Trials 04 Shadow's Trial
Page 40
a smile. In the aftermath of that abrupt surge of temper, his
exhaustion was beginning to manifest itself in drooping eyelids.
"It was different. I mean he was looking---but he wasn't looking the
way the others do. Sven was looking at me more the way Harry used to.
You know, before he knew me very well. I mean, before Harry and I,
uh..." She could feel herself pinkening and winced in anticipation of
his next teasing remark.
He surprised her. "That's because it was a look of admiration, not
lust. You *can* have one without the other. Of course, sometimes
admiration leads to lust."
"So you're saying I shouldn't worry so much about people looking at
me?"
He frowned at her impatiently. "From what you told me, those who have
been harassing you have done more than look. Who are they, Sis?"
"Tom, it really doesn't matter right now," she protested.
"Is Ethan one of them?" he rapped out, shooting a glance toward the
security officer.
"No!" The look she gave him spoke her incredulity at the question more
plainly than words could have. "Why would you even ask?"
He lifted his palms upward. "Hey, if you won't tell me, I'll just keep
guessing. And I already owe Sven an apology for suspecting him. Maybe
you haven't been paying attention, but this kind of thing has been
happening all over the ship, Sis. The kind of people who would treat
you like this only flourish in the dark. They won't stop unless there
are consequences for their actions. The Maquis have been trying to
watch out for you, but since you wouldn't tell them WHO to watch out
for, they began suspecting all the Starfleet men. And the 'Fleeters
who don't know what's going on resent being treated with suspicion. I
don't blame them. Even Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay have
noticed that this whole situation is getting out of hand. You're going
to have to make an official report to Security when we get back.
Practice on me. Who are the two who have been making your life hell?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, then abruptly decided to surrender since
he couldn't do anything---precipitous at the moment. "All right. If
you just have to know right this minute, the two major troublemakers
were Paul Castelle and Laro Longoria. There were a couple of others,
but those two just kept it up long after the others stopped."
Paris drew in a deep, satisfied breath. "I should have guessed. At
least about Longoria. He and Niko had a fight not long after the
Maquis came aboard. Niko really kicked his---let him have it. They
both wound up pulling extra duty time and losing their replicator
privileges, but I heard that Longoria started it. And Dishon came out
on top as far as the amount of damage inflicted. Longoria
underestimated him because he was smaller. Niko had one wicked right!"
Malista's eyes widened in astonishment. "I didn't know anything about
that."
"Yeah, well, Niko kept you pretty much out of the loop, didn't he?"
Tom retorted with a disapproving frown. "Which made it harder for you
to know who to trust."
Shadow nodded uneasily. "He didn't want me to worry. I knew Longoria
didn't like him. Laro, uh, tried to talk to me when we first came
aboard Voyager and Niko told him to leave me alone. But then I didn't
hear anything else about it and Longoria never bothered me again so I
didn't think about it. I never knew it had ever gone so far as--- I
wish I had known."
"Well, we'll settle this once and for all when we get back to the
ship. For now, I still owe Sven an apology, or at least an
explanation." Tom took her arm and they rejoined the other four in the
center of the room.
"Did you hear that?" Simms asked. "I thought I heard something. The
floor seems to be vibrating. I think someone's coming."
One of the blank walls parted, forming an entranceway. Four of the
towering aliens glided into the room and approached The Voyager Six.
Simms struggled to get to his feet, not wanting to confront 'the
enemy' while lying helplessly on the floor. Janine Lamont and Megan
Delaney helped him up and supported him until he got his balance on
his good leg. Malista Shadow stood behind Tom Paris and Sven Haldersen
who'd placed themselves between the aliens and the other four.
"Everyone stay calm. No overt hostilities. Maybe we can establish
communication," Tom said quietly. "Keep your hands at your sides. No
threatening moves."
"Yeah, like we have anything to threaten them with," Delaney muttered
sarcastically.
The four aliens stopped about ten feet in front of the group of humans
who had instinctively arranged themselves in a loosely triangular
formation with their weak and injured protected by the fittest among
them.
The aliens seemed to be communicating with each other, though there
was no sound at all, at least not within the range of human hearing.
They were dressed in long, flowing brownish robes with hoods that hung
over their faces---or where their faces would be if they could be
seen. Minute sparkles of light in various colors could be seen
flashing from beneath the hoods. Were the colors the alien version of
speech?
One alien stepped forward, slowly raising its tentacle-like arms. It
seemed to be trying to shoo the humans toward the three smaller rooms.
The other three aliens followed. Two of them were carrying what looked
like metal sticks.
'Weapons?' Tom thought. The sticks were approximately a meter in
length with no visible controls, but they seemed menacing and familiar
in some way.
"Let's play along for now," Lieutenant Paris ordered, drawing himself
up to his full height. Being tall for a human, he'd never really felt
as short as he did at this moment, looking up at the much taller
abductors. Without disengaging his inspection of the aliens, he asked
over his shoulder, "Ethan, can you walk?"
"Yes, sir," Simms replied. "No problem." He was exaggerating. There
was definitely a problem but Lamont provided a shoulder for him to
lean on as a crutch and Delaney slipped her good arm around his waist
to help him balance as he hobbled along and The Six retreated before
the alien advance. They stopped directly before the doorways to the
smaller rooms.
"Now what?" Haldersen asked.
"It's their move," Paris replied calmly.
One of the aliens moved to the forefront and lifted a tentacle slowly
toward Haldersen. The four-fingered hand slipped around the human's
wrist and pulled him towards the smaller room on the left. Haldersen
allowed himself to be guided to the door but didn't enter. He was
released with a gesture that seemed to indicate he was to remain
there. The same alien reversed course and extended a tentacle toward
Janine Lamont.
Ethan Simms tried to push her behind him, but was easily brushed
aside. As he toppled off balance, Megan Delaney caught him and took
over as his living crutch, steadying him.
"Ethan, it's all right. I don't think they're going to hurt us,"
her to stand next to Haldersen. When she was in place, the alien
returned to the group and seemed to be conferring with the others.
"Telepathy?" Haldersen speculated. "Could that be how they're
communicating? Or sound beyond our range of hearing?"
"What about the flashing lights?" Lamont responded. "It could be a
signaling system. Do you think it's a natural phosphorescence? Or is
it artificial?"
"It's nice that you guys are trying to analyze this, but I'd really
rather just get out of here," Delaney mumbled plaintively.
"I'm with you there, but if we can understand how they communicate,
maybe we can talk to them," Simms said. "Reason with them."
The alien came forward and latched onto Malista's wrist. She was drawn
toward the group of aliens. From their behavior, she was the current
object under discussion. An alien's slender finger brushed lightly
over her hair. She stiffened in resistance, but fixed her eyes on Tom
Paris and refused to give in to her fear and scream or try to fight
them.
One of their other captors gestured toward Simms and Delaney, then
toward Paris and finally toward Shadow. Another alien reached out and
grasped Malista's other arm. It was beginning to look like a tug of
war was going to ensue with Shadow as the rope.
Bracing herself, she cast a nervous glance towards the humans. "Tom?
Do you have any idea what's going on?"
Before he could formulate a satisfactory answer, one of the aliens
seemed to win the argument. He herded Malista over to stand next to
Ethan Simms and pushed Megan Delaney aside. Another alien came
forward and pulled at Janine Lamont, trying to move her toward Paris.
They seemed to be moving the humans around like living game pieces.
"Sven, you have any theories about this?" the pilot asked. "You're the
biologist. If this was your experiment, what would be the point here?"
Sven scowled his puzzlement for an instant, then his face cleared as
he came up with a theory. "They're trying to pair us off. That's why
the smaller rooms. I think Malista is giving them a problem. If color
is of major significance in their culture, they may think our coloring
has something to do with our gender or mating rituals."
"What?" Megan exclaimed. "Our coloring?"
Sven nodded. "Look how they matched us up. Megan and Ethan, the two
redheads. Janine and I are both blondes. But so is Paris. Malista is
the problem. She's the only brunette. I think now they're trying to
figure out if eye color takes precedence over hair color. If so, then
Malista would go with Ethan since they both have green eyes. The rest
of us have blue eyes so they might want to pair us off by matching the
shades of color of our eyes. In that case----"
"They're trying to pair us off for MATING purposes?" Megan exclaimed.
"Do they plan to keep us here permanently? What is this? Some kind of
a zoo?"
The humans exchanged looks of varying degrees of distress and dismay.
"How can we let them know we aren't going to cooperate?" Paris asked,
a muscle beginning to jump in his clenched jaw. "What kind of social
structure can we demonstrate that they would understand?"
Haldersen was at a loss for words. "I don't know. I'm just
speculating. We don't know anything about this species. There are so
many types---"
The silent argument among their captors came to an end. The aliens,
ignoring the other five, began to move back towards the entrance.
Dragging a reluctant but passive Shadow with them. Frantic green eyes
sought for a cue from Tom Paris.
"They're not taking her," he muttered under his breath. He stepped
forward, rushing to intercept them. "Hold it!" he shouted.
The aliens didn't react to the sound of his voice, but noticed his
approach and stopped moving when he pushed between them to snatch
Malista out of their grasp. Paris pushed Shadow behind him, using his
body as a shield, putting himself between her and their captors. He
urged her with hand gestures to move away, out of reach.
She lingered just behind him, hoping to intercede if the aliens moved
against him. She didn't want to be the cause of another death,
especially not Tom Paris'. She'd go with them if that was the only way
to keep Tom safe.
Haldersen was not far behind Paris in reaching the aliens. Simms was
half-limping, half-hopping to join the group. Delaney and Lamont
hovered behind Simms, ready to catch him if he lost his balance. They
were all ready to fight if need be. All the humans were waiting for a
reaction to Tom's actions.
The aliens holding the metal sticks stepped forward and tried to nudge
him out of their path to Shadow. He didn't budge. He put up his chin
defiantly as he threw back his shoulders and snapped to attention.
Though her stone face was firmly in place, Malista was trembling from
head to foot as she clutched at Paris' shoulder. "Tom, maybe they just
want to do some more tests. Maybe I should just go with them. They
haven't really hurt any of us yet."
"No." It was a flat refusal. No room for argument or debate. "I am not
going to let them use MY away team as test subjects. If they want to
take someone, they can take me. I'm the Senior Officer here."
The aliens seemed to be conferring again.
Paris didn't move, but kept his eyes fixed on them. If they understood
body language, he wanted them to understand he was defying them.
Denying them this. He would not let them take one of his away team. He
didn't know if he could live with it. He still had nightmares about
losing Pete Durst to the Vidiians.
"Tom, I don't want you to get hurt trying to protect me," she began in
a tremulous voice. She wasn't doing well in hiding her fear. "We don't
have weapons. Don't provoke them."
"I'm not. But you are not going anywhere with them. I'm not letting
them separate us again. Not if I can help it. We're in this together.
Step back. Slowly. Go rejoin the others."
Ethan Simms touched her arm, trying to persuade her to move further
from the alien group. She couldn't seem to move at all. She hesitated,
then finally took a step which left her halfway between Paris and
Simms.
The conference among their captors reached a conclusion. The armed
aliens stepped forward again, one of them lowering the metal stick at
Paris. He watched its approach impassively, wondering what sort of
weapon it was. And why it looked familiar to him.
In the instant that the tip of the pole touched him, a jolt of energy
ran through him. His whole body spasmed and convulsed. His eyes rolled
up in his head and he fell to the floor with a cry of pain, losing
consciousness instantly. He lay still, unmoving, so pale the faint red
gold freckles that dusted his skin were for once easily visible. A
bluish tinge surrounded his lips.
"Tom!" Malista tore herself free of Ethan's restraining hand and threw
herself down beside the pilot's body. "He's not breathing!" Hot green
/>
eyes stabbed at Simms. "Ethan, can you do CPR?"
He nodded. It was part of the standard training for Security Officers.
"Then get down here. You do the heart massage if it's necessary. I'll
get his breathing going again." Fervently praying all the while, she
started moving Tom's head into position, tilting it back, clearing his
airway.
Simms hesitated, gazing at the aliens. At the moment they didn't
appear to pose a threat. They seemed to be watching the actions of the
humans without attempting to interfere.
"Now, Ethan!" Shadow commanded. She took a deep breath and blew air
into Paris' lungs. His chest rose slightly. "Check his heart!"
Haldersen helped Simms get down on the floor. He wound up in an
awkward position, with his bad leg trailing out behind him as he knelt
on his good knee. He got his hands in position and monitored Paris'
heartbeat. "It was erratic, but now it's stabilizing."
Haldersen positioned himself between the trio and the aliens. He
didn't know how much good he could do, but he felt he had to do
something. Maybe he could slow them down.
Janine and Megan stepped forward to watch the resuscitation efforts,
unable to bear the suspense of watching from the relative safety of
the back of the room.
The group heard a wheezing cough. Malista sat back on her heels
watching as Tom's chest rose and fell of its own volition once more.
His eyes opened, searching for hers immediately. His attempt to sit up