by Alys Landale
He took off his boot and approached the core, tendrils snaking around his ankles as he got closer. Taking in a deep breath, he pushed his boot as far into the silver liquid as he could. Feet already tangled in the mass below him, he had no chance to move as the tendrils began to whip around wildly, every hit feeling like a brand melting into his body. Finally he collapsed on the floor in front of the core.
"How dare you think you can stop me you weakling." Neryem's voice echoed throughout the entire station.
Paris opened his eyes. *What's going on?*
"I will not allow you to continue this madness, Neryem. We were created to protect this planet, and now you wish to destroy it."
Tom struggled to a sitting position, resting his arms on his knees as he listened to the voices echo through his own mind as well s the room around him.
"We protect this planet because it is our energy source. You bring in outsiders, and now we must destroy what is ours to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands."
Sorores made a quick retort. "The Dykinae created us as protectors, not murderers. We cannot follow the same path as their other creations did. We will not become the Borg."
Tom’s eyes widened. *A species created the borg!*
"Your time is up, Neryem. You no longer have control of this facility."
As Paris watched, the core began to burst upon itself. Tendrils disconnected and fell to the floor beside him.
"You cannot do this Sorores you… not... this...." Neryem's words began to slur as the Core glowed golden before finally darkening to near blackness.
Before Paris could even release a sigh of relief, the Core shimmered once, twice, and then returned to its previous state.
"What…?" he asked.
**He has no yet been destroyed, only neutralized.**
"Neutralized! Then how do we stop this thing!"
Sorores was silent for a few moments. He could have sworn that there was a tinge of regret in her next words. **You must join me.**
Chapter Eight
"They're within range." Harry practically shouted.
Around them, consoles overloaded and crewmen darted between stations under the flashing lights of red alert.
Ignoring the chaos around him, Chakotay continued to stare ahead, watching the storm that brewed just outside their hull. "Pull them in, Harry. Baytart, the minute their on board, get us out of here."
“Aye, sir,”
Another explosion buffeted the ship. "Shields are down to forty percent," Tuvok reported.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Harry smiled. "Commander, we've got them!"
The familiar tug of a tractor beam jolted the ship moments before Janeway felt the tingle of the transporter. Within seconds, she was standing on the deck in sickbay.
"Captain, are you injured?" the doctor asked from where he already stood beside B’Elanna’s biobed.
"I'm fine Doctor. I have to get to the bridge immediately."
As she ran out of the sickbay doors, she never heard the doctor ask, "Where is Mr. Paris?"
Tom Paris was still letting Sorores's words sink in. "What do you mean I have to join you?"
She hesitated. **I am unable to initiate the self destruct of this facility without the help of another. You must let me assimilate you to destroy this station.**
"I'm not letting you assimilate me! There has to be another way."
**There is no other way. I first contacted you on the planet so that you might help me. If you do not do this, billions of lives will end.**
He thought about her words: 'First contacted you'.
*The rock,* he thought.
**That is correct. I permitted you to enter this facility so that you could help me. I hoped that it would not come to this, but we have no choice.**
“Well,” he said through a smile. “I guess Captain Proton gets to save the day one last time. What do I have to do?"
The doors to the bridge opened as Janeway stormed through.
"Report," she called out.
Relief flooded through Chakotay as he saw the captain. "We're about to be clear of the nebula, Captain," he said.
No other three words could have shocked the bridge crew more than what the captain was about to say. "Turn us around."
A tendril began to move at Paris's feet.
**You must let it take you inside the core.**
He stared at the red vine below him but complied. He stood perfectly still as it wound up his leg to his torso. Another one joined that one and latched itself around his neck. Soon more were wrapping around his body, melting into his skin... assimilating him.
It hurt. It hurt more than anything he had ever experienced. His lungs burned as he tried to scream, but all air was cut off by the tendril now slithering down his throat.
*Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.*
His vision had blacked out some moments earlier, but he was all too aware of the room, of the Core. He felt a hand touch the liquid matter of the Core then his whole arm was engulfed within its silvery matrix. The liquid coursed through the tendrils and into him, flowing through his veins, burning like lava.
Soon he was entirely engulfed by the core. Slowly he felt himself merge with the ship. He could now understand the watery sound he had heard earlier. It was like another language, a language that he had known since birth but had just discovered.
He felt Sorores next to him, felt her within him. He understood everything now, why this was all so important. He saw the birth of the planet, understood its purpose, not only as an energy source, but as camouflage for the wormhole it hid. He could see all of the ships systems, every monitor, every security device, every uplink, even the one he had found on the planet only a day before, the one Sorores had used to create a link between him and herself. The whole reason for the station became clear, they must protect the wormhole from any outsiders, even if that meant sacrificing themselves.
His body was slowly being integrated into the core. Soon he would be able to do it.
His mind was being transformed. Soon very little of himself would be left.
He had to work fast. Allying his strength with Sorores, they accomplished their goal.
*It's over,* he thought just before being engulfed in a red light and then the following darkness.
"Turn us around!" Janeway repeated. Voyager was now clear of the nebula, much to the relief of all on the bridge, all except the captain.
"Captain?" Harry asked.
"Tom is still out there. We have to go back and get him."
“You heard the captain,” Chakotay said, breaking the sudden silence. “Turn us around, Mr. Baytart.”
“Aye, Com…”
The ensign’s words were broken as the nebula erupted into flames, sending a massive shock wave through the space around it. All aboard the bridge were knocked to the floor, but despite her tumble, Janeway’s eyes remained fixed on the viewscreen ahead, the debris, and the empty space where a space station once rested.
Epilogue
ONE DAY LATER...
B'Elanna shivered for what seemed like the millionth time. The after-effects of her injury the day before still crippled her body, but she had managed to convince the Doctor to let her out of sickbay. She just couldn't stay there any longer, not with all the memories flooding through her.
So now she sat huddled on her bed. Thoughts kept echoing through her mind as she sat there shivering violently from exhaustion, lack of sleep, and the horror of what had happened the day before.
She thought about Tom. He had given his life to save hers, and she had treated him so badly the days before his death. She shuddered again and let a painful sob escape her throat.
Samantha Wildman dreaded the coming conversation with her daughter. She had spent almost all day in sickbay helping the doctor with B'Elanna. The effects had proven to be only temporary, but Doc had asked her to stay and help him. Neelix was watching over Naomi. She
knew that the Talaxian had heard about Tom, but
he had promised to let her break the news to her daughter.
Entering her cabin, she paused to take in the scene. Naomi was on the floor coloring. Neelix sat in a chair to the side. He immediately rose to greet Sam.
"Hello, Sam," he said.
"Hi, Neelix."
Naomi ran over to her mother. "So is Tom going to come by soon? He promised he'd be back as soon as they got finished."
Sam closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and knelt down beside her daughter. "Sweetie, we have to talk."
Naomi noticed the serious expression cross her mother's face. Whenever she had asked Neelix about Tom, he had gotten that same look on his face and suddenly become very quiet. In fact, he was acting a lot like he had when her mother had been lost on her last away mission.
"What happenned?" she asked.
Sam gulped. "Honey, why don't you come sit down with me on the couch." Sam took her little girl in her arms. "Honey, Tom isn't going to be coming back."
"What do you mean, he isn't coming back?"
"While the away team was on their mission, they ran into some trouble. One of them had to stay behind so that the others could get away. Sweetie, Tom stayed behind."
Naomi's voice caught in her throat. "Is he dead?"
Sam bit her lip and nodded. "I'm sorry, Honey. If it hadn't been for Tom, none of us would be here right now."
Naomi clutched her mother tightly as she buried her face in her shoulder and cried.
He had promised her that everything was going to be all right. He was supposed to be back home on Voyager, not.... not dead.
Neelix watched the two cry together. It seemed just about everyone had when they heard the news. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, he left the two alone and headed back to his cabin to do his own grieving.
**************
"So, how is our guest doing?" Takma walked towards one of the holding cells in the brig. Inside lay a crumpled body.
"Well, we had a bit of trouble getting him stabilized at first, but his body seems to be healing quite rapidly now. I have to admit, I've never seen anything like it. His body is a perfect blend of both biological and mechanical components. I can't even tell where one begins and the other ends."
Takma smiled at her doctor’s enthusiasm. "I'm sure we can find a useful purpose for him." She gazed at the body inside the cell. His breathing was still irregular, but steady. "I want you to keep this one alive. Until we can harness his technology, I don't want anything to happen to him. That also means keeping your mouth shut, Doctor. Do you understand?"
He understood only too well. "Your secret is safe with me."
"I thought as much. Now leave."
The doctor nodded once, only stopping at the door to allow the general inside.
"I see 'it' is still alive," Kail said as he entered the room.
"Yes, 'he' is," Takma replied. "And if what the doctor believes is true, this creature might even be more advanced than the Borg.”
"And completely at your disposal,” Kail finished. He took a step towards her, his elbow grazing her lower back. “I don’t suppose your husband would be very interested in him though…"
Takma looked up, a smile slowly curving her lips. "No, I don’t suppose he would." She arched her back, brushing against his side as she turned to face him. “But perhaps you would care to assist me in my research?”
"I would be delighted." He smiled. “And when you do show your husband your research, I would be honored to be at your side.”
"How very charitable of you.” She turned her vision back to the cell. The body stirred slightly, blond hair falling over his eyes.
*A very good prize indeed,* she thought to herself.
"Come General," she said as she broke her vision away from the man on the floor. "I believe we should discuss our business elsewhere."
As they left, the figure on the floor let out a soft groan. His blue eyes flickered open for a brief second as he tried to identify his surroundings. The light in his eyes lit up brightly, pride and willpower evident in those sky blue orbs. Then his lids fell shut and the darkness consumed him once more.
End of Part One.
As many of you know, I wrote this story a few years ago. I pulled it back off the shelf in hopes that a little bit of revision would help me get back on track with Sins and Sacrifices. For all of you wondering, yes I do intend to finish that story. I won’t lie. I’ve been lazy, and now, I intend to get back to work. But, while this little exercise did get me back into the mood of writing, I was just wondering if anyone who read the story before found it worthwhile to read this version? Just curious. I will be posting the other seven parts of this saga on fanfiction.net, so I was wondering if anyone thought a revision of Part Two would be warranted. I’m not revising the larger ones. This story was only 29 pages long, but all together, the series is close to 600. While I have time on my hands right now, I’m not going to throw that much of it away.
Thanks for reading.
Alys Landale
