A Depth Of A Lie

Katta -Katta29987@hotmail.com
PG-13
Set some where between the 5th and 6th series. Before 30
days.
Summary: Tom Paris is not who he appears to be, he is an
agent for the S.E.F (Special Elite forces) When he is
sent 10 fresh new agents to train, it is a matter of time
before the cover breaks, but that is not all which is on
their mind.



Disclaimer: Disclaimer; I don't own voyager, Tom Paris,
Harry, Janeway etc. but the storyline is all mine you may
get ideas but it has to be different, the S.E.F is all
mine too. Plus Turner, knight, Davis, Madison etc. so
don't use them otherwise read and enjoy.


Thanks a lot to Zeppo V.20 and H Louise.

1 of 12
                         The depth of a lie
                      ******************
10 cadets stood to attention in the middle of a grey
room; they remained perfectly still and didn't display
any kind of emotion in their expressions. A man entered
the silent room and stood firmly in front of the 10
cadets, He stepped forward and walked along the straight
line eyeing each of the cadets until satisfied. Finally
the man stood back.

"You know why you are here today," he said, "you have
been chosen to become the next Ensigns, Lieutenants,
Commanders and Captains of Starfleet's most secret
operation, Special elite forces, S.E.F for short."

He started pacing up and down the line of cadets; he
paused very briefly to breathe, before continuing, "When
you officially leave this room you will be classified as
an Ensign. As you already know, Starfleet officers are
not told that the S.E.F exists for security reasons. Not
even an admiral is given such clearance; the only people
that know about the S.E.F. are the Agents themselves and
the leaders of Starfleet."

He continued pacing as he took another short pause for
breath again, then he continued, gesturing towards the
exit. "When you walk out of that door you are not to talk
about the mission or the S.E.F to anyone, except to other
agents like yourselves. And when you do speak of the
S.E.F, you must make sure you are in a secure area where
no-one will overhear you."

The senior agent stopped pacing, and looked at each of
the upcoming agents. "Every new group of agents is sent
to another, more qualified agent with an undercover
identity. We will give you their details and you will be
sent to them. Your training will begin immediately, and
will last until the supervising Agent believes you are
ready."

The agent took a deep breath, giving off an air of
importance as he added, "You have been chosen out of
thousands of young hopefuls, for the S.E.F's Alpha team,
the best of the best. This means you will go through more
rigorous training than other trainees will. To this end,
you will be trained by one of our best agents. You have
probably heard about him, Commander Tom Paris."

He watched them mumble in surprise, Commander Paris was
one of the best, and he was the youngest Commander in the
S.E.F. He was due to be promoted, but his last undercover
mission backfired. He was meant not only to find Chakotay
and his crew, but find their secret base in the badlands.
Unfortunately, the ship had been lost with Paris on it.

But Starfleet had recently received a message from them
saying they were in the Delta Quadrant. Now, not only
could they use Paris, to train these new agents, but this
would also give the S.E.F, 11 trained Agents in another
Quadrant.

"I thought Commander Paris was in the Delta pretending to
be an ex-con and a Starfleet Lt." one of the Agents
asked, confused.

"We have developed technology to create a wormhole to the
Delta quadrant," explained the senior agent, "we can pin-
point their location when the next data stream comes
tonight. We will send you near to their location. Once
there, you will send a Starfleet distress call." The
agent paused to let the cadets absorb this information
before explaining further. "They should be there within a
day. You will all be given a cover story. Once onboard
you must find Paris, he will know you are coming, since
we have sent him a classified notice to inform him as
such."

Having explained everything else, the agent went on to
say, "Last of all, you have been taught how to conceal
your emotions. You must not show them how you feel. All
emotions must be faked; it is through discipline that
this is achieved. Is that clear?"

He asked, getting a quick, sharp, "Yes sir!" If it hadn't
been for his own training, he might have smirked at their
enthusiasm.
"Good luck!" He told them, "you're being taught by the
best. We'll reconvene in the shuttle bay at 0700 hours
tomorrow. Dismissed!"

With that the Senior Agent watched as they turned in
unison, and walked out of the door. *If only they knew
what they were going to go through. * He thought.

****

Tom Paris walked down the corridor, heading for the mess
hall to meet B'Elanna and Harry for dinner, the new
transmissions from the Alpha quadrant had come in today
and he wondered if he got a message from his sisters.

He walked into the mess hall, and started to scan the
tables for his friends. Then he noticed them in the
corner of the room, eating what appeared to be one of
Neelix's new concoctions. He started to walk over being
greeted by the odd passer-by in a friendly manner.

"Hi Tom, you think you're brave enough to try Neelix's
soup today?" Harry said, looking up at his friend.

"It's soup? I thought it was a casserole! Tom replied
with a sickened look on his face, "I think I'll pass
today." Tom said sitting down on the chair opposite
Harry.

About five minutes later B'Elanna walked in to the mess
hall with a pleased look on her face, which wasn't
particularly common for the short-tempered half-Klingon.
She walked up to where the two were sitting and sat down
next to Tom.

"Guess what I got today," B'Elanna said in an eager
voice.

"What?" Tom said in a calm voice.

"A letter from an old professor of mine, he said he got
hold of Voyager's engineering reports, and wants me to
write an article on warp core efficiency," B'Elanna said
with a huge smile on her face.

*I wonder how long she'll keep that smile on her face*
Tom thought, giggling at his inside joke.

"That's great B'Elanna," Harry said with a smile as big
as hers on his face.

"Yeah it is!" B'Elanna said looking at the padd. "Oh, I
almost forgot. You got one too Tom!" B'Elanna said
tossing him the other padd.

"I hope it's from my sisters they said they would write,"
Tom said in a happy voice.

"I don't think so it's got a password authorisation on
it," B'Elanna said casually. Tom knew instantly that it
was from the S.E.F, but why was the question.

"You were going to read my mail," Tom said with a bit of
hurt in his voice. The fact was he wasn't really
bothered, she would never get the code; it was
unbreakable. But he had to show some kind of emotion so
she wouldn't get suspicious about him.

"Sorry Tom, who is it anyway," B'Elanna said curiously.

"Oh, It's just my sisters writing," Tom lied, but that
was nothing unusual, it was just a daily chore to him.
"They use a security code on a letter to their Brother."
Harry said a bit taken back.

"It's personal Harry, my sisters are very thorough when
it comes to this type of thing, they are just like dad
sometimes, even though they wouldn't admit it." Tom said,
trying to brush them off the track they were on.

"Oh, so what does it say?" B'Elanna said trying to get a
peek at the padd in Tom's hand. Tom closed the padd down
so B'Elanna could not see; he would read it in private
later. "I'll read it later," Tom said with his best
'faked' smile.

"Ok well I'm off, I'm on tonight see you two later,"
Harry said getting up and walking out of the mess hall.
"Well I'm off too." B'Elanna said, leaving as well. Tom
sat alone. He liked being alone sometimes; it gave him
peace once in a while.

The truth was he did care for voyager but not as much as
he did the S.E.F. The S.E.F had always been there. He had
started training when he was 16, because he was spotted
at an early stage. He had been in the Alpha team and was
one of the best, and still was.

He was on a spy mission to uncover a Maquis base but it
went wrong. In this situation you had to give yourself a
personality completely different to your own, so he acted
like he was cocky and was always laughing and joking,
which was the complete opposite to Agent Tom Paris. His
true self is serious and clever, which is why he had been
picked at such a young age. He wasn't immune to jokes and
fun like Tuvok but he preferred to train and work on
continually bettering himself as an agent. Many people
said you 'can't get better than Tom Paris' but he had his
own personal goals to accomplish. He got up and walked
out of the mess hall. He would go to his quarters and see
what the S.E.F had to say.

****

At 0700 the 10 agents walked into the shuttle bay looking
around at their surroundings as they walked up to the
older agent they had seen the previous day. They stood in
front of him, knowing very well that they weren't going
on an average induction training course, and that they
weren't going to see their families and friends in a long
time if ever again.

They had been picked for not only their skills and
intelligence but at their ability to keep going and to
stay alive in, what looked like a hopeless situation.
That was one of the main factors that made you a good
agent in the Alpha or in their case, the Delta Quadrant.
It's all well and good if you have the skills but you
also need the stamina to stay alive in deadly situations.
The 10 agents looked at their commanding officer and he
looked right back at them, his face as stoic as a Vulcan.

"This is your ship; you all know your cover story and
make sure you show no true emotions. We need this to look
real if it is going to work at all," the agent said
pointing at them one by one as he said it to make sure he
got through to every single one of the new agents.

"As you can see your ship is brand new, you will get to
the Delta Quadrant and then put out a distress beacon. If
you get into trouble or are attacked before they arrive,
we have developed a high range cloak for emergency use.
We hope to hear from you when the next data stream comes.
You know what you have to do so, good luck; I'll see you
when you get back. Dismissed." The 10 agents walked on to
the shuttle all knowing their place and job.

The older agent stood in the observation room as the
shuttle took off, he wondered if they would ever make it
to the U.S.S Voyager, let alone come back.

****
Paris walked into his quarters wondering what the S.E.F
had to say to him. It wasn't like he could do a mission
for them here, in the Delta Quadrant, but then again you
should never underestimate the S.E.F, if they wanted to
do something they would do it. Paris sat on the sofa the
padd in his hands. * Should I look? * He thought to
himself.

He tapped the padd with his hand and the padd came to
life, his eyes focused on the small screen as he began to
read it.

To Commander Thomas Eugene Paris of the S.E.F.

Commander,

The S.E.F has chosen you, to train the newest and best
agents of the S.E.F.

As you are in the Delta Quadrant, this maybe difficult,
but we at the S.E.F are confident that you will be able
to do it. You are to give them the usual training given
to all new agents. As these are the Alpha agents, you
must give them the toughest training possible.

There are 10 agents and they should be in the Delta
Quadrant around the time you get this letter. They will
arrive via an artificial wormhole. Voyager will receive a
distress call within the next couple of days so be
prepared.

They have their cover story, so play along. They know who
you are, so they will approach you within their first day
onboard Voyager.

I want a report from you in every data stream Commander,
good luck; we know you will do us proud.

Captain John Mavis.

Training co-ordinator for the S.E.F/ Alpha division.

Paris sat with a slight feeling of shock from what he had
read. He would have to do even more lying than he was
already doing, and he was doing enough lying by his
standards already.

Paris sat back, closed his eyes, and gained his bearings.
He opened his eyes and there was no sign of emotion in
them, he stood and walked out the door.

*The S.E.F are counting on me, I'll do what any good
agent would do. * Tom thought as he walked into the
tubolift.

"Holodeck," Paris said plainly and the doors closed.

****

"30 seconds till we enter the wormhole," Davis shouted
over the groans of the ship as it got pulled into the
wormhole.

"We're going in, everyone hold on like in the
simulation," Turner shouted, albeit calmly.

"5…4…3…"Davis shouted to be heard over the straining of
the ship.

"Hold on!" Madison shouted clinging to the side as he
entered in commands.

"1…0." The Ship flew into the wormhole. The 10 agents
were gone.

****

Paris stood in the centre of the holodeck this is where
the training would be held.

"Activate Paris Arrow," Paris said calmly. 'Arrow' was
the training program for S.E.F agents. Every officer was
given the Arrow program, so that they can train
themselves and others in any situation. The surroundings
changed from grey walls to a beautiful forest, which
looked like it went on for miles.

"Activate program 01 with characters," Paris said,
raising his hands, preparing to defend himself against
whatever enemy may appear in the program. The programs
were designed so that it was never the same situation,
and just as hard or harder than the one before it. Paris
looked around waiting for the unexpected to happen, and
it did.

A humanoid in a black suit and mask appeared behind
Paris, grabbing him by the neck trying to snap it. Paris
expertly grabbed the man's arms and threw him over his
back, onto the floor in front of him. The man struggled
up, but Paris kicked him back down and pulled his arm
behind his back to stop him from getting out of his
vulnerable position on the floor.

To complete the level you either have to knock the
enemies out or kill them. Paris didn't mind if he had to
kill someone, but he would only do that if he had no
other choice. In this scenario the best thing to do would
be to knock the person out, as they were more vulnerable,
so he did just that. With one swift punch, the man was on
the floor unconscious.

The man disappeared so that next opponent could come out.
The more opponents that were defeated in the program the
harder the program got. The second enemy, Paris was
forced to break his neck, as he was hard to knock out.
The third fight was just about to start when the com-line
came to life. "Lt. Paris report to the bridge." Janeway
ordered over the line.

*That was quick* Paris thought, knowing exactly what was
happening, and that the charade had begun.

****

"Voyager is within range," Knight said with a smile, they
had managed to get out of the wormhole without being torn
apart, and now just three hours after they had sent out
the distress call, Voyager was coming to their aid.

But Knight started to think that the S.E.F had
strategically put them in empty space
*How long were they planning this before we came along*
Knight thought in wonder.

****

"Hail them." Janeway said, wondering how a Starfleet ship
appeared in the Delta Quadrant.

"They're responding to our hail." Harry reported in his
usual optimistic way.

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Star ship Voyager. We
are responding to your distress call, may we be of some
assistance?" Janeway said as she found herself looking at
the bridge of the Starfleet vessel via the view screen.

She was taken aback at first, as all the crew appeared to
be young Ensigns no older than twenty-one or twenty-two
years of age.

*What are they doing running a star ship all on their
own* Janeway thought, but decided to question later and
help now. "Thank you, Captain. Please may my crew come
onboard? We don't really know where we are." Turner said
looking confused.

"Of course, how many on you're crew?" Janeway asked.

"10," Turner said simply. Janeway looked partly shocked.
"I'll explain later."

Paris had been carefully watching the entire
conversation; there was no doubt about it, that it was
they. Paris had noticed a couple of the young agents
looking at him, they knew who he was. They had probably
been fed holo-pics of him, so that they wouldn't get the
wrong guy. The agent at the front of the ship, apparently
the leader of the team, was discussing preparations with
Janeway for them to come on board for a briefing on their
situation.

****

Turner was in front of the others, discussing the meeting
arrangements for the two ships. They had all spotted
Paris, who was at the front and had looked them over once
or twice, recognising them as his new trainees, and they
too had recognised him as their new trainer.

He was known as the best agent in the S.E.F, qualified
'top of tops', in all subjects. He was the leading
trainee agent of the Alpha team, and was probably the
best you could get. The only flaw in this agent was that
no one knew what his personality really was. He had
played so many, and was always playing one or the other,
so that no one would or could say with certainty that
they know the Paris behind the mask.

They had been given, amongst the piles of padds worth of
notes and orders, Paris' current personality, the
personality he had been playing for almost six years on
Voyager. Apparently he was playing a cocky ex-con pilot,
with a sense of humour that would lighten moods in every
situation. That wasn't that hard, they had to act
themselves, they could not show their true face and they
knew that people might forget who they really are, like
they did with Paris.

"Ok, thank you Captain. We will land in your shuttle bay
and meet you there. I look forward to a proper
introduction, Turner out." Turner closed hailing
frequencies and turned around to look at his colleagues.
"Remember, who you are, and keep your covers." After that
no one said a word as they docked into the bigger ship's
shuttle bay.

*I wonder if we will ever find out who Paris really is.
Or if he even knows himself that is. * Davis thought as
they entered Voyager.

****

Paris watched as the small ship entered Voyager, he
wondered how hard this was going to be; keeping this many
secrets from the crew, and it wasn't just him now. He had
to make sure the young agents didn't slip up and let
something out that they shouldn't. If that happened, then
they would all be found out and non-committed officers
would know about the S.E.F. That was a definite no-no.

If the S.E.F did get found out, then all the projects
that had been going on would be exposed and the S.E.F
would not be able to carry on with their investigations.
Years of hard work and agent sacrifices for the S.E.F
would be for nothing, and all those agents would have
died in vain. He would never let that happen, whatever
the cost.

"Tom, Tuvok, your with me. We're going to meet them in
the shuttle bay and see if we can gets some answers."
Janeway announced heading toward the turbolift. Tom stood
up; he was glad he was going, just in case a slip up
occurred.

****

"Welcome to Voyager, I'm glad to meet you all," said
Janeway looking at every one of them. They were so young.

"Pleased to meet you Captain." Turner said, stepping
forward to greet the Captain in a respectful manner.
Janeway stepped forward and shook each one of their
hands. They all had smiles on their faces. This made
Janeway think that they probably didn't know where they
were.

*I don't want to give them the bad news, right now. I'll
do it when they're sitting down. * Janeway thought,
shaking the last of their new colleagues' hands.

"Please come to our briefing room, we can all get some of
the answers we need." Janeway said guiding them out of
the shuttle bay.

They had noticed Paris, but avoided eye contact, as it
may have looked suspicious. Paris had silently agreed
with their decision to avoid contact for now, as he
walked out last. This was going to get interesting.

****

They all entered the Briefing room, there was not enough
room for all of them so, they decided the three most
senior officers from each crew would sit, while the rest
stood around the table. Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok sat
at one end of the table and Turner, Davis and Knight sat
at the other.

"So, pardon me if I'm way off, but you all look a little
young to be on a ship all by your selves." Janeway said
lightly, starting the meeting she didn't want to shock
them, they'd had been through enough for one day.

"We were on a training mission, and then the wormhole
appeared. When we got through, our sensors said we were
in the…" Turner took a breath, trying to make it look
realistic.

"It said we were in the Delta Quadrant, there must have
been something wrong with the sensors." Turner looked up
a worried look etched onto his face, they had been taught
drama in the S.E.F. All good agents needed to be able to
act, to lie, as lying is an act in itself. "We're not in
the Delta Quadrant are we Captain?" Turner said, not
moving his gaze from the Captain, and neither did anyone
else in the room.

They all had worried looks on their faces, waiting for an
answer that, really, they already knew. "Yes," Janeway
replied simply, bowing her head down, not wanting to the
see the expressions on their faces, but she had to see.
She saw tears fall freely down all of the young Ensign's
faces, they comforted each other, and she felt sick.

They were so young and they were stuck out in the Delta
Quadrant now, like Voyager's own crew. One thing was for
sure they would be a part of this crew, they had enough
space, and she wouldn't leave them being so vulnerable.

Then something struck Janeway. Tom was standing in the
corner of the room, looking at the new additions to the
Voyager crew with a careful eye. But what surprised her
most was that he showed no sign of surprise or sadness.

*Well, Tom doesn't like to show emotions, it's probably
just you Janeway. You're slowly going mad, I'm sure of
it. * Janeway thought with inner humour. Janeway carried
on talking to Turner about the arrangements for them to
join the crew.

****

Tom looked at the new agents, who were about to come
aboard Voyager, to stay. They were supporting each other,
crying in shock from the heart breaking news that they
might never see their families or friends again. If Tom
weren't a highly trained agent he wouldn't have been able
to tell they were faking it. But he had to give it to
them, they were good, they had been trained well by the
S.E.F, very well.

But then, they were the Alpha team; they had to be good
to get trained by him, especially as he was in the Delta
Quadrant. He was going to make good agents out of them,
he knew it, but one of the rules of training a good agent
was to never tell them how good they are until they see
what it's really like to be an S.E.F agent.

*I'll just have to see how they get on, you never know
what to expect in the S.E.F, that's for sure. * Tom
thought, leaning against the wall as he watched the
perfectly timed drama act which displayed its self in
front of him. * You never know. *

****

"Thank you for letting us join your ship Captain, we
don't know what we would have done without you." Turner
said walking out of the briefing room.

"I'm just glad I can help." Janeway said, shaking each
one of the distraught Ensigns' hands. "One of my crew
will take you to each one of your new quarters, get some
rest and we will talk tomorrow."

Janeway scanned her senior officers in search of someone
to show the new crewmen to their quarters, then it hit
her. Tom hadn't said much today, it would be good for
someone like Tom to lighten their moods.

"Tom, show our new crewmen to their quarters, there are
quite a few spare between deck 8 section b-c, if there
isn't enough there go to F.C quarters." Everyone on
Voyager knew that F.C stood for Former Crewmen; people,
friends they had lost over the years.

"Yes, Captain." Tom said casually, guiding the 10 crewmen
out onto the bridge and into the turbolift.

****

The turbolift closed and silence was the only thing,
which dared say anything. The agents looked at each
other, prompting one another to say something. Finally,
the silence was broken.

"Well are we just going to stand here or is someone going
to report to me as an agent should?" Paris said, out of
the blue.

The agents were momentary shocked by the disrupted
silence, but Turner got his act together and stepped
forward, he was the leader of the Alpha team's new
agents.

"Sir, we are here in the Delta Quadrant, so that you may
train us, to be at the same standard that you are today.
You know our cover from the briefing." Turner said
looking at Paris, the only sign of emotion in his
beaming, brown eyes was respect.

"Good. Now listen; in public you will call me Tom, when
we are training you will call me sir or Paris I do not
mind. On this ship you will make friends, gain their
trust, but you will not use your real emotions. They must
be fake emotions, or you will get attached and it will
end badly." Paris paused to make sure the agents
understood what he was saying.
When he knew his words had sunk in, he continued, "I've
got many friends on this ship, and if you don't already
know we call them Project friends. You may go into a
'project' relationship, but no emotions. I'm in a project
relationship with Lt. Torres, the chief engineer, I don't
despise her, which helps, but it is a purely project
relationship to avoid suspicion."

Paris looked over the young agents one at a time, making
eye contact with each one as he went on, "when you see us
being intimate in the mess hall, it is all an act. In
public I am cocky and always making jokes. That is not
the real me at all. I'm not exactly bright when it comes
to my acting personality, I pretend to be useless at
science and engineering, but it's all to avoid suspicion
again. You've all read my file, so you know my
expertise."

He took another, very short pause, to give the agents
time to process this information. Then he stood
straighter than he had before, if that was even possible,
signalling the importance of his next words. "You will
train with me in the holodeck from 0200 hours until 0600,
which will fit in with your duty shifts as none of you
will be put on night shifts."

While Paris continued his speech, the turbolift began to
slow down as it approached deck 8, "If you become too
tired, the S.E.F stimulant hyposprays to keep you awake
are in my quarters, ask me as soon as you get fatigued.
Your first few days may seem difficult, but you will get
used to it."

The turbolift stopped, and the doors opened. As Paris led
the group of young agents off the turbolift and down the
corridor, he made certain the corridor was empty before
continuing, "Don't worry about anything else for now, I
have sorted out the holodeck bookings, all you have to do
is be there tomorrow night. Rest tonight, you will need
it." As he said the last few words, he pointed to five
spare rooms in the Guest section. "Get into pairs, you
will share between two, I'll leave you to pick your own
roommates."

And with that, Tom departed, leaving the agents
speechless where they stood. They quickly organised
themselves and went into their new sleeping quarters, but
all of them knew they weren't going to be sleeping much.

****

Paris walked into his quarters and sat down, this was
going to be tricky and he knew it. He was going to put
these agents through rough training and also try to blend
them into the Voyager family. The fact was Paris felt
guilty, 7 out of 10 agents died in their work and he was
training them so seven would die.

He was once a leader of Alpha trainees, like Turner, and
yesterday he found out that he was the only one still
alive out of 10. 1 out of 10, this is what they were
getting themselves into.

****

Janeway sat in her quarters thinking about the day's
events. She felt sorry for them, but she also thought
there was something weird about it, but it was probably
just her imagination. Tom had been distant and had said
nothing about taking them to their Quarters or anything
in fact; she would have to talk to him later.

Anyway if anything were wrong, he would tell her,
wouldn't he? He kept to himself a lot, there being most
likely things that even B'Elanna didn't know and probably
never would. Suddenly the red alert alarms went off. The
Captain ran out of the door. The day wasn't over yet; it
was never over in the Delta Quadrant.

****
2 of 12
Chapter 2: The hidden act


"What is it?" Janeway shouted to be heard over the
klaxons while running on to the bridge. She watched as
the crew scrambled around busily in response to the
threat posed by the ship on the view screen, as it opened
fire on Voyager. She got her answer. "I take it they're
not responding to hails." Janeway said, sitting down in
her chair, at that moment Paris walked in and took over
the helm, expertly dodging the fire from the other ship.

"Tom, try and get us out of here, now!" Janeway shouted,
looking at the view screen as Tom went to warp. The
rocking of the ship from enemy fire ceased. "They're not
in pursuit Captain." Paris said looking at the console.
"Good, well if that's all for the day I'm going back to
my quarters," Janeway said, walking out of the door.
"Anyone else who is not on duty may go as well." She said
walking into the turbolift. The officers not on duty got
up and left as well, Paris included. He wasn't tired, but
every S.E.F officer knows that you should sleep when you
can, because you don't know when you will get to sleep
again.

Paris walked down the corridor; all he could think about
was getting back to his Quarters. It was the only place
where he could read and just be himself, something that
most people took for granted, but it was part of the job
he loved. Paris rounded the corner, heading to his
Quarters, and saw her standing by his quarters, he
definitely didn't want to keep up the act now, but what
choice did he have.

"Hi B'Elanna," Paris said giving her a convincing peck on
the cheek and a hug. "What are you doing here at this
hour?" he asked.
"I came to see you," B'Elanna said looking at her lover.
"After the attack, I wondered if you were ok." Paris
didn't want to get into this now, it was harder than most
people thought to pretend to love someone, especially
long term. Sometimes, if he closed his eyes, he could
forget that the depth of his lies didn't matter, but he
always knew deep down, they did. "Tom, are you ok,"
B'Elanna said, touching his face in hope of bringing him
out of his thoughts. Paris flinched, and realised that
she was talking to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll see you later B'Elanna." Paris
said, walking into his quarters, the doors abruptly
closing behind him, and then he leaned against the closed
doors.
*Lying is my life* Paris thought closing his eyes hoping
for some minutes of peace, which seemed to so rarely
come.

****

"Hey, wake up, Knight. Wake up!" Casey whispered from the
top bunk. Knight murmured and rolled onto her side.
"What time is it?" Knight asked, opening her eyes.

"0400 hours," Casey said in an innocent voice. Casey was
the youngest of them all, and had been signed up at
eighteen. She was now only twenty and on the Alpha team,
in the Delta Quadrant.

"You have got to be kidding me…goodnight!" Knight said
closing her eyes to go back to sleep.
"Knight, the book says if your trainer decides to do
night training, for whatever reason, you must wake up in
the night in order to get into the routine." Casey smiled
as she read from the S.E.F regulations book.

"Good for you, now turn off that light and let me get
some shut eye, please." Knight said tucking down for the
second time.
"Knight…" Casey, said sitting all the way up.

"Goodnight, Casey!" Knight said sternly. Casey sat up and
continued to read.

*I will be a great agent* Casey thought going through the
book.

****

Janeway sat in the briefing room, she couldn't get over
the fact that they had got away so easily yesterday. They
weren't even followed, and it didn't make sense. The
senior staff filed into the briefing room, followed by
the ten new crewmembers.

"Did you find your quarters comfortable?" Janeway asked,
showing them to their chairs. They had replicated some
more this morning so that they could all sit down.

"Yes, thank you." Turner said, replying on the other nine
agents' behalf.

"Good, now…you can stay on Voyager. As you are all from
Starfleet, I've looked at all your files which were on
the ship and have assigned you your duties, you'll all be
on the day shift, so you don't have to be up all night."
Janeway waited a moment, and noted that the young
officers seemed to have adjusted well, considering the
circumstances. "Today you must report to the Doctor to be
checked over, and entered into the Voyager crew
manifest." Janeway said rising from her seat. "Welcome
aboard, officially."

****

"Not up all night? Somehow I get the feeling that's not
going to be true." Knight snorted as she and Casey walked
into the mess hall for lunch. They had started duty this
morning and were on their lunch break.

It wasn't bad working on Voyager, but everyone was
talking so slowly, like they didn't know anything, they
thought they were ordinary Starfleet Ensigns, but they
weren't, they were S.E.F agents. Well…nearly. They hadn't
got their codes and ID's yet. They had to pass the
training first, but they were close enough.

"Well, if you had stayed up with me last night, you might
not have been complaining now," Casey smirked, she was
too eager for her own good. Casey's problem wasn't
intelligence, she had more than enough of that, and it
definitely wasn't fitness and stamina.

No, Casey's only flaw was emotions; she let them out to
easily. She probably wouldn't have got in, but they
couldn't turn down someone with her talent. People like
her are rare, and emotions weren't going to get in their
way, they needed good agents.

That's why Knight was always with her; Knight was looking
out to make sure she didn't slip up. They walked towards
the table in the corner, where some of the other agents
were sitting down, having their lunch break as well. They
started walking towards the table when Paris or rather
Tom walked in front of them with B'Elanna.

"Hey, you finding your way around the ship alright?"
B'Elanna said politely, looking at the new crewmen. She
dragged Tom to the table and sat down. The table was
opposite the agents. They watched this man 'Tom' laugh,
and joke with the crew, and stare at B'Elanna, with love
in his bright, blue, orbs. If they hadn't of known it was
all an act, they would of thought he really was Tom.

B'Elanna got up and left saying her good byes to Tom as
she left. When B'Elanna was out of the door, Tom turned
around to look at the agents, he stared them in the eye.
His bright, blue, orbs were gone, and cold, blue,
emotionless eyes, had taken their place. The agents knew
they were no longer looking at Tom, but at Paris.

****

Paris looked at the agents on the opposite table, he had
realised they had been looking at him and B'Elanna, and
decided it best to give them an emotionless stare so that
they knew that it was all an act and it wasn't a real
relationship. About 8 years ago he was sent a bunch of
fresh agents and one of them saw him kissing a woman. He
went and told the S.E.F that Paris had been disregarding
his mission by going into a relationship with a project.

When Paris told them it was all an act, the young agent
was kicked out for not being able to tell the difference
between a project relationship, and a real one. He didn't
want the same to happen here. Paris got up and walked out
of the mess hall, and into the corridor.

Paris wasn't a bad guy; he just wasn't Tom. People see
the contrast, between him and Tom, like the agents did
back there, and they immediately think that, Paris is an
emotionless man who only cares about his job. But Paris
knew that wasn't true, yes he is dedicated to his job as
an agent for the S.E.F, but he did in his own way care
for Voyager's crew, he didn't want them to get hurt. He
wasn't emotionless he had emotions, it was just that he
just didn't show them. Any good agent knows what can
happen if real emotions show.

****

"He's good." Turner said, half to himself and half to the
other agents on the table.
"He's very good!" Knight said, looking at Turner with a
bewildered look on her face.
"What do you think he is really like?" Casey asked, with
excitement on her face.
"Well, we'll find out tonight won't we?" Turner said
looking at Casey.
"I think it'll take a bit longer than a night to figure
Paris out." Knight said, shaking her head.

She had never met anyone like Paris before, some one who
could act out a completely different personality to his
or her own. Ever since Knight was a small girl, she had
been different, not like the other boys and girls. For
one, she never cried. In her entire life she didn't
remember crying.

Her parents told her that after she was one year old, she
never cried again. It was something she didn't do, and
definitely didn't want to start. She thought she was the
only one, but now she knew, she belonged in the S.E.F.

****

A distant sound rung in her ears, a sound, which seemed
so close, but was just unreachable. "It is 0100 hours, it
is 0100 hours, it is 0100 hours…" the wake up call said
in its usual lifeless voice.
"It is 0…." The wake up call started again, but was cut
off.
" I get the picture, stop wake up call!" Casey said
annoyed. She jumped off the top bunk and walked into the
lounge area. She was slightly surprised to see Knight
already up and dressed.

"Hi Casey, you going to get ready?" Knight asked in a
flat voice.
"Yeah, I'll go now!" Casey said, walking into the
bathroom to get ready.
Knight sat with a cup of coffee in her hands, and a padd
in the other. On the padd was a picture of Paris
standing, for the photo; under the picture were his
details.
He fascinated her, not in a romantic way, but she felt
like she needed to figure him out.

Commander Thomas Eugene Paris. Top clearance, major
expertise. Code name: Alpha001.

*How do I figure him out, if I can't even figure out
myself? * Knight thought glaring at the screen. *But I
will figure you out Paris, I promise. *

****

Paris walked down the corridor towards the holodeck.
Luckily nobody was around at this time, so it was easier
to get to the holodeck without being seen. But it wasn't
himself that he was worried about. The agents were young
and if they were caught… Well, he didn't want to think
about that; all he was hoping for was that they had got
there on time and without being noticed.

Paris reached the holodeck, and saw 10 faces staring at
him. The first thing he noticed, was that even though to
an average person, they looked completely serious, with
no emotion showing on their faces, he could see the fear
in, all but one of their eyes. He would look into that
later. But why were they scared? He wasn't that bad.

"Good, you are all on time for your first training
session," Paris said, opening the holodeck program he
needed. The doors opened and they walked into a building,
which resembled a gym, and it was huge. Paris led them
over to the mats in the middle of the room. They stood in
a line looking at Paris, waiting for orders.
"The first thing a good agent must learn is hand-to-hand
combat." Paris said, looking at each one of the agents,
"No doubt you have learned basics in the academy, but
here you will learn the more advanced levels." Paris
walked closer to them as he spoke.
"Different teachers have taught you, so you are all at
different levels. I am going to fight each of you, then
put you into one of three groups: basic, intermediate and
advanced. It does not matter which group your in, by the
time we are done, you will all be more than advanced."
Paris said, preparing to fight with Davis.

Davis managed to block the first three moves but was
knocked over and pinned with a kick. Davis lay on the
floor; Paris didn't even seem effected by the fight.
Paris put out his arm and helped him up. "Well done
Davis. Intermediate." Paris said clearly. He expected all
of them to be basic, but it looked like they were doing
well.

Paris walked over to the next agent and began the same
process. Six more agents were fought, and they did well.
Madison was intermediate, Matthews was basic, Levis was
basic, Morris was intermediate, Sharp was basic and
Wright was basic. There were only three agents left
Turner, Knight and Casey.

Paris walked up to Turner and started to fight, he
managed to dodge moves and nearly got Paris, even though
he didn't know. Paris ended the fight and helped him up.
"Well done Turner. Advanced." Tom said with a small smile
on his face. Turner walked back, with a smile on his own
face.

Paris walked over to Knight; she looked him in the eye,
no fear at all. The fight lasted nearly as long as
Turner's did. "Well done Knight. Advanced." He said
helping her up off the floor. She walked over to Turner.
The last and youngest agent was Casey, Paris didn't
expect much, he was wrong.

She lasted longer than Turner and nearly got him three
times. "Very well done Casey! Advanced." She smiled and
went over to the others. " That was good, now fight each
person in your group, and then work on your weaknesses. I
will be coming around to go over each of your weak points
with you." Paris started to walk around. He knew that
they were each going to become great agents.

*Hopefully they will beat the odds and all survive. *
Paris thought walking to the first group. *Hopefully. *

****
3 of 12

                                       Chapter 3: Driven
to the edge


Paris sat in the mess hall, eating his soup waiting for
B'Elanna to come. The mess hall doors opened and Knight
came in with Casey as usual. They walked over to the
table Paris was sitting at, and sat down.

"Yes?" Paris said in a neutral tone. Even though Paris
didn't admit it, he liked the agents; they were the
closest things he had to real friends. Sure he had
friends in the Alpha Quadrant, other agents and that, but
out here, all his friends were projects and he was always
acting to them, pretending to be Tom never Paris, always
Tom, but now he could be Paris again for four hours in
the early morning. And after six years of only Tom, it
was a change to be himself for once.

"Can me, Casey, and all of us go to the party in the
other holodeck tonight instead of well, training?" Knight
said hopefully, looking at Paris. She would never tell
him that the only reason she wanted to go was because,
she wanted to watch him interact with the crew, or Tom
interact with the crew. She realised that if she was
going to figure out Paris, she would need to see him as
Tom first, and a party was a great opportunity.

"It would be good for making project friends, and if we
don't go it will look suspicious," Casey said looking
into Paris eyes in a pleading way. The agents weren't
scared of Paris anymore, he was a lot like them in ways,
but he wasn't as strict as they thought he would be.

"Ok, I was going to let you go any way to interact with
the crew, also it would be too dangerous to be training
in the next holodeck," Paris said, as if it was no big
deal. But it was, Paris wasn't keen on the thought of
being Tom for a night, when he was getting used to being
Paris again, but he could pull it off all he had to do is
be Tom.
*Easy* Tom thought, watching, Knight and Casey walk away.
*Real easy*

****

"We're in Knight" said as she sat down by Turner
"This is a perfect chance, to choose our act," Turner
said in thinking about what personality, he was going to
be.
"Among over things of course," Knight said getting the
other agents attention.
"What are you planning Knight?" Davis said in an accusing
voice.
"Nothing that concerns you," Knight whispered loudly to
the other agents then turned her back to them and went
out of the door, with a proud look on her face.

"We'd better keep an eye on her," Turner said looking at
the door, which had just slammed closed, with Knight's
departure. Casey got up to follow Knight; she needed to
know what this was all about.

****

Paris walked into his quarters, and sat down on his
chair. He watched the stars fly by the window, Going at
warp speed, always took his mind off things. He was
worried about tonight, and he hadn't been worried in a
long time. It wasn't because he couldn't be Tom anymore;
he had been playing the part for over 6 years, but that
he had almost turned into Tom completely. Some days he
used to forget he was acting. Now he was reminded, who he
was, what he did, why he did it, and it reminded him
that, for everyday he'd been here, on this ship, he had
lied, and now that thought was eating away at him,
staying fresh in his mind, with no plan of leaving. Then
it hit him all of a sudden, he wasn't Tom, but he wished
he were.

****

Knight waited outside the bedroom for Casey, they were
due at the party in 10 minutes and Casey still wasn't
ready. Out of all of the agents, Knight had grown closest
to Casey, she was like her little sister, but she didn't
want to think about what she had left behind, what they
had all left behind. Their families didn't even know they
were in the Delta Quadrant.

*No I mustn't think about that, the S.E.F have entrusted
us to gather information from the Delta Quadrant, it will
give them an advantage. We are out here, because we are
the best, they trust us. * Knight thought as she squeezed
her eyes shut, and held her head. Opening her eyes she
stood up straight. *I'll make it. *

****

Paris walked into the party with B'Elanna on his arm, it
was Ensign Watson's birthday party. It was set on a
beach, it was night and there were tables and chairs,
with lights that shone around the area. Music hummed
quietly in the background, over ruled by the talking, and
laughing, of the crew. Paris suddenly felt out of place,
none of the people in this room had lied, had pretended
to be someone they weren't. They hadn't tricked friends
into trusting someone's charade of a life.

"Tom, B'Elanna, over here," Harry shouted, who was
standing with Neelix, the Captain and the Commander, they
started to walk over to them, B'Elanna smiling.

*Tom fitted in perfectly here* Tom thought greeting them
with a smile, *Paris didn't*

****

Knight and Casey walked into the already crowded room and
searched for Paris, she saw him, standing, laughing, and
having fun with the other Voyager crewmembers.

"Damn." Casey said turning around to face the door, that
they had just this minute, come through, " I forgot my
necklace."
"So," Knight said to her in a laid back attitude.
"It's my good luck charm, I'll have bad luck if I'm not
wearing it, I never go any where without it, till today,
of course," Casey said biting her lower lip.

"You and your stupid superstition, go and get it then,"
Knight said pointing at the door. Casey almost ran out,
Knight turned around with a smile on her face."
*That girl! *Casey thought, turning around to watch Paris
socialise.

****

The creature, slowly made its way up the decks of the
ship, watching people pass and go around him, it sat,
waiting for an opportunity to catch its prey. And then
its prey was in front of him, unaware, he would never see
tomorrow.

****

Casey rushed out of the turbolift, in to an empty
corridor, she had no time to think, and she wanted to get
back to the party. She rushed along the corridor and
could see her quarters as she turned the corner; she was
only five meters away from the door when she slipped.
Casey got up, thinking how she would tell Knight that she
had slipped when she didn't have her necklace on. Not
really bothered and too entranced to see what she slipped
on she continued on her way to her quarters.

*Who would spill some water and leave it there* Casey
thought, lifting up her hands to wipe them on her top.
Suddenly Casey stopped. Looking at her hands covered in
thick red blood, which was already drying on her shaking
hands. She turned around, her hands still out in front of
her, the blood dripping on to the already coated floor,
her eyes slowly followed the blood puddle, which started
at her feet, she knew what she was going to see, and even
tried to prepare herself. The blood went around the
corridor, Casey didn't want to follow it, but she had to.
Her eyes caught a glimpse of a bloody hand, her lower lip
shaking violently, the rest of her body copying it, as
her eyes continued up the arm and on to the exposed
chest. She took in a sharp breath. She realised this man
had been devoured. Casey held her bloody hand up to her
mouth, in utter shock, as her eyes reached the man's
head, his eyes fully open, with a terrified look on his
face, which would never go away. Tears cascaded down
Casey's face, as she broke her eyes away from the
traumatising sight. She looked down at her hands one more
time, and without thinking, ran into her quarters. Her
only thought was to get the deep red blood off her hands.

****

Paris was talking to Janeway, when he noticed Casey come
in. He wouldn't have been bothered if he'd noticed a
glimpse of shock in her eyes. He carried on talking to
Janeway, but keeping an eye on Casey, hoping to discover
whatever it was she was upset about.

****

Casey walked around the holodeck, looking for someone to
tell, she had cleaned herself of all the blood; she was a
new comer, they may blame her if she had blood-covered
clothes. She needed to tell someone, and now. When she
had walked out of her room, the body hadn't moved
everyone would still be at the party or on duty. She
looked around in desperation, thinking over her training,
but it was different in real life, the man was really
dead, and the creature that did it was real, and on the
ship. They tried to prepare you for this at the S.E.F,
but nothing could ever prepare you for what happened to
that man.
Her brown eyes, caught blue eyes, she had to tell Paris.
Casey turned around to face the blue eyes and started
walking up to him with a mask on her face, trying to hide
her fear, but she was never any good at that. Casey felt
like she was going to burst into tears, right here, right
now, but she knew she couldn't, she was an agent, that
meant no tears and no emotions. She didn't want to be
weak in front of Paris, of all people. He probably
wouldn't mind it was a traumatic sight, but she still
didn't want him to see her like this. She walked right up
to Paris; he turned and looked her in the eye.
*Tell him* Casey thought opening her mouth, ready to
speak. *You must tell him, now*

****

Paris turned around and saw dark, brown eyes staring back
at him. Casey eyes were full of fear, red circles,
clearly marked the tears, which had fell not long ago.
Her mouth parted, but nothing followed. Paris could see a
layer of water forming over her eyes.

"Casey," he said, looking down at her. "What's the
matter?" Paris asked questioningly. By now they had
gathered some attention, Janeway's included. Janeway had
left it to long, she stepped forward to get involved.

"Why don't you come with me, to my ready room, we can
chat," Janeway said touching her arm, trying to comfort
her. As soon as Janeway's hand reached her arm, she
noticeably flinched, and quickly regretted it, as now
people were really starting to crowd around, to see what
was going on. Casey could see Paris, looking for some way
to escape the crowd. Janeway looked at the girl, with a
caring look on her face.

*She's distraught, I've got to talk to her alone* Janeway
thought leading her slowly away from the crowd.

****

Paris saw Janeway leading the helpless girl, out of the
holodeck. He couldn't let her talk to Janeway in this
state, he had to get her to calm down, and tell him what
happened. By now they had just walked out of the door, he
could catch up with them, if he got going now. Paris
quickly made his way out of the Holodeck, in search of
his agent.

****

Janeway closed the door of the turbolift, She thought see
had seen someone running after them, wanting to get into
the turbolift, but the door had closed. Who ever it was,
would have to get the next one. Janeway looked at the
girl, and a girl she was. Casey was her name, and she was
the youngest of the newcomers. Janeway looked in her dark
eyes, they were still glazed over with water, and she
looked like she was going to burst into tears at any
moment, but she didn't, she just stood straight, using
all of her concentration to control her tears.

*Poor girl, hope we find out what the matter is. *

****

Paris ran around the corner, just in time to see the
doors of the turbolift close. He had to get there and
fast. If he ran down the corridor, he could get the
turbolift to the Quarters, then get the other turbolift
to the bridge; it would be a lot quicker than waiting for
another turbolift. Paris turned and ran down the hall,
wondering why Casey was in such a state. Little did Paris
know he was about to find out?

****

Casey walked on to the bridge, and followed Janeway into
her ready room. She felt like she was going to burst out
crying. Casey sat down in the chair, opposite Janeway.
Janeway looked at her with caring eyes. Casey felt a tear
slide down her face, followed by many more, she couldn't
keep a secret as big as this one, and she had to tell
someone. The body had driven her over the edge. Casey
felt more tears, which had been waiting to fall, drop
down her cheeks. She saw Janeway move towards her, trying
to calm her down. Casey's head shot up, her eyes red with
falling tears.

*I have to tell someone that I'm not who they think, *
Casey thought her mouth opening in order to speak. *I
have to tell someone now. *

****

Paris jogged on to the Quarters deck and neared the
turbolift when something caught his eye. A body with a
deathly white face stared at him. He was shocked, and he
guessed this must have been what Casey was upset over. He
walked closer, studying the dead crewman. He had been
eaten, but by what? Paris looked at the corpse more
closely. Paris's face went white, he knew the creature
that had done this, and he knew it very well.

****

The creature paused, as a man stood, looking over the
body, which no longer put up a fight. He recognised the
human's features. He walked up behind the man, waiting
for the right time to go in for the kill. The man turned
around, he did not look shocked to see the creature, and
instead he looked him dead in the eye. The creature
didn't know much about him, but he did know to stay away
from this one, this one was dangerous.

****
4 of 12
                            Chapter 4: A shoulder  to cry
upon


Janeway stood in front of the young woman, giving her
time to breathe, whatever she had to say was big on her
part. The young woman opened her mouth to speak, the
words on the tip of her tongue.

"Tuvok to Janeway," Tuvok said over the com.

"Here, what is it Tuvok," Janeway said slightly annoyed,
she was so close to getting this poor girl to open up.

"Crewman Mitchell was found dead on the quarters deck,"
Tuvok said, in his usual monotone voice.

"What? How? Dead! I'll be right there," Janeway said
closing the com-line before turning to Casey." Stay here,
I'll be back then we can talk," Janeway said in soothing
voice. With that Janeway walked out of the door, and
headed towards the crew quarters deck.

****

Paris looked at the body, it lay there, motionless. Paris
had called Tuvok immediately, as the crew needed to know
the threat. He had wanted to go and find Casey, but they
had wanted him to stay, as he had found the body and fill
out a report. He wasn't worried about Casey telling
anymore, Janeway probably didn't have time to hear what
she had to say. At that moment he heard footsteps coming
his way, he knew it had to be Janeway, because this
section was closed off to everyone but the security team,
him and Janeway.

Janeway walked over and talked to Tuvok. Paris saw her
turn her face away from the body, obviously upset and
worried about the death of one of her crewmembers. Tuvok
finished his conversation with Janeway, and walked to his
security team. Janeway looked once more at the
devastating sight, which once was a loyal member of her
crew. Paris felt slightly sorry for the Captain, one
because of what she was going through losing just one
member of her crew, and two, because more lives would
most definitely be lost. Janeway looked up and caught his
eye, she looked shocked, and started walking over.

"Tom, what are you doing here/" Janeway said with a
confused look on her face.

"Captain, didn't Tuvok tell you, I found him," Paris
said, looking Janeway in the eye. He hadn't said body.
"Tuvok said I should stay here."

"Why don't you go back to your quarters, I think we can
trust you not to tell anyone yet, we don't want people to
start panicking," Janeway said, patting Paris on the
shoulder. Paris nodded his thanks, and started walking
out of the restricted area, not to go to his quarters,
but to find Casey.

****

Casey hadn't waited long, she had started thinking about
what she had almost done, she nearly exposed the S.E.F.
After a couple of minutes of that thought echoing in her
mind, she decided to talk to Paris about her problems,
and telling Janeway about the S.E.F was not acceptable.

*I'll find Paris, he'll help me, that's what he's there
for. * Casey thought walking down the corridor *He'll
help me through this. *

****

Janeway couldn't believe it, one of her crewmembers had
been consumed by an unknown creature, the thought of it
made her feel sick. The more worrying thought was that
the creature was still on her ship, and that more lives
could be taken in this devastating way. They had to find
it, usually that would have been easy, just look on the
ship's internal sensors to find any unwanted life forms,
but this creature seemed to mask its life-signs in some
way. Janeway hated to think who would be next and hoped
there wouldn't be a next.
Janeway walked onto the bridge, she was just about to sit
down, when she remembered Casey was in her Ready room.
Janeway walked in, expecting to see Casey standing there,
but she wasn't in the room. Janeway strode onto the
bridge with a perplexed look on her face.
"She said she had to be somewhere, she was in a rush." An
Ensign said, realising the reason for her bewilderment.
"Thank you Ensign," Janeway said walking into the
turbolift. The doors closed and Janeway addressed the
computer. "Where on board is Ensign Casey?" Janeway said
expecting the young woman's quarters or one of the other
newcomers quarters.
"Ensign Casey is in Lt Paris' quarters," The computer
stated in its usual tone.
*Why is Casey in Tom's quarters* Janeway thought
confused, then again Casey had gone to speak to Tom
first, maybe they were friends or something, she hadn't
known. Janeway made her way to Paris' quarters, she
needed to speak to Casey.

****

Paris' sat in his quarters, he had asked the computer
where Casey was but the computer had said she was moving.
Paris had guessed she was going to be coming to him, so
he would wait. Paris didn't have to wait little over a
minute before his chime rung.

"Come in" Paris said to the person on the other side of
the door, he knew who it was, but he had to pretend he
didn't expect her. He knew she wouldn't say anything, she
was to dedicated she was just shuck up with finding the
body. Casey walked into the quarters wearing a worried
expression on her face. Paris would have to agree with
what her file and the other agents said about her, her
only weakness was that she showed emotions easily, but
Paris would fix that. He was one of the best, especially
at hiding his emotions, and if it took extra training for
Casey so that she could hide her emotions as well, he
would do. This girl was clever and Turner had given him a
letter from the S.E.F, saying that Casey could be one of
the best if she could conceal her emotions. Paris then
realised something, why did they send their new best
agents in training to the Delta Quadrant? He had looked
at Casey's file, and wondered why they had given him all
this information on her. Then he got it, the reason all
ten of these agents were here to be trained by, was not
just so the S.E.F would have some agents in another
quadrant, but so Casey could be taught by him, to control
her emotions, that was the mission.

*Casey's really clever and good at nearly everything, I
can see why they want to train her but what's so special
about her, that they have to send her to me, when I'm in
the Delta Quadrant. It must have taken years to develop
the technology, so what's so special about Casey. * Paris
thought realising Casey still hadn't come in.

"Come in," Paris said for a second time. Casey walked in
trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Sir, I need…" Casey said, stopping as she straightened
up and spoke again in a stronger more controlled voice.
"I need to speak to you."

"At ease, before you break your back. Sit down," Paris
said trying to ease the situation. Casey loosened up and
sat down next to Paris.

"You found the man, didn't you," Paris said in a calm
reassuring voice. Casey nodded and burst out crying.
Paris got a tissue, in these cases it was best to let
them get it out of their systems, reassure them, and
that's what she did. Casey leaned on his shoulder crying
her eyes out. He thought he heard her say sorry over and
over again, he felt sorry for her, he felt sorry for all
of them.

****

Janeway walked down Voyager's corridors on the way to
Tom's quarters, to speak to Casey. Janeway stepped up to
Tom's quarters and wondered how good a friend Tom was to
Casey. She had never seen them eating in the mess hall,
or talking for that matter. Janeway rang the door chime
and awaited a response, and got one.

"Come in," Janeway walked in on the sound of Tom's voice.
Janeway was a bit taken back when she saw the scene in
Tom's lounge area. Casey was leaning on Tom's shoulder,
tears falling freely down her cheeks while Tom was
handing her tissues. He looked up to see the Captain and
so did Casey, taking her head off of Tom's shoulder and
wiping her eyes to clear the tears.

"Captain, something wrong?" Paris said in his best,
surprised voice, he knew she would be coming.

" Nothing is, wrong Tom, I just need to talk to Ensign
Casey for a minute," Janeway said with a motherly smile
on her face. "We need to finish our conversation,
remember." Casey looked at Paris for reassurance, she
couldn't tell. Paris understood that Casey had regained
her self-control, and wasn't going to tell Janeway about
the S.E.F.

"Casey, it's ok, you can tell me," Janeway said, looking
at her softly.

"I don't think she wants to talk about it right now,
Captain," Paris said politely. Janeway looked at Tom he
had a stern look in his eyes, one she hadn't seen before,
a cold look.

"Ok, I'll speak to you when your ready," Janeway said
walking out of the door. She had never seen Tom like that
before; he was like a totally different person.

****

Paris watched as Janeway walked out of the door, he was
mad at her and for a moment he had let it show a little.
Janeway was being selfish just then, which was a rare
thing for the brilliant Captain; she had come here not to
comfort the girl, but to get the information she wanted
out of her. Paris looked up as he saw Casey walk into the
bathroom and close the door, he put his head in his
hands, how could he blame Janeway? She didn't know any
better, she may be a good Captain but when all things
were added up she was only Starfleet.
Paris didn't like Starfleet, even though the S.E.F and
Starfleet worked closely with one another, they thought
they were the only organisation worthy of being in space.
They thought they were good at what they did, and some of
them were good, but not as good as any S.E.F agent. S.E.F
agents had been trained in everything. Only top Starfleet
officials knew about them for many reasons, the main one
being that they would want to be a part of the missions.
They would always be asking to do joint work but they
didn't understand how good you have to be to be an agent.
Casey walked out of the bathroom, bringing Paris' mind to
the present, her face was dry and her eyes focused. She
nodded to Paris, and headed towards the door, just before
she was about to go out she looked at Paris her eyes
calm.
"Thank you," She said, turning around again.

"Just remember, your staying behind for an hour after
training, so you can learn to control your emotions,"
Paris said looking her in the eye smiling, and with that
she walked out. Paris' smile faded and a sad look
replaced it, he had given her a shoulder to cry on, he
hadn't done that in a while. Paris' face turned back to
neutral. He closed his eyes, his mind going back to the
real problem, the creature.

****

Janeway walked into the sickbay, her eyes filled with
sorrow as she saw the lifeless Ensign on the bio-bed.
"Doctor," Janeway said simply, it was all she needed to
say.

"It's confirmed, he was eaten," The Doctor replied
looking at the Captain, he knew what she was thinking,
who's next?

****

Paris walked into the Mess hall for breakfast, he looked
around and saw Harry, sitting alone. Paris walked up to
him, and sat down. "What's, the matter Harry?" said Paris
acting in his friendly way.

"You haven't heard," Harry said looking up at Tom.

"You mean the devoured crewman, yep I know," Paris said
calmly.

"You don't seem very upset," Harry said, upset that his
friend wasn't bothered. When Paris didn't speak up Harry
continued, "I feel sorry for the person who found the
body."

"I found him, didn't you know?" Paris stated plainly, he
was acting a lot like Paris today, probably because he
didn't fell like being Tom today.

"You! Are you ok? It must have been a horrible sight,"
Harry said worried about his friend.

"Harry, it's not like I'm the one who was eaten alive,"
Paris said, slightly annoyed at how naive Harry was.

"Still," Harry said so quietly that it was almost a
whisper, Paris only just heard it. Harry got up and left,
saying a small good bye to Paris as he walked out of the
mess hall doors.

****

The creature moved slowly along the deck, he was hungry
again. He needed food and soon. The creature looked
around wondering who was next. A man walked out of the
mess hall doors, he looked upset, he had dark hair and
eyes, and he looked young and naïve, perfect.

****

Harry walked out of the mess hall, he was mad at Tom for
not caring. Harry walked up to his quarters and entered
the code, he heard someone behind him, and he smiled, Tom
had probably come to apologise. Harry turned and the
expression on his face drastically changed, as his eyes
lay upon a creature, the creature. The one that had
consumed the Ensign. Harry thought for a second if he was
ever going to see tomorrow, or was it all over for him,
and maybe even Voyager.

****
5 of 12


Chapter 5: The Mothsa


Paris was making his way back to his quarters, when he
heard the scream. He knew straight away who it was and
hurried around the corner. Harry was in trouble. Ok so he
wasn't really the green Starfleet officers' friend, but
he didn't want him to die, he didn't want anyone one this
ship to die. Paris rounded the corner wondering if he was
too late, that Harry had already lost to the creature's
cruel attack on him. He looked at Harry lying on the
floor, alive. His eyes were open, blood pouring out of
his left arm. The creature stood above the stricken
Ensign, looking down, awaiting the perfect moment to go
for the kill, but Paris knew he wasn't going to let that
happen.
Paris rushed forward and punched the creature in the back
of its head; it turned its eyes meeting Paris', looking
annoyed at the man for disrupting him, while hunting. The
creature's eyes showed anger, and no fear for the man in
front of him, but Paris saw the change in the creature's
eyes as he realised who he was. The man, from the
corridor. In that exact instant, the creature forgot
about his weakened prey, which lay helplessly behind
watching this scene with utter shock. Paris looked into
the creature's eyes, no fear dared showed it's face in
his eyes, it hadn't done in a while. Paris brought his
fist up and hit the creature, with one big blow. And with
that the creature ran, leaving Paris wondering only one
thing, why hadn't it fought back, or rather, why couldn't
it fight back?

****

Paris looked down at Harry, he had known that Harry had
watched the entire scene that took place just a minute
ago. It was going to make Paris look suspicious; Harry
would ask questions, lots of them. But he was going to
sort that out later, at the moment Harry needed to get to
sickbay.

"Computer, emergency transport to sickbay," Paris said
quickly, and a warm, blue glow formed around them.

****

Paris and Kim materialised in sickbay, and instantly
Paris was ready to help Harry onto the bio-bed. The
Doctor appeared, from his office with a worried
expression on his face.

"What happened?" The Doc said walking over to the bio-
bed, on which Harry lay. The Doctor scanned the now
unconscious Ensign Kim, and gave him a hypospray. Paris
looked down at the young man, he had to get out of here,
and he had to find that creature, find out what it was
doing in the Delta quadrant.

****

Janeway walked on to deck 5, the Doctor had just informed
her about the attack on Harry, and that he was going to
be ok. She walked into sickbay, and bumped in to Tom
Paris. "Tom, I haven't informed the crew about Ensign
Kim's encounter yet, and you're not on duty, what are you
doing here?" Janeway said, no anger in her voice.

"Mr Paris did the emergency transport to sickbay," the
Doc said entering into the conversation. "Mr Kim is
stable and will make a full recovery, he got pretty
bashed up, small concussion, and multiple bruises and I'm
going to keep him sedated for the night. I'm giving him
two days off duty after that." The Doctor's eyes drifted
over to Paris' but then looked at the Captain.

"Thank you Doctor," Janeway said also watching Paris
curiously, but she dismissed her thoughts and walked out
of sickbay, giving Paris a quick nod.

****

Paris saw the glances he got from both the Doctor and the
Captain, but they weren't accusing eyes staring at him,
they were curious, and worried one's. Paris knew he had
to brief the agents on the matter, and soon, he didn't
want any more lives to be lost.

****

Knight walked into the Holodeck, she didn't expect to
find anyone, it was 03:30 and training didn't start till
0400 hours, but she wanted to practice her combat skills,
to get a head start. Knight walked into the room and was
momentarily surprised to see Paris fighting a holographic
character. Knight regained her self-control and walked
over to Paris, this was a perfect opportunity to figure
him out. As Knight started to make her way over Paris
made the final move on his challenger, tripping him up
and finally defeating him with a kick. Knight admired
Paris' abilities and wondered if she should make herself
visible and say hello.

*One can't figure a person, out if she doesn't even talk
to him* Knight thought stepping forward, opening her
mouth, preparing to make herself known.

"Yes Knight," Paris said not even turning around, to see
if his assumptions were correct.

"Urm, how did you know it was me, sir?" Knight said, a
little caught off guard.

"Because only two of the agents would ever come early,
that's you and Turner," Paris said turning around to face
Knight.

"Oh, how did you know it was me and not Turner?" Knight
said still slightly confused.

"I didn't, I guessed," Paris said merely. "Now, why are
you half an hour early?" Paris asked, he knew perfectly
well why she was early, she wanted to get a head start,
she wanted to be the best, she wanted to survive.

"Oh, just to practice, you know how it is," Knight said a
little uneasily. Even though she respected Paris, she was
still slightly uneasy around him, when she was on her own
that is, there was so much she didn't know about him, and
Knight liked to know who she was really talking to.

"Yeah I know," Paris paused, something had been nagging
at him today. "Your friends with Casey, right?" Paris
said a little unsure, he knew what he needed to find out,
but how was a different matter.

"Yeah, why?" Knight answered, wondering what he was going
on about.

"Do you think that she's a little young for this type of
training?" Paris asked, he already knew the answer, but
he wanted to know how many, if any of the agents knew as
well, and if anyone would know it would be Knight.

"All I know is that she excelled in class, and was moved
up a couple of years, but other than that…" Knight said,
shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh ok, I was just wondering," Paris realised that Knight
only knew the basics, she didn't know that the entire
mission, was for Casey. Paris then realised something
even bigger,
*Does Casey know? * Paris got up and walked over to the
door. "I'm going to have a shower, I'll be back by 0400
hours," Paris said walking out of the door, it was a lie,
but he was no stranger to that.

****

Janeway sat in her office, it was very late, or very
early but, she was worried about a number of things, one
of them being the killing creature, on the ship, and two
was Tom Paris. She had noticed that since the 10 Ensign's
arrival on board he had been acting strangely, and had
seemed to become friends with all of them. Not that
socialising was unusual for her outgoing pilot. But most
strange was that she had got reports of them going in to
the holodeck late at night, Janeway puzzled. These
thoughts had been running through her head ever since she
found Casey crying in Tom's quarters. Janeway stopped her
line of thoughts and started thinking about the bigger
problem at hand. The creature.

****

The creature roamed the lower decks, he was found out,
they now knew he was here. He looked at the surrounding
people, they were going about their daily business, he
could sense what they felt, anger, fear, panic. When he
looked at his victim before the kill it was always the
same no matter what species, age, gender, he always could
sense the same emotions, until now. When he had looked
that man in the eye, there was nothing; no fear, nothing,
this one was different from the rest, and he would cause
a problem when the others come.

****

Paris walked into holodeck two, he did have a shower in
the end. The agents were already there, practising their
moves. Paris knew that they knew something about the
creature, but not much, today he would tell them: tell
them what they had to do to survive.

"Everyone gather round, I need to tell you something,"
Paris said, as the agents walked over, trying to keep
their nerves at bay. "You all know that there is a
creature roaming the ship, it has already claimed one
life," Paris paused, he saw Casey dip her head down, "and
has injured another. Now this creature is called a
Mothsakia, or a Mothsa for short, the S.E.F have
encountered and studied the Mothsakians, but Starfleet
know nothing at all about it's kind, and they cannot find
out. The Mothsakians were underestimated and seen as a
primitive race, they are a lot more powerful than you may
think, even though they cannot make ships they can lean
how to control one just by observing, and learning. The
Mothsakians communicate by telepathy and empathy, which
is also how they learn. They do not communicate with
other species. Now the problem at hand is a big one, we
have one on board. They stowaway, then slowly make
themselves known, once they get all the information on
how to control the ship, they then call for backup from
their nearest stolen ship. I do not know if the Mothsa on
board has already contacted for help, but it will be
soon: when they come to take over the ship and add it to
their collection. But I am not going to let that happen,
and your going help me." Paris said finishing off the
briefing and taking a deep breath. He looked at the
shocked faces around him, they weren't ready, but they
didn't have time, he had to hurry.

"How do we defeat them," Turner asked, controlling his
panic.

"I don't know, but I do know that if they sense you're
not afraid, they don't attack. They are frightened of us
if we are not scared of them," Paris said looking at
them. Knight was looking slightly more confident, Casey
wasn't. "Training will be from midnight until 0600 hours,
the training will include emotional control. In the mean
time don't talk about this to anyone we can't risk this
being spilled to the crew, if the crew panic, this will
turn out even worse. Everyone practice your combat
skills, then we will try the simulations." Paris said
walking over to the controls of the holodeck, this was
going to be very hard, and people might find them out,
they could get exposed, and if that happened there would
be no hope.

****

Harry Kim walked out of sickbay he was still in shock,
about the creature yes, but also about Tom; the creature
had seemed afraid of him. Harry needed answers and now.
"Computer where is Tom Paris?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Tom Paris is in holodeck two," The computer replied.
Harry started to make his way toward the holodeck, when
he heard a familiar voice behind him, it was Neelix.

"Ensign Kim. Harry," Neelix called, running up to the
dark-haired man. "I heard that you got attacked by that
monster that's on the ship!"

"It's a creature Neelix, not a monster," Harry said,
hastily trying to get into the turbolift, he needed to
find Tom.

"You should rest, I'll take you to your quarters," Neelix
said, following him into the turbolift.

"Neelix, I'm fine." He said almost impatiently.

"Deck 4." Neelix stated, "we will get you to your
quarters in no time." There was no room for argument.

*I'll speak to Tom later * Harry thought *I'll find out
what's going on. *

****
Paris started up the simulations, he had put them into
two groups of five, each group had a good chance, and
they worked together well. The teams each did a mission
separated apart from each other. Each team would do the
chosen mission, get a score then the next team, who was
in the other section of the holodeck would be marked on
the same mission. The last team to go in had Casey,
Turner and Knight; they completed the level but only
just. Their team completed the scenario the best; their
score was 1253. Paris was impressed, this was good for a
first go.

****

Janeway looked around the Bridge, Tom was late, he had
been late before, but she was starting to wonder where he
was. Tom Paris strolled through the turbolift doors at 10
minutes late, only just finishing the training session.
It was a perfectly plausible excuse, but not when the
people you're telling it to don't know what it's for. So
a backup excuse was in order.

"Sorry Captain my alarm didn't go off," Paris said
without missing a beat while making his way to the helm.
He knew she didn't believe him, he had used that one
before, but she let him off.

"Make it up at the end of your shift Mr Paris," Janeway
said looking at him, he was lying, and it was a terrible
thought to have but it was true, something was going on
with Tom Paris.

****

The Mothsa crawled into the cargo bay. Looking around it
listened intently.

*They're nearly here, I can hear them. * The Mothsa
thought, *It's time. *

****
6 of 12

               Chapter 6: Preparations for the undeclared
attack

Chapter 6: Preparations for the undeclared attack.

Paris walked into his quarters, everyday was getting
harder and harder. It had been 5 days since he had told
his agents about the Mothsakians, and they're nearing
arrival. Since then, none of them were getting any sleep,
and Paris was nearly always late to his duty shift on the
bridge, this was attracting some unwanted attention on
his part, but the agents were doing a good job so far,
concealing their fatigue. Paris sat down on the sofa and
looked at the time. It was 07:40, meaning he had 20
minutes to run down to the mess hall, grab something to
eat, so he didn't starve, then run to the bridge, with
some hope that he would not get yet another scolding from
the Captain. Paris didn't want to move he wanted to close
his eyes and sleep. Sleep was one of the only places he
found peaceful, he could forget everything, he had no
worries in his sleep, only peace, but now, he didn't even
get that. Paris got up and walked out of the door, it was
nice while it lasted.

****

Casey walked into the mess hall, she was lucky today, her
shift didn't start till 1200, so she was going to grab
something to eat, then sleep for a couple of deserved
hours. She saw Paris at the counter, he was getting a cup
of coffee and a piece of toast, she could tell that he
was late. He turned around and nodded his head in a
polite fashion at her; Casey gave him a quick, sad smile
this was no time to be happy. Paris left and Casey made
her way to the food counter previously occupied by her
trainer. Neelix stood nearby serving food to the hungry
crewmembers.

"Hello Ensign Casey, is it, yes, yes," Neelix, said,
Casey wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself.
"What can I get for you on this lovely morning." Neelix
pointed to the food laid out in front of her.

"Just whatever that is," Casey said pointing to the bowl
to her far left, "and a coffee please Neelix."

"Aha, the omelette, a popular choice today," Neelix said
excited, he served it up and gave to Casey. "If I may say
so, you look a little upset, is anything wrong," Neelix
said looking Casey in the eyes. Casey had to think
quickly and it had to be believable, she stood there time
running out, then she got it.

"I'm ok It's just you know I'm a little w…" Casey began
with her excuse, but was interrupted by the talkative
Talaxian.

"You're worried about that monster that roams the ship?
Well I wouldn't worry, Ensign Kim survived, it must have
a weakness, the crew will get rid of it, there is only
one, and from what I hear, it's a primitive life form."
Neelix said patting Casey's shoulder, trying to reassure
her. Casey felt a knot form in her stomach, that was what
she was worried about, but she was even more worried
about the fact that an army of the creatures. The
Mothsakians were coming, and the crew, were clueless.
Casey got her food, smiled at Neelix and sat down alone
to eat her food.

*While they're clueless, I know. * Casey thought as she
sat alone, in a room full of strangers that she probably
would never get the chance to know.

****

Paris walked onto the Bridge he was 5 minutes late again,
and this time he knew he wasn't going to get away with
it.

"Mr Paris, meet me in my ready room," Janeway said,
without even turning around. Paris walked into the ready
room; he felt the eyes of the bridge officers burning
into his back. The doors closed, he didn't have time for
this. Janeway walked into the room a couple of minutes
later. Paris was standing straight, waiting for her to
begin her speech. She didn't speak, she just looked at
him, this was far more effective, and then finally she
spoke. "Mr Paris," Janeway paused her eyes softened a
bit, but they still held their cold glaze. "Tom, what's
been going on with you these last couple of days, you
haven't been on time once this week?" Janeway said,
walking towards him.

"Nothing, Captain," Paris replied in a normal tone.
Janeway's face turned hard again, she walked towards her
desk and sat on her chair, Paris stood up straight
waiting for her next blow.

"You're lying," Janeway responded coldly. Paris didn't
flinch, but his insides felt the force of her statement,
he was lying, he was lying about a lot more things than
she realised.

"I just haven't been sleeping well that's all," Paris
said sincerely, which was true, he hadn't been sleeping
well, in fact he hadn't been sleeping at all.

"Well in that case, go down to the Doctor and get checked
over," Janeway said calmly. "Dismissed." Paris knew if he
went to sickbay, the Doctor would spot his fatigue, and
order him to sleep, he would probably sedate him, then he
would miss the training sessions and they wouldn't be
prepared in time for the attack. He couldn't allow that.

"Captain, is that…" Paris started but was cut off.

"Yes, Lieutenant," Janeway said looking him directly in
the eye.

"Yes, Captain." Said Paris acknowledging her order. With
that he walked out of the door and onto the turbolift,
eyes following him as he went.

****

Janeway watched as Tom walked out of her ready room. She
could tell that he was troubled about something.
Something which was eating him away inside. She would
have to talk to him, try and get his guard down, so that
she could find out what was going on inside his head.

****

Paris walked into sickbay and waited for the Doctor to
come out of his office.

"Mr Paris, I just got the Captain's message, she said
that you haven't been sleeping well," the Doctor said
scanning Paris. The Doctor stopped and looked at the
information in his hand. "Have you even been sleeping at
all?"

"Yes, sometimes, look it will pass, so can I just go,"
Paris, said closing his eyes then looking at the Doctor.

"You should take the rest of the day off and have a rest
in sickbay, I'll give you a sedative to knock you out,"
the Doctor said pointing to the far bio-bed.

"Doctor I would rather not," Paris said sternly heading
out of sickbay.

"Mr Paris, it is not a suggestion," The Doctor said
walking to stop him. Paris noticed his mobile emitter on
the side, he couldn't waste time, and there was no other
way.

"Computer, deactivate EMH," Paris said, the EMH wore a
confused and shocked expression on his face, as he
disappeared. Paris knew he was going to get in trouble
for this, but his and the agents cover and the ship's
safety was at stake.

****

Casey came off duty and started to walk back to her
quarters, she had slept well this morning and was no
longer tired, well what an agent would consider tired
anyway. She decided to go to the holodeck and see if it
was booked. When she got there she found that it was in
fact booked up. Casey looked at the control panel, she
wasn't surprised to find that it was Paris behind the
full bookings, he was running the training centre. Casey
walked in and found Paris sitting on the bench his head
in his hands. Casey made her approach and sat by him.

"Are you ok?" Casey asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine Casey, just a little tired that's all,"
Paris, said looking up.

"Why don't you get some sleep, training's not for another
5 hours?" Casey said standing up and leaning against the
wall.

"Can't, too much to do," Paris said, with a hint of
humour in his voice.

"Sir, may I ask you something?" Casey asked nervously,
her hands twitching behind her back.

"Go on Casey," Paris answered looking up at the fidgeting
girl.

"Are you, well, worried? You know, about the upcoming
attack," Casey asked quietly.

"If I said no I would be lying, no matter how many
attacks or near death experiences you've had you still
get worried, but you never tell anyone that," Paris said
looking at her, then down at the floor.

"It's just, if we tell the crew what we know about the
attack, nothing else, then they may have a better
chance," Casey said hopefully, looking at Paris.

"They would ask questions, they would find out in the end
if we told them, that's why we can't," Paris looked up at
Casey, and saw the hopeful expression on her face melt
away. "You don't like lying, do you?" Paris said out of
the blue, Casey's head shot up and looked at him.

"No, I don't know, I just feel like I'm betraying them,"
Casey said, looking down at the floor, and then looking
out of the holographic window.

"I know what you mean, but you have to tell your self
that you're betraying them, to save them," Paris said
looking out of the same big bay window.

"But surely, we would save them by telling them in this
case." Casey said slightly angry, but she remembered who
she was talking to, and calmed down.

"If we were to tell them, they would panic, they wouldn't
let us do things our way, they would do things the
Starfleet way, and in these situations, the Starfleet way
will kill them." Paris said standing up, and putting on
his jacket. "Get some sleep, you'll need it," Paris said
walking out of the door.

"And you don't?" Casey murmured when he was out of
earshot. Casey got up and walked out of the door, she
would get some sleep, but not for long.
****

It was 0100 hours and Janeway was reading a report in her
quarters, she couldn't sleep after the talk she'd had
with Tom today. She was debating whether or not to go to
sickbay to see the Doctor, and find out what he had
found. In the end she gave in to her curiosity and got
dressed to go down to sickbay. When Janeway got to
sickbay she was surprised to find that the EMH was
deactivated.

"Computer, activate EMH," Janeway said looking around,
waiting for the Doctor to appear.

"Mr Par… Captain it appears Mr Paris did not want to stay
in sickbay. And deactivated me when he couldn't get his
way," The Doctor said looking at Janeway with an annoyed
look on his face.

"What was wrong with him?" Janeway said with a worried
tone in her voice.

"Well you were right he's not getting enough sleep, none
actually, which is why I wanted him to stay, but look
what happened," The Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if he doesn't sleep, I'll talk to him now,"
Janeway said determined, walking out of sickbay.

"Thank you to you too," The Doctor said walking into his
office, he hated being deactivated in mid sentence, but
when do people listen to him anyway he shrugged.

****

Janeway walked down the corridor.

"Computer, state location of Lt. Paris," Janeway said,
expecting to hear his quarters.

"Lt. Paris is in holodeck 1," The computer replied in the
usual monotone voice. Janeway started to make her way to
the holodeck, she had to find out what was going on and
she had to find out now.

****

Paris was standing at the front of the long line of
agents, today they were discussing the strategy of the
upcoming attack, they needed a plan, and a good one.

"We know that their main weakness is that if they don't
sense fear they don't attack, but that is only good in a
one on one situation. We need to defeat them, there is no
way we can out run them, they will find us sooner or
later," Paris said looking at all of the agents, they
were all trying to hide their fear, and panic, which was
slowly making it's way up to the surface. The chances
that they all would make it were slim, that all the
preparation wouldn't all go to waste. He knew that they
would become nothing more than a plaque, which wouldn't
even say why they had died. Why they had risked their
lives, no, it would be lost in the Delta Quadrant,
presumed dead, that was their future if this attack
should succeed. Paris knew this, some might survive, but
he wanted them all to survive, he would try to keep them
alive, with minimal causalities, but that wasn't going to
happen.

****

Janeway walked up to the holodeck and tried to go in.

"Privacy lock in place," the computer informed her.
Janeway looked at the controls, over ruled the privacy
lock, and opened the door. She walked into a room, it
looked like a gym, but it had small booths, with
computers and equipment in them. Janeway spotted her
target, who was sitting alone looking out a large bay
window, lost in his thoughts.

"Shouldn't you be asleep Tom?" Janeway called over to
him, as she started to walk across the room. Paris was
brought out of his thoughts, and was momentary shocked,
then glad that he had just dismissed the agents and
ordered them to get some sleep tonight for once.

"Captain," Paris said standing up and looking at his
Captain.

"At ease," Janeway said to Paris, and watched as he sat
down again. " I heard that you deactivated the Doctor,
he's not pleased by the way," Janeway said light-
heartedly taking a different approach to the one she had
taken earlier.

" Well yeah, I had more important things on my mind,"
Paris said looking up at Janeway. She nodded.

"Like," Janeway said pushing him to say something, she
thought she was getting close to getting him to open up.

"Oh, that's between me and no one else," Paris said
standing up, he knew she was searching for information,
looking for answers which she must not get. Paris knew he
had to get out of this conversation. "You know what, I'm
kind of tired now, maybe I'll get some sleep, make the
Doctor happy for a change," Tom joked, while Paris
escaped Janeway's piercing eyes. Paris left, the quicker
this was over, the better.

****

Casey got out of the turbolift, she had to go and see
Paris. The computer told her that he was still in the
holodeck, little did she know that Paris had just left
going in the other direction to his quarters. She walked
up to the holodeck and looked at the controls. Someone
was in Paris' program; she never stopped to think that it
wasn't Paris, the privacy lock was on so she overruled it
with the password Paris had programmed in case of
emergency. Ok, this wasn't an emergency of such, but she
really needed to talk to him. The door opened, Casey
nearly tripped over when she saw Janeway looking out of
the big bay window. Thoughts ran through her head, why
was she here? Did she find out? Did one of the agents
tell her? Maybe she doesn't know. Casey started to back
out of the room, but she was too late.

"Ensign, how did you get in here?" Janeway said, more
curious than angry. Casey was about to answer but luckily
Janeway was called.

"Bridge to Captain Janeway," Tuvok sounded over the com.

"Janeway here, go ahead," Janeway, said starting to walk
out of the holodeck.

"I need to speak to you about something, would you please
report to the bridge, Tuvok out," Tuvok said as urgently
as a Vulcan could. Janeway walked out of the door,
leaving Casey just standing there, whatever was going on,
it was urgent, and something told Casey it was to do with
Paris.

****

Janeway's face was cold and stiff, as she walked down to
Paris' quarters. She didn't want to believe what Tuvok
had told her, but the evidence outweighed her trust in
him. She stopped at Paris' quarters, security team behind
her. Janeway pressed the chime, her face expressionless.
Paris opened the door and looked at the display of
officers in front of him, his face did not deceive him
although he was shocked, but still he looked blankly at
the officers.

"Mr Paris, I am afraid I'm going to have to send you to
the brig until further notice. You will be informed of
your actions when you are under security watch," Janeway
said sharply. "Do you understand?" Paris nodded his
acknowledgement and was led into the turbolift with his
escorts. This was not planned!

****
7 of 12
Chapter 7: Luck of the Game


He had messed it up, Paris thought as he paced back and
forth in the small cell that he had been placed in. He had
under estimated the crew and he are supposed friends. He
was so rapped up in saving the crew of voyager, himself and
the agents that he let one tiny clue slip, which Tuvok,
like a good little Vulcan, followed until it came to him,
Tom Paris. Yesterday he had replicated a S.E.F phaser with
a disintegrator and laser detonator, these were all
standard issue in the S.E.F, but completely unknown in
Starfleet. So Tuvok found traces of one being made in the
replicator, in Paris' quarters, he was taken to the brig
and his quarters searched, they found the weapons, and some
more unknown items and he was now almost certainly found
guilty. The Mothsa were due any minute, and he was in the
brig for overriding replicator and maybe even planning an
attack against the crew. He had messed it up. Paris walked
backwards until he hit a wall and sunk down, he had a plan,
but it all depending on the luck of the game.

  ****

Casey lay on the sofa reading Jane Austin's 'Pride and
Prejudice', she had read the book at least 10 times, but
she never got tired of it. The concept of seeing one
person when you first see them, and then seeing the
opposite in a person once you get to know them
fascinated her. She couldn't help but notice the
likeness between Darcy and Paris. Casey had just got on
to her favourite part when Knight came rushing through
the doors, with an alerted look on her face.
"Paris is in the brig," Knight blurted out. Casey
dropped the padd, and stood up, a worried expression
planted on her face, with no intention of moving.
     "Why, how, he can't be," Casey shouted waking
around their quarters in frenzy, while Knight on the
other hand was calm and thinking through what had to be
done.
     "I don't know why, I was walking down a corridor,
when I heard one of the security guards talking to his
friend about how Paris is in the brig, I came straight
here to tell you and the others," Knight said watching
Casey walk around the room. " Now, we have to go tell
Turner and the others, okay." Casey nodded and they both
walked out the door, they both knew that time was
running out, and without Paris, none of them would make
it.

****

BE'lanna couldn't believe it, Tom, her Tom in the brig
for treason. Many people were saying that he hadn't
changed and was still the lying traitor that came on
this ship in the first place. BE'lanna didn't believe
that Tom would do that; he loved her it had to be a set
up, either way she was going to find out. BE'lanna got
up and marched out of her quarters, she was going to
find out what was going on.

   ****

The Mothsa on board ran from corridor to corridor, the
voices inside his head were getting stronger and more
frequent, and this could only mean one thing. Suddenly
the untamed voices stopped and silence flowed through
its unstable mind. One voice broke the unusual silence,
a feminine voice that was different to the others, more
calm and control; the voice was clear and confident as
it stated its purpose.
"We're here," A mischievous smile shone through here
words, the single Mothsa, looked around as red lights
filled the corridor, he knew one thing, he wouldn't be
alone for long, for their leader had come.

****

Paris sat on the cot in the brig, watching as people
ran to their stations, fully aware that red alert had
just been declared through out the ship, but he knew
that this was going to happen sooner or later, even
though he had been dreading it for days. The security
Guard that had been placed in front of his cell looked
distraught and panicked. Paris knew that when the time
came, he had to escape from this cell, and that the
guard would not be a problem. All he had to do know was
wait for the signal.

****

     Janeway couldn't believe what was happening, in one
day she had put her best pilot in the brig, and an
unknown ship was attacking them.
     "Are they responding to our hails," Janeway asked
Harry, not even taking her eyes off the ship on the view
screen in front of her.
     "They not responding captain," Harry replied, a
slight hint of panic in his voice.
     "Tuvok fire at will," Janeway ordered, sitting down
in her chair, but before even Tuvok could respond, the
alien ship fired another weapon at them.
     "Report," Janeway barked out.
     "Captain, they are transporting aboard," Tuvok
replied in a calm but clearly panic stricken voice, for
a Vulcan.
     "What! But our shields are at 46%, that's not
possible," Janeway blurted out.
     "Our shields have no effect, they must have hacked
through our shield matrix," The Vulcan replied, looking
directly at his captain, "257 of their crew have
boarded, and the ship is retreating." Janeway acted as
fast as she could.
     "To all crewmembers, we have been boarded, carry as
many weapons as you can and head for emergency code
alpha 3 delta," Janeway used the emergency code to get
everyone to cargo bay two, there they could make a plan.
Janeway was about to order the bridge crew to the cargo
bay when 10 creatures surrounded the bridge crew.
Janeway gasped, and all went black.

****

     Turner paced back and forth, as the ten agents
stood silently in the holodeck. They had to keep to the
plan, if this was going to even work. But with Paris in
the brig, it was going to be a lot more difficult.
     "We have to get Paris out then, and only then, can
we continue with the plan," Knight said, panic only
slightly showing in her voice.
     "No, we need to carry on as normal, Paris will
break out before it gets to bad," Turner argued, and by
the look on the other agents faces, it looked like most
of them agreed with him.
     "Listen, we need Paris, we can't do it without him,
trust me," Knight shouted at the rest of the agents.
     "We can, and we must," Turner said coldly, looking
at the other agents, "Who here agrees with me." Eight
hands rose, but two remained firmly down.
     "Looks like I won Knight, now we got to get
moving," Turner replied. Knight stared at him, was he
really that stupid, or had all of this gone to his head.
Being in charge. His plan would fail whatever it was,
and she was going to be right here in order to show him
how this game is really played.

****

     B'Elanna Torres opened her eyes slowly, and studied
her surroundings. She was in one of the cargo bays,
various crewmembers scatted around, some unconscious
some fully awake but they were all equally helpless.
There must have been at least half the crew in their,
and most of the senior staff.
     *Well looks like our luck has finally run out*
B'Elanna thought scanning the crowd again, she couldn't
remember much only running somewhere, and suddenly
blacking out. Then it hit her. Where was Tom?

****

          Paris saw the guard at the front of his cell
collapse, and he knew it could only be one thing, the
Mostha's mental powers. He knew he would be next and he
had to get out of here, he couldn't go out the front
way, even though he could get through the force field,
no, he had to go… up.

****

Paris heard the screaming below, but kept on crawling
through the Jeffery tubes, he only hoped he could find
the agents, they needed him at this battle, but they
didn't know why. Yet.
                         ****

8 of 12
                    Chapter 8: The unspeakable truth.

     A scream woke Captain Janeway; she looked around and
saw a crewmember, one of her crewmembers, being eaten
alive by one of the creatures. It made her feel sick, but
she had to stay strong, they had to fight back, fight and
win the ship back. Her mind suddenly thought of Tom, he
was probably dead by now because of her, he was trapped
in that cell, and she had killed him. She banished that
thought from her mind, she didn't know that he was dead,
he could of got out and… her thoughts trailed off, as
brilliant as Tom was, he couldn't break out of the brig
alone, not without the proper codes. He was a good as
dead
     "Captain," Someone was calling her, she responded.
     "I'm here," she recognised the voice as Tuvok's.
     "There are 16 People unaccounted for, all of the
senior staff except for Mr Paris, are present," Tuvok
said calmly, "We must think up a plan to take back
control of the ship," Suddenly the unexpected happened,
the doors opened, and in came the agents.
     "What are they doing here," Janeway asked, her
question was answered as they raised their weapons to the
Mothsa.

****

Paris heard phaser fire as he crawled over the cargo bay.
He knew it was the agents, they had started without him.
He cursed under his breath, they only knew half the
story, they didn't know who the real enemy was, the enemy
they had to defeat, he knew, he knew her very well.

****
      Casey watched as the agents fired at the Mothsa,
she had to sneak to the control panel and let down the
force felids surrounding the crew. She was on knight's
side in the argument; they shouldn't have started without
Paris, he trained them well, yes, but in this battle they
needed him. She got to the control panel, and tapped the
buttons with ease, the force field was nearly down, she
turned around, it looked like the agents were winning, as
she turned around she noticed a charge building up in the
panel, she removed her hand as quickly as she could, but
it was too late. Casey lay on the floor, unconscious,
while a battle raged on behind her.

****

     Knight fired her weapon at the Mothsa running
towards her, they were winning, Maybe Turner was right
after all. She fought back another Mothsa, and caught a
glance of Casey unconscious by the control panel; she had
to get over there. She made her way the Casey still form,
and checked for pulse, she found one, and shook her till
her eyes opened, full of confusion.
     "Are we winning," Casey asked looking over towards
the fight. Knight opened her mouth to answer when, the
phaser fire just stopped. They turned around and saw the
8 remaining agents, looking blankly towards the front;
their weapons dropped on the floor, within seconds the
fell to the floor unconscious. Casey and knight stood
back and watch as a woman stepped forward and looked at
the bodies, a smile on her face.
     "Put these little resistance fighters behind the
force field with their crew mates. Knight couldn't
believe her eyes, she was… Human.

****


      Paris heard the firing stop, and he knew that she
had arrived. Her name was Michelle Rivita, She was an ex
S.E.F agent, and She and him used to be good friend's,
but she went power mad, and egomania took over. She
wanted to be the best, and she saw the S.E.F as a step to
become the most powerful person. She left the S.E.F and
disappeared, but now he knew she had been in the delta
quadrant all this time, creating an army of creatures,
now known as the Mothsa. He knew why there was silence,
Rivita was a powerful telepath, which was rare among
humans, she could grab peoples mind, and knock them out
in seconds. The agents didn't know about Rivita, that's
why they needed him. Paris prepped himself and got ready
to enter the cargo bay, and face an old friend.

****

B'Elanna stared in shock, as the 10 new ensigns
fought off the creatures. When the human women stepped
out from nowhere and with one look defeated them all, she
was even more shocked. She still hadn't got to grips with
the fact that Tom was most probably dead. She didn't want
too. She watched as the force field was lowered and the
bodies were dragged in. The force field was raised again
and the creatures went back to guarding them. All hope
was lost, and everyone knew it.

****

     Paris tied the rope around his waist and looked
down, everyone was behind the force field, including the
agents, he was about to drop down, when his eye caught
movement, it was Casey and knight, he smiled slightly,
but then returned to being serious. Some how they had
survived, and they were going to help him out, but not
yet. As Paris fell down and landed on the floor of Cargo
bay 2, he knew his cover, was about to be blown.

****

     Casey turned around only to see Paris standing in
the middle of the room, gun poised in his hand, staring
at the women. She looked at the Crew and they showed both
signs of relief and utter confusion. Casey got up to help
him, but knight pulled her back.
     " Wait, we don't know what he is planning," Knight
whispered and Casey remained still. What was Paris
planning?

****

     Rivita looked into the blue eyes in front of her,
no, it couldn't be Paris, he was in the Alpha quadrant,
what would he be doing on a Starfleet vessel. She had to
find out.
     "Paris," She stated waiting for an answer, keeping
all the surprise out of her voice. He answered.
     "Rivita, it's nice to see you," Paris said coldly,
aware of the stares he was getting from the crew. Rivita
also noticed their confusion, and let out a laugh.
     "They don't know, do they Paris, ha, and they think
you an idiotic Starfleet brat," Rivita shout loudly, a
smile sprawled out on her face. "Well I'll tell you what,
before I kill you, I'll tell them about you, shall I, set
things straight once and for all." Rivita paused and
looked at the crew then back toward Paris.
     "You see, Paris isn't who you think he is, or should
I say Tom, as you know him, the fact is you don't know
him at all. He's using you," Rivita said walking closer
to Paris. " Paris is a fake, aren't you Paris, your not
an ex star fleet con, your Commander Paris of the S.E.F,
star fleets, well, secret area, everything he has told
you is a lie, and a deep one too." Rivita looked at all
the shocked faces of the star fleet crew. Paris turned
and saw them too. Rivita then stretched out her mind and
grabbed hold of Paris', this time; she was going for the
kill.

****

9 of 12
                Chapter 9: Reactions


Paris felt Rivita take hold of his mind, and slowly
crush is with ease. He looked up and saw a smile
plastered upon her face, he felt his eyes start to close
as pain over took his head, and spiked down his back and
too his feet. He looked around, his eyes searching for a
form of defence that he could use against the powerful
telepath. Instead his eyes stumbled on the stares of his
crewmates. Their eyes were flooded with betrayal, and
fear. Some were plainly confused, while other eyes were
full of anger, but few eyes held desperation to save him
from this fate. Paris turned his head back from the crew,
his eyes were barely open, and the pain was getting
stronger. They knew, he knew, he deserved this fate. And
then he saw nothing.

****

     B'Elanna watch as Tom fell down to his knees in
pain, she looked around at the crew, but no one was
moving, just watching. She hadn't believed what that
women had said about Tom, she must have been lying, why
was she the only one that thought that, knew that Tom was
the man she knew, the man tat she had fallen in love
with. But doubt that lay dormant in her mind creped up as
she realised this woman could be telling the truth, how
much did they really know about Tom. B'Elanna looked up
and caught the Tom's eye; she sent a confused look back.
Panic ran through her thoughts as she saw him turn away
and black out, was he…dead.

****

     Rivita saw the pain in Paris eyes grow as she
strengthened her hold on him, 10 more second and he would
dead, but then again, was that what she really wanted, or
was she just throwing away a chance to get some
information out of an old 'friend'. She decided there and
then that, that was a good, no not good, brilliant idea.
Rivita knocked him out and let out a small school girl
laugh before her eyes turned serious and the smile faded.
She turned to her army and spoke.
     "He's probably more useful than her think he is
alive, throw him behind the force field, when he wakes
up, call me," With that see turned and walked towards the
door, but just before leaving she stopped, and stood, she
turned to her left, and caught the eyes of a young girl.
"Throw them in too, and make sure there are no
other…escapees, understood," Rivita turned back and
walked towards the door and left, leaving a confused
silence as she left.

****

Casey was dragged behind the force field, knight
being dragged in tow. She thought back to what she had
just witnessed, at least Paris was still alive though.
"Oh well done Casey, get us caught," Knight said
sitting beside Casey, sarcasm deeply displayed in her
voice.
"It wasn't my fault," Casey argued, but she no
longer had knight's attention, as she was looking at the
crew. The crew all appeared to be staring at Paris, yet
none of them even moved too his aid. Casey crawled to
where Paris was lying and called Knight over. She shook
him on the shoulders to try to wake him from his state.
And she was rewarded with two blue eyes slowly opening.
"What, I'm not dead then," Paris said sounding
slightly disappointed.
" I'm afraid not," Knight said looking around, the
eyes of the crew were still locked onto Paris, staring at
the man they thought they knew. Paris put his back
against the wall and looked around, he saw the stares,
and remembered what had been said, his secret was out. He
saw the 8 remaining agents get up and walk over to him
and kneel down.
     "So, I guess your big secret is out. Do you
have a plan," Turner said looking around.
     "Not yet but I'm getting there, I'm getting
there." Paris replied searching the rooming and forming
the plan that would get them out of here.

****

     Janeway watched as the 10 newcomers and Tom
Paris talked at the corner of their 'cell', she argued if
she should go over there and confront him, say if it was
all true, but in the back of her mind she knew it was.
     "Captain, I'm going over to talk to Tom, we all
are, are you coming, you know this can't be true," Harry
asked his voice on edge, behind him stood Nelix and
Chakotay.
"No, but tell me what he says, ok," Janeway replied,
still in deep thought, she didn't want too talk to him,
he had lied to her, he had lied to them all.

****

Harry Walked up to where Tom was sitting and coughed
to get his attention. Tom looked up.
" Well, is it true," Harry said, knowing the answer
would be no, of course not Harry, god I'm your best
friend, but it wasn't that at all.
" Yes," Tom answered plainly, and went back to
talking to the agents. Harry stood there, shocked down to
the bone; he couldn't mean it, could he.
"Well, bye 'Paris'," Harry said walking away
Chackotay and Neelix in tow. As they left Paris' eyes
fell upon B'Elanna', she turned away, Paris felt sickened
by this gesture, but why, he didn't love her, or did he.

****

The Doors opened and in walked Rivita; she walked
over to the force field and pointed at Paris.
     "Put him in the middle of the room, so we can…
chat," Rivita ordered a smirk full spread on her face.
Paris was dragged into the middle of the room, and was
circled by the creatures; one of them tied his hands
behind his back, and pushed him down on to his knees.
Rivita walked over and looked down to Paris.
" I like you better this small," Rivita laughed, and
kicked him in the face, blood gushed out of a broken
nose, but Paris got back up to his knees, he had a plan.

****

10 of 12

    Chapter 10: Treacherous acts

Paris had a plan, ok it wasn't as carefully thought
out as the first plan, but it was a plan. All he had to
do was get the right conversation flowing, and they might
just get away with it. Paris suddenly ducked as he saw a
fist coming towards his face. Rivita was shouting words
at him, but they no longer made sense, he was using all
his awareness to concentrate on the plan, he didn't care
what happened to him, as long as the others were safe.
Paris fell back as he felt a foot connect with his
stomach. As long as they were safe, he didn't care, and
by the way things were turning out, neither would the
crew.

****

Janeway watched helplessly as the woman beat Tom,
she was screaming at him, telling him to tell her the
codes, but Tom wasn't listening to her. Tom looked like
he was somewhere else completely, his eyes, which were
usually a vibrant blue, were cold and distant. It looked
like this woman was winning, but all the things she had
heard today constantly screamed in the back of her head.
He had lied to her, he had lied to them all and now he
was getting what he deserved. By the looks of things he
would be dead soon, and even though a pang of guilt
filled her heart as she thought this, she could not get
the feeling that all of this was Tom's fault out of her
head. Janeway truly didn't know if she could ever forgive
him.

****

Knight saw Paris fall on to his stomach for the 4
times and was really starting to panic, Paris wasn't
looking too good, and he was really their only hope of
getting out of here. Knight watched as he fell and then
got up, but with a small, satisfied glint in his eyes,
she knew that glint, that small nearly unidentifiable
spark which ignites for a second, then fades. Paris had a
plan that had to be it; she had been studying him long
enough to know that, and that tiny sparkle was the one
thing that both Paris and Tom had in common. Knight knew
that whatever idea Paris had thought up, was going to get
them out of here, it had to.

****

           Paris looked into Rivita's dark, black
eyes. Though they were full of anger, and hate towards
him, they held many secrets, and some of them were his.
Paris had to hurry up with his plan, he saw Rivita smile
slightly and he knew it was time to act. He punched him
and he went down, but this time when he came up he held a
sorrowful look in his eyes.
"Ok, ok, I do a deal with you," Paris said in
resignation, he took a minute to catch his breath; he
looked at Rivita, she watching him intensively.  This
might just work. " You leave voyager, not hurting anyone,
and I'll join your ship. You know I can give you all the
codes, if I'm on your side we will be unstoppable, and
you know it," Paris said, holding out his hand. Paris
took a sharp intake of breath, which seemed to last a
lifetime as he waited for her answer. Rivita smiled at
him and took his hand; she pulled him up to her level,
and smiled again.
"Yes we will be unstoppable, but please tell me why
do this, I mean come on my side after all this time, have
you finally realised that my side always wins," Rivita
said with a giggle, but her eyes were serious. "Or have
you finally realised that you can't live without me
Paris, after all, you did love me once." Paris looked
into her eyes, and he knew this was it; he had to do this
for the crew, even if they hated him.
"I still do," Paris, mumbled in to the air of the
cargo bay, reaching the ears of the crew. Paris slowly
bent and kissed her, at first she was puzzled by his
actions, but then she realized. Rivita kissed back and
then separated.
"Your offer is accepted, Paris," Rivita said in a
smug voice. "Come on I was getting sick of this place
anyway, too many dead bodies, don't you think? Paris
smiled back, he didn't really love her, and he never did,
not even when they went out in the S.E.F. He regretted
what he had just signed himself up for, but this was the
only way he could carry out his plan, and at least if it
didn't work, the crew would be ok. Paris felt his arm
being tugged lose and pulled by Rivita.
"Come on Paris we got to get on my ship, it's much
nicer than this one," Rivita said pulling him by his
hand, and out of the cargo bay door. Paris was pulled
along in such a rush he didn't see the devastation on the
faces of the crew, one in particular of those was
B'Elanna's shock all over her face, staring at the place
where Paris had just moments ago stood.

****

Of all the ideas that Paris could of come up with,
Knight hadn't suspected that one. She knew Paris was
capable of such treachery; he was an agent, and a good
one at that. But she hadn't seen it coming, and by the
look on the crew's faces, neither did they. Knight still
knew where he was leading with this though; it was most
probable that Paris was deceiving Rivita, and when he got
on to her ship, he would kill her and then deal with the
Mothsa. The tricky bit was surviving it all. And she
hoped that he was at least planning to get out of this
one, alive.

****

B'Elanna felt tears building up in her eyes; by she
told herself she wouldn't cry, not over him, never ever
again. When he had bent down and kissed her, the way he
used to kiss her, the same kiss, on any other day would
have brought a thousand tears to her eyes, even if it was
against her klingon nature. But today of all days, she
had lost everything, and nothing was there anymore. Tom
was gone, and he never loved her like he said he did. It
was all fake.

****

Paris walked on to the bridge of the ship and looked
at his surroundings.
     "You and pick any station you like," Rivita
said looking at the helm, he walked over and took his
position; it was time too initiate step two, of his plan.

****
11 of 12

                Chapter 11: When the good and bad lose.


Her eyes, though filled with tears saw the large cargo
bay fill with a blue glow, when B'Elanna Torres opened
her eyes the force field was down, and the creatures,
gone. The people around her were slowly getting up and
looking at the surroundings in shock. Tom was gone,
really gone, this was no joke which the prankster Paris
which they all knew and loved had set up. This was real.
B'Elanna looked at the cargo bay door, the one Paris had
left out of just minutes ago, why didn't they stop him,
why didn't she stop him. She would never forget this day;
the day Tom left her, left them all.

****

     Paris sat firmly in the pilot's seat of Rivita's
ship, silent times, the name confused Paris, Rivita
wasn't silent at all, but the name meant something. Paris
noted that the bridge was full of the Mothsa,
*Well it least Rivita kept up side of the deal* Paris
thought entering in the commands with a well-practiced
hand, he turned around Rivita, was watching him. He had
to make a distraction, quickly he typed in for her consul
to beep, and she looked down for half a second, confused
when she saw nothing. In that time Paris placed a small
circular piece of metal under the con, he pressed it once
and then pressed the side once. Paris now knew he had 10
minutes to get off this ship and out of here, where to go
was another thing. Paris looked around again, Rivita was
still looking at him, but, being a telepath she hadn't
invaded his mind, yet, other wise this plan was going to
go very wrong and very fast, he just hoped she could wait
ten minutes till she desired to read his thoughts.

****

     All of the Mothsa had left Voyager, and the crew's
morale was lower than ever before. 23 people had been
killed and their bodies were being gathered up and put in
the cargo bay, another 57 were injured, and the rest were
in a state of shock and panic at recent events. Everyone
had lost some one to the creatures, and the fact that Tom
Paris had left in his own free will, was the final line
for the voyager crew. Everyone had been in the cargo bay;
everyone had witnessed the women's revelations about a
man that they all thought they knew so well. There was
not a doubt in anyone's mind that the strange woman was
telling the truth. Why should there be, he was a traitor
to begin with, so they had all thought he had changed but
in fact, a man like that can't change. Tom Paris was a
liar, he always had been, and as far as the crew was
concerned he would always be one. They were glad to see
the back of Paris, even if he was a close friend.

****

     Janeway and the rest of the senior staff walled onto
the blood covered bridge and looked at the surroundings.
Each one went to their respected console and looked at
the ships status.
" Check our position everyone, and then meet in the
briefing room," Janeway stopped and the realised there
was no one at the con, the seat which was usually
occupied by Tom Paris. Chakotay saw her gaze and took the
con, giving her a reassuring smile, with that Janeway
went into the briefing room to prepare, this was going to
be hard on the crew, what was left of it anyway.

****

Paris counted in his head; he had 7 minutes left
till the ship exploded. It was time to get on with the
plan, he slowly rose from his seat and turned to look at
Rivita, she smiled at him, and he smiled back. Paris
walked over to her and took her hand. Rivita had always
had a thing for him, always trying to flirt with him, and
this would be his advantage. He pulled her up and
whispered in her ear, while his other hand taped the
controls on her left hand side. Within seconds the ship
rocked and Rivita's smug smile faded. Paris pushed her
out of the way, he had jerked the ship just enough to
throw all the unprepared Mothsa off balance. Paris
pressed the console and a blue light surrounded him.
Rivita looked around in shock she walked over to the con
and sighed.
"Get him back, now or I …" She stopped, a noise, so
quiet she nearly missed it. Rivita put her head under the
con and looked, she recognised the device, and the beat
was getting faster. But there was nothing she could do.

****

The explosion was immense, the bright light ignited
in the darkness of space. Till there was nothing left.

****

Paris transported onto a ship, he didn't know what
ship, and he didn't have time. He had set it to the
closet ship in the vicinity. As soon as he looked around
he knew where he was, he was on voyager, he had thought
that they would have gone to light speed by now. The
doors slid open and the Captain, Chakotay and Tuvok
walked in. Paris had never seen a hard glare that intense
before in Janeway's eye.
"Paris," Janeway said sternly, putting emphasis on
his name, "We would like a explanation, if you not to
busy." Janeway asked sarcastically, but with not a bit of
humour in her voice. Janeway walked out the door and
Paris followed. This wasn't going to be easy, but now
they all knew, he never thought he would see the day he
had to tell them the truth. What would they think of him?
What would he think of himself? As he walked through the
halls of the ship, stares followed him. They all walked
on to the bridge, all of the crew turned and looked, some
with hatred, others with pity, and one, one with guilt.
B'Elanna's gaze caught his eyes as he walked towards the
Captains ready room.
"Tom," B'Elanna shouted just before the doors
closed, Paris saw Chakotay walk over and stop her through
the crack. He turned to look at Janeway, the truth was
about to be dug up, and it wasn't going to be easy.

****
12 of 12
                                     Epilogue

          Paris had never felt so guilty, sitting in
front of the senior staff. Their eyes, which had held
confused anger just hours ago had calmed, and Starfleet
protocol kicked in. Harry was looking upset, with a glint
of betrayal in his eye. Janeway was in full command mode,
like she was when she met with him in Auckland. Chakotay
was more curious, his wise mind trying to figure out the
enigma in front of him. Tuvok was as always impassive.
But BE'lanna's expression hit him. All that greeted him
way pity from her. He had expected anger, betrayal, and
confusion. Like the others, but from her he got sympathy.
No, sympathy wasn't the right word for her glare, more
like compassion. Paris found he couldn't remove his eyes
form hers. Something struck him inside, but he quickly
tucked it in to the dark recesses of his over crowed
mind.
     " Mr. Paris, would you care to divulge anything
about yourself that we may not already know," Janeway
asked in a sarcastically professional way. He looked at
them all, he couldn't tell them, and it was against
protocol.
     *They already know for god sake* Paris mind
screamed. It was at that point he decided to tell them
the full story.
     "Ok, well here goes," Paris sighed and started to
enlighten them on his real loyalties and missions in
life.

****

Three hours later the officers walked out of the
briefing room, looking shocked at dumbfounded at the
story they just heard. Thoughts jolted through their
minds continually.
     *Trained from 14* *He has done things that I can't
even imagine*  *Is he a threat to my ship* *I still love
him, does he love me* *Do I love her*
     Paris had to talk to BE'lanna, and soon. He hadn't
been in love since his fiancée, Odlie, but he had learnt
his lesson when she was killed in caldik prime.
     *Never fall in love with a girl outside the
'system'* Paris still remembered his commander's words.
There was one thing he didn't mention. And that was the
ten agents, which were currently acting as normal as
everyone else. His cover may be blown, but they were
still going to carry on as normal. The crew didn't
suspect a thing. And it would stay that way.

****

     BE'lanna hadn't been expecting company, but when the
chime sounded. She called for them to enter. Tom stood I
front of her. BE'lanna didn't think and ran over to him,
hugging him with a smile. But Tom didn't return the hug.
BE'lanna stepped back and looked him in the eyes. She
held her breath.
     "I love you. You used to tell e every day you loved
me, was it true, yes or," BE'lanna paused, " Or no." She
got no answer, she was about to speak again but sharp
words stopped her.
     "No," Paris turned and left. He mumbled a sorry as
he left a hysterical Half klingon behind. Paris walked
down the corridor quickly, a tear rolling down one cheek.
He wiped it away, half hoping to be chased by the angry
half Klingon. But he wasn't. He was in love with her,
yes, he knew that now. But he couldn't be with her. He
had done it once, and she had died because of it. He
couldn't do the same to BE'lanna. He wouldn't. He walked
into his quarters and sat down. Within minutes the
doorbell rang. Hoping it was BE'lanna he answered it.
Knight walked in looking at her commander. Paris sighed
then called her over.
     *I need to talk to some one, and knight is in the
system, She controls her feelings, I can confide in her
now* Paris told himself, trying to calm down. He had
never been like this.
     " Are you ok sir," Knight asked sitting down. Paris
nodded and looked at her with a smirk.
     "Please call me Tom, that is my name after all."

****

THE END.

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Katta15