To Tell The Truth Series 05 Turning Point

by Melanie

  saw in the big, ugly male. Finally, they parted and she went to her quarters.

  -------

  "Captain," the security officer called from the Tactical station, "I'm detecting Gherop signals. They're faint and muffled by the nebula, but they're there."

  "Keep an eye on them," Janeway advised. "If they get any stronger, tell me immediately."

  "Aye, Captain."

  -------

  "How's she doing?" Chakotay quietly asked Joe, taking him off to one side of Engineering so they could observe a newly back at work Chief Engineer without her seeing or hearing them.

  "She's okay. As you asked, I passed the word to everyone to keep their mouths shut about Tom and why the others really have gone off on Sunfire. I think she's buying the story of yours about them investigating things on Rachar to see if we can help."

  "Well, it's not totally untrue."

  "Janeway to Chakotay," his combadge called.

  "Go ahead."

  "Gherop ships are in the area. How long until repairs are finished down there?"

  "Not sure. B'Elanna?" he called, walking towards her with Carey. "The Captain says there are Gherop ships in the area. How long until repairs are done?"

  "Another four hours at least. We've found some more problems."

  "Do your best," the Captain urged her. "Janeway out."

  -------

  The first light of dawn was beginning to kiss the horizon and Kni was about to leave for home when Tom Paris appeared, alone, at their rendezvous point. From a distance removed from the spot, Kni watched for indications Tom had been followed and found none. Even though he had received confirmation through their informants of the alien's actions within the prison, he continued to be careful. He watched Tom look around the small clearing for him then, as the human was about to leave, Kni caught his attention.

  Without asking about the crew or saying a word at all, he gestured for Tom to follow him.

  -------

  "That's odd," the Gherop technician muttered to himself.

  "What's odd?" his supervisor asked from behind him.

  "This." He pointed to the results of extensive research into the past five different instances of power failures. "I can't believe we never noticed it before. It's not exactly right in plain sight, but it's still there."

  "Agreed. The technician who is supposed to monitor these things... Lpse? How could she have not noticed this?"

  Their eyes met as the answer became clear -- she could not have missed it, not if she had done the checking

  she claimed to have done.

  "I knew it was a bad idea to entrust a Rachar with any responsibility here." He pointed to another of his underlings. "Find out where she is."

  The underling nodded and went to another console to call up the duty roster.

  One of the two Rachar cleaners who had been working unnoticed in the far corner of the room, picked up her bucket and mop and left the room as well. Her co-worker remained behind, dusting.

  "Now what could have been the purpose of the power failures?"

  "To re-route the power for some other purpose? To cover up something?"

  His lips twisted. "Can you tell if she's responsible for the failures or was she covering for someone else?"

  "I can't tell. She could have done it herself, if some sort of timer mechanism was used at either end. Otherwise, she could have an accomplice. Of course she could just have missed it as I nearly did. I don't know."

  "Localize the site where the power failures were initiated."

  "Never in the same spot. Each of these areas have been the instigators of failures."

  "Cross reference the activity in the areas with the incidents of power failures. I want to know who was in that area at the time. Other than our people naturally. I think *we* can be eliminated as suspects."

  As the two began their search, the second Rachar cleaner listened carefully as they came closer and closer to discovering the truth. Silently, she wished her colleague all speed in warning the others before it was too late.

  -------

  "I have been sent for the technician known as Lpse."

  Frowning, the Rachar doctor turned to the soldier who had clomped into her nice, quiet Infirmary and jerked a thumb towards the bed with the body covered by a sheet. "You're too late," she said. "She's dead."

  "What?" he gasped, first looking at her then the corpse then back at her again. "I was told she came here only moments ago with some sort of stomach trouble."

  "And she died not long after that. She had a history of stomach problems. I was never able to find the cause."

  "What's with him?" He gestured to Plwa who was entering the room with a devastated look on his face and a body bag in his hands.

  "He was her lover," she told him in a quiet voice. "He was about to take her out to be buried, but if you think your superiors would like to see her anyway... My people's bodies decompose at a rather rapid rate compared to that of your species. That is why we bury our dead as quickly as possible. But she's only just started to decompose so she doesn't smell too bad yet. If you're superiors get here within the next moment or two...."

  "No." He gestured with a dismissing hand as he left. "Take it away immediately."

  Empty handed, the Gherop soldier returned to his superior to inform him of the death of the prime suspect in the power failures. Only Lpse no longer had the honor of being the prime suspect.

  "Find me the P'Chi Plwa," he was ordered. "He is in his quarters."

  The soldier looked at the image on the screen and frowned. "No, he isn't."

  "What?"

  "He was in the Infirmary waiting to take the body of Lpse out for burial."

  The two Gherop looked at each other for a long moment then out of the office and for the lift. The senior of the two shouting orders into his communicator for the nearest soldiers to the Infirmary to secure it so no one left.

  -------

  Confused, but knowing an order when they heard one, the soldiers near the Infirmary did as ordered and secured the room. When their superiors arrived minutes later, they found the doctor glaring at them for this "ridiculous nonsense" and two Gherop patients, who had been in drug induced sleeps, more or less conscious and singing a naughty Gherop drinking song about a prostitute with four hands and two heads.

  Plwa and Lpse's body were gone.

  -------

  The instant Plwa and his burden were out of the stronghold and out of range of their sensors, he carefully lay the body bag down and unfastened the stays. After administering the neutralizing agent and waiting for a seeming eternity, he and the now conscious Lpse exchanged nods and Plwa helped her to her feet and off to their destination.

  -------

  "You didn't find your crew," Sme concluded upon seeing Tom and Kni solemnly walking down the corridor of the Verta's underground base.

  Forestalling any comment Tom might have made, Kni sadly touched the old woman's shoulders. "She's worse, isn't she?"

  "Yes. I don't know how much longer she can hold on."

  Kni sat down on a bench and leaned his head back against the wall, eyes closed.

  Tom looked from one to the other.

  The only thing his companion had told him on their hike to this place was the leaders of the Verta wanted to see Tom and he was taking him to them. The tiny, ramshackle hut next to a derelict well in the foothills of the mountains had seemed like a relatively safe meeting place to Tom. He had not fully appreciated the site until Kni rapped out a series of knocks on the floorboards and received some in return. A well disguised trapdoor then opened and they had dropped down into a narrow tunnel leading them deep into the

  caverns that were the Verta's main base. 'It was ironic,' Tom thought, 'both Gherop and Verta using the mountains' natural features as their bases and so close together too. Logical, but ironic all the same.'

  "Who's dying?" he asked when they failed to enlighten him.

  "The Queen," Sme answered. "She was injured d
uring the Gherop take-over and never has been the same. Then a season ago, she was tending wounded and caught something I can't identify. Most of those wounded died from it, but she's lasted this long. I don't know how much longer she can keep that up though."

  Automatically, Tom jerked into medic mode. "Let me see her. My medkit only has the basics, but maybe we can do something."

  Sme looked at Kni. Opening his eyes, he nodded and stood. "You'll take him? I want to see everything made it here okay and check the intelligence reports."

  The three parted company. Sme and Tom went back the way she had come while Kni went off down another corridor.

  "I don't know if I should be sorry you did not find your crew or happy," she confessed.

  "All I've verified is they're not there. There's still a slim chance they may have been moved elsewhere."

  Tom could not figure out why she looked uncomfortable at this statement. He was about to open his mouth and ask when they came to the Infirmary and he was ushered into the presence of the most important woman on the planet.

  "Sme, you've returned already?" asked the frail voice of the woman lying practically motionless under the blanket.

  "Yes, Your Majesty," the doctor nodded. "I have brought the alien with me. He thinks he might be able help you."

  Taking out his medkit, he waved the diagnostic wand over the blue Rachar female. Many of the readings made no sense to him so he waved it over the physician and a young nurse working close by to use as base readings then compared the patient's against them. Only years of instruction by Alpha Two on hiding his emotions kept him from showing his reaction to the results. There was nothing he could do for her, not with the limited resources he had at his disposal. Maybe if he had had Sunfire or Voyager's Sickbay's, he might have been able to help, but not with one emergency medkit and the limited and unfamiliar equipment

  he saw here.

  "You cannot help me either," the queen guessed. There was no censure in her voice, only acceptance.

  "No, Your Majesty. The tissue damage is too extensive."

  She lifted one trembling hand from the blanket and touched his forearm. "Leave us," she said to the others, who instantly obeyed, though kept darting glances back to them as they left. "Sit. You are so tall. It hurts my eyes to look up so high."

  Closing his tricorder and setting it aside, he snagged a chair leg with a toe and dragged it over to him to do as requested.

  "I maybe confined to this bed, but I have heard much about your people. What they're like and how they treat others. Are you like the others?"

  "More or less."

  "Explain."

  Something about this woman and the earnestness of her tone made him do just that. He told her about himself, about his family and friends and career, and about his past -- all of it, good and bad. When he finished, the hand that had stayed on his forearm the entire time he was speaking lifted and brushed the shaggy blue hair out of his eyes. A gentle smile touched her lips.

  "I knew this would be so," she said, nodding. "I have a confession to make to you. I am sorry as I know it caused you pain and that is unfortunate, but necessary for the future of my people."

  Tom's eyes narrowed as his keen mind leapt to the only logical conclusion. "Your people knew before we ever went into the prison that my people weren't there."

  She blinked in surprise. "Yes. They beamed out to your ship and left as the first of T'Do's ships were detected on the way."

  His eyes took on a hollow look. "They thought I was dead. And they had to get out of here quick or be caught by them again so they left without coming to recover my body." To himself, he finished the thought. 'It wasn't like there'd be anyone urging them to get me so they could have a proper funeral.'

  "How did you know?" she asked, not knowing his sad thoughts.

  Blue eyes returned to blue eyes. "It bothered me that absolutely no information was coming out of there. Even with this T'Do coming here and security naturally being tightened, any informants worth their salt would find some way to get information out."

  "Yes, we have been receiving reports from inside as usual. The methods of getting the information has had to become a bit more creative however."

  "Keeping me in the dark was necessary to see if I was a plant."

  "Exactly. If you were telling the truth, then we finally would have a real chance at defeating them. If you were lying, then we'd know for sure." She smiled. "But you weren't lying and now we not only have a way into the prison, but also arms and equipment to fight them."

  "How do you know it still wasn't all a trick?" he asked though he sensed he knew the answer before a new voice answered the question.

  "Because you were under careful observation all the time you were inside," the deep male voice said.

  Though he had not indicated such, Tom had noticed the large, green on green male with the strange hairstyle and standing just inside of the door to the Infirmary long before he had spoken. Now the pilot looked up from the startled eyes of the queen to focus on him.

  The queen herself turned her head towards the newcomer and sighed his name. "Plwa."

  The Rachar lumbered towards the bed to clasp her delicate hand in his big paw. "My Queen."

  "Plwa, it has been so long."

  "Too long."

  "But you're here...?"

  "The Gherop were on to Lpse and soon would have been on to me as well. With T'Do's visit they have become paranoid he or his people will find something wrong with them or their practices. E'Arte did not want another power failure while T'Do was touring the prison tomorrow so he ordered his people to track down the cause and fix it. They actually managed to find it. Lpse is very sorry and -"

  She squeezed his hand. "Tell her it is not her fault. I know she did her best."

  He nodded, grateful.

  "What about the one you were watching over?"

  "There was another power failure," he said with a knowing smile, leaving no doubt as to who had had a hand in its occurring. "I made sure he escaped and had a plan of the Stronghold. He was heading for the surface when he suddenly disappeared." He looked at Tom. "I'm assuming you had something to do with that."

  Tom frowned then quickly clued in that Plwa was talking about Harry. "Harry? I slipped him an enhancer so he could be beamed up more easily. So he did get out?"

  "According to reports he beamed up, yes."

  "Tom, this is Plwa, my oldest friend in all the Universe. He guarded my child before the Gherop came to our world."

  The two males nodded to one another.

  "I was one of the ones monitoring you when you were inside the prison," Plwa confessed. "Many times you were very lucky to escape."

  Tom nodded. "That's usually how it goes."

  Plwa half smiled. "I thought it was not your first time in such a situation."

  "No, it was not."

  "Tom is a trained soldier," the queen told her friend. "I want you to take him to the others and get his input on our plans. Kni said he was very good when they were planning the raid on the storage room. I want to see if he can do the same with our plans." Her eyes met Tom's. "If you will agree to help us."

  Tom smiled ironically. "Everyone on Voyager always used to say I have an overdeveloped heroic streak. Besides, if I have any hope of getting back where I belong, I'm going to have to get to a long range comm system or a ship and if I'm not mistaken, the only ones of those are in the hands of the Gherop." The smile became malevolent. "That means the Gherop will have to go."

  The two natives smiles.

  "And there's the fact you people don't seem to know the K.I.S.S. principle when it comes to planning. You need someone to simplify things for you before you bite off more than you can chew."

  Plwa frowned. "K.I.S.S.?"

  "Keep It Simple, Stupid. You people seem to enjoy making things complicated when they don't have to be."

  The queen smiled broadly and touched Tom's cheek. "You will shake up the others, that's for sure. Plwa? Take him? I mu
st rest now."

  Quietly, they left the dying woman to her sleep.

  -------

  "How much farther?" Harry asked, stepping onto the Bridge.

  His three shipmates and Sunfire glanced at his drawn face and correctly guessed he had not slept at all. Neither Tuvok nor Neelix had slept much themselves and knew they probably looked as bad as Harry did. Sunfire and the Doctor did not require sleep, though would have told anyone who asked that they would not have been able to sleep if they were capable of it. So, understanding Harry's predicament completely, all refrained from remarking upon his appearance.

  "A little over an hour," the ship answered.

  Harry nodded and took a seat at the Ops console.

  -------

  "-And so you can see why it is impossible to escape from the Stronghold," a self-important E'Arte told T'Do's party as they walked through the maximum security area and towards the lift.

  "No place is escape proof," T'Do pronounced. "Take this beaming technology Voyager possesses. That could be used as a means of escape."

  E'Arte carefully schooled his features so as not to betray the truth that proof of this assumption had been presented only a day earlier. "True, however if they were telling the truth to my informants, practically all ships in their home quadrant possess the same technology. That would mean they would face the same security risks as we would here of having to worry about unauthorized transports. Therefore someone had to have found a way of making transports impossible. Once we have Voyager and investigate her databanks, doubtless the solution will be found."

  T'Do's party preceded E'Arte into the open lift and they began their ascent.

  "Good. I would hate to think this facility of which you are so proud would be found to be lacking," T'Do said with an implied threat of what would happen if it were. "Like the storage facility at Mta Ksi, wasn't it? I believe that was supposed to be impenetrable too. Only the Verta didn't find it so."