Disclaimer: Since I claim that Paramount owns Star Trek, Voyager andeverything in and on it, I also disclaim any claims I might have on that shipwhich is way out of this world (and quadrant). But I do claim my right toclaim all claims on this story, and I disclaim all claims Paramount mightclaim on it. By the way, this story is just for fun, not profit etcetera etcetera.I borrowed ensigns Simms and Hudson from the P/T Collective (thank you)and disclaim any rights there are to claim on them.The Situation: Two crews, one ship, and 70,000 lightyears to get home.Summary: Chakotay, the loyal Starfleet officer, and Tom Paris, theMaquis, don't get along very well, and B'Elanna Torres gets caught in themiddle. Oh, yes, there's this mysterious lover of Tom's too. This is a story inan AU that splits of before Caretaker, and will most likely become P/T.Hope you have fun reading.=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=SCHISMSa Startrek: Voyager fanfic by Niels van EekelenMay 1998=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=I    GRUDGES AND FRIENDSHIPS1Captain's log, stardate 48322.7.   It has been a little over a week since the events that pulled my ship andcrew to an uncertain future in the Delta quadrant, and I have since recordedevery detail of what happened in these logs, but I still strongly feel the needto talk about it. It is a great loss that there is no counselor on boardVoyager; right now, we could all use one.   It all started when the Maquis ship the "Gul's Fear," under command ofcaptain Mirda, and also carrying my tactical officer, Mr Tuvok, who wason an undercover mission, mysteriously vanished in the Badlands. As soonas we got permission, my first officer, Cmdr Chakotay, and I took Voyager,freshly off the docks, to investigate.   We could find no trace of the Maquis ship in the Badlands, but insteadwere hit unexpectedly by a displacement wave of unknown origin... I lost alot of good people then, I'm afraid. Lt. Stadi at the Conn, my doctor, mychief engineer... Just too many good men and women. When we regainedexterior sensors, Voyager was in the Delta quadrant, 70,000 lightyearsfrom our homes and families.   The events that occurred on the array we found there along with the Gul'sFear are not really of any importance anymore, since the Caretaker is gone,so I'll waste no more words on them, but when we were returned to ourvessel, and the Maquis to theirs, we found that ensign Kim, my operationsofficer, was missing.   On contacting the Maquis, I learnt from a Mr Ayala that one of theirnumber was also missing. B'Elanna Torres, their engineer. Tuvok's reportshad called her "strong-willed, a temper true to her half-Klingon blood andbrilliant at her profession."  To accept my offer of cooperation, Mr Ayalaneeded permission from someone who stayed off-screen. At the time, Iwondered why captain Mirda did not speak to me himself. According toTuvok he was a man "extremely pleased with himself" -- Tuvok even calledhim "illogical," which is as close to a swearword as a Vulcan will get -- butI soon learnt that he had died when the displacement wave hit the Gul'sFear.   When the two Maquis and Mr Tuvok materialised on my bridge, I wasstartled. It was not captain Mirda whom I found myself facing, but ThomasEugene Paris, the son of my former captain. Tom's face looked so muchlike his father's that if not for the difference in age, I might have adressedhim as admiral. It was not that Tuvok hadn't mentioned Mr Paris in hisreports -- quite the contrary -- but to actually see what the son of a man Irespect so highly had become was quite something different from readingabout it.   Apparently I was not the only one who had reason to be displeased withMr Paris' appearance, judging by Chakotay's reaction. It is not often thatChakotay is unable to contain his emotions. I shall have to ask him aboutwhat happened between him and Paris; if not for Mr Tuvok, I believe thetwo of them would actually have started a fight right there on the bridge.   Mr Tuvok's revelation of his true mission with the Maquis did nothing tolighten Mr Paris' and Mr Ayala's moods, but at least it diverted theirattention. In retrospect, with a fuller knowledge of Mr Paris' character, hetook it very well. He might have looked at Tuvok like he wanted to skinhim alive, but he didn't say a word about it.   With the death of captain Mirda and the abduction of Ms Torres, Mr Pariswas the highest ranking officer among the Maquis -- now, I'm not surewhether Paris or Torres ranks highest, or would, if they were still on theGul's Fear.   We soon turned to the matters at hand, which led to our first alienencounters in this quadrant. We met the Ocampa, a peaceful people,thankfully, with whom we found our missing crewmembers. We also metthe Kazon, who -- well, suffice to say we have made no friends among theKazon, mostly thanks to our Delta quadrant "guide," an alien called Neelix.   Our... misunderstanding... with the Kazon ultimately forced us to battlethem. No, that is not quite true. We battled them to protect the Ocampafrom them. I was on the array with the dying Caretaker during most of thebattle, but I have watched the sensor logs and I must say that the Maquissaved the day. Voyager was hit badly and lost her weapons systems, but theGul's Fear kept the enormous Kazon mothership busy. And more than that.   Mr Paris literally flew circles around the Kazon. Whatever can be saidabout Mr Paris -- which is a lot -- he is one heck of a pilot. Which is one ofthe two reasons I even allow the likes of him on my bridge.   But ultimately even he couldn't keep it up and the Maquis ship started todisintegrate. Fortunately, Voyager was able to beam out all of the Maquisbefore it was too late. Also fortunately, by that time the Kazon ship wasadrift and of no danger to Voyager.   The rest, as they say, is history. I decided that the protection of the entireOcampan species outweighed our need to get home and destroyed the array.Torres, Paris, Chakotay and I then agreed to unite our two crews -- alsojoined by Mr Neelix and an Ocampa called Kes -- so we can face thevoyage home as one.   A note on that last point: the merging is hard on both sides and will take along time. There have already been several instances that might havebecome violent if security had not interfered. Mr Paris, now Lt Paris, is nothelping very much either. The only Starfleet member of our crew he eventalks to off-duty is ensign Harry Kim, and he has considerable influenceamong the former Maquis.2"Computer, end log," said Captain Janeway. She sighed. They would nevermake it those 70 years if the current tension kept up, but she didn't knowwhat to do about it. Perhaps it would just fade away in time.   A chime sounded to indicate that someone wanted to enter the readyroom. The captain's last thought reverberated unpleasantly in her headwhile she spoke: "Enter." The door to the bridge opened and Mr Chakotayand Mr Tuvok stepped through, Chakotay's face grim, Tuvok'sexpressionless, perhaps even more so than usual.   "Captain," the commander greeted, "we have another situation."   The captain shifted uneasily. If it ever really came to blows betweenStarfleet and Maquis, the damage to morale might be irreparable. "Whathappened?"   It was Tuvok's turn to respond. "The situation has of yet beeninsufficiently explained, captain, but security has just been called to yourprivate dining room, where several crewmembers are currently arguing andthreatening violence loudly."   "Those crewmembers are both Maquis and Starfleet," Chakotay supplied.To his mind, there was little doubt who had started it. Captain Janewayvery nearly smiled. Her private dining room; that would be Mr Neelix'Messhall now. Tuvok strongly disapproved of the Messhall, its location,and Mr Neelix in general.   "Paris? Torres?" The captain stood up regretfully and started toward thebridge. She would have to go put a stop to this herself.   "Lt Paris is at the scene, though he appears to have arrived only after theargument started. Lt Torres is currently in Engineering."   "Have her meet me at the Messhall." She probably had as much influenceon the Maquis as the captain herself had. "Mr Chakotay, you have thebridge. Mr Tuvok, you're with me." Janeway was already deep in thoughtwhen she heard Tuvok contact Lt Torres. She suspected that Paris mighthave caused some of the prior incidents on purpose, but if he hadn't beenthere when the argument started, he couldn't be responsible, could he...?When Janeway and Tuvok arrived at the Messhall, the security detail wasalready waiting at the door and Lt Torres just came running down thecorridor. They entered together. Before the doors had opened, all that thecaptain and B'Elanna had been able to hear were some barely audiblevoices, but when they entered those voices became people yelling as hard asthey could.   Six or seven people were standing at the room's center, nearly at eachothers' throats. The two Maquis among them were outnumbered two to one,but that didn't seem to hold them back. A little over a dozen others weresitting at various tables, all staring, either fascinated or horrified, at theargument in process. Mr Neelix seemed to have retreated to his kitchen,from where he was watching, half-hidden behind the counter, with amortified expression on his face. Both B'Elanna and Janeway alsoimmediately saw Tom Paris sitting at a table in the far corner of the room.He was the only one there who had noticed the new arrivals thus far. *Whydidn't you stop this?* B'Elanna thought angrily. *Did you cause this?*thought Janeway, not much less angry.   "Dalby! Hiller! What in the name of Kahless do you think you're doing!"B'Elanna yelled before the captain had a chance to open her mouth. A deadsilence fell over the Messhall as everybody suddenly noticed the captain'spresence. The engineer didn't waste any time, though. She stalked over tothe two Maquis and began berating them, repeatedly using some Klingonwords that would probably better not be translated.   The captain very nearly grimaced. This was not what she had had inmind. The immediate danger seemed to be past, though, and that was whatwas the most important. She walked to the Starfleeters that were involvedand talked to them herself. She did not speak half as loud as Lt Torres, butthe look in her eyes alone seemed to work miracles.   "... and the captain can throw you both into the brig for all I care!"B'Elanna finished. She was furious. She didn't know which side had startedit this time, but both should have known better. These near-fights alwaysstarted over reasons not even a full Klingon would fight over. If they wereever to get home, this had to stop.   "I don't think there is need to go quite that far," the captain spoke behindher. B'Elanna whirled around in surprise, she had thought the captain wouldstill be too busy to listen to what she were saying. The five Starfleet alllooked properly chastened, and, B'Elanna realised, so did Dalby and Hiller."However," the captain spoke on to the troublemakers, "the seven of youare hereby confined to your quarters untill your next duty shift. Thesecurity officers will escort you there. Dismissed."    Janeway looked around the Messhall as Tuvok took the arguers away.The tension in the room was still there, but that probably was mostlybecause she was still there. There must be *something* that she could do toprevent this kind of situation from happening again.   "Ms Torres, Mr Paris, I need to speak with you. In my ready room. Therest of you," she said in general, "enjoy your meals." Though judging by thesmells coming from Neelix' kitchen, that would be difficult.   Tom got up slowly, to visualise his objections as to why *he* shouldcome. B'Elanna noticed he looked like he hadn't bothered to go to bed theprevious night. "Sure, captain," he said, "on my way immediately."3Captain's log, supplemental.   After reading his file, and even after reading Tuvok's reports, I alwayshad the feeling that there would be something of his father in Tom Paris,that I would find something better than what was described about him.Perhaps I'm just a hopeless romantic... but then again, sometimes you canjust trust your instincts blindly. Hmph. I wonder what Lt Tuvok wouldhave to say about that.   Unfortunately I must admit that I have not seen a glimpse of that betterside Mr Paris may or may not have yet. To tell the truth, what I've seen sofar is just an arrogant, stubborn *man*. But a charismatic one. If I said"left" and he said "right" all of the former Maquis would probably *run* tothe right. And he would do it just to spite me and Mr Chakotay. Mr Paris'people would die for him, and I believe he would die for them. If I cannotfind some way to make him see reason, this could become a very long andunpleasant trip. End log.The captain sat down in her chair and turned to the two lieutenants standingin front of her desk. Lt Torres was standing up straight, by the look on herface probably because she was wondering whether she had stepped out ofline with her rather unusual way to settle the trouble in the Messhall. LtParis, on the other hand, looked as if he'd rather be in his bed, and like hecould use it, too.   "Let's get on with it, *captain*," Tom said irritably when Janewayremained silent. "Just blame it all on me and then I can go lie in my bed fora while."   The captain's voice was cold as ice. "Are you saying I *should* blamethis mess on you, Mr Paris?" She had just been thinking about a way tobring up her suspicions about just that without just throwing it in Paris'face.   Paris suddenly had a hurt look on his face. "Ma'am, why could I possiblywant to start fights when I love you all so much?"   Janeway gave him the Look. Tom knew this was exactly as far as hecould go, but then, he hadn't expected more. He sighed.   "Let me put it this way, captain, I have one hell of a headache. I messedwith one of the replicators last night to get some real wine and --"   "You actually did that?" B'Elanna interrupted Tom incredulously.   "I think I just said that. Anyway, last night me and Ayala set out on ourbrave quest to rediscover what it is to be drunk, and this morning we -- or atleast me -- had the good fortune to rediscover what it is to have ahangover." B'Elanna raised a hand in front of her mouth to hide her barelycontained laughter. "The point being," Tom continued, "if I wanted all thatnoise, do you honestly believe I would have started it *now*?"   B'Elanna realised there was no way she could hold back her laughter andthus let it go. If the captain's desk hadn't been there to bounce into, sheprobably would have fallen to the floor. Even the captain couldn't hold backa small smile, though, of course, what Mr Paris had done was againstregulations.   Holding his head in one hand, Tom grinned impishly. "Could you pleaselaugh at me a little softer, B'Elanna?"   When the chief engineer had regained her composure a minute later,captain Janeway continued their conversation.   "I think I can indeed stop that line of thought." She'd noticed that Parishadn't denied any previous involvement in the near state of war between thetwo groups of her people. "But -- what I really called you here for to talkabout -- something must be done to ensure the peace on my ship. Do you atleast agree on that?"   They nodded, Paris reluctantly.   "Good. No matter how much the two of you are both lieutenants, theMaquis still see you as some sort of captains, so you can have a majorinfluence. If you have any ideas that might help, please tell them, becauseI'm at a loss."   Actually, as the conversation progressed, most ideas came from thecaptain, though Torres did her best to match her. Still, the plans they cameup with were improbable to be succesfull, impossible to carry out, or simplyridiculous at best.   Tom used his hangover to be pretty much left out of the discussion. Notthat he could have added much to it anyway. Perhaps he could have undonewhat he had started, perhaps not. If he'd wanted to. If he'd dared to. Hereally hadn't set up the trouble in the Messhall, nor any of the othernumerous near-fights, but to say that Tom had nothing at all to do withthem might just have been a lie to big even for him.   At the end of the conversation -- when the ideas became more and moredesperate -- Tom was drawn in a bit more. It hadn't gone unnoticed tocaptain Janeway that Tom's attitude was not much of an example to theother Maquis, but quite the opposite.   To that, Tom basically told her that they should all just look at B'Elanna,though he chose his words just a bit more carefully than that. He admittedit, but made no promises to change in any way. Still, he managed to keepJaneway satisfied.   "... so if you think of anything else, I'll always be glad to hear," thecaptain finished. *Well, at least now two of the Maquis have agreed thatpeace must be made,* she spoke glumly in her head. "Dismissed."4After they left the captain's ready room, Tom and B'Elanna walked insilence for a while until B'Elanna finally spoke. She would return toEngineering to finish her shift -- Suder and Darwin had better have thatplasma conduit fixed by now -- and Tom was going to his quarters and hopehis hangover would pass before his own next shift started. He could go toSickbay and get something for his headache, but even that wouldn't beworth seeing the Doctor make absolutely no effort to hide his amusement atParis' condition.   "Tom?" B'Elanna finally said.   "Yes?"   "The captain was right, you know -- about you seeming to try to keep thecrew separated. What's your bone with Starfleet? Why can't you accept it'snecessary for us to work together if we're ever to get home? It can't just bethat they didn't want you."   "I can hardly be angry at them for that," Tom replied in his most innocentvoice, "it was their loss. A guy like me can always find a job."   "Tom, I'm serious."   "Well, maybe so am I." For the first time since they started talkingB'Elanna looked at Tom. He was staring at to floor a few feet in front ofhim, coincidentally looking exactly as she herself had just been doing. Asshe had heard in his voice, Tom's face had formed the mask he showed tomost of the world. His shields were up. He was not going to tell her whatthis was about. B'Elanna sighed. No matter how alike they were -- howmuch they actually understood each other -- sometimes Tom was still asmuch as a mystery as they day they met. More, even. Much more. That firstday she hadn't seen beyond the mask.   He had been directed to captain Mirda's cell by somebody higher-up whentheir previous pilot had died. A hotshot ex-Starfleet pilot who had joined theMaquis for his own reasons, and an arrogant one at that, he had arrived onemorning, an hour late for his pick-up. It hadn't been his fault that time, butB'Elanna had soon come to see it as typical for his attitude, and few in thecell thought any better of him. Just some of the women, and seldom forlong. But when the crew had started to respect Tom after he'd saved themall in the asteroid belt of Xaris Minor, he started to change as well. NowB'Elanna could safely say that Tom would give his life for any of theMaquis on Voyager.   What B'Elanna saw behind Tom's mask today startled her a little. He hadfar more emotions hidden away than was generally believed, even by hisfriends, but never this, not unless a Cardassian warship had at the very leastlocked its phasers on them. B'Elanna could swear she saw fear.   When she stepped into the turbolift she turned and locked her eyes on hisface. "Tom, just think about it. What foolish old grudge is worth keepingover a hundred people at each others' throats?"   The doors closed.   B'Elanna sighed again. "Engineering." She would get to the bottom ofthis, but it would take time.The doors closed.   Tom Paris stood there for a minute after B'Elanna left him alone. A"foolish old grudge" she called it. And it wasn't even that much. It was true.He was deliberately keeping Starfleet and Maquis at odds. Not thateverybody would have just liked each other if he hadn't been there, but heand B'Elanna and Janeway could heal most of the schism if he would justtry. But he didn't, and he knew why.   There was no "grudge" -- except perhaps with Chakotay -- but in truth hedidn't do anything because he was afraid.   Him, Thomas Eugene "Arrogance Impersonate" Paris, afraid! Afraid hisdirty little secret would get out. Among the Maquis, no one had known whyStarfleet had thrown him out. Among the Maquis, he had real friends, andhe was given respect. Among them, after saving all of their lives at leastonce, and probably more often, Tom had been able to forget, most of thetime, the ghosts that haunted him, the three people he had killed when he'dflown that shuttle and had screwed up. Tom had little doubt that everysingle Starfleet officer on Voyager knew about it. If his friends would startto listen... There would be little respect or friendship left after that.   But what B'Elanna had said stung him. Indeed, it wasn't "worth" it. Hewas supposed to care about his people, dammit! Instead he was afraid toloose the life he had built for himself, afraid for those accusing stares toreturn...   Tom didn't even notice he had started walking until he stopped in front ofthe door to his quarters. Instinctively Paris checked his face -- and thankedgod he had his mischievous look firmly in place. He definitely didn't wantanybody to see him looking like he was feeling.   He hesitated at his door. His hangover was the farthest thing from hismind right now, but he didn't want to go back to the Messhall and heremembered that the holodecks were tremendously overbooked, so he wentin anyway.   There was always a certain feel to a room if you were not alone, and Tomfelt it in his quarters.   "Seska?" he called. The Bajoran woman came walking leisurely out ofthe adjoining room. She had an intent smile on her face and was wearing adress that was most definitely not a standard issue Starfleet uniform.   "How did you get in?" Tom asked, slightly surprised.   "You taught me everything you know, didn't you?" Seska replied as sheput her arms around Tom.   "Uh uh," Tom disagreed, "I taught you everything *you* know." Hereturned the gesture and held her tight.   "Whatever. Anyway, you taught me how to get into other people'squarters without their permission." She paused. "Now bend down that tallbody of yours so I can kiss you." And they did. At length.   "So, Helmboy, did Janeway give you any trouble?" Seska asked a littlewhile later.   "Not really," Paris answered -- after he'd taken a moment to get his breathback. He wasn't surprised that she knew where he had just come from.Somehow she always knew that sort of things. "She's not really such a badperson, even if she did serve under my father."   "I thought you liked bad women." Tom smiled at that.   "Some kinds of bad, yes. Are you bad, Seska?" he said teasingly.   She gave him an evil sort of grin and started to pull Tom gently by hishands to the other room. "Come to the bedroom and I'll show you just how"bad" I am."   Tom didn't object.5A week later, Cmdr Chakotay was surprised to find himself sitting in a barcalled "Sandrine's" in Marseilles, Earth, in a holoprogram created by TomParis, and even more surprised to be talking to Lt Torres, his arch-nemesis'closest friend.   Chakotay had gone to the holodeck because he had heard about this funprogram where everybody was welcome. When he'd entered, and Paris hadseen him, he had given Chakotay a look that was certainly not verywelcoming, and truth be told, if he had known in advance that it was Paris'program, Chakotay probably wouldn't have come. But he had to admit thatit was fun.   When he'd entered the bar's "owner," a woman called Sandrine, hadimmediately tried to flirt with the commander, so when he saw Harry Kimsitting at one of the tables, he'd gone to him at once. *Harry won't mind,*he'd thought, *the kid is always trying to make us senior officers feel lessisolated.*   Chakotay only saw B'Elanna Torres sitting across the table from him afterhe sat down, and it was too late to go away then. Nine days ago, Kathrynhad made the Maquis lieutenant Chief Engineer instead of Joe Carey.Chakotay still believed that that decision had had more to do with Paris'constant nagging about it and an effort to keep the peace on the ship thanwith who actually deserved the job, but she was good at what she did. Shehad already once saved Voyager from a quantum singularity.   Harry had looked as if it had been his intention to get the two of them atone table and tried to start a conversation between them. It had been a bitawkward at first, but now Harry just sat back in his chair with a smug smileon his face and Chakotay and Torres did all the talking. *Missionaccomplished,* thought Harry Kim, *if those two can like each other, thanthere is hope for all of us.*Tom Paris stood at the pool table with his cue in one hand. He was playinga game with Ayala, who was just putting the six ball in the side pocket.Seska hung on Tom like she wanted to sit on him; even he felt embarrassedby her sometimes. But he wasn't paying attention to either of them.   He was looking at Harry, B'Elanna and especially Chakotay, sitting atone table, talking. One friend, one enemy and Harry, of whom Tom wasn'tsure if he dared to call him friend. It felt strange, seeing the three of them --especially B'Elanna and the commander -- together, apparently enjoyingthemselves. Harry probably had something to do with that. Tom didn't likeit. *Tom Paris,* he thought idly to himself, *are you jealous?* He thoughthe could honestly answer `no' to that question. What B'Elanna did was herown business, after all. But he couldn't stop thinking that Chakotay, of allpeople, would be delighted to tell Tom's friends all about the shuttleaccident.   It was funny, but Harry had never mentioned the accident -- though Tomsuspected he did know -- and somehow Tom knew that he never would if hedidn't start about it himself.   Ah, well, Tom had realised some time ago that the truth would come outsooner or later, though he hoped for later.   Perhaps B'Elanna wouldn't believe Chakotay if he told her. Both TaylHiller and Lon Suder had come to Tom, telling that they had heard somesome sort of rumour about him, but both of them just thought the Starfleetwere trying to "make bad air" for Tom, as Tayl had put it. Tayl was from astrange race, always talking about the air. Maybe B'Elanna wouldn'tbelieve Chakotay either. He sighed. Sooner or later.   "Hey Helmboy," a voice suddenly whispered in Tom's ear, nearly makinghim jump, "it's your shot."   Tom looked at Seska, then at the table. Ayala grinned at him, thenbecame serious. "Forget about that guy, Tom." He had apparently seenwhere the pilot had been looking. "He's not worth the bother."   As he aimed his shot, Tom wished that were true.Again time passed. The next two weeks, B'Elanna and Chakotay talkedregularly, and sometimes ate together. They laughed together, and talked ofserious matters to either of them or both. B'Elanna didn't quite yet tellChakotay the things that she had buried deep in her heart, her fatherforemost among them, but still... In short, they became friends, much toHarry's pleasure.   Every time Tom saw the two of them together, he thought Chakotay wasgoing to tell her and his heart dropped to his boots. What he didn't knowwas that B'Elanna and Chakotay had an unspoken agreement that neither ofthem was ever to mention Tom unless it was from a professional point ofview. Just like she and Tom never mentioned Chakotay when they weretalking.   The tension on Voyager seemed every bit as high as the day the two crews-- or rather the two halves of the crew -- had been forced together, but theopen hostilities started to appear at greater intervals.6"Seska to Paris," sounded from his combadge.   "This is Paris," Tom responded, "Find anything interesting?" They wereboth part of one of the several away teams sent to this unnamed planet,where vast amounts of dilithium were supposed to be buried. So far, afterseveral miles of the abandoned tunnels, they had found absolutely nothing.First Tom thought the makers of these tunnels must have robbed the placedry, but then what had caused the sensors to show dozens of kilotons ofunrefined dilithium?   "I hoped you had."   "No. This place is duller than Tuvok." Tom used his flashlight to takeanother look around. Still nothing but brown rock surrounded him   "Ha!" Seska laughed, "are you bored, Helmboy?"   "Whatever gave you that idea?"   "When the away mission's over, we and the other Maquis could alwaystake over Voyager to stir things up a bit." It wasn't the first time that Seskamentioned that, and each time she did, Tom was less sure she was joking.He was afraid that if he took the bait and said yes, he would wind upactually doing it.   "Seska, not funny."   "Look who's tal-" Suddenly the ground began to shake as if the planet'sinertial dampeners had just dropped off-line. Tom was thrown around allthrough the tunnel, but thankfully the ceiling held. Then, as suddenly as ithad started, it was over, and everything went still.   Tom got up slowly, his uniform and face covered with dust and his heartjumping in all directions. He was just about to contact Voyager, when --   "Voyager to away team leaders! Acknowledge please." The captain'svoice sounded alarmed.  "Away team number one reporting, captain," Tuvok's voice soundedalmost instantly over the commlink, as calm as he ever had been. "All areaccounted for and unharmed. We had just reached the surface when theearthquake commenced."   Tom tapped his commbadge. "Captain, this is away team number three.We're all spread out, but I don't think any of the tunnels collapsed, soeverybody should be all right."   "Good," the captain said, "Chakotay?"   Silence.   The captain tried again. Still no response.   Tom started to worry, too. B'Elanna was with away team two. "Paris toTorres... Paris to away team number two. Can anyone hear me?" Nothing.   After another minute of silence, captain Janeway spoke. "Lt Paris, takeyour away team and go to the number two tunnel system. Tuvok, you're toofar away. Go to your shuttle anyway and fly in if it's still necessary at thattime. I'm sending in help, but it will take several hours for it to arrive." IfTom could have seen Janeway's face right now, he knew it would be nearpure white. They still didn't get along, but Tom knew that she cared deeplyfor each member of her crew.   "On our way, captain." Silently he cursed the planet's atmosphere formaking a simple beam- out impossible. "Away team two, listen up.Everybody acknowledge and then head for the tunnel entrance as fast asyou can."   "Ayala to Paris, I'm on my way."   "This is Simms, me and Hudson are on our way up."   Suder, Seska, Wildman, Nicoletti and Dalby followed, but then itremained silent. Tom's breath caught.   "Neelix? Are you there?"   Tom took a deep breath in both relief and anger when the reply came in."Oh! Er, yes, well ehh, yes, I mean... I'm here, Mr Tom -- Lt Paris, that is.That was quite a ehh... a terrifying experience, wouldn't you say?"   *Neelix,* Tom thought, *I just thought I didn't have to tell Kes you weredead, but if you don't shut up, I'm coming there to strangle you.*   "Neelix," he said out loud, "just go to the tunnel entrance, all right?"   "Of course," Neelix replied simply. Tom sighed, and started runninghimself.   He was last to reach the surface, as he had taken the deepest branch of thetunnels. The rest of the away team stood panting while Suder and Ayalahelped Tom out of the hole. Suder was looking around as if he expected tosee Borg and Cardassians in every direction, and was ready to take themon.   "Easy Lon," Tom told him quietly, "put that phaser away." Louder, hesaid, "Come on everybody, let's move! It's only about a mile." *And thenprobably several more in the tunnels,* he added to himself.   Tom set a steady pace, and no one complained. They all knew friendscould be dying. When they arrived at the number two tunnel entrance thepilot immediately jumped down into the entrance cavern and started callingthe names of the number two away team, beginning, of course, withB'Elanna. He did not see the furious look Seska, the last one to come down,gave him.   Then the ground shook again. It was not as bad as the first quake, but badenough. Seska was thrown down the opening, into the cave, and fell the twometers to the floor. The emergency repairs on the inertial dampeners, so tospeak, hadn't held. Tom was afraid that this meant there would be morequakes.   When he could, he jumped to his feet and reached Seska before any of theothers.   "Seska!"   Seska got up slowly and moaned. "I'm fine."   "Are you sure? You're bleeding."   She pulled her bleeding arm loose out of Tom's grip and said: "I'll befine." Tom wished he could be sure, but he had no time to waste. He turnedwhen he heard a sound coming from one of the tunnels.   "Mr Paris," said a familiar emotionless voice from the dark.   "Vorik!" Tom hurried to him.   "The rest of the away team is some five hundred meters down this tunnel.There are several injured that require immediate medical assistance. I camehere to attempt to make contact with you, Mr Tuvok, or Voyager."   Paris wanted to hear just who was injured and how badly, but he'd get tothem quicker if he didn't ask. "You're injured," he noticed.   "Yes, my ankle was broken during the second quake," Vorik commentedcalmly.   "Ethe, Mike, help Vorik out of the cave, then join the rest of us," Tomordered.   "Mr Paris, are you still there?" the captain's voice spoke from Tom'scombadge.   "Captain, we're at the entrance now. We have Vorik and he gave usdirections to find the others. He says there are several wounded."   "Acknowledged. Tuvok's team is on its way, but it will take them aboutfifty more minutes to get to you."   "Tuvok always gets to me, ma'am, but this time, he'll be late. We're goingin for the others."7`Going in for the others,' though, was easier said than done. Either Vorikhad forgotten to mention that half of the ceilings in the tunnel had comedown, or it had happened after he had passed, but in any case, it hadhappened. It took Tom's away team nearly half an hour of clearing a pathand squeezing themselves through narrow openings where that wasn'tpossible before ensign Wildman, who was in front, saw a light up ahead.   "Hey there!" she called.   There was a moment of startled silence, and then ensign Hogan's voicecalled enthousiastically. "Over here!" he yelled.   Soon the entire away team -- Hudson and Simms had caught up withthem ten minutes ago -- was in a large cavern, that was miraculously stillcompletely intact, treating the more seriously wounded with the emergencymedpack they had brought. They found that communication with the shipwas down, but decided that they could worry about that later. Tom onlystopped to see if everybody was alive until he finally found B'Elanna at thefar end of the cavern, near a tunnel.   Her face was drained of blood and her leg, which bleeded nastily, wastwisted at a wrong angle.   "How are you doing?" Tom said as he kneeled by her side. "Give me ahypospray!" he called to Neelix. "For the pain," he explained to B'Elanna.Tom counted seven people in the cavern. Plus Vorik, that meant two peoplewere still missing. He hadn't seen Chakotay anywhere, and someone else...Tom put pressure to B'Elanna's wound to slow the bleeding until themedpack got to them.   "Paris," she said irritably, and obviously in pain, "I'll be fine." Shestopped to breathe, then continued. "Chakotay... he went in there..," shenodded at the tunnel, "...to get ensign Mishowa. She fell... Went to see if shewas alive." Reluctantly, Tom stood up, just as Neelix arrived with thehypospray.   "I'll go take a look. Neelix, give her something for the pain, but she'll stillneed to be able to move out of here." And he vanished into the tunnel.   "My, my, my," Neelix said jollily as he administered the hypospray toB'Elanna. He had read all about Federation Medicine, just in case, and itwas proving to be very useful already. "Mr Tom is really a natural leaderwhen it comes down to it, isn't he? We're all in good hands."   "I suppose," said B'Elanna. Neelix blathered on, but B'Elanna really didn'tpay attention. She looked at where Tom had gone. *He wouldn't leaveChakotay here, would he?* she wondered. Tom and Chakotay really hatedeach other. *No, he wouldn't. Not Tom.*   That she knew that for a fact did not stop her worrying, though. What ifTom *couldn't* get Chakotay? Or what if Chakotay was already dead?.   B'Elanna became so lost in thought that Tom startled her when hereturned from the tunnel a few minutes later and started to help her up.Strangely enough, he had a determined look on his face, and B'Elannacouldn't figure out what it meant.   "There a precipice a little way down that tunnel," said Tom to B'Elanna,"It's steep. If Chakotay isn't able to get up himself, there is nothing I cando." To the rest of the people in the cavern, he said: "Let's get everybodyout. No telling when the next quake will come." He starting walking towhere his away team had come in.   B'Elanna let herself be directed to the tunnel. She knew that Tomwouldn't -- couldn't -- let any life be lost if he thought he could save it. Butthen, halfway across the cavern it suddenly hit her. If he *thought* he couldsave it. The determined look. Tom had convinced himself he couldn't helpChakotay. She stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't know whether sheshould punch him in the face in anger or beg him to go back. Tom looked ather askance.   "Tom, about Chakotay," she began.   "What?" His tone was clearly defensive. If B'Elanna had still had anydoubts, Tom had just taken them away.   "Can't you just go down to see how he is, at least? If he's alive?"   "B'Elanna! The chances that I could get him out of there are so small yourentire engineering staff couldn't compute them." So there was at least somechance now. "Besides, the roof could come down any moment." That hadbeen the wrong thing to say, and B'Elanna knew Tom knew it. Now he wassaying he didn't want to go down because *he* might not come back.   "If it had been a Maquis -- or anybody but Chakotay -- down there,wouldn't you gamble for that chance, no matter how tiny?"   They had started moving again, and this time it was Tom who stopped.His face was lost in shadows to B'Elanna's eyes. She knew he would tell herto shut up.   "B'Elanna..," Tom started, then paused for a long second. "You're goingto owe me big for this. Real big," he said when he finally turned to look ather. He then handed B'Elanna to ensign Jonas, who had escaped theearthquake relatively unharmed. Tom must have felt something of the glareSeska gave him and Torres together this time, because he turned to look ather.   "Seska, help Jonas here with B'Elanna. With any luck, Tuvok will bethere when you reach the entrance cavern."   "And where do you think you're going?" Seska replied curtly.   "The ensign, the indian and I will be right behind you." With the ninemembers of his away team besides himself here there should be plenty ablehands to help all the wounded.   Seska silently cursed Paris. She could see that he was at his most stubbornright now and she would not be able to influence him. It would be good ifChakotay would survive, but if he was saved like this...   Two very different women stood looking at the tunnel where Tom hadonce again hurried into for a few long moments, lost in thought, before theyleft in the opposite direction.The captain sat in her chair on the bridge with her knees crossed. Herfingers were drumming impatiently on the arm of her chair. It was sofrustrating! First they had lost contact with Chakotay's team, and then Paris'as well. She had thirty people down on that planet and all she could do waswait! Normally she would never have sent so many of her crew on an awaymission at once, but the crew had really been in need of some time on aplanet after being on Voyager for so long, and there hadn't been supposed tobe any danger! It was infuriating.   She was furious at Geology. They had reported no seismic activity at all,nor any indication that there would be any. Until an entire continentsuddenly began to shake. But the captain was more furious at herself. Sheshould have learnt by now that in the Delta quadrant, nothing was what itseemed to be, especially if something seemed safe.   "Mr Kim, any change?" she asked, for the umpteenth time.   "No captain," replied the ensign from the Operations station, "we stillcan't make contact."   "Keep trying. Lt Tuvok's position?"   "Approaching the number two tunnel entrance right now, captain. He'll beable to go in in less than ten minutes." All she could do was wait. God, howshe hated waiting!8Tom let himself drop the last two feet to the ground as the tremors beganagain and held his head protectively in his arms. The quake was worse thanthe second one, though probably not as bad as the first. *I just hope theothers will make it aboveground safe,* he thought. Then he thought again.To hell with the others! They were a lot closer to the surface than he was.This was the second precipice he'd come down since leaving the cavern.And there was no one around to notice, so he could be afraid. But just alittle, preferably. He heard a loud thud inches to his right and winced.   Just like it had been with the previous two quakes, everything went stillfrom one moment to the next. Tom, now completely covered with browndust, got up slowly. When he saw the size of the rock that had fallen to hisright, his eyes widened. If it had fallen just a single foot more to the left,Tom would have been very flat and very, very dead.   He started when he heard a groan nearby. "Is someone there?" a strainedvoice spoke from the darkness. Chakotay.   "Chakotay! How nice to see you!" Tom called in the voice he knew thecommander hated. That he had to save him was no reason to let him enjoyit. Chakotay raised a hand to protect his eyes from Tom's flashlight.   "Paris? What the heck are you doing here? Get to the surface!" Tomnoted that an enormous rock was lying on Chakotay's legs. He wondered ifhe could get it of.   "In a bit, Chakotay. Where's ensign Mishowa? I'm here to rescue her, youknow."   "She's dead," said Chakotay, "a falling rock crushed her head." A momentbefore his voice had been filled with shock, and even some anger, but nowthe pain had returned, physical as well as psychological. Inside, Tom cursedand cried over the loss of a life for a moment. Of course, he didn't let any ofit show.   "Well," he said as cheerfully as he could manage, "if I can't save the lady,you'll have to do."   "I will make it up by myself, Paris, if you don't mind." Chakotay voicewas ice. *How can he be so cold?* he thought. Paris, paying no attention tothe older man's objections, went over to the boulder on Chakotay's legs andtried to tip it over. Then, he put his back to it and pushed harder. It moved,but bare inches.   Tom stopped a moment, panting. He had run most of the way down thetunnels, so he already was nearly out of breath. "No doubt," he panted,"without me, you'd be on your way already." He started pushing again. Thistime, he managed to lift one side enough so that Chakotay could crawl outfrom under it. He had to pull himself away with his arms.   When the commander had moved far enough, Tom dropped the rock. Hewinced. A sharp ledge cut his right palm. It wasn't a bad cut, but it hadalready nearly vanished in the dust covering Tom from head to toe. Being aMaquis taught you the use of keeping your wounds clean soon enough.   When Tom looked at Chakotay, however, he forgot his own slight injury.The man's left leg was twisted in all directions. His right leg was severelybruised, but miraculously, it did not appear to be broken. *Well,* Tomthought wryly, *at least the pressure applied has stopped most of thebleeding.*   "Thank you, lieutenant," Chakotay said, his voice telling he wasn't sure ifbeing saved by Tom Paris was worth it, "I'll be fine from here on." And heactually managed to get to a near sitting position. In any other man, Tomwould have admired the willpower; Chakotay, he pushed back onto thefloor.   "I'm so sorry, sir," Tom mocked, then anger filled his voice, "but I'll bedamned if I came all the way down here for nothing!" He then hoisted theinjured man onto his back. Chakotay still refused to cooperate, but simplydidn't have the strength to do anything about it. "Would you mind terriblyholding on yourself?" Tom said. He would need all the strength in his armsto climb the two precipices. Damn, the man was heavy! Fortunately,Chakotay decided to oblige.   "So," Tom panted when they -- he -- had climbed the first precipice abouthalfway, "now that I've saved your but, it belongs to me, right? Isn't that asort of indian custom?"   "In your dreams, White Man." Chakotay's hostile voice made Tom smile.He decided that he would make this weight on his back laugh before theyreached the surface. He had lost a bet to make Tuvok smile back in theAlpha quadrant, but this should be much easier.   However, when they reached the second precipice, Chakotay still hadn'tcracked a smile -- or maybe he had, but Tom couldn't stop to look over hisshoulder -- and Tom's breath was getting in serious trouble of running out.   "You're incredibly dull, you know that?" Paris said while he rested formoment.   "Careful, lieutenant, this borders on insubordination," the indianresponded. Ha! He was getting at least some response. He started climbingthe wall.   "Oh, I'm sure they'll forgive me at the court-martial," Tom said inbetween heavy breaths, "after all, I came down here in an act of bravery andinsanity above and beyond the call of duty." After that, they fell silent for awhile. Tom was getting desperate: the man just hated him too much tolaugh.   At the top of the precipice, Tom breathed a sigh of relief. From here on,the tunnel would only angle upwards slightly. The others should have madeit out by now. And there had been no further quakes for quite a while.   He shouldn't have thought that.   Chakotay fell roughly to the ground and flew up again a few times whenthe tunnel shook again and Paris dropped him. The commander managed toshield his head, when, with the final tremor, part of the ceiling came down,but saw Paris' be hit. The lieutenant stumbled and leaned on the wall.   "Paris!" Chakotay shouted over the dying ruckus, "You all right?" Thedarkness hid Tom's smile.   "Worried, commander? About me?" He walked over to Chakotay andpainfully picked him up again. "My head's used to worse," he added.*Fine!* Chakotay thought. Paris could bleed to death for all he cared. Butto his surprise, or perhaps not, that didn't sound sincere right now even inhis own head. They started walking again, a bit slower then before.   "Chakotay," Tom started again after a while, "do you know what wouldhappen if the Borg assimilate Vulcan?"   "What?"   "Resistance is illogical," Tom replied in a solemn voice.Tuvok frowned. *Curious.* He was standing a hundred meters into thetunnel directly connected to the entrance, and if he was not mistaken --which would be a highly illogical assumption -- his Vulcan hearing had justdetected a sound that could only be identified as laughter. Cmdr Chakotay'slaughter. *Curious indeed.*   A minute later, the lieutenant saw his Vulcan hearing confirmed in oneway, and denied in another. Tuvok saw Lt Paris coming down the tunnel,carrying an apparently injured and immobilized Cmdr Chakotay on hisback. But as far as Tuvok could determine, the commander was not at all ina mood to have laughed, which seemed only logical -- as far as emotionscould be described by logic.   Voyager's security chief quickly sent the three crewmen waiting with himto assist the two exhausted officers, and contacted his captain.   "Tuvok to Voyager. Captain, Cmdr Chakotay and Lt Paris have justexited the unstable part of the tunnel."   "Thank god!" the captain exclaimed, and then fell silent for a moment."And ensign Mishowa?" she queried hesitantly.   "She is not with the commander and lieutenant, and it is unlikely that shewould have been left behind, were she still alive. However," he said,forestalling his captain, "I will question the commander about hercondition."   "Do that, Tuvok. And get everybody... all survivors up to Voyager assoon as possible."   "As ordered," Tuvok confirmed and cut off the commlink. The otherswere now near him and he turned to Cmdr Chakotay, who was beingsupported by ensign Simms and Lt Carey. "Commander," he greeted, andgot a tired nod in return. "Can you tell me of ensign Mishowa's presentcondition?"   The commander was silent for a while and opened his mouth to speaktwice, but as of yet, nothing came out. This told Tuvok all he needed toknow, but he still required a confirmation.   "She's dead. Now can we get out of here?" Mr Paris snapped. Tuvokturned to frown at the young lieutenant, who was leaning heavily on ensignHudson. He might appreciate that the man was to the point, but he shouldnot have interrupted his superior officer like that.   "I... agree with Mr Paris, commander. You are obviously in need ofmedical attention."   Chakotay nodded. "Take us out of here, Mr Tuvok.""Congratulations, Mr Paris," the Doctor said, running a tricorder overTom's head, "you have actually managed to receive a blow to the headwhich has *not* resulted in a concussion."   "So he will be all right, then, Doctor?" captain Janeway spoke beforeTom had time to irritate the EMH further. They had arrived in the lastshuttle forty minutes ago and HoloDoc had just finished with Chakotay afew minutes earlier. Aside from Tom and Chakotay, there were five otherwounded still in Sickbay, but all would recover quickly. The captain, Kesand B'Elanna were also there. B'Elanna had been cleared to leaveimmediately after she was treated, but she had waited to hear if Tom andChakotay were going to be all right. For a while there, she had been afraidthat she had sent Tom to his death.   "With rest, captain, a lot of rest." He looked at Chakotay, who was justsitting up slowly on his biobed, from the corner of his eye and added: "Thesame goes for Cmdr Chakotay, I might add. Lots of rest." He didn't knowwhy he bothered. Nobody listened to him anyway.   "I'm certain they will both make sure they get enough rest," the captainsaid, not really paying attention anymore. The Doctor shot her a doubtfulglare. "Commander, when you feel up to it, I would like your report as soonas possible."   "I can give it to you right now, captain," said Chakotay, now standing onhis feet without wavering.   "Good," said Janeway, "let's go to my ready room."   "Rest! He -- needs -- rest !" the HoloDoc called after the two officerswhile they left Sickbay.   B'Elanna saw her chance and took it while the Doctor stood scowling."Um, I'd better get back to, uh, Engineering." And she left. Tom,unfortunately, wasn't as quick to respond, and the Doctor turned on himwhile he was still getting up.   "No!" He pointed an accusing finger at Tom. "At least one of my patientswill get the rest he requires!" Left with only Tom Paris, he knew that hiswas a lost cause, but he had to try. It was his duty. Tom didn't even pause.   "Sorry, Doc," he said as he moved for the door, "but I really can't leave allmy fans wondering if they'll ever see me again." Without Kes, who had leftjust before the captain and the commander and with the other patients allpeacefully sedated, the Doctor was left standing in Sickbay alone.   He sighed dramatically and spoke with a martyred face and voice: "Theleast they could do is to try to remember how to turn a program off whenthey leave."9*And I wondered if it was a good idea to give Mr Paris the command of anaway team,* captain Janeway thought the next day. She took the two cupsof coffee out of her replicator and turned to her desk, where her first officerwas sitting. She had actually wondered if Mr Neelix would not have been abetter choice and had only refrained from choosing him because she hadbeen afraid he would turn the away mission into a picknick outing. Parishad done better than she had expected him to.   When she sat down in her chair and handed one of the cups to Chakotay,the captain had to suppress a frown. The commander, usually reasonable toa fault, knew very well that the lieutenant had performed very well, but heseemed determined to make it seem less so.   "From what I hear, captain, if not for Lt Torres, he would have left medown there to die -- and ensign Mishowa too, he didn't know if she werestill alive then, yet."   The captain took a sip of coffee; it was too hot again. She wondered ifthere was something wrong with her replicator. "From what *I* hear,commander, you tried to stay down there to die when only Lt Paris couldhelp you," she countered.   Chakotay scowled at the hot cup in his hands, a bit embarrassed.   *What happened,* Janeway pondered, *that made you and Mr Paris hateeach other so much, Chakotay?* She vowed that she would find out,somehow."You know, some good might have actually come of this," Tom said lightlyto B'Elanna. They were sitting at a table in Sandrine's, watching but notpaying attention to a game of pool going on between Harry Kim and theDoctor, who had recently gained the ability to transfer himself fromSickbay to the holodecks.   "What?" B'Elanna answered, "have you stopped hating Chakotay?"   Tom made a face somewhere between a grimace and a grin. "I wouldn'tgo quite that far." Suddenly the grin broke free and nearly split his face inhalf. "No, I was thinking more about how the two of you are *deep* in mydebt now."   B'Elanna put her face in her hands and groaned. She should have known.Paris wasn't going to let her forget this for a long, long time.   A cheer rose from the pool table. To B'Elanna, it seemed to mock her. ToTom, it was applause.The captain sighed. Well, she could always try again later. She would. Shehad vowed she would find out only twenty minutes ago. At least thecommander seemed to have given up on trying to put an ugly face on LtParis as well.   "So has someone found out why the sensors showed all that dilithiumdown there, yet?" she asked her first officer.   "Lt Torres brought back a sample of the planet's rocks. She says it readspractically the same as dilithium on our sensors. The composition of therock was also the reason we had trouble communicating. As long as therewere wide tunnels connecting us to the surface we could talk, but after theycollapsed..." He left it hanging.   "I don't suppose these rocks can be refined into any sort of fuel?" thecaptain asked.   "I'm afraid not." They sighed in unison.   "It looks like we'll be going to Mr Neelix' traders' station after all."   The corners of Chakotay's mouth turned up ever so slightly. "Are youafraid your morale officer will replenish his stores of leola root, captain?"   Janeway returned his smile. "I'm just not so sure I trust Mr Neelix'evaluation of his *absolutely honest trading partners*." For a momentcaptain and commander were lost in their seperate thoughts, then Chakotaystood up.   "Well," he said, "I have an early shift tomorrow, so I'd better get somesleep. With your permission, captain..?"   "Dismissed, commander." She watched him walk away and when hereached the door, she said: "Chakotay?"   He turned in the doorway. "Captain?"   "I don't know what happened between you and Mr Paris" -- *though Icertainly will* -- "but don't you think it is about time to forget, if notforgive?"   "Kathryn," Chakotay spoke wearily, shaking his head softly, "whathappened... It will not be easy to forget, not for a long time, if ever."  Hiseyes watched something far away for a moment, then refocused. "Forneither of us, I suppose."B'Elanna silently called herself Klingon swearwords. It had been a perfectlynice evening -- as long as Paris had refrained from getting too witty. So whyhad she had to mention Chakotay and chase him away? She'd known whatthe effect would be, but she was so damn curious why two of her bestfriends hated each other so much.   "Hey, Maquis, is something wrong?" She looked up from where she hadbeen staring at the floor to see Harry sitting down in the chair Tom hadvacated a little while ago.   "Nothing," she lied.Tom Paris hummed softly to the music as he and Seska danced around inher quarters. Seska didn't care for dancing herself, but she'd discovered along time ago that it was a good way to keep Tom occupied and to keephim from thinking too much -- or just to shut him up -- while she herselfcould concentrate on the matters at hand.   Tom had been a little tense when they came here, but the dancing'srelaxing effect was starting to work. The Torres woman had tried to get himto give an explanation for his grudge with Chakotay. Tom hadn't told her aword, of course, but it still annoyed Seska to no end. Even she herself didn'tknow what the grudge was about. Had they been in the Alpha quadrant, shewould have known it nearly as soon as she knew there was a grudge, or aChakotay. But here, in the godsforsaken Delta quadrant, where she didn'thave access to her resources...   But those were matters for another time. It had been over a day and Seskastill didn't know how to handle the consequences of the away team incident.She didn't even know exactly what they were! She had read the reports, ofcourse -- even the one only the captain had been supposed to read -- butthey only contained the bare facts. Tom had saved Chakotay. End of story.   But Seska needed more than that; she needed to know how that rescuehad influenced them both. With luck, Chakotay would only despise Tommore because he owed him his life, but her gut told her that wasn't so, andSeska trusted her gut. She had built her entire strategy of how to preservethe schism between the Maquis and the Starfleets on Voyager on theanimosity between the two men. If Chakotay had just died, Seska couldhave found some other reason for distrust, but if they started to respect eachother it would be disastrous. And if that happened, it wouldn't just beChakotay who would feel respect -- you couldn't just save a man's life andstill think you wanted him dead.   If only that fool Tom had demanded the place of first officer when he'dhad the chance! He could easily have done that, as she had told him manytimes. If Janeway had turned him down on that, the current hostile situationwould have seemed a peaceful paradise next to what it would have become.It was too late now, of course, but if he had demanded it at the beginning...The step from first officer to captain was a small one. One Seska couldhave arranged.   Once Tom were in the captain's chair, he would have done anything if hethought it necessary for *his* people. And Seska could make him believealmost anything was necessary.   Seska decided she would just have to watch how this one turned out andthen make the best of it. She had no doubt she could do that. Through TomParis, the Maquis were all so easily manipulated. None of them realised theinfluence Tom had on them, not even he himself.   And then there was Torres. Yet another problem. Seska had had extensivetraining on how to discover and to make use of the slightest emotionaleddies and she was literally the best. With her experienced eye Seska hadseen what existed between Torres and her Tom the first time she had seenthem together. Fortunately, she had also soon discovered that they hid it,from themselves as much as from each other. Unfortunately, since theirarrival in the Delta quadrant, more and more seemed to be slipping throughtheir mental shields. If they discovered their love for each other, Seska'sinfluence on Tom would become virtually nonexistent. Not to mention thather Tom would most probably simply dump her.   Perhaps it was time to reestablish negotiations with that Kazon maje. Ithad been some time since they last talked, and he should have cooled off bynow.   Suddenly Seska was pulled back to the present when she bumped into thebed, hard, and fell to a sitting position.   "Ow! Watch where you lead, Helmboy!" she chastised her dancingpartner.   Tom sighed. "I'm sorry, Seska. My mind was just lightyears away."   Seska had to suppress a smile at that. *He should know. No,* she thoughtas she started to pull Tom down onto the bed, *no, he shouldn't know.* Shewouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now, would she? But when the time wasright, poor Tommy-boy would be in for quite a shock.=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=finisSCHISMS will be continued in `Fall From the Stars'coming as soon as possible=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=Archiving is okay (but I'd appreciate it if you let me know), but if, becauseof it, my ego grows out of my skull, I'll blame you.I would like to thank my beta reader & internet-intermediary, my sister,Maaike van Eekelen.Comments are more than welcome.E-mail to: Maaikeve@Freemail.nl