Horror Days- Chapter 12

Day 8 (Nighttime on Voyager)

Janeway didn't know exactly how to tell B'Elanna about the news of Tom's death. The next day, around noon, an away team was going to go down and get his ashes. Oddly enough, the building personnel said that would be the best time and to not come any earlier or they would disrupt the burial process. She respected their beliefs but something didn't seem right about the whole ordeal.

But there Janeway was, standing in front of B'Elanna and Tom's quarters. She had rung the chime twice, but there was still no answer.

"B'Elanna, it's the Captain." Janeway tried, hoping she would open the door. "I'm coming in."

Janeway entered her code and walked into the room. The room was dark and had pieces of furniture, a vase or two, and other items broken and lying on the floor. Someone had told her.

"B'Elanna?" Janeway called out. She looked around, but couldn't really see anything in the darkness. But she could make out a person on the couch beneath the stars.

It was B'Elanna; she was curled into a ball on the couch. Crying. It was the first time Janeway had seen B'Elanna cry and in hopes of comforting her, she walked over to the couch. Janeway sat down on the couch next to B'Elanna. Harry had probably told her, but was forced out when objects started flying.

"B'Elanna, I know this is hard-" Janeway started.

"No, you don't." B'Elanna interrupted crying. "You don't know at all."

Janeway was going to respond with her own experience, but decided against it. "We're sending an away team down tomorrow at 1200 to go get his ashes." Janeway said.

"I'm going." B'Elanna replied.

"I thought you would volunteer." Janeway answered. "We're leaving at 1130 hours."

So much needed to be said, but Janeway decided to say nothing. Instead, she sat there next to B'Elanna the whole night. They barely spoke any words to each other the whole night, but even company couldn't make this better. Janeway had lost a good friend, B'Elanna, a husband.

Even though Janeway had been so rough on Tom sending him to the Brig and demoting him, he accepted it. He kept telling her that that's what she needed to do. Janeway felt bad, but didn't let it show through. Tom said he understood he let her down and said that it wouldn't happen again. He also said their friendship was important to him.

And it was important to Janeway, too. Their friendship, though damaged by the water planet incident, meant a lot to each other. She turned to Tom when she herself needed help with things and he turned to her when he had a personal question or two to ask. And through thick and thin, they still played pool against the other. But when it got sticky, Janeway would let Tom win.

She remembered letting Tom win two nights before he and B'Elanna got married. Janeway had a feeling that they were going to take the next step, so she decided to give him a few rations to get a nice ring. Kathryn thought Tom might have known that she had thrown the game, but he said nothing about it.

Day 9 (Early in the morning on Petrin)

Tom was awoken to the sounds of others around him getting up. He and Riken had slept in a room with many comfortable cots in it. Riken had slept in the cot next to Tom and slept through the night without getting up. Tom on the other hand awoke to banging sounds, but not wanting Riken to awake and realize he was gone, Tom didn't go up to see what the fuss was all about.

Tom and Riken stood up and walked along with the others to another, much bigger room. Other people were here and lucky for Tom being taller than most of the Petrinnens could see over them. To his dismay, Wen wasn't in this room either. Tom looked down at the little boy holding Tom's hand. Riken was afraid, he could tell, but felt safe with Tom near him.

Tom turned around to look to see if Wen was in that direction. At that moment he was tapped on the shoulder by someone. Tom turned back around to look at the person and much to his surprise, it was Philian Porate. The reporter was dying two days ago when he told Tom to leave him, but here he was perfectly fine. With his injuries, there was no way he could of healed that fast.

"Tom, before you say anything, we must hurry." Phil said. "It is me, I would prove it, but we don't have time. Listen, this whole thing isn't an accident, none of it. I would explain more, but in one minute, military men are going to walk through those doors and start shooting everyone in here."

Tom stared at the man to see if he was lying. Phil had set off some warning signals before, but this was sending up fireworks.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tom asked. At that moment, some military men walked into the room, all carrying rather large weapons.

Tom looked down at Riken. "Riken, do me a favor and stand by that wall." Tom said pointing to a wall in the back of the room. "I want you to crouch down and stay away from doors and windows." Riken nodded and ran that way.

Tom looked back at the men; he began to walk closer to them, standing near one, he was now in a corner. He noticed the one closest to him had a sidearm a lot like the one he had seen the man he had stunned two days ago was holding. At that moment, Tom decided that he wouldn't go down without a fight. The crowd had backed up at the sight of the weapons and was starting to panic.

Tom was able to reach the side arm easily since it was within arm's reach. The military men had no special gear on, just their issued clothing and weapons. Even extra rounds just in case they ran out. Once Tom got the side arm, he shot at the man.

The shot sparked off a chain of events; the crowd began to scream and started to run away from the shot. The other military officer's started to shoot at the crowd. While Tom Paris grabbed the man's main weapon and put it in his other hand. Tom shot at the military officers and one by one they fell to the ground. None of them were able to hit Tom at all.

After Tom had killed all seven, he realized the crowd of people was still running away. Some of the windows had been broken so they were jumping out of them.

"Hey!" Tom yelled. His voice couldn't be heard over the screaming and yelling of the crowd. Tom aimed the smaller weapon towards the ceiling and fired. They all stopped. "Now listen to me!"

"If you go out there, chances are, there are snipers that will shoot you all down." Tom yelled. People came back into the room and retrieved most of the people that had ran away hoping to prevent their deaths. "My name is Lieutenant Tom Paris; I'm from Voyager, the ship that's orbiting right now. Listen to me! I know what you have all been through; I've been through it myself. Your own government just tried to kill you all! And I think we should get some revenge!"

The crowd cheered in agreement. This was a non-violent community, but people have their limits. Riken ran away from the corner he had been hiding in towards Tom. The boy had seen much, but even the bodies would be pushing it. Tom motioned for Phil, even though he didn't trust him, to grab Riken and face him away from the bodies.

"Anyone that knows how to use a weapon, please, grab one." Tom yelled. One by one the weapons disappeared. Tom had given away the bigger weapon to someone and each person got some rounds to use just in case. While that was going on, Tom looked at Phil.

"Who is responsible for this?" Tom asked, not loud enough for people around to hear.

"The building is a two hour journey from here." Rinkala answered. "I will explain everything on the way."

Tom looked back at the crowd. "There is a building not too far away." Tom yelled to them. "At this building is a man that decided to orchestrate this attack. We will take our revenge on him, right?" The crowd cheered in approval. "I need some people to help me take out the snipers." There were many volunteers, but Tom only chose two.

The two snipers were easily taken out. Their weapons and side arms would make a total of 18 weapons to use in their rebellion. Soon, they all started their journey towards the building, each person knowing that if they didn't stop it, others would die.