Horror Days- Chapter 19
The turbolift ride to the Bridge was silent. It was more uncomfortable between them than ever before. They walked out of the turbolift briskly. It seemed Janeway wanted to get her frustration off of her chest…now. They walked into the Ready Room and Janeway motioned for him to sit in a chair opposite her desk. Tom took the seat, but Janeway leaned against her desk.
"Why didn't you tell us about the ship, Tom?" Janeway asked trying to suppress her anger.
"I left it open for Seven to find." Tom replied.
"But why didn't you tell us immediately?" Janeway pressured.
"I honestly don't know." Tom answered.
"Did you want enough time to kill Shon Faber?" Janeway asked.
"I didn't kill him." Tom responded.
"But you helped Locke Penter." Janeway added. Tom didn't answer. "Answer me, Mister Paris; did you or did you not help Locke Penter kill Faber?"
"I gave him the tools, he did it himself." Tom murmured.
"Tom, you helped in the murder of a high-profile man on another planet!" Janeway stated. "Do you know how much trouble you are in now?" Janeway started to yell. "I could be able to throw you in the brig for over 50 years!" Janeway continued to yell at Tom Paris about the situation.
Bridge
Chakotay could hear the Captain yelling from his position in the 2nd Officer's chair. She was undoubtedly upset about something and Tom had something to do with it. The Captain had stormed into her Ready Room ten minutes before with Tom Paris in tow. Chakotay looked over at Harry who started back at him in confusion. Chakotay walked over to Harry at his station and asked him what he thought was going on.
"I have no clue." Harry answered. "Tom hasn't been acting any differently than normal from what I can tell."
"I haven't noticed anything either." Chakotay replied. They both looked back at the closed doors of the Captain's Ready Room. She was still yelling, but they couldn't make out what she was saying. "But whatever it is, it's bad. I haven't heard yell like this…ever."
"Me neither." Harry added. "Even when Tom was demoted, she didn't yell like this." Harry's console began to beep. He pushed some buttons then his eyes became big. "There's another ship out there, Commander. I think it's the same ship we encountered before, but it's not cloaked."
"On screen." Chakotay said making his way to the middle of the Bridge. "Captain to the Bridge, shields up."
Janeway and Paris walked onto the Bridge. Tom stood in the middle of the Bridge next to Janeway who was now standing next to Chakotay. They didn't look too happy.
"What's going on?" Janeway asked.
"The mysterious ship is back again and it's not cloaked." Chakotay answered.
"Hail them." Janeway said.
"They aren't responding." Harry replied.
In a matter of seconds, Janeway saw the man, Tom Paris, standing next to her disappear in a transport. She stared as he started to leave while Harry and Tuvok tried to stop it. But for some reason they couldn't and he was gone. They had lost Tom…again.
"Put a tractor beam on that ship." Janeway started. "See if you can get him back. And if that ship even starts to leave, fire phasers."
"Captain, the ship doesn't have their shields up, but we can't get a lock on Tom." Harry said. "Wait, I think he was passed through. I think they transported him from the ship to their ship to somewhere on the planet!"
"Can you get an exact location?" Chakotay asked.
"I'll need the records on the ship." Harry replied.
"Captain, no one is onboard the ship anymore." Tuvok stated.
"What?" Janeway asked unsure if she heard him right.
"I believe they have abandoned ship." Tuvok answered.
"Beam over there and get those damn records!" Janeway said. "And always have a constant lock on the away team."
With that, Chakotay, Harry, and Tuvok beamed from the Bridge to the enemy ship. They soon retrieved some files that related to the transportation system of the ship. Janeway was in somewhat shock of what happened, she had just been yelling at her friend and now all she wanted was for him to come back. There was definitely something wrong here, the ship knew how to get past their defenses, but how?
Petrin
"Took you long enough." Tom said as he stepped off the transporter padd. He was surrounded by secret government agents. One came forward and handed him a long knife.
"Sorry, we were having some trouble." The alien responded.
Tom looked down at the knife. "I believe our prisoner hasn't been behaving himself?" Tom asked with a smile walking towards a cell at the end of a dirty hallway.
"Yes, we sedated him a couple hours ago, but it only knocked him out for one hour." The man replied. "He's been watching the events."
"Good, think he'll care to see me?" Tom asked.
"He'll definitely be angry, but that's why you have the knife." The alien smiled.
Tom smiled and walked into the cell. It was a bright cell, completely unlike others. There was a big window in the front of the window. It was an obvious sign of escape and that's what they were hoping for. The prisoner was standing near the window looking down to the lake one meter below.
Tom walked into the cell. "Planning your escape already? But I just got here." Tom asked smiling.
The man turned around. Tom Paris, ragged and all stared back at the clean shaven version of him. "You sick bastard." The man said.
"Okay, I'll believe you there." Tom answered. "I pretended to be you; so in fact, you are the sick bastard, Tom Paris, not I."