"Kill him, Doctor?" asked Janeway. "Are you certain?"
Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Tuvok had assembled in sickbay. Every now and then Janeway would glance over at Tom's unconscious form on the bio-bed. Kes was attending to him at that moment, and The Doctor and Chakotay were explaining their discoveries to Janeway and Tuvok.
"Yes, Captain." The Doctor confirmed.
"I know Tom has not always been the most likable guy on the ship," the Captain admitted, "but to try to kill him? Who would do such a thing?"
"Well, technically everyone on this ship is a suspect." Chakotay told her. "But our first piece of evidence has managed for us to eliminate more than three-quarters of the suspects."
"What is this evidence?" inquired Tuvok.
"The method in which Tom was poisoned." The Doctor answered. Chakotay handed her the liquid in a small vial. He told her "Smell it."
She did and said "I don't swell anything."
"Exactly." said Chakotay. "We extracted that from Tom's green tea. It is terionium disulfide, a type of compound that is hazardous to many humanoid species, particularly Cardassians."
Upon hearing the last word, Janeway glared at Chakotay and said "So your suspects are narrowed down to-?"
"The Maquis?" Chakotay finished for her. "That is correct."
"But how could this compound have ended up in the lieutenant's green tea in the first place?" asked Tuvok.
"It's an old Maquis tactic." Chakotay explained. "We would sabotage the replicators on Cardassian ships so that when food materialized, it would have terionium disulfide in its chemical composition. It would be used to poison the Guls and their senior staffs. However, the poison usually kills them after just an hour. They experience the same things Tom experienced, but they usually die instantly after they stop breathing."
"Why do you think it did not work as quickly on Tom?" asked Janeway.
"It could be that the poison is not as familiar with Human anatomy as it is with Cardassian anatomy." Chakotay speculated. "The assassin must not have taken that into consideration."
"I suggest that we take that to our advantage." said Kathryn.
"That is a prudent decision, Captain." Tuvok agreed.
"I concur." said The Doctor. The three of them looked at Chakotay. He had a look of concern on his face. Janeway asked him "What is bothering you, Commander?"
"There is something you should know, Captain." Chakotay enlightened her. "In every case we've used this poison, it's been fatal. We've known of several cases when the victims are not Cardassians, but they all have died. It's lethal to Betazoids, Trill, Vulcans, Ferengi, Bolians, Klingons, Romulans, and even the Breen. No treatment has saved any of them."
"What about Humans?" asked The Doctor.
Chakotay just looked at the holographic chief medical officer and told him "That's your decision."
The Doctor looked over at Tom, and then he said "I would say that your statement must be taken literally, sir. If I don't find a cure, we will need a permanent replacement for the Chief Conn Officer."
(Note: Sorry to interrupt in the middle of the chapter, but I need to say something. Because this is an AU story, there is a chance that Tom may die, so don't assume that he will live just because this takes place before Season 2.)
Captain Janeway turned to Tuvok and gave him orders on what security precautions to take over the matter of Tom's safety: "I want one guard posted at either entrance into sickbay, and I want another one placed in sickbay. But only Starfleet guards. And tell them no visitors. I'm not taking any chances that the assassin will try to finish what he, or she, started."
"I'll have Andrews and Jarvis take the first watch at the doors." said Tuvok. "Ensign Kaplan will take the shift inside sickbay."
"Good decision, Lieutenant." said the Captain. She turned to The Doctor and said "Keep me notified of Mr. Paris' condition."
Then she, Chakotay, and Tuvok left the sickbay. All of them were deeply concerned for their flight controller's well-being.
…
In main engineering, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres was conducting her usual inspection of the warp core. She was just finishing up her surveillance on the plasma injectors when one of her friends, Chell, came up to her and asked her "B'Elanna, have you heard the news?"
"What news?" inquired the half-Klingon chief engineer, still focusing on her report.
Chell replied simply "Someone just tried to kill Tom Paris."
B'Elanna promptly diverted her attention towards her Bolian colleague. She said flat out "WHAT?"
"I myself just found out." Chell explained. "The rumors about what happened indicate that he was poisoned."
"Where is he now?" asked B'Elanna.
"He's in sickbay." Chell answered. "For the moment, he's in a coma. The Doctor doesn't know for how long, though."
B'Elanna then put down her PADD and headed for the door. "Where are you going?" Chell called after her, even though he already knew the answer to his own question. As B'Elanna left, she called out "Carey, you're in charge until I get back."
B'Elanna was storming through the halls to the turbolift. Once she got in it, she shouted "Sickbay."
The turbolift ascended six decks from Deck 11 to Deck 5. When the doors opened, B'Elanna stormed out of them and headed for sickbay. She found Crewman Jarvis at the entrance. She was about to go in when Jarvis stood in her way.
"Crewman, I need to get in sickbay." said B'Elanna.
"Are you injured, Lieutenant Torres?" asked the security guard.
"No, I need to see Lieutenant Paris."
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that."
"Why not?" B'Elanna asked impatiently.
"The Captain gave me strict instructions: NO visitors." Jarvis said.
B'Elanna was about to go around to the other entrance, but Jarvis told her "Andrews is guarding the other entrance. He won't let you in either."
B'Elanna felt ready to knock Jarivs off her feet, but before she could do such a thing, Commander Chakotay came along and asked "Is there a problem here?"
Jarvis looked at B'Elanna and said "Is there, Lieutenant?"
B'Elanna sighed and answered Chakotay with "No, there is not, Commander."
B'Elanna then walked with Chakotay down the hallway to nowhere in particular. Along the way, he asked "Who told you?"
"Told me what?" she asked.
"B'Elanna, you never willingly report to sickbay for your own personal health." Chakotay explained. "There's only one reason why you would want to get in there. So who told you?"
"Chell." she answered. "What happened to him?"
"Well, I was on the bridge when it happened." he explained. "Tom ordered green tea from a replicator and took his place at the helm. An hour later, he started choking. Soon he went into shock. We managed to transport him to sickbay just in time."
"How is he?" asked B'Elanna.
"Well, the Doctor's got him stabilized for the moment." Chakotay enlightened her. "But the worst part is what he was poisoned with: terionium disulfide. It was replicated with his drink."
B'Elanna glanced at him. She demanded "Are you saying that the offender is a Maquis?"
"Well, none of the Starfleet crewmembers was trained to sabotage the replicators in such a manner." said Chakotay. "However, only a few of the Maquis on this ship know how to do it successfully without leaving any evidence behind."
"What else were you able to find?" asked B'Elanna.
"We have determined that whoever sabotaged the replicator did it via a panel located somewhere off the bridge." Chakotay answered. "We don't know where specifically, but we were also able to conclude that the replicator was sabotaged just 0.6 seconds before Tom's tea materialized."
"Have you been able to eliminate anyone as suspects?" she asked
"Given the previous information and some alibis, we have ruled out a few people." he told her.
"Who?"
"Well, Hogan for one. Neelix told me he was helping him in the messhall when Tom reported to the bridge." Chakotay explained. "Jor was working with Kes in the airponics bay. Yosa and Smithee were helping Carey fix a few conduits in main engineering."
"What about Kurt Bendera?" asked B'Elanna. "Or Mariah Henley?"
"Bendera was in sickbay undergoing his annual checkup." said Chakotay. "And Henley was with Jackson, Hargrove, and Dorado in the holodeck. They were off duty and doing a recreation of a classic play."
"Well, I'm sure that Henley and Jackson are easily acquitted," assumed B'Elanna, "seeing as how both Hargrove and Dorado are Starfleet, they could vouch for them easily."
"We've managed to narrow the list of suspects down to eleven so far." he told her. "Right now I'm off to today's senior staff meeting."
"There's one today?" asked B'Elanna. She had been so focused on Tom's well-being that she had forgotten that there was a meeting that day. In fact, if Chell hadn't have told her about Tom, she probably would have been in the conference room at that very moment.
"Yes." said Chakotay. "The Captain's going to address the matter of Tom's condition during the meeting."
The two of them then made their way to the turbolift to get to the bridge.
…