Chakotay, who's shift just had started, headed down a hallway when he suddenly ran into...
"Kathryn!"
"Good morning to you too. Why do you looks so shocked?" She looked amused, holding the
usual cup of coffee.
"Why have you assigned Michels this shift? I thought Harry was supposed to take it."
"He was. But I send Harry and B'Elanna to the Sprai-koo's homeworld, to get Tom back."
Chakotay paled and violently struck his brow in dismay while he practically yelled.
"Oh no! You can't have done that Kathryn!"
"I am the Captain on this ship. I do what I find suiting the situation. In this case a pilot leaving
his ship, for an unknown reason. What better can I do than to send his friends to look for
him?"
"I'll take this from the beginning. Last night, after you finally went to get some rest, I saw two
beings from the Sprai-koo ship downloading information from our Computer.
Later I managed to find out that they copied the warp core's blue-prints.
I also overheard them talking. Something about that they only needed a few more things.
One of them mentioned that it 'was time for another visit to their generous neighbors', the
Taali. At first I planned to arrest the two thieves, but I realized that they only were a part of
something real big.
They are planning something, and out warp technology is a vital part of it. As you might recall,
they didn't yet possess Warp speed.
So I ran to the Bridge, hoping that you'd still be there. However, the Bridge was empty,
except Tom Paris. During those few weeks when he was in the Maquis, I admired his ability to
sneak in and out without being seen. I actually thought he was a Starfleet spy for a while.
Yet today, I'm stunned over how silent he can walk, if he just want's to.
Back to last night, I knew that something had to be done right away, the aliens were about to
beam off Voyager, back to their own ship. There was no time to inform evryone and have a breifing.
So I sent Paris to follow them. To infiltrate their organization and report their plans to me.
Hopefully we'll be able to scatter them for the wind.
I was on my way to tell you right now, so we could wait and prepare for that information, if
Paris succeeds. I certainly didn't count on you sending a naïve Ensign and a hot-tempered
engineer to 'retrieve' him!!"
Janeway removed the hand she held over her mouth and exclaimed,
"What have I done?! You have to inform me right away about everything!
You know that!!"
***
Meanwhile, aboard the shuttle 'Coulee'. Two friends worried about a third.
"You know Maquis, you really freaked me out for a moment."
"In Sickbay?"
"Yeah. You chose two strange reasons, you know that?"
"One of those reasons are true! It's my fault that he left, Harry!"
B'Elanna didn't even bother to keep the truth to herself anymore.
The man wearing the mustard colored shirt paled.
"You mean you really do have a deadly illness!"
"No, Starfleet! I'm not sick."
"Then what--" Harry interrupted himself. "You told Tom that you love him?"
Meeting the former Maquis' guilty gaze, Harry started to smile.
"This is not funny! He left because of me!"
"If I was Tom I'd be thrilled." Harry frowned at the helm, entering commands every now and then.
"Well, apparently he wasn't! Keep your eyes on the viewscreen! There's a place where you
can land."
***
Bypassing the password control was a mere trifle for Tom. He fooled the system to believe
that he'd already written an affirmed password, before a major software error had occurred.
A few minutes after entering the large, white building, he already was about to crack their
security code. It proved to be a difficult task, instead of developing their own warp drive, they
seemed to have concentrated on security.
Tom had learned a few tricks in prison, but to solve all of their complicated codes, he needed
time. The heavy steps which approached him didn't buy him a lot more time, actually no more
time. He slammed his fist at the console he worked on and shut it down. Doing that, he loosed
all the information he'd managed to gather for the past fifteen minutes.
When he noticed that those steps were utterly close he turned around and tried to look lost.
A high ranked Sprai-koo male rounded the corner next to Tom.
"Are you one of those 'hunans' from the warp capable starship?"
"Yes, I'm a 'human.'" Tom pronounced the species as tactful as he could.
"What do you want here then?"
Tom leaned closer to the officer and looked around, acting like he was going to reveal an
important secret.
"I want to see your superior. The one single at the top."
"Why should I take you to her?"
Tom shrugged, like it did not really matter. "I'm looking for a job."
"Here?" The Sprai-koo nearly burst out in laughter, but stopped himself from doing such an action in public.
'Boy, does this one need time to put two and two together,' Tom thought. He decided to
explain his errand real slow.
"Voyager bores me out. I need action in my life. Adventure! This seems to be the right place." He couldn't believe
what he actually was saying.
"I'm not sure..."
"I've got lots of information about Voyager, the ship I came with. You might find it... useful."
The Sprai-koo turned Tom around, grabbed his arm and began to walk.
"Very well. My name is Ecbel. Supervisor of the Third Squadron."
"Nice. I'm Tom... Supervisor of the... Helm."
Ecbel led him through several long, gloomy hallways. They didn't meet anyone before Ecbel
stopped in front of a pair of doors, with two aliens in front, apparently guards.
'Finally,' Tom thought, 'Other living beings.'
One of the guards asked for; "Name and errand?" He was the taller, the one of the two who inspired respect.
"Ecbel Ecbal, Supervisor of the Third Squadron. I wish to see Scrih."
The guards whispered to each other. Tom could hear and understand only fragments such as;
'The Third Squadron is very small...' or 'What's that thing he's bringing... maybe another toy
for Scrih...'
"You may pass." They finally announced.
Ecbal and Tom walked past them, towards the two doors, when the second guard grabbed
Tom's shoulder.
"Third Supervisor, leave the trash on this side."
Tom snorted.
"This is my errand," Ecbal explained.
When they were allowed to walk again the guards began to whisper again. "I told you it was
another toy."
Tom snorted again.
Ecbel Ecbal practically dragged the 'Starfleet flyboy' through the doors the gossiping guards
watched.
Behind the doors they found themselves inside a big room, but yet even more gloomy than the
hallways.
A beautiful female Sprai-koo sat behind a desk. She was actually fairly young, too.
"Ecbel, leave us." She commanded after a look at Tom and a brief conversation with her minor
officer. Ecbel obeyed and went out through a door to Tom's right.
"I am Scrih. The Superior Head of this organization."
"Then I came to the right place after all, I doubted for a while. By the way, you can call me
Tom."
Playing charades in front of women, now that was something Tom was really good at.
"The right place for what?"
She seemed to take the bait.
"I'm looking for a job."
"I see. And I understand that you've got much useful information about your former ship and
her crew?" He now had her undivided attention. She rested her elbows on the desk and leaned
forward a bit, smiling encouragily.
"Yeah, I can confess that I do know one thing and another."
"At least about the women aboard, I guess..."
Tom flashed her a wide smile, inside he wondered if she flirted with him.
"I'll settle for pretty much any job..."
"Okay, I'll give you a job. But..."
'Oh, great! There's always a 'but'! ' Tom thought.
Scrih continued, "To prove that you, in the future, will be loyal to me, only me. Not to your
former Captain, you'll tell me the password to your main systems."
"Like life support?"
"And to your weapons."
"Sure, I can do that, but you can't get aboard and use it now anyway. The main alarm will set
off immediately."
"I don't plan to access all of your systems 'now', you fool! I'll use it later."
Hot-tempered. But for B'Elanna she wouldn't be a match. B'Elanna. Tom closed his eyes for a
brief second.
"All right. You can use mine."
"What is it then?"
She looked more and more excited.
"Paris17A6-52."
Scrih flashed him a wicked smile.
'She couldn't possibly have 'believed' that one?'
"That was very kind of you... Tim. You've got a new job, kid. Sector 57. The town of
Morekay. I'll inform my, and now also your, contact there. Shiral, she owns a little bar in
Morekay. Cozy, I've visited it once. I usually let my contacts come to me. You'll work there,
at the same time you'll be on the lookout."
'Tim? Kid?!', Tom thought, but said, "On the lookout for what?"
"That'll vary. Right now, you'll look out for any other hunans. Tell me, do you have any
experience in bars?"
"I've visited a few in my time." He coughed discreetly.
Scrih laughed, a short, genuine laugh.
"Can you serve drinks?"
"Sure."
"Good. Then you're the new bartender."
"What happened with the old one?"
"His eyes weren't... sharp enough."
Her smile made him downhearted.
"Ecbel will take you there, tonight."
***
"Kathryn!"
"Good morning to you too. Why do you looks so shocked?" She looked amused, holding the
usual cup of coffee.
"Why have you assigned Michels this shift? I thought Harry was supposed to take it."
"He was. But I send Harry and B'Elanna to the Sprai-koo's homeworld, to get Tom back."
Chakotay paled and violently struck his brow in dismay while he practically yelled.
"Oh no! You can't have done that Kathryn!"
"I am the Captain on this ship. I do what I find suiting the situation. In this case a pilot leaving
his ship, for an unknown reason. What better can I do than to send his friends to look for
him?"
"I'll take this from the beginning. Last night, after you finally went to get some rest, I saw two
beings from the Sprai-koo ship downloading information from our Computer.
Later I managed to find out that they copied the warp core's blue-prints.
I also overheard them talking. Something about that they only needed a few more things.
One of them mentioned that it 'was time for another visit to their generous neighbors', the
Taali. At first I planned to arrest the two thieves, but I realized that they only were a part of
something real big.
They are planning something, and out warp technology is a vital part of it. As you might recall,
they didn't yet possess Warp speed.
So I ran to the Bridge, hoping that you'd still be there. However, the Bridge was empty,
except Tom Paris. During those few weeks when he was in the Maquis, I admired his ability to
sneak in and out without being seen. I actually thought he was a Starfleet spy for a while.
Yet today, I'm stunned over how silent he can walk, if he just want's to.
Back to last night, I knew that something had to be done right away, the aliens were about to
beam off Voyager, back to their own ship. There was no time to inform evryone and have a breifing.
So I sent Paris to follow them. To infiltrate their organization and report their plans to me.
Hopefully we'll be able to scatter them for the wind.
I was on my way to tell you right now, so we could wait and prepare for that information, if
Paris succeeds. I certainly didn't count on you sending a naïve Ensign and a hot-tempered
engineer to 'retrieve' him!!"
Janeway removed the hand she held over her mouth and exclaimed,
"What have I done?! You have to inform me right away about everything!
You know that!!"
***
Meanwhile, aboard the shuttle 'Coulee'. Two friends worried about a third.
"You know Maquis, you really freaked me out for a moment."
"In Sickbay?"
"Yeah. You chose two strange reasons, you know that?"
"One of those reasons are true! It's my fault that he left, Harry!"
B'Elanna didn't even bother to keep the truth to herself anymore.
The man wearing the mustard colored shirt paled.
"You mean you really do have a deadly illness!"
"No, Starfleet! I'm not sick."
"Then what--" Harry interrupted himself. "You told Tom that you love him?"
Meeting the former Maquis' guilty gaze, Harry started to smile.
"This is not funny! He left because of me!"
"If I was Tom I'd be thrilled." Harry frowned at the helm, entering commands every now and then.
"Well, apparently he wasn't! Keep your eyes on the viewscreen! There's a place where you
can land."
***
Bypassing the password control was a mere trifle for Tom. He fooled the system to believe
that he'd already written an affirmed password, before a major software error had occurred.
A few minutes after entering the large, white building, he already was about to crack their
security code. It proved to be a difficult task, instead of developing their own warp drive, they
seemed to have concentrated on security.
Tom had learned a few tricks in prison, but to solve all of their complicated codes, he needed
time. The heavy steps which approached him didn't buy him a lot more time, actually no more
time. He slammed his fist at the console he worked on and shut it down. Doing that, he loosed
all the information he'd managed to gather for the past fifteen minutes.
When he noticed that those steps were utterly close he turned around and tried to look lost.
A high ranked Sprai-koo male rounded the corner next to Tom.
"Are you one of those 'hunans' from the warp capable starship?"
"Yes, I'm a 'human.'" Tom pronounced the species as tactful as he could.
"What do you want here then?"
Tom leaned closer to the officer and looked around, acting like he was going to reveal an
important secret.
"I want to see your superior. The one single at the top."
"Why should I take you to her?"
Tom shrugged, like it did not really matter. "I'm looking for a job."
"Here?" The Sprai-koo nearly burst out in laughter, but stopped himself from doing such an action in public.
'Boy, does this one need time to put two and two together,' Tom thought. He decided to
explain his errand real slow.
"Voyager bores me out. I need action in my life. Adventure! This seems to be the right place." He couldn't believe
what he actually was saying.
"I'm not sure..."
"I've got lots of information about Voyager, the ship I came with. You might find it... useful."
The Sprai-koo turned Tom around, grabbed his arm and began to walk.
"Very well. My name is Ecbel. Supervisor of the Third Squadron."
"Nice. I'm Tom... Supervisor of the... Helm."
Ecbel led him through several long, gloomy hallways. They didn't meet anyone before Ecbel
stopped in front of a pair of doors, with two aliens in front, apparently guards.
'Finally,' Tom thought, 'Other living beings.'
One of the guards asked for; "Name and errand?" He was the taller, the one of the two who inspired respect.
"Ecbel Ecbal, Supervisor of the Third Squadron. I wish to see Scrih."
The guards whispered to each other. Tom could hear and understand only fragments such as;
'The Third Squadron is very small...' or 'What's that thing he's bringing... maybe another toy
for Scrih...'
"You may pass." They finally announced.
Ecbal and Tom walked past them, towards the two doors, when the second guard grabbed
Tom's shoulder.
"Third Supervisor, leave the trash on this side."
Tom snorted.
"This is my errand," Ecbal explained.
When they were allowed to walk again the guards began to whisper again. "I told you it was
another toy."
Tom snorted again.
Ecbel Ecbal practically dragged the 'Starfleet flyboy' through the doors the gossiping guards
watched.
Behind the doors they found themselves inside a big room, but yet even more gloomy than the
hallways.
A beautiful female Sprai-koo sat behind a desk. She was actually fairly young, too.
"Ecbel, leave us." She commanded after a look at Tom and a brief conversation with her minor
officer. Ecbel obeyed and went out through a door to Tom's right.
"I am Scrih. The Superior Head of this organization."
"Then I came to the right place after all, I doubted for a while. By the way, you can call me
Tom."
Playing charades in front of women, now that was something Tom was really good at.
"The right place for what?"
She seemed to take the bait.
"I'm looking for a job."
"I see. And I understand that you've got much useful information about your former ship and
her crew?" He now had her undivided attention. She rested her elbows on the desk and leaned
forward a bit, smiling encouragily.
"Yeah, I can confess that I do know one thing and another."
"At least about the women aboard, I guess..."
Tom flashed her a wide smile, inside he wondered if she flirted with him.
"I'll settle for pretty much any job..."
"Okay, I'll give you a job. But..."
'Oh, great! There's always a 'but'! ' Tom thought.
Scrih continued, "To prove that you, in the future, will be loyal to me, only me. Not to your
former Captain, you'll tell me the password to your main systems."
"Like life support?"
"And to your weapons."
"Sure, I can do that, but you can't get aboard and use it now anyway. The main alarm will set
off immediately."
"I don't plan to access all of your systems 'now', you fool! I'll use it later."
Hot-tempered. But for B'Elanna she wouldn't be a match. B'Elanna. Tom closed his eyes for a
brief second.
"All right. You can use mine."
"What is it then?"
She looked more and more excited.
"Paris17A6-52."
Scrih flashed him a wicked smile.
'She couldn't possibly have 'believed' that one?'
"That was very kind of you... Tim. You've got a new job, kid. Sector 57. The town of
Morekay. I'll inform my, and now also your, contact there. Shiral, she owns a little bar in
Morekay. Cozy, I've visited it once. I usually let my contacts come to me. You'll work there,
at the same time you'll be on the lookout."
'Tim? Kid?!', Tom thought, but said, "On the lookout for what?"
"That'll vary. Right now, you'll look out for any other hunans. Tell me, do you have any
experience in bars?"
"I've visited a few in my time." He coughed discreetly.
Scrih laughed, a short, genuine laugh.
"Can you serve drinks?"
"Sure."
"Good. Then you're the new bartender."
"What happened with the old one?"
"His eyes weren't... sharp enough."
Her smile made him downhearted.
"Ecbel will take you there, tonight."
***