To Tell the Truth, Part 4/8: Sunfire
Chapter 2
"Are you certain this is not an intrusion?"
Neelix, gazing adoringly at Souris across the Mess Hall table from him, shook his head. "No, my assistants can handle the dinner preparations. Take as long as you need."
So she did. Almost forty minutes later, he still was talking about himself and his species when the first of the dinnertime crowd began trickling in. None of them noticed the outgoing nature of their cook/morale officer had doubled as he tried to impress his companion. They all were too wrapped up in hurrying to scoop up the meal that was free of leola root and strong spices due to Neelix's preoccupation with the lovely Souris.
"Neelix, on a side note," she said hesitatingly, setting aside her padd, "may I ask you something about Tom?"
"Tom? You know him?"
"Yes. Is he...? How has he been here, on Voyager? Has he been happy?"
"Yes, I think for the most part he has."
"For the most part?"
"Well, everyone's gone through some rough parts. That's only natural."
"And Tom has too? Were they bad?"
"I... I think you should talk to Tom about this."
She smiled and nodded. "I plan to, but you know Tom. He internalizes things. I'm so worried he's still doing that, despite everything I've tried to do in the past to help him."
"You know him well?"
"Yes, for years." She laid a hand on his arm. "Anything you can tell me, Neelix, about anything he's going through here, would be a great help in my counselling sessions with him."
"He's agreed to let you counsel him?"
"We don't call it that, no, but yes, in the very near future he will be discussing his experiences here on Voyager. So anything you can tell me would be appreciated. Especially anything about this incident with Commander Chakotay's akoonah. That seems to be bothering him in particular. He mentioned it when he and I were talking about the crew then clammed up about it. I'm certain there was something disturbing that happened to him, yet he is not saying."
"I knew it," he muttered to himself. Neelix had harboured the impression more had happened than Tom had let on and now found himself vindicated in thinking so. "I don't know much," he said, leaning forwards conspiratorially. "No one does actually. Tom's said nothing about what happened other than he remembers nothing of what happened when he was unconscious, that it didn't matter anyway. I knew it really did. And since he's mentioned it to you..."
"How has he acted since then?"
Since she had told him she was counselling Tom, Neelix saw no problem with explaining Tom's later withdrawal from the others and the parole test fiasco. She listened and nodded and was about to ask him another question when Harry appeared at her side.
Neelix's heart plummeted to his boots when he witnessed the shy smile she offered the equally shyly grinning ensign. He knew that look. He should, he had seen it enough times in this room as this one or that one paired off with another.
"I thought maybe we could have our session over dinner," Harry awkwardly suggested.
"Raven to Souris," her combadge chirped. "Report to The Diogenes."
Rising, she collected her padd and eloquently shrugged then left.
Disappointed, Harry sighed.
Disappointed himself, though hiding it, Neelix hustled the young man off to the counter for his meal.
Half dazed, Tom lay in his chair. Alpha Two had left for the moment though Tom knew he would be back eventually. His internal clock told him it was suppertime, yet he knew Alpha Two had not left to collect a tray from The Diogenes' mess for his prisoner.
'Supper,' Tom thought, 'was supposed to do something after supper tonight.'
His sluggish mind stumbled around his skull, finally coming up with the answer.
'Chakotay. I was supposed to see Chakotay. Why?'
Another trip around his mind.
'B'Elanna. I was going to ask him for permission to marry B'Elanna.'
*Does not look like that is going to happen,* Camet chimed in.
'Go away, Camet.'
*But if you want to know how the conversation would have went, I am sure I can predict it for you.*
'Shut up.'
*Of course, if he were to find out what was going on here, I am sure it would be an even briefer conversation.*
'They won't know what happened here. It is against AlphaOmegan rules to tell outsiders anything about us.'
*They will have to come up with some explanation for your prolonged absence.*
'I won't be here that long.'
*Oh, you are going to escape, are you? Look at yourself. You cannot even stand. He has injected so much burayte into your system. And you are going to overpower him? A full grown, perfectly healthy Vulcan, and whoever else might be between you and the Transporter Room or the Shuttle Bays versus you, half doped out of your mind, have not eaten since yesterday, and mentally and physically exhausted? I do not think so. You are finished. If you surrender, maybe Alpha Two will be able to put you back to Sleep and let you go back to Voyager. Then you can make a fool of yourself and ask B'Elanna's "big brother" for her hand in marriage.*
Tom was tempted, so tempted. All he wanted right now was to be away from here and in B'Elanna's arms. But he knew if he did surrender, the odds were against Alpha Two letting him return to his life on Voyager with the same intention to marry B'Elanna. A mate would tie him down, make it more difficult for The Protectors to call him into service when they needed him. His mind played out a scenario his heart did not wish to accept.
"Tom!"
At Chakotay's call, Tom slowed his step. The older man jogged down the corridor then fell in step with him.
"You're back from The Diogenes."
"Just beamed over."
"We were beginning to wonder if you'd died over there."
Tom chuckled. "Obviously not, Commander."
"Obviously. Look, you told me this morning that you wanted to talk to me about something?"
The pilot frowned, confused.
"You called me before shift and said you wanted to talk about something after shift? I have sometime now if you-"
"I can't even remember what it was, Commander, so it couldn't have been important."
"Oh, well, it sounded rather important at the time."
"Well, I guess it isn't anymore. If you'll excuse me, I have to check on the Assessment Team's progress with the refit."
*Yes,* Camet agreed whole-heatedly, *that is how it would go.*
'And I'm not going to let that happen,' Tom vowed, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. 'My plan will work.'
*That so-called plan of yours will never work.*
The door to the Room reopened and seconds later Tom's head roughly was shoved to one side as yet another dose of burayte was shot into his neck. Despite so many parts of his body crying out for him to scream, he did not made a sound. That show of strength angered Alpha Two.
"Let us start again," the Vulcan said dispassionately. "Six years ago, you took some classified information and escaped with it. Later, you were captured then you, the soldiers who had captured you, and Sunfire vanished for two days before showing up at Base 16. When you did, the others had no recollection of where all of you had been for that time. I want to know where you went, what you did, and who you told what you know."
The man in the chair said nothing.
"Do not think I am above using any of them to get you to talk. I brought along all of the soldiers who captured you. You have neatly erased their memories of what you did, but I know how attached to them you are. Surely one of them can get you to talk." He leaned towards Tom's ear. "Sunfire is here too."
It was all Tom could do not to flinch.
"If you do not want to talk to me, perhaps I can get what I want from her. Her memory may have been purged too, but given her special nature, I think she may still know the truth. With the proper persuasion, say being confronted with the possibility of your death if she does not speak, I think she will see reason."
'Don't bet on it,' Tom thought to himself as Alpha Two yanked him up out of his chair.
Sunfire heard Alpha Two's prediction and hardened her resolve to say nothing. Alpha Two was correct, she did know more than their lengthy investigations and interrogations had revealed, yet she was not going to betray Tom.
While the Vulcan was not underestimating her love for the man who was his prisoner, he was underestimating her loyalty to Tom. He had told her precisely why she never was to reveal what she knew then had asked her to keep his secret until the appropriate time and she had given him her word that she would. At the time she had made the promise, she had only a vague idea of exactly how difficult it would be to resist The Protectors. Now she knew and hoped he was strong enough to withstand them too.
"Yes, Commander, I know I've worked through dinner," Kathryn said without looking up from the piles of padds littering her Ready Room's desk. "It's just so hard condensing over five years into one concise report." Sighing, she slumped back into her chair, eyes closed. "I wish they'd not insisted I give them a report the instant we get home."
"Captain."
Her eyes popped open at the sound of her Chief Medical Officer's voice. "Oh, Doctor, sorry. It thought you were-"
"Captain, I need to speak with you."
She sat up straighter. "What's happened?"
"We are getting home."
"Yes."
"Well, what about my family?"
"What about them?"
Rolling his eyes in frustration, he hurried towards the desk. "We still don't have a solid defence for our case."
"Doctor-"
"I know things have been busy here, but -"
"Doctor, I promised you I'd talk to my friend in the JAG office and get her on your case. And everyone here will testify on your behalf if it becomes necessary. We will all do everything we can to help you. Right now, I'm writing my report for Command. I'll make sure that in it you and everything you've done will receive every bit of credit they deserve. If they don't appreciate your value after reading it, we'll continue the fight, I promise you. Okay?"
Only slightly soothed, he nodded.
"How are the physicals going?"
"Slowly. Command has demanded we be very thorough so we don't bring anything back to contaminate the Alpha Quadrant. What that might be, I don't know. The biofilters screen nearly everything out and our tricorder sweeps of each individual would pick up anything missed."
"I can understand their concern. We've run into some strange things in this quadrant. We managed to survive-" She lowered her eyes as she thought of all the crewmembers she had lost to the various malevolent forces in this quadrant. "Most of us. We'd hate to take some virus or something back with us only to have it kill others back home." She gestured to the room. "Even Voyager is getting a check up."
"Yes, on my way up here, I ran into one of the roving bands of technicians they sent over here. They even gave me and my emitter a once over."
"I'm not surprised. They certainly are leaving no stone unturned."
Tiredly, she rubbed the back of her neck and he shifted around behind her to massage it.
"Captain?"
"Hmm?"
"Is there any word on when Mr. Paris will be coming back? I could use him with these physicals."
"I don't know. I haven't talked to him since earlier today and all Pardan or Raven will say is he's talking with their commanding officer and he'll be back when he's back."
"You are tensing up again. That vagueness worries you."
"It doesn't you?"
"Well, yes."
She shifted away and looked up at him through narrowed eyes. "You miss him when he's not in Sickbay, despite your complaints about him and his attitude."
The EMH assumed feigned indifference. "He is an extra pair of hands."
Kathryn nodded, trying to restrain her smile. "I'm sure he'll be back soon, Doctor."
"Progress report," Alpha Two commanded.
Handing a padd across the desk of The Diogenes' current ranking officer, Raven shook his head. "Not much yet, sir. What we do have is in there."
The male seated behind the desk quickly scanned the contents of the report. "There is very little here that we did not already know from their logs."
"No, sir."
He set the padd aside and regarded the human at attention before him. "I expected more from you, Raven."
"And you will receive more. I have established contact with Lieutenant Torres. It won't be long before she is ready to tell me anything I want. The others are beginning to respond as well."
"Good."
"Have you had any luck with him?"
"Not yet, but it is early. The last time we tried to break him it took days."
"Perhaps I could-"
"He is my concern. Voyager and the team we sent over are yours. How has the Team responded to the fact we have him in custody?"
"They seem to be taking it in stride. They have their orders and are following them as they should."
"If it became necessary, would they kill him?"
"He is in custody. Why would it be necessary?"
"Merely a question."
"If it became necessary, they would, of course. It is their duty."
"Will they really follow your orders on this?" He appraised the human across the desk from him. "They have not bonded with you as they did with -"
Raven's jaw clenched. "They are my team now. They will follow my orders. If I tell them to kill him, they will."
"Ah, but will they?"
"They are AlphaOmegans. I have seen no indication of any discontent. They are loyal to me now."
Not commenting, the Vulcan merely watched him.
'Keep calm. Think of something else.'
For hours, Tom repeated his mantra over and over to himself as he lay on his back in the Box. Once Alpha Two had tossed his limp form inside the barely large enough space and thrown the lid closed, there had been nothing but darkness and silence. Being in there terrified him. He hated being confined, not being able to use the senses so many years of training had heightened for him. The only sense left for him, was the sense of touch. He could feel the sides of the Box pressed against him everywhere. With all the funerals Tom had attended over the years, he never had wondered, as others around him sometimes morbidly would, what it would feel like to be in the deceased's shoes. He knew first hand what it was like to be in a coffin. Except with him in this coffin, he knew that eventually he would be released.
'Only to move to the next part of the torture,' he reminded himself.
'Think of something else.'
But the only thing he could think of was the time Voyager travelled through the nebula and all but Seven and the Doctor were forced to take to stasis chambers to survive the trip. Tom's friends had kept to themselves their curiosity as to the reason for Tom's fear of the stasis chamber and his subsequent escapes from it. All except Harry, who still ribbed him about his claustrophobia from time to time, and never would know the time spent in this Box was the source of his very rational fear.
'Harry,' Tom mentally sighed sadly.
The grinning face of his "little brother" came to Tom's mind and his once saying he wished he were like Tom.
'Still want to be like me, Harry?' he mentally asked the illusion of Harry.
The Harry in his mind could not meet Tom's eyes.
'I thought not.'
Abruptly the lid of the box was wrenched open and he was dragged out for the second part of this torture to begin.
No one questioned Zji leaving the former Rachar Royal Palace with a market basket over her arm early the next morning. E'Arte often ordered her to go out before he awoke in order to fetch for his breakfast certain essential delicacies the farmers brought to the market. He could as easily have demanded them brought to his residence by the farmers themselves yet he did not. He took pleasure in the idea of Zji having to get out of bed to obey his commands only a couple short hours after he had permitted her to go there. He felt depriving her of sleep was a reminder to her of his power over her. Not that she ever seemed to require such reminders. Zji appeared resigned to her fate.
But appearances were deceiving. As she entered the market place, a young boy bumped into her, seemingly by accident. When they parted, he had secreted in his ragged clothes the datacrystal she had passed him. Both moved on as though nothing had happened.
"But that'll throw the rest out of alignment," Harry argued.
Beside him at Ops, Dumar stubbornly glared at his counterpart. "You're still not seeing it, Ensign Kim. Watch again."
"I don't need to watch it again. I've seen the simulation nine times now. I could see it ninety times more and it still would not work. Like I said, the Borg modifications eliminated the need for that processor and reinstalling it would mean stripping all of the modifications in that section. We're talking days worth of work. Unnecessary work, if you'd just agree to modify your component. Engineering probably can-"
"It cannot be-" He broke off at the small hand Souris, appearing out of nowhere, placed on his forearm.
Both men had been so engrossed in their argument they had not heard her approach. For Harry that was disconcerting enough - like anyone he did not like people sneaking up on him - but after being so aware of her yesterday, not having immediately sensed her entrance surprised him. Now his hormones were making up for that oversight and all thoughts other than her vanished.
A gentle smile and a look from her was all it took for the Cardassian to calm down.
"We will investigate your option, Ensign Kim," Dumar gruffly agreed.
Souris nodded and moved down the Bridge to where Pardan and Chakotay tersely were discussing the timetable Pardan had created for the repairs and why they were behind already. Interrupting the pair, she spoke so softly to Voyager's First Officer that Harry could not hear her, but Chakotay checked the chronometer then nodded and she left the Bridge.
The doors to The Diogenes' main shuttle bay opened and Alpha Two strode inside. He stopped half way between the doors and Sunfire and stared at her.
"I have Tom Paris," he told her. "He is in a Re-Education Room. Sooner or later, he will break."
"Then why are you here talking to me, instead of there with him?"
"Because I thought perhaps you might wish to save him further damage."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, you tell me what I want to know or I move on to step two."
"Which is?"
"A not-so-nice surprise from Alpha Three."
He let that statement sink in. Long ago, Sunfire had had a few run-ins with the Klingon female who was known as Alpha Three so she knew any "surprise" from her could not mean anything pleasant.
"I'll give you until 1900 to decide whether you help him or I give him the surprise."
Turning on his heel, he exited.
If she could have, she would have thrown something at him. Preferably an asteroid.
Harry's face lit up when he saw who was in the turbolift. Souris offered him a shy smile of her own.
"Please state destination," the computer requested.
"Oh," he blinked, "um, Deck Eleven." He frantically cast his mind around for a topic of conversation. "I have to thank you for calming Dumar down this morning. He's quite... forceful, isn't he?"
She nodded. Given the near thirty centimetre height difference between the two of them, her trying to meet his eyes would have put quite a crick in her neck. Not that she even seemed to try to look at him. Her eyes remained focused on the floor of the lift.
"I haven't met any other Cardassians. Well, that's not true. We had one on board masquerading as a Bajoran until she revealed herself. But are they all like Dumar? So... stubborn?"
Smiling, she shrugged.
'Well, this isn't getting you far,' Harry thought. "So, um, your ship's called The Diogenes? I think I've heard that name before. It's Terran, isn't it?"
Another nod.
"What's it signify?"
"Diogenes was a man who was *said* to have been on a quest for 'an honest man,'" she explained in a voice that did rather pleasant things to him.
"And-" He cleared his throat. "And did he find one?"
She shrugged. "Whether the story is true or not is open to debate, but those who named the ship find the name and what it symbolizes to be appropriate."
Unfortunately the doors opened at the Engineering Deck at that very moment and he had to go or find an excuse to stay. As much as he wanted to, he had things in Engineering that had to be done right away. As it was, he hesitated in the doorway to the lift.
"Would you have dinner with me?" he blurted out. They were not the words he actually wanted to say, but the little part of him that was not under the influence of his hormones thought asking her then and there to marry him seemed a trifle premature.
Big green eyes stared at him for a long moment then she nodded once.
"1800? I'm afraid it'll have to be in the Mess Hall because Tom fleeced me out of the last of my replicator rations two days ago at pool, but maybe tonight's meal will be edible."
Her assenting caused him to grin happily.
"Great. I'll, I'll see you then." He stepped out of the doorway and into the corridor, nearly flattening a crewman who was walking there.
As the doors closed, Souris found her smile fading.
"Hi, B'Elanna. Raven."
The Chief Engineer broke eye contact with Raven at Harry's chipper greeting. "You're in a good mood," she observed, walking over to the station where he had planted himself. "Any particular reason?"
"Oh," he grinned, "let's see." He began ticking off points on his fingers. "Within a few days, Voyager finally will be home. I'll finally get to see my folks again. Eat real, non-replicated, leola root-free, Alpha Quadrant food. *And* I have a dinner date with the most beautiful woman on the ship."
B'Elanna was amazed. "Seven finally agreed to have dinner with you? I'm stunned."
"Seven? No, not Seven. Souris."
"Souris?" She held out her hand, palm down, at a height of about a metre off of the deck. "Souris? The one with the big green eyes and long hair?"
He gently raised her hand up so it was about 160 centimetres off of the deck. "That's the one."
Laughing, B'Elanna shook her head. "No offence, Harry, but talk about going from one extreme to the other."
"What do you mean?"
"Seven and Souris. They're polar opposites."
"So? I told you a long time ago, there's nothing between Seven and I. Were just friends."
"How does it taste? Is it as bad as everyone complains Mr. Neelix's cooking is?"
The Doctor's lips scowled at his dinner companion's inattention. About to ask what had her so distracted, he followed the path of her eyes across the Mess Hall to a table on the other side of the room. Then he saw for himself the reason for her distraction. At a table sat Ensign Kim and Souris, the Ensign talking in very animated fashion to a softly smiling Souris.
"How does that make you feel, Seven?"
Big blue eyes snapped to him. "I... I find seeing them together... uncomfortable. I feel... Angry at their being together."
"I thought that would be the case."
"What do you mean?"
"Seeing Mr. Kim so obviously in the early stages of an involvement with someone else after he had been so interested in becoming involved with you. It is only natural you would feel a bit put out."
"Mr. Kim and I never were involved, Doctor."
"But he had expressed an interest."
"He did exhibit some indications of that, yes." She quirked an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I am jealous?"
"Possibly."
She was silent as she stared at him for a moment then rose and swept out of the room. Hurriedly, he followed after her.
"She is upset."
Harry's gaze reluctantly left Souris to see Seven and the Doctor quickly leaving Neelix's domain.
"Upset?"
"She was watching us and frowning."
Harry frowned himself and looked at his plate. "That's Seven of Nine. I... I had it in my head a while ago that there might be a future for her and I together."
"And there was not?"
"No. I finally realized everyone was right. Seven needs time to discover herself before she becomes involved with anyone. She's still very much a child in some ways. It wasn't right for me to be pursuing a relationship with her, not when she had no real idea of what that was or what it would entail."
"Yet you feel guilty about her seeing you here with me."
He shrugged.
Souris laid a hand over his on the table and he looked up at her. "If you wish to be with her, go."
Harry stared at her for a long moment then reached out with his free hand and tucked a wisp of hair behind one of her ears. "I am right where I want to be."
She shyly smiled and ducked her head.
"Have you decided?" Alpha Two asked as he entered the shuttle bay.
"Yes."
"And?"
"And the answer's still 'I have nothing to tell you.'"
"And I do not believe you. Perhaps the surprise will convince him to talk." He began walking towards the door. "If not, there always is the option of the mindmeld again."
"Which you won't do."
He paused in the doorway and looked inquiringly at her. "Because you have changed your mind?"
"Because you won't risk it. You didn't succeed the last time and you hate failure, don't you?"
Alpha Two left without a word.
'And what Awoke him scrambled his brains enough that even *you* are too scared to enter his mind if you don't have to, you sadist,' she finished to herself.
Tom's head rose as he heard the Re-Education Room door opened to admit Alpha Two.
"Good. You are awake."
'How could I be otherwise?' Tom asked himself. The night had been anything but conducive to sleep. Alpha Two was pulling out all the stops for him just as Tom would have expected. Once he had been removed from the Box and returned to the Re-Education Room, it had begun. If it were not the lights unexpectedly brightening or dimming or going out entirely, it was noise bombarding him then deafening silence. Of course Tom knew all these tricks, had used them in interrogations himself and been on the receiving end of them too. And he knew what would come when Alpha Two discovered Tom had yet to break - the pain.
"Are you ready to tell me what you did with the information you took from us."
He remained silently staring ahead.
"I will not stop until I have it," he reminded, pressing a hypospray of buyrate to Tom's neck. "You know that. And the longer you wait, the more painful it will become for you."
Setting aside the hypo, the Vulcan went over to the computer panel in the wall and entered a command. A hologram of Alpha Three appeared. "She could not make the trip herself, too much to do back home, but she sent this along. Alpha Three was rather upset she was unable to break you last time. I think she has hopes that at least this facsimile of her will redeem her. Personally, I doubt it will."
He grabbed Tom's chin in his hand. "You remember the last time. When I had to step in and drag you back to us myself. If I had not, Alpha Three probably would have killed you trying to subdue you. And right now you probably wish she had. If not, you will by the time her hologram and I have finished with you." Leaning closer, he stared into Tom's eyes. "Do you remember how I brought you back to us?" he whispered. "How I forced my mind into yours?"
'I remember how much you enjoyed it,' Tom wanted to say. 'How you seemed to get off on mentally raping me. How I finally realized what a sadistic bastard you really are.'
Of course he did not say these things since he knew getting him talking was Alpha Two's goal. Both of them knew, once Tom gave in to his opponent's gibes the door would be open for him to say more. If he caved to pressure once, it was only a matter of time before he did it again.
"You are the only one I ever have melded with who was still able to hide things from me even when we were so connected," Alpha Two continued. "This time, though, there's no urgent need for you to appear elsewhere so we have plenty of time for me to discover all of your secrets. By the time I am done you will tell me where you went during those six weeks we could not find you, what you did with the information you copied from our databanks, and who you told about it."
He stepped back. "But I doubt that will be any time soon, will it? No matter. We will permit Alpha Three's hologram to have some fun in the meantime."
As he moved to the far side of the room, the hologram approached Tom with an evil grin.
Fresh from her shower, B'Elanna sat on the side of her bed in her bathrobe, staring at an image of her and Tom at one of Neelix's luaus. Unbeknownst to the couple, Harry had taken the image then presented it a copy to each of them the next time the pair had had a fight. Exactly as Harry had hoped, Tom and B'Elanna each had taken a look at the moment he had captured forever - the two of them in each other's arms, smiles on their lips, their love for each other shining in their eyes - and hostilities between them had been halted.
Now she sat there, staring at the face of the man she loved, wondering why he had not contacted her. Usually not more than a few hours would go by without a message from him appearing on her terminal here or in her office or wherever she happened to be working at the time. Some sweet little line or two "to remind you I exist," he would write. Since he had been on The Diogenes there had been nothing. She still had trouble with the fact he had not sent any sort of word to her the he was okay after his abrupt disappearance. Were it she who had done the disappearing, she would have.
'Would you?' her conscience nagged her. 'Tom is so much like you sometimes. When work consumes him, he forgets everything else.'
'But he never forgets me,' she reminded stubbornly.
'But this is different. Tom is such a white knight. Here he has the opportunity to help Special Ops to capture a criminal they have been after for sometime. Naturally he's going to do everything he can to help them to the exclusion of all else. You know how focused he can be when he's involved with something like that.'
B'Elanna stroked her thumb over Tom's face. 'If there was some way he could help protect people, then he'd do it.'
'That *is* what you find so attractive about him so stop complaining that he's too absorbed in what he's doing with them. He'll be back as soon as he's done.'
"But I want him back now," she whispered sadly.
As if in response to her desire, the door made two chimes in quick succession, drawing her attention from her thoughts. Hope leapt within her. That was Tom's signal. He was back. Setting the silver-framed image behind her on the bed, she hurried to the centre of the living area, smoothing down her uncombed hair. She should have spent the time after her shower brushing her hair and putting on the negligée he had surprised her with only days earlier, instead of mooning over his picture like some lovesick school girl.
"Come," she invited, trying to restrain the urge to fly into Tom's the moment the door opened. 'Don't forgive him right away for forgetting you all day. Let him work for it a little,' she decided, clearing the grin from her face.
Only it was not Tom who entered her quarters.
B'Elanna tightened the sash on her robe. "Raven."
Displaying all the signs of discomfort, he stepped back a pace. "Oh, I'm sorry. I never thought... I should go."
"No, no it's okay." She nervously smoothed back a lock of hair. "Um, what can I do for you?"
"I wanted to discuss something with you, but you're not dressed to receive visitors. I'll-"
"It's fine. What did you want to discuss?"
"The modifications," he answered, stepping forward to pass her a padd. In doing so, his bare hand brushed hers.
Startled brown eyes leapt to navy ones. All thoughts of Tom or anything at all vanished from her head as she became lost in his eyes. Unconsciously, she swayed towards him. Seconds later the padd clattered to the floor as he pulled her to him, mouths crushing one another as she matched his desire. She moaned as his hands parted her robe to touch the naked flesh beneath.
Neither said any words as he pushed the robe from her shoulders then swept her up in his arms and carried her to her bed, mouth still fused to hers. As he lowered her to middle of the comforter, her hands searched for the hidden fastenings on his uniform, a growl of frustration coming from deep in her throat when she could not find them.
One hand stroking her face, he sat beside her on the bed and reached for the fastenings himself, eyes never leaving hers. She shifted slightly under his eyes then reached under her and withdrew what had been sticking into her back. B'Elanna would have tossed whatever it was away if his eyes had not darted to it and his hand had not lifted from her skin for only an instant. That moment was long enough for his spell over her to be broken and her head cleared. She scrambled off of the bed, image of her and Tom in hand, and scrambled for the throw lying across the foot of her bed.
"You should go," she said in a monotone, wrapping herself in the small blanket. As she hid herself, the image slipped from her hands and onto the comforter.
The eyes of the woman before him and those of Tom Paris seemed to mock Raven from the image. Angrily clenching his fists behind his back, Raven glared at the image of the man he so hated.
"Please go," she repeated, still refusing to look at him. "This isn't right."
"Of course," he assented and left the woman to wallow in self-recriminations.
In the corridor, he permitted the anger to seep back in. Tom Paris was not going to best him at this too, not after all the other indignities he had suffered at that man's hands.
He touched his combadge and called for beam back to The Diogenes.
Sunfire had taken to watching what was happening on Voyager as well as on The Diogenes and she was not enjoying what she was seeing on either ship. It was plain the AlphaOmegans were attempting to gain the confidence of Tom's nearest and dearest and succeeding to an extent. The technicians on The Diogenes meanwhile were analyzing the Voyager crew's logs, personal and professional, every byte of data stored in the ship's memory core, all in an attempt to find a clue to anyone in whom Tom may have confided. Even Yana's search for someone who may have had their memory erased had yielded nothing so far.
The results of the latter were as expected. He was too smart to let slip some information and thereby endanger someone.
'But maybe he did,' the devil's advocate part of her pointed out. 'That's why they're watching Tuvok so closely. He may have given himself away when they were of one body.'
'No, not him,' she countered. 'He is too intelligent to have done something that stupid, even accidentally.'
"So Tommy plays with you a lot, huh?"
Seated on the floor next to her new colouring partner, Naomi nodded and traded Souris crayons. "Some of the others play with me too, but I have a lot more fun with Tommy. We play here or in his quarters or the gym or something, but sometimes we play on the holodeck. I like that best."
"What kind of things do you play on the holodeck?"
"All kinds of fun games. And Tommy shows me different planets he's been to back home. And parts of the ship I'm not allowed to see because I'm too little. And for my birthday he made me some playmates and a teacher so I can go to school like the kids back home do." She got an excited expression on her face. "Do you want to meet them? They're really fun. Except Mor. He's Klingon. He's mean sometimes. Calls me a baby. But I'm not a baby."
"No, you're not."
"Right. Allegia says that's just the way Klingons are though."
"I think I very much would like to meet your new friends."
"Right now?"
"Naomi, we'll have to see if there's holodeck time available," her mother lounging in a nearby chair reminded.
"But everybody's fixing the ship. They won't be playing on the Holodecks."
"We'll see. Computer, is there any free holodeck time at the moment?"
"Holodeck One is free until 1315," the computer responded.
"Reserve time for Sam Wildman."
"Time reserved."
"Well, then young lady, if we are going out, you'd better clean up, hadn't you?"
As Naomi bustled about stowing away her crayons and other toys she and Souris had used, her mother smiled at their guest.
"I don't know quite what I was expecting when you asked to have a session with my daughter and I, but this was okay."
"You thought perhaps I would analyze your every word for hidden meanings?"
Sam laughed. "Maybe. But you were very good with my daughter. I never knew she was apprehensive about meeting her father for the first time or about having to leave Voyager to live somewhere else and possibly not see any of the crew ever again."
"This is why these sessions are important, to learn these things beforehand and reduce anxiety."
"I'm ready!" the little girl called as she rushed in from her bedroom.
As the two women stood, Naomi took her new friend's hand and led her out of her and her mother's quarters.
B'Elanna Torres could not figure out what was going on with her. She loved Tom. That was the one thing in the Universe she had thought she knew for certain. Just a couple of short nights ago she had all but agreed to bear the man's children and spend the rest of her life with him. She had pictured that future with him and their offspring with a little fear and a lot of anticipation. So what had changed? Why was she suddenly thinking less and less about the man she considered her soulmate and more and more about Raven?
Shaking her head, she forced her concentration back to her work. This thing with Raven, whatever it was, was nothing. Mere interest in someone new who had entered Voyager's community.
Then why was she not as intrigued by the others who had come on board from The Diogenes? They were new faces too. Why was she not anticipating their arrival at the beginning of each shift? Why was she not finding their presence so comfortable that when it was absent it was missed? Why had she not nearly had sex with any of *them*?
"Busy, Lieutenant Torres?"
B'Elanna looked up from her desktop to see Raven in her office doorway. He frowned for a moment then smiled in a self-deprecating manner.
"Of course you're busy. Silly question. Will we start again?" He disappeared only to reappear a moment later, waggling the padd in his hand. "Hello, Lieutenant Torres. I've come to bother you with some terribly routine, I-can't-believe-they're-making-me-ask-these-stupid-questions questions. Knowing that, may I still come in?"
"Yes," she sighed, "we have to talk."
Smile fading, he nodded and entered. Coming to stand in front of the desk she stood behind, he shrugged. "About last night," he guessed.
Staring down at her desk, she nodded.
Raven cleared his throat. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "Last night... I know it was wrong, especially since people say you're with Tom, but that doesn't stop me from wanting you."
Her eyes widened as they shifted up to his.
"I know it shouldn't have happened and I should not feel this way since we barely know each other..."
"Let's forget it ever happened," she insisted. "It won't happen again."
"Won't it?" He reached out to touch her cheek. "It's happened twice now."
Unconsciously, she leaned into his touch.
"You're very beautiful, B'Elanna," he murmured.
Ordinarily, she would have denied such a comment or blushed and dropped her eyes. Now all she did was stare into his eyes as his thumb caressed her jaw seemingly of its own accord.
"You really are quite lovely," he whispered. "Quite lovely indeed."
Her lips had just melted into his when her combadge chirped. Reluctantly, he drew back and lowered his hand as he broke the eye contact. Like a hypnotist's subject being woken, B'Elanna blinked rapidly and shook her head to clear it. The chirp sounded once again before she answered it.
"Yes?" she answered somewhat breathlessly.
"B'Elanna?" Chakotay's voice called. "You okay?"
She snapped back to normal. "Yes, yes, of course. What can I do for you, Commander?"
"The Captain and I were wondering how things were going down there."
"Things?"
"You know, the repairs?"
"Oh, they're coming along."
There was a pause. "B'Elanna, when was the last time you took a break?"
"I..."
"Take one, Lieutenant. That's an order. Chakotay out."
Self-consciously, B'Elanna began shifting things around on her desktop.
Clearing his throat, Raven caught one of her hands and laid into its palm the padd he had brought with him. "Perhaps if you could complete this for me," he said, not relinquishing her hand, "I'll... I'll make myself scarce. In fact, I'll find one of our engineers to take my place here. It probably would be better that way."
"No!" He vehemence surprised both of them. "I mean, I- We need you here. Your expertise has been invaluable and you already know everything that's going on here. We'd be wasting time if we had to explain it all again to someone new. What just happened... It won't happen again."
"As you say," he said without certainty, dropping his hand and walking out.
Sitting heavily in her desk chair, B'Elanna reached up to touch her lips with trembling fingers.
Striding down the corridor outside of Engineering, Raven smiled to himself.
Kneeling, Souris looked at the hologram named Allegia and some half-formed memory fluttered through her unconscious. Two little girls, both with her and Allegia's colouring, laughing and playing in a garden as she watched them through the kitchen window. 'Where was this coming from?' she asked herself. 'I have no children or nieces. No relations at all.'
"You look like me," Allegia marvelled.
"You could be her mommy," Naomi giggled.
"Do you have children, Souris?" Sam asked in a friendly tone.
"Yes," the AlphaOmegan whispered, not realizing what she was saying. Allegia touching the wetness on Souris' cheek was the only way she knew she was crying.
"Souris?"
"Excuse me."
She scrambled to her feet and dashed out of the holodeck only to run straight into Harry Kim's chest. Automatically, his arms came up to catch her as she bounced off of him.
"Souris? What's wrong?"
Through watery eyes, she gazed up at him. "I don't know," she whispered.
"Come on."
Holding her close to his side, he helped her to his quarters, amazingly without meeting a soul. Once inside, he settled her in a chair and kneeled before her.
"Want to tell me what happened?" he asked again.
Shaking her head, she reached out to wrap her arms around his neck to pull him close. Rubbing circles on her back, he willingly held her close as she cried until there were no more tears.
"Let me stay," she softly begged the side of his collarbone.
It took a moment for Harry to understand what she meant, but when he did he nodded.
Lifting her head, she offered him her mouth and he took it.
Gerron Tem stumbled into Megan Delaney's quarters in a daze.
"Tem? You okay?"
He blinked at her a few times. "I don't believe it," he whispered. "I just don't believe it."
She sat next to him on the couch. "Don't believe what? Tem, what's happened?"
"Torres and Raven..."
"What about them?"
"I was in Engineering. There was this report she'd been wanting and I said I'd drop it off."
"So?"
"So when I got there they said she was in her office. She wasn't alone. Raven was there."
"Hardly surprising. They're working closely together on the repairs."
"Oh, they were close all right. They had their lips plastered to one another, they were so close."
"What?!"
"I didn't believe the rumours when I heard them. Obviously they were true."
"What rumours?"
"About Raven flirting with her and her not smashing his face in for it. Engineering noticed it immediately. He's always finding some excuse to be there-"
"He is helping supervise the repairs. Of course he'd be there a lot."
"Always being somewhere near her. Always finding an excuse to touch her."
"Touch her?!"
"Apparently."
Megan angrily began pacing. "I can't believe this. Now she's cheating on Tom with Raven. Weeks ago it was Harry. What is she thinking? She's got this great guy who loves her completely and here she is throwing it all away again."
"I don't know if it is that, Megan," Tem interrupted her tirade. "I mean all they were doing was kissing."
"You said they had their lips 'plastered' to each other. First she had them plastered to Harry. Now to Raven. What's wrong with her? Why can't see she what she's got in Tom?"
Gerron was jealous to hear his girlfriend going on and on about how wonderful her former boyfriend was and his words echoed his feeling. "You've never gotten over Paris, have you?"
"What?"
"Now that you've seen how he is finally matured a bit, you find him even more attractive. Every woman's fantasy. Sexy, handsome, heroic, faithful, loving-"
"Tem, you're being an idiot. I love you. You know that. Just like you know what happened between me and Tom wasn't really love. It was mutual comfort. Tom is my friend now. I don't want to see him hurt."
His jaw tightened and said nothing as he left.
Sighing, Megan dropped back onto the couch.
"You wanted to see me?"
Alpha Two turned his computer around on the desk so Raven could see what he had been watching. After a quick glance at the codes appearing on the monitor, the human frowned at his superior.
"I don't understand? What is this?"
"This is what Tuvok is doing right now at his console in his office."
"Tuvok? How? This -"
"Exactly. Somehow he is alone. Bartoq was not to permit him to be alone unless Tuvok was going to bed or another of you was with him."
"Souris was supposed to be with him for their 'session.' I'll find out where she is immediately, sir."
"In the meantime, send Bartoq to him. I think it is time for the next act in this little drama to begin."
"None of them will believe it," Raven predicted, shaking his head. "They have bonded too closely with him."
"Then we will have to convince them they don't know him as well as they think they do."
Tuvok's fingers flew over the touch pad of the terminal in his office. With each command it appeared more and more likely Lieutenant Paris had been correct and the AlphaOmegans had not found his secret, "Backdoor" programme. He entered the third set of codes and was about to upload the file Tom had hidden away in one of Voyager's less trafficked systems when his office door opened and one of the people he finally had succeeded in evading after three days of trying entered. Tuvok nonchalantly switched off the display and turned to Bartoq.
The Klingon never said a word. He did not have to. The small phaser he slipped out of a pocket in his tunic and pointed at his counterpart said it all.
'How could Tom have entrusted someone so inept as this Vulcan apparently was to help him?' Sunfire lamented to herself.
Then she stopped. In her experience, "inept" and "Vulcan" did not go together. And this guy Tuvok was a Security Chief and a Lieutenant Commander. How could he have achieved that position or rank if he were as inept as it seemed? Voyager would have been destroyed long ago.
She thought for a moment, thinking she certainly hoped Tom knew what he was doing.
"Is it just me," Chakotay softly asked, leaning closer to Kathryn across the table from him, "or do they act different when Raven's not around?"
Following her First Officer's gesture of the head, she glanced towards the table a couple of metres away where Dumar, T'Kara, and Souris sat talking with B'Elanna, Harry, and Neelix. "What do you mean?"
"When Raven is around the Assessment Team acts differently. They're all stiff and proper. Yet look at them right now. Even T'Kara's loosened up a little, if that's possible for a Vulcan."
"He's their commanding officer. It'd only be natural that they would act more reserved when he is around. The majority of our own crew still treats me that way and we've been together five years now."
He shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's almost like... like they're afraid of him."
"Afraid of him?"
"Yes."
"I haven't noticed anything like that. Of course I haven't been around them all that much, unfortunately. It seems every time I turn around the Doctor's in my Ready Room, near frantic about his family's future. And a little while ago it was Seven worried about whether Tom was right when he once told her to wonder what her reception in the Alpha Quadrant was going to be like. I honestly don't know when the Doctor's found time to do these extensive physicals everyone on the crew is complaining about or Seven's found time to help with the repairs to the ship."
"Well, there is something strange going on with them, that much is for sure. Haven't you noticed all their strange questions."
"What strange questions?"
"Yesterday morning, in my session with Souris, she asked me about my akoonah. When I asked how she knew about it she said it was in my file and she was curious about it. I found myself telling her everything about it. Even all about my spirit guide."
"Those questions aren't strange, Commander. That's what she's supposed to be doing. These sessions are to see how sound we are mentally after so long so far away from home. Your akoonah is very much a part of what has kept you sane in such trying times. I'd have been surprised if she hadn't brought it up."
"What about the questions about Tom? She admitted her interest was personal, that she had known Tom a long time and was concerned about how he'd been faring while on board, but still."
"What kind of personal interest?"
"She intimated she'd informally been his therapist in the past and had concerns about him. Wanted to know about any odd behaviour I'd noticed or about any situations that had not made it into the official logs. She even asked about the parole test and about the time with Tom and my akoonah. Actually talking about the akoonah is how we got talking about Tom."
"She touched on Tom in our session too. Again stating that she and the others knew him and were interested in hearing about his life here." Frown lines temporarily marred the skin of her brow. "Raven said as much to me, too." She sighed. "I'd really feel better if I knew why Tom was still over there and why he hasn't checked in with any of us since we talked that first day. It's been three days now. How much could he and The Diogenes' Captain have to say to one another? I know they were discussing everything that had happened here in the Delta Quadrant and he was helping them with their investigation, but for three days? How much could he possibly know about someone he only knew briefly over six years ago?"
"So you're starting to agree with me that something strange is going on?"
"*Maybe* going on, yes."
"You *were* the one who told everyone to be on guard where they were concerned, remember?"
"Yes."
"Well, my gut feeling tells me they're not telling us everything."
He could tell she wanted to agree with him yet part of her was holding out. He knew the fact they were so close to achieving her goal of getting this crew home was making her hesitant to agree with him. On the other hand, her own sense of self-preservation, a side of all of them that had heightened over the past five, danger-filled years, was warning her to be wary of gift horses, especially after their last disappointment at the hands of Arturis and his fake Starfleet vessel. This time, self-preservation narrowly was edged out by desperation.
"You don't think maybe you might be seeing something where there's nothing?" she asked him.
"Kathryn, I don't-"
"No, hear me out. You're uncertain about your future when we get back home. I'm wondering if you're not trying to find something wrong so you don't have to face reality."
"I am not avoiding reality, Kathryn, nor am I imagining this. Something is not quite right with all this and I'm not sure exactly what."
"Until you are sure, I want you to keep your eyes open and mouth closed. I don't want to do anything to seem ungrateful to these people. They came a long way to help us get home, risking their lives and-" She broke off, thinking. "Perhaps that is the source of the hostility you sense. From what Raven's said, this is the first time they've tried to travel this far. It's possible they didn't *volunteer* to come, but were ordered. Were Raven to be supporting whomever ordered them to come, that might explain what you're seeing."
After thinking about it for a moment, Chakotay nodded. "I guess that's plausible."
"Of course it is." She smiled, nudging his half-eaten meal towards him as encouragement to keep eating. "I mean, what could they be up to? They've been totally above board with us."
Even to her own ears she sounded less convinced of that than she had been prior to their conversation.
Tuvok awoke with a fuzzy head. Slowly, his consciousness returned to him. The Backdoor codes. Bartoq. The phaser. As the room coalesced, he saw he was seated upright on a couch in an austere office. Cautiously, he shifted his head to scan the room and stopped. Seated behind the desk was someone he recognized from the memories Tom Paris inadvertently had shared with him during their sharing of Tom's body. Alpha Two.
"You're awake," the middle aged Vulcan observed. "And judging by the expression on your face, you know who I am."
"You are Alpha Two," Tuvok stated.
"Obviously we were correct in our concerns," he said more to himself than his guest. "Please tell me exactly what he has told you."
"That you made him an AlphaOmegan and he is your protégé. And that you wish to kill him and possibly me for what we may know of you."
"I thought that might be the case." He reached up and tapped his combadge. "Raven, please join us."
Raven entered almost immediately.
"It is as we suspected. Please recall the others."
"Yes, Alpha Two."
Once Raven had left the room, Alpha Two gestured for Tuvok to take the chair behind the desk. Warily, Tuvok did.
"I have something to show you, Lieutenant Commander. Perhaps after you have seen it you will change your opinion of us."
"What is going on here?" Chakotay demanded as he rounded a corner to find Dumar and Pardan's four escorts attempting to protect them from three former Maquis and two Starfleet crewmembers.
None of the antagonists said a word. All eyes remained on the Cardassian and Romulan.
The Commander's eyes fell on the most senior member of the want-to-be brute squad. "I want an explanation, Neivers, and I want it now, Ensign."
The ensign begrudgingly answered his superior. "We're just having a word with our *guests*."
Not liking the way the man said the last word, the First Officer relaxed his muscles to be ready for the fight he knew could break out if he did not diffuse the situation immediately. "I see. And just how many of these words were of a nature that could not be used in the official report I am going to compose on this incident if you do not disperse immediately?"
The man stiffened.
"I see."
"No, you don't see, Chakotay," he growled, whirling on him. "They are the enemy. And we're blithely letting them oversee the repairs then begin refitting Voyager for the trip home? How do we even know they aren't just going to take all of us prisoner the second the ship is repaired and we're not of use to them anymore? We could all end up spaced or in some Cardassian or Romulan prison camp. Or worse we could all end up dead."
"Dumar and Pardan may be Cardassian and Romulan, but the Federation President and Starfleet Command have cleared them to be here."
"How do we know it is not all some trick?"
"The Captain has verified the codes as being legitimate. The message is real." Chakotay lowered his voice to a level certain to get their attention. "And as long as The Diogenes crew is here, if anything happens to them, those responsible will find themselves in the Brig until we get home then they'll face disciplinary action. And if Tuvok or I can't figure out who is responsible, all of *you* will end up in the Brig, whether you're responsible or not. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Commander." Neivers herded the grumbling others away.
It was not until they had disappeared around the far bend in the corridor that Pardan spoke. "Thank you, Commander Chakotay."
"I want to know the minute there are anymore such incidents," he said to the guards and the visitors.
"I will inform the others in our party."
"Good. You both okay?"
"Yes, fine."
"Most of the Maquis members of the crew can keep their tempers under control. Some however can't. Be on your guard." He included Pardan in the pointed look he gave Dumar. "Both of you. The anti-Romulan sentiment may not be as strong, but obviously it is there."
The Romulan nodded. "We understand, Commander."
As The Diogenes crewman spoke the last word, his and his colleague's combadges chirped three times.
"If you will excuse us, Commander. We are needed back on The Diogenes."
After a combadge was tapped, Chakotay and the guards were alone in the corridor.
Alpha Two entered the Re-Education Room. Tom Paris was as the hologram of Alpha Three had left him - bloodied, bruised and slumped forward against the restraints, head down. Carefully, the Vulcan tilted the battered head back against the chair back.
Pain-clouded blue eyes opened and closed again. A tight squeeze of Tom's jaw brought the eyes slowly open again.
"We caught Tuvok," Alpha Two informed him. "We have the programme he was trying to upload. It is being analyzed as we speak. Soon we'll know exactly what you two were up to."
Tom made no sign of comprehension or disappointment.
"I have something I want you to see," the Vulcan continued and gestured to the monitor a panel in the wall was sliding back to reveal. "I think you will find it very interesting." He stood off to one side so Tom had an unobstructed view of the proceedings in Voyager's Senior Conference Room as reflected on screen.
"What is this all about, Captain?" Harry wanted to know as he assumed his seat in the Conference Room with everyone else.
"I don't know, Harry," the Captain admitted from her seat at the head of the table. "All Raven said was he needed to see the Senior Staff."
As she finished the sentence, Raven entered with Tuvok. The Vulcan silently assumed his seat to the Captain's left and Raven took Tom's next to B'Elanna.
"It is time we reintroduced ourselves, Captain," Raven began. "We are not Starfleet or Special Operations."
Resisting the urge to turn to her First Officer and tell him she was sorry because he *was* correct about them hiding something from them, the Captain turned narrowed gaze on Raven. "Who are you really?"
"We are an organization operating outside of the Federation and the other governments in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The name we go by is the AlphaOmegans and as it suggests, we are the *first* and *last* line of defence for maintaining the peace in our two home quadrants. Incidentally, that is the true reason why we have a Cardassian and a Romulan with us on the Assessment Team. We recruit from all over the two quadrants."
The Voyager Senior staff sat there stunned for a moment.
"Why have we never heard of you before?" the Captain finally asked.
"Out of necessity, we operate in secret. That is the best way we have of ensuring we are able to maintain the peace without undue influence from any one government or individual. If you *had* heard of us, it would have meant you'd done something that demanded our intervention in stopping your activities."
Chakotay cast narrowed eyes in Raven's direction. "Who do you answer to?"
"Our leaders."
"But who do they answer to?
"Themselves." He held up hands to calm them. "I know, not a good way of doing things, but they are very disciplined and their allegiance to our mandate keeps them on the straight and narrow."
There was not a person at that table who believed for a second anyone was disciplined enough to stop "absolute power from corrupting absolutely" as the saying went. However at that point they lacked proof that it had so they could not argue with Raven. That did not mean a look did not pass from the Captain to every person at that table, reminding them to keep on guard.
"If you operate 'outside' of any one government's influence," she said to Raven, "why are you working for the President and Command? Or was their message a fake?"
"Oh, the message was real enough," he lied. "They will ensure Special Ops receives the credit for your rescue. Our role however was to have been kept out of the official report on all this."
"Why?"
"Under normal circumstances, we have no contact with them. If word gets out to the other governments of our having initiated contact with them, it will compromise our neutrality. Others will see it as our siding with the Federation and Starfleet. Our objectivity would come into question."
"So why are you revealing your true identities to us now? Why risk appearing to have lost your neutrality?"
"It became necessary to prevent a catastrophe in the making."
"Catastrophe?"
"Mr. Paris," Tuvok said solemnly.
Confused, Kathryn stared at her Security Chief. "Tom?"
"I am explaining this badly, " Raven sighed. "We had an ulterior motive for bringing all of you home. The story we gave for Mr. Paris' absence from this ship..."
"That he was helping all of you with an investigation?"
"Yes. That was not exactly the truth. There is an investigation, except he is the focus of it, not assisting in it."
Everyone took a mental step back.
"You're saying he did all those horrible things?" the Captain asked. "But when he contacted me-"
Yet another lie came tripping off of his tongue with ease. "When he contacted you, Captain, he too thought we were Special Ops and he was helping us to bring down a former acquaintance of his. Unfortunately, not long after that he recognized one of our people, ruining the ruse we were using to get him to talk to us."
"This investigation is why you and your people were asking all of those questions about Tom?"
"In a way, yes, Captain. We had questions best asked before we properly identified ourselves and everyone became wary of us. If you thought we were Starfleet like you, then you might be more forthcoming with your answers. As unknown entities, you would have clammed up the moment we began asking about one of your own." He sighed. "We had hoped we would not have to explain any of this at all, except Mr. Tuvok here made it necessary."
"Tuvok?"
"His having been misled by Mr. Paris and his subsequent actions because of that brought all of this prematurely to a head."
Voyager's Captain stared at Tuvok once more. "What exactly did you do?"
The Vulcan calmly looked at his superior. "I have not been honest about the time Mr. Paris and I shared his body. In actuality, I remembered every moment of the experience."
"You lied?" Harry shook his head. "But you're Vulcan. Vulcan's can't lie."
"If they think that it is imperative to the safety of their fellow crew, then it is considered acceptable. And if you will remember, I have had to lie in the past, but in this case I did not actually lie. I never said I remembered *nothing* of my time inside Mr. Paris' body. I permitted everyone to have that impression, yes, but I never actually said it."
Chakotay leaned forwards, forearms on the table. "And you thought keeping it quiet was somehow protecting us from something?"
"While I was with Mr. Paris, he experienced the return of certain memories. He told me that the mishap with Commander Chakotay's akoonah triggered what he called an Awakening. He claimed he was an AlphaOmegan who had been trained since birth to be a cross between an assassin and an intelligence operative and that whenever an AlphaOmegan was not needed, an artificial amnesia was induced. However, it seemed the incident with the akoonah had overwhelmed the subatomic device used to cause this amnesia and he was remembering things."
"Why have I never detected this device in any scans of him?" the EMH asked suspiciously.
"He said it was and continues to be cloaked, though the function of preventing him from being aware of his being an AlphaOmegans no longer is operative. Because of this he was concerned The Protectors would be coming for him."
"The Protectors?" Harry questioned.
Raven nodded. "Our leadership goes by that name, Ensign Kim."
"Mr. Paris claimed he knew something that was a threat to them," Tuvok continued, "and that they would be trying to assassinate him and possibly me given the opportunity."
Chakotay frowned. "Why you?"
"Even though he did not tell me what the *something* he knew was, he said it would be assumed he had since we had shared a body for so long and they would think he could not have kept the truth about himself from me. They would think I knew everything and was as much a threat as he was. And at the time, I believed him. Given the memories I saw and the story he told me, I honestly believed his claims. Therefore, I agreed to help him protect both ourselves and Voyager?"
"Voyager?" Kathryn leaned forwards. "Why Voyager too?"
"He said the AlphaOmegans could not be certain exactly how many he may have told therefore the majority of the crew would be killed outright. Those few who were not would be taken for study. Namely Mr. Neelix, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor."
"They wouldn't!" Neelix spluttered. "Why?"
"You and Seven of Nine are unique. You would have to be studied to learn everything there was to know about you and your species to see if you posed a potential threat to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. As for the Doctor, the fact he continues to exist and has evolved beyond his programming is of great interest to everyone, not merely the AlphaOmegans."
"This is unbelievable," the Captain muttered to herself.
"Because at the time I believed Mr. Paris, I agreed to help him with a plan to save everyone. If you remember when the AlphaOmegans arrived, Mr. Paris referred to them as 'the cavalry.' It was our signal for me to download a programme he had hidden in a secondary system. Once I had it, I was to wait until I was alone to begin entering what Mr. Paris asserted were access codes to a 'Backdoor programme' he had hidden in the AlphaOmegan files. He said every ship produced in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants contained certain files accessible only by AlphaOmegans. That every time a ship interacted with another ship or starbase these files transferred a copy of all the information entered into the ship's memory since the last transfer and added any new information that was available. He claimed he had inserted this 'Backdoor' programme of his a few years earlier during a time when he had experienced some sort of a mental breakdown and gone rogue from the AlphaOmegans."
The Doctor jerked. "Mental breakdown? What kind of mental breakdown? It's not in his files."
"He said he accidentally saw an old AlphaOmegan file pertaining to an incident involving with his father. It told of his being captured by Cardassians along with an ensign of his and being tortured before being rescued."
Kathryn gasped and grew pale. Chakotay and the Doctor instantly were rising out of their seats. She waved them away, eyes riveted to Tuvok.
"He did not know that ensign was you, Captain," Tuvok told her.
"It wasn't in this file?"
"He referred to you as 'an ensign,' never by name, so I doubt he knew it was you. He said he went - to use his own words - 'a little berserk' and hunted down then tortured and murdered the Cardassian Gul responsible, a Gul Camet, and Camet's biological father, a Legate Meer. He also killed all of the Cardassians who were at the base with them."
"Camet's dead?" she whispered.
Raven outlined what Tom had done to Camet, Meer, and those at Camet's base. When he was finished, only he and Tuvok did not look like they were ready to dive for the nearest bathroom to be ill.
"He said after it was over, the AlphaOmegans found him and transported him to a base for Re-Education."
"Re-Education?" Chakotay inquired.
"Essentially it involved torturing him mentally, physically, and chemically until he broke then mentally conditioning the aberrant behaviours out of him. Once The Protectors had returned him to acting the way they wanted him to, they induced the artificial amnesia once more and returned him to his life as Tom Paris, not AlphaOmegan 41783. Later, they sent him here to Voyager on some Mission. He does not know what it was, but he was certain if the ship had not been brought to the Delta Quadrant he would have Awoken and fulfilled that Mission."
"Raven, is any of this-"
"True?" he finished. "Some is, some isn't. Mostly it is a twisted version of the truth." He leaned his forearms on the table and stared at his clasped hands. "Where to start?" he sighed. "First of all, he is not one of us. We go by codenames, not numbers. AlphaOmegan 41783 was his case number. At least that was what it ended up being when we realized all of the seemingly separate incidents we were investigating were connected."
He ran his gloved hands over his face. "That was an awful time, let me tell you. Starting a few months before Tom Paris was booted from Starfleet there were a series of inexplicable deaths in various parts of the Alpha Quadrant. As I said, at the time we didn't connect one with the other. Only much later did we finally connect the dots as it were."
Rising, he began pacing and talking with his hands. "There were assassinations all over the Alpha Quadrant. Some were what we call single target hits - the target is a very specific individual and only that individual actually is killed. Others were multiple targets - a less discriminating assassination in which anyone who happens to be in the general vicinity dies along with the actual target. As far as we have been able to tell, there are forty-seven single target hits and an estimated 5,900 victims who fall into the multiple target category attributable to Tom Paris."
Jaws dropped. Eyes widened.
"I know. It amazed even us. We were stunned to trace all of them back to one individual. We had figured it was the work of several separate individuals, not one man. Unfortunately there might even be more victims. Even now, all these years later, we're still investigating."
"And you'll have to continue investigating," B'Elanna growled, "because you've clearly got the wrong man if you think Tom Paris did any of them."
"I understand your reaction, B'Elanna, I really do, but when we captured him six years ago he confessed to it all."
"I don't believe it. Tom Paris has the biggest heart of anyone any of us know. There's no way he could kill all of those people. Hurt or even kill the Cardassian who hurt his father, possibly, but any others... No way. You have the wrong-"
"There is a recording," Tuvok began. "It, plus the file I saw on him and my own lingering concerns regarding the logic of what Mr. Paris had claimed was happening to him and what was to happen to all of us if the AlphaOmegans came, convinced me he was confused and his story to be questioned."
"That's it? Files and recordings can be faked."
"But his story was full of holes, Lieutenant, that it is possible the AlphaOmegans are telling the truth. I am not saying I do not possess doubts, yet it is slightly more logical than Mr. Paris' version of events."
"I don't believe it. You've turned on Tom!"
Raven went to the wall console and ordered up a file. "I brought this over from our computer. What you are about to see is what Mr. Tuvok watched earlier on The Diogenes. The reason you see only Paris is because the recording was downloaded from the victim's memory not long after she died."
When he called for the file to play, they were shocked. Before their eyes was a visual of a younger Tom Paris, one whose hands and outfit were stained with blood. As they watched and listened, they met a Tom Paris they never had dreamed existed, a cruel and sadistic Tom Paris who clearly had no conscience or qualms about using torture to get the answers he wanted. And obviously he wanted them very badly from the woman he was physically abusing.
"The woman you hear pleading for her life is one of our own, Sunfire," Raven whispered as he fought back his emotions. "She went undercover to gather evidence against him. She got it, but lost her life in the process when he realized she was lying to him."
On the screen, the door a couple metres behind Tom disintegrated and a team of armed AlphaOmegan soldiers in full uniform including hoods and gloves burst in. Four soldiers tackled Tom to the floor and one of the soldiers hurried over to Sunfire to untie her. As the recording faded to black, the soldier at her side began to remove his hood.
"She fell unconscious at that point and died shortly after we got her to our ship," he choked out.
Each member of the Senior Staff had a similar response to Raven's. Even if they were not, as Tuvok appeared to be, convinced what they were hearing and seeing was true, it was disturbing.
Halfway through the recording, Harry had turned a lovely shade of green. Immediately he had swung his chair away from the screen, eyes on the tabletop now in front of him. Anyone who saw him could tell he desperately wanted to leave the room or at least cover his ears so he did not have to hear his best friend's harsh voice or the victim's screams. Now that it was over he still looked like he wanted to throw up.
The Captain and Neelix did not seem far behind the young ensign in this sentiment.
Chakotay had paled beneath his naturally tanned skin and joined the EMH in staring wide-eyed at the now black screen.
Tuvok, who already had seen everything was unmoved, or at least appeared that way.
B'Elanna refused to look at the display after the first minute. For the rest of the playback, she kept shaking her head and saying over and over that it was not Tom, that it was all a fake.
Raven shut off the playback and collapsed into a seat next to the still mumbling B'Elanna.
"He was diagnosed with some mental condition Souris would have to explain to you, I don't really understand it personally," he said, "but the gist of it is, he wasn't himself when he did these things. The pressure of trying to live up to the Paris image then failing so badly combined with the physical and mental trauma he endured during the accident at Caldik Prime and lying about it, all caused him to - in layman's terms - flip out. He was not legally responsible for what he did then."
"Not responsible?" Chakotay gasped. "Then who the heck was?"
"He was mentally impaired, Commander, therefore under the law not responsible. Unfortunately that still left us with the problem of what to do with him. He was too ill and obviously far too dangerous to be permitted to roam free."
"Obviously."
"But, he had learned things from Sunfire that would jeopardize our existence if they got out. We had our own psychologists and psychiatrists readying to treat him so no one outside would find out what he had about us, however at the same time, Starfleet was looking for him. Tom Paris needed to make a rapid reappearance or Admiral Paris might have kicked up a fuss about his missing son."
"Why would he have?" Harry asked, some of his colour returning. "He had disowned him after his court-martial."
"Perhaps officially, but unofficially he still was the Admiral's only son. He kept an eye on him, a disapproving one, but an eye all the same. We didn't have much time before trouble arose when the Admiral's spies couldn't find his son. So, in light of that, we tried a radical procedure to cure him. In hindsight, it clearly was a bad idea."
"What did you try?" the EMH enquired suspiciously.
"At first, Souris attempted to treat him with therapy. When that did not work, we attempted to mentally condition the mental disease out of him."
Harry blinked. "Brainwashing?"
"Yes, Ensign. He was going to need years and years of therapy. But he had to make an appearance somewhere so his father would hear he was okay so we didn't have years. And even if we had, I doubt we could have hung on to him for that long. Tom Paris was and is too dangerous, too intelligent. He would have done his damnedest to find some way to escape. It was going to take up too much of our time and resources to guard him, let alone treat him. So we took the unorthodox step of factoring the mental disease out of his personality."
"How?" the Doctor questioned.
"By the use of anti-psychotic medications and certain other mind altering drugs in conjunction with extensive behaviour modification sessions."
"Explain 'behaviour modification.'"
"The Implant he told Mr. Tuvok of actually does exist and he does have one, as does every AlphaOmegan, including myself. The recording you just witnessed was made by Sunfire's Implant. That is how we got it. In Paris' case, we used it to modify his reactions to various stimuli. Mostly, it channels his adrenaline to keep him calm and in control, but it also was to blank all memories of the things he had done to Sunfire and to all the others, at least temporarily. It had been our intention to put him back on Earth, let on of his father's spies see Tom was okay, then he was to broadcast to the patrons in Sandrine's that he had had enough of Earth and was going to get lost for a while. After that, we'd have picked him up and taken him to one of our bases for proper therapy."
"Why didn't that happen?" Janeway wanted to know.
"Your Commander Chakotay happened."
Chakotay frowned. "Me?"
"You stumbled upon him when you were trying to recruit for your Maquis cell. He went with you and, in all honesty, when we started reading the reports on his behaviour, we figured we might just as well leave him as he was. Obviously the Implant had eradicated all traces of the former behaviour."
"Whoa, back up here. Reports on how he was?"
"Yes. He was a bit of a handful for you, Commander, but he was not violent like he had been."
"I know. I was there. How do you know?"
"We are charged with keeping the peace in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant, Commander. That is a huge amount of territory. It is very difficult a task to try to maintain the careful balance of things for as long as we have without any overt presence. So we have seeded our people all over the Quadrants."
"Seeded?" Kathryn asked.
"The majority of what we do is intelligence. We have to know what is going on at all times to head off any attempts to disrupt the peace. So we place our people in well-connected positions where they'll be our eyes and ears."
"So you can control what's going on."
"In a way. We prevent bad things from happening, yet we don't initiate policies, Captain. Our mandate is to maintain the status quo. Nothing more."
Not for a moment did anyone at the table unequivocally believe this denial yet he went on before they could attempt to refute it.
He ran a hand through his hair. "But we are getting off of topic here. Back to Paris. I'm not the expert on how and what they did to treat him."
"Or not treat him," the EMH interjected.
"Or not treat him, yes. I'm just the poor slob who gets to tell you all this. And all I can tell you is that it appeared to work. The man who was responsible for so many murders was gone, or so we thought. When you visited the Alpha Quadrant, Doctor, we read your report on what was happening here, especially about him and the akoonah and we realized we had trouble."
"Because of this reaction he had to it."
"Yes. As we feared, the device in his head is breaking down and the blocked out memories of what he did and our capturing him apparently are returning. Fortunately for all of you, when the memories did begin to surface, they were so jumbled up he thought he was one of us. He knew no one is supposed to know we exist so, thinking he was one of us, he tried to act appropriately by keeping everything he remembered a secret. Thinking he was an AlphaOmegan probably was only thing that kept him from returning to his former... occupation. Or maybe it was that he realized he needed to keep all of you alive so he can make it back to the Alpha Quadrant, I don't know. All we do know is he thinks he is one of us and that we are here to destroy him and he had Mr. Tuvok here convinced all of you were in mortal danger from us."
"Any idea why he killed these people?" Kathryn questioned.
"None. Other than why Camet, Meer, and the other Cardassians of course. Paris is very attached to his father. Because of what Camet did, what Paris did to them makes sense in a twisted and sadistic sort of way."
Chakotay cleared his throat. "So whether Tom really did these things or not, what happens to him now?"
"As you know, when we got here we immediately took him to The Diogenes. One of The Protectors, Alpha Two by name, is here with us and is working with him. He and Alpha Three and Four were the ones who attempted to help Paris before, but found they didn't have the time they needed. This time Alpha Two hopes to be able to do it right. He's already began therapy sessions with him."
B'Elanna thrust her chair back as she surged to her feet. "I don't believe any of this. This isn't Tom. I don't know why you're lying about this, but you are."
Raven leapt up himself and grabbed her arm before she could reach the door. "B'Elanna, I'm not lying about this."
"You admitted you lied to us about who you are and what Tom was doing over on The Diogenes, but we're just supposed to accept what you're saying about Tom now because you claim to be telling the truth?"
"I explained why we had to lie about the other things. For the safety of everyone in the Galaxy, you have to believe what I am telling you know."
"No, I know Tom Paris. He is a good, kind, loving person. He'd never do anything like this."
"I have to agree with B'Elanna," Kathryn added. "Tom is not the man you're looking for."
"I'm sorry, Captain," Raven sighed, nonchalantly removing his gloves as if it were just something for him to do while he talked. "I know all of you have known him for a long time now and you think you know him-"
"We do," Harry interjected.
"But you don't know the man *we* know."
"Because he doesn't exist!" B'Elanna objected.
The EMH entered the fray. "Even if he did - and I certainly am not saying that he did - now he is nothing like what you've described him to be in the past. I spend a lot of time with him. He is a fine officer and -"
"What he has been during the time that you've know him," the AlphaOmegan interrupted, "is because of the Implant. The same Implant that now is breaking down. When it is totally useless, he there is the danger he will revert to his previous behaviours. But if you do not wish to believe me, listen to your own Chief of Security."
"He did not say Tom admitted to all these other killings."
"Actually," Tuvok clarified, "I did witness his memories of committing two assassinations. As for the other approximate 5,898 deaths, I do not know."
"No." B'Elanna kept shaking her head. "No, I don't believe it."
Raven groaned impatiently. "B'Elanna, did he ever tell you about going on a spiritual quest after he left Starfleet? How he visited various historically and spiritually significant sites on Earth, trying to find meaning in his life and why fate had wished upon him what happened?"
"That is in his file."
"Did he ever tell you about what happen at Stonehenge? About the old druid he spoke to for over an hour, yet when he asked a tour guide about him, she said it wasn't a druid high holy day and that was the only day they wore the traditional garb. And besides, the sect of druids who wore that style of robe died out over a century earlier."
B'Elanna froze.
"He never told anyone else that, did he? He wouldn't even put it in his logs because people would think him crazy." Cupping her cheek, he leaned closer, an earnest look in his eyes. "I gave him that memory, B'Elanna. That and all the memories of his supposed trips to all of those places. That was my quest from two years earlier. I was the one who saw the druid who supposedly didn't exist. We were trying to furnish a plausible explanation for where he'd been when he'd disappeared."
"No," she whispered.
"Yes," he responded softly, pulling her slowly to his chest, hand on her nape. "I am so sorry to have had to tell you all this, B'Elanna. We had hoped we would not have to." He gently rubbed her back with his free hand as she began to cry.
Dumbly, everyone else merely sat in their chairs and stared. Each one of them had heard the rumours about Raven pursuing B'Elanna, but none of them had placed any credence in them. Now they were wondering what was going on with these two. B'Elanna Torres never cried in public, if she ever cried at all. And even Tom Paris was, for the most part, discouraged from holding her or showing any PDAs at all. Yet here she was, crying and in the arms of the man who was accusing the man she supposedly loved of crimes so heinous only the most diseased of minds would not be appalled at hearing their details.
"If it's any comfort," Raven was murmuring, "deceiving you like this wasn't his fault. He was ill. We tried to help him as best we could and it backfired on us." Turning his head, he spoke to the others. "If any of you can think of anything that can be of any help to us in treating him, then please, we need to know. Mr. Tuvok already has told us what little Mr. Paris revealed to him. If anyone else can come up with anything more, we'd be glad to hear it."
As Raven returned his attention to the woman dampening his chest, the Captain met the eyes of each of those at the table.
Voyager's Senior Staff consisted of well-trained, highly intelligent individuals who, even if they had not possessed experience before boarding the ship, they had earned plenty over their five-year voyage. Each one of them instinctively understood the message in Janeway's grey eyes, some even thinking the same words she was thinking: the old Terran adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Not one of them was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of Raven's veracity.
"We still are not convinced," the Captain told him, "but we will consider it."
Her staff, except for B'Elanna, understood the tacit instruction to not be too forthcoming if they could help it. Until they were satisfied they had the whole story they were not going to make the AlphaOmegans' job of convicting Tom any easier.
