by Melanie
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"So what are you saying?" Harry demanded as he followed Souris around Sickbay. While Yana and the Doctor worked in the lab, she had taken care of Sickbay, the still sleeping Captain, and Harry when he had appeared with a concussion. The moment he was healed, he had begun demanding confirmation of what everyone in Engineering had overheard Pardan tell Janeway and Chakotay. "Did you lie to me about Tom or not?"
"I had my orders, Harry. The Protectors dictated what I told you about him."
"What about us? Was that a lie too?"
Pale, she looked up at him. "They did not order me to get close to you. That was Dumar's job."
"*He* was supposed to sleep with me?"
"No one was supposed to sleep with anybody."
"But you did. Why?"
"Because I fell in love with-"
The message from Alpha Two interrupted her and Harry nearly tripped, trying to catch her as she fell.
-------
"What is this?"
The Orion glanced at the readings the EMH indicated then returned to her own work. "It is burayte, the chemical used to reinforce obedience." She frowned. "But I've never seen it in such high concentrations before. He must be stronger than even we-"
"Who is that?" he asked her, listening to the announcement. "Yana?"
He scrambled for a medical tricorder and scanned his colleague. 'Narcolepsy?' he wondered before the readings were in. 'In an Orion?'
When the results of the scan appeared, they seemed familiar to him. A quick consultation with his database confirmed where he had seen it before.
-------
Tom fell to his knees, grasping his head in pain and striking his forehead on the way down.
"Sunbird, are you okay?"
"Check the others," he ordered through clenched teeth.
Checking Voyager's internal sensors, Sunfire found each one of the AlphaOmegans to be in comas with vital signs fading fast.
The man forcing himself to his feet did not appreciate hearing this. "Obviously Alpha Two felt turn-about was fair play and broadcast my program back to us. Beam all of them to Sickbay. Paris to Doctor. You have patients coming in. Make them comfortable. There's nothing else you can do. Paris out."
"Sunbird, you need to-"
"I need to finish this," he corrected, returning to the biobomb. "How did Dumar and Bartoq do with the self-destruct? Is it off-line?"
"Its main and back up processors are in a dozen pieces on the floor."
"So if Alpha Two tried to trigger it, it wouldn't go off. Good," he sighed, swiping a forearm across his forehead to wipe away the moisture dripping into his eyes. "Sunfire, can you drop the temperature on the Bridge five degrees. I'm sweating."
"That's not sweat, Sunbird. That's blood. You hit your head on the way down."
Another swipe.
"Now you know why I want you to go-"
"I've almost got -- There." Sighing, Tom removed his tools from the biobomb. "Readings on the BoB?"
"It's non-functional."
"And the Gherop?"
"Other than the one that got away, they're all dead. The last of them, that big one, tried to follow The Diogenes into the Gopher Hole and was destroyed."
Tom sighed, relieved. "Beam the Bridge crew back here," he requested, starting to return his tools to their case.
Seconds later, a gasp from Chakotay drew his head towards the Commander who was staring at him, open-mouthed. He knew he must be a sight what with all his injuries from his interrogations, but he had to refrain from explaining them for the moment.
As everyone hurried to their stations, their eyes flitted to the gaping hole in the wall where once had been the plaque, now lying on the floor next to Tom's tools, then briefly to the injured man who might or might not be a criminal. A multitude of emotions ran through each of them. Tom knew that, but ignored it.
"The Gherop are destroyed and The Diogenes has left for the Alpha Quadrant," he informed the temporary Captain.
"You let them go?" Chakotay shouted.
"It wasn't a matter of *let*, Commander. Sunfire was damaged and we lost control of The Diogenes' systems."
"You've lost us our one sure way of getting home!"
"Don't fool yourselves. Very few of you were going to survive to see the Alpha Quadrant. As for the few who did, the only place there you ever were going to see was the inside of an AlphaOmegan base where, at *best*, you'd be executed once you're usefulness was over."
"That's 'at best'?"
"It is when the worst is to spend the rest of your life drugged and mentally conditioned and working in an AlphaOmegan lab somewhere, either as test subjects or researchers."
Some of the crew tried to refute his statement.
"Don't any of you get it? Standard Operating Procedure states when interacting with civilians we must either be in disguise or wearing hoods and gloves so none of us may be identified by any potential survivors. How did they show up? In full uniform, no disguises, no hoods, and only Raven wearing gloves."
"But-"
"You'd seen their faces, Commander. They'd even told you who they were. For a supposedly secret organization, that's rather indiscreet, don't you think?"
"We could have given our words-" the crewwoman at the science station interjected.
"That wouldn't have lasted. Not when the first question Starfleet and everyone else would ask would be 'So how'd you get home?' Even if all of you kept your mouths shut, all it would take would be one of you talking in your sleep. Or getting sick and becoming delirious. Or getting drunk. Or trying to impress someone. Or hearing something that you didn't like in some report and starting to think the AlphaOmegans might be behind it and trying to find out if you were right." He shook his aching head only to stop when it
hurt too much. "Everyone on this ship is too big a risk to be set free. You were liabilities. And The Protectors don't tolerate liabilities. They eliminate them."
"Liabilities?" the ensign at the Conn barked. "Is that what you call us?"
"That is what you would be assessed as being in this operation, yes."
"Assessed? Operation? You even sound like them."
"I am one of them."
Tom began to sway and Chakotay automatically grabbed Tom's arms to hold him up. Biting his lower lip to suppress a cry, Tom twisted, trying to evade the touch. Chakotay's jaw slackened as his hand slid off of the younger man, covered in blood. He stared at the reddened hand then at the man who was the cause of it.
"What the..."
Not finishing the thought, Chakotay brushed away the Conn officer's attempt to prevent him from opening his tunic. He barely had parted the material when he recoiled from the bloodied and torn chest beneath and the dampness on his fingers.
"Who did this?" Chakotay whispered.
Tom pulled the shirt closed. "A hologram of Alpha Three."
"Why?"
"One of their creations dared to try to think for himself. He needed Re-Educating."
He looked at Harry who appeared torn between crying and looking away from his best friend in horror. "The BoB is harmless now. You can beam it out of there and into a secure container in Sickbay. I'm sure the Doc will want to look at the virus since it's not one he's ever seen before."
Harry nodded and stared down at his console, grateful for something to do other than look at Tom.
The injured man's eyes left the Ops Officer to scan the faces of the others. "I am sorry you're not home as I'd planned," he informed the stunned onlookers. "Things didn't work out for you as I'd hoped." His gaze rested on Tuvok for a brief moment and an onlooker could have sworn to have seen regret and sympathy in the Vulcan's gaze. "You may not be in the Alpha Quadrant," Tom continued, "but you are together and alive. That was the best I could do for you in the circumstances."
No one commented.
"How is the Captain? Alpha Two showed me what happened but not if she survived."
"Showed you?" Tuvok questioned.
"He made s
ure I saw everything that happened on that holodeck. He thought it might shock me into talking if I thought the Captain was hurt."
"You didn't do it?" the crewwoman whispered. In Engineering, she had been too far away from Pardan and too occupied with her duties to hear the truth about the Captain's shooting.
Tom looked at her like he could not believe what she was saying. That was because he could not. "I couldn't ever hurt her."
"But-"
"It was a hologram. Not really me." Painfully, he shuffled towards the stairs. "Though I'm sure she thinks it was me."
"We don't know what she thinks," Chakotay tried to comfort him. "She's still sedated."
They did not know if Tom heard the words before he collapsed.
-------
The Doctor was puzzling over his patients' readings when his assistant was beamed into Sickbay. Instantly, he rushed over to crouch beside him with his tricorder. Appalled by the results of his scan, he set aside the tricorder and lifted Tom to a biobed, just as another bed's patient flat-lined. He had to abandon Tom for the moment to confirm Bartoq's death. Regretfully, he covered the body with a sheet too until it could be placed in a stasis unit like Pardan, T'Kara, and Dumar. He did not know what was happening, but maybe his new patient did.
After applying a hypospray to Tom's neck, he began removing Tom's clothing.
"What have they done to you?" the EMH gasped to himself as the young man groggily opened his eyes. With each piece of clothing he removed, he discovered more angry red welts, multi-hued bruises, and bleeding lacerations.
"Doc?"
"Yes, Mr. Paris. It's me. Lie still while I treat you then I'll get you some food. You're dangerously malnourished." Picking up the first of the instruments he needed, he began asking questions. "Do you know what is happening to the others?"
"The others?"
"Your fellow AlphaOmegans? Yana followed the order you included on the padd you beamed to her and told me the truth about everything going on here. I know you're one of them."
"What's happening to them?"
"Pardan, T'Kara, Dumar, and now Bartoq are dead. Pardan and Dumar died almost instantly. T'Kara almost two minutes after them. Bartoq only a moment ago. It appears Yana and Souris might be next."
Tom tried to push himself upright. "Show me the readings."
"I really don't-"
He levered his badly beaten body to a seated position. "I might be able to save them."
Weighing preventing more deaths versus Tom Paris' need to be healed, the preventing of deaths came out on top. Helping Tom over to a console, he showed him the readings. "See, there's no reason why they should be unconscious or dying."
"You're just not able to see everything. Paris to Sunfire."
"You should be letting the Doctor-" she began.
"Did they remove my access to the AlphaOmegan systems?"
"No. I guess Alpha Two was so sure he'd be able to bring you back to them that he didn't see the sense in nullifying your access codes only to have to reinstate them later."
"Good. Computer, recognize Paris, Thomas Eugene. Alpha Gamma Four. Request access to AlphaOmegan files. Clearance, Delta Tango 6218144. Ultra Maroon through Ice Blue. Clear."
"Please enter identification code," the computer requested.
"AlphaOmegan 41783. Project Phoenix. Codename Sunbird."
"Recognized, AlphaOmegan 41783. Please state request."
Tom called up the Implant diagnostic database then ordered scans performed on the two remaining AlphaOmegans. Shaking off the Doctor's hands and the blanket he was attempting to wrap around his naked form, Tom frantically began imputing codes and cursing under his breath. The profanity became audible when Yana's monitor's alarm went off indicating she too had died. The pilot kept at his work for another minute then sighed as Souris' readings stabilized.
"What-"
He cut the Doctor off. "Alpha Two didn't just send my program back to us. He sent the codes for the Implants to self-destruct as well."
"You mean their Implants killed them."
"Yes." All the strength seemed to go out of Tom and the Doctor had to help him back to bed. "I've stopped Souris' at least. Hers hadn't fully kicked in yet."
"What about yours?"
Briefly, Tom's eyes rested on Kathryn where she lay on her biobed. He checked the display over her head to see she was going to be okay then tears had to be hastily blinked back as he realized how responsible he was for her being here.
"What about yours?" the Doctor repeated.
"Mine barely works anymore," Tom whispered. Permitting the Doctor to help him lie down, Tom grimaced. "More's the pity."
Tom's eyes fell closed and he actually slept, not merely fell into unconsciousness, for the first time in days.
-------
The day after The Diogenes had left, repairs finally were well in hand and the Gherop showed no signs of returning. Eager to check on Engineering, Chakotay felt safe in leaving the Bridge under Harry's command and entered a turbolift. It had descended only a deck before it stopped and Crewman Ver Faran stepped aboard, closely followed by Tuvok, padd in hand.
"Are you all right, Commander?" the Vulcan asked.
"Fine," Chakotay responded.
"I see" was what he said though "You're lying" was implied. He handed over the padd. "My report on this incident and the full version of my report on what transpired while Mr. Paris and I shared a body."
The First Officer frowned at the padd then at him.
"There were certain things I held back regarding my time with him that I now am at liberty to divulge. I apologize for withholding them until now, however Mr. Paris and I felt it best we remain the only ones who knew about them. He knew the first thing the AlphaOmegans would do would be download a copy of all the information stored in Voyager's computer, including all logs, personal and official."
"Are you saying there were things you knew and didn't tell us, even at the last staff meeting?"
"If you will remember, Commander, Raven was present at the meeting. Had I told the entire truth then, it would have ruined Mr. Paris' plans. He and I had decided months ago how I would act and how much I would say and to whom."
"You pretending to believe what they told you when they took you to The Diogenes."
"Yes. But, despite all our planning, things did not go as planned."
"What exactly was the plan?"
"Once they had Mr. Paris' program-"
"The program Bartoq caught you trying to upload to them."
"As we knew one of them would."
"You two expected them to catch you?"
"Yes."
He went on to explain to his stunned audience, Tom's simple plan of tricking the AlphaOmegans into taking to The Diogenes a version of what had caused Tom to Awaken then unleashing it on themselves as they investigated it. Chakotay nodded at Tuvok's insistence that it was the simplest way of subduing the AlphaOmegans and permitting Tom to assume command of their ship.
"But did he think about what would happen when they came to?" Chakotay gaped. "You said that he was remembering things, horrible things because he Awoke as you call it. Didn't he think they might too?"
"He knew they would be 'in a bad way' as he phrased it, but he felt what he had done to manipulate the frequency would not permanently damage their Implants, that there was a ninety-eight percent possibility they could be reactivated."
"So they'd go back to being what they were again."
"He felt it was the most humane option for them. The knowledge of their past lives and everything they had done in their lives under The Protectors' control would be too much for them to accept. He worried that some of them might be emotionally traumatized by their memories. He wanted them to have a chance off returning to their amnesia state."
"How very kind of him," Ver muttered under his breath so low Chakotay's ears did not catch it.
Tuvok's Vulcan ears did. "Computer, halt turbolift." He turned to the Barjoran with a frown. "Crewma
n, you appear to be resentful of Mr. Paris."
"Resentful?" Ver sneered. "Gee, I wonder what any of us would have to feel resentful about? Just that we were told we'd be home soon, and we're still here, and likely to still be here for a long time. And you want to know why? I'll tell you *why*. *Why* is lying Sickbay, that's *why*. If it weren't for him, we'd be refitting this ship readying to get home right now."
"You are way out of line, Crewman," the Commander growled.
Knowing if they did not deal with Ver's complaints immediately, he would spread them to the other crewmembers, Tuvok ignored Chakotay's truthful statement and addressed Ver's concerns. "Crewman, the chances were slim that they actually were going to take us home."
"And who told you that? Him? How can we believe him after the way he's lied to us for so long?"
"Mr. Paris-"
"*Mr. Paris* is a liar and a mass murderer."
"Only because The Protectors made him one."
"However he became one, the fact remains he is one. And he is the reason why we are stuck here."
"But he is the reason they came in the first place," Chakotay felt compelled to point out.
"So that gives him the right to screw up their rescue attempt?"
"He said-"
"He said. He said. Forget what he says. He lies. Look at the facts. They came for him. They got him. They lost him. They left because of it."
Both of Tuvok's eyebrows headed for his hairline. "Are you saying, Crewman, he should have stayed with them? That he should not have escaped from people who were torturing him? You say look at the facts. Well, the fact is he is lying in Sickbay in serious condition thanks to them."
"All you know is that he is hurt. You don't know that they did that to him."
Chakotay nearly choked. "Are you suggesting he did that to himself? Are you crazy?"
"If he thought he would need something to back up his story of them hurting him, then, yes, I think he would deliberately harm himself."
"That is not the Tom Paris I know-"
"That is my point. You don't really know him. No one does. You can't be sure he is telling the truth about what happened."
"And you can't be sure he's lying."