To Tell The Truth Series 02 Parole

by Melanie

  "Yes. Right now we have to get everything you'll need together and get you out of here as soon as possible. You can't still be here when the myzine begins to wear off and the others wake. Has everyone finished packing?"

  They all nodded.

  "Fine." He withdrew a padd from his bag. "Chakotay, you're the best pilot here so I'll give you this." He handed him the padd. "I will pre-programmed the entire flight path into the shuttle, but you may wish to review it in case something happens and you have to take her off of autopilot and do this yourself. Best review it now while I'm still available to answer any questions."

  "Okay."

  "Oliva, you help Neelix in the Mess, right?"

  He nodded.

  "If you will take Hydrat and Vavin with you to raid Neelix's stores for supplies. You'll need enough for eighteen days."

  "Why can't we just have replicator meals?"

  "If something happens to the replicator, you'll be stuck with emergency rations."

  There was no need to say any more. Everyone present had been forced to endure the less than appetizing rations before and were reluctant to do so again if possible.

  "B'Elanna, Redstone, Moi, if you will go to the Marcus? It's in Shuttle Bay Two. Strip her of anything you think you could salvage. Medkit. Hand weapons. The lot. Site to site transport them here then stow them on the Argo."

  Only B'Elanna and Chakotay moved. The five near-strangers to Tom stayed put, regarding him warily.

  "You don't have to worry." Tom assured them, guessing that distrust in him was the reason for their immobility. "I'm not going to suddenly beam all of you into the brig and turn you all into to Starfleet or something. As the instigator of all this, I'd be the one the charges would stick to anyway. Understood? Fine, I'll see all of you back here when you're done then."

  Nodding begrudgingly, all except for B'Elanna and Chakotay departed. Chakotay looked from one to the other.

  "Could you give us a minute, Chakotay?" Tom asked.

  Less-than-willingly, he announced he was going into the Argo to review the padd and check the shuttle's supplies.

  "Tom?" B'Elanna called softly once they were alone. "You're not angry are you? About my choosing to go?"

  Gently, he touched her face with the pads of his fingers. "No, B'Elanna, I'm not angry. I told you to choose what was best for you and you did."

  "If you want to stay, it's not too late to-"

  He covered her lips with his own. So thorough was the kiss, she had to cling to him to hold herself upright when he broke the kiss and buried his face in the hair at her neck. "I love you," he whispered so softly that she almost missed it. "I love you more than you'll ever understand."

  "I love you, too," she murmured back, the roughness in her voice revealing she was fighting back tears for the nth time that day.

  Trying to imprint the unique scent and feel of this woman on his memory forever, Tom inhaled deeply and held her to him. He tried to absorb every detail to remind himself that this was a big part of the reason he was going to do what he had planned. This precious creature in his arms had to be saved from The Protectors' wrath.

  Feeling himself seconds away from tears, he pulled back. He kissed her lightly on the jaw where he always had planned one day to place his mark when they both were ready to move on to the next in their relationship. She seemed to understand the significance of this as she reached up and kissed the spot on his jaw where she had bitten him seemingly so long ago.

  The two parted and she left the shuttle bay.

  Tom's hands clenched at his sides as he fought to hold the tears inside. He could do this. He *had* to do this. He could not break down now or he would not be able to follow this through to the bitter end. He had to be strong for her. For all of them.

  The gentle hand on his shoulder nearly was his undoing.

  "Tom."

  His posture straightened but his gaze never left the doors to the corridor. "I need you to promise me something, Chakotay," he said in a monotone. "I need you to promise me you'll look after B'Elanna for me."

  The older man moved around to the younger's side and scrutinized his features. "You're not coming at all, are you?"

  "No."

  The hand dropped.

  "Starfleet, the Maquis, and my family aren't the only ones who wish I would disappear from the face of the Universe. There are a couple of others I could name who won't stop until they have me or I'm dead."

  "So what are you going to do?"

  "That's for me to worry about. You're concern is the six of them." Without making eye contact, he handed him the last of the padds from his bag. "This one is for B'Elanna. Don't give it to her until you reach the Base."

  "She is going to be devastated."

  "I know, but it has to be this way."

  "I honestly was beginning to think you loved her."

  Tom's eyes snapped to the older man's, tears glistening in their blue depths. "Don't ever presume to think you know how I feel about her," he rasped. "I am doing this for her- for everyone on this ship."

  "Tom-"

  "This is the only way to keep her -- everyone safe."

  "Tom, there's always another option."

  "Not this time. The computer and I have spent two months evaluating this from every angle. This is the only one which will work."

  "But-"

  He gestured to the padd. "Have you finished reviewing the information."

  Chakotay refused to be side-tracked. "What is it that you have to stay behind to do? Where are you going if not with us?"

  "I told you that's none of your concern, Chakotay. Just let me worry about it. Do you have any questions about the route?"

  "I don't have any," he said, abandoning the line of questioning with obvious reluctance. "You've covered everything."

  "And the instructions about the Base? The areas that are off-limits for your own safety and the codes for accessing everywhere else?"

  "I understand."

  "Fine." Near the belongings of the others, the first of the salvage from the Marcus materialized. "Well, they certainly are quick. You start loading the Argo. I'll pre-program the flight plan then go replicate the explosive's components.

  Excuse me."

  -------

  Within half an hour the Argo and an armed Marcus were ready to leave. While the other five uttered only a terse 'thank you,' Chakotay gave Tom an awkward hug and said nothing. He herded all except B'Elanna into the shuttle to give the couple a moment alone.

  B'Elanna opened her mouth to speak, but his mouth on hers silenced her before she could utter a syllable. When she tried to wrap her arms around his neck, he caught her hands in his. Lifting his head from hers, he pressed a kiss to each palm and curled each hand into a fist as if to hold the kisses there. With a tender smile, he gave her a gentle nudge towards the shuttle door. He turned on his heel and exited the shuttle bay immediately for fear he would forget everything and board the shuttle to be with her.

  He hurried to the Bridge where he planned to control everything that was about to happen. He could just as easily have done it from anywhere on the ship, but he wanted to be on the Bridge for some reason. Even though what he was doing was mutinous, no matter how he had justified it to Seven, he still wanted to stand one last time on the Bridge, the site, in his mind at least, of Tom Paris's redemption. A twisted smile crossed his lips. He was bringing everything full circle. The site of his redemption would be the site of his descent back to what he had been when he came on board -- nothing but a worthless criminal. At least this time there would not be prison in his future.

  "Paris to Argo. Here we go. Computer, run program Paris The Great Escape, One Red-herring, One De-boned, Stage One. Display on Main Viewer."

  On the screen he saw the shuttle bay doors open and two shuttles powering up to leave.

  Suddenly two things happened which should not have. The Bridge transformed into the interior of a Holodeck and he heard the Captain's voice over his combadge.

&nbs
p; "Tom, stop your Escape program."

  Tom shook his head. 'What in the Seven Hells are you up to now, Camet?'

  He could feel Camet's confusion mirroring his own.

  "Tom, please!"

  Automatically he obeyed the urgency in her voice. "Computer, code Epsilon Delta One Clear for Paris The Great Escape program."

  "Chakotay to Janeway."

  "Go ahead," the Captain invited.

  "The Marcus and Argo are under control, Captain. Phaser banks are powering down."

  "Thank you."

  "Bridge out."

  "Tom," the Captain called, "Voyager's is dead in the proverbial water. Release your commands."

  Dazed, Tom did. "Computer, code Epsilon Delta One Clear for all Paris programs currently running."

  "Acknowledged," the female voice responded.

  -------

  When they entered Holodeck Three ten seconds later and she finally saw Tom, Kathryn knew she never had seen on anyone's face an expression akin to the one currently on her Chief Helmsman's. It was shock and confusion and something else she was tempted to identify as despair or desolation. The look of professionalism she so carefully had schooled her features to reflect nearly slipped. For the first time she was seeing Tom Paris sans mask and it was breaking her heart.

  This had seemed like such a good idea when they had formulated it in her quarters two nights ago. Send him down to the planet on some pretext then later beam him up, not to the real Transporter Room, but to a simulated one on the Holodeck. After he and the simulated Voyager had "returned to the Alpha Quadrant" and he had realized his future was not necessarily as bleak as he thought, they would reveal the hoax and talk about his insecurities which now would be out in the open.

  And look how that plan had blown up in all their faces, she inwardly moaned. Crewmembers being beamed all over the ship. Losing control of Voyager. Nearly losing two shuttles. Five people briefly trapped in Holodeck One before someone realized they were there and beamed them out. But most importantly, Tom Paris committing what amounted to mutiny and she leaving her without the faintest idea what to do about it.

  Tuvok silently at her heels, she entered then stopped a meter from the stunned and shaken man.

  "Wha...?"

  "This was all a simulation, Tom," she began.

  "Simulation?" he croaked.

  "Yes. None of it was real. At least not what you were experiencing. The rest of us weren't so lucky. Every command you gave the computer carried out. The only commands we were able to override were for the releasing of the myzine gas and, after a whole lot of work, the transporters. Needless to say, I'm not sure who was more surprised, Seven or those who had been having lunch, when everyone in the Mess Hall and suddenly appeared in Cargo Bay Two. Same with those who suddenly started appearing in Mess Hall. One rather startled crewman appeared there only wearing a towel and a smile before we were able to override the transporter controls and trick the Computer into thinking it still was transporting people various places."

  "Why do this?"

  "It was to be your parole test."

  "Parole test?"

  She nodded slowly. "Back in the Alpha Quadrant, when you came up for parole you would have been tested to measure the degree to which your rehabilitation had succeeded. This was... the Voyager version," she told him, quoting Harry's descriptor for their plan.

  "Why?"

  "We were worried about you, Tom. We knew your future was on your mind. When we planned this two nights ago, we figured things would go differently. The idea was to make you see that you had a good future ahead of you, that the past was over and you were a new man." She frowned. "Needless to say, it didn't quite go as we expected."

  "Who's 'we'?"

  "Your friends." At his silence, she continued and told him exactly who had been in on the planning. When she said B'Elanna's name, he looked like she had phasered him. "She really didn't want any part of it, Tom," she explained. Trying to spare his already bruised feelings, she left out the fact it was from B'Elanna's account of one of their private conversations that Tuvok had had the idea for all this.

  "But she helped," he asked in a monotone.

  "Yes."

  "These weren't holocharacters, were they? They were real."

  "Chakotay, B'Elanna, Neelix, and Seven were real, yes. And Harry, Tuvok, and myself were at the staff meeting. You know us too well to be fooled by anything less than the real thing unless we had spent weeks perfecting every nuance. We thought it was simpler to have the real people play themselves."

  "But the rest of the crew weren't here?"

  "No. They were holograms. We took the chance you weren't close enough to any of them to notice any inconsistencies." She guessed at what was concerning him the most. "Tom, only the nine of us know what happened here, and only Tuvok and I know all of it. The others only know the parts they were present for." She broke off as the Paris mask finally fell back into place.

  "So, brig, quarters, rank?"

  "I don't understand."

  "I am to be confined to the Brig or my quarters or have a reduction in rank? Or is it to be all three?"

  "Tom, none, I-"

  "By your own admission, you are aware of everything which transpired here. You know what I did, or rather thought I was doing. Plus I endangered the crew by my programs taking control of the ship. Had things continued, one shuttle would have been destroyed and another would have been lost as it attempted to follow the path it was programmed to take. The logical punishment -"

  "Tom, there won't be any punishment."

  That closed his mouth though his eyes were wary.

  "Yes, I will have to make a note of this in my log and, yes, it could be argued that you were wrong by doing what you thought you were doing, but I understand why you did it. I share the sentiment, I really do. Personally, I don't want to think beyond the point of getting us all home because I know you probably weren't that far off in your predictions of what will happen." She reached out to him. "We'll have to come up with a better idea than the one you had here. One in which no one has to fake their deaths or take blame for something they did not do."

  Tom stepped away from her hand. "Now what?"

  Her hand dropped. "What do you mean?"

  "If I am not be punished, what now?"

  "Life goes on. Though hopefully not as it was. I would hope you might be willing to talk about why you've been the way you have for the past two months."

  His look told her his response to her hopes. "Incidentally, who won the pool?" he asked nonchalantly.

  "Pool?"

  "The betting pool. Over when precisely I would fail."

  "Tom, there was no pool. The only ones who know about what was going on here are the ones I told you about. No one else."

  "But the rest of the crew are very curious."

  "Word has been spread," Tuvok explained, "that, at the Captain's behest, you and I are involved in writing another of our holonovels. The odd things which have happened outside of this Holodeck are being explained as spill over from said holonovel. The senior staff has been claiming to be working on the problem."

  "Which is not exactly a lie," the Captain added. "They have been working on countermanding your programs, with little success I might add."

  "And when the crew start asking to see this holonovel?"

  "They will be told it was abandoned because of the problems it caused," the Security Chief assured.

  "And I thought *I* had thought of everything," he observed in a tone bordering on sarcastic.

  "You were rather thorough in your evaluation and execution of your plan, Lieutenant. However, I do not understand your purpose in remaining behind when the others had left. What was it did you had to do? And what was the purpose of the hypospray you kept with you at all times."

  Tom ignored him for a moment. He looked at the Captain. "So I am free to go?"

  "Well-"

  He looked at Tuvok. "You like riddles, Tuvok. See if you can find the answers
for yourself." With that parting shot, he left the Holodeck.

  -------

  "Seven." Harry nodded to the occupant of the turbolift as he entered.

  There was no response.

  Harry frowned. This was not like her at all. Introspective was not a word he ever would have applied to her before now. Now it was the only one which fit.

  "Seven?"

  She blinked and looked at him. He had seen that particular look before. His hard-partying roommate during his first year at the Academy had looked at him the same way every time he had woken him up.

  "May I ask you a question?"

  The ensign blinked himself. The soft, almost tentative tone of voice. The asking permission to seek the information she required, not bluntly demanding it. 'This wasn't Seven at all,' he realized. Something was wrong.

  "Okay," he answered slowly.

  "Do you think I'll be in danger when I reach the Alpha Quadrant?"

  "Danger?"

  "From people wanting revenge on me for what the Borg has done to them?"

  "Maybe. What's got you thinking about that? That's a long way in the future."

  "Lieutenant Paris... In the simulation... He said..."

  "Computer, halt turbolift." As it did so, he turned her to him. Like the others involved in planning the test, Harry had been kept out of the loop once he no longer had a part to play in the simulation. Because of that, he was in the dark about everything that had occurred after the "staff meeting," but on Seven's behalf, he felt anger welling up in him over whatever bone-headed remark his best friend had made. "What did he say?"

  "He said I might be a target for them. Or that I might become a specimen in a lab."

  "Seven, nothing like that'll happen. We won't let it."

  "You could not protect me constantly. And he was correct in bring it to my attention. I had not considered the possibility of my reception being less than pleasant until he brought it up."

  "He shouldn't have said anything," Harry ground out.

  "Yes, he should. He is correct. I needed to be prepared for the potential situation."

  "Seven, no one on Voyager is going to let anyone hurt you."

  "I cannot be protected all the time."

  Harry was scrambling for a way of denying the truth in that statement when the Commander's voice called them to a meeting in the Bridge level Conference Room.