by Melanie
"He is helping supervise the repairs. Of course he'd be there a lot."
"Always being somewhere near her. Always finding an excuse to touch her."
"Touch her?!"
"Apparently."
Megan angrily began pacing. "I can't believe this. Now she's cheating on Tom with Raven. Weeks ago it was Harry. What is she thinking? She's got this great guy who loves her completely and here she is throwing it all away again."
"I don't know if it is that, Megan," Tem interrupted her tirade. "I mean all they were doing was kissing."
"You said they had their lips 'plastered' to each other. First, she had them plastered to Harry. Now to Raven. What's wrong with her? Why can't see she what she's got in Tom?"
Gerron was jealous to hear his girlfriend going on and on about how wonderful her former boyfriend was and his words echoed his feeling. "You've never gotten over Paris, have you?"
"What?"
"Now that you've seen how he is finally matured a bit, you find him even more attractive. Every woman's fantasy. Sexy, handsome, heroic, faithful, loving-"
"Tem, you're being an idiot. I love you. You know that. Just like you know what happened between me and Tom wasn't really love. It was mutual comfort. Tom is my friend now. I don't want to see him hurt."
His jaw tightened and said nothing as he left.
Sighing, Megan dropped back onto the couch.
-------
"You wanted to see me?"
Alpha Two turned his computer around on the desk so Raven could see what he had been watching. After a quick glance at the codes appearing on the monitor, the human frowned at his superior.
"I don't understand? What is this?"
"This is what Tuvok is doing right now at his console in his office."
"Tuvok? How? This -"
"Exactly. Somehow he is alone. Bartoq was not to permit him to be alone unless Tuvok was going to bed or another of you was with him."
"Souris was supposed to be with him for their 'session.' I'll find out where she is immediately, sir."
"In the meantime, send Bartoq to him. I think it is time for the next act in this little drama to begin."
"None of them will believe it," Raven predicted, shaking his head. "They have bonded too closely with him."
"Then we will have to convince them they don't know him as well as they think they do."
-------
Tuvok's fingers flew over the touch pad of the terminal in his office. With each command it appeared more and more likely Lieutenant Paris had been correct and the AlphaOmegans had not found his secret, "Backdoor" program. He entered the third set of codes and was about to upload the file Tom had hidden away in one of Voyager's less trafficked systems when his office door opened and one of the people he finally had succeeded in evading after three days of trying entered. Tuvok nonchalantly switched off the display and turned to Bartoq.
The Klingon never said a word. He did not have to. The small phaser he slipped out of a pocket in his tunic and pointed at his counterpart said it all.
-------
'How could Tom have entrusted someone so inept as this Vulcan apparently was to help him?' Sunfire lamented to herself.
Then she stopped. In her experience, "inept" and "Vulcan" did not go together. And this guy Tuvok was a Security Chief and a Lieutenant Commander. How could he have achieved that position or rank if he were as inept as it seemed? Voyager would have been destroyed long ago.
She thought for a moment, thinking she certainly hoped Tom knew what he was doing.
-------
"Is it just me," Chakotay softly asked, leaning closer to Kathryn across the table from him, "or do they act different when Raven's not around?"
Following her First Officer's gesture of the head, she glanced towards the table a couple of meters away where Dumar, T'Kara, and Souris sat talking with B'Elanna, Harry, and Neelix. "What do you mean?"
"When Raven is around the Assessment Team acts differently. They're all stiff and proper. Yet look at them right now. Even T'Kara's loosened up a little, if that's possible for a Vulcan."
"He's their commanding officer. It'd only be natural that they would act more reserved when he is around. The majority of our own crew still treats me that way and we've been together five years now."
He shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's almost like... like they're afraid of him."
"Afraid of him?"
"Yes."
"I haven't noticed anything like that. Of course I haven't been around them all that much, unfortunately. It seems every time I turn around the Doctor's in my Ready Room, near frantic about his family's future. And a little while ago it was Seven worried about whether Tom was right when he once told her to wonder what her reception in the Alpha Quadrant was going to be like. I honestly don't know when the Doctor's found time to do these extensive physicals everyone on the crew is complaining about or Seven's found time to help with the repairs to the ship."
"Well, there is something strange going on with them, that much is for sure. Haven't you noticed all their strange questions."
"What strange questions?"
"Yesterday morning, in my session with Souris, she asked me about my akoonah. When I asked how she knew about it she said it was in my file and she was curious about it. I found myself telling her everything about it. Even all about my spirit guide."
"Those questions aren't strange, Commander. That's what she's supposed to be doing. These sessions are to see how sound we are mentally after so long so far away from home. Your akoonah is very much a part of what has kept you sane in such trying times. I'd have been surprised if she hadn't brought it up."
"What about the questions about Tom? She admitted her interest was personal, that she had known Tom a long time and was concerned about how he'd been faring while on board, but still."
"What kind of personal interest?"
"She intimated she'd informally been his therapist in the past and had concerns about him. Wanted to know about any odd behavior I'd noticed or about any situations that had not made it into the official logs. She even asked about the parole test and about the time with Tom and my akoonah. Actually talking about the akoonah is how we got talking about Tom."
"She touched on Tom in our session too. Again stating that she and the others knew him and were interested in hearing about his life here." Frown lines temporarily marred the skin of her brow. "Raven said as much to me, too." She sighed. "I'd really feel better if I knew why Tom was still over there and why he hasn't checked in with any of us since we talked that first day. It's been three days now. How much could he and The Diogenes' Captain have to say to one another? I know they were discussing everything that had happened here in the Delta Quadrant and he was helping them with their investigation, but for three days? How much could he possibly know about someone he only knew briefly over six years ago?"
"So you're starting to agree with me that something strange is going on?"
"*Maybe* going on, yes."
"You *were* the one who told everyone to be on guard where they were concerned, remember?"
"Yes."
"Well, my gut feeling tells me they're not telling us everything."
He could tell she wanted to agree with him yet part of her was holding out. He knew the fact they were so close to achieving her goal of getting this crew home was making her hesitant to agree with him. On the other hand, her own sense of self-preservation, a side of all of them that had heightened over the past five, danger-filled years, was warning her to be wary of gift horses, especially after their last disappointment at the hands of Arturis and his fake Starfleet vessel. This time, self-preservation narrowly was edged out by
desperation.
"You don't think maybe you might be seeing something where there's nothing?" she asked him.
"Kathryn, I don't-"
"No, hear me out. You're uncertain about your future when we get back home. I'm wondering if you're not trying to find something wrong so you
don't have to face reality."
"I am not avoiding reality, Kathryn, nor am I imagining this. Something is not quite right with all this and I'm not sure exactly what."
"Until you are sure, I want you to keep your eyes open and mouth closed. I don't want to do anything to seem ungrateful to these people. They came a long way to help us get home, risking their lives and-" She broke off, thinking. "Perhaps that is the source of the hostility you sense. From what Raven's said, this is the first time they've tried to travel this far. It's possible they didn't *volunteer* to come, but were ordered. Were Raven to be supporting whomever ordered them to come, that might explain what you're seeing."
After thinking about it for a moment, Chakotay nodded. "I guess that's plausible."
"Of course it is." She smiled, nudging his half-eaten meal towards him as encouragement to keep eating. "I mean, what could they be up to? They've been totally above board with us."
Even to her own ears she sounded less convinced of that than she had been prior to their conversation.
-------
Tuvok awoke with a fuzzy head. Slowly, his consciousness returned to him. The Backdoor codes. Bartoq. The phaser. As the room coalesced, he saw he was seated upright on a couch in an austere office. Cautiously, he shifted his head to scan the room and stopped. Seated behind the desk was someone he recognized from the memories Tom Paris inadvertently had shared with him during their sharing of Tom's body. Alpha Two.
"You're awake," the middle aged Vulcan observed. "And judging by the expression on your face, you know who I am."
"You are Alpha Two," Tuvok stated.
"Obviously we were correct in our concerns," he said more to himself than his guest. "Please tell me exactly what he has told you."
"That you made him an AlphaOmegan and he is your protégé. And that you wish to kill him and possibly me for what we may know of you."
"I thought that might be the case." He reached up and tapped his combadge. "Raven, please join us."
Raven entered almost immediately.
"It is as we suspected. Please recall the others."
"Yes, Alpha Two."
Once Raven had left the room, Alpha Two gestured for Tuvok to take the chair behind the desk. Warily, Tuvok did.
"I have something to show you, Lieutenant Commander. Perhaps after you have seen it you will change your opinion of us."
-------
"What is going on here?" Chakotay demanded as he rounded a corner to find Dumar and Pardan's four escorts attempting to protect them from three former Maquis and two Starfleet crewmembers.
None of the antagonists said a word. All eyes remained on the Cardassian and Romulan.
The Commander's eyes fell on the most senior member of the want-to-be brute squad. "I want an explanation, Neivers, and I want it now, Ensign."
The ensign begrudgingly answered his superior. "We're just having a word with our *guests*."
Not liking the way the man said the last word, the First Officer relaxed his muscles to be ready for the fight he knew could break out if he did not diffuse the situation immediately. "I see. And just how many of these words were of a nature that could not be used in the official report I am going to compose on this incident if you do not disperse immediately?"
The man stiffened.
"I see."
"No, you don't see, Chakotay," he growled, whirling on him. "They are the enemy. And we're blithely letting them oversee the repairs then begin refitting Voyager for the trip home? How do we even know they aren't just going to take all of us prisoner the second the ship is repaired and we're not of use to them anymore? We could all end up spaced or in some Cardassian or Romulan prison camp. Or worse we could all end up dead."
"Dumar and Pardan may be Cardassian and Romulan, but the Federation President and Starfleet Command have cleared them to be here."
"How do we know it is not all some trick?"
"The Captain has verified the codes as being legitimate. The message is real." Chakotay lowered his voice to a level certain to get their attention. "And as long as The Diogenes crew is here, if anything happens to them, those responsible will find themselves in the Brig until we get home then they'll face disciplinary action. And if Tuvok or I can't figure out who is responsible, all of *you* will end up in the Brig, whether you're responsible or not. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Commander." Neivers herded the grumbling others away.
It was not until they had disappeared around the far bend in the corridor that Pardan spoke. "Thank you, Commander Chakotay."
"I want to know the minute there are anymore such incidents," he said to the guards and the visitors.
"I will inform the others in our party."
"Good. You both okay?"
"Yes, fine."
"Most of the Maquis members of the crew can keep their tempers under control. Some however can't. Be on your guard." He included Pardan in the pointed look he gave Dumar. "Both of you. The anti-Romulan sentiment may not be as strong, but obviously it is there."
The Romulan nodded. "We understand, Commander."
As The Diogenes crewman spoke the last word, his and his colleague's combadges chirped three times.
"If you will excuse us, Commander. We are needed back on The Diogenes."
After a combadge was tapped, Chakotay and the guards were alone in the corridor.
-------
Alpha Two entered the Re-Education Room. Tom Paris was as the hologram of Alpha Three had left him -- bloodied, bruised and slumped forward against the restraints, head down. Carefully, the Vulcan tilted the battered head back against the chair back.
Pain-clouded blue eyes opened and closed again. A tight squeeze of Tom's jaw brought the eyes slowly open again.
"We caught Tuvok," Alpha Two informed him. "We have the program he was trying to upload. It is being analyzed as we speak. Soon we'll know exactly what you two were up to."
Tom made no sign of comprehension or disappointment.
"I have something I want you to see," the Vulcan continued and gestured to the monitor a panel in the wall was sliding back to reveal. "I think you will find it very interesting." He stood off to one side so Tom had an unobstructed view of the proceedings in Voyager's Senior Conference Room as reflected on screen.
-------
"What is this all about, Captain?" Harry wanted to know as he assumed his seat in the Conference Room with everyone else.
"I don't know, Harry," the Captain admitted from her seat at the head of the table. "All Raven said was he needed to see the Senior Staff."
As she finished the sentence, Raven entered with Tuvok. The Vulcan silently assumed his seat to the Captain's left and Raven took Tom's next to B'Elanna.
"It is time we reintroduced ourselves, Captain," Raven began. "We are not Starfleet or Special Operations."
Resisting the urge to turn to her First Officer and tell him she was sorry because he *was* correct about them hiding something from them, the Captain turned narrowed gaze on Raven. "Who are you really?"
"We are an organization operating outside of the Federation and the other governments in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The name we go by is the AlphaOmegans and as it suggests, we are the *first* and *last* line of defense for maintaining the peace in our two home quadrants. Incidentally, that is the true reason why we have a Cardassian and a Romulan with us on the Assessment Team. We recruit from all over the two quadrants."
The Voyager Senior staff sat there stunned for a moment.
"Why have we never heard of you before?" the Captain finally asked.
"Out of necessity, we operate in secret. That is the best way we have of ensuring we are able to maintain the peace without undue influence from any one government or individual. If you *had* heard of us, it would have meant you'd done something that demanded our intervention in stopping your activities."
Chakotay cast narrowed eyes in Raven's direction. "Who do you answer to?"
"Our leaders."
"But who do th
ey answer to?
"Themselves." He held up hands to calm them. "I know, not a good way of doing things, but they are very disciplined and their allegiance to our mandate keeps them on the straight and narrow."
There was not a person at that table who believed for a second anyone was disciplined enough to stop "absolute power from corrupting absolutely" as the saying went. However at that point they lacked proof that it had so they could not argue with Raven. That did not mean a look did not pass from the Captain to every person at that table, reminding them to keep on guard.
"If you operate 'outside' of any one government's influence," she said to Raven, "why are you working for the President and Command? Or was their message a fake?"
"Oh, the message was real enough," he lied. "They will ensure Special Ops receives the credit for your rescue. Our role however was to have been kept out of the official report on all this."
"Why?"
"Under normal circumstances, we have no contact with them. If word gets out to the other governments of our having initiated contact with them, it will compromise our neutrality. Others will see it as our siding with the Federation and Starfleet. Our objectivity would come into question."
"So why are you revealing your true identities to us now? Why risk appearing to have lost your neutrality?"
"It became necessary to prevent a catastrophe in the making."
"Catastrophe?"
"Mr. Paris," Tuvok said solemnly.
Confused, Kathryn stared at her Security Chief. "Tom?"
"I am explaining this badly, " Raven sighed. "We had an ulterior motive for bringing all of you home. The story we gave for Mr. Paris' absence from this ship..."
"That he was helping all of you with an investigation?"
"Yes. That was not exactly the truth. There is an investigation, except he is the focus of it, not assisting in it."
Everyone took a mental step back.
"You're saying he did all those horrible things?" the Captain asked. "But when he contacted me-"
Yet another lie came tripping off of his tongue with ease. "When he contacted you, Captain, he too thought we were Special Ops and he was helping us to bring down a former acquaintance of his. Unfortunately, not long after that he recognized one of our people, ruining the ruse we were using to get him to talk to us."
