To Tell The Truth Series 02 Parole

by Melanie

  "We'll talk about this later." Even as the promise left his mouth, he saw her beginning to retreat within herself and the Seven of Nine with whom they all were more familiar reappeared. Clearly the moment of weakness was over. Harry sighed and ordered the turbolift to resume.

  -------

  Kathryn rested her folded arms on the back of her chair in the Senior Conference Room. While Tuvok was delivering a concise summary of the events of the past few hours, she watched B'Elanna. It was difficult to tell if the devastated look on her face was because Tom had failed the test or because Chakotay had told her that, if it all had been real, she never would have seen Tom again once she and the others had left the ship.

  She glanced at Chakotay. No, he would not have been so cruel as to tell her the truth. Or would he have seen it as cruelty? In spite of the truce her First Officer and Helmsman had called with one another, she knew Chakotay still did not really like Tom, especially not Tom with B'Elanna. But would he intentionally hurt B'Elanna by telling her Tom was going to desert her in the future? Would he ignore Tom's good intentions, just so he could provoke the young woman into breaking up with him now to avoid her being dumped later? Maybe.

  Her answer came when Tuvok reached that section of his narrative. B'Elanna had not known. Eyes that until then had been focused on the tabletop leapt to the Vulcan. Her mouth opened and closed in shock.

  "Perhaps Tom wanted to stay," Harry suggested, softly to the shocked woman in the chair next to him. All his anger with Tom on Seven's behalf had evaporated upon hearing the reason for his words to the former Borg and the noble thing he had tried to do for the Maquis. "He just couldn't figure out how to tell you or Chakotay that he was going to stay so he fibbed a little."

  Even to Harry's own ears the explanation rang false.

  Tuvok obviously agreed. "I do not think so, Ensign," Tuvok countered. "You must take into consideration his actions towards some of the crew, in particular, the Captain, Naomi Wildman, and yourself, and his later insistence Lieutenant Torres decide on her own if she was going or stay. It is more likely he was telling the truth and was leaving later after he had done whatever it was he had left undone."

  "Any ideas on what this mysterious errand was?" Neelix asked.

  The Vulcan ignored the angry glance Harry was sending his way for his cavalier attitude towards B'Elanna's feelings. "None. It can be assumed that it was something which could not be programmed into the Ship's Computer as the fake sensor logs or any of the other programs he had prepared for his plan." The Security Chief looked at the Captain. "Obviously Mr. Paris has not been given enough credit for his programming abilities. The level of encryption for his programs was very high."

  "As was obvious towards the end," Chakotay remarked. "I couldn't believe it when the Argo and Marcus suddenly launched and we couldn't call them back. I'm glad no one was in those shuttle bays or the shuttles when they launched."

  "If Mr. Paris ever chose to take over Voyager again, I doubt we could stop his plan. Him, certainly, but not his plans once they were under way."

  Neelix frowned. "You said you had little problem gaining control of the program for the gas canisters? You made the computer think it was doing what it was programmed to do. Why couldn't you do the same with the other programs? Obviously he did the programming for both."

  "That *is* a bit of a mystery, Mr. Neelix. That program did not have the same level of encryption that the following programs possessed. One would have expected the opposite -- that the program to render the crew unconscious would be the most carefully guarded since it was the most crucial part of his plan. Were anyone to detect and circumvent it, the remainder of his plan would have fallen to pieces. Yet as soon as I heard the file name and that it was in the Holodeck program files, it was a simple task to assume control of it and trick the computer into thinking it was running and the myzine gas had been deployed. It was the other programs, the ones which gained him control of the unmanned Voyager which proved impossible to breech."

  "Maybe that's the point," Harry interjected. When he was met with blank stares he continued. "Think about it. Before everyone fell unconscious, no one would have had any inkling that anything was about to happen so everyone's guards would be down. There was no need to protect that program as heavily as the others. No one would be trying to crack it because no one knew it existed or that they had a reason to want to stop it. The Doctor says the gas works in seconds. That's not enough time for anyone to process what was happening once it's begun and do something about it."

  Nodding in comprehension, Chakotay picked up the thought. "Later on though, there would be a definite danger of someone trying to stop him because there would be some of the crew would be awake and know what was going on."

  "Exactly. If just one of the people he had awoken had decided to stop him, he would have been in trouble. The encoding had to be as difficult to crack as possible."

  "It is puzzling," Seven remarked, "that Lieutenant Paris did not include an intruder alert in his programs. Had he done so he would have been informed immediately the moment Lieutenant Commander Tuvok began tampering with his programs."

  "It would have given everything away," Neelix agreed.

  "Yes, that has puzzled me also," Tuvok admitted as he rose and approached the computer display opposite the conference table. "Computer, location of Lieutenant Paris?"

  "Lieutenant Paris is in his quarters."

  "Reroute all communications and computer access to and from his quarters to the Bridge level Conference Room. Authorization Tuvok Beta Pi. Access Holodeck files. Locate and display Paris program Sleep One."

  As he entered commands to decode the text which was appearing, a small United Federation of Planets symbol appeared in the lower left hand corner of the screen.

  "As I suspected. This is your intruder alert, Seven."

  "Something totally routine and easily overlooked," Harry smiled. "Had anyone else seen it they would have thought it always had been there and they simply had missed seeing it before. Only Tom would have known what it meant."

  Chakotay frowned. "Then it is surprising he missed it."

  "Not really," Tuvok denied as he closed the file. "He was not looking at a computer when I accessed his program. He was crawling through a Jefferies tube. By the time he had returned to Sickbay, I was in control of his program. It no longer recognized me as an intruder."

  "Okay, that explains the Sleep program but why didn't he notice your trying to access the others? He used a few different consoles and terminals. Even if they were only simulations they still should have shown the alert."

  "As he seemingly thought of every possible scenario. It is likely that in the event he was on the Holodeck at the time of an attempted breech of his programs, the Holodeck would in some way have shown him the signal. I will have to review the recording of the test again to see if I can figure out how he overlooked it."

  The Doctor interrupted for the first time. "It is quite possible given his highly emotional state that he did overlook them. Mr. Paris's readings suggested he was in a highly agitated state. His adrenaline levels spiked frequently throughout the test."

  "You tried to tell me something about that at the time, Doctor," the Captain remembered, "but I was too busy to listen. What was it?"

  The EMH tried and failed to disguise his displeasure at the Captain being "too busy to listen" to his, to his mind, extremely important observations. "What I was going to say was that each time his adrenaline spiked it would maintain that high level for one point seven seconds then abruptly they would drop off to less than normal. A lot less than."

  "A lot less than?"

  "Yes. It was as though something had siphoned off nearly all of his adrenaline."

  "How did he do it? Some sort of mind control? Relaxation exercise?"

  "I don't know. Perhaps. I will have to investigate that further."

  "Speaking of investigations, have you figured out what he was doing to his medical file and your logs?"
>
  "No. It is very odd. Mr. Tuvok has shown me the recording of Mr. Paris doing something to all of the scans I have taken of him since the beginning of his crisis with Mr. Chakotay's akoonah yet I look at them now and I see absolutely no difference. I know he did something, at least it looks like he did, but I cannot tell you what."

  "Keep looking, Doctor. I want to know exactly what he did."

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Have you had any better luck with finding out about this substance he had in the hypospray?"

  "Pure plientis root extract." His tone told everyone he had told her the name before but obviously she had not been listening to that either. "It's a prohibited substance in Federation space except on the planet Ontlem where it is a native plant and apparently the only place in the galaxy it will grow. Anyone caught off of the planet with it receives an automatic five-year jail sentence. On Ontlem, it is immediate execution."

  "Execution!" Neelix gasped. "Isn't that rather harsh?"

  "Not to the Ontlem's way of thinking, Mr. Neelix. They consider immediate execution to be quite the deterrent to those who wish to traffic the extract or use it for their own malevolent purposes. Plientis root extract only has too uses. Its official use is for coloring ceremonial robes. The pure extract is diluted with salt water and used as a dye. Only a handful of textile manufacturers are approved to work with it."

  "And unofficially?" Harry asked.

  "Unofficially is the reason why the manufacturers must have special permits to make and use the extract. In its pure form, the extract is one of the fastest and most lethal substances known in the Alpha Quadrant and because of that one of the most illegal. The replicators are not supposed to even replicate it without special instructions from Starfleet Command it is that illegal."

  Tuvok's eyebrow lifted. "Given Mr. Paris's recent demonstration of computer hacking skills, I hardly think it was difficult for him to convince the computer to ignore that order."

  "Yes, well, once the extract enters the bloodstream it already is too late to save the victim. It spreads throughout the system and within a five milliseconds the victim is dead. Within a minute all tissues are vaporized. All that is left is a skeleton. It is a swift and rather painless way to die actually."

  "Why would Tom be carrying something like that?" Kathryn wondered in a hushed voice.

  "That I cannot explain, Captain. Though I think we can rule out the possibility of him having a stack of robes which need re-dyeing."

  Everyone ignored the EMH's black humor.

  "Perhaps it was meant as a protection against these two groups he said wanted him dead or alive?" Chakotay suggested.

  "The expression on his face," Neelix observed, "was somewhat strange when he looked at it."

  Harry nodded. "Like he was entranced by it."

  "And he continually checked to make certain it still was with him," Tuvok added, "as if he was worried he would lose it or it would disappear."

  "Agreed," Seven nodded, "but if the Commander is right and it was meant for self-defense it is not a sensible choice. The assailant would have to be within reach for him to use it. That is unacceptably close. A phaser rifle would be more practical as a defensive weapon."

  Kathryn changed the subject. "What about this comment about having successfully removed people's memories in the past?"

  "There is no mention of it in his file," Chakotay shrugged.

  "It would be so much easier if Mr. Paris would just tell us what we want to know," the Doctor complained. "This speculating is getting us nowhere."

  "Yes, it would be easier," the Captain agreed, "but he won't."

  Kathryn wondered if Tom would tell any of them anything else again after this disaster. She knew it was going to be difficult to regain the ground they had lost over this, if they ever could. If only things had worked out right. They had been so sure they knew how he would act.

  She looked at B'Elanna, silently slumped in her chair and staring unseeingly at the tabletop. His mate had been the most certain of how Tom would react. B'Elanna had insisted he wanted his career back, even if he would be the last one to admit it. He was a pilot par excellence, but he also was a natural leader like the rest of the Paris clan. Kathryn agreed with her. As he continued to mature, she knew he would become even more comfortable with the responsibility being a Starfleet Officer entailed and want to stay on in Starfleet. *If* Starfleet had the sense to permit it.

  But that was some time in the future and they, and the young woman down the table from her especially, had the fall-out from the here and now to deal with. From the overjoyed look on B'Elanna's face at the time, she had guessed during the simulation was the first time he had told B'Elanna he loved her instead of just showing her. Kathryn had seen the same look on her sister's face the day her first boyfriend had said those words to her. The joy and relief that the object of one's affections returned those affections was hard to mistake. If only Tom had not said what he had said to Chakotay in the simulation about not joining them later and Tuvok had not blurted it out before Kathryn has had a chance to prepare B'Elanna.

  But it had happened.

  "This is getting us nowhere," the Captain sighed as she rose and slowly walked towards B'Elanna, eyes on the others. "Everyone go back to your duties. There's nothing else we can do for now."

  As the others filed out, Kathryn laid a restraining hand on her Chief Engineer's shoulder to keep her in her seat. A quick jerk of his Captain's head was enough to dissuade Harry from his intention of waiting for his shell-shocked friend to join him.

  Hand lifting, she sat in the chair next to the younger woman. "Well, it's certain been one Hell of a day all round, hasn't it?" She attempted to elicit a smile. "At least you won't have to test the site to site transporter system for a while. It certainly got a work out today. That Padlock Program of his really was something. Us having to beam all of you in and out of the Holodeck all because the doors refused to open." Her voice petered out when she knew B'Elanna was not listening.

  "All my fault," B'Elanna whispered numbly, eyes still downcast. "He did this for me."

  "Partly, yes, I think he did. No one knows better than Tom what it is like to be in prison. I'm sure he wanted to spare you and the others that experience. I also think, you were right when you guessed some of it was to redeem himself in the eyes of the Maquis." She shrugged. "If there is any more reasons than that, I don't know what they are."

  "He won't be punished, will he?"

  "The rules dictate that since he failed his parole exam he should be returned to his place of incarceration. Obviously, we can't do that."

  "If you could?"

  "That's the worst part of this job, having to follow the rules all the time, even the ones you personally don't agree with."

  "So you would."

  "I don't know. But, were we in the Alpha Quadrant and if he somehow escaped before he got back to prison, I would regret the loss of a fine officer and great pilot, but secretly wish him well."

  B'Elanna nodded.

  The older woman leaned back in her chair. "When you argued for your returning to the simulation, it wasn't really because you thought Tom would expect you to choose to go, was it? It was because you thought he wanted to go and you were going to try to talk him out of leaving."

  The brown eyes closed.

  "Chakotay and I thought so."

  "That's why he went too."

  "Yes. We knew you were up to something. Until you argued in favor of your beaming back onto the Holodeck, he and I had decided none of you would return to the simulation. The five holocharacters of Oliva, Hydrat, Moi, Redstone, and Vavin were to go. Despite everyone's best efforts, the five of them never have fully fit in to the Starfleet way of life. It made sense for them to want to leave. Chakotay and Neelix had no issues with staying. We thought you were happy here too. Maybe Seven would have considered going, given the bleak picture of the future that he painted for her."

  "But she refuse to participate any further since her time
was better used elsewhere and it was a waste of time to continue as we already knew... well thought we knew the outcome of the test." B'Elanna rushed to her feet and began to pace. "I hate to say it, but she was right. We should have stopped the simulation right there and confronted Tom. His defenses were down and wasn't that the point? To get his defenses down so everyone could get past his façade and talk to him about his recent attitude and dim view of the future?

  "We probably shouldn't have done it at all," Kathryn admitted.

  Near the viewport, B'Elanna stopped and looked at her captain.

  "I should have listened to you when you said Tom was beginning to open up to you again, should have let you handle it, but...."

  "But you love him too and couldn't stand seeing him in pain, no matter how well he tried to hide it."

  Kathryn nodded. "*And* I am Captain and he is one of my best officers."

  "And you need him a whole, happy, stable person." She turned her gaze to the starfield. "I can't help you this time, Captain. He knows I betrayed him and his trust by helping do this to him. He won't ever talk to me again."

  "He will. He just needs to calm down, see what we were doing was to help him. Even if we went about it the wrong way."

  B'Elanna did not appear convinced.

  "He loves you very much. He did tell you that, if he were able to, he would follow you anywhere. Clearly in his mind he wasn't able, but I can't think of many who would willingly go wherever their partner wanted without having a say-"

  "But he chose not to go," she broke in, anger finally overwhelming her remorse.

  "These people who want him-"

  "I forgot the pneumatic trick."

  Kathryn's head whirled at the swift change of topic. "Pneumatic trick?"

  "For remembering how to spell 'assume.' Make an 'ass' of 'u' or 'me.'"

  "I don't...."

  "Kahless, he was going to let me go thinking he would be joining me later," she growled to herself.

  "B'Elanna, I think you should watch the recording of exactly what he said to Chakotay. It wasn't as cold blooded a statement as Tuvok said it. Tom really was upset at having to leave you. He honestly was doing it for your own protection. I really believe that. He wasn't doing it to make... an ass out of you."