by Alys Landale
Doctor Rosin looked down at his patient. He was beginning to awaken.
*Not good timing* thought the doctor.
He had only a few minutes to go and then he would be finished. The end results would be a lot more than what he had expected.
What the doctor was trying to do was remodel the internal organs of his patient to be 'more effective in combat situations and constitute more efficient energy consumption and reservation.' At least that was what he had told Takma. What he had done was allow the elements in his patient’s body to bond to the organs and restructure them into more efficient systems. So far, he had only lent a hand to the process that Tom's body had already begun.
Now the man on his table no longer had a digestive or excretory tract. Replacing them was a new system that actually produced and recycled its own energy. Along with that, it seemed that somehow his body had produced a defense system similar to that of the Borg. He could now adapt to any kind of weapon or force field that could be imagined.
*We'll have to have extra security measures installed around this one* he thought.
The nurse finished sealing up all the open wounds. Despite the new organ systems that his subject had acquired, Rosin was still most fascinated by how the plasmatic element in the man's blood which had bonded with his skeletal structure. His patient now possessed a somewhat indestructible skeleton. The silver liquid that had bonded to form it had the properties of metal and liquid alike. He wondered what effects this might have on him.
"Hello there,'' he addressed the man on the table. "I see you've finally woken up."
The man just stared at him. Rosin couldn't read his expression. It was something of pain and anger mixed he thought. But there was also something else there.
*It must be fear.*
Paris stared at the doctor. He had no idea what he was doing here or why this man was operating on him. Hell, he didn't even know what his name was.
He did know one thing. He couldn't trust this man. Images of brutality and torture flowed through his mind as he looked at the doctor.
*Wait,* he thought. *A second ago I didn't know he was a doctor.*
The pain blurred his mind though and he quickly let go of that question. More things were becoming clear. This man was some kind of torturer. He had killed hundreds of people with his experiments. And now Rosin was using him as an experiment.
*So now I have a name to go with the face.*
"Well I can see you're looking much better. If we hadn't operated when we did you would have died." Rosin lied. He knew it would be best if the man trusted them. That way they could get more information much more easily. He continued his lie. "You see, you were in an accident and we..."
The doctor was interrupted as one of Tom's hands shot up around his neck. Rosin suddenly wished he had secured his patient to the table before conducting his experiment. Now the patient had a vice-like grip clenched around Rosin's neck. There wasn't much he could do except gasp for air.
Paris didn't say anything through this interlude. He thought he could feel someone else trying to talk to him. It seemed to come from his mind.
**Play along for now** came a voice from his mind.
He didn't want to relent. But the voice kept nagging at him. *Who are you?* he thought.
**I can't explain now but you have to play along if either of us want to get out of here alive.**
He wondered why he trusted her. He didn't know who she was. He didn't even know how he knew it was a 'she' he was trusting.
For whatever reasons he relented his grip on the doctor and let him fall to the floor as he gasped for air. He decided he would play along. Right now, that was his only option.
All of his thoughts were knocked aside as Paris's head began to swim yet again. His hands began to burn as well. It felt like something was melting through them. He tried to see what was happening but all he could focus on was complete darkness.
Rosin got to his feet. His nurse was standing in the corner of the room utterly horrified. He turned his gaze to follow hers. Then he saw it. His patient's hands were practically being melted by acid. He stared in fascination as silver tentacles erupted from them and wound around his wrists. More split through his knuckles. They joined the others until the entire back of his hand was covered in a cobweb of silver tentacles. If he had have ever seen Seven of Nine he would have concluded that they closely resembled that of her Borg implants surrounding her hands.
But not having that image to compare the sight before him to, he stared in fascination at Paris's hands. His patient seemed to be unconscious again. Rosin wondered about the man's reaction to him. He was sure he had erased all the memories from his mind.
*Oh well,* he thought. *I have more important things to think about now.*
He touched the silver vines around Paris's wrist.
*More important things indeed.*
Connley shuddered for a moment. She still couldn't get over what was happening to the man in the doctor's lab. The man she had come to save.
*At least I was able to keep my link with him* she thought. It wasn’t that she was a very inexperience telepath, she had been trained since she was a child. But the shields and forcefields that surrounded the base she was in played their toll on her senses. They had been devised so that no ordinary telepath could break them. She thanked her ancestry once again for being much stronger than most telepaths. If it wasn’t for that then she would have never been able to keep the link. She didn’t even know if she could now. *No, I will keep my link* she told herself. *I am of the Nalyan royalty. I shall not fail my people.*
Her thoughts flew away as Kail's voice crackled over her comm line. "Connley, get down to the lab immediately. I want you to keep an eye on the doctor's patient."
"Aye sir." she said.
Leaving her cabin, she wondered how she was going to pull this one off. Sure, she'd been on other reconnaissance missions before. But none of them were anything compared to this.
*I just have to smuggle myself and a wounded prisoner out of here. No big deal.*
She had always made it a rule to never lie to herself. However, this time she couldn't help but break that rule.
Kail stood inside the Resistance ship. His lower lip rose in indignation as he looked at his surroundings. *How could anyone fly in something like this?*
The interior of the ship was composed of nothing more than rusted magnite. The walls seemed to buckle as the pilot went through the preflight.
"General," said a voice from behind him.
Kail turned to face the 'honorary' captain of this fine vessel. He was dressed in the uniform that most in the resistance usually wore: civilian clothes.
"General Kail," repeated the captain. "The ship is almost ready for takeoff. I was told that I would be getting my orders from you just before we left."
Kail smiled. However, his smile only seemed to make those around him even more tense. "Captain Nikon, your orders have been installed into the ship's computer. Here is the code." Kail handed the captain the password. "Now if you'll excuse me."
Kail turned to leave but was stopped by Nikon's words. "There is only one thing that puzzles me. Why are we using a Resistance Vessel when it would be much more practical to use an Imperial ship."
Issuing a sigh, Kail didn't even turn around as he said, "I gave you your orders 'Captain'. I suggest that you follow them. For your own sake that is." Even without facing him, Kail conveyed his message quite clearly: shut the Hell up and do what I said or else you won't be alive to question me again.
Nikon gulped. "Aye sir."
"Good, now if you'll excuse me, Takma has requested my presence."
Nikon watched the general leave. *I'd better look over my mission outline* he thought.
He leaned up against one of the rust covered walls of the ship. The one Resistance ship they had managed to capture and it turned out to be a piece of shit. *You'd think they wouldn't be such a problem if this is the quality of ships in their fleet.*
> He forced his mind from daydreaming. He entered the captain's quarters and accessed one of the terminals on the desk. Using the code that the general had given him, he accessed his orders. On the screen was a picture of a ship. It was amazing. Nikon had never seen anything like it before.
On the screen appeared the words, USE WHATEVER MEANS, BUT WE NEED THIS SHIP IN ONE PIECE.
He took another look at the ship in front of him. He would feel a lot better if only he had his own ship. But this ship, this 'VOYAGER' couldn't possibly be too hard to conquer. After all, he was a captain in the Empire. And who could stop an Imperial vessel, no matter what it had once been used as.
Kail caught Takma just as she was leaving the lab.
"Takma," he said. Taking in her appearance, he could tell she was excited. Her eyes had a predator's gleam in them. A gleam that said, 'I got what I want.' "I take it the doctor's news was better than first anticipated,'' he said.
"Much better," she responded. "In fact, I'd be willing to say that Doctor Rosin just gave me the best news I've heard in a long time." She began to retell the news that Rosin had just given her. He stood in awe as the implications of such technology slowly dawned on him.
"So you're telling me that we have just stumbled upon what would be considered as the perfect soldier," he concluded.
The gleam in her eyes increased. "That's exactly what I'm saying. This man is even more advanced than the Borg. If we can harness this technology, then we could assimilate as many soldiers as we wish. And such an army would come in quite useful against my husband."
In any other center, they might worry about security matters instead of discussing such topics in an open corridor. But as it was, no one would dare report anything that they heard their superiors say here. And whoever did stumble onto their conversation would be killed before they were able to report their findings.
"So," Takma continued, "would you like to take a look at our 'newly-reformed' guest?"
Kail smiled at her cryptic humor. "Lead the way My Lady."
They headed to the prisoners' cells where he had just been transferred. Apparently, the doctor had stressed the need for higher security measures. Takma wondered where his eagerness for this came from. *Perhaps there was more to the bruises on his neck than I thought.*
Takma looked through the force field to where Paris lay. He was still unconscious. He seemed to be that way a lot.
Connley stood to the side of Tom's cell. She remained alert as she guarded her sole prisoner. Instead of just her though, there were now three more guards placed at strategic locations around the cell. Each held a rifle in their arm. The guns that they held were extremely powerful. A person shot with one of them at even the lowest level could depend on a very large whole existing where once a body part had been. The body armor that all her guards wore was the only thing that protected them from the weapon, and that armor could also be shot through.
Now she found four guards armed to the teeth against one unconscious man.
*Better safe than sorry* thought Takma.
"Let us in," she ordered Connley.
The woman did as she was told and quickly released the force field. Connley prayed that whatever they were about to do, it wouldn't be to painful for the crumpled man lying on the floor. Kail followed Takma into the cell. She seemed to hesitate before picking up the man's hand and presenting it to Kail. He frowned in indignation at what he saw.
"Do you know what it's for?'' he asked.
"Not yet, but I assure you we will soon." She traced the silver cords with one finger. They wrapped around his wrists and branched out up to his knuckles. "The doctor said that they conduct electric impulses. We think it might be an after-effect of the new 'energy-conservation' system that he now has." She referred to the organs that now replaced his digestive tract.
Kail nodded. His thoughts then turned to another source. "Captain Nikon has already left, Takma. He should be within range of the ship within one day." Of course, the 'ship' that he was referring to was Voyager.
"Good, I take it his vessel was equipped with some of our own weapons."
"Of course. A modified shielding system was also adapted to the ship's previous one." Kail responded.
She nodded. "Well, soon we'll have all our loose ends taken care of. Come General, the doctor has more information that he can discuss with us in further detail."
The two left the cell. Connley raised the force field once more. She watched as the two disappeared into the corridor.
*If only Takma hadn't ordered more guards to be placed here, then maybe I could get us out.*
She knew that the time to act was now. If she didn't then there was no telling what they would come up with next. But she had to wait just a few more hours. It seemed Kail had never considered a spy to be in their midst, otherwise he wouldn’t have let such valuable information slip out. With Captain Nikon making his attack on that ship, most of the security guards would be forced to leave with him. All she had to do was wait until the next shift for the guards. There was at least a five-minute interval where most of the corridors were left unguarded. No one ever expected an attack to come from the inside. All she had to do was wait until then. After that, her plan would fall into full motion and they'd escape.
*Hopefully escape,* she thought with a bit of reluctance.
*
Captain Janeway walked onto the bridge of Voyager. She hadn't remembered leaving her Ready Room last night, but then she had been really tired. And now here she was, three hours late for her shift.
"Status report Commander." She said.
Chakotay quickly turned to face Janeway. She did look a little better; he had to admit.
"We're running at peak efficiency Captain and there does not appear to be any ships within range of our sensors.''
She nodded to her first officer and sat down in her chair. She wasn't sure what she had come to the bridge for but something told her she needed to be here today. It was just this nagging feeling inside her. She soon dismissed it as a lack of sleep however.
*
Tom shifted uncomfortably in his sleep. Pictures of an auburn-haired woman were in his mind. She sat on the bridge of some ship and was engaged in battle. She seemed to be the one in charge because she barked out orders to her crew. He couldn't hear what she was saying but he knew they were in trouble.
*She seems so familiar* he thought. But he still couldn't place the face. He silently willed her to be alert. She had to stay on her bridge and get her crew to safety. He tried to give her as much strength as he could.
His thoughts drifted away from the scene before him. Instead, they turned to a woman with dark hair and ridges on her forehead. She had the same familiarity as the one before, but something deeper lay in the emotions he felt for her.
She lay on her bed in tears. Tom felt her pain. He could feel her sorrow. And the two tore at his heart. He wondered why he felt this way for a woman he didn't even know. Instead of pondering this he tried to tell her it would be alright. He found he couldn't talk, just watch. So he sent her as many strong, optimistic emotions he could.
He thought she felt his presence. She looked up from her pillow and directly toward him. But before he could do anything he was pulled out of his dream by some unknown force.
*
B’Elanna sat up in her bed. She could have sworn she had felt Tom next to her.
*No that can't be* she told herself.
But still, there was something that told her not to exclude that possibility. Getting out of bed, she couldn't doubt the fact that whatever she had felt, had made her feel better than she had in days. Something inside her told her that she had to be strong; Tom wanted this.
Putting on her uniform, she wondered where this realization had come from. She still felt sorrow whenever she thought of Tom. His touch, his kiss, they brought back memories that flooded her emotions. But from somewhere inside her a voice was now urging her to be strong.
Tears filled her eyes as she t
hought of her mate, but she continued to get dressed. She had to be in engineering today. Something was going to happen and she had to be there.
She just wished she knew why.
*
Connley could feel Paris reaching out to someone. No, there were two that he had 'touched'.
*He doesn't even know what he is doing* she thought.
She remembered her first time to make a telepathic link to another person. It hadn't gone that well. But he seemed to have a second instinct that told him what to do.
She heard him toss to one side.
*I have to hurry, we're going to have to make our move soon.*
It had been hours since Takma and Kail had left. The time for their escape was drawing near. There was only one thing she had to do first. She had to wake Paris up. She hated to rip him away from the link he had established, but there was no choice. If they were going to do this, they had to do it now.
Gently she nudged hid mind back to his body. She tried to be as careful as possible but a grunt from one of the other guards caused her to lose focus. This tore Paris away from his dream and back to the present.
Tom opened his eyes. *What happened?*
**I'm sorry but we have to leave now.**
His eyes widened as he heard the voice reverberating within his head. It was the same one as in the lab.
*Who are you?*
Connley sighed. **I'm the female guard to the left of your cell. I came here to get you out of here but we have to hurry.**
Paris wavered a second. *Okay, what do you want me to do.*
**Just sit tight until I get rid of these guards then we'll be on our way.**
Connley focused her attention on the guards around her. None knew what she was about to do. If she concentrated hard enough she should be able to enter their minds. Forcing herself inside, the other men in the room were only aware for a split second of her presence. By then it was too late and three limp bodies remained where three Imperial guards had stood.
