but first I want Mr. Kim to figure out the transporter situation with Lieutenant Torres's aid. Mr Tuvok, find out what happened with Ensign Burkenson. Chakotay and I will contact the Tubbles and the rest of the crew on surface to keep an eye out for Tom and bring him back here."
"I would advise against that Captain." Tuvok interrupted. "Mr. Paris is obviously more skilled in fighting techniques than we were aware of. If he does not wish to be brought back I highly doubt he will submit easily. He could become dangerous." Janeway looked at Tuvok a moment. She had always trusted his judgment but she wasn't so sure in this case. Everything was moving so fast it seemed like her feet had been swept out from under her. She had to get Tom back and explain everything to the rest of the senior staff. She was pretty certain she knew what went on a little over a year ago, and she wanted the rest of them to understand how badly they all misjudged their friend and crewmember. For now though, she needed to get Tom back and her ship running at full efficiency. She turned to the door when she heard it open and Carey came strolling in.
"Captain. The 52 crewmembers are being beamed up from the surface. I suspect three more minutes and the entire crew will be back on board."
"Who fixed the transporters?"
"No one. As far as I could tell they are working with a mind of their own. I tried to stop it before coming down and got no response from the systems." He sounded flustered Janeway noticed, but she didn't have time to think about that. She turned sharply to look at Kim and Torres.
"I want it fixed now."
"Yes Captain." They both rushed out of the room and Janeway turned back to Carey.
"What happened on the planet?" She asked, and listened to his brief recollection.
((/\))
Gently he pulled the Mulock to a stop and slid off the beast, tying it among other animals along the side of the roads. He'd reached the docking station. It was as large as he'd figured out by the Tubble's schematics. This was perhaps the most modern and technologically advanced place on this half of the planet. He was always impressed by such structures and this was no different as he gazed at the large metal wall that supported a huge part of the station. It was four miles long. Tom shook his head at the sight, gave his Mulock a pat of thanks for the lift and then he began heading towards the entrance gate to the docking station.
This was going to be interesting and hopefully it would work. There were of course many ways to enter the facility without having to go through the main gates, but this was the safest, and easiest.
The docking station gave an access card to every member of every ship that docked there as well as personnel. These access cards allowed entry and exit at any time, but they also provided a signal to the station's main computer saying that any being with an access card was authorized to be within the station. The station had heightened sensors to pick up all species' bio-signatures, keeping a head count and security. If a person was found without a card they would be arrested and an investigation would take place.
Now Tom was fairly certain he could break into the systems and erase his own bio-signature from it but not without taking at least an hour to familiarize himself with the systems and its safeguards. Being given an access card would be one hell of a lot easier.
As he approached the guard he grinned cheerfully, giving a little wave. The guard grinned back and Tom thanked the Lord for friendly aliens. He walked up and held a fist out to the Tubble who reacted likewise and their knuckles brushed each other in greeting reserved for residents on the planet.
"Greetings colourful one." The guard grinned as he looked at Tom's red and gold tunic.
"Good aft and day. You are well I trust?" Tom inquired politely in the customary greeting.
"I am. Tell me red man, I have not seen your species before - yet you appear to live upon this glorious planet. For how long have you resided?" Tom grinned some more; this guard was friendlier than he'd hoped.
"For two full moons, and eight days my friend. I have only been to this station twice before but I hope to come by more often in the future."
"Is this business you appear for?"
"It is. I don't normally dress so for attention." The guard laughed and slapped Tom on the back. Tom laughed with him a moment and waited for the next question. While the man was extremely friendly he knew this was also an interrogation process.
"I suppose not. Tell me, you are here for delivery are you so?"
"That's right. Pro Sub Leader Turnac has sent me with some fine drink for Sub Leader Tobler in thanks for a birth party two nights ago."
"Let's see this drink then." The guard asked and motioned Tom to a nearby table so he could place his bag down and pull out the 'gift.' Tom grinned and after a moment of digging in his grey pack he produced a finely designed twisted glass bottle containing a red liquid and speckles of gold floating within. He'd done some research these past two days and discovered that delivery boys were supposed to dress to match the gift to make it more meaningful; hence his tunic. The guard looked at the bottle with a twinkle in his eye.
"A fine brand and not to cheap as I am told." He made comment and Tom nodded in agreement. He'd bought the bottle earlier that morning from a bar. The bartender was very enthusiastic when he'd explained to him the history of the great twisted tree which a young prince climbed one hundred years before to escape a pack of wild animals. In honour of the tree and prince the liquor was made. It symbolized luck and prosperity. Tom had thought it was a good choice. "What else do you have in the pack?" The guard asked but made no move to check it.
"It is almost a day's journey from Habblick and longer back for the uphill slope. These are provisions for myself and my Mulock." If the guard decided to check the bag than Tom would be discovered. He waited patiently as the guard thought a moment. It also seemed that he had picked up on the language of the Tubbles and dialect of Habblick enough to sound convincing because the guard grinned and handed back the bottle. Tom carefully placed it back in his pack and closed it securely.
"I trust you had a good journey."
"The sun on my face and wind on my back, not much can be better." The guard grinned and they both headed back to his station booth. He went inside a moment and emerged, passing a bronze card about 2cm by 6cm to Tom who took it and performed a slight, graceful bow. The guard nodded and their interview ended. Tom walked through the gates and into the massive docking station.
((/\))
After walking through the station towards his target for five minutes Tom discarded his colourful clothing and useful but no longer needed bottle of liquor. So far so good. He looked at his watch a moment without breaking his stride. The crewmembers of Voyager would have been back onboard and trying to figure out what was going on for thirty minutes. He'd left them pretty much dead in the water for the moment, only they probably didn't realize they had no control over flight either. There was no reason for them to leave the planet so they would remain in orbit as they had been for the past two days. It was a good thing he didn't plan on going back because Janeway was probably furious.
Quickly Tom turned and pretended to be interested in the docking schedule on a screen in front of him as a group of Kinkari passed. He was getting closer to their ship and would need to be more careful now. He slipped behind some crates and pulled the grey hood of his uniform over his head and face. He could see perfectly out of the eyeholes cut into the material and his breathing was not hindered at all. He also pulled on a pair of gloves the same grey as the rest of his material. They felt like a second skin and didn't affect his regular sense of touch.
He then pulled his computer out of his pack and double-checked the distance of the ship from his current location. 1637.28 meters. Not too far. If he kept to the north walls where the crates were stacked and lying around he could easily approach it undetected. Being the middle of the day there wasn't going to be an excessive amount of Kinkari wandering around to detect him.
He reorganized his pack to allow the quickest access to the more immediate items. He checked the phaser on his arm and the one strapped in his waist holster. In one large empty pocket located half way down his leg he placed an advanced version of Voyager's tricorder, and in another tiny pocket along his forearm he placed a laser cutter no larger then a pen. Securely strapping his pack over his shoulders, and, making sure nothing could fall out, he set off quietly towards the ship at a slow jog.
((/\))
It had been thirty-five minutes since Tom had left the ship and the senior staff was once again seated in the briefing room. With the exception of Tuvok they all looked confused, B'Elanna glaring at a padd in front of her and Harry leaning over to look at it as well, his fingers tapping a light rhythm on the black table. Baytart, who felt he had gotten to know the people in this room fairly well over the last year, was watching every individual to gauge their reactions to this situation. He was thoroughly confused with what was going on. For the past twenty minutes he'd been helping B'Elanna with the transporters, trying to figure out where their loss of control began. It had been a bust. Tom, as it was now obvious who had manipulated the systems, had done an extremely thorough job of reconfiguring everything on the transporting system. The most impressive part had been his timed activation, which brought every single member of Voyager back onto the ship. Baytheart had never seen it done before.
Harry Kim had originally been working on that problem with B'Elanna, however Janeway had called him to work on the communications situation. Baytart gathered that Tom had somehow severed all forms of contact off the ship. They could only communicate through their combadges, which Voyager's current pilot thought was a nice gesture of the former pilot. A ship without any form of communication, even one with as few people as Voyager, was time consuming and a major interference of most ship functions.
The Doctor and Seven of Nine were also present. Seven of course was calmly sitting and watching everyone, much like Baytart was. The Doctor was the only one in the room not sitting, and even though he was just a hologram his pacing would probably wear a hole through the floor if he wasn't stopped soon; it was beginning to make Baytart dizzy.
"Take a seat Doctor." Janeway ordered as she and Chakotay strolled into the room. He threw himself into the nearest black chair, obviously eager for the meeting to start. Baytart straightened unconsciously in his seat and waited patiently as they sat down. Janeway wasted no time starting and looked around grimly.
"As we've been informed we are currently unable to communicate off the ship and use the transporter. What's the update?" B'Elanna slammed the padd down and glared at it a moment.
"Harry was right about being locked out. If Tom is the one who's done this, and frankly that would surprise me because whatever he did is one hell of a lot more advanced than Starfleet pilot training, he knows more about Voyager's transporter system than I do. I can't even find the glitch that's causing our lockout. I have my crew on it now, but I doubt we'll find the problem for at least four more hours. I think he's gone into the actual programming and code system and rearranged it. If that's the case I can't verify it until I go through it starting at step one. I don't even want to think about how long that could take and it might not even be the problem." She growled and Harry inched away from her slowly. She didn't notice.
"Okay. What about Communications?" It was Harry's turn to shrug helplessly as he sat straighter.
"Same situation as the transporters. Complete lockout. There is no indication of any tampering except that they won't work. I am certain that whatever he did he didn't do it from the communication console. He must have infiltrated the core database system and wormed his way into communications from there. I'm going to have to start a search from there and I think I'm going to need some help." Janeway pursed her lips and they sat in a moment of thoughtful silence.
"We'll have to send a shuttle down for him then." Chakotay finally suggested.
"That is not an option." Tuvok spoke up. "I stopped on my way here and inspected the shuttles. Each one has been locked down. Systems are functional only to Mr. Paris's voice activation, and a recorded one will not suffice. I suspect an engineering team will take approximately five hours to have one operating under our full control again."
"How about I just go and make a Paris clone to fix all our problems." The Doctor mumbled.
"I do not think a clone will be beneficial in this situation." Seven added. The Doctor cast an annoyed glance at her, refraining from comment.
"Tuvok, have weapons been tampered with?"
"They have not been touched."
"Well that's a relief." B'Elanna sneered. "At least he left us with something."
"That is inaccurate." Seven argued. "Mr. Paris has only castrated our chances of his pursuit."
"Not the way I would have phrased it but Seven is right."
"What is going on Captain? Why would he do this? And why now? If he's had these capabilities all along he could have done this a month ago." Baytart pointed out.
"I'm still not sure what's going on, but I think it's time I straightened up Mr. Paris's situation of the past year as best I understand it. Keep in mind this is a theory put together by facts gathered since his return." They all nodded and she took a moment to gather her thoughts before looking at each of them in turn.
"When Tom left he said it was for a better life. He supposedly joined the Kinkari as a pilot and that was the end of it. Three weeks after we departed from the Kinkari home world we came across a wormhole that we all know took us four years closer to our destination. I have reason to believe that Tom's departure has something to do with that worm hole."
"You can't be serious." B'Elanna started to interrupt but stopped at a look from Chakotay. Baytart surmised that the Commander had already discussed this possibility with the Captain. Baytart himself felt his eyes widening at the new information. Janeway continued.
"Earlier today Seven informed Chakotay and I that Tom is currently carrying the title 'Niktarus,' which he no doubt adopted on his year off the ship. A Niktarus is a skilled hand-to-hand combat fighter trained and pitted against other Niktarus for gambling pleasures. We believe," she indicated Chakotay and Tuvok, "that Tom has been previously trained with these skills and traded his fighting services in order for the anomaly to send us closer to home. That is why he left."
"I can support the fighting part from my medical scans though I'm not going to go into any more detail." The Doctor pointed out, however he didn't have anything more to say as he contemplated what Janeway had just told him. Baytart was stunned, and he could tell that Harry and B'Elanna were not taking this information well.
"That doesn't make sense." B'Elanna sputtered. "He wouldn't leave us just to send us four years closer to home…"
"Unless he'd planned for us to be sent all the way home and his plan backfired." Harry continued. A slow clapping startled them all and they looked to the side of the room where U was standing, shaking his head in slight amusement.
"I'm impressed." He looked around at them, ceasing his applause. "And to think it only took you an entire year to come to a conclusion that I personally think was blatantly obvious in the first place. Yet as much as I pretend to understand human emotions I think I have a lot to learn yet."
"Unless you're here to give us more information your mockery is not necessary." Chakotay glared at the man and U shook his head, lightly grinning.
"Emotions and pride will get the better of you all I think. Especially Tom. You know, he is perhaps the stupidest, smartest, most loyal and most feared mortal I have met in my short life. I hope to meet more like him. I'd even like to meet him again sometime, though I don't know how much longer he'll be around."
"What do you mean by that?" Janeway demanded, rising from her seat.
"You have just proven to me how smart you can all be, maybe you can figure it out before a year is up this time." U snapped and then left them alone. The silence weighed heavily on their shoulders a moment.
"I want those transporters, shuttles and communications systems back and running as soon as possible. We let Tom disappear on us once, I'm not planning on letting him do it again."
"Yes Captain." Baytart stood with the rest of the crew and rushed out with them to try and fix the haywire systems. He didn't even notice that they hadn't been formally dismissed.
Tuvok and Chakotay remained behind a moment.
"Captain. I believe that Mr. Paris is not planning on coming back. He apologized to me and asked me to relay the apology to the rest of the crew."
"That won't be necessary Tuvok." She looked fiercely into his eyes. "He can apologize to us in person, right after we apologize to him."
He entered quietly but the doors opening alerted the transporter operator to look up just in time to see Tom, dressed in grey, step up to him and knock him out in a single, and harder than necessary uppercut. Tom looked down at the fallen ensign and allowed a small smile to grace his lips before heading to the main controls.
He swung his pack off his shoulders and pulled out a palm sized portable computer. It was built by SEP and he'd stolen it when he'd gone on his fateful last mission. Of course it had been tweaked and updated continuously since then. Pulling off a panel on the transport console he attached his computer to the base of several output systems-check wires. The transporters were the last system on the ship that he had to upload his carefully designed program into. On the computer's screen streams of code began to roll down the side, he read it carefully and in several places added some code of his own. He heard a groan coming from the fallen ensign. Without taking his eyes off the computer he pulled a miniature phaser from its holster on his upper left arm, stunned the man, then quickly sheathed the weapon and plugged in some more codes. After a minute he disconnected his computer and closed the panel.
Standing up Tom punched in the command for a beam out in thirty seconds and began a countdown in his head. He threw his computer roughly back in his pack (it was built for durability) and made sure his bundle was completely closed before stepping over Burkenson and onto the transport pad. He took a last look around the room but wouldn't allow the feelings of nostalgia rise up in him. He'd made up his mind to create this plan and follow through with it two days ago, when they had arrived at Rispi. He'd known that Imod had arrived as soon as rumour spread that another anomaly had been detected. He felt the tingle of the transporter beam and his thoughts once again focused completely on the mission.
((/\))
The blue shimmer of the transporter dissolved and Tom looked quickly around him. There were two other crewmembers heading towards the transporter site, no doubt to go back to the ship. Quickly Tom searched his pack and withdrew a red tunic lined with festive gold trim that he'd bought earlier that morning. He put it on, slung his backpack over one shoulder and headed towards the planet's transportation system. As the crewmembers got closer, he slowed his walk to a more leisurely pace and nodded a greeting at them. Sue Nicoletti and Joe Carey smiled, if somewhat unsure of themselves, as he passed by. When he felt their eyes no longer on him he once again picked up the pace and was soon approaching a row of Mulock's and the rental booth.
The cow-like creatures were treated much like Earth's horse and were one of the main sources of transportation around here. He quickly paid for one for the afternoon, signed a paper saying he'd rented the creature, and then went to choose one. He looked at the five beasts left tied to the posts and saw a bronze one speckled in green. There was something to be said about colour combination, but it appeared the fittest of the group. He untied its reins and jumped onto its bare back. Then securing his pack with a strap across his chest and torso, carefully checking the two watches on his left arm he headed off at a fast pace towards the docking bay.
He had approximately one minute before he was certain Voyager would know he was gone, four minutes before the transporters were set to work and a twenty minute ride ahead of him. Things were looking good.
((/\))
"Janeway to Tuvok." The Captain commed in annoyance. She was standing restlessly in the ready room, the eyes of her senior staff focused on her. Their confusion was obvious.
"Janeway to Tuvok." She tried again. When she got no answer she frowned.
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Tuvok."
"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is in Observation deck one." The feminine voice answered crisply.
"What is his physical state?"
"He is unconscious." Chakotay stood up abruptly.
"Dispatch a security and medical team to his location."
"Captain? What's going on?" Chakotay demanded. She looked at him worried.
"I don't know Commander, give me a second." He nodded. "Computer. Locate Crewman Paris."
"Crewman Paris is not onboard Voyager."
"WHAT?" B'Elanna erupted from her seat in surprise and Harry was not far behind her. Baytart sat up straighter but remained seated. His eyes sharply focused on the Captain, searching for an answer. Janeway held up her hand for silence.
"When did he leave?"
"14:27 hours"
"What is the current time?"
"14:33 hours."
"It hasn't been that long, we could beam down and bring him back." Chakotay suggested.
"He was supposed to join this meeting wasn't he? Why did he leave?" Baytart asked.
"That's a good question." Janeway ground out and then slapped her combadge again. "Janeway to Ensign Burkenson." There was no answer, she and Chakotay shared a look and then dispatched a medical team. She turned her grey eyes on Harry.
"Lieutenant, go to your station and beam Mr. Paris back onboard, directly into this room."
"Aye Captain." Harry practically ran out onto the bridge.
"Captain? Do you know what's going on?" She sighed, rubbing a hand across her brow a moment before addressing the people in the room.
"Right now I know as much as you about this situation, but I do know more about what might have lead up to it. I want to get Tom back here first and then we'll explain it fully."
"Captain, I don't think we can get him back." Said Harry as he marched back into the room, a frown on his lips.
"Why not?"
"He's…" A comm. link cut him off.
"Carey to Captain Janeway."
"Go ahead." She snapped a little harsher than necessary. Carey didn't seem to notice, then again he worked with B'Elanna and was possibly used to it.
"We can't seem to contact Ensign Burkenson for beam up, and Lt. Commander Tuvok was also unreachable."
"We are aware of the situation Lieutenant, we'll get back to you when we have a moment."
"Aye Captain. I also thought I should mention that Mr. Paris left the ship approximately five minutes ago. He seemed to be the last one in the transporter…"The transmission garbled for a moment and then cleared up. "roooom. Um Captain? We're back aboard Voyager."
"Very good, report to the briefing room. Out." She ended the comm. And Harry went right on with his explanation.
"We can't get a transporter lock on anyone on the surface, and we can't beam anyone down either. The systems seem to be locked, I can't access them."
"Then how did Carey get back on the ship?" Baytart now stood to join the rest of the aggravated crew.
"I don't know. We've been locked from the systems but someone has control over them, it's just not us."
"Captain." Tuvok walked into the room and immediately noted the agitation on its occupants' faces.
"Tuvok." She greeted. "What happened?"
"I was discussing 'matters' with Mr. Paris and ordered him to come to the ready room with me. He refused and demonstrated a skilful knowledge of the Vulcan nerve pinch. I assume he has left the ship."
"Do you think this has anything to do with the Niktarus?" Chakotay looked from Janeway to Tuvok, his face tense.
"What's a Niktarus?" B'Elanna demanded. Janeway held up her hand for silence.
"I will explain it to you but first I want Mr. Kim to figure out the transporter situation with Lieutenant Torres's aid. Mr Tuvok, find out what happened with Ensign Burkenson. Chakotay and I will contact the Tubbles and the rest of the crew on surface to keep an eye out for Tom and bring him back here."
"I would advise against that Captain." Tuvok interrupted. "Mr. Paris is obviously more skilled in fighting techniques than we were aware of. If he does not wish to be brought back I highly doubt he will submit easily. He could become dangerous." Janeway looked at Tuvok a moment. She had always trusted his judgment but she wasn't so sure in this case. Everything was moving so fast it seemed like her feet had been swept out from under her. She had to get Tom back and explain everything to the rest of the senior staff. She was pretty certain she knew what went on a little over a year ago, and she wanted the rest of them to understand how badly they all misjudged their friend and crewmember. For now though, she needed to get Tom back and her ship running at full efficiency. She turned to the door when she heard it open and Carey came strolling in.
"Captain. The 52 crewmembers are being beamed up from the surface. I suspect three more minutes and the entire crew will be back on board."
"Who fixed the transporters?"
"No one. As far as I could tell they are working with a mind of their own. I tried to stop it before coming down and got no response from the systems." He sounded flustered Janeway noticed, but she didn't have time to think about that. She turned sharply to look at Kim and Torres.
"I want it fixed now."
"Yes Captain." They both rushed out of the room and Janeway turned back to Carey.
"What happened on the planet?" She asked, and listened to his brief recollection.
((/\))
Gently he pulled the Mulock to a stop and slid off the beast, tying it among other animals along the side of the roads. He'd reached the docking station. It was as large as he'd figured out by the Tubble's schematics. This was perhaps the most modern and technologically advanced place on this half of the planet. He was always impressed by such structures and this was no different as he gazed at the large metal wall that supported a huge part of the station. It was four miles long. Tom shook his head at the sight, gave his Mulock a pat of thanks for the lift and then he began heading towards the entrance gate to the docking station.
This was going to be interesting and hopefully it would work. There were of course many ways to enter the facility without having to go through the main gates, but this was the safest, and easiest.
The docking station gave an access card to every member of every ship that docked there as well as personnel. These access cards allowed entry and exit at any time, but they also provided a signal to the station's main computer saying that any being with an access card was authorized to be within the station. The station had heightened sensors to pick up all species' bio-signatures, keeping a head count and security. If a person was found without a card they would be arrested and an investigation would take place.
Now Tom was fairly certain he could break into the systems and erase his own bio-signature from it but not without taking at least an hour to familiarize himself with the systems and its safeguards. Being given an access card would be one hell of a lot easier.
As he approached the guard he grinned cheerfully, giving a little wave. The guard grinned back and Tom thanked the Lord for friendly aliens. He walked up and held a fist out to the Tubble who reacted likewise and their knuckles brushed each other in greeting reserved for residents on the planet.
"Greetings colourful one." The guard grinned as he looked at Tom's red and gold tunic.
"Good aft and day. You are well I trust?" Tom inquired politely in the customary greeting.
"I am. Tell me red man, I have not seen your species before - yet you appear to live upon this glorious planet. For how long have you resided?" Tom grinned some more; this guard was friendlier than he'd hoped.
"For two full moons, and eight days my friend. I have only been to this station twice before but I hope to come by more often in the future."
"Is this business you appear for?"
"It is. I don't normally dress so for attention." The guard laughed and slapped Tom on the back. Tom laughed with him a moment and waited for the next question. While the man was extremely friendly he knew this was also an interrogation process.
"I suppose not. Tell me, you are here for delivery are you so?"
"That's right. Pro Sub Leader Turnac has sent me with some fine drink for Sub Leader Tobler in thanks for a birth party two nights ago."
"Let's see this drink then." The guard asked and motioned Tom to a nearby table so he could place his bag down and pull out the 'gift.' Tom grinned and after a moment of digging in his grey pack he produced a finely designed twisted glass bottle containing a red liquid and speckles of gold floating within. He'd done some research these past two days and discovered that delivery boys were supposed to dress to match the gift to make it more meaningful; hence his tunic. The guard looked at the bottle with a twinkle in his eye.
"A fine brand and not to cheap as I am told." He made comment and Tom nodded in agreement. He'd bought the bottle earlier that morning from a bar. The bartender was very enthusiastic when he'd explained to him the history of the great twisted tree which a young prince climbed one hundred years before to escape a pack of wild animals. In honour of the tree and prince the liquor was made. It symbolized luck and prosperity. Tom had thought it was a good choice. "What else do you have in the pack?" The guard asked but made no move to check it.
"It is almost a day's journey from Habblick and longer back for the uphill slope. These are provisions for myself and my Mulock." If the guard decided to check the bag than Tom would be discovered. He waited patiently as the guard thought a moment. It also seemed that he had picked up on the language of the Tubbles and dialect of Habblick enough to sound convincing because the guard grinned and handed back the bottle. Tom carefully placed it back in his pack and closed it securely.
"I trust you had a good journey."
"The sun on my face and wind on my back, not much can be better." The guard grinned and they both headed back to his station booth. He went inside a moment and emerged, passing a bronze card about 2cm by 6cm to Tom who took it and performed a slight, graceful bow. The guard nodded and their interview ended. Tom walked through the gates and into the massive docking station.
((/\))
After walking through the station towards his target for five minutes Tom discarded his colourful clothing and useful but no longer needed bottle of liquor. So far so good. He looked at his watch a moment without breaking his stride. The crewmembers of Voyager would have been back onboard and trying to figure out what was going on for thirty minutes. He'd left them pretty much dead in the water for the moment, only they probably didn't realize they had no control over flight either. There was no reason for them to leave the planet so they would remain in orbit as they had been for the past two days. It was a good thing he didn't plan on going back because Janeway was probably furious.
Quickly Tom turned and pretended to be interested in the docking schedule on a screen in front of him as a group of Kinkari passed. He was getting closer to their ship and would need to be more careful now. He slipped behind some crates and pulled the grey hood of his uniform over his head and face. He could see perfectly out of the eyeholes cut into the material and his breathing was not hindered at all. He also pulled on a pair of gloves the same grey as the rest of his material. They felt like a second skin and didn't affect his regular sense of touch.
He then pulled his computer out of his pack and double-checked the distance of the ship from his current location. 1637.28 meters. Not too far. If he kept to the north walls where the crates were stacked and lying around he could easily approach it undetected. Being the middle of the day there wasn't going to be an excessive amount of Kinkari wandering around to detect him.
He reorganized his pack to allow the quickest access to the more immediate items. He checked the phaser on his arm and the one strapped in his waist holster. In one large empty pocket located half way down his leg he placed an advanced version of Voyager's tricorder, and in another tiny pocket along his forearm he placed a laser cutter no larger then a pen. Securely strapping his pack over his shoulders, and, making sure nothing could fall out, he set off quietly towards the ship at a slow jog.
((/\))
It had been thirty-five minutes since Tom had left the ship and the senior staff was once again seated in the briefing room. With the exception of Tuvok they all looked confused, B'Elanna glaring at a padd in front of her and Harry leaning over to look at it as well, his fingers tapping a light rhythm on the black table. Baytart, who felt he had gotten to know the people in this room fairly well over the last year, was watching every individual to gauge their reactions to this situation. He was thoroughly confused with what was going on. For the past twenty minutes he'd been helping B'Elanna with the transporters, trying to figure out where their loss of control began. It had been a bust. Tom, as it was now obvious who had manipulated the systems, had done an extremely thorough job of reconfiguring everything on the transporting system. The most impressive part had been his timed activation, which brought every single member of Voyager back onto the ship. Baytheart had never seen it done before.
Harry Kim had originally been working on that problem with B'Elanna, however Janeway had called him to work on the communications situation. Baytart gathered that Tom had somehow severed all forms of contact off the ship. They could only communicate through their combadges, which Voyager's current pilot thought was a nice gesture of the former pilot. A ship without any form of communication, even one with as few people as Voyager, was time consuming and a major interference of most ship functions.
The Doctor and Seven of Nine were also present. Seven of course was calmly sitting and watching everyone, much like Baytart was. The Doctor was the only one in the room not sitting, and even though he was just a hologram his pacing would probably wear a hole through the floor if he wasn't stopped soon; it was beginning to make Baytart dizzy.
"Take a seat Doctor." Janeway ordered as she and Chakotay strolled into the room. He threw himself into the nearest black chair, obviously eager for the meeting to start. Baytart straightened unconsciously in his seat and waited patiently as they sat down. Janeway wasted no time starting and looked around grimly.
"As we've been informed we are currently unable to communicate off the ship and use the transporter. What's the update?" B'Elanna slammed the padd down and glared at it a moment.
"Harry was right about being locked out. If Tom is the one who's done this, and frankly that would surprise me because whatever he did is one hell of a lot more advanced than Starfleet pilot training, he knows more about Voyager's transporter system than I do. I can't even find the glitch that's causing our lockout. I have my crew on it now, but I doubt we'll find the problem for at least four more hours. I think he's gone into the actual programming and code system and rearranged it. If that's the case I can't verify it until I go through it starting at step one. I don't even want to think about how long that could take and it might not even be the problem." She growled and Harry inched away from her slowly. She didn't notice.
"Okay. What about Communications?" It was Harry's turn to shrug helplessly as he sat straighter.
"Same situation as the transporters. Complete lockout. There is no indication of any tampering except that they won't work. I am certain that whatever he did he didn't do it from the communication console. He must have infiltrated the core database system and wormed his way into communications from there. I'm going to have to start a search from there and I think I'm going to need some help." Janeway pursed her lips and they sat in a moment of thoughtful silence.
"We'll have to send a shuttle down for him then." Chakotay finally suggested.
"That is not an option." Tuvok spoke up. "I stopped on my way here and inspected the shuttles. Each one has been locked down. Systems are functional only to Mr. Paris's voice activation, and a recorded one will not suffice. I suspect an engineering team will take approximately five hours to have one operating under our full control again."
"How about I just go and make a Paris clone to fix all our problems." The Doctor mumbled.
"I do not think a clone will be beneficial in this situation." Seven added. The Doctor cast an annoyed glance at her, refraining from comment.
"Tuvok, have weapons been tampered with?"
"They have not been touched."
"Well that's a relief." B'Elanna sneered. "At least he left us with something."
"That is inaccurate." Seven argued. "Mr. Paris has only castrated our chances of his pursuit."
"Not the way I would have phrased it but Seven is right."
"What is going on Captain? Why would he do this? And why now? If he's had these capabilities all along he could have done this a month ago." Baytart pointed out.
"I'm still not sure what's going on, but I think it's time I straightened up Mr. Paris's situation of the past year as best I understand it. Keep in mind this is a theory put together by facts gathered since his return." They all nodded and she took a moment to gather her thoughts before looking at each of them in turn.
"When Tom left he said it was for a better life. He supposedly joined the Kinkari as a pilot and that was the end of it. Three weeks after we departed from the Kinkari home world we came across a wormhole that we all know took us four years closer to our destination. I have reason to believe that Tom's departure has something to do with that worm hole."
"You can't be serious." B'Elanna started to interrupt but stopped at a look from Chakotay. Baytart surmised that the Commander had already discussed this possibility with the Captain. Baytart himself felt his eyes widening at the new information. Janeway continued.
"Earlier today Seven informed Chakotay and I that Tom is currently carrying the title 'Niktarus,' which he no doubt adopted on his year off the ship. A Niktarus is a skilled hand-to-hand combat fighter trained and pitted against other Niktarus for gambling pleasures. We believe," she indicated Chakotay and Tuvok, "that Tom has been previously trained with these skills and traded his fighting services in order for the anomaly to send us closer to home. That is why he left."
"I can support the fighting part from my medical scans though I'm not going to go into any more detail." The Doctor pointed out, however he didn't have anything more to say as he contemplated what Janeway had just told him. Baytart was stunned, and he could tell that Harry and B'Elanna were not taking this information well.
"That doesn't make sense." B'Elanna sputtered. "He wouldn't leave us just to send us four years closer to home…"
"Unless he'd planned for us to be sent all the way home and his plan backfired." Harry continued. A slow clapping startled them all and they looked to the side of the room where U was standing, shaking his head in slight amusement.
"I'm impressed." He looked around at them, ceasing his applause. "And to think it only took you an entire year to come to a conclusion that I personally think was blatantly obvious in the first place. Yet as much as I pretend to understand human emotions I think I have a lot to learn yet."
"Unless you're here to give us more information your mockery is not necessary." Chakotay glared at the man and U shook his head, lightly grinning.
"Emotions and pride will get the better of you all I think. Especially Tom. You know, he is perhaps the stupidest, smartest, most loyal and most feared mortal I have met in my short life. I hope to meet more like him. I'd even like to meet him again sometime, though I don't know how much longer he'll be around."
"What do you mean by that?" Janeway demanded, rising from her seat.
"You have just proven to me how smart you can all be, maybe you can figure it out before a year is up this time." U snapped and then left them alone. The silence weighed heavily on their shoulders a moment.
"I want those transporters, shuttles and communications systems back and running as soon as possible. We let Tom disappear on us once, I'm not planning on letting him do it again."
"Yes Captain." Baytart stood with the rest of the crew and rushed out with them to try and fix the haywire systems. He didn't even notice that they hadn't been formally dismissed.
Tuvok and Chakotay remained behind a moment.
"Captain. I believe that Mr. Paris is not planning on coming back. He apologized to me and asked me to relay the apology to the rest of the crew."
"That won't be necessary Tuvok." She looked fiercely into his eyes. "He can apologize to us in person, right after we apologize to him."