by Melanie
'But there was still hope,' he thought to himself. Though it would have galled him to admit it to anyone, he had every faith in Tom Paris rushing in with Seven, Neelix, and Sunfire to save the day yet again. After all, playing the hero was what Tom Paris did best. Closely followed by getting himself beamed into Sickbay, injured.
Not too unlike his tired condition as he beamed in now.
"Mr. Paris, am I glad to see you!" he sighed, forgoing his usual sarcastic tone. "Voyager's been taken over by-"
"I know. I've seen them."
"Have they-"
"They haven't seen me, no. But we'd best not stay here for long just in case." He gestured to the mobile emitter. "You'd better transfer your program and we'll go back to Sunfire and talk this over."
"But the aliens-"
"Sunfire will take care of keeping them out of where they don't belong. Now let's go."
When they materialized on Sunfire's Bridge, the hologram did a 360, taking in every detail. He was at about 347 when Neelix engulfed him in a hug.
"Oh, Doctor, I'm so glad to see you."
"Yes, I can tell," he grumbled, extricating himself from the enthusiastic embrace.
Neelix stepped back reluctantly. "You have to look at-"
"That can wait, Neelix," Tom interrupted, knowing Neelix was going to tell the Doctor to examine Tom's healing injuries. "Doctor, tell us what you know."
And he did tell them what little he knew. He told them about arriving at Rachar, the Captain, Carey, and Tuvok going to lunch, and was up to the political situation on the planet regarding E'Arte's people and the Verta when Tom stopped him.
"The grey aliens, what are they called?"
The Doctor shrugged. "I know the multi-colored ones are Rachar, but when the Captain tried to ask the grey ones what their species' name was, E'Arte, their leader, became very agitated. Said they are the leaders of the Rachar now and whatever they once were was irrelevant then he changed the subject. When he heard about this, Commander Chakotay spouted something about some class he took at the Academy in governmental studies. Something about to maintain the peace in a society living under foreign leadership the foreign leaders have to become, or at least maintain the appearance of having become, locals so the locals do not feel resentful that outsiders are leading them. Or something like that. Frankly, I wasn't really paying close attention.
Ordinarily Tom might have nodded and admitted he sometimes tuned the Commander out too. He did not comment however as his mind was trying to make all of the pieces in the Rachar history fit and something was amiss.
When he had been a little boy, his maternal grandmother had given him a family heirloom -- an old wooden box with an equally old wooden jigsaw puzzle inside. All of the pieces were of polished hardwood without any markings on them to indicate what went where and the shape of the finished puzzle was a mystery. It had taken him hours to assemble the puzzle from the huge pile of pieces in the box and just as he was about to set the last piece in place he discovered he had made a mistake somewhere for the perimeter was not smooth. Somewhere there was a piece out of place and it had thrown all of the others out of whack as well.
This was how he felt right now. Something was out of place only he could not figure out what it was.
"When did the crew disappear?" Seven asked as Tom brooded.
"It started yesterday when Mr. Kim disappeared."
Tom's eyes snapped back to him.
"He was down on the planet. I don't know who has him for certain, but the grey aliens claimed it had to be the Verta."
"What about the others? When did they go?"
"Today at 1416. From 1410 to 1416, I was talking to Commander Chakotay over the Comm. I was in Sickbay, he was on the Bridge, and I was telling him about the Rachar food, how I had confirmed the preliminary scans Mr. Tuvok had taken at lunch the day before. All of the food and water are safe for the crew's consumption. As I was finishing up my report, I heard a couple of soft thuds. I knew it wasn't from Sickbay since I was alone so I asked the Commander if it was on his end. I received no answer so I tried again then checked the computer to see if something was wrong with the Comm system. It wasn't, so I checked the readings of the Bridge crew thinking something was wrong with them and it was. Every one of them was gone except for the three grey aliens."
"What 'three grey aliens'?"
"E'Arte, his clerk, and another one who never left the Transporter Room. I never met any of them. The Captain was planning to bring E'Arte and the clerk by Sickbay at some point during their tour of Voyager only they never arrived there."
"How did the crew get off of the ship?"
"They beamed them off. I don't know exactly how he did it, but the one in the Transporter Room must have figured out the transporters. Or he was shown how to use them, though I can't picture Lieutenant Torres or Ensign Nozawa being indiscreet enough to show someone who wasn't a part of the crew how use our technology without first getting the Captain's permission."
"B'Elanna and Nozawa?"
"The records show, for almost thirty minutes prior to the crew falling asleep and leaving, they were in the Transporter Room with the alien who was doing the beaming. It is doubtful he managed to figure out how the transporter worked in the twenty seconds between when they fell asleep and the crew began their enforced exodus."
"Do you know precisely where they were beamed to?"
"I have the spot on the surface they went to, but by the time I scanned it to try to bring them back, they had been moved."
"Sunfire, check the transporter logs. Find me this 'spot.'"
"Already on it." A map appeared on the main viewer of the mountainous area outside of the Capital. "They were beamed inside here. It's some sort of structure built into the side of those mountains. I can scan part of it. There are natural caverns inside and they've expanded them. It appears to stretch quite far down below the surface only I can't penetrate any farther than a few levels."
"Astrometrics' sensors should be able to scan farther," Seven told her. "Access them."
The others crowded around behind Seven's chair.
"There are at least ten levels below the caverns. There are indication of more extending beyond sensor range."
Tom leaned in. "Life signs?"
"Numerous. The grey aliens, Rachar, plus faint Bajoran, Vulcan, Terran, Bolian-"
"Voyager's crew," he interrupted. "Enough to account for all of them?"
"All but two."
"Can you tell which two?"
"The Captain and Ensign Kim are absent."
"Makes sense," Tom nodded. "Regarding the Captain, I mean. Keep her isolated from the rest and thereby distracting and demoralizing the rest of the crew by making them wonder if she's dead or what. Meanwhile they interrogate her for her command codes."
"If she's still alive that is," the EMH interjected blackly.
Neelix frowned in worry.
Tom laid a hand on the Talaxian's shoulder. "Until we have evidence to the contrary, we will continue to assume she is still alive. The same goes for Harry. Seven, start the Astrometrics sensors searching for both of them."
"They tried to find Mr. Kim," the EMH interjected. "They couldn't find him."
"Try anyway, Seven. Sunfire, are you able to beam up the others?"
The ship was silent for a second as she attempted to establish a transporter lock on them. "No go. There's too much rock between us and them. I can't get a solid lock on them. Pattern enhancers will have to be set up before I attempt it."
"Which means someone has to get inside there to do it."
"I can achieve a hundred percent lock on anyone as far as the fourth level down. The crew's on the ninth. If you can set up the enhancers, say even on the sixth level, it should be enough for me to get them."
"What's on the various levels?"
"The caverns appear to be storage rooms for land vehicles, equipment, and weapons," Seven reported. "Levels one and two are offices, conference rooms, and quarters. Levels three
through ten are labs and cells. Even if we beamed down to the fourth level, we would be seen and captured immediately. Levels two through ten are full of activity," Seven informed them.
The EMH turned to Tom. "So, Lieutenant, you're the expert here. What do we do?"
Tom touched Seven and indicated she was to rise. "I need to review the layout for that place. There has to be some way into the section we want that'll bypass most of the guards."
"So what do you want us to do?"
"Sunfire, keep watch on Voyager," he said as he began examining the scans of the base. "The rest of you..." Tom's voice tapered off as he leaned closer to the schematic of tunnels on his display. A satisfied grin began to appear on his face. "Sunfire, double check this." He highlighted a section of the schematic leading from the surface downward.
"An old airshaft or construction tunnel maybe," she answered. "Parts of it have collapsed but there seems to be enough space for someone to squeeze through if they're skinny enough. All of it's collapsed beyond the fifth level."
"Why are you so interested in this shaft?" the EMH began to complain. "We ought to be getting ready to bust in there and-"
"And get everyone killed, Doc? As you said yourself, I'm the expert here so what I say goes. This has to be a cloak and dagger operation. In and out. Smooth and silent. No 'busting' or the next thing busted probably will be the crew's necks."
The hologram reluctantly conceded the point.
"I'm investigating this because I never go in anywhere without knowing I have an alternate exit or two in case the primary is compromised." He sighed at the monitor. "Actually, looking at how populated the upper levels are, I might just make the shaft the primary and the transporters the back up. If I take the shaft down to the fifth level, I only have to be in the open for one level to get down to the sixth instead of two since the transporters can only get me to the fourth. Seven, while the sensors are looking for Harry and the Captain, try hacking your way into their systems. I'll need a diversion to get out of the tunnel and into the hall and go down that last level to place the enhancers."
"I will try," Seven assured him.
"Work with Sunfire. Hacking is her area of expertise."
Eager, Neelix stepped closer to Tom. "What can I do?"
"Go over the scans of the system. See if you can figure out where the greys might have their ships hidden."
This statement caused the Talaxian to frown at the views of Rachar showing on the upper right corner of the display before them. Highlighted were the main areas of tactical concern were the Rachar to attack them, namely areas of concentrated weapons and something of great importance given his assignment. "But those are hangars, aren't they?"
"There's been too much traffic for those few ships alone to have done it all. Besides, those ones aren't built for long range flight. The greys had to have arrived here somehow. I doubt they'd come then send their ships home, wherever home is, without some way of getting themselves out of here in an emergency. I don't want to get the crew back only to be surprised by a fleet appearing out of nowhere."
"Maybe that's why they want Voyager," the Doctor suggested. "To get themselves home."
"Did they give any indications of wanting to leave? I don't see any down there on the surface. If they were expecting to leave, they would have dismantled their computers and equipment, all the things they clearly they brought with them. They wouldn't have gone to all the trouble to bring them then leave them behind. And if they wanted to leave so badly, why didn't they merely take any of the other ships that have visited Rachar? Why did they wait for Voyager to come along instead of seizing one of the others?" He shook his head. "No, I think you'll find they are staying but want Voyager for something, probably her technology, or any other ship would have sufficed."
"I'll see if I can find them," Neelix promised.
"Sunbird, if you're going to go down that shaft, I won't be able to beam you right into it. It's too unstable." She sighed. "You know, I'm really beginning to hate the surface of this planet."
Tom smiled at that. "How close can you get me?"
"One hundred, seventeen meters from the opening would be safest. There's not much cover though. And there are some Rachar in the area. Children. They appear to be berry picking."
"It'll be night soon there, but still, I'll have to blend in. Doctor, you up to making me look like a native Rachar?"
"Why not make you up to be a grey?" the hologram frowned. "You're going into their den. It would make more sense to look like one of them."
"But it's faster if I look like a Rachar. Change my skin pigment, lengthen my hair, change my clothes and I'm one of them. To pass for a grey would take some surgery and padding. They look a lot bigger than me. A Rachar is simpler."
"I'll come too," Neelix offered.
Tom shook his head. "It'll be quicker for the Doc to make me look Rachar than to do the same to you. Speed is essential here. We don't know what they're doing to the crew or if they'll actually be able to break the codes and take over Voyager. We can't delay. Besides, I need you here, watching for Gherop and looking for the greys' ships. Sunfire, the Doctor, and Seven can't do it all."
In reality, Sunfire was a computer, despite her organic origin and personality. She was capable of performing millions of tasks all at once, but it was the kindest way Tom could think of to keep his friend from risking his life when he did not have to. Also, the fib meant he did not have to hurt the rotund male's feelings by telling him he was too sizeable to fit through the narrow openings in the semi-collapsed shaft.
Reluctantly, the Talaxian nodded and Tom patted his shoulder. "Doc, let's go to Sickbay." He saw the hologram frown at him as he headed for the turbolift instead of calling for the ship to beam them to Voyager. "Sunfire's Sickbay. It's is fully equipped, I assure you. We do this sort of disguise rather frequently."
"Fine." He hurried after Tom. "Lieutenant, you are walking strangely," he remarked as they descended to the Sickbay's deck.
"There was an accident. My legs were broken."
"Who fixed them? Surely not you."
"Seven fixed them while I supervised."
"I see." Pretending nonchalance he did not feel, the EMH casually tossed out his next question as they strode down the corridor and into Sickbay. "How long ago was this?"
"Three days." Tom called up a file on the computer on the counter just inside of the doors and left the EMH to review the report on the incident while he gathered the instruments they would need for his transformation.
The hologram nearly did a jig. He was right. Tom *had* been injured at the same time the aching in B'Elanna's legs had begun. "Have you experience any weakness in them since."
"Doc, can we discuss this later?"
He turned to find the human in the process of removing his black silk boxers. The rest of his attire was lying over a nearby stool. "It is important." The reasoning he gave was about the need for Mr. Paris to be fit and able bodied to perform what doubtless was to be a very strenuous mission. And it was true. If Tom's legs suddenly gave out on him while he was out of the reach of the transporters, they would have to mount a rescue mission to rescue the rescue mission. The other, unspoken reason was his research. B'Elanna had experienced that second period of aching weakness and if Tom had not, then his broken legs and the aching in hers would have to be discounted as mere coincidence and his research would go out the airlock.
"He did," Sunfire answered for Tom then furnished the Doctor with the exact date and time index.
As he began using the instrument to change Tom's fair skin to pale blue, the hologram could not keep the smile off of his face.
"Happy you've got an ally now, Doc?"
"Oh, yes," he smiled, deciding not to tell him of his suspicions about Lieutenant Torres' or the shared pain phenomenon. 'Better to continue keeping all except the Captain and himself in the dark,' he thought to himself. 'Wouldn't want to run the risk of compromising the results of such an important investigation.'
-------
Harry swore and slapped the desktop next to the computer.
"What is it?" Nru asked. The sudden noise had startled her out of her private discussion with Ksu, Plwa having disappeared into his bedroom some moments earlier.
"I made it through the first level of locks. That took a while, but was no big problem. All they'd done was somehow use our own codes to lock the systems. But once I made it passed that, I found an encryption code unlike anything I've ever seen."
Nru and Ksu gave each other a frown. He could not break codes his own people had instituted? Both wondered if Harry had figured out something was amiss with their story and was lying. The alternative was he was telling the truth and the moment his people had discovered him missing they had taken steps to ensure any information he confessed to his captors would not be of danger to Voyager. Given the intelligence they had on this one, they were pretty certain the latter was the case. Harry Kim was a terribly
honest person and a horrible liar. That was the reason they had single out him of all the crew to use in this way. Since it was not in his nature to prevaricate, they were certain to know the moment he was trying to lie. This was not that moment.
"Can you decipher it?"
"I don't know, but I'll have to try. My crew's depending on me." Scooting his chair closer to the desk, he resumed his efforts.
-------
When the Doctor and Tom rejoined the two on the Bridge, Tom was a changed man -- literally. Gone was the close cropped hair, fair skin, and tidy clothes. In their place were shaggy navy blue hair, pale blue skin, and a shapeless light brown tunic over equally shapeless light brown trousers. Even his posture was different. The normally tall and graceful figure had become stooped and shuffling, though the Doctor had finished healing his broken legs. Only the sky blue eyes remained the same. Or at least at a distance they did. Up close one could see the eyes had a strange sheen to them. It was due to the night vision contact lenses he was wearing so he could easily see in the dark shaft and the night that was about to fall on the half of the planet where he needed to be.