"A Day For New Beginnings"  Rated PG
by Raymond C. Province
Archivist Challenge No. 2

This story takes place as events immediately following the 
Voyager episode "Hunters." Troubled by news that a letter 
from Admiral Paris had been seemingly lost during 
transmission, Paris decides to confront Torres about what 
she really knows about the transmission sent.

Zero six hundred hours came especially early today. Tom 
Paris was due on the bridge shortly for the beginning of 
what would undoubtedly be a long shift. He half fumbled his 
way over to the replicator and got himself a glass of water. 
That would have to do till he summoned the courage to get a 
cup of coffee a la Neelix from the mess. 

 Everyone had seemed to enjoy the party from the night 
before. And as B’Elanna and he has quietly excused 
themselves from the party to find a quieter spot where they 
might be alone, he also felt like much of the frustration 
and craziness of the events of the last several days had 
slowly faded from his mind. A slight smile even came to his 
lips as he thought about a night of lovemaking that has kept 
him B’Elanna quite occupied well into the early morning.

Things had changed between them. It was more than just good 
sex. It was more than just the kisses, the touching, the 
holding. Tom realized that he and B’Elanna had touched souls 
in the sharing of their experiences over the news of a 
letter from Tom’s dad and the destruction of the Maquis. The 
thought of sharing tender moments with anyone was nerve 
retching.  But it also felt good.  Maybe even okay! Yes, it 
had been an okay evening.

One might think that it was time to chalk the whole night’s 
experience up as a great memory to be remembered in days to 
come. That was not going to happen. As hard as he tried to 
focus on the pleasantries of the evening, Tom could not 
shake the image in his head of his father.  B’Elanna’s 
attempt to assure him that the lost letter from his father 
probably contained good news had not settled with him. After 
all, there had never been a lot of "good news" when it came 
to his relationship with dear Admiral Daddy!  Tom’s father 
had always considered his son a classic under achiever. And 
like it or not, Tom had never had the guts to stand up for 
himself where the dear Admiral was concerned. The primordial 
instinct to "flight" was easier for Tom to handle.  A lot of 
his life had been handled that way. Run from dad, run from 
school, run from commitment...

A sick feeling hit Tom’s stomach like he had eaten something 
foul. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times 
and tried to shake off the feelings of anger that came along 
with any thoughts of his father, or his past. He took a 
small handful of the water and splashed it on his face.  The 
sensation of cool ripples of water running down his face had 
a calming effect.

B’Elanna’s answer was the simplest. Why drive yourself crazy 
wondering? He was 70,000 light years away from the Admiral.  
And to some extent, he really didn’t give a damn what his 
father thought!  Tom squared up his shoulders and look 
himself in the face and said, "Admiral Owen, if you were 
hear right now I’d punch you right in the face!" He had said 
this to himself a hundred times before since he first 
realized his dad was a jerk.  It always made him feel 
better.

"Some things are best left in the past," he thought. 
"B’Elanna’s right! Why should I drive myself nuts worrying 
about what the dear Admiral thinks anyway. Admiral Owen, 
today is the last day I will ever worry about what you think 
again!  I hereby declare today to be a day of new 
beginnings! End transmission."

Tom finished getting himself dressed.  And as he readied 
himself to head to breakfast, he patted himself on the back 
and slapped his knee.  Neelix’s coffee sounded almost good 
about now.

***************************************

Tom walked into the ship’s mess. The brightly lit room was a 
bit much this morning. Tom found himself blinking a couple 
of times until his eyes had time to adjust.  Personally, he 
would have preferred a slightly dimmer start to the day.  If 
for no other reason than it helped to make the meals Neelix 
prepared look a little more palatable.

Tom slowly made his way to the counter where Neelix was busy 
preparing an organic vegetable omelet for one of the crew.  
Tom grabbed a cup and poured himself a cup of the pungent 
brew that Neelix did his best to make like true Terrian 
coffee.

“Good morning, Lieutenant.” Neelix’s normal jovial 
disposition had obviously been left at the party last night. 
“Is there anything I can get for you? We have some eggs left 
from our last planetary excursion. Perhaps you would like an 
omelet?”

“No thanks, “ Tom replied. “I think I’ll just stick with the 
coffee.”  Tom turns around and heads for a table.

“Suit yourself,” Neelix replied in a voice that might lead 
one to believe that Neelix wondered why he was cooking in 
the first place. “Should you change your mind, you do know 
where to find me, don’t you?”

With a half-hearted wave in the general direction of Neelix, 
Tom replied “Yeah, yeah.”

Tom sat down at a table that was away from the bustling 
noise that sprang from the many tables of people who had 
obviously had there night’s rest.  He sat down, and took a 
hefty drink of coffee. He had added a touch of powered root 
to the coffee that had a flavor similar to vanilla from back 
home. It was nice to have a moment to clear the mind before 
making the trek to the bridge.

Tom allowed himself to become lost for a moment in a 
conversation from an adjacent table.  The smiles and laughs 
coming from the people made him feel somewhat more alive. 
And what the smiles and laughs of the people couldn’t do to 
perk his spirit, Neelix’s coffee did.

“By the way Lieutenant...”  Neelix’s hand touched the back 
of Tom’s shoulder, catching him off guard.

“What the hell....” Tom turned to find Neelix starring at 
him in a rather concerned fashion.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, “ Neelix replied. “I didn’t mean to 
alarm you. Are you all right?”

With more than a little touch of aggravation in his voice 
Tom replied, “Yeah, Neelix. I’m fine.  It’s just not the 
best of mornings to be caught off guard.” Tom could feel the 
warmth in his face growing.  Embarrassment was not his 
favorite emotion.

“Oh believe me, I understand perfectly, “ said Neelix. “It 
was a long night for many of us.”

Before Neelix had time to go into one of his lengthy stories 
about his own escapades from the evening, Tom broke in and 
asked Neelix, “What did you need?’

“I had a message for you from Astrophysics that I failed to 
deliver to you last night. A little too much merriment for 
us all. Please accept my sincerest apology.” Neelix handed 
Tom an unmarked piece of white paper that had been folded 
several times. There was no writing on the paper except for 
Tom’s name.

 It struck Tom as a bit odd that an official message 
recording device had not been used to deliver the message.  
But after he thought about it for a moment, he reasoned that 
the message might have been sent by B’Elanna. Tom took the 
letter and quickly folded it up even smaller and stuck it in 
the pants pocket of his uniform.

Tom was going to ask Neelix more about where he had gotten 
the letter.  He stopped short of asking, though.  If 
B’Elanna had indeed sent the letter to him as a surprise, he 
might spoil the whole thing by being too noisy.  And he 
certainly did not want to get into opening the letter in 
front of Neelix.

Tom put on his best political smile and thanked Neelix for 
delivering the letter. “Thanks, Neelix.”

“Well, Lieutenant, aren’t you going to open it?” Neelix 
seemed more excited about the contents of the letter than 
Tom.

The beep of Tom’s communicator interrupted. “Bridge to 
Lieutenant Paris.” The voice of Commander Chakotay pierced 
through Tom’s head like a sharp headache.

“Bridge, this is Paris, “ Tom replied as he hurriedly took a 
last gulp of his coffee. Quickly, Tom stood to his feet and 
straightened his uniform---as if by reflex action.

“Lieutenant, you were due on the bridge ten minutes ago. Is 
there a problem?”  Chakotay was obviously not pleased.

“No sir,”  said Tom.  “I’m on my way now Sir.”  Tom half 
glanced at Neelix. Neelix had stood there the whole time 
waiting for an answer to his question.

“Neelix, “ said Tom. “Not now.  The letter will have to wait 
for later.  I’ll...I’ll tell you about it sometime.” Tom had 
no intention of telling Neelix anything about the letter.  
Neelix’s curiosity had only confirmed that the letter must 
have been from B’Elanna.  “I’m late...”  Tom turned quickly 
and jumped up, scooting a leg of the chair in which he was 
sitting into the foot of Neelix.  Neelix let out a groan.

“Sorry,” Tom replied---never turning to even acknowledge the 
deed. Instead, he quickly disappeared through the doors of 
the mess into the passage way beyond.

“Well that’s what I get for being nice, “ Neelix thought to 
himself.  Pulling his composure together as best he could he 
hobbled back into the kitchen to nurse his sore foot, and 
his sore ego.

****************************

Tom Paris walked through the door of his private quarters 
and fell onto his favorite couch.  He took a moment and 
rubbed his face with his hands, then massaged the temples of 
his forehead with his index and middle fingertips.  Chakotay 
had made him regret his being late reporting to duty.  
First, there a statistical data to be gathered on the 
effects of the singularity on navigational array.  Then 
there was a level two diagnostic to be performed on the same 
equipment.  And so on, and so on.

In a tired, slow voice Tom spoke to the Ship’s computer, 
“Computer, minimal light.  Adjust the temperature of the 
room up 2 degrees, and put on some music.”

“Please specify type of music requested,” the monotone voice 
of the computer responded. Strangely, the voice of the 
Ship’s computer reminded him of Chakotay.  But only for a 
moment.

“Light jazz, late twentieth century earth.” Tom wasn’t 
particularly fond of light jazz, but it sounded good at the 
moment.

Tom vaguely noticed the light dim and the music come on.  It 
had been a long afternoon. He relished the thought of a 
quite nap before he was to meet B’Elanna for dinner.

A lump in the pocket of his pants reminded him that there 
was a letter from B’Elanna in his pocket. He tried to ignore 
the fact that he had remembered it was there. It could 
always be opened after he had rested. But just like the 
proverbial bad piece of music that one sings over and over 
again in the mind, the thought of the letter nagged at him.

Aggravated, Tom sat up and ordered the computer to increase 
lighting so he could once and for all read this letter and 
get on with a good nap.  He half pulled himself off the 
couch, reached into his pocket and took out the letter.  He 
unfolded the letter and began to read:

To:       Lieutenant Tom Paris

From:     Admiral Owen Paris
     Starfleet Command

     Thomas,
     I’m not sure that this letter will have any 
meaning for you at all.  Based upon our last 
communiqué, I’m sure it won’t. Nevertheless, I have 
decided to let you know that as I send this letter, I 
am dying of a fatal virus I contracted during a recent 
visit to the Rigel star system. In all likelihood, you 
and I will never speak face to face again.  Therefore, 
it became necessary that I send this message so that I 
can share some final thoughts with you before you’re 
completely free of me forever.
     Tom, I’m not going to try to blow sunshine up your 
backside by pretending that everything’s okay between 
us.  You have been a major disappointment despite all 
that I have done to see to it you had all the 
advantages one could offer.  No, I want to put this 
aside for a moment and tell you that........

With all the strength that he could gather, Tom held back 
the scream that slowly crawled out of his belly to seek 
expression in the air around him.

Tom thought to himself, “what kind of sick bastard would 
send something like this!  None of this makes sense.  
B’Elanna had told him that the letter had been lost during 
the encryption process. It just doesn’t make any sense. Did 
she think that the news would be something I couldn’t 
handle?  I quit caring about what the Admiral thought long 
ago!  That would be just like my father to land such a 
bombshell in a letter, knowing there wouldn’t be much I 
could do about it!”

Tom took the piece of paper that the message had been 
written on and crumbled it up into a ball. After a couple of 
careful upward tosses of the paper ball in his hand, he gave 
the ball of paper a toss across the room.  He reached up and 
smacked the com button on his communicator and said, “Paris 
to Lieutenant Torres!”

“This is Torres. Tom, why are you calling me on your com 
badge?”  Puzzled, she replied, “Is something wrong?”

“Could we meet a half hour earlier this evening than 
planned?” Tom was short and to the point.

B’Elanna replied, “Sure. Is something up?”

Tom said, “Let’s talk about it tonight!  Paris out!”

**********************************

B’Elanna Torres arrived at the personal quarters of Tom 
Paris 15 minutes early.  She wasn’t sure what was wrong with 
Tom, but everything intuitive inside her told her that the 
evening was not going to go as originally planned.  She 
stood outside Tom’s door for some time, just starring at the 
panel that would ring to let Tom know she had arrived. 
Finally, she hit the door button quickly and jerked back her 
finger---as if she had been shocked.

“Come in,” said Tom. There was nothing in his voice that 
gave her much insight into the events to come.

As B’Elanna entered the room, she didn’t say anything.  Her 
head was held slightly low.  Tom looked up to catch her eye.  
B’Elanna was truly a mysterious and frustrating woman!  The 
dim light of the room reflected off her dark eyes. Tom 
noticed that she had moistened her lips as she walked closer 
to him.

Yes, she is a mysterious woman!  For a moment, Tom forgot 
about the feelings of anger and hurt that had caused him to 
ask her to come early.  If all had gone according to plan, 
he was going to let her know in no uncertain terms that she 
had broken a definite boundary hiding the information about 
his father.  The thought had occurred to him that this might 
just be her way of trying to teach him some kind of lesson 
for being so callous about her feelings about the Maquis.  
But now all he could see was the beauty of her eyes, and the 
form of her body that was delicately silhouetted  inside her 
evening dress as she crossed the room to stand next to him.

Ever so gently, she placed just the fingertips of her left 
hand against his face. She could feel the tightness of the 
muscles. Slowly, she kissed his lips. There was little 
response from Tom.  Just as slowly as she had approached 
him, she moved back from him just a little, taking his hand 
in hers. B’Elanna was about to speak. Tom interrupted.

“Before you say anything, I want to show you this!” Tom 
handed her the wadded piece of paper that contained the 
message from his father.

B’Elanna retorted, “Do you always take such good care of 
your things?”  She unfolded the piece of paper and read 
Tom’s name on the front.  Then she opened the piece of paper 
fully to reveal the message inside.
With a considerable bit of silence in between, she looked 
Tom straight in the face.  She wanted to explain, but she 
couldn’t get any words to come out of her mouth.  Tears came 
to her eyes!

Tom had been closely watching her face the whole time she 
read the letter.  Each tiny expression of her face spoke 
volumes to him.  He felt angry and betrayed!  Yet, he needed 
to know why she had chosen to hide this information from 
him.  

Tom looked at her and said, “Why?  Why did you send me this 
letter?”

With a puzzled look that must have confused Paris even more 
she replied, “Tom, I didn’t send this to you! I don’t know 
you got it! ”

The words hit Tom like a cold slap in the face. He lunged 
forward so as to get right in B’Elanna’s face and said, “Oh 
don’t give me that!  You told me that the message from my 
father was lost!  And now I find out that it wasn’t!  What 
else could I possibly think but that you are the responsible 
party.”  Tom turned his back to her and ran his hand through 
his hair.

The timidity B’Elanna had earlier felt was quickly 
departing.  B’Elanna yelled back at him, “Look, I understand 
your feeling bad here and all! But I don’t like what your 
implying at all. I’m trying to tell you that I did not send 
this letter to you!

Tom replied, “Then who did?  You were the one assigned to 
downloading the information. Now I suppose your going to 
blame Neelix for delivering the message. And by the way, he 
didn’t get the message to me till this morning! A little 
late, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean Neelix delivered the letter this morning?  
I didn’t give him your message...” said B’Elanna.

Before she could finish her thought, Tom broke in and said, 
“I thought you said you didn’t know anything about this 
message!”  Tom’s accusing tone was a hard slap in the face.

Angry at his choice of words, B’Elanna screamed at Tom, 
“That’s not what I said! And just in case you have 
forgotten, I am a Klingon! And Klingons do not make a habit 
of lying! I said that I didn’t know how the message had 
gotten to you. I haven’t done anything to you!  The message 
we got off the download was incomplete.  I didn’t let Neelix 
deliver the message earlier because I wanted to talk to you 
myself.  I tried to let you know that the message was 
incomplete, but you acted like you didn’t want to know 
anything about it.  I even tried to tell you last night at 
the party! Yes, Tom! I wrote the letter and planned on 
giving you the letter myself.  And then I destroyed the 
message download.  I didn’t want anyone else to know.  I 
know that being the son of an Admiral makes you a target for 
scorn and ridicule. I was just trying to protect your 
feelings !  How this information got back to you in this 
letter I don’t know!  You can either believe me or not!”

Tom could remember telling her that he was not all that 
interested in what the message had to say. Despite his best 
efforts not to care, not to show emotion where his father 
was concerned, he had cared about what his father thought.  
But he needed to know how Neelix had gotten the letter!

Tom reached up and hit the button on his communicator, 
“Paris to Neelix.”

Within a moment, the calm, jovial voice of Neelix replied, 
“Yes Lieutenant. How can I be of service?”

“Neelix, the letter you gave me at breakfast this morning?  
How did you get it?”

Neelix responded in an embarrassed voice, “Funny you should 
mention that.  The letter fell out of Lieutenant Torres’ 
pocket last night at the party.  I picked it up and tried to 
return it to her.  But somehow I lost sight of her.”

Paris looked and Torres and whispered, “we left the party to 
be alone!”

Torres replied, “We left the party to be alone!”

Neelix could hear the whispering over the com, but couldn’t 
make out what they were saying. “What was that lieutenant?”

Tom replied, “nothing....nothing Neelix”

“I trust that I have not caused a problem in delivering the 
letter,” said Neelix.

B’Elanna replied, “No, Neelix.  Everything is fine.  Torres 
out.”

“Paris out. Thanks Neelix, “ said Tom.

Tom turned to B’Elanna and said, “Having we been here 
before?” Tom was remembering the discussion they had had 
earlier the day before.  “I’m sorry.”

B’Elanna looked at him and said, “It’s a damn good thing 
that you’re cute!”

Tom moved close to B’Elanna and took her in his arms.  He 
kissed her mouth, her face, the lids of each of her eyes.  
They kissed again. Tom took her by the hand and led her to 
the edge of his bed.  They sat down together.  With a 
renewed sense of each other’s worth, they embraced.  In 
time, the feelings of closeness they shared found physical 
expression in the love they made together.

Later in the evening, B’Elanna noticed that Tom had a bit of 
a far away look in his eye.  At any rate, his attention was 
not on her.  She asked him, “what are you thinking about?”

Tom thought for a moment and said, “it figures that the old 
man would do something like die to keep me from getting the 
last word in this relationship.  How am I suppose to ever 
know what we was going to say?”  Tom subconsciously shook 
his head no in agreement with his own thoughts.

B’Elanna leaned over and kissed him and touched his face 
ever so softly.  “You won’t ever know, Tom.  Who really 
gives a damn.  But if what you really want is the last word, 
I think I know a way to make that happen!”

***************************************

Tom Paris looked around him at the gardens that surrounded 
the entrance into the main headquarters of Starfleet 
Academy.  The sun shown brightly.  Enough so that the 
reflection of sunlight off the com badge of Admiral Owen 
Paris made Tom’s eyes hurt all the more.  B’Elanna Torres 
stood by Tom, at a discreet distance.  The group gathered 
looked particularly solemn.  So much so that Tom didn’t once 
think of trying to ease the tension of the moment with some 
flippant remark.

After exchanging some very cold and formal greetings with 
all concerned, Admiral Paris addressed Tom. It was as if Tom 
were a cadet again at the Academy---a tone he knew well. 
“Thomas, I’m sure that what I am about to say will have any 
meaning for you at all. Nevertheless, I have summoned you so 
that we might have a talk.  I wanted to let you know that I 
am dying, son.  I’m dying of a fatal virus I contracted 
during a recent visit to the Rigel Star system.  I haven’t 
got very long. Therefore, I have decided to have this last 
conversation with you....”

“Just hold it right there, “ Tom interrupted.  The words 
came out of Tom’s mouth slowly and deliberately.  And they 
were spoken with enough conviction that the Admiral stopped 
speaking, and looked up at Tom with an almost indignant 
shock upon his face.  “Just what makes you think that I even 
give a damn about what you think!  For years, I have tried 
to measure up to the level you wanted me on.  But no more!  
Nothing was ever good enough for you!  I realize that not 
everything I’ve ever done pleased you.  And I know that you 
have thought for a long time that I would never amount to 
anything.  Well you’re wrong, damn wrong!  I have a place on 
Voyager!  I have a life!” The words carried so much emotion 
that Tom’s voice quivered.  Admiral Owen simply looked 
slightly down at the ground.  Tom, however, kept his eyes 
firmly fixed upon the face of his father.

“So dad, save your speeches and your pompous opinions for 
someone who gives a damn!  Today is a new beginning for me, 
because for the first time, perhaps, I value my own opinion 
the most!  So you can either spend whatever time you have 
left with me accepting me for who I am, or you can go back 
to considering your son dead.  Either way, it’s your 
decision!”  Tom turned to look at B’Elanna.  She smiled in 
such a way that Tom knew she approved of what he had done.

After a moment of silence, which for Tom must have felt like 
much longer, Admiral Paris cleared his throat and said, “Is 
that all you have to say, Thomas?”

Tom replied, “Yeah, that’s it!  Good-bye, dad.”  He turned 
to face B’Elanna, who had been with him through the whole 
affair.  He gently took her by the hand, and smiled, and 
said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”  B’Elanna simply 
smiled at Tom.  She gave his hand a squeeze and began to 
walk with him.

After a moment of walking, Tom said, “Computer!  End program 
Paris 14997 and save! Arch exit!”