To Tell The Truth Series 05 Turning Point

by Melanie

  Neelix clutched the hypo to him in worry. "They're pretty bad and neither one of us knows enough medicine to fix them properly."

  Tom nodded. "Sunfire, give me a heads up display of the scans."

  A near transparent hologram reflecting the tricorder's readings appeared and hovered thirty centimeters over Tom's face. He lifted a hand and touched the "keypad" on the hologram and it altered to show a more in depth view.

  "Okay, it's not as bad as it looks. Sunfire, can the two of them finish the mining in time?"

  "Not by my calculations," she answered.

  "Then someone will have to fix me up. I can't do it myself. Who wants to do the honors then?"

  "I will," Neelix volunteered.

  Tom took a long look at the still shaken male. "Neelix," he smiled disarmingly, "all due respect, but you're shaking like a leaf. I think Seven should do this."

  Not liking having to forgo an opportunity to help the man who just had saved his life, Neelix nonetheless saw Tom's point and stepped aside.

  "Okay, Seven, this is what you have to do...."

  -------

  B'Elanna Torres suddenly awoke from an already restless sleep. Peering through the dim illumination the red light bars over the bed emitted, she saw no obvious reason for her sudden awakening. Or the sharp pain in her legs. B'Elanna gently massaged them, thinking them to be having cramps of some sort. She *had* been crawling through Jefferies tubes all day her fuzzy mind recalled. Eventually the strain had to catch up with her.

  Yet this felt different, not like cramps at all. She was about to drag herself out of bed to go to Sickbay so the Doctor could check her out when the pain suddenly dissipated. Shrugging, she snuggled down further under the covers and burrowed her face into the pillow, inhaling Tom's scent.

  She knew if anyone found her in his bed there would be many questions yet she did not care. This was where she felt compelled to be, in Tom's bed wearing one of his T-shirts and wrapped in his robe with her nose buried in his pillow. Even if Harry was right and what she was feeling right now was due to Tom's re-bonding with her it did not matter to her. For now this was what she needed and when Tom returned, then they would talk and decide where they would go from here. True, she still hated the revelations about

  his past and what he was and that would not change, but maybe they could put it into perspective and get passed it. With Raven's spell over her broken, she began to remember Tom and realize he was what she wanted more than anything, even his horrible past seemed not to matter so much anymore. If only he were here so she could tell him.

  -------

  "Lieutenant, you must rest. You are fatigued."

  Too tired to argue with Seven, Tom sat on the closed lid of one of the many boxes of ore almost filling Sunfire's hold. "How much more do we need?" he panted.

  "Two more boxes should be sufficient," the ship responded.

  "How long until we have to make ourselves scarce?"

  "Four point seven hours."

  Tom heaved himself to his feet.

  Concerned, Neelix hurried over to him. "No, Tom, let Seven and I-"

  "The sooner we're finished the better."

  "But it was only a few hours ago Seven healed your legs. You shouldn't have gone right back to work."

  "I'll be able to rest for over two whole days once we're done here. Let's go."

  Reluctantly, both Seven and Neelix gave in to their colleague and Sunfire beamed them back to the surface once they had replaced their EVA suits' helmets.

  -------

  "And we have to..."

  "B'Elanna?" Janeway skirted her desk to help her Chief Engineer into a chair. "You okay?"

  "I don't know," B'Elanna panted, lifting her feet off of the floor just enough to relieve them of her weight. "My legs feel like they've run a marathon without the rest of me."

  "Exactly how do they feel?"

  "Tired. Achy. Weak."

  "And it just started?"

  Stronger twinge made her gasp and tell the truth. "Off and on since late last night."

  "Late... You're going to Sickbay. No arguments. This could be something to do with what Raven did to you. Computer, two to beam directly to Sickbay."

  The Doctor hurried out of his office the instant the two women materialized in the treatment area. "What's happened now?"

  "B'Elanna's having problems with her legs," the Captain informed him as they helped the half-Klingon up onto a biobed. "They nearly gave out on her in my Ready Room. Apparently they've been hurting her since last night."

  "I see," he murmured, scanning B'Elanna with a tricorder. "Describe your symptoms, Lieutenant."

  "It's nothing serious," the patient insisted. "I've been crawling through Jefferies tubes a lot lately, that's all."

  "Until I see your medical degree, Lieutenant, I'll rely on my own judgement in medical matters, if you don't mind. Now your symptoms?"

  Briefly, B'Elanna confessed them.

  "And why didn't you come to me last night?"

  "Well, it went away so I didn't think-"

  "It went away," he grumbled to himself. "That seems to be the norm with this crew; 'Well, it went away, Doctor, so I didn't think it mattered anymore.' Doesn't anyone think just maybe their bodies might be trying to tell them something with all these aches and pains?" He glared at his patient. "Next time something happens to you I want to see you in here, Lieutenant. I don't care if it is a hangnail, you will get yourself in here. Is that clear?"

  A wave of pain hit B'Elanna and she nodded, clenching her teeth.

  Frowning, the EMH ran the diagnostic wand over both her legs then up her body and waved it back and forth over the top of her head. He stopped frowning, folded up his tricorder, replacing the wand, and then looked at B'Elanna. "I want you to remove you uniform and lie down, Lieutenant."

  The women's eyes followed him over to the replicator.

  "Doctor, what's wrong with her?" the Captain asked, concerned.

  He returned to the bed with two stacks of towels, one set damp and warm, the other dry and fluffy. "There's nothing seriously wrong with her," he answered truthfully, as he helped remove B'Elanna's boots. "I'm hoping these will make her comfortable. If they don't, I will administer a mild painkiller."

  "But why are my legs aching," the woman wanted to know. "Is the Captain right? Is it something to do with what Raven did."

  "Oh, no, it has nothing to do with him." He went to a cupboard for a Sickbay gown. "Things happen and a body responds by manifesting all sorts of ailments."

  "What does that mean?" The patient was becoming frustrated with the absence of a definitive diagnosis. "*What is wrong with me?*" she growled.

  "Your legs are aching."

  "Damnit, I told you that! Why are they aching?"

  "I can't give you a clinical explanation, Lieutenant," he finally admitted as he slipped the gown over the now naked woman's head. "They ache and I hope applying warm towels will ease that."

  "That's it? Can't you give me something to stop it?"

  Once she was coaxed into a reclining position and the gown folded up to the tops of her thighs, he shook his head. "I want to try this first and see what happens."

  "But what is physically wrong with her?" Kathryn pressed.

  "Nothing physically."

  "So it's psychosomatic?"

  "Yes." There was a slight hedge to his voice. B'Elanna missed it though the Captain did not and he knew it. He shot her a silencing look as he expertly wrapped the younger woman's legs in the warm towels then in a couple of layers of the dry ones. Finally, he elevated each leg on pillows and covered her with a blanket. "Better?"

  "A little," B'Elanna nodded. "You're saying this is all in my head?"

  "There is evidence your brain is sending signals to your legs to ache, not the your legs aching and sending the signal to the pain receptors in your brain to register the ache as normally happens. For now, you just rest here for a while and we'll see how you do. You might find the ache goes away all on
its own."

  "You have been through a lot lately," Janeway reminded her. "Your body might be doing this to tell you it wants a rest. Give it one."

  "But Engineering-"

  "Can take care of itself for a while. You rest."

  After dimming the lights little, the Doctor addressed the Captain. "May I see you in my office on an unrelated matter?"

  "Of course." She followed him into the office and assumed the chair he indicated.

  "How far away is Mr. Paris?" he asked.

  "Provided everything went well, they should be ready to leave the moon any time now, if they haven't already. Why?"

  He called up an entry in the medical database and flipped the desktop computer around to face her. "There is every indication what is happening to Lieutenant Torres is not actually happening to her."

  "But she's-"

  "It is happening to Lieutenant Paris."

  "What?"

  He tapped the entry on the screen with an index finger.

  "'Shared pain'? You think she is feeling the pain from something that's happened to him?"

  "Possibly. I can't find a biological reason for her to be in pain. You could of course be right about it merely being a warning from her body to slow down. That often happens with people who push themselves as hard as she does, present company included I might add."

  She smiled ruefully though mercifully was spared one of his lectures to slow down more and relax.

  "Even with those who have a strong bond," he continued, "this does not always happen. Even in full Klingons."

  "Yet you think it is happening with B'Elanna and Tom."

  "When she last was in here, she woke up the instant he left. I checked the computer at the time because I was worried she might... require his presence, but he had left on Sunfire only a moment earlier."

  "But the two of them never showed any indications of this before now. Think of all the times Tom's been injured. For quite a few of them, I was with her at the time they occurred. I can't ever remember her reacting like this."

  "If my theory is correct, Raven's partially to thank or blame for this. In breaking Raven's bond with Lieutenant Torres, Mr. Paris' bond had to supersede Raven's as Raven's had Mr. Paris.' In doing so Mr. Paris' and Lieutenant Torres' bond -- either the initial one or the new one -- mutated."

  "Mutated how?"

  "That I don't know yet. As I say it is all theory, but if true and I can prove it then I might be able to figure out the theory of 'shared pain' and explain it scientifically. Until now it's been considered a para-psychological phenomenon, not a valid occurrence solely because no one could explain, in precise scientific terms, why it happens in only a few Klingons, not all."

  "But will this last?"

  "I'm not certain."

  "And you're not even certain this *is* what's going on anyway."

  "Well, no, but given everything that's happened to her over the past two weeks, I don't think I can discount the possibility. When Sunfire returns, then we'll know for certain if Mr. Paris was indeed injured and I can begin investigating in earnest."

  Sensing the Doctor was about to embark on one of his "and when I succeed in proving this, it will be yet another astounding feat which will make me famous when we return to the Alpha Quadrant" speeches, she wished him well and took her leave of him. She was saying goodbye to B'Elanna when her combadge chirped and her First Officer informed her they were ten minutes from their destination.

  "Acknowledged, Commander." She immediately had to restrain the patient. "No, you stay put."

  "But Engineering's -"

  "That's an order."

  Patently not pleased, the woman subsided.

  "B'Elanna, you know how First Contacts usually go. All sorts of diplomatic speeches have to be made, assurances of benign intent, et cetera, et cetera. You just stay here and do as the Doctor says until he releases you. If by some miracle we don't have to spend hours hashing out all the protocol, your needs list for Engineering's done, isn't it?"

  "Yes," she pouted.

  "Then Joe can give it to them as easily as you can, right?"

  "Right."

  Kathryn had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold back her smile. There were times B'Elanna reminded her of Naomi Wildman when she was sulking, though she knew neither would admit to ever sulking. Not daring to say anymore lest the smile escape, she patted the Chief's shoulder and hurried out.

  -------

  *Sunfire.*

  'Hmm?' the resident of the small ship's computer acknowledged with only partial attention.

  *My people are ready to see him,' she informed the ship. 'You have to bring him to these co-ordinates-*

  The voice now had all of Sunfire's attention. 'Bring him...? Just how am I supposed to do that?'

  *You're a ship. Just take him with you.*

  'I can't just kidnap him.'

  *Then give him some reason.*

  'Why do you want him so badly? All you'd say was "there was a debt to be repaid." What debt? To him? To someone else? What?'

  *That is between us and him.*

  'Well then getting him there is between you and him then too. You may have helped me save his life, but I'm not going to help you do anything when I don't know your motives.'

  *I told you-*

  'Yes, but you haven't told *him*. If you want him to go anywhere, ask him to go. Don't try and get me to help you unless you are prepared to tell me what you're up to.'

  *I can't speak directly to him yet. Only when he comes to us can I do that.*

  'Then you had better get talking to me and convince me to help you, hadn't you.'

  *Sunfire-*

  "Paris to Sunfire," the man in question called over his combadge.

  "Go ahead," his colleague answered.

  "The last load's ready to beam up."

  She paused for a moment as she secured the boxes in her hold. "Done. You three ready to come up?"

  "Neelix? Seven? Ready to go? Yes, we're ready."

  Sunfire beamed the three of them and their equipment into the Equipment Storage Room.

  "We're in. Get us out of here."

  "You got it."

  A minute later, Tom, still in his EVA suit, minus the helmet, hobbled onto the Bridge on aching and exhausted legs. Neelix and Seven, still similarly attired, followed.

  "Tom, I really think-"

  He cut Neelix off. "I'll go rest in a few minutes, Neelix. I just want to check our course."

  "Don't trust my flying, eh?" the ship quipped.

  Painfully lowering himself into the seat at the Helm, he smiled. "Nope."

  "You just want to see the nova," she fired back.

  "Guilty."

  "Okay, young man," she begrudged in her humoring-mother voice, "you can watch then it's right to bed with you, even if I have to beam you there and erect a forcefield to keep you in bed."

  "Yes, Mommy."

  She offered the other two seats at the science stations along the wall. As they hastily departed the system at maximum warp, she showed them a heavily shielded view of the phenomenon occurring eleven minutes after they had gone.

  It was so spectacular even Seven momentarily stared in awe of it. Then in an instant, it was over. Thankfully, they were far enough away to escape its effects. The long-range sensors showed the planets and moons of the system were not so lucky. Precisely the manner in which Harry and Seven's projections had predicted a planet was reduced to cosmic dust, others fell to pieces, and still others wobbled wildly.

  "The Captain's going to be sorry she missed this," Tom whispered, stunned.

  "You can show her the logs when we return home," Neelix insisted, bustling over to Tom's chair. "Now you promised you'd go to bed."

  "Sunfire, what's wrong with your cloak?" the pilot asked, consulting the readings on his console.

  "A relay is worn out," she explained. "It can wait."

  "I should-"

  "I can repair it, Lieutenant," Seven informed him.

  "It
's of a special design. I'll have to do it."

  "It can wait," the ship insisted again.

  "But if any Gherop ships or anyone else happen by, they'll see us."

  "My shields are working fine. And we didn't see any traffic on our way here. We'll be okay until after you've had a rest. Now go!"

  Neelix's placing two hands around one bicep indicated the shorter man would not take no for an answer in this. Reluctantly, the human rose.

  'Gratitude is a very strange thing,' he thought as Neelix took one side of him and Seven was motioned by the Talaxian to support the other. 'Not two days ago, Neelix wanted nothing to do with me. Now he's my keeper.' He sighed inwardly and permitted the pair to assist him to his quarters.

  -------

  "Standard orbit, Ensign."

  Baytart nodded as he complied with the order. "Standard orbit, Captain."

  "They're hailing us," Harry called out. "Audio only."

  The Captain settled into her chair, padd she had brought with her from her Ready Room resting in her lap. "Let's hear it."

  "Identify yourselves," was the terse demand.

  "We're the U.S.S. Voyager. I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway."

  The video transmission kicked in and grey skinned and grey haired alien visage appeared, looking somewhat shamefaced. "Oh, sorry about that." It was the same voice as before only now it was amiable. "We didn't recognize your design or markings so we had to be on our guard."

  "It's perfectly understandable," the Captain dismissed, smiling.

  "Still, welcome to Rachar. I am E'Arte, the leader here." He frowned to himself. "Well, for the time being anyway." His face brightened again. "How may we help you?"

  "We are looking to obtain some food stuffs and things we need for repairs to our ship."

  He thought for a second. "I'm sure we can work out some sort of a trade. Naturally, we've heard of your ship and of your fair trading practices with others. I'm certain we can work out some sort of agreement."

  "Good."

  "I will need some sort of estimate of what you will need. We don't have a lot and we're in the midst of difficult times, but we should be able to offer you something."

  "Difficult times?"

  "Internal problems. There was a change in the government a few seasons ago and a few still aren't accepting of it. But that's our problem, not yours. If you'd care to come planetside with a list, I'll see what I can do. I'll serve lunch and you can see if the food we have to offer is to your liking prior to trading for some."