by Alys Landale
Satira looked up as they brought the consul in through sickbay doors. It seemed that wounded would never cease coming in.
The beds and operating tables had long since been filled. “Put him on the floor over there.” she said from where she was working. Currently she was trying to seal another man’s arm from where it had almost been ripped off in an explosion. She would have to get to the consul when she had the time.
*
Janeway walked alongside Admiral Paris as they made their way back to the bridge. He had always seemed quiet and reserved, the complete opposite of Tom, but now he seemed even more detached than usual.
She managed a sad smile. “I should have told you sooner Admiral. I just... didn’t know how.”
Owen turned to the captain as he heard her words. “Does he not remember anything?”
She averted her gaze to the floor. “There are a few things that he can recall from Voyager, but not much. He doesn’t remember any of his past beyond that.”
Owen was quiet again. He was still trying to let the information sink in. He had managed to prevent his mind from accepting the fact that Tom had been assimilated. It just didn’t seem possible. But once he had seen the implants...
Janeway sighed heavily. “Perhaps I should tell you the whole story.”
B’Elanna was still pacing outside sickbay. Tom had been in there for almost five hours. When were they going to be done?
She stifled a growl as she quickened her pacing. When were they going to be done?!
Admiral Paris walked in a few minutes later. He was caught a bit off guard as he saw the woman pacing around one side of the room. She seemed to be cursing in Klingon as she walked back and forth.
After a few minutes, she finally stopped and was about to let her temper fly. Picking up the nearest object, she threw it across the room.
Owen was barely able to evade the flying projectile. She noticed the man standing with her and her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry Admiral. I had no idea anyone else was in here.” She stammered.
“At ease,” he told her. “At times, I feel like doing the same thing.” He walked closer to the door. “Have they given any word regarding his condition?”
She shook her head. “They’ve been in there five hours and still no word.” She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, I don’t know you’re name.”
He was still looking at the door as he said. “Admiral Owen Paris.”
B’Elanna sucked in a breath as she heard the name of Tom’s father. She never had seen the man before, so she had no way of knowing that this was him. She began to feel even more uncomfortable. “I... I’m sorry...I.”
He turned back to her. “No apologies are in order, Lieutenant. Captain Janeway informed me about you and Tom.”
His voice seemed flat as he talked to her, as if he had spent years of training to keep it emotionless. She was about to speak again when the doctor emerged from sickbay.
“Well, it seems that I have performed yet another miracle for Mr. Paris. I’ve managed to repair most of the damage he sustained, but he will have to remain in sickbay for some time and allow his body to heal the rest.”
“Can we see him?” B’Elanna asked. The look in his eyes told the doctor that he had better say yes.
He nodded. “He’s sleeping now, but if you’re quiet, you can come inside.”
B’Elanna and Owen followed the EMH into sickbay. Tom was lying on one of the biobeds in the corner of the room. All the implants had been removed from him, including the ocular one Takma had used on him earlier. A chair was beside his bed in preparation of B’Elanna’s coming.
She sat down next to Tom and took his hand in hers. His gloves had been removed and now the Borg tentacles that covered his hands were viewable.
Owen steadied himself as he looked down at his son. It was hard to believe that this was the same man whom he had disowned years ago over an incident involving Caldik Prime. Now it seemed that was far in the past. Owen realized that the man on the biobed was not the same one whom he thought he had known.
B’Elanna turned to the Admiral. “Pull up another chair, Admiral. I’m sure Tom would want to see you when he wakes up.”
The Admiral was about to say that he needed to return to the bridge but he merely pulled a chair forward. For the first time in his life, he put his career in the background as he waited on his son to awaken.
Drones, Borg Cubes, wars, emotions; they flooded his senses. Paris felt the slight hint of deja-vu as he experienced this type of memory restoration for not the first time. The only problem now, was that these weren’t his memories.
He saw a huge station. Borg drones seemed to be working there, however, they were different than the drones he had seen before. These weren’t linked to the collective, they were individuals.
After a second, this image faded to one of the same station exploding in a huge cloud of fire. Small Borg spheres erupted from the chaos.
The image shifted again but now they were going by too fast. He couldn’t keep up with all the feelings, all the pain and emotion.
Before he knew what had happened, he stood on the same plane he had occupied for so long, over a month ago. A familiar presence approached him from the darkness.
*Hello, Tom,* Aria said. Feelings of discomfort emanated from her. She had to tell him something, but she didn’t know whether now was yet the right time.
*Aria,* he said in greeting. He looked at her with warm friendship now, not the passionate love his eyes had been clouded with at one time. His love for B’Elanna had clouded him to all others.
She walked closer towards him. *It’s coming.* she told him.
His brow furrowed at her words. *What’s coming?*
She seemed to look to the horizon before she answered again. *The Final Battle is upon us. It is almost here.*
She looked somewhat distracted as she spoke to him. He had heard her speak of this before but he was still no closer to an answer as to what ‘The Final Battle’ was.
She sensed his confusion. *Don’t worry. You’ll know more as time passes. But it’s still too early to disclose any more to you.*
He nodded. After spending a year with her, he knew that she was not one to be pressured into telling something. The darkness around him seemed to lift somewhat. Aria’s image began to fade and then receded into the horizon as he slowly began to return to the land of consciousness.
B’Elanna could sense that her mate was waking up. It was just natural that she would know such things. It was almost like they shared some sort of special bond.
She rose from her seat and leaned over his bed. She had gotten used to him ending up in sickbay by now. That was one of the things you received when you dated Tom Paris: plenty of sickbay time.
He groaned slightly before opening his eyes. It took a while, but his vision finally leveled off and he saw B’Elanna staring down at him from above.
She smiled as she watched his eyes open. “It’s about time you woke up.” She said softly.
He gave a small laugh. “Leave it to me to sleep on the job.”
Admiral Paris watched them banter with one another. He noticed how tightly B’Elanna held on to Tom’s hand and the sparkle in Tom’s eyes as he looked up to B’Elanna. Owen decided to step back for a few moments and let them talk.
Perhaps he should just leave. After all, they needed to be alone and Tom didn’t even remember him. But then again, if he had, Tom probably would be ordering him to leave right about now.
All this was going on inside Owen’s mind as Tom tried to get out of bed. B’Elanna was caught off guard and quickly began
to push him back down to the biobed. But Tom evaded her grasp and was soon standing on the floor. Well, half standing. He gripped the side of the biobed as he tried to walk. After only two steps, his legs gave out and he began to fall to the floor.
Paris felt a two pairs of arms holding him up. He looked up to see the Admiral and B’Elanna lifting him
back into the bed.
Doc was quickly over at his patient’s side. “Mr. Paris, I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay inside sickbay for a few hours longer. I realize that might be asking too much from you, but your body is still in need of repair. You need time to rest.”
Paris knew that the EMH had a point, but that didn’t matter. “I don’t have time for that Doc. There’s a Resistance ship stuck out there somewhere and I have to find it.”
B’Elanna looked up as he said this. “What do you mean?”
He began to out-line to her the information he had received from Takma’s database. All he knew that there was a Resistance ship that had fallen out of subspace somewhere within this sector. By the data Takma had collected, it was probably in really bad shape.
“Tom you need to stay here.” she told him when he was finished. “I’ll go tell the captain about this. We’ll find that ship.”
He nodded reluctantly.
B’Elanna then turned to the Admiral. “Make sure he doesn’t leave,” and then she turned back to her mate. “And you be good for Admiral Paris.”
Tom’s eyes widened as she said this. *Admiral Paris?* he asked her.
She returned his thoughts with those of her own. *He’s your father, Tom.*
His eyes shifted from her to his father and then back to her. He watched as she left the room and Doc retired to another corner of sickbay. He then turned to the older man before him. “I’m sorry,” Tom said. “I didn’t know.”
Owen looked down at his son. He never had understood the man, nor would he ever, but it didn’t seem to matter that much anymore. “It’s alright. With all you’ve been through....” he didn’t finish that sentence. He had always been bad at speaking with Tom, and now it seemed even worse. He shifted the subject. “You need to rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
Tom smiled and shook his head. Sleep was beginning to overcome him. A few words managed to escape his lips just as he drifted off to slumber. “But the worst...is yet to come.”
Seven was already scanning the space around them for a Resistance Vessel. B’Elanna had only told the captain her news a few moments ago and now DS9, Voyager, and the Enterprise were all busy searching for the wounded ship.
The two larger ships disembarked from the station and hovered nearby. All three were stretching their sensors’ power to the limit.
Twenty minutes passed by and Paris was still in sickbay. He was beginning to awaken again and was already feeling the need to leave. Tom looked up from his bed and saw the watchful eye of his father above him.
He rose to a sitting position as Owen tried to get him to lie back down. Tom pushed the older man’s hand away and got to his feet. This time he seemed much more steady than he had earlier.
By the mighty grace of the Spirit, Doc had not yet seen his movements.
“You need to get back in bed,” Owen said sternly.
Tom shook his head and walked over to a replicator. He began to enter the commands for his usual dark coat and civilian attire. “My people are out there somewhere. I need to make sure they’re alright.”
A few seconds later, the requested items lay before him. He slipped his usual gloves on over his hands and then snuck into a back room to change. Once he came out, the EMH was waiting on him.
“You can just get back in bed Mr. Paris. You’re not leaving sickbay.”
Tom gave him a look. “And just how are you going to stop me?” he asked with a smile on his face.
Doc gave a sigh of defeat. “Fine, but I’m coming with you. I don’t need you hitting your head or getting into any more trouble than you already have.”
Tom shrugged and walked out of sickbay. Much more trouble was soon to come.
B’Elanna was just returning to sickbay, when she found Tom walking down the corridor. Immediately, she turned to stop him.
“Tom you don’t need to be up already.”
“Just what I’ve been trying to tell him...,” muttered the doctor.
Tom disregarded the EMH’s words. “Any news?” he asked.
B’Elanna shook her head. “We think we’re getting closer to the finding the ship, but nothing solid yet.”
He nodded. “Let me see what you’ve got so far.”
Captain Sisko was on his bridge directing the search. So far, they were getting extremely close to finding the ship, but it somehow seemed to be evading their grasp.
The swish of the door turned him to his next visitor. Tom Paris walked through the door with three others in his wake.
“Ensign Paris, you should...”
Tom held up his hand and interrupted the Captain. “If one more person tells me I should go back to sickbay, I’ll make sure they end up there themselves. Now show me what you’ve found so far.”
Sisko projected a region of space on the viewscreen. “We think the ship has been lost somewhere within this area. So far we haven’t....”
The captain was interrupted as his Ops officer practically yelled out, “Captain I’ve found them.”
Tom watched as the man magnified an area on the screen. Deep within a cloud of subspacial particles was the ship they were looking for. From what they could see, it didn’t look to be in good shape.
“Hail them.” Tom ordered.
The Ops officer looked a bit uncertain but Sisko nodded to him to do so. A moment later an all too familiar form appeared on the viewscreen.
Danag was the only one left on the bridge by now. All others had been called to other areas of the ship to lend their assistance, or else they had shared the same fate as Meylin.
There was little power to waste on Communications. So far, he had been able to keep the comm lines open, but there was no way he could send out a distress beacon.
He wiped away a trickle of blood that was flowing down his forehead. He couldn’t even remember when or how he had received the gash, all he knew was that it was there and it was making it harder and harder to concentrate.
Because of all that was happening, it was no wonder Danag was surprised as his console came to life. He focused all his attention on the incoming message. Entering the right commands, he brought the comm signal onto the main viewscreen.
His eyes widened as he stared at the man on the viewscreen. He blinked them a few times to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything.
The transmission was brought on the screen on DS9. Paris’s attention was immediately focused on the man that he had known for over a year now.
The man on the screen looked somewhat surprised. “Captain Landis?” he asked. “By the Spirit, I must be seeing things.”
“You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easy did you?” Tom asked. He then shifted his attitude to one of utter seriousness. “Danag I need a full report on your status.”
Danag seemed to let his shock where off somewhat. “Aye sir.” he said and began to transfer their status to the station.
The Admiral took into account how the officer was addressing Tom. An ensign in Starfleet and a captain in the Resistance. Owen shook his head. Somehow, he hadn’t been able to believe his son’s status to be one of captain but it seemed he was wrong.
Paris bent over a console and looked over the information Danag had transferred.
“I don’t know how we’re holding this ship together, captain.” Danag said. “Almost half the crew is either dead or in sickbay. The ship’s captain and commander were killed a few days ago in....”
He was cut off as his console began to overload. He brought an arm up to shield his face as sparks flew. After a few moments, it was stable again.
“Like I was saying, I don’t know how Sargon’s holding this ship together,” he said.
“Divide all the patients in sickbay into three groups. We’ll begin to beam them over to this station as well as Voyager and the
Enterprise. I’m coming over there to help stabilize the ship.”
Danag nodded and cut the comm line. Tom turned to Sisko. “How far is Voyager from the ship?’
<
br /> “It will take at least half an hour for either ship to get within transporter range.”
Tom shook his head. That would be too long.
B’Elanna was thinking the same thing as Paris. They needed a way to get to those people faster. Her mind probed for an answer. She took in the landscape around the ship. What they needed to do was boost the transporters power...or reflect it.
Her eyes widened as an idea took shape. “If we can project a transporter beam inside a comm signal, we could reflect it off of the other ships. They could boost its power and add their transporters as well and perhaps we could beam part of the crew off the ship. That might stretch its power a little thin, but it would be able to go three or four times the normal range.”
Tom turned to her. “Did I ever tell you you’re a genius?”
She smiled. “You can once this works.”
The officer at Ops shook his head though. “It would take hours to modify our transporters to that calibration. We could get a ship there faster.”
“Then we’ll just have to speed things up some.” Tom commented. He searched B’Elanna’s mind to find the layout of her plans. After that, he walked over to the Ops station. The officer was about to ask him just how he expected to ‘speed things up’ when Paris linked himself to the ship’s computer.
B’Elanna and the doctor were the only ones immune to the shock of seeing this being done. The jaws of everyone else in the room seemed to hang open. After a few minutes Tom was done.
He unlinked himself and spoke to the officer at the console. “I’ve remodulated your sensors as well as Voyager’s and the Enterprise’s. You can give them an explanation later.”
“We still can’t be sure whether or not this will work. It could scramble their molecules through space.”
“That’s why I’ll transport over there first. If everything works out fine, I’ll give you the signal to begin transporting more over.” Tom told him.
