Redemption
Written - 8/20/02 Summary - It's the anniversary of the encounter with the Equinox and Noah Lessing has something special in mind to mark the occasion. Rating - PG
Chapter 3
When Chakotay left the ready room, he found Tuvok waiting anxiously for him. Well, at least as anxious as a Vulcan could look. "Send one of your security officers to Lessing's quarters. There should be a PADD on the table there. Have it brought to the briefing room." Chakotay ordered as Tuvok fell in along side him and they strode across the bridge. Tuvok motioned to one of his team who immediately entered the turbolift on his way to follow Chakotay's orders. "Is the staff assembled?" Chakotay asked.
"Yes Commander. All accounted for. We have been monitoring your conversation, how is Captain Janeway?"
Chakotay responded with a somber tone in his voice. "A little banged up, but nothing life threatening for the moment. Unfortunately, I think our friend Lessing has something much more serious in mind."
As he finished his statement, the doors to the briefing room opened to reveal the concerned faces of Voyager's senior staff and a number of security officers. Walking toward the head of the table, he grabbed B'Elanna Torres by the arm and pulled her aside, "I understand the transporters are out?"
"Yes they are. Lessing must have been planning this for some time. He's done a masterful job of sabotaging the system. He's got everything so scrambled up that even with my best team on it I still estimate at least four to five hours to sort it all out. At this point we're still trying to find the source of the problem."
"Understood, keep me posted on their progress." As he brushed past B'Elanna and took his seat he turned to Harry, "What about life support, could we shut down the system to the ready room, maybe send an airborne tranquilizing agent through the ventilation system?"
"Already looked into that Commander, he's thought of that too. The circuits are jammed and it's the same as the transporters, I can't locate the source yet to get an estimate on how long it will take to regain full control."
The rest of the officers in the room took their usual seats around the table and Chakotay ran a hand through his hair as he spoke to the group. "Well, it looks as though our disgruntled crewman has covered all the bases. All the obvious options on getting the Captain out of there are unavailable to us for the time being. Anyone have a chance to check into the validity of this threat of his about being able to blow up the ship?"
Tom took the opportunity offered and chimed in, "Tuvok and I have been looking into that. It seems the device he has in the ready room is sending out some kind of an encrypted signal ever since he pressed the control button. We've narrowed the receiver down to somewhere in the warp system, either the core, the plasma conduits, or the nacelles. Any way you look at it, it's entirely possible his threat is real. We won't know for sure for a while yet."
Just then the security officer entered from the rear door of the briefing room and brought the PADD retrieved from Lessing's cabin directly to Chakotay. The room became deathly quiet as he read the information to himself. In essence, Kathryn Janeway was to stand trial for her actions during the incident with the Equinox a year ago, and Noah Lessing would serve as judge and jury.
"What does it say Commander?" inquired Harry when Chakotay looked up from the PADD.
"It says we have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in. Gather round people, we need a plan, and fast." He stood and motioned for all of them to assemble at the front of the computer console in the wall.
Over the next half an hour they examined Lessing's demands. He had compiled a list of all the people he wanted to question in conjunction with this so- called trial. It consisted of former Equinox crewmembers, specifically Angelo Tessoni and Marla Gilmore, as well as several members of Janeway's senior staff, B'Elanna Torres, Commander Tuvok and last but not least, Chakotay himself. The instructions identified that those individuals should be on the bridge through the proceedings and would be called to answer questions one at a time. He would not tolerate more than one person in the room with he and the Captain at any one time. Also, the whole affair was to be broadcast to the entire crew through the comm system.
"How is he going to tell whether or not we broadcast throughout the ship?" Tom asked.
Seven replied, "Actually, there are any number of ways. He could be monitoring comm channel performance, he may have monitors hidden somewhere in key locations around the ship to pick up the transmissions, he may also have other individuals helping him."
"I find that hard to believe Seven. He's given every indication that he's in this alone. While he's apparently put a great deal of thought into all of this, I tend to believe it's an act of singular passion on his part. He obviously thinks he has something to prove where the Captain is concerned, and given the circumstances, we have no choice but to play along until we can figure out what kind of danger the ship is in."
"That is correct Commander." offered Tuvok. "Even if we are able to get the transporters operational, unless we can eliminate the source of his threat, we cannot take the chance of using them on either Lessing himself or the Captain. It could have disastrous results."
"Agreed. Tuvok, gather the rest of the people on this list and get them up here to the briefing room. We'll set this up as our command post and all of us can observe what's going on in the ready room from here. I want the rest of the Equinox crew up here as well, and anyone that Lessing has become particularly close to from the Starfleet or Maquis crew. Maybe they can provide further insight on him, that is if they'll cooperate. Doctor, I want you here as well. I want you to observe Noah closely. I have a hunch there's more to this than meets the eye. When I was in with him earlier, I got the impression that there is something physically wrong with him. I could use your insight on that. I'm also afraid that your services may unfortunately be required where the Captain is concerned." He paused and looked around the table at the concerned faces of the staff. "I want all of you who are not on his interview list at your posts keeping everything running smoothly and relaying any findings on the device to us in here." They nodded in agreement but remained silent. "And don't worry people, we'll get ourselves and the Captain out of this. Now, we have approximately 15 minutes. Let's finish getting everything in place."
The staff filed out to their appointed tasks one by one. Tuvok met with his security staff then set a rotation of two officers on each of the ready room doors through the next eight hours. He then sent the rest of the team out to assist the engineering and operations teams. Their task, scouring the ship and it's systems looking for a clue that would get the transporters back on line and deactivate whatever device Lessing might have planted.
=/\=
Noah Lessing began preparing the room for the next phase of his plan. As he worked, he did everything he could to avoid eye contact with Kathryn Janeway, avoid seeing the evidence of what he'd already done to her. Pent- up energy was tingling through every fiber of his being, and his mind raced, as he tried to keep thoughts of what he still intended to do in order. He'd been planning this for so long, and now that he had finally worked up the nerve to go through with it, he couldn't allow himself to fail.
Part of him wanted to run away from all this, deep down he was knew he was making a big mistake, that this was not the way to handle his problems. But somehow, he couldn't see any other way forward, couldn't prevent himself from following this to, what was in his mind at least, it's logical conclusion. He'd tried for so long to work through things on his own, to move beyond that almost constant depression and guilt he had felt on the Equinox. He was instrumental in developing the technology that had allowed them to travel forward on the bodies of the dead aliens and he'd never forgiven himself for it. He did what he had to, or more precisely, what Ransom and Burke had ordered him to, but he had hated every moment of it. And then, Janeway and Voyager had come along, passing judgement and stressing his fragile sense of loyalty even further. In the end, he had convinced himself that her actions had sent him over the edge, forced him into defending something and someone even he didn't believe in, because to do otherwise would betray his friends, his Equinox family.
Then, suddenly, as fast as his doubts had surfaced, he shook his head and scrubbed his eyes with his free hand and reminded himself that he wasn't the problem, she was. 'Kathryn the not so Great', as Angelo had nicknamed her, the venerated Captain of the Starship Voyager, so distant, so aloof, so holier than thou. She ruled from on high, letting her first officer, or her security chief, handle all the real work. If she really gave a damn, she would have done more, done something, done anything, to deal personally with the few sole survivors of the Equinox. Damn the Delta Quadrant, damn Starfleet, and damn all their Captains to the farthest corner of hell.
As his anger forced him to return his focus on the task at hand, his palms began to sweat and his eyes became increasingly more sensitive to the light in the room. "Computer, lights 60%!" he shouted at the air and then continued his work.
Kathryn Janeway had taken the temporary lull in the action to observe Noah Lessing. At least when he was in a position for her to be able to observe him. It was clear he wanted to stay out of her line of sight most of the time. Chakotay's comment about his eyes became plainly obvious to her at one point when he had leaned against the wall directly in her line of sight for a few seconds. Both appeared terribly bloodshot, she even thought she caught a glimpse of his pupils, they appeared to be dilated much more than they should be and that was likely responsible for his need to dim the lights. She had even noticed the same shaking in his hands that her first officer had noticed. Above all, he looked restless and nervous, his body language that of a caged animal stalking the limits of it's available space. She wondered what could be causing it. Was it possible that Noah had some form of ailment that was triggering all this?
Before she could ponder the idea further, Lessing began to shift the positions of some of the items in the room. First, he carried her computer console to the other side of the room and propped it in the corner near the end of the sofa. Once that was done, he ordered her to turn herself and her chair to a somewhat different position, one that directly faced the computer. He spent several more minutes maneuvering furniture until he was finally satisfied that everything was in place, then he ordered her to contact her first officer.
=/\=
"Janeway to Chakotay." The comm transmission came at exactly sixty minutes from the time Chakotay had left the ready room. Immediately the conversation in the briefing room came to an abrupt halt.
"Chakotay here Captain."
"Crewman Lessing wants to know if you have everything ready." It must have been a difficult and uncomfortable hour for her, but her voice was clear and strong, unafraid.
"Yes, we have everything prepared per his instructions."
She cleared her throat before she continued and Chakotay couldn't help but envision Lessing with his knife to her neck again. "Then he wants you to start the ship-wide transmission and send in Marla Gilmore."
"Understood." He closed the link and looked at Marla, who in turn looked nervously at him. She had arrived in the room only a few minutes before and Chakotay had just finished briefing her and the others on Lessing's list on the situation. "You know what to do Marla, just follow his instructions and answer any questions honestly. Tuvok, will you escort her please?" Tuvok and Marla exited the briefing room through the door to the bridge and Chakotay followed until he turned and went to join Harry at the ops station. "It's time."
"Aye Sir." Harry replied and within seconds, the viewscreen filled with an image of the ready room. The entire room was visible from the vantagepoint of the sofa near the viewport. Lessing obviously positioning the console there so they would have an optimum view of the room. It took only a few seconds more for those on the bridge, in the briefing room, and throughout the rest of the ship to get their first good look at Kathryn Janeway since being taken hostage. Lessing had turned her so she now faced directly in view of the monitor instead of the main door. There was a collective gasp as they saw her bruised and swollen face, her split lip, and the lacerations and blood on her neck.
Chakotay observed that the bruises and swelling had gotten worse in the last hour without better treatment, but she was sitting up straight, at least as much as her bound hands would allow, and her chin was held high. Lessing had taken a seat directly behind her on the edge of the desk. He did not appear threatening at the moment, probably in an attempt to put Marla more at ease, but neither Chakotay or Tuvok were fooled. They were well aware he was still within easy reach of the Captain.
=/\=
Marla crossed the ready room very slowly, uncertain as to what she would face.
Janeway looked over her shoulder, watching closely as Marla entered the room, and tried to offer some reassurance. "It's alright Marla."
Lessing jumped in, probably trying to make sure he appeared to be the one in control. "Hi Marla. There's nothing to be afraid of. Take a seat." He said, pointing to the other chair he had position several feet from the Captain where it could be clearly seen through the transmission, but far enough away to prevent anyone from being close enough to easily challenge him.
His first interview was quite brief. Marla had not had any real contact with the Captain during the encounter with Ransom and the Equinox. Lessing spent the entire time asking her questions about what things had been like on their ship. His intent obviously to lay groundwork for people to understand why they had followed Ransom and what had driven them to do what they had done. To some extent it worked. Marla was well liked by her new crew, more so than most of the others from the Equinox. She was an excellent engineer and she got along with everyone. And while she wasn't exactly outgoing, she was open and honest and easy to get to know. Everyone also knew that she carried some emotional baggage from her time in the Delta Quadrant and the experiences on the Equinox and they felt sympathy for her. She was still afraid, even after all this time, to spend more time than necessary in a turbolift.
During questioning, Marla couldn't help but stare at the Captain. She was shocked by what Noah had done to her. She would never have thought him capable of such wanton and single minded violence toward another human being. Even with everything that had happened on the Equinox, Noah had been one of the few who wasn't hardened to the elimination of the aliens. She wondered exactly what had so plainly changed him now. Her experience on Voyager hadn't been all that bad. Yes, she'd been demoted along with the rest of them, but she at least felt she had been treated well, especially by Chakotay and B'Elanna and the engineering staff.
As for her opinion of Janeway herself, while she hadn't been thrilled by the demotion of all the Equinox survivors, she fundamentally understood Captain Janeway's action. She knew Janeway really had very little choice. She and Voyager had saved their lives and Ransom and his crew had returned the favor by leaving them to an uncertain fate at the hands of the aliens. Quite frankly, as far as Marla was concerned, to receive only a demotion under the circumstances was probably a gift.
Janeway noticed Marla's scrutiny, and forced herself to maintain eye contact with the young woman through her questioning, with a truly heartfelt expression of compassion for her situation. She hoped it conveyed some reassurance to her.
Marla noticed Janeway's response and took it as intended. It surprised her a little. The fact that the Captain could think of anyone else in the predicament she was in was quite a testament to her true character. Marla was also quite surprised when after only a few questions Noah let her go. She felt happy to have the whole experience over with, but was somewhat reluctant to leave the Captain in her condition. Knowing she could do nothing to help for now, she stood, took one long last look into the Captain's eyes, turned and exited the room.
=/\=
When Marla exited the ready room, she found Tuvok waiting for her to escort her to the briefing room where Chakotay was questioning several crewmembers about Lessing and his recent frame of mind. The Commander was just finishing an interview with Bryan Soffin when she entered through the door from the bridge. As he motioned her to take the recently vacated seat, she noticed the viewscreen on the wall displaying a constant feed of the activity in the ready room. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from the display, having had more than enough of the view during her own questioning.
"Marla, are you alright?" Chakotay inquired as he rested on hand on her shoulder in reassurance.
She forced her emotions deeper beneath the surface and focused her gaze on his chin as he took a seat opposite her. "I'm fine Commander, thank you for asking."
He noticed the lack of eye contact, but continued anyway. "I know that was difficult for you, but you handled yourself well in there, you can be proud of yourself."
"Thank you Sir."
He removed his hand and offered her a cup of water, pouring it from a pitcher on the table. She acknowledged the cool liquid gratefully by nodding her head as she took the cup and drank, resting it back on the table after draining it.
"I wish I didn't have to ask you more questions, but I'm sure you realize I need to understand why Noah would do something like this. I know the six of you from the Equinox have spent a great deal of time together in the last year. I'm hoping you can help me understand why Noah would have done something like this. Were you aware of any changes in his behavior recently?"
Marla signed heavily and took the time to clear her mind of the questioning in the ready room and focus on the Commander's request. She knew what he wanted to know and she wanted to help him. Looking back over the last year, with the benefit of seeing what Noah had become, she began to talk. "Now that you mention it, Noah has spent more and more time over the last several months by himself. He's become almost reclusive. When he did come and spend time with the rest of us, he seemed uptight all the time. He'd get mad and fly off the handle about some of the silliest things. He even began to remember recent events differently than everyone else. When we'd try to correct him, he got agitated and would usually run off to his quarters."
"Did he ever speak of a grudge against Captain Janeway, direct any anger toward her?"
"Not at first. Angelo was the one who wouldn't keep his mouth shut about it, but you know all about that."
Chakotay knew exactly to what she was referring. Several weeks after the destruction of the Equinox, Chakotay, Tuvok and a security team had broken up a fistfight in the mess hall instigated by Crewman Tessoni spouting some extremely derogatory remarks about the Captain. Several of the Maquis crew took exception to his attitude and defended her honor. Ironically, Noah Lessing had been right in the middle of the fray, trying to break it up. My how things had changed.
"When did you first hear that Noah might be harboring some of the same opinion?" he asked.
Marla thought hard about it, knowing that this was an important point. "I think it was about three months ago. We were all hanging around in Sandrines and watching Captain Janeway trounce Tom Paris at the pool table. I remember it was one of the few times I'd seen her at a ship's social function since we came aboard. As usual, Angelo started something. He made some kind of a comment under his breath. He'd had a couple of drinks and was getting obnoxious. Most of us ignore him when he gets like that. This time, Noah grabbed him by the arm and led him away from the rest of us, but not far enough. We could clearly hear the two of them as they stood there glaring at Captain Janeway and making snide remarks. It was pretty rough. I'd rather not repeat any of it if you don't mind?"
Chakotay shook his head. Marla's information was the last that he needed to gather. He had pieced together a picture of a man who, for some as yet unknown reason, had changed dramatically recently, even to the point of surprising those closest to him. "Thank you Marla, you've helped put some things in perspective for me. You can go now."
Marla Gilmore rose from her seat and began to move away from the table toward the door as the Commander turned and began reviewing and recording information in a PADD. She took several steps and then stopped and turned to face Chakotay once again. "Commander Chakotay?"
Turning toward her, he focused his dark eyes on hers, "Yes."
"I hope this all works out alright, especially for Captain Janeway."
Chakotay was noticeably moved by the sincerity in her expression. "As do I Crewman. On behalf of the Captain, I thank you for your concern." He looked at her for a long moment until she dropped her head to break eye contact, turned on her heels in almost military fashion, and left the room.
=/\=
Angelo Tessoni was Lessing's next interview. He walked purposefully into the room and glanced in Lessing's direction first, nodding to him.
"Have a seat." Lessing said, motioning toward the chair so recently vacated by Gilmore.
Angelo turned toward the chair and finally caught a good long look at Janeway as he moved toward the chair and sat as requested. He glared at her at first, then, noticing her physical condition more closely, his expression softened almost imperceptibly.
Noah questioned him in a similar manner as he had Marla. He spent a good deal of time asking about their experiences on the Equinox and how they had all felt, losing so many in the crew, under constant attack, the fear and deprivation they had lived through.
When Tessoni was finished discussing the Equinox, Lessing went on to ask him about his life on Voyager. His experience was a little different than Marla's, and mostly because of his personality. Janeway remembered reading Chakotay's personnel reports related to the Equinox crewmembers. Angelo had been a concern. Chakotay felt he wasn't adjusting very well. He had proven to be the type to hold a grudge and wear it over his heart like a badge of honor. He was openly resentful of the demotion, and had a similar opinion to the one Lessing expressed, that Janeway hadn't tried to understand their circumstances, she had simply judged them guilty. When Lessing asked him about that, Angelo responded that he wondered just what they were supposed to be guilty of, following the orders of their captain and superior officers? In his eyes, Janeway's actions had proven she was no better than what they had left behind. He stated emphatically that he felt she was the type who would keelhaul anyone who disobeyed her.
Lowering her head to her chest she took a deep breath and tried to clear her head. Angelo's statement bothered her more than she would have thought possible after all this time. If he felt that way, it was her fault. She should have taken the time to work personally with each of the Equinox crew. She had truly meant to, but there never seemed to be the time. In the end, she had entrusted that to her junior officers, and largely to Chakotay. It was his job as Voyager's first officer to handle personnel matters, but nevertheless, circumstances were anything by normal, and she should have taken the time. Now she might never get the chance.
=/\=
Chakotay had only re-entered the bridge moments before, taking his position in his command chair. He and the rest of the crew now watched the proceedings in the viewscreen with barely concealed concern as they noticed her drop her head. "Doctor, is she alright?" He asked quietly, leaning to the medical officer seated to his left on the command level.
The doctor turned toward him and spoke softly in response. "As well as can be expected under the circumstances I would say. She's in a very stressful situation, both physically and mentally. I'm sure it's taking it's toll. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell for certain without being able to obtain a signal from her comm badge."
"Any insights into the condition of our friend Lessing?" Chakotay asked.
"I've been observing his behavior and I've taken several readings from his combadge. His body temperature is significantly elevated and his heart rate is fluctuating to the point where I'm surprised he hasn't passed out on more than one occasion. I've also been able to discern that his hands are trembling almost constantly, and he's apparently sensitive to light. He just reduced the light level in the ready room considerably. While I'm convinced there is something physically wrong with him, I simply do not possess enough information to form a reasonable hypothesis as to the root cause. Moreover, and more importantly, I have nothing to provide you that would assist you in dealing with him. I am truly sorry Commander. I wish there was more I could tell you."
While it wasn't very reassuring, it was all the doctor had to offer. "Well, keep on it. Maybe something will make sense given a little more time." Turning back to the screen, they noticed that Lessing had finished with his second witness. Chakotay found it interesting that he had so far not asked any questions of the Captain.
While he contemplated what that could mean, Lessing hailed him. "Lessing to Commander Chakotay."
"Chakotay here." He replied as he heard the ready room door swish open and shut allowing Angelo Tessoni to exit. Chakotay stared at him as he continued to walk to the upper level of the bridge and join the other crewmembers watching the proceedings at the rail. The Commander would deal with Angelo's issues later, but for now he clearly conveyed is disapproval through the thinly veiled expression of irritation in his eyes.
"I want Commander Tuvok in here next." Lessing declared.
"Very well." Chakotay turned toward Tuvok and he nodded and moved around his console on his way to the ready room door. "He's on his way."
Chakotay turned back to the viewscreen and noticed that Kathryn was now making every effort to sit upright again, her shoulders squared and her jaw set. Her captain's mask now firmly back in place as Tuvok entered the room.
=/\=
TBC
Written - 8/20/02 Summary - It's the anniversary of the encounter with the Equinox and Noah Lessing has something special in mind to mark the occasion. Rating - PG
Chapter 3
When Chakotay left the ready room, he found Tuvok waiting anxiously for him. Well, at least as anxious as a Vulcan could look. "Send one of your security officers to Lessing's quarters. There should be a PADD on the table there. Have it brought to the briefing room." Chakotay ordered as Tuvok fell in along side him and they strode across the bridge. Tuvok motioned to one of his team who immediately entered the turbolift on his way to follow Chakotay's orders. "Is the staff assembled?" Chakotay asked.
"Yes Commander. All accounted for. We have been monitoring your conversation, how is Captain Janeway?"
Chakotay responded with a somber tone in his voice. "A little banged up, but nothing life threatening for the moment. Unfortunately, I think our friend Lessing has something much more serious in mind."
As he finished his statement, the doors to the briefing room opened to reveal the concerned faces of Voyager's senior staff and a number of security officers. Walking toward the head of the table, he grabbed B'Elanna Torres by the arm and pulled her aside, "I understand the transporters are out?"
"Yes they are. Lessing must have been planning this for some time. He's done a masterful job of sabotaging the system. He's got everything so scrambled up that even with my best team on it I still estimate at least four to five hours to sort it all out. At this point we're still trying to find the source of the problem."
"Understood, keep me posted on their progress." As he brushed past B'Elanna and took his seat he turned to Harry, "What about life support, could we shut down the system to the ready room, maybe send an airborne tranquilizing agent through the ventilation system?"
"Already looked into that Commander, he's thought of that too. The circuits are jammed and it's the same as the transporters, I can't locate the source yet to get an estimate on how long it will take to regain full control."
The rest of the officers in the room took their usual seats around the table and Chakotay ran a hand through his hair as he spoke to the group. "Well, it looks as though our disgruntled crewman has covered all the bases. All the obvious options on getting the Captain out of there are unavailable to us for the time being. Anyone have a chance to check into the validity of this threat of his about being able to blow up the ship?"
Tom took the opportunity offered and chimed in, "Tuvok and I have been looking into that. It seems the device he has in the ready room is sending out some kind of an encrypted signal ever since he pressed the control button. We've narrowed the receiver down to somewhere in the warp system, either the core, the plasma conduits, or the nacelles. Any way you look at it, it's entirely possible his threat is real. We won't know for sure for a while yet."
Just then the security officer entered from the rear door of the briefing room and brought the PADD retrieved from Lessing's cabin directly to Chakotay. The room became deathly quiet as he read the information to himself. In essence, Kathryn Janeway was to stand trial for her actions during the incident with the Equinox a year ago, and Noah Lessing would serve as judge and jury.
"What does it say Commander?" inquired Harry when Chakotay looked up from the PADD.
"It says we have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in. Gather round people, we need a plan, and fast." He stood and motioned for all of them to assemble at the front of the computer console in the wall.
Over the next half an hour they examined Lessing's demands. He had compiled a list of all the people he wanted to question in conjunction with this so- called trial. It consisted of former Equinox crewmembers, specifically Angelo Tessoni and Marla Gilmore, as well as several members of Janeway's senior staff, B'Elanna Torres, Commander Tuvok and last but not least, Chakotay himself. The instructions identified that those individuals should be on the bridge through the proceedings and would be called to answer questions one at a time. He would not tolerate more than one person in the room with he and the Captain at any one time. Also, the whole affair was to be broadcast to the entire crew through the comm system.
"How is he going to tell whether or not we broadcast throughout the ship?" Tom asked.
Seven replied, "Actually, there are any number of ways. He could be monitoring comm channel performance, he may have monitors hidden somewhere in key locations around the ship to pick up the transmissions, he may also have other individuals helping him."
"I find that hard to believe Seven. He's given every indication that he's in this alone. While he's apparently put a great deal of thought into all of this, I tend to believe it's an act of singular passion on his part. He obviously thinks he has something to prove where the Captain is concerned, and given the circumstances, we have no choice but to play along until we can figure out what kind of danger the ship is in."
"That is correct Commander." offered Tuvok. "Even if we are able to get the transporters operational, unless we can eliminate the source of his threat, we cannot take the chance of using them on either Lessing himself or the Captain. It could have disastrous results."
"Agreed. Tuvok, gather the rest of the people on this list and get them up here to the briefing room. We'll set this up as our command post and all of us can observe what's going on in the ready room from here. I want the rest of the Equinox crew up here as well, and anyone that Lessing has become particularly close to from the Starfleet or Maquis crew. Maybe they can provide further insight on him, that is if they'll cooperate. Doctor, I want you here as well. I want you to observe Noah closely. I have a hunch there's more to this than meets the eye. When I was in with him earlier, I got the impression that there is something physically wrong with him. I could use your insight on that. I'm also afraid that your services may unfortunately be required where the Captain is concerned." He paused and looked around the table at the concerned faces of the staff. "I want all of you who are not on his interview list at your posts keeping everything running smoothly and relaying any findings on the device to us in here." They nodded in agreement but remained silent. "And don't worry people, we'll get ourselves and the Captain out of this. Now, we have approximately 15 minutes. Let's finish getting everything in place."
The staff filed out to their appointed tasks one by one. Tuvok met with his security staff then set a rotation of two officers on each of the ready room doors through the next eight hours. He then sent the rest of the team out to assist the engineering and operations teams. Their task, scouring the ship and it's systems looking for a clue that would get the transporters back on line and deactivate whatever device Lessing might have planted.
=/\=
Noah Lessing began preparing the room for the next phase of his plan. As he worked, he did everything he could to avoid eye contact with Kathryn Janeway, avoid seeing the evidence of what he'd already done to her. Pent- up energy was tingling through every fiber of his being, and his mind raced, as he tried to keep thoughts of what he still intended to do in order. He'd been planning this for so long, and now that he had finally worked up the nerve to go through with it, he couldn't allow himself to fail.
Part of him wanted to run away from all this, deep down he was knew he was making a big mistake, that this was not the way to handle his problems. But somehow, he couldn't see any other way forward, couldn't prevent himself from following this to, what was in his mind at least, it's logical conclusion. He'd tried for so long to work through things on his own, to move beyond that almost constant depression and guilt he had felt on the Equinox. He was instrumental in developing the technology that had allowed them to travel forward on the bodies of the dead aliens and he'd never forgiven himself for it. He did what he had to, or more precisely, what Ransom and Burke had ordered him to, but he had hated every moment of it. And then, Janeway and Voyager had come along, passing judgement and stressing his fragile sense of loyalty even further. In the end, he had convinced himself that her actions had sent him over the edge, forced him into defending something and someone even he didn't believe in, because to do otherwise would betray his friends, his Equinox family.
Then, suddenly, as fast as his doubts had surfaced, he shook his head and scrubbed his eyes with his free hand and reminded himself that he wasn't the problem, she was. 'Kathryn the not so Great', as Angelo had nicknamed her, the venerated Captain of the Starship Voyager, so distant, so aloof, so holier than thou. She ruled from on high, letting her first officer, or her security chief, handle all the real work. If she really gave a damn, she would have done more, done something, done anything, to deal personally with the few sole survivors of the Equinox. Damn the Delta Quadrant, damn Starfleet, and damn all their Captains to the farthest corner of hell.
As his anger forced him to return his focus on the task at hand, his palms began to sweat and his eyes became increasingly more sensitive to the light in the room. "Computer, lights 60%!" he shouted at the air and then continued his work.
Kathryn Janeway had taken the temporary lull in the action to observe Noah Lessing. At least when he was in a position for her to be able to observe him. It was clear he wanted to stay out of her line of sight most of the time. Chakotay's comment about his eyes became plainly obvious to her at one point when he had leaned against the wall directly in her line of sight for a few seconds. Both appeared terribly bloodshot, she even thought she caught a glimpse of his pupils, they appeared to be dilated much more than they should be and that was likely responsible for his need to dim the lights. She had even noticed the same shaking in his hands that her first officer had noticed. Above all, he looked restless and nervous, his body language that of a caged animal stalking the limits of it's available space. She wondered what could be causing it. Was it possible that Noah had some form of ailment that was triggering all this?
Before she could ponder the idea further, Lessing began to shift the positions of some of the items in the room. First, he carried her computer console to the other side of the room and propped it in the corner near the end of the sofa. Once that was done, he ordered her to turn herself and her chair to a somewhat different position, one that directly faced the computer. He spent several more minutes maneuvering furniture until he was finally satisfied that everything was in place, then he ordered her to contact her first officer.
=/\=
"Janeway to Chakotay." The comm transmission came at exactly sixty minutes from the time Chakotay had left the ready room. Immediately the conversation in the briefing room came to an abrupt halt.
"Chakotay here Captain."
"Crewman Lessing wants to know if you have everything ready." It must have been a difficult and uncomfortable hour for her, but her voice was clear and strong, unafraid.
"Yes, we have everything prepared per his instructions."
She cleared her throat before she continued and Chakotay couldn't help but envision Lessing with his knife to her neck again. "Then he wants you to start the ship-wide transmission and send in Marla Gilmore."
"Understood." He closed the link and looked at Marla, who in turn looked nervously at him. She had arrived in the room only a few minutes before and Chakotay had just finished briefing her and the others on Lessing's list on the situation. "You know what to do Marla, just follow his instructions and answer any questions honestly. Tuvok, will you escort her please?" Tuvok and Marla exited the briefing room through the door to the bridge and Chakotay followed until he turned and went to join Harry at the ops station. "It's time."
"Aye Sir." Harry replied and within seconds, the viewscreen filled with an image of the ready room. The entire room was visible from the vantagepoint of the sofa near the viewport. Lessing obviously positioning the console there so they would have an optimum view of the room. It took only a few seconds more for those on the bridge, in the briefing room, and throughout the rest of the ship to get their first good look at Kathryn Janeway since being taken hostage. Lessing had turned her so she now faced directly in view of the monitor instead of the main door. There was a collective gasp as they saw her bruised and swollen face, her split lip, and the lacerations and blood on her neck.
Chakotay observed that the bruises and swelling had gotten worse in the last hour without better treatment, but she was sitting up straight, at least as much as her bound hands would allow, and her chin was held high. Lessing had taken a seat directly behind her on the edge of the desk. He did not appear threatening at the moment, probably in an attempt to put Marla more at ease, but neither Chakotay or Tuvok were fooled. They were well aware he was still within easy reach of the Captain.
=/\=
Marla crossed the ready room very slowly, uncertain as to what she would face.
Janeway looked over her shoulder, watching closely as Marla entered the room, and tried to offer some reassurance. "It's alright Marla."
Lessing jumped in, probably trying to make sure he appeared to be the one in control. "Hi Marla. There's nothing to be afraid of. Take a seat." He said, pointing to the other chair he had position several feet from the Captain where it could be clearly seen through the transmission, but far enough away to prevent anyone from being close enough to easily challenge him.
His first interview was quite brief. Marla had not had any real contact with the Captain during the encounter with Ransom and the Equinox. Lessing spent the entire time asking her questions about what things had been like on their ship. His intent obviously to lay groundwork for people to understand why they had followed Ransom and what had driven them to do what they had done. To some extent it worked. Marla was well liked by her new crew, more so than most of the others from the Equinox. She was an excellent engineer and she got along with everyone. And while she wasn't exactly outgoing, she was open and honest and easy to get to know. Everyone also knew that she carried some emotional baggage from her time in the Delta Quadrant and the experiences on the Equinox and they felt sympathy for her. She was still afraid, even after all this time, to spend more time than necessary in a turbolift.
During questioning, Marla couldn't help but stare at the Captain. She was shocked by what Noah had done to her. She would never have thought him capable of such wanton and single minded violence toward another human being. Even with everything that had happened on the Equinox, Noah had been one of the few who wasn't hardened to the elimination of the aliens. She wondered exactly what had so plainly changed him now. Her experience on Voyager hadn't been all that bad. Yes, she'd been demoted along with the rest of them, but she at least felt she had been treated well, especially by Chakotay and B'Elanna and the engineering staff.
As for her opinion of Janeway herself, while she hadn't been thrilled by the demotion of all the Equinox survivors, she fundamentally understood Captain Janeway's action. She knew Janeway really had very little choice. She and Voyager had saved their lives and Ransom and his crew had returned the favor by leaving them to an uncertain fate at the hands of the aliens. Quite frankly, as far as Marla was concerned, to receive only a demotion under the circumstances was probably a gift.
Janeway noticed Marla's scrutiny, and forced herself to maintain eye contact with the young woman through her questioning, with a truly heartfelt expression of compassion for her situation. She hoped it conveyed some reassurance to her.
Marla noticed Janeway's response and took it as intended. It surprised her a little. The fact that the Captain could think of anyone else in the predicament she was in was quite a testament to her true character. Marla was also quite surprised when after only a few questions Noah let her go. She felt happy to have the whole experience over with, but was somewhat reluctant to leave the Captain in her condition. Knowing she could do nothing to help for now, she stood, took one long last look into the Captain's eyes, turned and exited the room.
=/\=
When Marla exited the ready room, she found Tuvok waiting for her to escort her to the briefing room where Chakotay was questioning several crewmembers about Lessing and his recent frame of mind. The Commander was just finishing an interview with Bryan Soffin when she entered through the door from the bridge. As he motioned her to take the recently vacated seat, she noticed the viewscreen on the wall displaying a constant feed of the activity in the ready room. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from the display, having had more than enough of the view during her own questioning.
"Marla, are you alright?" Chakotay inquired as he rested on hand on her shoulder in reassurance.
She forced her emotions deeper beneath the surface and focused her gaze on his chin as he took a seat opposite her. "I'm fine Commander, thank you for asking."
He noticed the lack of eye contact, but continued anyway. "I know that was difficult for you, but you handled yourself well in there, you can be proud of yourself."
"Thank you Sir."
He removed his hand and offered her a cup of water, pouring it from a pitcher on the table. She acknowledged the cool liquid gratefully by nodding her head as she took the cup and drank, resting it back on the table after draining it.
"I wish I didn't have to ask you more questions, but I'm sure you realize I need to understand why Noah would do something like this. I know the six of you from the Equinox have spent a great deal of time together in the last year. I'm hoping you can help me understand why Noah would have done something like this. Were you aware of any changes in his behavior recently?"
Marla signed heavily and took the time to clear her mind of the questioning in the ready room and focus on the Commander's request. She knew what he wanted to know and she wanted to help him. Looking back over the last year, with the benefit of seeing what Noah had become, she began to talk. "Now that you mention it, Noah has spent more and more time over the last several months by himself. He's become almost reclusive. When he did come and spend time with the rest of us, he seemed uptight all the time. He'd get mad and fly off the handle about some of the silliest things. He even began to remember recent events differently than everyone else. When we'd try to correct him, he got agitated and would usually run off to his quarters."
"Did he ever speak of a grudge against Captain Janeway, direct any anger toward her?"
"Not at first. Angelo was the one who wouldn't keep his mouth shut about it, but you know all about that."
Chakotay knew exactly to what she was referring. Several weeks after the destruction of the Equinox, Chakotay, Tuvok and a security team had broken up a fistfight in the mess hall instigated by Crewman Tessoni spouting some extremely derogatory remarks about the Captain. Several of the Maquis crew took exception to his attitude and defended her honor. Ironically, Noah Lessing had been right in the middle of the fray, trying to break it up. My how things had changed.
"When did you first hear that Noah might be harboring some of the same opinion?" he asked.
Marla thought hard about it, knowing that this was an important point. "I think it was about three months ago. We were all hanging around in Sandrines and watching Captain Janeway trounce Tom Paris at the pool table. I remember it was one of the few times I'd seen her at a ship's social function since we came aboard. As usual, Angelo started something. He made some kind of a comment under his breath. He'd had a couple of drinks and was getting obnoxious. Most of us ignore him when he gets like that. This time, Noah grabbed him by the arm and led him away from the rest of us, but not far enough. We could clearly hear the two of them as they stood there glaring at Captain Janeway and making snide remarks. It was pretty rough. I'd rather not repeat any of it if you don't mind?"
Chakotay shook his head. Marla's information was the last that he needed to gather. He had pieced together a picture of a man who, for some as yet unknown reason, had changed dramatically recently, even to the point of surprising those closest to him. "Thank you Marla, you've helped put some things in perspective for me. You can go now."
Marla Gilmore rose from her seat and began to move away from the table toward the door as the Commander turned and began reviewing and recording information in a PADD. She took several steps and then stopped and turned to face Chakotay once again. "Commander Chakotay?"
Turning toward her, he focused his dark eyes on hers, "Yes."
"I hope this all works out alright, especially for Captain Janeway."
Chakotay was noticeably moved by the sincerity in her expression. "As do I Crewman. On behalf of the Captain, I thank you for your concern." He looked at her for a long moment until she dropped her head to break eye contact, turned on her heels in almost military fashion, and left the room.
=/\=
Angelo Tessoni was Lessing's next interview. He walked purposefully into the room and glanced in Lessing's direction first, nodding to him.
"Have a seat." Lessing said, motioning toward the chair so recently vacated by Gilmore.
Angelo turned toward the chair and finally caught a good long look at Janeway as he moved toward the chair and sat as requested. He glared at her at first, then, noticing her physical condition more closely, his expression softened almost imperceptibly.
Noah questioned him in a similar manner as he had Marla. He spent a good deal of time asking about their experiences on the Equinox and how they had all felt, losing so many in the crew, under constant attack, the fear and deprivation they had lived through.
When Tessoni was finished discussing the Equinox, Lessing went on to ask him about his life on Voyager. His experience was a little different than Marla's, and mostly because of his personality. Janeway remembered reading Chakotay's personnel reports related to the Equinox crewmembers. Angelo had been a concern. Chakotay felt he wasn't adjusting very well. He had proven to be the type to hold a grudge and wear it over his heart like a badge of honor. He was openly resentful of the demotion, and had a similar opinion to the one Lessing expressed, that Janeway hadn't tried to understand their circumstances, she had simply judged them guilty. When Lessing asked him about that, Angelo responded that he wondered just what they were supposed to be guilty of, following the orders of their captain and superior officers? In his eyes, Janeway's actions had proven she was no better than what they had left behind. He stated emphatically that he felt she was the type who would keelhaul anyone who disobeyed her.
Lowering her head to her chest she took a deep breath and tried to clear her head. Angelo's statement bothered her more than she would have thought possible after all this time. If he felt that way, it was her fault. She should have taken the time to work personally with each of the Equinox crew. She had truly meant to, but there never seemed to be the time. In the end, she had entrusted that to her junior officers, and largely to Chakotay. It was his job as Voyager's first officer to handle personnel matters, but nevertheless, circumstances were anything by normal, and she should have taken the time. Now she might never get the chance.
=/\=
Chakotay had only re-entered the bridge moments before, taking his position in his command chair. He and the rest of the crew now watched the proceedings in the viewscreen with barely concealed concern as they noticed her drop her head. "Doctor, is she alright?" He asked quietly, leaning to the medical officer seated to his left on the command level.
The doctor turned toward him and spoke softly in response. "As well as can be expected under the circumstances I would say. She's in a very stressful situation, both physically and mentally. I'm sure it's taking it's toll. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell for certain without being able to obtain a signal from her comm badge."
"Any insights into the condition of our friend Lessing?" Chakotay asked.
"I've been observing his behavior and I've taken several readings from his combadge. His body temperature is significantly elevated and his heart rate is fluctuating to the point where I'm surprised he hasn't passed out on more than one occasion. I've also been able to discern that his hands are trembling almost constantly, and he's apparently sensitive to light. He just reduced the light level in the ready room considerably. While I'm convinced there is something physically wrong with him, I simply do not possess enough information to form a reasonable hypothesis as to the root cause. Moreover, and more importantly, I have nothing to provide you that would assist you in dealing with him. I am truly sorry Commander. I wish there was more I could tell you."
While it wasn't very reassuring, it was all the doctor had to offer. "Well, keep on it. Maybe something will make sense given a little more time." Turning back to the screen, they noticed that Lessing had finished with his second witness. Chakotay found it interesting that he had so far not asked any questions of the Captain.
While he contemplated what that could mean, Lessing hailed him. "Lessing to Commander Chakotay."
"Chakotay here." He replied as he heard the ready room door swish open and shut allowing Angelo Tessoni to exit. Chakotay stared at him as he continued to walk to the upper level of the bridge and join the other crewmembers watching the proceedings at the rail. The Commander would deal with Angelo's issues later, but for now he clearly conveyed is disapproval through the thinly veiled expression of irritation in his eyes.
"I want Commander Tuvok in here next." Lessing declared.
"Very well." Chakotay turned toward Tuvok and he nodded and moved around his console on his way to the ready room door. "He's on his way."
Chakotay turned back to the viewscreen and noticed that Kathryn was now making every effort to sit upright again, her shoulders squared and her jaw set. Her captain's mask now firmly back in place as Tuvok entered the room.
=/\=
TBC