To Tell the Truth, Part 4/8: Sunfire

Chapter 3

Once the meeting broke up and B'Elanna was left alone, sobbing in Raven's strong arms, Alpha Two turned to his "patient." "Raven should have been an actor. Of course you could have done it with more finesse."

Frustratingly, Tom's only response was angry eyes focused on his creator.

"Needless to say, my long hours faking all those recordings did help." He ticked them off on his fingers. "There was the message from Command. Your message to Janeway. Sunfire's death. It will be interesting to see how they react to my next one. Janeway in particular might not enjoy it." He grasped Tom's chin for emphasis. "Of course you always can spare her from finding out."

Stubbornly, Tom maintained his silence.

"Sooner or later I will break you and you will talk. Even you cannot hold out forever." He grabbed a hypospray and injected more buyrate into his subject. "And even if you do not, they will be even more motivated to help us now that they think they are trying to help a seriously mentally ill person recover. Especially since he was one of them for so long. All it will take is one more little thing to convince them the story is true."

With eleventh dose in three days of the drug used to chemically condition AlphaOmegans to obey coursing through his veins on its way to his brain, Tom had to fight hard to keep from screaming in pain and telling all. 'You have to stay sane!' he demanded of himself. 'You have to keep resisting. The longer you do, the greater the chances of the plan working and the others being saved.'

As if on cue, Camet and company appeared to assist Alpha Two in his interrogations.

*Come on,* Camet urged. *Give in and this will all end.*

'Never,' Tom growled back. 'If I surrender, they'll just destroy everyone on board Voyager and I won't sacrifice the others for my own comfort or safety.'

Camet and the others laughed.

*Like they would be welcoming you back with open arms anyway if you escaped. Not likely after the line Raven just fed them. You know whatever Alpha Two has planned for Janeway will make them swallow every bit of it. Even your precious B'Elanna. The woman who right now, if this had not happened, might have been your fiancee or even wife if she had wanted to take the Blood Oath with you. So far she is holding out believing the fiction, but Raven will bring her around. Very persuasive that Raven. But then all of his species are. Wonder how long it will be before the bond he initiated with her the first time he touched her skin to skin will begin to overwhelm her hormones and she gives in to him sexually and then mentally? It will be worse than what you two went through with Vorik's pon farr. At least then she had enough free will left to pick you over Vorik. This time she will not even think of anyone but Raven. Taking him into her bed. Answering absolutely every question he asks her.*

'She won't-'

*Oh, yes. True love will triumph yet again.* Camet laughed. *Come to grips with your reality. You are here, doped up, beat up, tied up, and she is there, emotional, needy, and aroused. And there he is, the comforting, handsome reason for her being so turned on. Oh, it is no contest. You have seen him work. Given everything that has happened, I predict about twenty-four to thirty-six hours before her uniform and his are nothing but pools of cloth on the deck plates.*

'In twenty-four to thirty-six hours I'll be out of here.'

*The plan is ruined. Tuvok failed you. And now he is on their side believing that nice little faked recording from Sunfire's Implant. You know they did quite a good job of inserting your image over her real killer's. And ending the recording right as you were about to remove your hood and show your face. A very nice touch I think.*

'Some one will see it's fake.'

*No, they already half way believe it. In time, they will become convinced they have no reason not to doubt the story. So the only way you will be out of here in twenty-four to thirty-six hours is by giving in and telling Alpha Two everything about where you went and especially where you hid the copies of the information about them that you made. Only then are you going to be released from this chair.*

Unfortunately Tom knew he was correct. But then Tom knew something Camet the AlphaOmegans had forgotten. One does not *ever* underestimate Tom Paris. It was the biggest mistake one could make.

She could not permit this to continue, but how could she stop it? It was not yet time for her to cross over onto his plane.

Then she saw something that made her smile. She might not be able to *directly* help him, but there was someone who could.

After watching what had transpired on Voyager, in the Re-Education Room, Sunfire would have clenched her fists, if she still had them.

It was bad enough that now all she had was a metal shell for a body, albeit a shell that was the fastest ship in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, but she hated being reminded of her organic body's demise and of her consciousness' being transferred to this ship. And to have her last memories of her organic life so bastardized to make that recording was even worse torture.

'Poor Tom,' she moaned to herself. 'To have seen himself as my murderer. He has to be hurting even more than he had when I "died" all those years ago and he transferred me into this computer.' She sighed softly. 'If only I had a real body. I could sneak in there and bust him out.'

*Perhaps I can help you,* a female voice offered.

Sunfire checked and confirmed she was alone.

'This has to be a trick they're playing to get me to betray him. Well, it won't work.'

*It is no trick, Sunfire. I want to help him, too, but I cannot. Together though, we may be able to succeed.*

Warily, Sunfire agreed to listen to the mysterious voice's plan.

"I don't..." Harry broke off, the words no longer coming to his lips.

Without speaking, Souris, sitting in one corner of the couch, watched him pace back and forth in front of her. They had been here in his quarters for almost half of his lunch break, most of it spent exactly as they were spending it now and not eating the meal he had offered earlier, before the bombshell about Tom, to replicate for their lunch.

At last, he flopped down beside her and leaned back, hands covering his face. "Oh, why didn't you tell me?"

"How was I supposed to tell you what your best friend was?" Taking his hands in hers, she drew them from his face and held them in a tight grasp. "I am sorry, Harry," she whispered, "for everything that's happened here. I truly am."

The earnestness in her gaze made him wonder if there was more to all this than met the eye, but he mentally shrugged. Even though they had spent what he considered an incredible time together a couple of metres away in his bedroom only a few short hours ago, he still did not know her well enough to know for certain she meant more than she was saying.

"It's okay," he finally soothed. "I understand why you couldn't tell me."

"Harry, I have to know anything you think might be important. Anything about Tom that might help us help him. Or just anything at all about him. You never know what might be significant."

"I'll try." He paused for a moment, staring at their clasped hands. "Do you think I'll ever have Tom back?"

"I don't know, Harry, but I doubt it."

At her urging, he shifted positions to lay his head in her lap. Tenderly, she stroked his hair as she softly interrogated to Thomas Eugene Paris' best friend. Harry, for his part, only answered in the vaguest of terms, if at all.

Pardan listened silently as his counterpart paced and debated Tom's innocence versus guilt with him. He saw Chakotay's thinking was conflicted. The emotional part of the man felt, if true, this new development exceeded all of the horrifying scenarios he had envisioned for ways Tom Paris could hurt B'Elanna. The logical part of him said there was no way the man he had come to respect ever could be guilty of such atrocities.

"So he never gave any indicators of this?" Pardan enquired when Chakotay paused for a breath.

Halting, the logical Chakotay thought for a moment. "There was his knowledge of weapons that always puzzled some people. We just figured he had done some smuggling or someone in one of the bars he'd hung out with was into smuggling. And there was that explosive compound in his parole test. He never did explain how he knew about that. And his computer skills. That would come in handy if you're trying to sneak in somewhere to assassinate someone, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"And then there's his temper."

"No one else has said he is violent, other than in his Klingon Martial Arts programme."

"He's supposed to be deadly when he's fighting the holograms, but I mean he never really loses his temper. Even with me. I always could tell there's more anger in him than he's letting out."

"So you see his self-control as proof of his being dangerous?"

"Raven said he was hard for you to catch. He'd need to be able to fool people into thinking he was sane and normal so he could get close to them to kill them, right? What better way than to act sane and normal and not violent or temperamental?"

"I see your point."

The emotional Chakotay reasserted himself. "I just worry about how B'Elanna's taking this. Not that she could believe any of this anymore than the rest of us do, but still, she loves him. Raven's claims about Tom directly affect her. She *is* his mate."

"And when all of you concede to the truth?"

"*If* it is the truth." He sighed. "If it is the truth, I don't think I want to know what it will do to her. It was a big step for her, opening up to someone as much as she did with him. She may never recover from this."

The crash of yet another holographic breakable hurled by B'Elanna against the wall of Holodeck Two overrode whatever she had snarled.

Raven stood behind her, far enough out of range of any projectiles. It was quite an effort for him to keep the grin off of his face at the various colourful phrases she was using to express her own conflicted feelings for her former lover and the story they had been told about him. Needless to say, none of what she was growling was the least bit complementary and a few of them were ones he himself had used in the past when speaking to himself of his rival.

'Things are progressing quite nicely,' he congratulated himself and ungloving his hands. 'A little more prodding and she'll be convinced. Then she's mine.'

"It was not, Tom," Neelix insisted. "I am sorry. I mean no disrespect to your fallen colleague, but she was wrong. Tom Paris is not that kind of man. He just is not."

Dumar shook his head at the Talaxian as he bustled about his kitchen, preparing for the evening meal. "So tell me what kind of man he really is, Mr. Neelix. Tell me why it is so impossible."

"He is a good man, a kind man. He never would hurt anyone." He paused. "Well, not without a very good reason."

"I am certain he felt he had a good reason, Mr. Neelix. We merely have to uncover that reason."

Neelix thought for a moment then resolutely shook his head. "No. No, I still don't believe it."

In Sickbay, Yana was having the same sort of luck with the Doctor and Seven, who was there for her physical and her weekly check up.

"What you describe is not consistent with my observations of Lieutenant Paris," Seven informed her.

"Or mine," the EMH chimed in, "or his psychological profile. I find it difficult to believe him capable of such actions. He has demonstrated numerous times that he values the lives of others far above his own." He stemmed off Yana's point before she could even make it. "Both before *and* after the incident with the akoonah."

Yana sighed and continued the tests.

Seated behind her Ready Room desk, the Captain was staring sightlessly at her computer. Her mind refuse to process what was happening. The idea that Tom Paris of all people was some sort of mass murderer was absurd.

The door chime reminded her of the existence of life beyond her thoughts. Straightening a little, she called for the visitor to enter while her guards remained outside.

"Captain Janeway? Are you well?"

The Captain looked up to see T'Kara walking towards her. She did not have to answer. Her emotions were visible on her face.

"It is Paris. You were close to him, were you not."

"Yes, I thought I was. I thought we had a bond."

"I thought his mate was Lieutenant Torres."

"Not that kind of bond. I don't know how to describe it. It was like he was my son and my mischievous little brother and my friend and -" She half laughed. "And my personal reclamation project, as the Commander calls him. I honestly thought I knew what kind of man he was. Now, it seems I didn't know him at all. None of us did."

"There was no one in whom he confided? No one who may perhaps know him better than all the others?"

"Tom wasn't much of a one to do the confiding. Others could and did confide in him, especially if they were having romantic problems, but he didn't reciprocate. Not really. That drove B'Elanna crazy actually. Harry too. They'd open up to him, yet he wouldn't to them."

"So he kept things to himself."

"Pretty much."

"That is unfortunate."

"Yes, I always thought it was. Rather sad he always felt he could give to others and not to himself."

"No, I meant unfortunate because that means no one here actually has a true insight into his character therefore probably cannot be of much assistance in his recovery."

"I don't think that's true, exactly. We have observed how he has been. We've seen him interacting with everyone for five years. I think we know what he's been like. Granted, we have no idea what he was like before The Protectors put this thing in his head to control his behaviour, but we can tell you about how he has been over the last five years."

T'Kara took a seat before her. "And how has he been?"

For close to ten minutes the Captain told the young Vulcan female about the AlphaOmegans' prisoner. Trying to prove her argument that the AlphaOmegans mistaken a good and decent man for an evil and disturbed one, she recounted all the good things he had done. Not swayed by the glowing report, T'Kara tucked every detail away for future reference.

"But you didn't come here to listen to me go on about him. Why did you come?"

"Alpha Two has invited you over to The Diogenes to see Mr. Paris."

She eagerly shifted in her chair. "When?"

"As soon as you could come."

"Fine."

T'Kara rose. "I'll inform Alpha Two then contact you."

She tapped her combadge and was gone.

After hearing her news, Alpha Two dismissed T'Kara, ordering her back to Voyager.

'Janeway is coming,' he thought, rising. 'It is time for the next act.'

"You're what?" Chakotay gasped. "No. No way. They've done nothing but lie to us. How do we know you'll be safe over there?"

Ignoring the presence of the crewwoman at the transporter controls, the only other person in the transporter room, the Captain laid a hand on her First Officer's arm to soothe him. "First of all, I'm taking Tuvok and the Doctor with me. And, yes, they did lie about their identities and about their interest in Tom, but right now he's over there being interrogated for things he probably did not do. Or if he did them, he isn't that same man anymore. Regardless, I want to see him, face to face to see he's okay. I know him. I know if I can talk to him, he'll tell me the truth, good or bad. And if it is good, maybe, just maybe I might be able to talk some sense into this Alpha Two's head. Tuvok says he's Vulcan. He will see the illogic in all this. I'm sure of it."

Chakotay stared into her eyes and recognized the look in them. Determination. Even if it was dangerous, she was determined to beard the lion in his own den. He looked over his shoulder to the crewwoman. She was pretending to be absorbed in checking her console, not watching her superiors. "You will keep a transporter lock on them."

She looked up and nodded. "Aye, sir."

The doors opened to admit the Doctor carrying a medkit and Security Chief with a phaser at his waist. The First Officer relaxed only slightly at seeing the phaser.

Kathryn gave his arm a reassuring squeeze then headed up to the platform to join the others.

The party from Voyager beamed not into The Diogenes' Transporter Room, but into a corridor. According to T'Kara, given the sheer size of the AlphaOmegan ship, it was far easier for them to beam to this location only down the corridor and around a corner from the secured area where they held Tom than to walk all the way there. The Captain had sensed the tacit approval of Tuvok in Security Chief mode at hearing they had a dampening field around Tom's possibly temporary home prevented them from beaming any closer to the secured area. She even shared the sentiment about their caution, only to mentally stumble when she remembered the prisoner they were attempting to keep from beaming out of his cell was Tom.

The first face they saw when the beam released them was that of a tall Vulcan in a uniform like those of the AlphaOmegans except his was all in white. Instantly, Kathryn guessed this had to be the infamous Alpha Two.

"Captain Janeway, Doctor, Mr. Tuvok," he said slightly inclining his head to each as he spoke. "I am Alpha Two. If you will follow me this way?" As he led them down the corridor, he apologized to his counterpart. "Our meeting is long overdue, Captain. I should have been the one to meet you and explain our presence. However, I felt beginning Mr. Paris' treatment immediately was more urgent. Raven has been adequate in my stead?"

"Yes," she assured him from at his elbow as they strode down the corridor, "but you can understand our reluctance to believe his assertions regarding Tom."

"Yes, I do understand, Captain. He was with you for over five years. It is understandable you would have come to believe you know him."

"All due respect, Alpha Two, we do know him."

He shook his head. "I doubt that you do."

"How is Mr. Paris?" the Doctor asked.

"He is in excellent physical condition."

"And mentally?"

"Mentally, he is alternately confused, belligerent, and withdrawn. He has been experiencing flashbacks to his former behavioural patterns."

"We still don't believe you have the right man," Janeway informed him.

"Yes, Raven told me as much. I can assure you we do have the correct individual. If you wish, I can show you some of his file while we wait for the doctors to finish with him."

"Doctors?" the EMH and Captain gasped together.

"Nothing dire, I assure you. He has been on a hunger strike and has grown listless. Our doctors are in with him now to administer a vitamin shot and examine him."

Before they reached the junction of the two corridors, they heard a commotion in one of the rooms down the corridor followed by phaser fire. As they rounded the corner and Tuvok drew his weapon, a door five doors down slid open and a medical technician tumbled out clearly dead. Another one came flying out through the open door, impacting on the facing wall then slumping to the deck, also deceased.

Before Alpha Two's party could take cover in the nearest room, a dishevelled Tom Paris appeared in the doorway and fired upon them. Janeway went down almost immediately with a severe chest wound. Under a barrage of blasts from the escapee, the others dragged the Captain off towards a nearby door. They were almost inside when there was a cry from Tom and the sounds of a scuffle. The four paused long enough to see Paris pinned to the deck by four technicians who had tackled had him.

Danger passed, the Doctor motioned for the others to lower the Captain to the deck where he whipped out a tricorder and began checking her injury. "I need to get her back to Voyager right away."

"No," the patient declined, grimacing in pain, "I want to see Tom."

"Captain, as Chief Medical Officer of Voyager I am ordering to Sickbay."

"I want to see-"

Alpha Two turned from watching what was happening down the corridor. The technicians on Tom had relinquished their writhing prisoner to three well-armed soldiers who had arrived to take charge of the situation. Immediately they had snatched him up, turning a deaf ear to the rotating volley threats he was delivering in the native tongues of his captors.

"Alpha Two to Security," he called, touching his combadge. "Drop dampening field around detention area and beam Voyager's party to their Sickbay."

The last thing the three from Voyager saw was the soldiers dodging the team of medical personnel who swarmed their fallen comrades and taking Tom into another room, across the corridor and three doors down from his previous accommodations.

"What happened?" Chakotay demanded over the Comm from the Bridge.

While the Doctor worked on Janeway, Tuvok filled in the First Officer. In the background, there were gasps from the Bridge crew who were listening in.

"I find it difficult to believe he intended to shoot the Captain," the Security Chief announced.

"But he's one of the best shots on Voyager," Chakotay murmured. "It's hard to believe, even under such stressful conditions, he'd missed his logical target."

"The logical target being Alpha Two and he hit the Captain accidentally."

"Exactly."

"If you can take this discussion into Mr. Paris' bizarre behaviour elsewhere?" the Doctor interrupted. "Ensign Wildman and I have work to do. Yana, we could use a hand."

"I will be on the Bridge momentarily, Commander. Tuvok out."

Tom could not believe what he had seen on the monitor. His eyes leapt to Alpha Two's as he entered the Re-Education Room.

"I wonder if the designer of the first holodeck ever dreamed how it was going to be used in the future?" He shut off the display that now showed only the familiar gridlines of a holodeck. "What is it the Terrans say? 'Turn about is fair play'? They used their Holodeck to fool you with their parole test. I used ours to fool them into thinking you have lost complete control. Poetic justice perhaps?"

It took what little strength of will he had left not to shout 'But they didn't try to kill me!' He knew the charade he had witnessed was as much for the Voyager crew's benefit as it was for his. He only wondered if the hologram of himself who had shot Janeway with a very real phaser had killed her or not. At times like this, he wished he were religious so he could pray to some god or gods for intervention in saving her life. But he was not and fate of one of the two most important women in his life rested in the holographic hands of the Doctor.

"I told you it would be better for Janeway if you submitted to me. But you did not and I was forced to move on to this. Before, they were reluctant to believe our story about you, but now that you have shot the Captain, whom everyone knows you would die to protect, they will be closer to being convinced you are as mentally unbalanced as we say you are. I will permit them a few moments for what you've done to register then the play my final card as you would say."

He picked up a hypospray from the instrument tray near Tom's chair. "In the interim, will we see if you are ready to talk?"

Crewman Ver Faran could not believe what he was hearing, so much so, he asked the gossiping ensign who had just come down from the Bridge to repeat what he had said.

"Paris faked being weak from hunger and when they dropped the forcefield so the doctors could come in to give him a shot he tried to escape, killed them, and shot the Captain in the process. She's down in Sickbay now. She must be bad. The Doctor, Wildman, *and* that Orion all are working on her."

"I can't picture Paris doing that," one of Ver's colleagues said, shaking her head. "I mean, everyone knows he's probably the most loyal person on board to her, next to Tuvok."

"Not anymore, obviously. Alpha Two - the head AlphaOmegan guy - he contacted us not long after Tuvok reached the Bridge and made his report. Apparently they've got Paris locked up in their Brig now."

"He wasn't in the Brig before?!"

"No. Some nonsense about keeping him in quarters, not a cell to attempt to put him at ease. 'We have found a Spartan cell is not conducive to engendering a sense of trust in the detainee therefore willingness to talk to the investigators,'" he quoted. "Garbage if you ask me. A cell clearly was the best choice for him." He shook his head, sadly. "He showed him to the Commander, some remote surveillance thing so he did not know anyone other than his guards were watching him. You should have seen him. He was in this cell, shouting how he knew Janeway and all of us were in on it all along. Then one of the guards asked him if he didn't have any remorse for the people he'd just killed or even Janeway and he told him to drop the forcefield and he'd show him how remorseful he was. It was scary really. Alpha Two's right. He has gone right over the edge now. You could tell just by watching him pacing back and forth like a caged animal."

"He is an animal," Ver declared, "so don't feel any sympathy for him. He's finally right where he belongs."

Without another word, he walked away.

After leaving his office from where he had sent the "surveillance of Paris in his cell" to Voyager, Alpha Two returned to his subject in the Re-Education Room. He only had been there a few minutes before his combadge suddenly gave a chirp.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"Emergency in Computer Lab One," a female voice responded. "Two technicians down."

"On my way." He severed the connection. "I will be back later," he promised his semi-conscious prisoner. "Think about answering my questions. You know how much worse things can get for you."

The EMH shook his head at the woman in the bed. "Captain, I must insist you stay here. You've had major surgery. You are in no condition to leave Sickbay."

"But-"

"I will order you relieved of command if necessary."

The mutinous glare she offered him only lasted until the strain of holding her head up off of the bed became too much.

"I can't believe Tom did this," she whispered.

"Neither can I," he sighed, "but it happened all the same."

Walking up to the bed, Yana smiled comfortingly down at the patient. "You need to rest, Captain. I am certain Mr. Chakotay can take care of everything until you are recovered."

Reluctantly, the exhausted Captain closed her eyes as a hypospray was pressed to her neck.

The Doctor headed for his office. "I'll contact the Bridge and tell him she is going to recover."

"What happened?" Alpha Two demanded.

"I don't know yet," a harried Vassanji muttered. He remained hunched over a console in his lab next door to the site of the current chaos on The Diogenes. "I know they were going to open that programme that Bartoq had brought from Voyager. The one he caught their Security Chief attempting to transfer to us. But I had to come here to check on some test results so I don't really know what they did. I'm calling up the surveillance log now."

As they watched the scene from only moments earlier, they saw The Diogenes' two head computer experts, a pair of Bynars, take the data chip containing Tom's programme and insert it into the appropriate slot on their computer. They tapped out the commands to open the file and seconds later, they fell to the deck unconscious.

"Naturally, the moment their life signs deviated from the norm and the computer sent out the alert, I checked to see what was wrong, but the sensors already listed them as in a coma."

"Find out exactly what happened to them. I am going to talk to the undoubted architect of this little mess."

Vassanji was at work before Alpha Two even turned to leave the room.

"We need to talk," Bartoq growled as he entered Tuvok's office without announcing himself.

In marked contrast to his counterpart's apparent anger, the Vulcan calmly abandoned his reports to focus on his visitor.

"We need to know everything you know about this programme of Paris.'"

"I already told your Alpha Two everything I know of it. Mr. Paris said if the AlphaOmegans came for him, the programme was our only hope for survival. I was to breech your computer and upload the programme. I have no idea as to the contents of the programme. Mr. Paris said it was best that I remained uninformed in case I was captured and interrogated."

Bartoq growled softly under his breath.

"Is there some problem?"

"Our experts who attempted to open the programme and they now are in our Sickbay, seriously ill."

"I see. What happened?"

"We don't know for certain. All the logs show is they fell to the deck, in a coma, seconds after opening the programme. The lab they were in automatically sealed itself the moment the sensors detected a change in their vitals. Since then, we've thoroughly checked out the lab they were in and everything is normal. No viruses or gases or equipment malfunctions or anything we can identify as being responsible for their condition."

"Perhaps it has nothing to do with the programme at all. Perhaps the cause is something else entirely."

The Klingon mulled this over. "It *is* possible. They are Bynars after all."

"Ah. Yes. If something happens to one, it happens to both."

"But it seems entirely too coincidental," he insisted.

"Yet as my crewmates have told me repeatedly, 'coincidences do happen on occasion.' As maybe the case right now."

Reluctantly, he nodded at Voyager's Security Chief. "But if you do remember anything-"

"If I remember anything new, I will inform you."

"Good."

As the door closed behind the Klingon, Tuvok nearly smiled.

"Voyager has been sighted," the young Rachar male announced to the lead Gherop ship's first officer.

The Gherop male turned his attention to him. "And the other ship? Is it still with them?"

"There is a ship matching the description with them."

"Communications!"

The female Rachar at the Communications station sat up a little straighter.

"Alert the rest of the fleet that the enemy has been sighted. They are not to deviate from E'Arte's orders. Voyager is not to be destroyed. As for the other ship, take her if possible. If not, destroy her."

As she did as ordered, the First Officer called his Captain to the Bridge.

"Commander?" Harry called across the Bridge. "We have a fleet of ships incoming. Some of them are of Gherop design." His voice lowered. "And one of them is huge. Almost as large as The Diogenes."

Chakotay instantly shook off the remaining worry the Doctor's news about the Captain's expected recovery and began firing off orders. "Red alert," he ordered. "All hands to their stations."

Tom's refusal to talk continued. After administering yet another dose of buryate, Alpha Two had permitted "Alpha Three" to enjoy another physical session with Tom, who currently was sprawled on the deck after a mean upper cut from the hologram. The Vulcan had decided to give the hologram this one last chance before admitting she had failed and forcing a mindmeld with his wayward protégé.

Tom was correct in his assumption Alpha Two secretly derived a lot of pleasure from imposing his will on others, especially if it meant he was justified in forcing a mindmeld with him, her, or it. Had he been on Vulcan or living amongst others of his kind, he would have been hospitalized for therapy to work this deviancy out of his personality. But his position as a Protector meant he felt his atypical Vulcan behaviour was acceptable. If acting improperly for Vulcan was what it took to bring AlphaOmegan 41783 back in line and see if he was lying then he would do it. The thrill he derived from it was irrelevant.

At last he could not wait any longer and switched off the protesting hologram. Just as he bent over Tom to drag him off of the floor and place him back into his chair, The Diogenes shook with weapons fire impacting on the shields. With Alpha Two knocked off balance, Tom immediately seized the opportunity offered him. He grabbed the overturned instrument tray he had slammed into only seconds earlier and brought it crashing down over Alpha Two's skull as hard as he could.

Alpha Two did not move.

Automatically, Tom dropped his mangled weapon. Part of him wanted to jump for joy while another part merely wanted to join the tray on the deck plates. He finally had killed the reason for so much of the pain in his life. Or had he? He leaned down to check for a pulse when the ship was rocked again and he lost his footing. With a cry, he came crashing down to his hands and knees. Another blast impacted on the shields as he used the wall to drag himself to his feet.

'Forget about him,' part of him urged. 'He has to be dead after that blow. You have to think about yourself now and getting out of here.'

So instead of confirming the Vulcan's death, he forced himself to flee the hated room. He knew he had to run now or never have the chance again, especially not after having killed a Protector. Determinedly, he dragged himself out of the room and into the corridor.

*Now's the time,* the voice told Sunfire. *They're distracted by the attack.*

After checking on Tom, the small ship known as Sunfire used her tap into The Diogenes' systems to open the shuttle bay doors and escape. With luck, the voice was right and no one would have the time to pay attention to her launching. If they did, they probably would think she was attempting to help them fend off the enemy. It would not be until too late before her true purpose was known.

"Going somewhere?" a voice taunted Tom the moment he rounded a corner.

Slowly, Tom turned his head towards Raven who nonchalantly leaned against a bulkhead, smugly grinning. Both men had waited for this moment for a long time, nearly as long as Tom had waited for his freedom from Alpha Two.

In spite of Raven's nonchalance, Tom knew not to take him at face value. He knew this man, knew how ruthless and deadly The Protectors had made him. 'Almost as ruthless and deadly as AlphaOmegan 41783,' part of Tom thought. 'Almost, but not quite.' It was upon that slight difference between himself and Raven that Tom was betting. Hopefully it was going to be enough of an edge to defeat his adversary.

The uninjured man shook his head sadly. "Oh, my you really are in trouble now, Sunbird. I was watching you and saw you kill Alpha Two. Tsk-tsk. You've finally gone too far." He snorted. "And it was high time you were taken down a peg or two anyway. Alpha Two's favourite. A Chosen One. After this, you're nothing. Without Alpha Two around, no one's going to champion you now. You won't be able to get away with anything anymore, Mr. Perfect AlphaOmegan Soldier."

"It really got to you, didn't it, Raven?" Tom rasped, his voice rough from days of non-use. "The fact I always was better at everything than you. The fact they didn't sacrifice me after I went rogue. That they brought me back into the fold again."

"The only reason they brought you back was because they needed you for a Mission or you never would have been let live." He examined his fingernails in exaggerated calmness. "Speaking of your time as a rogue, you should thank me, you know."

"For what?"

"For letting you know about dear Daddy's capture and torture. Didn't you ever wonder how you just happened to see his file? It's thanks to me."

"How'd you get away with snooping through my file to find out who I really was?"

"I made a comment to Alpha Seven about the internal security and she gave me permission to attempt to breech it. It was a bit of a chore, but I made it into The Protectors' files. Once I was in, it was simple to find out who you were and about your father and your strong attachment to him."

"And I always thought the beefed up security measures were because of my little wanderings through the files."

"You are so self-centred!" he shouted furiously. "Everything's always been about you! We came here to get *you*. We played out this charade with the Voyager crew to find out about *you*. Alpha Two's spent days working to bring *you* back. This is where the *you* ends. Now, it's going to be about *me*."

He withdrew his phaser from its holster. "Now I'm going to have it all." He pointed the phaser at his intended target. "And I get to do what I've wanted to do to you for a long time."

"You think once I am dead you'll have my position, is that it, Raven?"

He grinned. "I have it. And your team. And your mate."

Tom's eyes focused on Raven's collar. "I see three rows of black braid, not four, *Commander*." The manner in which he stressed the last word caused the other man to grind his teeth. "And none of them are edged in white so they haven't made you a Chosen One like me."

"It is only a matter of time. I am the best they have."

"You'll always be a pale imitation of me, Raven. You know. The Protectors know it. And I'll wager my team knows it. Do they actually follow you because they trust you or do they do it out of fear?"

Raven's expression hardened.

"As for B'Elanna, doesn't it bother you in the least that the only way you could catch her interest was through what amounts to drugging her?"

Raven ignored Tom's taunt for another of his own. "Doesn't it bother you they all know what you are now?"

"They only know a skewed version of the truth."

"Like they would have believed the truth. That crew's Starfleet. Even those who were Maquis are Starfleet now. They couldn't comprehend the reality we know to be true, that The Protectors realized long ago, that everyone else in the Galaxy were a bunch of self-destructive morons who needed protecting from their own stupidity."

"The Protectors have gone far beyond merely protecting them, Raven. Because of their orders we've murdered thousands of people, all to maintain this artificial peace they've fostered."

"It has kept the Alpha and Beta Quadrants free from major conflicts for a long time."

"That's gone now, isn't it? They finally encountered someone they couldn't control."

"The Dominion's leaders are Changlings. Their fluidic nature makes it impossible to-"

"To mentally condition them the same way they did us. And they can't issue them Implants because once they revert to their natural state, the Implant would be expelled." Tom grimaced. "And thanks to The Protectors trying to force them into line by other means, the peace is shattered, possibly forever."

Raven frowned ever so slightly.

"You didn't know that The Protectors knew about the Dominion before everyone else did, did you? They knew not long after the wormhole at DS9 was opened that the Dominion existed and they told no one. If they had warned everyone about them, the moment they knew they existed, instead of keeping them a secret until they had control over them, the Alpha and Beta Quadrants would have been prepared for the war to come. But they didn't. How many civilians have died because of their silence, Raven? How many of our own people?"

"Like the Dominion wouldn't have attacked if everyone knew about them. There's no way they could have prepared for them."

"There always are options."

Raven slashed at the air with his phaser. "There is no sense in debating what might have happened," he barked. "What is done, is done. It is time for you to disappear from my life forever."

"How are you going to explain to The Protectors what happened to me? They want me back very badly. You can't claim you killed me having to defend yourself. The internal sensors will show you're lying."

"With Alpha Two dead, I am now in charge of this Mission. I can delete the sensor logs and say you did it."

"They won't believe that. Added to that, they still haven't got the information from me that they wanted."

"Oh, but the Vulcan might just have it. I'm sure that someone will be able to extract the knowledge from his mind. I never believed his story that you never revealed what you knew. I'll just take him, and the Borg and that hedgehog creature and the EMH and the ship's logs of course, and go back home."

"After doing what to the crew?"

"Oh, I'll take care of them. Or rather the surprise The Protectors hid on Voyager will." He smiled malevolently. "Tuvok says you couldn't remember the real reason you were on Voyager. Does Delcorus ring any bells?"

Hearing the name of the small planetoid deep within the Badlands did, ring some bells, but Tom did not permit his face to show the horrible thing he was remembering about Delcorus. He always had suspected the reason The Protectors had permitted him to be placed on Voyager was not something he wanted to remember. Now, with one little word, and the whole awful truth was coming back to him.

"Doesn't ring any bells? Pity. Will I enlighten you?" Raven seemed to mull the idea over. "I'll tell you this much: there's BoB hidden on Voyager and one signal from me and that's it for the intrepid crew of the U.S.S. Voyager," he smirked. "After I've removed those I want to save, of course. As for the ship, itself... I still haven't decided if it is worth the effort to bring her home with us. Rather a lot of work to refit her, especially since we already have downloaded all the information from her." He shrugged. "I'll have to think on that. There's plenty of time to-"

The Diogenes shook from yet another strong volley from the Gherop ships, knocking them both to the deck. Tom instantly made a move to grab Raven's weapon, only to feel the tingle of a transporter beam catch him.

"You are not going to win this time, Sunbird," Raven growled as he got to his feet. "Not this time. Computer, locate AlphaOmegan 41783."

"He is no longer on The Diogenes," it responded.

"Where is he?"

"He was transported off the ship to Sunfire."

His full lips thinned and nearly disappeared. "Beam me to Voyager's Bridge."

When the beam released him, Tom was on a familiar Bridge.

"Dammit, Sunfire," he moaned. "I could have finished him."

"But Sunbird-"

"I have to be in command of The Diogenes in order to get everyone home. That means Raven has to be dealt with."

"Soon there won't be anyone to get home." She showed him the Gherop fleet swarming Voyager and The Diogenes. "Can you fly?"

Squaring his bloodied shoulders, he nodded. "I'll have to," he answered, stepping up to the Conn. "You're patched into The Diogenes' computer."

"Of course."

"Then stop Raven from transporting anyone from Voyager."

"There's a transport in progress. He's *going* to Voyager."

Tom growled in a fashion of which B'Elanna would have approved. "Get those transporters off-line until I say otherwise."

"Aye, sir."

"I have to get to Voyager to stop whatever he's up to," he insisted, taking control of Sunfire's Helm. "There's a BoB somewhere on Voyager. Find it. I doubt he'll activate it with himself on board, but one never knows with him."

"How long do they have if he does activate it?"

"Not long."

"Then we'd better make short work of these idiots, huh?"

Though Tom's jaw hurt to do it, he smiled at the familiar refrain from his partner as he guided her into the fray.

At the same moment Tom and Raven were sparring, Alpha Two was returning to consciousness. Groaning, he lay there for a moment then lifted his bleeding head. 'AlphaOmegan 41783 is loose,' he thought. 'He has to be brought back.'

"Computer, locate Raven."

"Raven is no longer on The Diogenes."

Wiping the blood away, he shakily stepped out into the corridor and touched his combadge.

Padd of findings in hand, Vassanji ran down the corridors to the turbolift. He did not know why Alpha Two had not answered his combadge for the past few minutes, but he had to get to him to tell him what he had discovered about Paris' programme before something happened. One ship-wide announcement and they all were in trouble.

As the lift doors opened, he started to step inside just as Alpha Two's voice did exactly what he had not wanted him to do and sounded over the ship-wide P.A. system.

"No!" he screamed, only to fall to the deck, unconscious.

Around him, AlphaOmegans littered the deckplates. Alpha Two did not stop to check their vital signs. He had to reach the Bridge to see what was going on. Every once in a while, he could feel weapons fire shake the big ship as it impacted on the shields and he wanted to know why he had not been informed they were under attack and by whom. The chances of the enemy fire breaking through the shields was minimal, but still, he wanted to know who was daring to fire upon them.

As he came around a corner he saw a pair of grey-clad legs sticking out of a turbolift. There he found Vassanji, also unconscious, clutching a padd. Automatically, the Vulcan scooped it up as he shoved the body out of the lift doorway so the doors could close. On the trip up to the Bridge, he reviewed the padd's contents, hoping it contained the technician's findings about the programme Tuvok had attempted to upload to them. He did not for an instant doubt Paris' role in what had happened to everyone on board The Diogenes. It was precisely the sort of thing he would do.

And his suspicions were well founded. In the padd's memory was the disturbing answer to everything.

"The contents of the programme," it read, "is a refined version of the akoonah frequency that caused AlphaOmegan 41783 to Awaken. The refinements mean it no longer requires contact with an actual akoonah; instead, a ship's own internal communications can be used to transmit the frequency to everyone who is on board the first time a ship-wide announcement is made.

"The probable explanation for the Bynars who first accessed the programme being the only ones to be affected by it is that the first attack was a stalling tactic used to concentrate our investigation in one direction while the programme established itself in the communications systems. Now that the programme is loose upon the ship, it may be impossible to remove. If AlphaOmegan 41783 cannot furnish us with a way of stripping his programme from our systems, safety measures will have to be enacted and The Diogenes will have to be destroyed before it can affect any other ships.

"If the programme is activated, everyone on board the infected ship, with the exception of the Alphas, will Awaken. The one saving grace is that once the announcement is over, the programme returns to its dormant state."

The Vulcan nearly growled in frustration and anger. AlphaOmegan 41783 was not going to win this battle. "Computer, beam the AlphaOmegans on Voyager back to The Diogenes."

"Tom," Sunfire murmured, "Alpha Two wants the AlphaOmegans back on The Diogenes."

Negotiating a difficult manoeuvre, Tom blanched. "He's still alive?"

"Yes."

Tom used a lovely bit of profanity he had picked up in one of the seedier dives on Lue Cha. "That makes things more difficult."

"Everyone else on the ship is unconscious."

"Then he's activated my programme. Damn, I'd planned to be there on the ship when that happened. How are their vitals."

"They're doing okay."

He sighed. "Good. Have you located Raven?"

"Yes, he's appeared on the Bridge."

"Then give him to Alpha Two. No one else. They should keep each other busy until I can deal with them."

"Sunfire is acting erratically," Dumar pointed out, puzzled as he joined the group of AlphaOmegans assembling in the right front corner of the Bridge.

They had realized the Voyager crew was better equipped to handle their ship in this emergency. Voyager was their ship; they knew her best. The AlphaOmegans planned to return to The Diogenes to figure out why she all of a sudden had stopped defending herself and why no one was responding to Voyager's hails. They had been preparing to beam back to their ship when they had become distracted by the scene on the main viewer.

"Tuvok, has she taken a hit? Is she a danger to us?" Pardan wanted to know.

"Yes, she's taken a few hits," the Security Chief answered, "but her shields are holding. It does not appear that she is out of control."

"That flying is familiar," T'Kara interrupted, staring at the screen while taking a place beside Bartoq. "It is *his* flying technique."

Pardan smiled. "Then he is back with us."

Chakotay frowned. "I thought Raven told us Sunfire was dead?"

"Her body is, Commander. Her mind is not."

He stared at the small ship zigzagging through the Gherop attackers. "Dr. Graves' research?"

"Yes, she was transferred to the ship's computer moments before death."

Everyone only half-heard the Romulan's words. Everyone was watching Sunfire perform a rapid change of direction and the two ships pursuing her collided, exploding in spectacular fashion. That left only four Gherop left on Voyager's tail and seven on that of The Diogenes.

"He certainly is back," Bartoq approved.

"Who is *he*?" Harry asked.

"Sunbird," the Cardassian grinned.

Chakotay moved closer to Baytart at the Conn. "I know that flying too," he murmured. "Impossible, unless..."

At just that moment, Raven materialized beside Tuvok's station. The eyes of everyone on the Bridge leapt to him.

"Why isn't The Diogenes firing back?" Chakotay asked. "That big ship is giving her a real pounding. Not to mention what the smaller ships are doing. I hope that secret weapon of yours is charged up."

Ignoring the confusion he felt at hearing his ship was not fighting back, Raven opened his mouth to drive the last metaphorical nail into Tom's coffin when the transporter caught him once more. The only words he was able to utter -"Paris has" - hung in the air long after he had departed, puzzling everyone as to their meaning.

Tom's enemy appeared The Diogenes Bridge, mouth still open and finishing his sentence. "- killed Alpha Two and - "

"I can assure you I am not dead," the male who had brought him there informed him.

"You're alive!" Raven looked around the Bridge. "What happened?"

"That programme of his is active."

"And it did this?"

"Yes. Where are the others? I ordered them beamed here also."

"Sunfire has taken Paris. My guess would be she's controlling our transporters."

"Then break her control. I want the others back here."

Though Raven nodded and assumed the Conn, he was anything but following his superior's orders to the letter. As he sat, his hand "innocently" brushed against the device concealed in his tunic pocket, sealing the fate of all on board Voyager.

"I've found the BoB." Sunfire told Tom as he stepped out of the piloting circle. "It's behind the dedication plaque." She paused. "And it's just become live."

"Raven," he growled. "Beam everyone on the Bridge to Engineering," he instructed as he filled the first of four vials with his own blood.

"What do I do about Alpha Two's order to Raven to lock me out of their computers?"

"Initiate the Backdoor Programme and let them think you're gone. Then fake a malfunction in their Transporter controls."

Moments later, she spoke again. "All done."

He set aside the last full vial with its companions. "Beam those and the padd to Yana in Sickbay."

They disappeared immediately.

"Sunbird, don't you think that was a bit too much blood for you to give when you've lost so much already?"

"On the contrary, I just hope it is enough. If that BoB goes off, they'll need as much of my blood as they can get if they are going to synthesize the antidote from it."

"But surely you'll be able to disarm it. You've done it before."

"But if I can't, I want them to be able to administer the antidote to the rest of the crew. Now, you've taken care of The Diogenes?"

"Just waiting for your orders."

"Good. Beam me straight to Voyager's Bridge and when the next Gherop ship attacks Voyager, let The Diogenes see what I want them to see," he ordered, grabbing a tool kit.

"You can't go there like that."

Tom glanced down at his briefs and blood stained body.

His AlphaOmegan uniform materialized on the chair beside him. "Put that on."

Nodding, Tom donned the hated uniform, hopefully for the last time.

In Voyager's Sickbay, Yana and the Doctor were treating some minor injuries stemming from the attack by the Gherop when the padd and vials of blood appeared beside the Orion. Curious, she picked up the padd and began reading the message there.

The EMH read over her shoulder, confused by her sudden grin. "What's going on?"

Laughing, Yana grabbed the hologram and gave him a noisy kiss on the lips then ran into the lab with the vials.

The patients and the Doctor exchanged puzzled looks then he motioned them out of his Sickbay.

It was a toss up who was more surprised by the unexpected arrivals in Engineering- the arrivals or those who already were present. The stunned stares everyone gave each other only increased at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Raven's no longer in command of our team," Tom announced from the Bridge. "I am."

All of the AlphaOmegans, even T'Kara, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was short lived.

"There's a BoB on the Bridge. T'Kara? Tuvok?"

"Yes?" the Vulcans answered.

Voyager's pilot began speaking to them in flawless Vulcan, which was quite a surprise to everyone in Engineering, especially Tuvok. Tom was the first human he had ever heard speak the language as well as a native and he had not known of this talent of the helmsman. Once the instructions were delivered, T'Kara took the Helm from Baytart and Tuvok rushed to another console to access the Tactical systems.

Working at the console next to Tuvok's, Harry saw something strange in the readings. "Why have you sealed the Bridge?" he asked the Vulcan beside him.

As if in answer, Tuvok pressed his combadge. "Tuvok to the crew. There is an explosive on the Bridge. Evacuate Decks Two, Three, and Four immediately. Tuvok out."

"Explosive!" the First Officer shouted.

"I can disarm it, Commander," Tom assured.

"How the hell did it get there?"

"It's been here since Voyager was built."

"What?"

"Look, I'm a little busy right now. We'll have to discuss this later." There was a clatter of tools on the Bridge then Tom spoke again, this time in Klingon then Cardassian. Seconds later, Bartoq and Dumar together rushed out of Engineering.

"Souris?"

"Aye?"

"Get to Sickbay, Mousey, and help Yana and the Doc work on the antidote."

Stepping out of the AlphaOmegan's way as she ran out, Chakotay grabbed Pardan's arm. "Why are you people taking orders from him?" he softly asked in a voice showing all the signs of vindication. "If he's the enemy, shouldn't you be trying to retake the Bridge?"

"Pardan," Tom interrupted, having heard the Commander's comment over the open commline, despite Chakotay's attempt to be quiet. Seemingly for the Commander's benefit, he spoke in Earth Standard instead of Romulan as he would have if he had followed his pattern. "Forget AlphaOmegan orders to the contrary and tell them what really was going on here."

"Now, sir? We're in the midst of a battle."

"And so am I up here. If this thing goes off before I can disarm it, I want at least those in Engineering to know what is going on so they'll trust us enough to accept a shot of antidote. If they take it, the others will too."

"But the Gherop-"

"T'Kara and Tuvok are more than capable of taking care of the Gherop. And Sunfire is doing her part too. You do yours."

"Aye, Captain."

"Sunbird out."

"Antidote for what?" Chakotay demanded.

"The explosive isn't really an explosive," Pardan explained, "but I agree with Mr. Tuvok's incorrect descriptor of it as being the best way to get your crew to evacuate those sections. What it really is, Commander, is a biological bomb. We call them BoBs for short. When they are triggered, they release a virus or some biological element into their surroundings. With the Bridge sealed, if it does go off, the virus will be contained there."

"So why is it on our ship?"

"I don't know. Sunbird says it has been there since the ship was built. Why it's there, I don't know."

"So why are you trusting him? You don't even know for certain that there is a bomb. He could be lying to you to gain control of the ship."

Leading Voyager's First Officer out of the way of the engineers who were trying to repair the damage of the Gherop attack, Pardan began following his orders from Tom. "We were ordered to lie to you about him, Commander. He is not a criminal. He is one of us. AlphaOmegan 41783 to be precise and our team's Captain."

Rapidly developing a headache from trying to keep all the AlphaOmegan lies straight, Chakotay massaged his temples. "But Raven said you did not use numbers. He said it was codenames."

"That is his serial number. Sunbird is his codename. The Captain goes by either one, depending on who is addressing him."

"He's a Captain?"

"Yes."

"And he didn't kill the people Raven said he did?"

Pardan turned his head to watch the controlled chaos in Engineering. "I don't know all of his past Missions. I do know one of the things The Protectors trained him to be was an assassin."

"So he did kill them."

"As I said, I don't know, however quite possibly it is the case, yes."

A quick intake of breath brought the Romulan's eyes back to him.

"Our mandate is to maintain a balance in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, Commander. Through that balance, peace is to be achieved."

"By killing people?"

"Sometimes it is necessary to eliminate problems in that manner, yes. It is regrettable, and only as a last resort when other methods have failed."

"Who gave you this *mandate*?"

"The Federation President."

"You're saying the President condones what you do?"

"Actually, the Federation President doesn't even know we still exist."

"What?"

"In the early days, the Federation Council quickly realized the Federation was vulnerable. There were many people who wished to see it not survive its infancy for many different reasons. Some thought it was going to destroy their culture's uniqueness. Other thought it would destroy their world's or system's economy and reduce their people to poverty. Still others thought they had enough government bureaucracy controlling their lives without yet another layer added to it. There were so many fears and resentments, both on the Federation worlds and the unaligned ones. The Council realized there was a very legitimate reason for concern that someone might attempt to sabotage the Federation just as it was being constructed."

"So the AlphaOmegans were created."

"No, the Council created Section 31. They were to ferret out any threats and neutralize them. It was *supposed* to be done legally and by the rules, but it quickly evolved into a witch hunt. But by that point they had justified to themselves the need to sever all ties to the Council so they could operate totally independently, without being influenced by anyone."

"That is what Raven said about the AlphaOmegans."

"And it is true. When we were created to bring Section 31 back into line, we were accountable only to the Federation President who created us. He gave us our mandate and allocated the materials and funds for us to do whatever we had to do. But then it was not long before The Protectors took us in the same route as Section 31 had gone."

"So what does this history lesson have to do with Paris or this antidote?"

"Obviously, Sunbird knows what is in the BoB and has passed the antidote to Yana and your Doctor for replication. But right now, your crew thinks he is a criminal. With the 'history lesson' as you call it, I am trying to explain who and what we are. So you'll understand we are the 'good guys,' despite the lies we've been ordered to tell."

"How about telling us why you're really here? If he's one of you, why all the subterfuge about him being some criminal?"

"We were following our orders. Apparently he knows something and Alpha Two wanted to know it too. What it is, I don't know, but it is important enough to bring us here." Pardan shook his head. "But none of that matters now. He is in charge of this Mission. Clearly, Alpha Two got what he wanted or he wouldn't be here. Right now, all you have to concentrate on is trusting us."

"Trusting you?" Chakotay gasped. "You've admitted you were lying to us before, but now you say you're trustworthy."

"Commander, if he can't disarm the BoB, then-"

"How do you expect us to trust him? Tuvok and the Doctor say they saw him *shoot* the Captain. We saw him in his cell, showing no remorse for anything, but now we're supposed to trust him?" Chakotay's eyes widened. "Or was it really him?"

"No, it was fake. All of it. Except for your captain being hurt. That was done by a hologram of him on The Diogenes' Holodeck with a real phaser. The feed from the cell was more of the same."

A couple of the nearest engineers literally stopped what they were doing long enough to shoot Pardan a startled glance.

"I knew it was totally out of character. He would have shot himself long before he'd ever hurt her."

"Alpha Two said it had to be done to convince you of the story Raven was telling you. Hardly any of your crew believed it and no one was telling us what Alpha Two wanted to know. Even before we got here, he knew further convincing would necessary, you'd need to see things with your own eyes, so he concocted the holodeck -"

There was a shower of sparks and Harry went flying. He crumbled into a heap a couple metres away, a nasty bump forming on the back of his head and a dazed look in his eyes.

"Chakotay to Transporter Room," he shouted. "Medical emergency. Beam Ensign Kim directly to Sickbay."

"Sunfire's sustained a massive damage," Raven reported from the Conn. "She's out of control."

Stunned, both watched as the small ship, having destroyed the last of her attackers, headed on a collision course with Voyager.

"Tractor beam," Alpha Two ordered.

"It's not responding either. I don't know what Sunbird and Sunfire did, but *nothing's* responding to my commands."

Helplessly, Alpha Two had to watch as the small ship ploughed through Voyager's hull, both ships exploding in a spectacular display. 'AlphaOmegan 41783 is gone,' he silently sighed.

Quite understandably, Raven did not feel the acute sense of failure and loss that his companion did. What he felt upon seeing the space dust that had been the pair was relief and elation. The man he despised was dead and good riddance.

"Return us to the Alpha Quadrant," the Vulcan murmured from behind him.

"Aye, sir." He began entering the sequence of commands to open the gateway to their home quadrant. Seconds later he grunted. "I can enter the commands, but they won't initiate."

"Keep trying."

"L'Roc?"

The middle aged Gherop turned to his commanding officer. "Yes?"

From her command chair on the largest Gherop ship's Bridge, she gestured to the two ships on there main viewer. Voyager and Sunfire hung motionless in the inky blackness dotted with pinpricks of light. "Why are they not helping to defend their ally?"

"Perhaps they are not allies?" he suggested. "Perhaps this ship we now fight was attempting achieve the same goal as us. Perhaps they too wished to take over Voyager."

"But why then would the little ship be so close to Voyager? Have they already succeeded in assuming command?" She swivelled her chair to glare at her communications officer. "Why haven't you tapped into their communications?"

"This ship is too well shielded," the Rachar hesitatingly explained. "As for Voyager and the other, we are too far from them to tell."

"L'Roc, send Ships Four and Seven closer to Voyager. Shields to maximum setting. Weapons to the ready."

Barely paying attention to the reports from his sole AlphaOmegan, Alpha Two was staring at the two small Gherop ships who had abandoned the attack on The Diogenes and now were moving away. 'Where are they going?' he wondered. 'There is nothing there to be on guard against, yet they have their weapons powered.'

The Vulcan's puzzlement only lasted a moment longer for one of the Gherop ships suddenly began firing at nothing then exploded seemingly for no reason and the other turned tail and ran. 'There had not been any indication they were damaged and in danger of self-destructing,' he mused. 'Then why would they do so?'

"Raven-"

"I have full control back," the man smugly informed him. "Gopher Hole open and entering now."

At the same moment he was saying this and the leading edge of The Diogenes entered the Gopher Hole, the display beside Raven filled with static then cleared to show what actually was happening behind the ship.

"They're not destroyed?" Raven gasped.

"AlphaOmegan 41783," Alpha Two observed. "He is smarter than I thought."

"We have to go back. We can't let him get away with-"

"There is no going back now. The Diogenes has begun entering the Hole. Once that process is begun, there is now reversing it." The words were delivered dispassionately, the seething anger he felt not showing through.

"Then we have to fire-"

"If we fire weapons, it could destabilize the Hole and destroy us."

"But-"

"He has won." The Vulcan returned to his command chair only to sit upon the padd of Vassanji's findings. Rising he removed it from his seat and remembered he was not weaponless. "Or not." The irony of using Paris' own weapon against him secretly amused the Vulcan. All it needed was a little refinement of his own and an open channel to Voyager.

"Sunfire? What's happening?"

Unable to stop the delicate work he had undertaken, Tom could only keep calling to his partner who had been keeping him apprised of the situation outside of Voyager.

"Sunbird," she shakily answered after a couple more calls, "those two ships who broke off to come after us... I've taken a couple bad hits but I'll live. I've lost control of The Diogenes' systems. The damage," she explained simply. "We're visible."

"What about the two Gherop?"

"One's still here. The other is making a run for it."

"Defend Voyager and let the other one go. What is The Diogenes doing?"

"They're- Sunbird, they've opened the Gopher Hole!"

"Stop them! I need that ship here, in this quadrant to get everyone home."

"I-"

Before Sunfire could tell him she was too damaged to do much more than hold her position and fire back at anyone close enough, there was a crackle as Voyager's ship-wide comm system was opened.

"Farewell then, Voyager," Alpha Two's voice called out. "It was an interesting interlude. A pity it is doubtful we will she each other again."

Down in Engineering, everyone had been rushing about as the list of necessary repairs grew. In the back of their minds, they wondered if Pardan's story and what Tom allegedly was doing ten decks above them actually was real or another elaborate lie. What they did know was after The Protector's farewell was over, every AlphaOmegan in Engineering abruptly fainted.

"So what are you saying?" Harry demanded as he followed Souris around Sickbay. While Yana and the Doctor worked in the lab, she had taken care of Sickbay, the still sleeping Captain, and Harry when he had appeared with a concussion. The moment he was healed, he had begun demanding confirmation of what everyone in Engineering had overheard Pardan tell Janeway and Chakotay. "Did you lie to me about Tom or not?"

"I had my orders, Harry. The Protectors dictated what I told you about him."

"What about us? Was that a lie too?"

Pale, she looked up at him. "They did not order me to get close to you. That was Dumar's job."

"*He* was supposed to sleep with me?"

"No one was supposed to sleep with anybody."

"But you did. Why?"

"Because I fell in love with-"

The message from Alpha Two interrupted her and Harry nearly tripped, trying to catch her as she fell.

"What is this?"

The Orion glanced at the readings the EMH indicated then returned to her own work. "It is burayte, the chemical used to reinforce obedience." She frowned. "But I've never seen it in such high concentrations before. He must be stronger than even we-"

"Who is that?" he asked her, listening to the announcement. "Yana?"

He scrambled for a medical tricorder and scanned his colleague. 'Narcolepsy?' he wondered before the readings were in. 'In an Orion?'

When the results of the scan appeared, they seemed familiar to him. A quick consultation with his database confirmed where he had seen it before.

Tom fell to his knees, grasping his head in pain and striking his forehead on the way down.

"Sunbird, are you okay?"

"Check the others," he ordered through clenched teeth.

Checking Voyager's internal sensors, Sunfire found each one of the AlphaOmegans to be in comas with vital signs fading fast.

The man forcing himself to his feet did not appreciate hearing this. "Obviously Alpha Two felt turn-about was fair play and broadcast my programme back to us. Beam all of them to Sickbay. Paris to Doctor. You have patients coming in. Make them comfortable. There's nothing else you can do. Paris out."

"Sunbird, you need to-"

"I need to finish this," he corrected, returning to the biobomb. "How did Dumar and Bartoq do with the self-destruct? Is it off-line?"

"Its main and back up processors are in a dozen pieces on the floor."

"So if Alpha Two tried to trigger it, it wouldn't go off. Good," he sighed, swiping a forearm across his forehead to wipe away the moisture dripping into his eyes. "Sunfire, can you drop the temperature on the Bridge five degrees. I'm sweating."

"That's not sweat, Sunbird. That's blood. You hit your head on the way down."

Another swipe.

"Now you know why I want you to go-"

"I've almost got - There." Sighing, Tom removed his tools from the biobomb. "Readings on the BoB?"

"It's non-functional."

"And the Gherop?"

"Other than the one that got away, they're all dead. The last of them, that big one, tried to follow The Diogenes into the Gopher Hole and was destroyed."

Tom sighed, relieved. "Beam the Bridge crew back here," he requested, starting to return his tools to their case.

Seconds later, a gasp from Chakotay drew his head towards the Commander who was staring at him, open-mouthed. He knew he must be a sight what with all his injuries from his interrogations, but he had to refrain from explaining them for the moment.

As everyone hurried to their stations, their eyes flitted to the gaping hole in the wall where once had been the plaque, now lying on the floor next to Tom's tools, then briefly to the injured man who might or might not be a criminal. A multitude of emotions ran through each of them. Tom knew that, but ignored it.

"The Gherop are destroyed and The Diogenes has left for the Alpha Quadrant," he informed the temporary Captain.

"You let them go?" Chakotay shouted.

"It wasn't a matter of *let*, Commander. Sunfire was damaged and we lost control of The Diogenes' systems."

"You've lost us our one sure way of getting home!"

"Don't fool yourselves. Very few of you were going to survive to see the Alpha Quadrant. As for the few who did, the only place there you ever were going to see was the inside of an AlphaOmegan base where, at *best*, you'd be executed once you're usefulness was over."

"That's 'at best'?"

"It is when the worst is to spend the rest of your life drugged and mentally conditioned and working in an AlphaOmegan lab somewhere, either as test subjects or researchers."

Some of the crew tried to refute his statement.

"Don't any of you get it? Standard Operating Procedure states when interacting with civilians we must either be in disguise or wearing hoods and gloves so none of us may be identified by any potential survivors. How did they show up? In full uniform, no disguises, no hoods, and only Raven wearing gloves."

"But-"

"You'd seen their faces, Commander. They'd even told you who they were. For a supposedly secret organization, that's rather indiscreet, don't you think?"

"We could have given our words-" the crewwoman at the science station interjected.

"That wouldn't have lasted. Not when the first question Starfleet and everyone else would ask would be 'So how'd you get home?' Even if all of you kept your mouths shut, all it would take would be one of you talking in your sleep. Or getting sick and becoming delirious. Or getting drunk. Or trying to impress someone. Or hearing something that you didn't like in some report and starting to think the AlphaOmegans might be behind it and trying to find out if you were right." He shook his aching head only to stop when it hurt too much. "Everyone on this ship is too big a risk to be set free. You were liabilities. And The Protectors don't tolerate liabilities. They eliminate them."

"Liabilities?" the ensign at the Conn barked. "Is that what you call us?"

"That is what you would be assessed as being in this operation, yes."

"Assessed? Operation? You even sound like them."

"I am one of them."

Tom began to sway and Chakotay automatically grabbed Tom's arms to hold him up. Biting his lower lip to suppress a cry, Tom twisted, trying to evade the touch. Chakotay's jaw slackened as his hand slid off of the younger man, covered in blood. He stared at the reddened hand then at the man who was the cause of it.

"What the..."

Not finishing the thought, Chakotay brushed away the Conn officer's attempt to prevent him from opening his tunic. He barely had parted the material when he recoiled from the bloodied and torn chest beneath and the dampness on his fingers.

"Who did this?" Chakotay whispered.

Tom pulled the shirt closed. "A hologram of Alpha Three."

"Why?"

"One of their creations dared to try to think for himself. He needed Re-Educating."

He looked at Harry who appeared torn between crying and looking away from his best friend in horror. "The BoB is harmless now. You can beam it out of there and into a secure container in Sickbay. I'm sure the Doc will want to look at the virus since it's not one he's ever seen before."

Harry nodded and stared down at his console, grateful for something to do other than look at Tom.

The injured man's eyes left the Ops Officer to scan the faces of the others. "I am sorry you're not home as I'd planned," he informed the stunned onlookers. "Things didn't work out for you as I'd hoped." His gaze rested on Tuvok for a brief moment and an onlooker could have sworn to have seen regret and sympathy in the Vulcan's gaze. "You may not be in the Alpha Quadrant," Tom continued, "but you are together and alive. That was the best I could do for you in the circumstances."

No one commented.

"How is the Captain? Alpha Two showed me what happened but not if she survived."

"Showed you?" Tuvok questioned.

"He made sure I saw everything that happened on that holodeck. He thought it might shock me into talking if I thought the Captain was hurt."

"You didn't do it?" the crewwoman whispered. In Engineering, she had been too far away from Pardan and too occupied with her duties to hear the truth about the Captain's shooting.

Tom looked at her like he could not believe what she was saying. That was because he could not. "I couldn't ever hurt her."

"But-"

"It was a hologram. Not really me." Painfully, he shuffled towards the stairs. "Though I'm sure she thinks it was me."

"We don't know what she thinks," Chakotay tried to comfort him. "She's still sedated."

They did not know if Tom heard the words before he collapsed.

The Doctor was puzzling over his patients' readings when his assistant was beamed into Sickbay. Instantly, he rushed over to crouch beside him with his tricorder. Appalled by the results of his scan, he set aside the tricorder and lifted Tom to a biobed, just as another bed's patient flat-lined. He had to abandon Tom for the moment to confirm Bartoq's death. Regretfully, he covered the body with a sheet too until it could be placed in a stasis unit like Pardan, T'Kara, and Dumar. He did not know what was happening, but maybe his new patient did.

After applying a hypospray to Tom's neck, he began removing Tom's clothing.

"What have they done to you?" the EMH gasped to himself as the young man groggily opened his eyes. With each piece of clothing he removed, he discovered more angry red welts, multi-hued bruises, and bleeding lacerations.

"Doc?"

"Yes, Mr. Paris. It's me. Lie still while I treat you then I'll get you some food. You're dangerously malnourished." Picking up the first of the instruments he needed, he began asking questions. "Do you know what is happening to the others?"

"The others?"

"Your fellow AlphaOmegans? Yana followed the order you included on the padd you beamed to her and told me the truth about everything going on here. I know you're one of them."

"What's happening to them?"

"Pardan, T'Kara, Dumar, and now Bartoq are dead. Pardan and Dumar died almost instantly. T'Kara almost two minutes after them. Bartoq only a moment ago. It appears Yana and Souris might be next."

Tom tried to push himself upright. "Show me the readings."

"I really don't-"

He levered his badly beaten body to a seated position. "I might be able to save them."

Weighing preventing more deaths versus Tom Paris' need to be healed, the preventing of deaths came out on top. Helping Tom over to a console, he showed him the readings. "See, there's no reason why they should be unconscious or dying."

"You're just not able to see everything. Paris to Sunfire."

"You should be letting the Doctor-" she began.

"Did they remove my access to the AlphaOmegan systems?"

"No. I guess Alpha Two was so sure he'd be able to bring you back to them that he didn't see the sense in nullifying your access codes only to have to reinstate them later."

"Good. Computer, recognize Paris, Thomas Eugene. Alpha Gamma Four. Request access to AlphaOmegan files. Clearance, Delta Tango 6218144. Ultra Maroon through Ice Blue. Clear."

"Please enter identification code," the computer requested.

"AlphaOmegan 41783. Project Phoenix. Codename Sunbird."

"Recognized, AlphaOmegan 41783. Please state request."

Tom called up the Implant diagnostic database then ordered scans performed on the two remaining AlphaOmegans. Shaking off the Doctor's hands and the blanket he was attempting to wrap around his naked form, Tom frantically began imputing codes and cursing under his breath. The profanity became audible when Yana's monitor's alarm went off indicating she too had died. The pilot kept at his work for another minute then sighed as Souris' readings stabilized.

"What-"

He cut the Doctor off. "Alpha Two didn't just send my programme back to us. He sent the codes for the Implants to self-destruct as well."

"You mean their Implants killed them."

"Yes." All the strength seemed to go out of Tom and the Doctor had to help him back to bed. "I've stopped Souris' at least. Hers hadn't fully kicked in yet."

"What about yours?"

Briefly, Tom's eyes rested on Kathryn where she lay on her biobed. He checked the display over her head to see she was going to be okay then tears had to be hastily blinked back as he realized how responsible he was for her being here.

"What about yours?" the Doctor repeated.

"Mine barely works anymore," Tom whispered. Permitting the Doctor to help him lie down, Tom grimaced. "More's the pity."

Tom's eyes fell closed and he actually slept, not merely fell into unconsciousness, for the first time in days.