by Alys Landale
Finally, B’Elanna stumbled onto something that caught her attention. Her tricorder was unable to register anything on the item. It was a dark blue substance contained in a clear synthetic container. Even the container appeared to be off the registers.
“Could someone come over here,” she said.
Paris and Chakotay walked over when they heard her. “What is it?” Chakotay asked.
She handed the two men the tricorder. “Look at these readings,” she told them. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Paris was caught by surprise when he saw the tricorder’s data, not because he had never seen anything like it, but because he had. He took the container in his hand. It was a large cylinder roughly two feet tall and a foot in diameter.
He couldn’t believe his luck. If this was what he thought this was, they were very, very lucky to have found this. He ran the tricorder over it again. The results were the same. Yes, they were very, very lucky indeed.
“Gerek,” he said nonchalantly. “Do you know what this is?”
Gerek looked at the container. He shrugged. “Something I picked up on one of my last runs. None of the computers could get a read on it, so I put it down here. Why?”
“Oh nothing, I was just interested.” After a few more minutes, Paris made his move. “Tell you what, I’ll take that rifle and this,” he said, indicating the container he held.
Chakotay’s eyes widened. “Paris, we do not have the resources to waste on something as trivial as this.”
Tom shot him a look that said, ‘shut up.’ He then continued his barter. “What do you say, Gerek?”
Gerek ran a hand over his chin. “I don’t care much about the container there, but that rifle’s pretty expensive. You don’t have anything valuable enough to trade for it.”
Tom smiled, “Oh I think I can manage the price.”
Chakotay was sick of this now. “Paris you can’t...” he was cut off by Tom’s voice inside his mind.
*Chakotay you have no idea how valuable these things are. Shut up while I make a deal.* Tom told him.
The commander reluctantly held his tongue after that.
Gerek realized what had happened but said nothing. He just thought Captain Landis was reprimanding one of his inferiors.
“Well, Rune, what do you have to offer?”
Tom smiled. “Something extremely valuable. Information.”
Chakotay was practically fuming. Paris had turned this trading mission into a mockery. The man was insubordinate and had put the entire team at risk. He had just led Gerek away to another room to discuss some kind of bargain. The commander could only guess as to what kind of information he would impart to this man.
A few minutes later, Tom and Gerek reentered the room.
“Well,” Chakotay asked. “Did you make the deal?”
“We came to an agreement,” Gerek told him. He gave the rifle and canister to Paris. “Always a pleasure doing business with you Rune.”
Tom took the items. “Likewise.”
Seven then caught Gerek’s attention. The woman was busy rummaging through a pile of transponder coils. Gerek’s lust was sparked.
He nodded over towards the ex-Borg. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to see if I can make a deal with one of your crewmen. You don’t mind, do you?”
Tom shook his head in amazement. “You live your life between your legs, Gerek.” He said.
“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Tell you what, hang around here tonight. We have some catching up to do. You know why I’m out here, but I can’t possibly imagine why you’d leave the Empire. But we can talk later. I’ve got ‘business’ to attend to.” Gerek smiled and walked towards the woman on the other side of the room.
“He’s got something coming if he thinks he can get with Seven.” B’Elanna commented.
Paris shook his head again. “He’s a good man, just extremely horny. It runs in his species I think.” Tom slung the rifle over his shoulder. “At least we made a good trade though.”
“What did you tell him?” Chakotay asked. *If he told him anything about Voyager without our consent...*
Tom picked up on what the commander was thinking. “Don’t worry. I didn’t give him any information on Voyager. I gave him the designs for some of the Empire’s latest battleships and Fighters as well as some rudimentary diagnostics of the Jihaid.
He’s been trying to lay his hands on those for a long time.”
B’Elanna was amazed. “He traded with you for only that amount of information?”
Paris smiled. “Well, he sort of owed me. I saved his ass a few months ago. A few of his clients were ready to kill him. I managed to ‘dissuade’ them from doing so.”
Torres could only guess how Tom had ‘dissuaded’ them.
A wave of pain ran through Paris’s mind. He pushed it away though, and it soon subsided. He then addressed the commander. “Now Chakotay, I’d like to take these things back to Voyager. You can continue trading with him over here, but I need to put this on the other ship.”
Chakotay nodded. He was at the end of his rope with Paris by now. He then referred to the canister Paris held in one hand.
“What is that anyway?’
“This is what’s going to get you back to the Alpha Quadrant.”
Janeway and Tuvok met Tom and B’Elanna in the transporter room when they returned to Voyager.
“Well, how did it go?” she asked.
B’Elanna had decided to return to the ship with Tom. She had this strange feeling that she needed to be with Tom right now.
He looked weak right now. She didn’t know what to say to him about it so she decided the only thing she could do was keep an eye on him.
She responded to Janeway’s question. “It seems Tom knows Gerek so we were able to make a few transactions.”
Janeway raised an eyebrow. “What were you able to get?”
Tom handed the canister to the captain. “We need to put this away somewhere safe. Right now, this is the most valuable thing on this ship.” He kept the rifle on his shoulder.
Janeway inspected the canister. “What is this?”
B’Elanna looked to Tom as well. So far, he hadn’t told anyone just what it was.
“I’ll explain later. I need to get back to Gerek’s ship before the man cheats your crew out of every cent they have.” He told her.
She noticed he looked tired. Paris needed a break. “Tom why don’t you stay here. It looks like you need some rest.”
He shook his head. “I’m fine. Besides I know Seven needs a break from Gerek’s advances.” He handed Tuvok the rifle. “You might want to try and build a few more of these. They’re a lot more powerful than those phasers you have.”
Tuvok took the weapon. Paris then walked back over to the platform to beam back over to the ship. Janeway and B’Elanna followed him.
“I’ll go with you.” Janeway said. Tom had put on his facade now, so all appearances of his earlier fatigue had vanished. But she was determined to make sure he was alright. She knew she couldn’t convince him to go to sickbay so she decided to accompany him to the other ship. “Tuvok you have the bridge.”
“Remove your hand.” Seven said.
Paris and his two companions were walking back to where Gerek and the others were. The trader now stood beside the ex-Borg. His hand was cupped around her posterior.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Oh come on, I’m sure I could give your people a really good deal if you would come to my quarters. We could ‘barter’.”
Harry’s mouth dropped open as he saw what the other man was doing. He had kept an eye on Gerek since he had come here, but a few minutes ago, Neelix had distracted him. He now made his way over to the pair.
Gerek whispered something else to Seven. The woman’s eyes widened. Gerek smiled seductively at her as he watched her reaction. The next thing he saw was her fist steadily coming closer and closer to his face.
He staggered backwards as the force of the blo
w took him by surprise. “Whoa, sweetie, I was hoping for foreplay, but not this early.”
He was caught by surprise again as Seven’s knee came in contact with his groin. He bent over double and fell to the floor.
Harry ran over to Seven. She stood calmly looking down at Gerek moaning on the floor. The ensign took a long look at the man on the floor.
“Seven?” he asked.
She understood his implied question. “He wished to participate in foreplay, therefore I conceded.”
Harry smiled at her humor. He knew now, never to worry about Seven of Nine not being able to take care of herself.
Everyone in the room tried to keep a straight face as well as avert their eyes from the fallen man. Tom however laughed as he walked over to Gerek’s position on the floor.
He looked down at the man. “Didn’t I tell you that ‘hormonal’ imbalance of yours would get you in trouble?”
Gerek slowly began to uncurl his body. Paris laughed all the more.
“Nice way... to treat a...friend,” Gerek said in between gasps. his voice had risen four octaves but was now beginning to turn back to normal. “Can’t you... keep your... crewmen under control?”
“She’s not my crewman.” Tom said.
Gerek was back on his feet by now. He cast Tom a questioning look.
Seven interrupted Paris’s intended answer as she addressed Gerek again. “Do you wish to participate in more ‘foreplay’ now?” Her face was impassive as she mocked the man.
He backed away from her. “No that’s alright.” He then turned back to Tom. “I didn’t think I recognized any of these people from your crew. Where are those scoundrels anyway?”
Everyone looked to the floor. They were all uncomfortable with the change Gerek’s conversation had taken. Paris however didn’t seem upset by Gerek’s words. The only change in his demeanor was that he now seemed a lot more serious than he had
been before.
“They’re back in the Empire,” he told him.
Gerek’s brow furrowed. “Then what the hell are you doing out here? I have to admit, I never thought you’d ever step foot outside the Empire while Takma was still alive. You hardly ever even left the Jihaid except for an away mission every now and then.”
“Well, it wasn’t planned,” he said. At Gerek’s questioning glance, he continued. “The Jihaid was destroyed a week ago.”
Gerek’s mouth fell open. “What about your crew? Are they alright?”
Tom’s eyes took a distracted look. “Commander Brandwin was killed. The rest were sent aboard Raken’s ship.”
Gerek took a second to let the news settle in. “I’m sorry,” he said after a few moments. “But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
Paris retold the story of how he had attacked Portus’s vessel and Takma and Kail’s part in the massacre. Gerek just stared on in awe. He looked around at the Voyager crewmen. None of them could make eye contact with either he or Paris.
“Come on.” Paris told him. “We came here to trade. Let’s get back to business.”
After a few hours, all the business transactions had been taken care of. Voyager had acquired a good amount of dilithium, engineering equipment, as well as an extensive supply of edibles. Now it was getting time for the crew to return to their ship.
B’Elanna glanced over to Paris. He had become a bit more distant ever since Gerek had brought up the subject of the Jihaid.
*I hope he’s alright* she thought. He was looking fatigued again but she didn’t bring the matter to attention.
Paris walked over to Gerek. He smiled slightly. “Nice seeing you again Gerek.”
Gerek gave a mock salute. “Same to you Captain.” he said. “I’m getting ready to hit the road again as well. Maybe we’ll cross each other’s paths again sometime.”
Tom nodded. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
The two then parted. Paris joined the rest of his crew as they prepared to transport back to Voyager. Tom spoke to Gerek again. “Remember to stay out of trouble. I won’t be around to pull you out of it like I was at Ressin V.”
Gerek laughed at the memory. “I don’t suppose you will. Good voyage,” He then watched as the people vanished in the transporter beam.
Gerek then turned to one of his workers. “Tell our Helmsman to plot a course for the Litauri System.” He stared at the place where the group had just vanished. He was silent for a moment as his thoughts turned to more serious reflections. His face looked much more somber than it had since Paris and his compatriots had come aboard.
Gerek’s voice became pensive as he spoke to himself. “We’ve done what we were sent here to do.”
Janeway and the rest of the away team appeared in the transporter room. She couldn’t help but be amazed at Gerek’s impression. The man had seemed so coarse and ill mannered, but after a while, he seemed to grow on her. Once he got past that hormone-raging side, he was actually quite easy to talk to. But now all that was on her mind was what Tom had told her earlier.
“Mr. Paris.,” she said. “Are you ready to inform us of what was so important about the element you acquired from Gerek?
Tom nodded. “You remember how I was telling you that the new warp core works more efficiently according how heavy the fuel is.” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “So you’re saying that this element could get us to the Alpha Quadrant how soon?”
“If we used this instead of the dilithium, we could stay in the sub-spacial current indefinitely. If we wanted, we could travel across the galaxy in a matter of minutes with this source.” Tom smiled as he saw Janeway’s surprised look.
“How about we meet in my ready room, and you can tell us more about this ‘source’.” Janeway said.
B’Elanna watched Paris begin his oration on this new element. He stood in front of the viewscreen as he bought up an image of the element. Torres’s heart blinded her vision for a moment so that the only thing she could see was the handsome features of the man she loved. Half of her yearned for him, drank in the sight of him; the other half cried out in frustration of not being able to feel his arms around her.
“This element,” Tom said as he gestured to the screen. “Is going to get Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant.”
“You’ve already told us that,” said Chakotay. “What we want to know is just how.”
Tom smiled. “This element has an atomic weight off the scales. With just one ounce, we can create an infinite amount of it to power as many ships as needed. I’ve never had a chance to collect a stable supply of it, but this would be the prime fuel for the new warp core.”
“The properties of this element are impressive. The Borg have encountered it before but were not able to assimilate it before the element reverted to its unstable form. Do you believe it would be possible to maintain the stableness to which it is now?” Seven
asked.
The rest of the group turned to Paris. They all seemed to be looking for the same answer as Seven.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” he told her. “There is no way to stabilize this element other than letting it do so naturally. If it’s already stable, I don’t think we have much of a risk of it becoming unstable again. But still, it might be best if we run a few tests first to make sure that it won’t affect any of the other systems on Voyager.”
Janeway nodded. “That seems the best course of action. Tom, since you know so much about this, I’d like you to run the research. Seven and B’Elanna will work with you.”
Paris nodded as well. “That’s fine with me. It should only take a few days to complete all the testing. After that we can begin work on the Warp Drive and then set the element up to begin replicating itself.”
The captain smiled. Janeway couldn’t help but be excited at the possibility of being back in the Alpha Quadrant within a month’s time. It was unimaginable. “Get to work then,” she told him. “The sooner we start, the sooner we can get home.”
Tom shared her excitement. Only
he wasn’t thinking about his home in the Alpha Quadrant, he was thinking about the Empire.
The doctor was busy with his lesson on cytology.
“So the cilia of the cell are like tons of little legs, each one contributes to the motion of the cell.” He turned his eyes to his two pupils. Xara and Naomi sat side by side listening to the doctor. Each of them seemed extremely fidgety today.
“Is there something wrong?” Doc asked the two girls.
They both looked at one another. Then Xara spoke. “Nothing. It’s just...”
At her lack of response, he prompted her. “Just what?’
She looked at the ground. “I don’t know. It’s just that Naomi had this new holoprogram she wanted to show me.”
“And you think the holodeck is more important than your education?” the Doctor asked.
“No, no.” she protested. “It’s not that. It’s just Satira has already told me all about this stuff. I’m just kind of bored.”
Doc raised an eyebrow. “And what else has she taught you?’
Xara started outlining some of the things Satira had taught her along with some of the medical techniques she had learned in case of an emergency. Naomi’s mouth dropped open as she listened to Xara prattle on.
The young girl finally finished. “Well,” said Doc. “I suppose we should move on to something else then. For now though, why don’t we go over some of our medical situations on Voyager. If something ever happens you know what to do.”
Xara nodded “Call for an emergency medical beam to sickbay.” she said.
Doc then went on into some of the other lessons he had planned. Xara sighed. It was going to be a long day.
B’Elanna worked on the calculations again. If this element was going to keep them in a sub-spacial current, they had to be sure that it wouldn’t tear the ship apart in the process. The shield modifications Paris had found seemed to be effective against the high outer polarity of sub-space so there looked like there would be little to worry against something like that occurring.
