Note: your comments inspired me to hurry up and write. I hope this is adequate!
Warning: not beta read, at all. If there are big mistakes and you notice them than I will go through it when I have the time and fix it right up!
Chapter 7
It felt like the air itself had frozen when Tom had stilled in front of everyone staring in a kind of shock at the toy animal that, Harry had just noticed, had been strung to the ceiling. Cornick and Bathet were sitting beneath it grinning, so obviously it had been some kind of joke. But Tom…Harry was in line talking with Neelix when everyone seemed to suddenly freeze and look at him. And Harry had followed suit, gazing at his best friend, wondering what his connection with the animal was. Then Tom's face had turned such a deep shade of red that it might have been comical, but for the look of pure hate and anger that filled his eyes. Harry had taken a breath in shock; he'd never seen Tom direct his anger towards the crew, usually just swallowing his pride and ignoring his own feelings. The way he looked now, Harry knew it meant trouble.
Then, when Tom had taken one step towards the ensigns under the hanging toy, Harry had felt a sudden fear for their lives. The look in Tom's eyes said that mercy was the last thing on his mind. After one step time seemed to shift and Tom Paris, pilot extraordinaire, and one of the gentlest and most considerate people Harry had ever known, had crossed to the centre of the room so fast Harry could have sworn he'd teleported. The tall man grabbed both Cornick and Bathet by the front of their uniforms, lifted them with a strength that only deep fury could give a man, and slammed them, side-by-side, on top of the sturdy mess hall table they'd been leaning against. Harry finally snapped into action and ran across the room, not having the slightest clue what to do.
"Tom! Tom let them go!" The red faced pilot ignored Harry, his hands that were pinning the two men moved slowly towards their necks. Harry began to get frightened, he grabbed Tom's shoulder and pulled hard, trying to get him off them. Everyone else was still in too much shock at seeing Tom, the man who never fought back no matter what you did to him, so violently attacking the two men.
"Tom! Whatever they did, they didn't mean to make you this upset! Let them go!" He tried, and that got a reaction from the pilot as his hands stopped moving, but now he turned livid eyes on Harry.
"Didn't want to make me this upset! All these people ever do is try to make my life a living hell!"
"Tom please, you're not like this! You're better than this! Let them go!" Sanity seemed to be slowly returning to Tom's eyes as they began to shift from their alien navy blue to a lighter shade.
"I'm tired of this Harry. I'm tired of them!" He pressed his hands into the men's chests, making them grunt slightly. They had stopped squirming but were getting over their shock quickly. If Harry didn't get Tom to let them go, they were going to do it themselves.
"I know Tom. I know, but trust me when I say they are not worth it!" Harry glared at the two men lying on the table as Tom's fists slowly unclenched and released the cloth of their uniforms. Harry, and everyone else in the mess hall, breathed a sigh of relief and he put a hand of support on his friends shoulder. Tom looked visibly shaken but he was trying to pull himself back together. He glanced up at the swinging animal, and then glared back down at the men who were sitting up, Bathet was rubbing his chest. Neither one looked happy.
"What is going on here?" Chakotay's voice suddenly cut through the silence of the room as he pushed through the heavy crowd of bystanders and around a table.
"Paris is crazy Commander! He just tried to kill us!" Cornick exclaimed, glaring daggers at the pilot, whose eyes had turned back to their cold blue steel.
"I've once been on the receiving end of that fury, ensigns, and believe me if Paris had wanted to kill you I don't doubt that you would be dead. Now, I want to know what that toy is, why you two have and why it's on the ceiling of the mess hall." His voice remained calm, but his punctuation became more precise as he'd gone through his questions. For a second Harry was willing to buy the man his own star ship for wanting to look at the whole picture instead of immediately throwing Tom into the brig. And then his words set in and Harry looked incredulously at Tom, who, apparently, had once attacked the first officer. The silence that reined had Chakotay taking a breath, his only sign of frustration.
"Well?" He barked and Cornick jumped slightly.
"The toy belongs to me sir." Tom stated.
"Why did you two have it?" Chakotay turned his glare from Tom to the nervous ensigns who were looking anywhere but him.
"I'm not going to ask again ensigns." Cornick suddenly stood tall and stared hard over Chakotay's right shoulder.
"We acquired it from his quarters sir." There was a shifting throughout the mess and Harry noticed that Tom was standing straighter than Cornick.
"And you two had explicit permission to enter Lieutenant Paris's quarters from him or the Captain?"
"No sir."
"Breaking into and stealing from anybody aboard this ship is strictly prohibited, let alone a senior officer!" Bathet muttered something under his breath and Chakotay's sharp gaze darted to him. "What was that!"
"I said 'he shouldn't be a senior officer' sir." The man ground out, looking in disgust at Tom. Harry wanted to hit him, and his fist clenched at his side. This time it was Tom who gently placed a hand on his elbow as warning.
"Is that so ensign Bathet, because the way I see it, if he wasn't a senior officer and a member on board this ship we most likely wouldn't still be here! In the future you will hold any insubordinate opinions to yourself." Chakotay looked pointedly at both men, daring them to challenge him. Harry could sense the shock of several people in the room who hadn't expected the Commanders steadfast support of Tom. Eat your hearts out he thought. The Commander turned to look at Tom and was about to question him when Janeway's urgent voice penetrated the room.
"All senior officers report to bridge." Chakotay instantly looked around the room.
"Ayala, see that Ensigns Cornick and Bathet are escorted to their rooms and a guard is placed on each door until I have a chance to deal with them." The sturdy man nodded and stepped forward. Chakotay turned and began heading for the mess exit and Tom was twisting around to follow when the ship rocked violently. The lights flashed and some sparks flew from the doors. In the process several crewmembers were knocked to the ground and Harry watched helplessly as Bathet stumbled and fell into Tom, who easily lost his precarious footing and fell hard to the floor, his head smacking on the corner of a table. After a second the lights came back and people began picking them selves up, Tom didn't move.
"Tom?" Harry dropped to his knees by his friend's side and checked for a pulse, just to be safe.
"Oh god, I didn't mean to push him! I swear!" Bathet frantically tried to explain his accident but they ignored him.
"He's out cold Commander." Harry reported and looked at Tom's pale face as the Commander slapped his commbadge.
"Medical emergency, beam Lieutenant Paris to sickbay." He ordered and waited. Nothing happened. "Chakotay to transporters?" Still nothing. "Chakotay to bridge?" No reply. Harry hurriedly repeated the Commanders actions with the same result. "Okay, we carry him to sickbay." Chakotay stooped over to grab an arm and Harry did the same. They stood, slightly bent over. Paris was far from a lightweight, and Harry knew it was the result of endless hours of taking out his frustration in the gym.
"Commander, the doors aren't responding sir." Samantha Wildman reported as she quickly moved to the control panel and hit some commands. Nothing happened.
"Let me try." Cornick stepped forward, and with practiced hands pulled the protective casing away from the panel. A thin cloud of blue smoke filtered out and dissipated, leaving the engineer frowning. "Everything is fused together sir. The only way out is either by transporters or cutting through the door." Chakotay cursed for a second and then signalled that they should lay Tom back down. They moved him by Neelix's counter and lay him down gently. The Talaxian suddenly appeared with a bunched up apron and some ice. Harry gently lifted Tom's head and Neelix placed the make shift pillow underneath it. Then he gently applied the pack of ice to Tom's injured temple.
"Thanks Neelix." He said and checked his best friends pulse again, worried. He looked up to see Chakotay giving orders, trying to find out if they could fix the door or communications. It didn't look good.
"I wonder what happened to cause this." Neelix stated out loud as Chakotay rejoined them.
"I'm guessing it had something to do with why we were called to the bridge. Any change?" He nodded to Paris's prone form.
"No. I don't understand, it must be some sort of anomaly because Voyagers systems don't simply fuse like that from a vessel attack."
"Unless it's from weapons we haven't encountered yet."
"They'd need a huge electrical carry surge to fuse the controls in the middle of the ship like this." Harry said as Ayala came over and joined them.
"How is he?"
"Unconscious but breathing. He'll live."
"I don't doubt that." The security officer heartily agreed, which was odd, because he'd never shown support for Paris's well being. "Final report sir," he now addressed the Commander, "is that we're stuck until engineering digs us out. Besides Paris and a sprained finger there are no other injury's." He waited for Chakotay's confirmation nod and then turned to look at Paris's pale face, a swelling and hints at a deep bruise beginning to form on the side of his head. Ayala frowned to himself, wanting to ask questions about what had happened moments before with this man, but refraining because he knew it wasn't his direct business.
He looked over at the hanging stuffed animal, which was apparently the cause of all this hostility. Whatever it was, it meant something to Paris, and it wasn't right for it to be hanging like a condemned display for every one to make their own opinions about. The way the men and women of the crew were looking at it and speaking to each other occasionally, was clear indication that it had been hanging up for far to long. He stood to bring it down and was a few steps away when he heard the fallen man groan.
()-
Captain Janeway calmly brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. There was blue smoke lightly floating to the ceiling of the bridge as the environmental systems worked on clearing it. She heard her chief engineer, Torres, growling from her bridge station only a few feet away. Ensign Talton manned Harry Kim's station at Ops, and he was currently wiping a trickle of blood from a cut he received during the attack.
"Report!" she demanded and instantly he was looking at his panels, assessing damages but stating their cause. He was an excellent officer, second in command of communications next to Harry Kim, though not yet quite as talented.
"The creature is leaving this area at a steady pace, no signs of it turning around." He wiped the blood from his forehead but didn't break contact with his counsel, randomly tapping controls to change the information. He looked up, relief clear in his eyes. "It's gone Captain. I've recalibrated the sensors to scan for any similar biological signs in our path. There are none currently."
Janeway nodded but refrained from breathing a sigh of relief. It wasn't very confident to display her fears in front of the people that depended on her leadership, her courage. Sometimes it was a difficult front to keep up, but she managed. She didn't have much of a choice.
"Lieutenant Torres. What's the damage?"
"That thing" she spit the word out with disgust "completely fried the relays on floors two through six. The good news is, that while the circuitry has fused together and become irreparable, it can be replaced, and we have ample materials to do so. The bad news is that it's going to take a while to get all of it working in top shape again. Main systems affected that will pose a big problem are the doors, turbo lift, communications, and joy of joy, the replicators. Everything else's back up systems has held. That creature packed one hell of a punch."
Janeway nodded in response, silently agreeing. The creature had been resting along Voyager's path and, true to form, Voyager had managed to clip it. She'd never seen anything quite like the animal before and, frankly, just its memory awed her. It had been about half the size of Voyager, its outer hull, flesh…whatever, had been so black that they couldn't see it without the aid of scanners. The problem being that the scanners hadn't interpreted the creature as a solid mass and had therefore not alerted them to its presence. It wide flat body ended with approximately five tentacle like appendages, and when Voyager hit it they snapped around its hull without second thought. Like a stingray, it reacted with pure instinct, and, like a stingray, it had quite the sting.
Each tentacle had several spines that must have been made out of adamantium, they were impossibly strong. They pierced small thin holes into Voyagers hull and then sent an electric shock so powerful it put the ship into momentary cardiac arrest. And then, satisfied that it was safe, it just fled. Now Voyager was in serious need of repairs and three of her senior officers had yet to report to the bridge.
"get immediate repair teams on the hull and fixing circuitry. What's the estimate time frame?"
"Altogether approximately two days. Separately it'll take about five hours each. Any requests?"
"Doors, communications, turbolift then transporters. Replicators can remain of line for a while. I'm sure Neelix will be able to cope."
"Captain, I believe there is a problem there." Tuvok stated, and she raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "It appears that, as the doors are all fused shut, the mess hall would be one of them. I doubt that people can get in or out of there for a while." Well, now she knew why her three senior officers weren't present, they'd all been on lunch break.
"Is there anyway we can asses casualties?"
"I do not believe so."
"Ideas?"
"We could cut through the door?" Talton asked, again wiping at the cut that refused to stop bleeding. It didn't look too serious.
"I would advise against that Captain. The material they're made from is very strong, and while it'll only take three hours to cut a good hole into it, it'll be very difficult to replace it. It'd be a lot less hassle to just fix it." Torres cut in.
"The mess hall isn't the only place where people are stuck. What's the status of our shields?"
"one hundred percent captain." Talton replied immediately. They would be since they weren't on during the attack.
"Okay, initiate the shielding to protect the damaged hull areas. I want full teams getting the doors open. Ensign, see what you can do about communications. Lieutenant Commander, please assist with communications. Torres, assemble your teams. I want to know if anyone is injured, and I want this place back in order." They all nodded and immediately turned to their duties. She headed to the engineering station to see what she could help with. It wasn't as bad as it could be, especially since the creature chose to end its attack. But, as it went in the delta quadrant, if it wasn't one thing it was another.
()-
The groan was so brief that Gregor Ayala wasn't quite sure he'd heard it. It was like Paris had forced himself to stop moaning on command, though whether that was normal or whether he trained himself to do it was beyond Ayala's knowledge. Everything about this man seemed beyond his knowledge lately. He turned to look at Tom, who's body still looked relaxed and unconscious, maybe he was, maybe Ayala was hearing things. Harry was checking the man carefully, as though he were the most treasured person in the world, and, Ayala supposed that in Harry's eyes Tom probably was the most cherished thing in his world. They were best friends in a place where family no longer immediately existed. Close bonds were family out here.
He went to turn around again when he noticed Tom crack open his eyes, very carefully, and then close them again. The Commander and Harry obviously didn't notice, seeing as they were speaking with Neelix, eyes averted. Ayala watched carefully as Tom cracked his eyelids apart again, so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable at first. Then with more confidence the pilot carefully scanned his surroundings through the slit view. What was he doing? There was no emotion on his face, he simply remained so still, not a muscle flexed. Ayala had never understood the cocky blonde's actions, but this was a bit more than odd, it was almost suspicious. Ayala decided to go and force the man to wake up fully, and that's when Paris's gaze fell on him.
Instantly there was no more show, the blue eyes snapped open wide, they were so cold that the burly security officer felt a chill run down his spine. It was a threatening gaze that stared him down, he froze, and Tom decided to move. Quickly. For the second time since Ayala had known the man, he was shocked momentarily into immobility. For a person of Tom's height and strong build he moved extremely quickly, just like when Chakotay had grabbed his shoulder in the gym all those weeks before. And just like that time it was almost over before he really knew what was going on. Tom had sat up, knocked Harry away from him, and quickly backed up against the counter. He then reached up and grabbed six knives that were set out for cutting meat, and he flipped one into his right hand and the others held securely in his left. Then his eyes seemed to dilate and he leaned back to support himself, obvious affects of his head injury.
For the second time in the last half hour Harry was the first to recover and began to approach the injured Tom Paris.
"Stop right there." Each word was spit out with apparent effort, Tom's breaths seemed to be laboured, which shouldn't be an affect of the head injury.
"Tom? It's okay, it's just me, Harry."
"I don't know you. Don't move." The dark blonde ordered, his eyes suddenly focusing sharply, assessing everything in sight.
"Lieutenant, I want you to put down the knives." Chakotay said quietly, placing an arm on Harry's elbow as a warning to not fly towards his obviously dangerous friend. Tom stared at Chakotay a moment, taking in every feature before making sure nobody had moved, as he'd ordered. And Ayala knew damn well that nobody was moving. The room was once again so tense that a pin drop could be heard. Only Paris could pull this off twice in one hour. But the bigger concern right now, was the obviously distressed man, whose eyes were slowly beginning to smoulder with hatred again. Ayala didn't like the man sitting on the floor, he didn't know him, and he knew he was dangerous. Very dangerous.
"Tom please, put down the knives." Chakotay tried again, this time Tom laughed, a shallow bark that was almost painful to hear and was far from humorous.
"You creatures never give up do you?" He half yelled in frustration and anger.
"Tom? What-"
"Why don't you just finish this and kill me! I don't know anything! And your mind games haven't worked so far, and they're not going to work now, so just end this!" He hollered, yelling towards the ceiling, the walls, to anything but the multitude of people that stood staring at him, not knowing how to react. He was panting; his right hand gripped the knife tightly and relaxed in an odd rhythm, his knuckles blending from red to white and back to red.
Nothing happened, there was no response at all, from anyone. Ayala noticed that Harry had paled, did he know what was going on?
"Tom," the young Asian swallowed, carefully choosing his words. "Tom listen to me, wherever you think you are, you're not there." The laser blue eyes focused on him and you had to give the guy credit, because he didn't even bat an eyelash.
"Then perhaps you should tell me where I am." The words were low, and dangerous.
"You're on Voyager, a Federation Star ship under the Command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. We're lost in the Delta Quadrant, we're no where near where you think we are." Tom blinked once, wheezed slightly and seemed to begin favouring his stomach, his left arm curling over it protectively.
"Right, figures you'd pull one of the Admirals star students into this. Cruel and unusual punishment I suppose."
"Tom, we're not who you think we are."
"And who would I think you are?" Tom spoke as though it were a game, carefully planning his line of attack should anyone move. Ayala began planning how he should react should Tom decide to take further action.
"Please, trust me Tom. We're your friends." Ayala winced at the words, if only they were completely true.
"You, I could see as a friend. Them," Tom nodded in everyone else's direction and lowered his voice slightly, as though he was speaking of a conspiracy, "I don't think they like me too much. I can see it in their eyes." He leaned back, careful not to smack his head on his silver coloured support, his breath still laboured, he winced as he shifted slightly. What was wrong with him, you'd think he was severely injured from the way he was acting.
"They just need time Tom."
"It's Mr. Paris to you. I only let friends call me Tom. Huh, to bad I don't really have any...killed them all, as you know."
"Tom please, listen to me. You're a member of this crew, a Lieutenant, the chief pilot." Harry tried again. Ayala decided to test Paris's awareness through Harry's distraction and took a step forward. A knife was instantly sticking from the material back of the chair resting beside him, two inches from his leg. It was an immaculate throw.
"The next one is in your neck." Came the cool reply and Chakotay shot Gregor a warning glare, and he took the advice to not move again. Apparently everyone else did as well. Tom had five knives left, and he continued talking, as if to himself. "That's a nice story. To bad I screwed up my escape from this shithole, so me being here couldn't possibly be true. Why won't you just kill me!" He yelled at the air again. He was treating them like holograms, like they didn't exist.
"Tom please! You did escape Tom! You got out of there! You're the only one who ever got out of there! This isn't a lie Tom, just put down the knives."
"I've grown rather fond of them actually." He grumbled, and coughed. He wiped his right hand along his chin, as if he was removing a spilt drink. He completely ignored the pleas of rationality, lost in his own little universe.
"Tom, are you injured?" Chakotay's calm voice seemed to filter through the entire room, though it was directed at one person. Tom didn't respond, just looked at him with that anger, so much anger in his eyes.
"Do you need a doctor?"
"Not your doctor. I'd rather die than have him heal me just to go through this again. I'm not going to entertain you creatures any longer." And suddenly, like a light turning on Ayala realized exactly what Tom was talking about, was acting about. He believed he was still there, at Cianka Adasta. He thought they were Cardassians! And as Ayala realized this he saw Tom raise the blade to his neck.
()-
Note: I've decided I rather enjoy these cliffhangers. Terribly sorry