by Alys Landale
Janeway answered his question. “They provided us with assistance. Until today, they have been great friends to us unlike the Resistance who have tried to kill us on numerous attempts. One of your ships ‘Captain Landis’ attacked us even before we met the Empire. So why would we trust the Resistance.”
Janeway’s voice was cold as she said this. If this man was trying to fool them, he’d have to do a lot better than that.
Aria suddenly came to a realization at Janeway’s words. She turned to Rune. “I know what they’re talking about. She’s referring to the Resistance vessel Takma sent out to capture them.”
Chakotay’s eyes darted from the speaker to the captain and then to Tom. “What are you talking about?”
Everyone at the table was thoroughly confused by now. Danag was getting sick of this. Why should they be playing this game with them anyway. He directed his next query to Aria. “So are they telling the truth or not?”
All eyes rested upon Aria. Tom then directed his gaze at Danag. “Remind me not to let you back in here when we have ‘guests.’” he said.
Aria then answered his question. “Their story still matches what I found while on their ship. From what I can tell, the Empire has been using them to help with research for the past year. Kail only further proved the story to be true by what he said on the bridge today.”
B’Elanna wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know now. “What do you mean ‘story’?”
Paris answered her question directly. “Aria is a telepath. She’s been scanning you since she boarded your vessel.”
Janeway rose out of her seat. “Scanning us! What right gives you to enter our thoughts like that without warning us first.”
“It was the only way we could be sure you weren’t part of the Empire.” Aria explained. “I usually don’t do such things, but it was either that or destroy your ship.”
“And just what is so wrong with the Empire?” Harry asked. This was his first time to enter into the conversation.
Sargon finally spoke up. “Besides the fact that they are murdering, lying sons of bitches who do nothing but steal and destroy, they’re alright I suppose.”
The four at the table looked even more confused. They had only seen one image of the Empire. Now that the truth was revealed, they didn’t know what to think.
Paris felt their confusion. “Well,” he said. “I think we need to give them a crash course in Imperial politics and history.”
Over an hour later, the captain and her companions now saw the Empire in a new light. The evidence ‘Rune’ had presented them was so thorough, there was little doubt in it. But there was still doubt none the less. And from the what Rune had told them, he had been a member of the Resistance for only a year, just about the same time Tom Paris had disappeared.
*Disappeared* thought B’Elanna. Earlier she would have used the word ‘died’ but now she wasn’t sure. True, they knew nothing about this man, but still, even his character as well as appearance was identical to that of Tom.
The only difference she could distinguish was the eyes. Those eyes that had held such a rebellious glow and were once so full of life, had changed. They still possessed that rebel like quality, but the sparkle of life, the part that defined him so much, had hardened now and flickered out. She remembered her dream of almost a year ago and those afterward. She would see him in those dreams and every time his eyes would possess that same quality as the man’s she was looking into now.
Paris returned the woman’s gaze. B’Elanna was quiet now and seemed to be merely listening instead of joining in on the conversation as earlier. He looked into those dark brown orbs. They were the same ones he had seen in a countless number of dreams. She was the same exotic goddess that had visited his dreams on so many nights.
Tom then turned to Aria. He knew she was aware of his conflict, of what he was thinking. Yet she remained silent. She didn’t even raise an eyebrow. By all appearances, she seemed to be dealing with her own internal demons. He didn’t invade her privacy though. That was one thing they had agreed on. Neither would enter the other’s thoughts without permission. It just wasn’t ethical.
Janeway began to speak again. Her head was now throbbing but she disregarded it. This was probably just due to the stress of the situation they were in now. “Well we’ve heard your story and you’ve heard ours. Have you come to a decision yet?” Janeway ran a hand through her hair. Her head felt like it was about to explode now.
Tom couldn’t help but feel the captain’s distress. Her pain was washing over the entire room. Only those who weren’t telepathic were immune to her discomfort. He then addressed her. “You don’t seem to have any reason for lying and your story does hold up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to keep an eye on you but you’re free to leave whenever you wish.” He rose and began to walk over to her. She rose as well. “Are you alright Captain Janeway?” He asked her.
She dismissed it. “I’m fine. I just...” She wasn’t able to finish before a wave of vertigo overwhelmed her. She reached out to steady herself but soon found even that was beyond her control as she lost consciousness and began to fall to the floor.
Chakotay stepped up to aid the woman, but Paris was there first and caught her before she fell to the floor. He gently placed the woman on the table.
Chakotay immediately bent over her. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked.
Janeway’s head was slightly turning back and forth and her forehead had a clammy chill to it. “It looks like she’s been drugged.” said Sargon.
Tom nodded. “We’ll need to get her to sickbay.” He activated his communicator. “Landis to bridge. I need a transport of Captain Janeway to sickbay immediately.”
The captain’s form was then replaced by the glowing of the transporter beam as she was whisked away to help. Everyone was by now out of their seats and restless.
Harry stepped foreword. “She’s going to be alright isn’t she?”
Aria put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure Satira can take care of her.”
Tom then offered his words of assurance. “Don’t worry. We get cases like hers quite often. It seems Takma likes to drug those around her. She has this thing about keeping others subservient.
Come with me and I’ll take you to see her for yourself.”
With that, all of its occupants abandoned the room.
Janeway began to come around again.
*What happened?* she asked herself. One minute she was talking to Tom, the next she ended up here. Wherever ‘here’ might be.
She rose from her position on the bed and surveyed her surroundings. It looked like she was in sickbay but the equipment was strange to her. Nothing seemed the same as what would be present on a Starfleet ship. She was still so disoriented that she failed to notice the tall woman standing beside her.
“I see you are awakening.” Satira said from her position beside Janeway’s bed. The captain jumped a little in surprise as she heard the voice from her side. She looked up to see the tall silhouette of the Dezorisian female outlined by the light behind her.
“What...” Janeway asked.
Satira placed a firm hand on Janeway’s shoulder. She then ran an instrument over the woman to make sure everything was alright. “Be still,” she told her patient. “I have given you a dose of chloratis to counteract the effects of the drugs. It reacts differently on different species. Due to my lack of knowledge considering yours, I am not quite sure as to what the side effects might be but all appears normal for now.”
The doctor shut off her instrument and then addressed the patient in a much lighter tone. “How are you feeling?”
Janeway struggled to sit up and this time Satira aided in her venture. The Dezorisian helped the human to manage to a sitting position. “I feel fine.” Janeway replied although it was none the bit convincing.
Satira only nodded. “Of course you do. That’s why you fainted in Rune’s Conference Room.”
Janeway was about to reply
when the doors to sickbay opened. Paris entered and was all but run over as Chakotay made his way to where Janeway sat.
“Are you alright?” he asked her.
She put a reassuring hand on his arm. “Yes, Chakotay, I’m fine.”
Paris then turned to Satira. “So what’s your prognosis?”
She looked at her patient and then back to Tom. “By all appearances, it looks like she has been drugged for quite some time. I would say she has been on this drug for at least a year. I administered Chloratis which should counteract the effects.”
Janeway stepped off her bed. Chakotay tried to stop her but she brushed him off. “What do you mean ‘drugged for a year’?” she asked Satira.
The doctor looked at her, perplexed. “By my instrument’s read-outs you have had this drug in your system for at least a year.”
At Janeway’s startled look, she continued. “The drug in your system is a narcotic used to affect the balance of neural transmitters in the brain. We have found it used by those in the Empire to cloud a person’s judgment and therefore make them easier to manipulate.”
“Do you mean to say someone’s been ‘manipulating’ me for the past year.” Janeway asked incredulously. Today was just full of surprises.
Danag, who had followed Rune and Aria into sickbay, now stepped forward. “I wouldn’t be too surprised. We all know how deceitful those Imperial bastards can be.” He then rephrased his words after he received a few looks from the Voyager personnel. “Well most of us have anyway. Why Rune here...”
Satira grabbed him by the sleeve. “Come Danag.” she said. “I suppose I should drag you away before you say something you shall truly regret.” She then escorted him roughly towards her office.
Chakotay looked at Paris. “Is there anything else about the Empire that you haven’t mentioned?” he asked. He still couldn’t believe that Janeway had actually been drugged for the past year. But then looking back he remembered how strangely she had been acting and feeling for so long. But drugged?
Janeway put a hand on his shoulder. “Chakotay it’s okay.” She then turned to Captain Landis. “From all we’ve been told, you can understand we don’t know who to believe. The Empire might have attacked us today but we can’t forget the fact that they helped us for so long.” B’Elanna was about to refute her statement but Janeway cut her off by addressing Tom again. “Captain I was wondering if you have figured out what you’re going to do with us yet, as you put it earlier.”
Tom was about to reply but was cut off by a loud roar from Satira’s office. Within a moment the door erupted open and Danag’s body was thrown out of it. He struggled to get to his feet as Satira stalked towards him.
“You dishonorable, cowardly idiot! If you ever say anything like that again I shall rip your tongue out and hang it on my wall!”
Danag backed away. “Look I didn’t mean it like that; I just...” He was cut off as Satira grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him off the ground.
Janeway and her crewmen stared at the spectacle before them in awe. Paris and Aria merely watched the scene with slightly bemused smiles. Finally Paris cleared his throat. Satira’s attention was rocketed towards the group of onlookers. Danag’s gaze followed Satira’s. He was about to say something but Satira’s grasp on his shirt suddenly loosened and he found himself falling back to the floor.
Tom walked over to the couple. “If you’re done, maybe Captain Janeway and I can get back to business.”
Satira looked down at the floor. “I am sorry Rune. Now is not the time for such things.”
Danag got up. “Next time maybe she can control her temper for once.”
“And next time maybe you can learn to keep your mouth shut.” Paris replied. “If you’re going to keep acting like this, try and do it on your own time. Understood.”
The two nodded and Paris walked back to the group. “Well Janeway, as you said, we still don’t know enough to trust the each other yet. I’m going to let you return to your ship, but Voyager will remain here for the time being. Myself and a few others will then beam over to your ship to inspect it for any Imperial tracking devices or such.”
Janeway nodded. These were reasonable terms. She could have the doctor identify whether or not this was Tom. If it was, then she could figure out what to do next. If it wasn’t, then she would know she had been betrayed.
“Danag, take them to the Transporter Room and beam them back to their ship.” Paris told him.
Danag nodded and did as he was told. B’Elanna was a bit reluctant but then went along with the group. Janeway pulled her to the side. “Don’t worry. If this is Tom we’ll find out. But right now I don’t know what to think.”
“That is Tom,” B’Elanna protested. “I don’t know why he doesn’t remember us but that’s Tom.”
Janeway didn’t say anything. She couldn’t admit to herself that the past year she had been under the control of Takma and the rest of the Empire. Just a puppet for them to do with as they like.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She would find out soon enough who this ‘Rune Landis’ was.
Seven was getting close to breaking the computer virus when Janeway’s voice sounded over the bridge. “Janeway to Voyager.”
Tuvok answered her hail. “Tuvok here. Captain are you alright?”
“Yes, we’re all fine. We’ll be beaming to Voyager momentarily. Have the doctor meet me in the transporter room. Janeway out.”
The doctor, Tuvok, and Seven met their lost crew in the Transporter room as they began to phase into existence. The EMH quickly ran over to the group.
“Is anyone injured?” he asked.
Janeway shook her head. “No, the reason I called you here is that I want you to run a scan over this jacket. Tell me whose cellular residue you find there from the past fifteen or so minutes.”
Janeway took off her jacket and handed it to the EMH. He looked a bit miffed to be called on such a frivolous errand. “And just whose residue to you expect to find?” he asked.
“Just go do it and report your findings to me immediately.” she said. The urgency in her voice told him to go and do as he was told.
B’Elanna stormed off the platform and down the hall. Harry looked around nervously but followed after her.
“Captain, might I ask what had just transpired.” Tuvok asked.
Janeway told him only half the truth when she replied. They had all agreed that they wouldn’t say anything about Tom until they got back the results from the doctor. “We were beamed aboard Captain Landis’s ship. From what he has told us, the Empire isn’t what we had expected it to be. He agreed to let us return to our ship under the condition that he come here and check to see that we were not a member of the Empire. I want the entire senior staff to be present when he beams over.”
“And you believe what he says to be true?” asked Seven.
Janeway stared at the ex-Borg. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
B’Elanna stormed down the corridor. Her thoughts were running faster than even she was. Harry had to struggle to catch up with her.
“B’Elanna,” he called. “B’Elanna stop.”
She finally stopped to face him. She waited as patiently as possible whiled he tried to catch his breath.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
She looked at him with a look of sheer contempt. “What do you mean ‘what was that all about’? You saw him Harry. Tom is on that ship and Janeway won’t even admit it.”
“We don’t know if that’s really him.” he then looked her square in the eye. “B’Elanna, Tom’s been dead for a year. He can’t just appear out of thin air. For all we know this is just some clever trick.”
Torres’s eyes turned from hatred to thoughtfulness. She paused a few minutes before replying. “Harry, I know that’s Tom over there. Open your eyes. I don’t know how, but that’s Tom. We shouldn’t be over here doing nothing. If Janeway would just open her eyes...”
“And wh
at if that isn’t Tom. B’Elanna, you can’t count on that actually being him. I hope it’s him as much as you, but I’m not going to let that cloud my judgment until I hear what the doctor has to say.”
Anger glazed over her features once more. “Believe what you want. But that’s Tom. I know what I’m talking about Harry.”
She stormed away then. What did he know? That was Tom. She was right. Why couldn’t anyone else see it. She turned her direction towards sickbay. She was going to prove she was right.
The EMH checked his results again. This was the third time he had run his tricorder over the captain’s jacket and each time it had been the same. The cellular residue was identical to that of
Tom Paris.
*But how is that possible?* he asked himself. He decided he would call the captain and inform her of his results. Maybe she had some better answers. But that call wasn’t necessary since she soon walked through the door.
“Doctor, I need those results now.” she said. Her tone was much more serious and ground with Starfleet professionalism.
“I don’t see how it’s possible, but the residue matches that of Tom Paris.” he stated.
B’Elanna then walked through the door to join them. She stood in the background and Janeway seemed to not even notice she was there.
“Are you absolutely positive that it’s Tom. Is there anyway that someone could alter their DNA to impersonate him?” the Captain asked.
“Not to this amount of detail. At least I’ve never seen it done. Where did you get this sample from anyway?”
B’Elanna’s eyes lit up. She was right. That was Tom. Janeway seemed to let the information sink in slowly. She still couldn’t face the fact that it was Tom on the other ship.
If that was true then she would have just abandoned him for an entire year. There was no telling what he would have had to endure. But could it really be him?
