To Tell The Truth Series 04 Sunfire

by Melanie

  "None. Other than why Camet, Meer, and the other Cardassians of course. Paris is very attached to his father. Because of what Camet did, what Paris did to them makes sense in a twisted and sadistic sort of way."

  Chakotay cleared his throat. "So whether Tom really did these things or not, what happens to him now?"

  "As you know, when we got here we immediately took him to The Diogenes. One of The Protectors, Alpha Two by name, is here with us and is working with him. He and Alpha Three and Four were the ones who attempted to help Paris before, but found they didn't have the time they needed. This time Alpha Two hopes to be able to do it right. He's already began therapy sessions with him."

  B'Elanna thrust her chair back as she surged to her feet. "I don't believe any of this. This isn't Tom. I don't know why you're lying about this, but you are."

  Raven leapt up himself and grabbed her arm before she could reach the door. "B'Elanna, I'm not lying about this."

  "You admitted you lied to us about who you are and what Tom was doing over on The Diogenes, but we're just supposed to accept what you're saying about Tom now because you claim to be telling the truth?"

  "I explained why we had to lie about the other things. For the safety of everyone in the Galaxy, you have to believe what I am telling you know."

  "No, I know Tom Paris. He is a good, kind, loving person. He'd never do anything like this."

  "I have to agree with B'Elanna," Kathryn added. "Tom is not the man you're looking for."

  "I'm sorry, Captain," Raven sighed, nonchalantly removing his gloves as if it were just something for him to do while he talked. "I know all of you have known him for a long time now and you think you know him-"

  "We do," Harry interjected.

  "But you don't know the man *we* know."

  "Because he doesn't exist!" B'Elanna objected.

  The EMH entered the fray. "Even if he did -- and I certainly am not saying that he did -- now he is nothing like what you've described him to be in the past. I spend a lot of time with him. He is a fine officer and -"

  "What he has been during the time that you've know him," the AlphaOmegan interrupted, "is because of the Implant. The same Implant that now is breaking down. When it is totally useless, he there is the danger he will revert to his previous behaviors. But if you do not wish to believe me, listen to your own Chief of Security."

  "He did not say Tom admitted to all these other killings."

  "Actually," Tuvok clarified, "I did witness his memories of committing two assassinations. As for the other approximate 5,898 deaths, I do not know."

  "No." B'Elanna kept shaking her head. "No, I don't believe it."

  Raven groaned impatiently. "B'Elanna, did he ever tell you about going on a spiritual quest after he left Starfleet? How he visited various historically and spiritually significant sites on Earth, trying to find meaning in his life and why fate had wished upon him what happened?"

  "That is in his file."

  "Did he ever tell you about what happen at Stonehenge? About the old druid he spoke to for over an hour, yet when he asked a tour guide about him, she said it wasn't a druid high holy day and that was the only day they wore the traditional garb. And besides, the sect of druids who wore that style of robe died out over a century earlier."

  B'Elanna froze.

  "He never told anyone else that, did he? He wouldn't even put it in his logs because people would think him crazy." Cupping her cheek, he leaned closer, an earnest look in his eyes. "I gave him that memory, B'Elanna. That and all the memories of his supposed trips to all of those places. That was my quest from two years earlier. I was the one who saw the druid who supposedly didn't exist. We were trying to furnish a plausible explanation for where he'd been when he'd disappeared."

  "No," she whispered.

  "Yes," he responded softly, pulling her slowly to his chest, hand on her nape. "I am so sorry to have had to tell you all this, B'Elanna. We had hoped we would not have to." He gently rubbed her back with his free hand as she began to cry.

  Dumbly, everyone else merely sat in their chairs and stared. Each one of them had heard the rumors about Raven pursuing B'Elanna, but none of them had placed any credence in them. Now they were wondering what was going on with these two. B'Elanna Torres never cried in public, if she ever cried at all. And even Tom Paris was, for the most part, discouraged from holding her or showing any PDAs at all. Yet here she was, crying and in the arms of the man who was accusing the man she supposedly loved of crimes so heinous only the most diseased of minds would not be appalled at hearing their details.

  "If it's any comfort," Raven was murmuring, "deceiving you like this wasn't his fault. He was ill. We tried to help him as best we could and it backfired on us." Turning his head, he spoke to the others. "If any of you can think of anything that can be of any help to us in treating him, then please, we need to know. Mr. Tuvok already has told us what little Mr. Paris revealed to him. If anyone else can come up with anything more, we'd be glad to hear it."

  As Raven returned his attention to the woman dampening his chest, the Captain met the eyes of each of those at the table.

  Voyager's Senior Staff consisted of well-trained, highly intelligent individuals who, even if they had not possessed experience before boarding the ship, they had earned plenty over their five-year voyage. Each one of them instinctively understood the message in Janeway's grey eyes, some even thinking the same words she was thinking: the old Terran adage "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Not one of them was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of Raven's veracity.

  "We still are not convinced," the Captain told him, "but we will consider it."

  Her staff, except for B'Elanna, understood the tacit instruction to not be too forthcoming if they could help it. Until they were satisfied they had the whole story they were not going to make the AlphaOmegans' job of convicting Tom any easier.

  -------

  Once the meeting broke up and B'Elanna was left alone, sobbing in Raven's strong arms, Alpha Two turned to his "patient." "Raven should have been an actor. Of course you could have done it with more finesse."

  Frustratingly, Tom's only response was angry eyes focused on his creator.

  "Needless to say, my long hours faking all those recordings did help." He ticked them off on his fingers. "There was the message from Command. Your message to Janeway. Sunfire's death. It will be interesting to see how they react to my next one. Janeway in particular might not enjoy it." He grasped Tom's chin for emphasis. "Of course you always can spare her from finding out."

  Stubbornly, Tom maintained his silence.

  "Sooner or later I will break you and you will talk. Even you cannot hold out forever." He grabbed a hypospray and injected more buyrate into his subject. "And even if you do not, they will be even more motivated to help us now that they think they are trying to help a seriously mentally ill person recover. Especially since he was one of them for so long. All it will take is one more little thing to convince them the story is true."

  With eleventh dose in three days of the drug used to chemically condition AlphaOmegans to obey coursing through his veins on its way to his brain, Tom had to fight hard to keep from screaming in pain and telling all. 'You have to stay sane!' he demanded of himself. 'You have to keep resisting. The longer you do, the greater the chances of the plan working and the others being saved.'

  As if on cue, Camet and company appeared to assist Alpha Two in his interrogations.

  *Come on,* Camet urged. *Give in and this will all end.*

  'Never,' Tom growled back. 'If I surrender, they'll just destroy everyone on board Voyager and I won't sacrifice the others for my own comfort or safety.'

  Camet and the others laughed.

  *Like they would be welcoming you back with open arms anyway if you escaped. Not likely after the line Raven just fed them. You know whatever Alpha Two has planned for Janeway will make them swallow every bit of it. Even your precious B'Elanna. The woman who right
now, if this had not happened, might have been your fiancée or even wife if she had wanted to take the Blood Oath with you. So far she is holding out believing the fiction, but Raven will bring her around. Very persuasive that Raven. But then

  all of his species are. Wonder how long it will be before the bond he initiated with her the first time he touched her skin to skin will begin to overwhelm her hormones and she gives in to him sexually and then mentally? It will be worse than what you two went through with Vorik's pon farr. At least then she had enough free will left to pick you over Vorik. This time she will not even think of anyone but Raven. Taking him into her bed. Answering absolutely every question he asks her.*

  'She won't-'

  *Oh, yes. True love will triumph yet again.* Camet laughed. *Come to grips with your reality. You are here, doped up, beat up, tied up, and she is there, emotional, needy, and aroused. And there he is, the comforting, handsome reason for her being so turned on. Oh, it is no contest. You have seen him work. Given everything that has happened, I predict about twenty-four to thirty-six hours before her uniform and his are nothing but pools of cloth on the deck plates.*

  'In twenty-four to thirty-six hours I'll be out of here.'

  *The plan is ruined. Tuvok failed you. And now he is on their side believing that nice little faked recording from Sunfire's Implant. You know they did quite a good job of inserting your image over her real killer's. And ending the recording right as you were about to remove your hood and show your face. A very nice touch I think.*

  'Some one will see it's fake.'

  *No, they already half way believe it. In time, they will become convinced they have no reason not to doubt the story. So the only way you will be out of here in twenty-four to thirty-six hours is by giving in and telling Alpha Two everything about where you went and especially where you hid the copies of the information about them that you made. Only then are you going to be released from this chair.*

  Unfortunately Tom knew he was correct. But then Tom knew something Camet the AlphaOmegans had forgotten. One does not *ever* underestimate Tom Paris. It was the biggest mistake one could make.

  -------

  She could not permit this to continue, but how could she stop it? It was not yet time for her to cross over onto his plane.

  Then she saw something that made her smile. She might not be able to *directly* help him, but there was someone who could.

  -------

  After watching what had transpired on Voyager, in the Re-Education Room, Sunfire would have clenched her fists, if she still had them.

  It was bad enough that now all she had was a metal shell for a body, albeit a shell that was the fastest ship in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, but she hated being reminded of her organic body's demise and of her consciousness' being transferred to this ship. And to have her last memories of her organic life so bastardized to make that recording was even worse torture.

  'Poor Tom,' she moaned to herself. 'To have seen himself as my murderer. He has to be hurting even more than he had when I "died" all those years ago and he transferred me into this computer.' She sighed softly. 'If only I had a real body. I could sneak in there and bust him out.'

  *Perhaps I can help you,* a female voice offered.

  Sunfire checked and confirmed she was alone.

  'This has to be a trick they're playing to get me to betray him. Well, it won't work.'

  *It is no trick, Sunfire. I want to help him, too, but I cannot. Together though, we may be able to succeed.*

  Warily, Sunfire agreed to listen to the mysterious voice's plan.

  -------

  "I don't...." Harry broke off, the words no longer coming to his lips.

  Without speaking, Souris, sitting in one corner of the couch, watched him pace back and forth in front of her. They had been here in his quarters for almost half of his lunch break, most of it spent exactly as they were spending it now and not eating the meal he had offered earlier, before the bombshell about Tom, to replicate for their lunch.

  At last, he flopped down beside her and leaned back, hands covering his face. "Oh, why didn't you tell me?"

  "How was I supposed to tell you what your best friend was?" Taking his hands in hers, she drew them from his face and held them in a tight grasp. "I am sorry, Harry," she whispered, "for everything that's happened here. I truly am."

  The earnestness in her gaze made him wonder if there was more to all this than met the eye, but he mentally shrugged. Even though they had spent what he considered an incredible time together a couple of meters away in his bedroom only a few short hours ago, he still did not know her well enough to know for certain she meant more than she was saying.

  "It's okay," he finally soothed. "I understand why you couldn't tell me."

  "Harry, I have to know anything you think might be important. Anything about Tom that might help us help him. Or just anything at all about him. You never know what might be significant."

  "I'll try." He paused for a moment, staring at their clasped hands. "Do you think I'll ever have Tom back?"

  "I don't know, Harry, but I doubt it."

  At her urging, he shifted positions to lay his head in her lap. Tenderly, she stroked his hair as she softly interrogated to Thomas Eugene Paris' best friend. Harry, for his part, only answered in the vaguest of terms, if at all.

  -------

  Pardan listened silently as his counterpart paced and debated Tom's innocence versus guilt with him. He saw Chakotay's thinking was conflicted. The emotional part of the man felt, if true, this new development exceeded all of the horrifying scenarios he had envisioned for ways Tom Paris could hurt B'Elanna. The logical part of him said there was no way the man he had come to respect ever could be guilty of such atrocities.

  "So he never gave any indicators of this?" Pardan enquired when Chakotay paused for a breath.

  Halting, the logical Chakotay thought for a moment. "There was his knowledge of weapons that always puzzled some people. We just figured he had done some smuggling or someone in one of the bars he'd hung out with was into smuggling. And there was that explosive compound in his parole test. He never did explain how he knew about that. And his computer skills. That would come in handy if you're trying to sneak in somewhere to assassinate someone, wouldn't it?"

  "Yes, I suppose so."

  "And then there's his temper."

  "No one else has said he is violent, other than in his Klingon Martial Arts program."

  "He's supposed to be deadly when he's fighting the holograms, but I mean he never really loses his temper. Even with me. I always could tell there's more anger in him than he's letting out."

  "So you see his self-control as proof of his being dangerous?"

  "Raven said he was hard for you to catch. He'd need to be able to fool people into thinking he was sane and normal so he could get close to them to kill them, right? What better way than to act sane and normal and not violent or temperamental?"

  "I see your point."

  The emotional Chakotay reasserted himself. "I just worry about how B'Elanna's taking this. Not that she could believe any of this anymore than the rest of us do, but still, she loves him. Raven's claims about Tom directly affect her. She *is* his mate."

  "And when all of you concede to the truth?"

  "*If* it is the truth." He sighed. "If it is the truth, I don't think I want to know what it will do to her. It was a big step for her, opening up to someone as much as she did with him. She may never recover from this."

  -------

  The crash of yet another holographic breakable hurled by B'Elanna against the wall of Holodeck Two overrode whatever she had snarled.

  Raven stood behind her, far enough out of range of any projectiles. It was quite an effort for him to keep the grin off of his face at the various colorful phrases she was using to express her own conflicted feelings for her former lover and the story they had been told about him. Needless to say, none of what she was growling was the least bit complementary and a few o
f them were ones he himself had used in the past when speaking to himself of his rival.

  'Things are progressing quite nicely,' he congratulated himself and ungloving his hands. 'A little more prodding and she'll be convinced. Then she's mine.'

  -------

  "It was not, Tom," Neelix insisted. "I am sorry. I mean no disrespect to your fallen colleague, but she was wrong. Tom Paris is not that kind of man. He just is not."

  Dumar shook his head at the Talaxian as he bustled about his kitchen, preparing for the evening meal. "So tell me what kind of man he really is, Mr. Neelix. Tell me why it is so impossible."

  "He is a good man, a kind man. He never would hurt anyone." He paused. "Well, not without a very good reason."

  "I am certain he felt he had a good reason, Mr. Neelix. We merely have to uncover that reason."

  Neelix thought for a moment then resolutely shook his head. "No. No, I still don't believe it."

  -------

  In Sickbay, Yana was having the same sort of luck with the Doctor and Seven, who was there for her physical and her weekly check up.

  "What you describe is not consistent with my observations of Lieutenant Paris," Seven informed her.

  "Or mine," the EMH chimed in, "or his psychological profile. I find it difficult to believe him capable of such actions. He has demonstrated numerous times that he values the lives of others far above his own." He stemmed off Yana's point before she could even make it. "Both before *and* after the incident with the akoonah."

  Yana sighed and continued the tests.

  -------

  Seated behind her Ready Room desk, the Captain was staring sightlessly at her computer. Her mind refuse to process what was happening. The idea that Tom Paris of all people was some sort of mass murderer was absurd.

  The door chime reminded her of the existence of life beyond her thoughts. Straightening a little, she called for the visitor to enter while her guards remained outside.

  "Captain Janeway? Are you well?"

  The Captain looked up to see T'Kara walking towards her. She did not have to answer. Her emotions were visible on her face.

  "It is Paris. You were close to him, were you not."