Hi, just a little chapter, hope you like it! I still don't have a beta reader.... please forgive any mistakes I've made, I can only proof read my own story so many times before I decide I hate it and to the garbage it goes... so... here it is!
"Tom?"
The doors opened at his request to enter and Harry cautiously walked into Tom's quarters. For all the times Tom appeared in Harry's quarters, he realised now he seldom ever spent time in Tom's. Not that either of their quarters were very different from the other, but Tom's were smaller as he remained in the same temporary quarters he was given when he first came on board as an observer.
Harry heard a thump coming from the general direction of the bed. "Tom?" Taking a closer look, Harry saw a leg sticking out from under the bed. He knelt down. "What are you doing?"
"Just a minute." Came a muffled reply. A grunt and a curse later, Tom managed to extract the rest of his body from underneath. He stood up, stretched, brushed the dust off his uniform. "Is there supposed to be this much dust on a star ship? I think the environmental filters are malfunctioning." Somehow, Tom managed to make crawling under beds sound like a perfectly normal thing to be doing.
Harry wasn't fooled; Tom did a lot of odd things but nothing quite this weird. "Did you lose something?"
"Today? No." Tom grinned and sat down at his table. "Harry, take my advice; never play poker with a Vulcan. I lost most of my credits to Tuvok last night."
"Tuvok doesn't play poker..."
"Could have fooled me. Are you going to the hooray-we're-alive-party tonight?"
"Are you?" Harry asked.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"
"I don't know." Harry sat down across from Tom and tried to think of a way to word what he wanted to say next. "Did you know you've won the gossip prize for the day? Your flying even won out over the Tattoo people on the planet."
Tom didn't answer right away. "It hasn't been a good day."
"Why did the Captain want to talk to you?"
"Why? I don't think anything I tell you is going be more interesting then Megan's and-then-they-got-drunk story. Look Harry, as much as I'd love to chat I'm sort of busy."
"Measuring dust levels?" Harry glared at his friend. Every time he tried to help, Tom pushed him away. Not this time! "Look. I came here to see if you wanted to pool some credits for a pizza?"
"Is Neelix listing the ingredients to his recipes again? Or are you just avoiding the mess hall? What else are they saying about me?"
Harry called up the message file and passed his padd to Tom.
"A neural implant?" He looked back up to Harry and grinned. "Is that even possible, could a person get a chip in their head to become a better pilot? Don't answer." He continued reading, and this time laughed out loud. "An alien masquerading as a human? Why would they think that?"
"Seska did."
Tom tossed the padd back to Harry. "Cardassian's are terrible pilots. Anyhow, why would an alien want to infiltrate Auckland Penal colony, other then for the obvious rest, relaxation, and menial work a body can handle? They could have at least guessed me to be a Q, I have some god-like qualities."
Harry snickered. "Right. So the gossip doesn't bother you?"
"The alien infiltrating the ship thing isn't so flattering, but you have to admit it's better then most of the things they say."
"I've been getting messages like this all afternoon. I thought a little peace and quiet would be good." Harry took back the padd. "What kind of pizza do you want?"
"You don't have to defend me Harry, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." The sudden change in Tom's mood threw Harry off balance. Tom stood up and walked to the door. "Thanks Harry but I'm not all that hungry. I'll see you tonight on the holodeck?"
"But..."
"Good-bye Harry."
"Sure." Harry pushed away from the table and walked out, confused and more then a little angry about being dismissed so easily.
Tom felt guilty even before the door closed. He knew Harry didn't deserve to be treated like that, but the last thing he wanted right now was to talk. He already did enough talking to last a life time. Thinking of life-times, Tom surveyed his room again, the same room where he expected to be spending the next seventy years. The turbulence earlier demonstrated why star fleet regulations called for all items to be placed in displays or bolted down; of the souvenirs he collected since coming aboard, two were still missing. With a long suffering sigh Tom resumed his search.
.....B'Elanna sat in her quarters staring at the information she borrowed from sickbay. Borrowed. Not stolen. It wasn't like she would read it, just a quick look.....
After his short visit with Tom, Harry decided to skip supper all together and simply headed back to his quarters to finish some over due reports in an attempt to put their argument out of his mind. It didn't take him long to remember why these reports were overdue. After fifteen minutes of work he felt his eyes grow heavy, and after twenty he fell asleep. He woke up after a few hours but by the time he got ready it was already after 23:00 hours, and even later before he arrived at the holodeck.
The party sounds of music and voices could be heard all the way to the turbo lift, and it only got louder the closer he got. Some one transformed Sandrine's from a quiet lounge into a dance club complete with it's own band. Coloured lights lit up the dim setting in flashes and swirls. Harry made a half hearted attempt to look for Tom but when he couldn't see him decided not to waste his time. He had other friends on the ship to spend his time with. If Tom wanted to find him, he'd be there, if not, he would prove he could have a good time anyhow.
B'Elanna watched the dancing from her table. It wasn't dancing, at least nothing like she ever saw before. Everyone on the dance floor just sort of... bounced. Half the time they weren't even moving with the music, just jumping and swaying. It looked stupid and fun, and it only made B'Elanna's own mood worse. Looking for something less cheery she turned towards the bar and spotted Tom. He sat on a stool talking with the Sandrine holo-character. He looked upset about something, not angry or sad, but she could clearly see the grim set to his lips, a major divergence compared to his usual life's a joke attitude.
In the past when ever B'Elanna looked at him she saw him with the conviction that if she had his life, she wouldn't have taken it for granted. With that conviction came a certain amount of distain, how could a man with so many advantages in life end up such a failure?
And now? She didn't feel the same conviction. She read the entire file including the confidential counselling sessions, and now what did she feel? She felt like a thief, and she wondered how she'd ever face him again without thinking of the things in that file.
The shipped rocked with what felt uniquely like weapons fire. The party ended as everyone stopped moving and conversation halted. The lights grew bright, and a red pulse accompanied by a familiar siren now took the place of the music. "Senior staff, report to the bridge."
........
The Captain watched her bridge staff emerging from the turbo lift and ignored the fact that none of them were dressed in their uniforms. They followed her to her into the conference room and took their seats.
The Captain started her explanation immediately. "It's the Kazon. Again." She looked at her people and decided not to divulge the information that it had been a planned attack. "Warp and propulsion are disabled, shields are at 50%, but our weapons are still online."
"You want us to get out and push?" Tom smirked.
The Captain did not look amused. "We managed to fire a couple good shots before their ship took cover, fortunate for us their shields are compromised, so it's unlikely they'll pose a threat until but they have that fixed. However we are still dead in the water. The Kazon's have retreated into a gas cloud and we can't find them. That's where you come in Tom. We need a shuttle to enter the gas cloud to collect more accurate readings."
"Yes Captain." Tom answered.
"B'Elanna it goes without question that we need the engines back on line. Recruit anyone you need who isn't presently working on the current situation." Janeway glanced around the table. "Dismissed."
"Tom, wait." The Captain walked up beside him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I can do this Captain." He said quietly.
"I don't doubt that Lieutenant. I have another obstacle for you. I believe that the Kazon are getting information from Voyager somehow. Maybe Seska managed to tap into our communication systems before she left, but so far we haven't found any evidence of tampering. What this means is we are going to have to maintain communication silence while you're out there. When you find them, send us the uplink to your shuttle's sensors but nothing else. Understood?"
"Yes."
"Report to shuttle bay one. Good luck." Captain Janeway watched Tom walk out.
"Tom?"
The doors opened at his request to enter and Harry cautiously walked into Tom's quarters. For all the times Tom appeared in Harry's quarters, he realised now he seldom ever spent time in Tom's. Not that either of their quarters were very different from the other, but Tom's were smaller as he remained in the same temporary quarters he was given when he first came on board as an observer.
Harry heard a thump coming from the general direction of the bed. "Tom?" Taking a closer look, Harry saw a leg sticking out from under the bed. He knelt down. "What are you doing?"
"Just a minute." Came a muffled reply. A grunt and a curse later, Tom managed to extract the rest of his body from underneath. He stood up, stretched, brushed the dust off his uniform. "Is there supposed to be this much dust on a star ship? I think the environmental filters are malfunctioning." Somehow, Tom managed to make crawling under beds sound like a perfectly normal thing to be doing.
Harry wasn't fooled; Tom did a lot of odd things but nothing quite this weird. "Did you lose something?"
"Today? No." Tom grinned and sat down at his table. "Harry, take my advice; never play poker with a Vulcan. I lost most of my credits to Tuvok last night."
"Tuvok doesn't play poker..."
"Could have fooled me. Are you going to the hooray-we're-alive-party tonight?"
"Are you?" Harry asked.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"
"I don't know." Harry sat down across from Tom and tried to think of a way to word what he wanted to say next. "Did you know you've won the gossip prize for the day? Your flying even won out over the Tattoo people on the planet."
Tom didn't answer right away. "It hasn't been a good day."
"Why did the Captain want to talk to you?"
"Why? I don't think anything I tell you is going be more interesting then Megan's and-then-they-got-drunk story. Look Harry, as much as I'd love to chat I'm sort of busy."
"Measuring dust levels?" Harry glared at his friend. Every time he tried to help, Tom pushed him away. Not this time! "Look. I came here to see if you wanted to pool some credits for a pizza?"
"Is Neelix listing the ingredients to his recipes again? Or are you just avoiding the mess hall? What else are they saying about me?"
Harry called up the message file and passed his padd to Tom.
"A neural implant?" He looked back up to Harry and grinned. "Is that even possible, could a person get a chip in their head to become a better pilot? Don't answer." He continued reading, and this time laughed out loud. "An alien masquerading as a human? Why would they think that?"
"Seska did."
Tom tossed the padd back to Harry. "Cardassian's are terrible pilots. Anyhow, why would an alien want to infiltrate Auckland Penal colony, other then for the obvious rest, relaxation, and menial work a body can handle? They could have at least guessed me to be a Q, I have some god-like qualities."
Harry snickered. "Right. So the gossip doesn't bother you?"
"The alien infiltrating the ship thing isn't so flattering, but you have to admit it's better then most of the things they say."
"I've been getting messages like this all afternoon. I thought a little peace and quiet would be good." Harry took back the padd. "What kind of pizza do you want?"
"You don't have to defend me Harry, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." The sudden change in Tom's mood threw Harry off balance. Tom stood up and walked to the door. "Thanks Harry but I'm not all that hungry. I'll see you tonight on the holodeck?"
"But..."
"Good-bye Harry."
"Sure." Harry pushed away from the table and walked out, confused and more then a little angry about being dismissed so easily.
Tom felt guilty even before the door closed. He knew Harry didn't deserve to be treated like that, but the last thing he wanted right now was to talk. He already did enough talking to last a life time. Thinking of life-times, Tom surveyed his room again, the same room where he expected to be spending the next seventy years. The turbulence earlier demonstrated why star fleet regulations called for all items to be placed in displays or bolted down; of the souvenirs he collected since coming aboard, two were still missing. With a long suffering sigh Tom resumed his search.
.....B'Elanna sat in her quarters staring at the information she borrowed from sickbay. Borrowed. Not stolen. It wasn't like she would read it, just a quick look.....
After his short visit with Tom, Harry decided to skip supper all together and simply headed back to his quarters to finish some over due reports in an attempt to put their argument out of his mind. It didn't take him long to remember why these reports were overdue. After fifteen minutes of work he felt his eyes grow heavy, and after twenty he fell asleep. He woke up after a few hours but by the time he got ready it was already after 23:00 hours, and even later before he arrived at the holodeck.
The party sounds of music and voices could be heard all the way to the turbo lift, and it only got louder the closer he got. Some one transformed Sandrine's from a quiet lounge into a dance club complete with it's own band. Coloured lights lit up the dim setting in flashes and swirls. Harry made a half hearted attempt to look for Tom but when he couldn't see him decided not to waste his time. He had other friends on the ship to spend his time with. If Tom wanted to find him, he'd be there, if not, he would prove he could have a good time anyhow.
B'Elanna watched the dancing from her table. It wasn't dancing, at least nothing like she ever saw before. Everyone on the dance floor just sort of... bounced. Half the time they weren't even moving with the music, just jumping and swaying. It looked stupid and fun, and it only made B'Elanna's own mood worse. Looking for something less cheery she turned towards the bar and spotted Tom. He sat on a stool talking with the Sandrine holo-character. He looked upset about something, not angry or sad, but she could clearly see the grim set to his lips, a major divergence compared to his usual life's a joke attitude.
In the past when ever B'Elanna looked at him she saw him with the conviction that if she had his life, she wouldn't have taken it for granted. With that conviction came a certain amount of distain, how could a man with so many advantages in life end up such a failure?
And now? She didn't feel the same conviction. She read the entire file including the confidential counselling sessions, and now what did she feel? She felt like a thief, and she wondered how she'd ever face him again without thinking of the things in that file.
The shipped rocked with what felt uniquely like weapons fire. The party ended as everyone stopped moving and conversation halted. The lights grew bright, and a red pulse accompanied by a familiar siren now took the place of the music. "Senior staff, report to the bridge."
........
The Captain watched her bridge staff emerging from the turbo lift and ignored the fact that none of them were dressed in their uniforms. They followed her to her into the conference room and took their seats.
The Captain started her explanation immediately. "It's the Kazon. Again." She looked at her people and decided not to divulge the information that it had been a planned attack. "Warp and propulsion are disabled, shields are at 50%, but our weapons are still online."
"You want us to get out and push?" Tom smirked.
The Captain did not look amused. "We managed to fire a couple good shots before their ship took cover, fortunate for us their shields are compromised, so it's unlikely they'll pose a threat until but they have that fixed. However we are still dead in the water. The Kazon's have retreated into a gas cloud and we can't find them. That's where you come in Tom. We need a shuttle to enter the gas cloud to collect more accurate readings."
"Yes Captain." Tom answered.
"B'Elanna it goes without question that we need the engines back on line. Recruit anyone you need who isn't presently working on the current situation." Janeway glanced around the table. "Dismissed."
"Tom, wait." The Captain walked up beside him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I can do this Captain." He said quietly.
"I don't doubt that Lieutenant. I have another obstacle for you. I believe that the Kazon are getting information from Voyager somehow. Maybe Seska managed to tap into our communication systems before she left, but so far we haven't found any evidence of tampering. What this means is we are going to have to maintain communication silence while you're out there. When you find them, send us the uplink to your shuttle's sensors but nothing else. Understood?"
"Yes."
"Report to shuttle bay one. Good luck." Captain Janeway watched Tom walk out.