Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager belongs to Paramount Pictures.
Chapter 7: Subject 923
New York, October 31st 2379.
Intelligence was full of white walls, it's intention was to reveal truth, but in reality its purpose was to conceal the truth, to obtain absolute knowledge and not share it. It was the purpose of every intelligence organisation, whether it was of Romulan, Vulcan or of Star Fleet origin, it was just the way that things were. White for Star Fleet was purity, the ships were not pure and so they were grey, the fighters were far from pure and so they were black, it was just the way things were, and how they would probably always be.
But beneath the white walls that symbolised purity was this feeling that things were not as they appeared. You got the distinct impression that no one in the entire group had any idea about anything, and the entire structure of the organisation was based on one person sitting in a little room thinking to him or herself what they could make the elite do next. The elite of course were the field agents, and the agents that spent their entire lives in offices.
Intelligence was not a job, it was a way of life. You lived and breathed it, and it wasn't just you that was affected, your entire family and all of your friends were affected. Even if they did not know it. At any one time, some biped working at some computer could recite the exact position and the exact activity that any one member of any agents family was doing. It was like big brother overload. The intention of this was not exactly clear to many agents, which goes back to the idea that the decisions of the organisation were made by one person that was just having a laugh at other's expenses.
Kathryn walked down the corridors, as she had on so many occasions, and with so many different purposes. On many instances that she could remember she had been called to interrogate a prisoner. Kathryn had a natural skill at knowing when some one was not being totally truthful with her, although this often helped with interrogations, it in some ways hindered her personal life. For example she would know if a boyfriend was not being entirely truthful about something, which although was useful when trying to figure out where they had been all night, it was a little depressing as nothing was ever really a surprise to her.
She thought that was why she had stayed with Raphael for so long, although their relationship had been destructive for the both of them, it had been full of surprises, as she was unable to tell when he was lying. Mark had been see through, and although she had been engaged to him, she wandered if they had ever have gotten married whether it would have lasted for long. With hindsight she didn't think it would have, she would have gotten bored eventually, but then Raphael was a fully trained agent and Mark didn't even know that agents got training.
Her reason for coming this time was slightly different, in fact it was very different than the usual reasons for coming to intelligence. Early one morning some days ago she had received a call informing her that her son had been taken to hospital. By the time she had gotten changed and was just about to leave she had received another call saying that her son had been transferred to a more secure intelligence hospital, after some questioning on her part, she had discovered that he had been transferred to the intelligence hospital the specialised in psychiatric cases.
On her arrival she had been greeted by a doctor, who had explained to her that while at the other hospital he had become very erratic, and had injured a civilian. Fearing that an investigation into the attack would be too damaging and maybe eventually expose Tad as her son. They had talked to the person that had been attacked, explaining that no legal action was necessary, as there had never actually been an attack, and then proceeded to wipe all records of him ever entering the hospital.
Kathryn didn't always approve of intelligence's methods of dealing with most situations, which usually consisted of telling all witnesses that the event they saw didn't actually happen, and if they had memories of it then it meant they were going mad. But she couldn't deny that they were very affective.
What exactly had happened to her son was still unclear to her, and even if she was capable of listening to any explanations that a doctor might be able to put forward to her, they weren't offering any explanations. The reason for this was that they weren't exactly sure what had happened, from what she was picking up, Tad's girlfriend, who she knew very little about and hadn't even met, had called for medical assistance to his apartment. When they had reached him he was fading in and out of conciseness, and eventually when he awoke he had become very distraught and they had had to sedate him. Whether they had sedated him after the attack or before and then he had re-awoken and then injured someone was unclear and irrelevant, what mattered was that it happened, and then the order was less important.
"Janeway." the young agent repeated looking down at a file, "interrogation tier 16, subject 923- Tobias Janeway." he looked up, "the two of you are related?"
Kathryn didn't answer directly, but nodded slightly, "can I see him please?"
The agent replaced the pieces of paper in the file and pressed a button on the desk, "hi, can I have two security guards up here please," he said, as someone on the other end replied that it wasn't a problem.
She was lead by two guards down a hall full of cell doors, each concealing someone that was being kept there 'for their own good'. Eventually they came to the relevant cell door, where one of the guards unlocked it for her.
Although the room was brightly lit she didn't see her son right away, and it was only after she had looked around the room carefully that she spotted him sitting in the corner the other side of the bed. She took a step inside and looked round at the guard who was about to follow her in, "you may leave," she instructed.
The guard was obviously about to argue, but thought better than arguing with an agent, especially this particular agent, and so left the room, closing the door behind himself.
"Tad," Kathryn said softly as she walked closer to her son. There was no response from him and so she tried again, "Tad honey, can you hear me?"
This time there was a response, "I'm busy," he said not even looking round.
"With what?" she asked, thinking it best not to pull him right away from what ever task he was doing.
"Life, the universe. everything!" he shook off the question and went back to whatever he was doing.
"Maybe you could be a little more specific," Kathryn sat on the edge of the bed, some inches from Tad, and reached a hand out, placing it gently on the top of his head.
"I'm not sure." Tad trailed off, and broke away from what he was doing. Kathryn glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was sitting with a pad of paper placed over his crossed legs. In his hand was a pen, but there was no writing on the paper. "But I know that it's important," he concluded placing his right hand, that was holding the pen back onto the paper, although still not writing anything.
"Do you know why it is important?" she asked, patiently as ever.
"Yes." His answers were blunt and made little sense, but Kathryn knew that she had too keep trying to get through to him.
"Are you going to tell me?"
He paused and looked up at her. For the first time she saw his face, and it hurt a little to see that he did not totally recognise her. His eyes were blood shot from not sleeping, and a little ink was smudged across his cheek. "I can't tell you," he said.
"Why not?" She had the distinct feeling that she may never get through to him.
"Because." he looked away, "there's a reason. I can't remember what it is though," he said. He turned away from Kathryn and shook her hand from his head, before swiftly getting up from the floor and walked over to the opposite side of the room. Seeing that he had dropped his pad she leant over to pick it up. When she turned back round she saw that her son had begun to write on the wall, wanting to know what he was up to she left him to it as she went through the pad of paper.
The pad was empty, it was obvious that each page had been flicked through, but nothing written. "You have a son don't you?" Tad asked without facing her.
"I have you," Kathryn agreed.
"No, not me," Tad continued to write, "I don't count, you've left me, I remember that. I don't like him much though, he's too small, he'll never be big enough to hold a guitar."
Ignoring her sons rambling she looked around the bare and empty room, "would you like a guitar?" she asked.
"I don't play anymore," he answered the question amid rambling, "I can't remember why though, but I know it's no longer important."
Again Kathryn's heart sank, she hated to see him like this, she hated to admit it but it had been easier when he was younger. "Where is she?" Tad stopped writing and turned back round.
"Who?"
"I hear her," Tad explained, "sometimes, at night, or when they turn the lights off, I hear her. I think we have the same dreams sometimes, but they could just be mine, I like dreaming, it's easier."
Getting up from the end of the bed Kathryn made her way over to Tad, unlike herself he was not vertically challenged, a lot like his father he was tall and muscular. She placed a hand on his upper arm, she didn't know what she expected, maybe for him to flinch, or pull away, but he stood dead still. She looked up at his face and saw that he was staring directly at the wall opposite, the only movement coming from the small movements of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled, and the occasional blink.
"Well, when you see her, say that I missed her, and that people aren't meant to grow so suddenly, she should slow down." He walked back over to his bed and lay down on top of the sheets, curling up, "you don't mind if I sleep do you?" he asked as he closed his eyes.
"Not at all," she said with a slight lump in her throat, "goodnight." But she didn't hear anything more from him as he had slipped into a sleeping state. "Sweet dreams," she said softly as she made her way towards the door.
~*~
On her way out of the building, she saw a familiar face as she approached the reception desk. At first she wasn't quite sure if it was who she thought it was, but getting closer she heard the familiar voice that confirmed that it was Seven. Kathryn wasn't quite sure what to do, the best decision would have been for her to just leave the building, because questions could be raised as to why Kathryn was in the intelligence building if she made contact with Seven. However, avoiding Seven wasn't probably the best of options, there was the chance that on Kathryn's way out she could be seen by the young woman, and then not only would there be the questions of why she was there, but then also the questions as to why she had avoided Seven.
But before she could decide either way, it was as if Seven chose for her, as she looked around sensing a familiar presence to the side of her. Immediately she spotted Kathryn, and both women froze, staring at each other. Kathryn let out a deep breath that she had not realised she had been holding in, and made her way over to Seven. As she came closer, she noticed that there was something different about Seven, and then she realised.
~*~
End of chapter 7
Chapter 7: Subject 923
New York, October 31st 2379.
Intelligence was full of white walls, it's intention was to reveal truth, but in reality its purpose was to conceal the truth, to obtain absolute knowledge and not share it. It was the purpose of every intelligence organisation, whether it was of Romulan, Vulcan or of Star Fleet origin, it was just the way that things were. White for Star Fleet was purity, the ships were not pure and so they were grey, the fighters were far from pure and so they were black, it was just the way things were, and how they would probably always be.
But beneath the white walls that symbolised purity was this feeling that things were not as they appeared. You got the distinct impression that no one in the entire group had any idea about anything, and the entire structure of the organisation was based on one person sitting in a little room thinking to him or herself what they could make the elite do next. The elite of course were the field agents, and the agents that spent their entire lives in offices.
Intelligence was not a job, it was a way of life. You lived and breathed it, and it wasn't just you that was affected, your entire family and all of your friends were affected. Even if they did not know it. At any one time, some biped working at some computer could recite the exact position and the exact activity that any one member of any agents family was doing. It was like big brother overload. The intention of this was not exactly clear to many agents, which goes back to the idea that the decisions of the organisation were made by one person that was just having a laugh at other's expenses.
Kathryn walked down the corridors, as she had on so many occasions, and with so many different purposes. On many instances that she could remember she had been called to interrogate a prisoner. Kathryn had a natural skill at knowing when some one was not being totally truthful with her, although this often helped with interrogations, it in some ways hindered her personal life. For example she would know if a boyfriend was not being entirely truthful about something, which although was useful when trying to figure out where they had been all night, it was a little depressing as nothing was ever really a surprise to her.
She thought that was why she had stayed with Raphael for so long, although their relationship had been destructive for the both of them, it had been full of surprises, as she was unable to tell when he was lying. Mark had been see through, and although she had been engaged to him, she wandered if they had ever have gotten married whether it would have lasted for long. With hindsight she didn't think it would have, she would have gotten bored eventually, but then Raphael was a fully trained agent and Mark didn't even know that agents got training.
Her reason for coming this time was slightly different, in fact it was very different than the usual reasons for coming to intelligence. Early one morning some days ago she had received a call informing her that her son had been taken to hospital. By the time she had gotten changed and was just about to leave she had received another call saying that her son had been transferred to a more secure intelligence hospital, after some questioning on her part, she had discovered that he had been transferred to the intelligence hospital the specialised in psychiatric cases.
On her arrival she had been greeted by a doctor, who had explained to her that while at the other hospital he had become very erratic, and had injured a civilian. Fearing that an investigation into the attack would be too damaging and maybe eventually expose Tad as her son. They had talked to the person that had been attacked, explaining that no legal action was necessary, as there had never actually been an attack, and then proceeded to wipe all records of him ever entering the hospital.
Kathryn didn't always approve of intelligence's methods of dealing with most situations, which usually consisted of telling all witnesses that the event they saw didn't actually happen, and if they had memories of it then it meant they were going mad. But she couldn't deny that they were very affective.
What exactly had happened to her son was still unclear to her, and even if she was capable of listening to any explanations that a doctor might be able to put forward to her, they weren't offering any explanations. The reason for this was that they weren't exactly sure what had happened, from what she was picking up, Tad's girlfriend, who she knew very little about and hadn't even met, had called for medical assistance to his apartment. When they had reached him he was fading in and out of conciseness, and eventually when he awoke he had become very distraught and they had had to sedate him. Whether they had sedated him after the attack or before and then he had re-awoken and then injured someone was unclear and irrelevant, what mattered was that it happened, and then the order was less important.
"Janeway." the young agent repeated looking down at a file, "interrogation tier 16, subject 923- Tobias Janeway." he looked up, "the two of you are related?"
Kathryn didn't answer directly, but nodded slightly, "can I see him please?"
The agent replaced the pieces of paper in the file and pressed a button on the desk, "hi, can I have two security guards up here please," he said, as someone on the other end replied that it wasn't a problem.
She was lead by two guards down a hall full of cell doors, each concealing someone that was being kept there 'for their own good'. Eventually they came to the relevant cell door, where one of the guards unlocked it for her.
Although the room was brightly lit she didn't see her son right away, and it was only after she had looked around the room carefully that she spotted him sitting in the corner the other side of the bed. She took a step inside and looked round at the guard who was about to follow her in, "you may leave," she instructed.
The guard was obviously about to argue, but thought better than arguing with an agent, especially this particular agent, and so left the room, closing the door behind himself.
"Tad," Kathryn said softly as she walked closer to her son. There was no response from him and so she tried again, "Tad honey, can you hear me?"
This time there was a response, "I'm busy," he said not even looking round.
"With what?" she asked, thinking it best not to pull him right away from what ever task he was doing.
"Life, the universe. everything!" he shook off the question and went back to whatever he was doing.
"Maybe you could be a little more specific," Kathryn sat on the edge of the bed, some inches from Tad, and reached a hand out, placing it gently on the top of his head.
"I'm not sure." Tad trailed off, and broke away from what he was doing. Kathryn glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was sitting with a pad of paper placed over his crossed legs. In his hand was a pen, but there was no writing on the paper. "But I know that it's important," he concluded placing his right hand, that was holding the pen back onto the paper, although still not writing anything.
"Do you know why it is important?" she asked, patiently as ever.
"Yes." His answers were blunt and made little sense, but Kathryn knew that she had too keep trying to get through to him.
"Are you going to tell me?"
He paused and looked up at her. For the first time she saw his face, and it hurt a little to see that he did not totally recognise her. His eyes were blood shot from not sleeping, and a little ink was smudged across his cheek. "I can't tell you," he said.
"Why not?" She had the distinct feeling that she may never get through to him.
"Because." he looked away, "there's a reason. I can't remember what it is though," he said. He turned away from Kathryn and shook her hand from his head, before swiftly getting up from the floor and walked over to the opposite side of the room. Seeing that he had dropped his pad she leant over to pick it up. When she turned back round she saw that her son had begun to write on the wall, wanting to know what he was up to she left him to it as she went through the pad of paper.
The pad was empty, it was obvious that each page had been flicked through, but nothing written. "You have a son don't you?" Tad asked without facing her.
"I have you," Kathryn agreed.
"No, not me," Tad continued to write, "I don't count, you've left me, I remember that. I don't like him much though, he's too small, he'll never be big enough to hold a guitar."
Ignoring her sons rambling she looked around the bare and empty room, "would you like a guitar?" she asked.
"I don't play anymore," he answered the question amid rambling, "I can't remember why though, but I know it's no longer important."
Again Kathryn's heart sank, she hated to see him like this, she hated to admit it but it had been easier when he was younger. "Where is she?" Tad stopped writing and turned back round.
"Who?"
"I hear her," Tad explained, "sometimes, at night, or when they turn the lights off, I hear her. I think we have the same dreams sometimes, but they could just be mine, I like dreaming, it's easier."
Getting up from the end of the bed Kathryn made her way over to Tad, unlike herself he was not vertically challenged, a lot like his father he was tall and muscular. She placed a hand on his upper arm, she didn't know what she expected, maybe for him to flinch, or pull away, but he stood dead still. She looked up at his face and saw that he was staring directly at the wall opposite, the only movement coming from the small movements of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled, and the occasional blink.
"Well, when you see her, say that I missed her, and that people aren't meant to grow so suddenly, she should slow down." He walked back over to his bed and lay down on top of the sheets, curling up, "you don't mind if I sleep do you?" he asked as he closed his eyes.
"Not at all," she said with a slight lump in her throat, "goodnight." But she didn't hear anything more from him as he had slipped into a sleeping state. "Sweet dreams," she said softly as she made her way towards the door.
~*~
On her way out of the building, she saw a familiar face as she approached the reception desk. At first she wasn't quite sure if it was who she thought it was, but getting closer she heard the familiar voice that confirmed that it was Seven. Kathryn wasn't quite sure what to do, the best decision would have been for her to just leave the building, because questions could be raised as to why Kathryn was in the intelligence building if she made contact with Seven. However, avoiding Seven wasn't probably the best of options, there was the chance that on Kathryn's way out she could be seen by the young woman, and then not only would there be the questions of why she was there, but then also the questions as to why she had avoided Seven.
But before she could decide either way, it was as if Seven chose for her, as she looked around sensing a familiar presence to the side of her. Immediately she spotted Kathryn, and both women froze, staring at each other. Kathryn let out a deep breath that she had not realised she had been holding in, and made her way over to Seven. As she came closer, she noticed that there was something different about Seven, and then she realised.
~*~
End of chapter 7