This story is dedicated to Jeri Taylor. She wrote the book'Pathways' where I got the idea for this story. Summary: Tom's time in the Maquis By: Andrea C. 'REBELS' Tom was sitting alone in Sandrines,working on his fourth beer. The woman that walked in with him got bored and walked out. He didn't worry about though. He'd probably end up in the morning with a woman in his bed."The you alone?" Tom looked up to see a man with short, black hair and a tattoo on the side of his face."Why do you ask?" "Mind if I sit down? I have an offer for you "the stranger said"I'm not intrested"Tom said raising his voice."Just hear me out "The man said, taking a seat next to Tom. Tom had gotten into fistfights before but he decided to listen. Something in this man's voice was compelling."My name is Chakotay...I understand you're a pilot?" Tom looked Chakotay in the eye. He was suddenly interested in what he was getting to."The group I'm part of is always looking for good pilots "Chakotay continued."And what group is that?"Tom asked putting down his beer."Do you know what's going on near the Cardassian border?" Tom nodded. Strangers told him a few things about it but he didn't pay attention to them. Now he wished he did. Chakotay told him about a number of colonists that didn't agree with the treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians. That they were stranded in the new demilitarized zone. When the colonists wouldn't leave their planets, the Cardassians made their lives hell. They raided them, and harassed them. A huge group of species were banding together:Ktarians,Humans,Federation species, and some Vulcans.They called themselves the Maquis. Chakotay was part of that group and heard of a Starfleet pilot was drinking away his days in Marseilles,France."You'd get to fly a ship again "Chakotay said. Tom thought what the hell. "Sure I'll join...Thanks" Tom said. Chakotay smiled."Welcome to the Maquis" <***************************************************************************** > "Chakotay to Liberty two to beam up" Before they transported, Chakotay told Tom that the crew might not be happy about seeing him. They sometimes don't like him trying to replace people."Welcome back, Captain" "Mr.Ayala this is Tom Paris. Tom this is Ayala" Chakotay said. Ayala extended his hand and shook Tom's."Welcome"he said "Thanks" "And this is Jonas,Hogan,and Seska" "Hi" they all mumbled and went back to work."Nice to meet you too "Tom said. He then followed Chakotay to Engineering."I have to warn you about my chief engineer. She doesn't get along with people very well." "I'll try to be careful"Tom whisperd.They walked into Engineering and all eyes went to Tom."B'Elanna!" "What!?" a woman yelled. Chakotay stopped in front of a console where Tom guessed his engineer was."What do you want Chakotay, I'm busy" she said."B'Elanna stop messing with the plasma relays and stand up".The woman crawled out from under the console and stood up."B'Elanna Torres this is Tom Paris,our new pilot.Tom this is B'Elanna, my Chief Engineer" Tom was about to reach for her hand but Chakotay shook his head."Hah..so he's supposed to replace Setonak?"B'Elanna hissed. Tom just starred at her. She was a Klingon Human Hybrid. They were surprisingly rare. He looked at her whole body trying to figure out how to get her into his quarters. B'Elanna saw him and had the urge to punch him in the face."B'Elanna,you know Setonak is on Vulcan".Chakotay said."Hello" Tom said. B'Elanna disliked him right then. The seductive tone of his voice made it seem that they were in his bed instead of her engine room."Welcome to the Maquis "B'Elanna said sarcastically and stalked off."Excuse me"Chakotay said walking over to B'Elanna."You do this every time to any new member I bring"."Because you try to replace people thinking no one will give a damn,Chakotay!"B'Elanna yelled."You don't like any of the new members I brought." Chakotay shouted "Not true I like Hogan and Jonas" "B'Elanna just try to get along with Paris or just avoid him." "I'll avoid him"B'Elanna said."Fine,Torres"Chakotay yelled. "Yeah you two will get along just fine"Chakotay said to Tom then exiting Engineering. Tom could tell Torres would be harder to get in bed than the others. He was looking forward to the new challenge. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> One Week Later: Tom was getting used to B'Elanna's temper now. Though he still hasn't gotten her into his quarters."Paris just stick to flying the damn ship and leave the engines to me!" B'Elanna shouted back to him and continued working. A Costa Rican man named Alberto Hernandez came up to Tom."Hermoso....she's beautiful when she's angry "Alberto said. "Yeah..she is"Tom whisperd."Chakotay to Paris and Torres Report to the Bridge" Tom looked over to B'Elanna and saw that she didn't want to know why both of them had to go there."Come on,Paris"she spat passing right by him. It was a short but quiet trip to the Bridge. Tom kept taking glances at B'Elanna. She was probably twenty or twenty-one years old, but she was a damn good engineer. Tom thought of B'Elanna as a driven woman. Focused on her work. Something about her rejection of him was exicting.He treated all the women on the ship as sexual objects. Of course he had no popularity with the men on the ship either. They reached the Bridge and Chakotay walked toward them. "I have a mission for the three of us"Chakotay ignored the remark on B'Elanna's face and continued."We found a planet that's M-Class and I want you both to come with me to investigate" "An M-Class planet...in the Badlands?"B'Elanna asked."We were surprised too but it's there we're calling it the Terikof belt..so lets go "Chakotay said. <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> When they transported to the planet, it was one of the most beautiful places Tom ever saw. He looked around and saw mountains,meadows,and forests. Tom turned around and took a quick glance at Chakotay and B'Elanna. He guessed by the look on their faces that they thought the very same thing he did."Is it any use to us?"B'Elanna asked breaking the silence."I think So. could set up a base camp here and it would be safe from Starfleet"."It wouldn't take long to have a few buildings up." B'Elanna offered. "Lets get started"Chakotay said. After three hours, Chakotay was called back to the ship and B'Elanna was left to deal with Tom alone. They tried to lift two logs into place and they almost had it but B'Elanna lost her grip. The timbers went crashing back to the ground."Shit" she spat. That's when she heard Tom laugh."What's so funny?"She yelled."Nothing it's just that you're not like any Klingon I ever met" Tom said."What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing ... nevermind" They both picked up one of the logs that fell and got it into place."Liberty to Torres and Paris Prepare to beam up" "What's going on?" Tom asked ."Cardassians" Ayala said. When they transported back to the ship Tom and B'Elanna made it back to the Bridge without getting knocked into each other to many times. Though Tom didn't mind at all."Evasive Action" They both heard Chakotay yelling orders to the crew. Tom and B'Elanna took their positions."Paris,get us out of here!"Chakotay yelled."B'Elanna fire phasers!" "Aye, sir." Just then the console next to Tom exploded."Captain,impulse engines are off-line!" "Get us out with thrusters Paris" B'Elanna kept firing phasers but it did little damage. "Captain, phasers aren't helping us" "Got any ideas B'Elanna?"Chakotay asked. "If we shoot out a container of antimatter and detonate it with a photon torpedo it might disable their ship." "Lets give it a try" "Torres to Engineering..prepare a container of antimatter and eject it on my mark!" "Aye ." Another console exploded, this time near Chakotay."Hurry,B'Elanna!" "Engineering, eject the container..NOW!" "Container ejected" "Firing photon torpedo." The torpedo closed in on the container and then disabled the Cardassian ship."YES!" B'Elanna yelled."Get us out of hear, Paris full thrusters" Chakotay sighed."Aye, Captain." "How they hell did they find us?" B'Elanna asked."Don't know but we can't go back to the M--Class planet."Chakotay said."They'll probably be there waiting for us to return." Chakotay got up and walked over to B'Elanna. "Good idea about the antimatter container B'Elanna..I'll be in my quarters Hogan you have the Bridge" " Aye, sir" < `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````> Three days later: Helmsman's Personal Log Supplemental: I've been in the Maquis for almost two weeks now. So far everyone is getting used to having me around. Yesterday I asked B'Elanna who Setonak was. She said he was pretty much your average Vulcan but he helped B'Elanna control her Klingon temper. She was close to him. Also shocking news,B'Elanna and I are getting along. There's something different about B'Elanna. I admit I am attracted to her, but I know the feeling isn't mutual. I've had a reputation with woman. To them I'm the love em, leave em type. When I think back to how I acted when I met B'Elanna I told myself no wonder she didn't like me. I treated her like she was on display. Now we're getting closer to developing a friendship. Right now we're colleagues. We are starting trust each other just hope I don't do something stupid to ruin it. End Log. < ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" """"'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''> Two days later: "Paris, get us out of here!"Chakotay yelled. Hogan detected another M-Class planet a few light-years away. So Chakotay decided to check it out. Of course they were only there a few hours before two Cardassian war ships came."Shields down to eighty-four percent" B'Elanna yelled. B'Elanna tried the antimatter container earlier but they reconfigured their shields."Return fire!"Chakotay yelled."It's no use Chakotay none of our weapons are doing any damage." "Maquis vessel, this is Gul Dukat surrender now or be destroyed." Chakotay then cut the transmission."Paris,we're not going anywhere"."I'm trying Chakotay, it's hard to steer with all these plasma storms" Tom yelled. Then the whole ship was jolted and knocked everyone out of their seats. Tom crawled back to his console, taking a quick glance at B'Elanna. She cut her arm, but kept working. One of things he admired about her. No matter what she keeps going."Shields down to sixty-one percent!" B'Elanna yelled."We're out of the Badlands!" "Warp 5 now!" Chakotay shouted."Well ....that was fun "B'Elanna said. Everyone on the Bridge turned and glared at her."Hey...just a joke" she mumbled."Is there any planet where we can settle down to make repairs Jonas?" Chakotay asked standing behind him."There's a planet called Hikaras IV about nine light-years away. The race isn't hostile, they'll probably let us stay to make repairs" "Good work...you heard him Paris" Chakotay said. "Aye sir".Tom looked over his shoulder to see B'Elanna smiling at him. He smiled back and went back to work."B'Elanna go to Seska and have her take a look at that arm" Chakotay smiled. "Aye." "When we finish will repairs on Hikaras..I'll be granting extended R&R... I think you all deserve it."Chakotay sighed. Everyone on the Bridge had a smile on their face. < ```````~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~````````````````````~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`````````````````~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~`> The Liberty got permission to land on Hikaras IV. The Hikarans said they would kindly help with the repairs."Paris,Torres I want you to go down to the planet and meet a man named Klar Monos, he said he had a spare of plasma injectors."Chakotay said "Aye,sir" Tom walked down the corridor with B'Elanna and one thing kept bugging him in the back of his mind."Do you believe these people don't know a thing about the Maquis?" Tom asked starring at B'Elanna."Maybe that's a good thing. If they knew anything about us they probably wouldn't have let us land."B'Elanna replied."It could be a trap" "Oh please".They walked into the transporter room and smiled at Ayala. Ayala was always nice to Tom ever since he came aboard and he had great respect for B'Elanna. He thought she was a great engineer."Energize".Tom and B'Elanna were on the surface and had no idea where to find this Klar Monos."Um..do you know what he looks like?"Tom asked looking around."No clue think we should have asked Chakotay before we left the ship" B'Elanna was starting to think about what Tom said about this all being a trap. This planet is on the edge of Cardassian space. They could be allies with the Hikarans."Tom Paris? B'Elanna Torres?"They both turned around to see a man just as tall as Tom. He had brown hair and blue eyes."I am Klar Monos" he said starring at B'Elanna."Ah..well I'm sure you know who is who "Tom laughed. B'Elanna just smiled. Tom sometimes acted like an eight year old boy."Here are the plasma injectors "Klar said."Don't you want something for the injectors?"Tom asked "Your commanding officer already traded me some verilium"Klar said."Have a nice day "he continued."That was fun "B'Elanna whispered."Paris to Liberty..Two to beam up," <*************^^^^^^^^^^^^**********^^^^^^^^^^^**************^^^^^^^^^^***> Helmsman's Personal Log Stardate 43568.2: We have been on HikarasIV for three days now. Chakotay said we should be ready to leave in a couple days. B'Elanna has been working around the clock with repairs. I told her to get some rest. She promised she would, but I don't believe her. Wait actually I have to believe her. We are trusting each other now. I'm just glad we're getting along. I asked her earlier today why she joined the Maquis. She said that Starfleet wasn't working for her. I didn't push her for any more details. I could tell she didn't like to talk about her past as much as I did. I hope to develop a true friendship with her. Like I said in my last log, I hope I don't do anything to ruin it. < ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,^^^^^^^^^^> 3 Hours later: B'Elanna was infected with a virus. Seska didn't have the resources to treat her."The we don't get her the medicine soon..she'll die "Seska told Chakotay when they first found out about it. Chakotay and Tom were with by her side in her quarters. She fell asleep from the pain."Tom..I want you to take a shuttle and find the Utopia...It's another Maquis ship. They have the medicine to treat B'Elanna "Chakotay whisperd."Sure..where is it?" "They last reported that they were on Risa" "Risa?" "Don't ask" Chakotay whispered brushing the hair from B'Elanna's face. Tom got up and headed for the door."Tom..you better come back "Chakotay demanded."I will bring back the medicine for her Chakotay I promise"Tom said glancing at B'Elanna. He would bring back the medicine. Tom left B'Elanna's quarters and headed for the shuttle bay. Risa was only one day away. Tom would be back in time before B'Elanna's condition became life-threating. <#############################################################> Tom was halfway to Risa. He couldn't stop thinking about B'Elanna. He just hoped the medicine would work."Proximity alert......vessel approaching..the vessel is hailing." "U. S. S. O'Connell to unidentified vessel please respond" Tom sat there. Not sure if should answer of jump to warp."."U.S.S. O'Connell to unidentified vessel respond or you'll be towed." " This is Josh Conner of the shuttlecraft Sailor" Tom decided not to use his real name for reasons."State your reason in this space" "Ah.. well I'm meeting my girlfriend on Risa. The rest is none of your buisness"."Starfleet restricted this area of space, and sent a message to all allied ships and shuttles" Tom knew he was in trouble."Either you're not an ally or you didn't receive your message".Tom had to get out of there. He fired phasers and tried to jump to warp. The O'Connell fired back and disable the warp engines."Lower your shields and prepare for transport" Now they know Tom wasn't going to do that, but they did it for him. The shields were down and they transported Tom to the O'Connell. Tom was in their transporter room and saw their captain. His face turned pale. Captain Foss,a friend of Admiral Paris." Tom Paris...nice to see you again."Foss said."Captain" "Put him in the brig." As Tom was being dragged to the brig all he could think of was B'Elanna. < ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```````~~~~~~~````````~~~~~~~~~`````````~~~~~~~~````````` ~~~~~~~> Four days later: "I knew he wouldn't come back!" Chakotay yelled."Chakotay.."B'Elanna whispered. She wouldn't believe that Tom would have just taken off like that."He's a thief and a drunk! He was just waiting for a chance to escape and I gave it to him" Chakotay was furious. He never thought he would leave B'Elanna hanging like this."You should never have trusted him, B'Elanna" Chakotay screamed."Chakotay,how do you know he left?" Chakotay turned around and just starred at her. He knew how close she and Tom have gotten and wouldn't believe him."He's gone B'Elanna...he left and he 's not coming back" he whispered."He's a traitor and he always will be" Chakotay yelled."Ayala to Chakotay...the Vulcan is here"."That must be Tuvok..I'll be right there" Chakotay kneeled down near B'Elanna's bed."The Utopia will be here in one hour..think you can hang in there?" "Not much choice"B'Elanna smiled. Chakotay returned it and left. B'Elanna laid there, starring at her ceiling. God it was ugly. She was beginning to believe what Chakotay. Before she was infected with this stupid virus, she noticed Tom and Chakotay at each others throats."Computer,begin Chief Engineers personal log supplemental: It's been four days since Tom Paris left to Risa to find the Utopia. It's only one day away. The Utopia will meet us in an hour. Chakotay says Tom left. He said Tom was a traitor, a thief, and a drunk. The worse thing is I'm starting to believe it. My mother always warned me about trusting certain human, she said they'll turn on you when you need them most. I think this applies to Tom Paris. End log" B'Elanna decided to get some rest. She turned around so she could face the window and see the stars. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Tom Paris?" He heard someone call his name and looked up. He saw a woman with her hair pulled back wearing a Starfleet uniform. She was a captain, he noticed by the four pips on her collar."Kathryn Janeway..I served with your father on the Al-Batani" Janeway said. Little did Tom know that this Captain would change his life forever. THE END Love it? Hate it? Want a conclusion? Let me know. E-Mail:sailormoon436153@aol.com