(Hehe, forgive me, I used some techno babble in here about flying with no idea what I was talking about. If there is a glaring horrible mistake please let me know and I will make the necessary revisions... I'm still looking for a beta reader, and I'd be happy to beta read in return.)
Chapter Two…
"State the nature of the medical emergency."
Tom wondered if the Doc greeted everyone with the same patronising once over, or if the holodoc reserved the honour for him alone. "Don't you get tired of saying that?"
"Thankfully my program does not encompass the ability to become fatigued, a very fortunate circumstance where you are concerned. What can I do for you this time?"
"I'm here for a physical."
The Doctor swiftly looked over Tom's medical file and frowned. "Ah I see, Captain's orders. And to think all this time I thought you deliberately went out of your way to be a nuisance."
"Can we get this over with?"
The Doctor paused for a moment and regarded his patient. "No witty comebacks? No snide remarks? Frankly Lieutenant, I am disappointed." Tom glared, but the Doctor chose to remain oblivious and continued with his rant. "Maybe I should be flattered? Today you are the hero, bravely saving the ship from a horrible crushing death and yet here you are, with me. I hear there is a celebration party in holodeck two this evening, should I take for granted my invitation got lost in the mail?"
"What are you talking about?"
The Doctor shrugged and finished his scans. "Apparently nothing. You are the definition of health Mr. Paris; whatever excuse you have for being you does not stem from any physiological origin. You are free to go."
////////////////
Rumours started spreading on padd messages as soon as the Captain ordered Tom into her ready room after the crisis.
The facts about the unnatural cyclone almost destroying the ship and Tom's exceptional flying spread like wildfire, and in response several theories were developed. Only a few weeks back Tom admitted to having never landed a star ship before and the Captain needed to talk him through the procedure. Now in the midst of landing in the worst possible conditions Tom somehow managed to break the ship out of a dive at the last second; not an easy feat according to the engineering staff. Granted, the cyclone mysteriously subsided by then, but how many pilots could have recovered the necessary altitude so quickly without overcompensating the thrusters? Star ships aren't designed to manoeuvre gracefully in atmosphere.
At least for once the rumours were positive. Captain Janeway's hotshot pilot might really be as good as his former reputation claimed, but that spawned a whole new set of questions; the academy did not teach manoeuvres like the ones Tom used, so where did he learn them from?
Harry would have ignored the gossip about Tom like he always did, except for the fact that he found questions and speculations being aimed in his direction, and what could say? Tom never talked about his past, and Harry never asked. He only knew what everyone else told him about the not so marvellous history of Tom Paris, and to be perfectly honest he didn't want to know the gory details of his friend's life. Some things, like the things he suspected might be found in Tom's past, are better left buried.
He stopped outside the mess hall. Going in would only generate an all new Tom Paris snooping session, and Harry found it hard enough evading questions on padd messages, let alone in person.
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Paris."
"Lieutenant Paris is in his quarters." The computer answered.
Harry changed direction and headed to see his friend.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
B'Elanna contemplated the emergency medical hologram with a mixture of anger and impatience. "What do you think you're doing?"
The Doctor tilted his head slightly. "I acknowledge your frustration, how did you feel when you injured your arm?"
"It felt injured, are you going to fix it or not?" B'Elanna looked at the bloody gash on her arm and wondered if having it healed was worth listening to the Doctor's nonsense.
"Can you describe your emotional reaction? " He waved the dermal regenerator in the air expressively.
"Why?"
The Doctor exhaled noisily and finished healing her wound. "I added a psychological analysis subroutine to my program and I thought it might be beneficial to experiment with its usage before putting it to practical use. Thank you for being such a willing participant."
"What are you talking about?"
"That is the second time I have failed to make myself understood today. Perhaps my verbal communication subroutine is malfunctioning. Do you have time to run a diagnostic on my program?"
B'Elanna stretched and hopped off the biobed. Who ever heard of a hypochondriac holoprogram? Accessing the consul she noticed a medical file left open, and though normally she would have closed it without a second thought, the name on this file caught her attention. Tom Paris. A chill traveled down her spine. Ever since their time together in the Videan mines she fought against the urge to learn more about the man. In the mines she saw a side of him nothing like the wisecracking, self-important, smug, conceited pilot she otherwise despised. Even more disturbing was the discovery that she didn't despise him quite so much as she once did. It only took a couple seconds to copy the entire file to her padd.
To be continued.
Chapter Two…
"State the nature of the medical emergency."
Tom wondered if the Doc greeted everyone with the same patronising once over, or if the holodoc reserved the honour for him alone. "Don't you get tired of saying that?"
"Thankfully my program does not encompass the ability to become fatigued, a very fortunate circumstance where you are concerned. What can I do for you this time?"
"I'm here for a physical."
The Doctor swiftly looked over Tom's medical file and frowned. "Ah I see, Captain's orders. And to think all this time I thought you deliberately went out of your way to be a nuisance."
"Can we get this over with?"
The Doctor paused for a moment and regarded his patient. "No witty comebacks? No snide remarks? Frankly Lieutenant, I am disappointed." Tom glared, but the Doctor chose to remain oblivious and continued with his rant. "Maybe I should be flattered? Today you are the hero, bravely saving the ship from a horrible crushing death and yet here you are, with me. I hear there is a celebration party in holodeck two this evening, should I take for granted my invitation got lost in the mail?"
"What are you talking about?"
The Doctor shrugged and finished his scans. "Apparently nothing. You are the definition of health Mr. Paris; whatever excuse you have for being you does not stem from any physiological origin. You are free to go."
////////////////
Rumours started spreading on padd messages as soon as the Captain ordered Tom into her ready room after the crisis.
The facts about the unnatural cyclone almost destroying the ship and Tom's exceptional flying spread like wildfire, and in response several theories were developed. Only a few weeks back Tom admitted to having never landed a star ship before and the Captain needed to talk him through the procedure. Now in the midst of landing in the worst possible conditions Tom somehow managed to break the ship out of a dive at the last second; not an easy feat according to the engineering staff. Granted, the cyclone mysteriously subsided by then, but how many pilots could have recovered the necessary altitude so quickly without overcompensating the thrusters? Star ships aren't designed to manoeuvre gracefully in atmosphere.
At least for once the rumours were positive. Captain Janeway's hotshot pilot might really be as good as his former reputation claimed, but that spawned a whole new set of questions; the academy did not teach manoeuvres like the ones Tom used, so where did he learn them from?
Harry would have ignored the gossip about Tom like he always did, except for the fact that he found questions and speculations being aimed in his direction, and what could say? Tom never talked about his past, and Harry never asked. He only knew what everyone else told him about the not so marvellous history of Tom Paris, and to be perfectly honest he didn't want to know the gory details of his friend's life. Some things, like the things he suspected might be found in Tom's past, are better left buried.
He stopped outside the mess hall. Going in would only generate an all new Tom Paris snooping session, and Harry found it hard enough evading questions on padd messages, let alone in person.
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Paris."
"Lieutenant Paris is in his quarters." The computer answered.
Harry changed direction and headed to see his friend.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
B'Elanna contemplated the emergency medical hologram with a mixture of anger and impatience. "What do you think you're doing?"
The Doctor tilted his head slightly. "I acknowledge your frustration, how did you feel when you injured your arm?"
"It felt injured, are you going to fix it or not?" B'Elanna looked at the bloody gash on her arm and wondered if having it healed was worth listening to the Doctor's nonsense.
"Can you describe your emotional reaction? " He waved the dermal regenerator in the air expressively.
"Why?"
The Doctor exhaled noisily and finished healing her wound. "I added a psychological analysis subroutine to my program and I thought it might be beneficial to experiment with its usage before putting it to practical use. Thank you for being such a willing participant."
"What are you talking about?"
"That is the second time I have failed to make myself understood today. Perhaps my verbal communication subroutine is malfunctioning. Do you have time to run a diagnostic on my program?"
B'Elanna stretched and hopped off the biobed. Who ever heard of a hypochondriac holoprogram? Accessing the consul she noticed a medical file left open, and though normally she would have closed it without a second thought, the name on this file caught her attention. Tom Paris. A chill traveled down her spine. Ever since their time together in the Videan mines she fought against the urge to learn more about the man. In the mines she saw a side of him nothing like the wisecracking, self-important, smug, conceited pilot she otherwise despised. Even more disturbing was the discovery that she didn't despise him quite so much as she once did. It only took a couple seconds to copy the entire file to her padd.
To be continued.