by Alys Landale
As always, I don’t own any of the Star Trek Characters used in this series. They are products of Paramount; I just wish to
borrow them for a while. But those characters that aren’t in anyway related to the Star Trek universe are my own creations such
as and I lay claim the rights to them.
By Alys Landale
The Fates Series
New Beginnings
It is sometimes amazing how, in the course of one year, nothing of any particular interest can be found; but in a matter of only a few days, so much can occur. This was how just about all of Voyager’s crew felt. Over the past year, nothing had happened. They had been bottled up in one of Takma’ research centers, hidden from the outside world. But within only two days, they had found a once lost friend, discovered the truth about their Imperial ‘friends,’ and been sent ten years closer to home.
Well, closer to most of the crew’s home. Tom and Xara, however, regarded the situation as being ripped away from the one residence they had come to know over the past year, and then thrown into a world in which they didn’t belong.
This was how Tom felt as he finished discussing their situation with the captain. He had been in her Ready Room for the past half hour; now they were getting ready to leave. He had pushed back the emotions he had shown earlier and was now wearing his usual Paris mask.
“There’s just one more thing we need to discuss,” said Janeway. “Just what do you wish to be called? The crew knows you as Tom Paris, but I realize you’ve been going by the name Rune Landis for the past year.”
She and Paris had already settled the matter that he would resume his duties as Chief Helmsman. He would also provide any services he could to improve any other systems on Voyager. As for resuming his duties in sickbay, a firm ‘no’ had been his answer. She didn’t try to pursue that course any more.
“You can call me whatever you like,” he said. “I’ll answer to either.”
She nodded. She could only imagine how much he was going through. To lose his ship, his love, and even his identity; it was far more than she could endure. It had been hard enough when Voyager had ended up in the Delta Quadrant, but at least then, she had her ship and crew. All he had was a crew of strangers.
“Well, how about I give you a tour of the ship. You’ve only seen a limited portion so far.” She told him.
He gave a weak smile. “Sure, as long as it doesn’t involve passing by sickbay.”
B’Elanna was working her crew even harder than ever. She didn’t want to have to face the thought of Tom’s predicament. For a year, she had prayed that if he was just alive and safe, she would be happy. But now, she needed more. She needed him to remember her to remember them.
Joe understood what she was going through. So did everyone in Engineering. From what he had heard, Paris didn’t remember any of his past before the last year. He hadn’t seen Tom yet, but rumor was that he was some kind of Borg drone as well a Resistance Captain. The rumors were so thick that he didn’t know what to expect.
He, along with everyone else present, wondered just how much change Paris had underwent. If he had also been, know as
Rune Landis, the very man who had almost destroyed their ship, Carrey wondered how this man would act towards a crew of strangers.
The last point on their tour was Engineering. Janeway had made sure that this would be their last destination. She dreaded the encounter between Tom and B’Elanna. There had always been some impediment to keep the two from being alone. But now that there was no stress or push for time to prevent the two from discussing their situation, she wondered what B’Elanna would say once they entered.
Paris knew that the captain was worried about his encounter with Torres. He didn’t say anything though. If he was going to be on this ship, then he would have to work with all of the crew. And that meant the Chief Engineer.
Engineering was busy when they first entered, but somehow all the personnel managed to make their way into some far away recess by the time B’Elanna walked over to Tom. Carrey was the only crewman who hadn’t yet hidden.
“I see the two of you have come for a visit.” Torres said.
Paris noticed how the woman’s eyes rested on him the entire time she spoke. He could also feel the eyes of hidden crewmen resting on him as well. It seemed no one was brave enough to show themselves while he and Torres were together.
“Janeway was just showing me around. I hope you don’t mind if I take a look at your engines.” He said nonchalantly.
“Sure, I’ll show you around personally.” she told him and led him away.
Janeway quietly exited Engineering. She needed to leave these two alone for now. She just hoped Engineering would be in one piece when she returned.
Tom was standing at one of the consoles in front of the warp core. B’Elanna was busy giving him a crash course in warp-core propulsion when Joe walked over to the two. He had decided to keep to the sidelines while the pair worked out what they had to say.
“And through there are the Jeffries tubes,” B’Elanna pointed towards their direction; however Tom was still busy looking over the console.
Joe noticed where the man’s attention was focused. “I take it you’re an engineer as well?” he asked Paris.
Tom turned to the man. “I’m a lot of things,” he said and turned his attention back to the console. He began tapping in a series of commands. Both Carrey and B’Elanna were caught off guard by what he was doing.
“What are you...” she didn’t finish her question before Paris cut her off.
“If you reroute your power into this type of matrix it will increase the energy output by fifteen percent.” He told her. He finished entering commands and then turned to face her. “I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve if you care to hear any of them.”
B’Elanna looked over the console where he had just been working. She had to admit he had helped her out a lot. “When do you want to talk?”
Janeway met Chakotay on her way back to the bridge.
“How was your meeting with Paris?” he asked.
She smiled a little sadly. “I don’t know Chakotay. He doesn’t remember any of us. Now to be thrown into his past like this? I don’t know what to do.”
He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. He’ll get through this. We’ll be here to help him.”
She smiled in reply. She often wondered what she would do without Chakotay by her side. There was no way for her to find an answer to that puzzle. His companionship meant so much more.
Back in Engineering, a few more people had come into view. Paris silently noted that while they went about their work, their eyes never left him for more than a few seconds. He kept his attention focused on the people around him as he continued to show
B’Elanna some of the Resistance tricks he had learned throughout the past year. Both Torres and Carrey listened with attentive ears to what he was saying.
“Just how did you come across all these ‘tricks’?” asked Joe. He was beginning to think that maybe Paris wasn’t this Borg drone like everyone had said he was. By all appearances, he looked like the same old Tom Paris.
A smile touched Paris’s lips. “Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
B’Elanna was ready for Joe to butt-out of their conversation. She knew he meant well, but right now all she wanted was to be alone with Tom.
She looked over the recalibrations that Tom had illustrated on the console. Her personal conversation with him would have to wait until later. “Just how do you propose we recalibrate these systems? It’ll take at least a week to go through the computer and remodulate the power-flow to this calibration. We’d have to shut down e
ach system one at a time to replace the logarithms.”
“You don’t have to go through all that trouble. I can have it done in a few minutes,” he told her.
She raised a speculative eyebrow. “And how do you intend to do that?”
He glanced to the console. “If you don’t mind, I’ll do it right now.”
She crossed her arms but nodded for him to go ahead. He placed his hands on the console. Carrey waited for him to start entering commands but his hands remained where he had placed them. Then Paris linked himself to the computer.
Joe stared at the Borg like tentacles that had appeared through Tom’s glove. Everyone in Engineering seemed to freeze from their activities as they stared wide-eyed at the scene before. B’Elanna was caught at a loss for words as she watched her mate begin to remodulate their Engineering systems.
Janeway’s head began to throb again. She and Chakotay were only a few more steps from the bridge but now it looked like she was ready to make a course change for sickbay.
She stopped in the corridor and put a hand on Chakotay’s shoulder. He turned around to face her. Pain was evident on her face.
“Kathryn?” he asked.
She shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the nausea she was feeling. “I think I need to drop by Sickbay...”
Her voice began to waver as she said these words and before Chakotay realized what was happening, he had her in his arms.
“Computer, Emergency Medical Beam to sickbay.” he called out as he and the captain disappeared in a transporter beam.
Paris was just finishing up the recalibrations when something in the system came to his attention. He quickly disconnected from the computer. Once the disorientation was over and he took in his bearings he was confronted with all the eyes in Engineering resting on him.
Torres was the first to speak. “What did you...?”
He cut her off. “The remodulations are almost done. I need to get to sickbay now.”
She quickly became alert. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He could sense that she thought he was going there for himself. He quickly pushed aside her fears. “Nothing’s wrong with me. It’s your captain. I need to get down to sickbay immediately.”
“What’s wrong with her?!” Chakotay asked the doctor.
The captain was lying on a biobed. By all appearances, she looked just to be asleep. But according to the doctor’s readings, it was a little more complicated than that.
He adjusted his tricorder again. These readings were so erratic; he didn’t know what to make of them. The neurotransmitters in her brain were slowing down. It was like her brain was completely shutting down.
“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
At that moment, Paris and Torres came storming through the sickbay doors.
*I never thought I’d be coming in here willingly.* Tom thought, but made his way to Janeway none the less.
Doc looked up as he saw Paris come in. “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you Mr. Paris, but I happen to be busy at the moment.”
Tom didn’t move from where he stood. “Let me guess.” he said. “She has a neurotransmitter imbalance.”
Doc looked up from his work. “Yes. How did you know?”
“I’ve seen it happen in some species before,” he told him. “It’s an effect to the Chloratis Satira administered to her. I thought since nothing had gone wrong so far, she wouldn’t experience any side effects.”
“Is she going to be alright?” Chakotay asked. He was gripping Janeway’s hand in his as if she might be pulled away from him at any moment.
“She’ll be fine.” He said as he walked over to the replicator. “I just need to replicate the needed medicine.” He ordered the necessary hypospray and took it over to the captain. After administering the medication, he stepped back as the doctor ran a tricorder over the captain’s still form.
“The neurotransmitters are stabilizing, but she’s not coming out of her coma,” he said after a moment. “Do you have any other input about the situation, Mr. Paris?”
“If something like this happens, we usually have a telepath to retrieve the person from the coma.” Paris told him.
“We could go get Tuvok,” Chakotay said. “He could do a mind-meld. That should work, shouldn’t it?”
Tom shook his head. “It’s better if the telepath has done this before. It puts less of a risk on both of them.”
Doc was beginning to get exasperated at these turn of events. “Well, Mr. Paris, since we don’t have a telepath versed in such matters, what do you suggest?”
“Since we ‘do’ have a telepath, ‘versed in such matters,’ it’s not much of a problem,” he said placidly.
Doc was about to ask just whom he was referring to when Paris took the captain’s hand in his. Tom closed his eyes as he began to enter Janeway’s mind.
B’Elanna’s gaze shifted from Tom to the captain to the EMH. “What’s he doing?” she asked. She knew fully well, what the answer was yet she needed to hear it for herself.
“It appears,” said the doctor, “that he’s retrieving the captain from her coma.”
*
Tom felt the usual vertigo of performing such a procedure. To him, it was pure exhilaration. Everything else in the world vanished as his and Janeway’s minds merged.
He had done this before. Aria had first shown him how to perform this procedure. But something seemed different this time.
It felt like his mind weighed so much more than usual, like he was pulling others along with himself.
He disregarded the feeling. It was probably just due to all the exertions he had put his body through in the past few days. But a nagging feeling deep within himself told him differently.
*Shut up and concentrate on finding Janeway* he told himself.
He reached out to her with his mind. She was extremely close. He felt himself brush through her thoughts. Her presence overwhelmed him for a moment. She was grabbing out for anything to hold onto. If a drowning person was dangerous to a swimmer, than her kind was most dangerous to a telepath.
But Paris had encountered many like her and knew how to approach the situation. He extended his line of thoughts around her in order to calm her down.
*Captain,* he said. *I’ll need you to help me with this.*
She had no idea where these thoughts were coming from, but she did know who was projecting them. She answered as best she could.
*Tom what’s going on?*
He didn’t have time to explain this to her so he just said. *I need you to calm down. I’ll explain everything later.*
She did as she was told.
*Now just trust me* he said.
She silently agreed. A moment later, she sensed his presence touch her. Then she felt him take hold of her. She said nothing. She gave no protest. She trusted him as he had asked.
And then, trust became the necessary item. A freezing blanket seemed to engulf her body. Then it turned to one of burning fire. Janeway clung to Tom even more tightly. She wanted to cry out but before she had the chance, darkness engulfed her.
*
The EMH ran his tricorder over Janeway again. He was beginning to get concerned over her readings. They illustrated levels of distress in the brain frequencies. He had no choice, however, but to let Paris continue with his procedure.
Feeling began to come back to Janeway slowly. She felt a slight pressure on each of her hands. But the darkness remained.
After a few moments, she realized the reason why the darkness remained around her. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet.
Chakotay watched as Janeway’s eyes slowly began to open. She struggled to readjust her eyes to the now bright light.
“She’s waking up,” Chakotay said. He bent closer towards his captain. “Captain, can you hear me.”
Paris reopened his eyes at that moment as well. Usually he had a much easier time journeying into the abyss to retrieve someone. But
this time had been different. It felt like something was trying to pull him back in.
He let go of Janeway’s hand and dismissed those thoughts quickly. B’Elanna walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and encountered the astonished eyed of the half Klingon. Her dark orbs implored for an answer from him, but he just looked away.
“Captain,” Chakotay repeated.
Janeway shook her head for a moment. “Yes, Commander?” she asked.
A smile spread across the commander’s features. “Next time you decide to leave us, try telling us first,” he said.
The doctor ran his tricorder over her again. “By all appearances, she looks to be in perfect health now,” he said. His tone then turned sarcastic: “Of course, I will have to consult Mr. Paris first on the matter.”
Tom looked from the Captain back to the EMH. “She should be fine now. If anything else goes wrong, you can call me back here.” he turned to leave.
“Mr. Paris,” Janeway said as she struggled to get to a sitting position. “What just happened?”
Tom looked uncomfortable to be remaining in the room but walked back over to the biobed. “The medication Satira gave you, the Chloratis; it can have side effects on some species. It usually happens more quickly, but it has the same effects. It’s a type of narcotic and hallucinogen in one. It reacted with the neurotransmitters in your brain and induced a coma.”
She nodded in response. “That explains part of it, but what I want to know is how you were able to bring me back.”
“Any telepath could do the same. I’ve just had a little more experience than most,” he told her.
“Why didn’t you tell us that you were a telepath?” she asked.
He just smiled back at her. “Why didn’t you ask?”
The EMH was beginning to get tired of all of these new abilities that he kept encountering with Tom. He then spoke up.
“Well, Mr. Paris, do you have any more of these abilities that you haven’t told us about yet?”
