Disclaimer: Sadly we do not own any of the Voyager characters, ships, plots or universe. They belong to Paramount.
Summary: After a year of being home, Voyager's scattered crew gathers together for one last battle~ but it's not the jolly reunion one might expect… Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Tom, B'Elanna, Harry, Seven…and some new characters. Enjoy!
Past Re-Visited
By Erin and Rebecca
Chapter 4:
Graveyard
"Tom."
"Go away."
"It's your turn."
"I fed her last night. I believe it's your turn."
"And I was with her all day yesterday."
"I'm sleeping."
"Get up or I'll break your arm," B'Elanna's common threat was what got Tom out of bed.
As Tom walked into Miral's room, he asked the crying child, "Has there ever been a night that you don't like getting up at 0300?"
At thirteen months old, Miral Kathryn found that she liked to sleep during the day, and keeping her parents up at night.
Tom paced around their quarters while trying to calm his young child.. She started to settle down after Tom gave her a bottle.
The stars of the Beta Quadrant streaked by at warp. It's amazing what life will throw you. Tom thought. For seven years we tried to get back to the Alpha Quadrant, then at the first chance we get we go towards another.
"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Harry Kim asked his best friend. "It's going to be a two year mission."
"It's not like we're going to be out of contact," Tom defended his and B'Elanna's decision.
"If you were going to go back to space, why didn't you just stay in Starfleet? You would have both been bumped up to Lieutenant Commanders."
"It's not about the rank, Harry. With this job B'Elanna and I will be able to keep our jobs that we love and Miral will be able to be with us. Your shot."
Tom and Harry made a promise in the Voyager's early days that when they got home, they would shoot pool at the real Sandrine's. Though they lost interest in the holoprogram, they kept their promise. Three months after the ship got home, after the homecoming parties and the Starfleet ceremonies, the two best friends spent one last afternoon together.
"So when does this new job start?"
"One week."
"A week! Don't you think that's a little soon."
"This job isn't going to come up again," Tom answered.
"It's a Federation science vessel. There are plenty of them."
"This one seemed like the one," Tom said as he sunk the 8-ball into the corner pocket, thus ending the game. "Nine crewmen and eight civilians, a couple of them children. It'll be good for us."
The ten months since that conversation seemed to go by in a blur. He glanced down, almost unaware that Miral had stopped crying and was peacefully resting in his arms. Tom walked over to the bedside table and looked at the picture next to his bed. It was Harry, holding his little goddaughter, the day of the banquet. It's not like we're going to be out of contact. His own words echoed in his mind. Yeah right. He hadn't seen Harry since. He'd heard that he was fine, working on the Enterprise, under Jean-Luc Picard. No doubt happy in the position that he had always wanted in the first place. Still, there were days he'd give anything to jump into his Captain Proton suit and run over to the holodeck…on Voyager.
He laid the sleeping child in her crib and looked over at B'Elanna, who had long since fallen back asleep. Yes he missed Harry, and there were days he missed Voyager. But he had his B'Elanna. Nothing was more important than that.
He was about to lay down next to her when his thoughts were interrupted by a very loud crewman.
"Mr. Paris?"
"What the hell?" B'Elanna asked, instantly awake.
Paris motioned for her to be quiet.
"Go ahead Lyman."
"You'd better get up here sir. There's something you need to see." The comm. system switched off just as Miral started to cry again. Tom looked at B'Elanna.
"I know, I know. Go to the bridge flyboy. I'll take care of Miral."
Tom kissed her on the forehead and headed for the bridge, quickly changing before he left.
"All right Josh," he said to Josh Lyman, sitting at ops, "What could possibly be important enough to-" But Tom didn't even have to finish his sentence. He stared at a viewscreen littered with debris. Millions of fragments of ships floated around them in disarray. It looked like the battle of Wolf 359.
"Scan for life signs. Distress signals."
"Already done sir," Lyman said from his seat, "It's a graveyard."
"My God."
"Sir?"
Tom spun around to answer a girl named Abbey Wetzel who was working at another ops station.
"What is it Abbey?"
"I've been scanning the entire debris field. There appears to be twelve separate ships in all…and they're all Starfleet.
Tom just stared in silence at the viewscreen. These had been colleagues, perhaps even friends. It brought back the harsh reality of space travel.
"Can you get any data on which ships they were," Tom said, coming back to the present.
"Not yet," Abbey responded. "But there were several ships that have been reported missing from Starfleet in this area."
"Send a transmission to the nearest Starfleet vessel to tell them what happened," Tom started but then asked another question, "Any idea who did this?"
"I'm picking up a weapon's signature, but it's not like one I've ever seen before," Josh answered, "You may want to take a look at this."
Tom walked over to the console that Josh was standing at. He stared at the readings for a couple of minutes without saying anything. These reading look so familiar… he thought. Where are they from… "Oh, God…get B'Elanna up here."
* * * * *
