"Ad-" uh, "Admiral Paris?" The shock registering on my face must be comedic, as I stand here, dumbfounded at the open door.
"Beverly," Kathryn's eyebrow cocks as she insinuates herself in the door. "May we come in?"
"Beverly?" Heavy footfall sounds on the stairs.
"Mom, is that Kathryn?" Both voices, both queries, hardly register amid the loud cacophony of questions going off in my head.
"Beverly?" Kathryn meets my gaze again, questing, expecting.
"Uh," suddenly reality kicks in. "Of course, excuse me. Come in." I look around, still aghast. "I'm, uh," What is wrong with you, Beverly?
"Admiral Paris?" Jean Luc's face evinces the same shock as my own. "Uh, it's been a while." He looks about. "We're, uh, we…"
"Please," Wesley walks forward. "Admiral, it's good to see you again. Excuse the mess," He smiles, leading the older man into the living room. "We came home yesterday and the house had been destroyed."
"I can see that," The admiral scans the room. "I'm sorry, Wesley," he looks back to us. "Jean Luc, Beverly, I really am sorry about all of this."
"Can I get you anything, Sir?" Wesley picks a stray trinket off the ground. "Water, coffee?" He looks up with a smile at Kathryn. "Coffee, Kathryn?"
She smirks, "Always coffee, Wesley, thank you!"
He looks back, "Admiral?"
"No," the older man shakes his head. "Nothing for me, thank you."
"Mom? Dad?" He looks back at us on his way to the kitchen.
Jean Luc sinks onto the couch opposite the admiral. "No, Wes, thank you."
I shake my head in response to his query as I settle next to my husband.
"So, uh, Admiral Paris," Jean Luc gestures, "It's good to see you again. Tell me," he looks over. "Uh, tell us what brings you here."
"Jean Luc," he looks pointedly, "Beverly." He sighs and looks down before continuing. "I want to apologize for everything that happened a year ago. I," he fumbles, obviously grappling with what he came to say. "I couldn't help you."
"Couldn't?" Jean Luc posits quietly, "Or wouldn't?"
"Jean Luc," the older man lays out his hands as in offering. "Things at Starfleet were, are," He corrects. "Tenuous. And," he straightens. "In all honesty, I did you and Wesley a favour by not saying anything. In fact," He whispers. "It was all part of a greater plan – one to help Wesley."
"What do you mean?" Wesley hands Kathryn a steaming cup of aromatic coffee as he sits next to her. "What do you mean, 'to help me'?"
"You were getting too close – much too close in your research and you were stepping on the toes of the Daystrom Institute," he takes a breathe to continue. "We knew that-"
"Who's we?" Wesley interjects.
"Myself," he points inwardly. "Admiral Brandt, a few others…"
"Wait, so, I- uh?" Wesley gropes for the right questions.
"You mean, it was all an act?" Jean Luc is incredulous.
"The Academy wasn't a safe place for Wesley. Thankfully his actions with Nova Squadron were egregious enough for the few of us trying to help him to make as big of a hullaballoo over it as we did." He sits back as he settles into tell his story. "There has always been a hierarchy at Starfleet command which I am sure that you two were aware of."
"It was always implied," Jean Luc concedes. "But we never thought anything of it".
"Exactly," Owen motions. "There were the elites – Hayes, Nakamura, Nechayev, Williams," he lists. "And a couple others. But, uh," he sighs. "Well when you two resigned things were starting to come to a head down at headquarters. It was obvious to Brandt and myself that there was something influencing the admiralty. I was of course distracted at the time – I didn't think anything of it." He turns to Kathryn. "We were so excited with the Pathfinder project and we were so exclusively focused on getting Voyager home that the other issues with headquarters faded into the background."
Kathryn picks up, sensing the older man's fatigue. "When we came back, I could immediately tell that things were different." She smirks, "I know it sounds crazy, but Starfleet seemed darker – its halls were furtive, as if they were holding secrets. Chakotay and I, every night after we came home, would talk about it. There were things," she gestures into the air. "Small things, like an increase in computer lock out codes. Places in headquarters that were previously unrestricted had safeties put on them – complicated algorithmic codes that only a certain few had clearance to hold." She takes another sip of her favorite drink, "It was bizarre!"
"So," Wesley leans forward towards her. "What was the fallout?"
"Well," she lifts her hands in question. "I still don't know…"
"It'll be interesting to see what happens now that Starfleet is under investigation." Paris continues gravely, as if still hiding something.
"So, you don't know anything?" I ask, wondering why they came here at all.
He smiles as he continues the story. "I didn't say that. Uh, one night, Reg Barclay and myself were in the building late," he looks over to Kathryn. "It was right around the time that we were coordinating the wormhole that would take you into the Alpha Quadrant."
She nods, "I remember."
"Well," He goes on. "I remember mentioning to Reg that it was unusual that there were so many people at Headquarters that I had never seen. Most of them were either first year cadets, or civilians, who were almost never allowed in Headquarters!"
His eyes wander in recollection. "We were stopped by a group and asked what we were doing there after hours. Of course," his face reddens. "I was incredulous. After all, I worked there! Reg and I were only going to my office.
"We were told that we had to leave, ushered out of the building, and informed that we could return in the morning as usual."
"What was going on?" Wesley gawks, obviously enthralled by the story.
A babies' cry though tells us that Saoirse and Aaron are awake. "Excuse me," Jean Luc starts to get up in response.
"No, Jean Luc," Kathryn raises her hands and smiles as she starts to leave the room. "I'll take care of them."
She finds no argument, as the three of us are enraptured, questions bubbling. "Thank you," I whisper, watching her go.
"Did what you witnessed have anything to do with the Daystrom Institute and the files that we saw?" Wesley asks.
"Files?" Paris reflects inquisitively.
"I'm sure you know of the files that I'm referring to, the ones-"
"The ones you leaked?" Owen recalls. He smirks, "Wesley, you've only uncovered a small fraction of what I think is going to be coming out in the next few weeks if…"
"What do you mean?" Jean Luc posits.
"There are things, Jean Luc, Beverly, that I've uncovered that would make you ashamed of the organization that you've been a part of. Things that you can't even imagine; horrors that I had relegated to history."
Alright lads - more coming soon!
Martin: here you go :) thanks again as always. Keep the nagging coming :) I know - you would have had to send a search party down to Galway and come pounding on the door!
Linds: Glad you're liking it! Can't wait to hear from you :)
Meg: I got you, girl - with regard to more Bevs/JL moments. I'll work more of those scenes in. Glad you're still liking it, though!
Reagan: I hope you like it! Can't wait to hear from you :)
Tiffany:Thanks a million, as always love. So, what do you think is going on?
Mels: here you are :) So, what's the craic? What's going to happen next?
Bekkah: I have preemptively posted a chapter. hopefully I'll pull another one out before the day is over! Can't wait to hear from you :)
And to my unnamed guest: Thank you times a million bajillion. I am so glad that you're enjoying the story. It's a fun one to write and one that's also evolving with every chapter. So comments and requests are always in order! Thank you again.